Chapter 14: "Twenty-Seven Years Ago, the Uncanny Descended."

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Inside Room 404 of the Starry Sky Hotel.

Six in the evening.

Chen Kun and Black Rat sat on their respective beds, constantly searching the internet for whatever information they could find. The largest platform in this world was a forum called the Tianya Forum.

“Brother Kun.”

The more Black Rat learned, the tighter his brow furrowed. “So far, the only city I know by name is Qingyuan City. I couldn’t even find the name of another city online. And the people posting on the forum all seem to be from Qingyuan City.”

“This forum is more like a Qingyuan City forum.”

“At least we know when the Weird arrived. Twenty-seven years ago, the Weird descended, and the Haunted Game spread across the entire world.”

“Mm.”

Chen Kun fell silent for a moment before speaking softly. “Come on. Let’s go outside for a walk and get a feel for the customs of this godforsaken world.”

...

It was early autumn.

People on the streets wore all kinds of clothes.

Chen Kun walked through the streets with Black Rat. His wristwatch contained a backpack with five slots, and the pitch-black cane lay quietly inside one of them.

He had brought the cane out of that incident.

Its information panel read:

- “Only a Level Two Classholder may view this item’s information.”

Although he had no idea what it actually was, it was undoubtedly something good. Ordinary objects could not be placed inside the backpack. He had already tried; cigarettes and lighters, for instance, could not be stored there.

There were still quite a few pedestrians on the streets.

But on closer inspection, many of them carried a sense of deathly stillness. Most of the crowd consisted of university students. They ought to have been full of vitality, yet a closer look revealed a trace of weariness in them as well.

“Over there...”

Black Rat suddenly stopped and stared blankly toward a small alley beside them. Deep within it, a young couple was groping each other in broad daylight. His lips moved faintly as he muttered, “People in this world don’t avoid being seen when they do that?”

“What else would they do?”

The middle-aged police officer they had met that afternoon had appeared beside them at some point. His hoarse voice held the calm of long familiarity.

“These children are actually the most pitiful.”

“They were born into a world that was already like this. They have never seen its beautiful side. If history did not exist, they might even believe the world had always been this way.”

“Sometimes, a little madness can ease their psychological burden. No one knows when they might die in the night.”

“What about finding a secluded hill?”

“The hills behind the city are even more chaotic. You’ll understand if you ever go and see for yourself.”

“Come along.”

The middle-aged police officer stopped where he was and looked at Chen Kun seriously. “Let me be your guide for half a day and introduce you to this world. You must have plenty of questions. I can answer them.”

“All right.”

Chen Kun nodded.

...

“Twenty-seven years ago, the Weird descended, and the entire world was transformed by the Haunted Game. This transformation was not limited to the countless monsters that appeared after nightfall; it affected every aspect of life.”

“The internet, mobile phones, computers, and other terminals were all transformed into wristwatches. The wristwatch is practically your only way to access the internet. Through the Forum, you can chat and exchange information.”

“Payment applications and similar services were incorporated into the wristwatch as well.”

“Classholders, levels, skills, shops—all of these are functions available on the wristwatch. They can help you grow stronger and survive better in this world.”

“The wristwatch cannot be damaged or destroyed. It is automatically destroyed twenty-four hours after its player dies.”

On the street, the middle-aged police officer walked beside Chen Kun, explaining everything as they went. His pace was unhurried, and so was his speech. Chen Kun walked quietly at his side, listening in silence.

“To be honest, if not for the monsters, wristwatches would make life far more convenient.”

“Once a wristwatch is bound to a player, it cannot be traded or removed.”

Chen Kun nodded thoughtfully and asked, “What if someone cuts off the left arm?”

“Then the wristwatch automatically moves to the right arm. If the right arm is gone, it moves to the left leg; if the left leg is gone, to the right leg. Even if all four limbs are gone, it can move to the fifth one. As long as you’re alive, you don’t have to worry about losing your wristwatch.”

The middle-aged police officer explained in a flat, unhurried voice. “Besides that, many other applications have been transformed as well, such as Public Reviews and the Tianya Forum. The companies behind those applications disappeared long ago. The applications simply continue running on their own.”

“For example, Public Reviews has a function that ranks hotels according to their death rates. That was created by the transformation, and the information is absolutely accurate.”

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“This world rotted away from the inside long ago.”

“It may appear that the government still exists, along with police stations and the like, but in truth, there have been no rulers for a long time. We are merely playing the roles assigned to us so that we can receive a certain number of points each month.”

“But...”

“Human beings possess one extraordinary ability: adaptability.”

“Not everyone chooses to sit around and wait for death. Qingyuan University, for example, was rebuilt after the disaster. It teaches the killing patterns of various monsters and trains students to survive when confronted by the Weird.”

“Many people are unwilling to continue barely clinging to life like this. They want to remain prepared to launch a counterattack, kill every monster, and take control of the world once more.”

“To launch a counterattack, you need sufficient strength. To gain sufficient strength, you must leave the safe house at night to face those monsters—or enter instances. That usually means an extremely high death rate.”

Perhaps he had spoken too much. The middle-aged police officer felt his mouth grow dry. After swallowing, he took a packet of cigarettes from inside his coat and offered one each to Chen Kun and Black Rat.

“Over the years, the strongest Classholder in Qingyuan City was a Level Six Classholder.”

“Except...”

“He died.”

Chen Kun remained silent for a long while before asking softly, “Not everyone can afford to rent or buy a home, can they? Where do those without points spend the night?”

“There.”

The middle-aged police officer raised a hand and pointed toward a nearby apartment building. “Qingyuan City has enough housing for everyone. There are more than enough homes for each person to have one, especially after so many people have died.”

“But a house only belongs to you after you pay the rent or purchase it. No one else can enter. After buying it, you can also place various pieces of furniture inside or raise the safe house’s level, making yourself safer at night.”

“Unclaimed houses can still be entered by picking locks, climbing through windows, and similar means. However, they do not possess the effects of a safe house. Monsters can enter them with ease. Still, if you remain as calm as possible and keep your fear value low enough, the monsters will have great difficulty noticing that someone is hiding inside.”

“You can think of it this way: at night, monsters primarily locate humans according to their fear value. For example, zombies find humans by sensing their breathing.”

“At night, monsters mainly target those with high fear values. Monsters can also level up, and they do so by devouring players whose fear values are high enough.”

“Therefore—”

“Before killing someone, many monsters could already achieve an easy victory, yet they still choose to wear down the player’s mental defenses step by step. They do so to maximize their gains.”

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