"——Hold no illusions; this is a feast of darkness and terror."
Wu Xiaode let out a breath.
After the Chief of Defense had dropped those words, he had taken them to heart, constantly trying to get to the bottom of the whole affair.
Joining this team today really was a solid investment. Not only would his future skills be secured, but he had also gotten wind of some vital intel regarding midnight!
As for fear—
Being afraid was useless anyway. Time to break the jar and let it smash.
Suddenly, a woman's voice rang out:
"Xiao Wu, I saw that person leave. Is it okay now?"
It was Xia Huilan.
She dragged her suitcase back over and asked with concern.
"It's fine." No sooner had Wu Xiaode spoken than he snapped to his senses and glanced down at his phone.
The phone screen displayed the current time:
"0:00."
Midnight had arrived.
Xia Huilan was still right beside him; it was already too late for her to leave.
According to Rule 3 of the group files—
"No."
Wu Xiaode groaned.
A flash of light and shadow swept past.
Wu Xiaode felt as though the world had suddenly vanished.
For a split second.
Another world came hurtling from some unimaginably distant place, sweeping both him and Xia Huilan into its vortex.
The surrounding environment slowly began to clarify.
Crow stayed perched on Wu Xiaode's shoulder, calling out anxiously, "This place is dangerous. You must be careful."
"Got it."
Wu Xiaode replied, pulling Xia Huilan behind him.
Instead, Xia Huilan shoved his arm aside and stepped in front of him.
"Sister Lan, it's dangerous here," Wu Xiaode said.
"I figured it out when I saw them trying to recruit you. That lie you told earlier about joining some major faction—you must have just become an Awakened one today, didn't you?" Xia Huilan said.
Wu Xiaode looked at her in astonishment. "Huh? You—"
"Eavesdropped a little."
Xia Huilan pointed to her ear.
Tucked into her ear was a delicate, tiny silver earpiece that pulsed with a deep blue glow.
"I really did become an Awakened one today," Wu Xiaode admitted.
"Which means you've never been in contact with another world before," Xia Huilan said.
"Yes," Wu Xiaode replied.
—Did the Death Demon Cave count as another world?
Though if it were a place like the Death Demon Cave, probably no one could escape the clutches of a Cyclops.
He had just gotten lucky, having awakened a Necromancy-type ability right off the bat, which allowed him to borrow the power of all the spirits and Heroic Spirits.
And even then, he had only managed to buy himself a seven-day extension.
He still had to go back in seven days!
Xia Huilan gazed tenderly at Wu Xiaode and shook her head slightly.
She seemed to have made up her mind about something as she began:
"Xiao Wu, I am the chief battle armor designer for Bright Mech United Technology, heading the work of the entire department, so naturally, I've known about certain things for a long time. In the past, I felt humanity was hopeless, so I wanted to retreat to the countryside and survive however many days I had left.
"But now that even you have been dragged into this, I can't just leave you to fend for yourself..."
"Sister Lan, are you an Awakened one too?" Wu Xiaode asked, surprised.
"No, I'm just an ordinary person, but I know this place is extremely dangerous. According to statistical data, two-thirds of Awakened ones fail to survive their very first midnight," Xia Huilan said.
"Why?" Wu Xiaode was baffled.
The file from the S-Class Club was merely a brief reminder.
That team didn't provide any specialized documentation to explain things to newcomers who had just awakened their Soul Force.
"Based on the data we've gathered, when an Awakened person enters that world for the first time, the fluctuation given off by their body is particularly distinct, which attracts countless monsters."
At this point, Xia Huilan deepened her tone, speaking with added solemnity: "Under such harsh conditions, two-thirds of Awakened ones don't make it through."
She squatted down and popped open her suitcase.
Inside lay a solid, rectangular silver metal block.
Xia Huilan pressed her hand against the metal block.
A cold voice rang out from within the metal:
"Identity verification passed."
"No. 92024 Battlefield Slaughter Program loaded."
"Xia Ni is about to awaken."
The metal block began to rise, shifting and taking form.
It assumed the shape of a human female, and then the metal layer on its surface gradually acquired color and texture, transforming bit by bit—face, shoulders, waist, legs, her entire body—into someone Wu Xiaode knew very well.
Xia Huilan!
This robot was actually designed by Xia Huilan using herself as a blueprint!
Yet looking closely, she appeared to be around sixteen years old, much greener and less mature than Xia Huilan herself.
"I am Xia Ni. Hello, Xiao Wu."
The girl wore a blouse and a short skirt, speaking to Wu Xiaode with a playful air.
Her voice was timid, yet carried the unique charm of a youthful maiden.
It was the voice of Xia Huilan at sixteen!
An exact match!
Wu Xiaode turned to look at Xia Huilan.
Xia Huilan had already shifted into work mode, her head bowed as her fingers flew across various commands on the robotic girl's back while she spoke:
"Xiao Wu, it's your first night, so I'm going to give you a hand."
Xiao Wu was completely dumbstruck.
***
The surrounding environment cleared up.
Wu Xiaode found himself standing in an abandoned underground passage.
The corridor was littered with debris and a few corpses, leaving almost nowhere to step.
Darkness and dead silence shrouded the place.
Without any light, it was impossible to discern direction or tell where the end of the passage actually lay.
Wu Xiaode stood in the center of the underground tunnel.
The fatigue on Xia Huilan's face had vanished. She pulled a compact, exquisite pistol from her pocket, checked the magazine, and cocked it once more.
Xia Ni stood to her right with a faint smile on her face.
"Please input the expected combat duration so I can allocate tactics reasonably," Xia Ni said.
Xia Huilan looked at Wu Xiaode. "How much Soul Force do you have?"
"Five points—it seems I have to kill five monsters before I can bring you back," Wu Xiaode said.
"Understood," Xia Ni said, and stood motionless.
Xia Huilan, however, wore a look of satisfaction as she patted Wu Xiaode's shoulder. "You've got five points of Soul Force right after awakening? Not bad at all."
Having made the decision to stay and help Wu Xiaode, Xia Huilan seemed to have cast off her inner burdens, radiating an aura of sharp, proactive determination.
—She was a mechanical engineering expert, after all!
"I'm completely in the dark here and have no idea what I'm about to face," Wu Xiaode said gravely.
"Transmissions are randomized, so everyone faces different situations," Xia Huilan said.
"Is this world very large?"
"Research has confirmed it is a massive different world. In half a year, no one has managed to find its boundaries."
"Sis, you seem a bit hopeless about this world?"
"Yes. From all the data, it's simply too terrifying—let me see—an abandoned underground passage. This isn't a known transmission point, but it branches out in all directions, so monsters will find us soon."
"Because I'm a newcomer?"
"Right. A newcomer's fluctuations attract them."
Just as her voice trailed off.
A pale green ghost fire suddenly materialized in the empty air before Wu Xiaode.
The three of them immediately assumed defensive postures.
Yet nothing else appeared around them. The ghost fires simply drifted in the air, slowly coalescing into lines of small characters:
"Welcome, friend."
"This is the leader of the Ghost Flame team."
"Come on over. We have reliable companions, food, weapons, and intel."
"——If you are willing to join us and help each other out, please place your hand on the ghost fire and say, 'I'm willing'."
Wu Xiaode finished reading rapidly and spoke up, "Uh... so what do I need to give in return?"
Those ghost fires gradually formed a new line of small text:
"No extra contribution is required from you, just come along. It's terribly hard for us humans to survive in this world; one more person means one more share of strength!"
Wu Xiaode shook his head repeatedly. "Forget it, no need."
The ghost fires reformed into another line of small text:
"The survival rate for Awakened ones has plummeted these past few days. Do you really think you can survive on your own?"
Wu Xiaode smiled. "That's right, I'm just that cool."
The ghost fires stiffened slightly, then slowly dissipated into nothingness.
A line of icy crystal text swiftly manifested on the Book of the Dead:
"This ultra-long-distance communication has concluded."
Wu Xiaode let out a sigh of relief. When he turned back, he met the probing gazes of both Xia Huilan and Xia Ni.
"According to past statistical data, teaming up increases survival rates," Xia Ni said with a gentle smile.
"Why did you refuse?" Xia Huilan asked curiously.
Wu Xiaode answered earnestly, "Sis, earlier I asked what price I had to pay, and he said I didn't need to give anything. But there's no such logic in this world."
His gaze grew frosty as he continued, "Forget about groups; even out in society, if someone doesn't have to put anything on the line, what kind of good deal could they possibly get? Am I right?"
"You think it's a trap?" Xia Huilan asked.
"Not sure. Anyway, I don't trust unearned benefits dropping out of nowhere," Wu Xiaode said.
Xia Huilan mused, "True, this is an extremely dangerous world..."
"Right," Wu Xiaode shrugged. "I'm just a newbie. Best not let those old-timers see right through me."
"Don't tell me you don't trust me either?" Xia Huilan raised an eyebrow and asked softly.
"Sister Lan is the best. You're the one I trust the most." Wu Xiaode hurried over to take Xia Huilan's hand.
Her hand was slender, soft, and carried a trace of coolness.
"You brat, knock it off!"
Glancing at Xia Ni, Xia Huilan shook Wu Xiaode's hand off.
With a cheeky grin, Wu Xiaode stepped forward again, scanning his surroundings while immediately reaching out to grab Xia Huilan's hand once more.
Xia Huilan didn't pull away.
A rustling sound echoed from deep within the dark corridor.
"Something's coming," Wu Xiaode said.
"Xia Ni, get ready," said Xia Huilan.
"Entering combat mode," Xia Ni's soft voice sounded.
Xia Ni stepped forward into the darkness, her entire body radiating a soft glow that left nothing in the tunnel hidden.
That rustling sound grew closer.
Xia Ni raised her hand—
Dazzling light erupted from her hand, illuminating a nearly hundred-meter stretch of the corridor.
Before long, the walls of the passage were seen crawling with brightly colored scorpions, each the size of a desk.
Wu Xiaode stepped forward, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Xia Ni, and raised his fists into a stance.
To be honest, there were a bit too many scorpions.
He had to watch out for them swamping them all at once.
And he had no idea if these otherworldly scorpions possessed any other special abilities.
As Wu Xiaode was pondering this, he heard a woman's voice by his ear:
"I'll handle it."
Xia Ni pulled a streamlined firearm from the empty air, aimed it toward the center of the passage, and gently squeezed the trigger.
An invisible shockwave blasted forth from the barrel of the gun.
Hum—
The entire tunnel instantly emitted a sub-low frequency vibration that traveled from close to far.
Wherever the vibration passed, the scorpions let out screeching "hissing" sounds.
Their brains burst open all at once, brain matter splashing everywhere across the ground.
The single remaining fish that slipped through the net lunged forward, only to be met by Xia Huilan's pistol, which emptied an extended magazine into it.
The scorpion's body was riddled with bullet holes, blue blood leaking out in a steady stream as it lay motionless on the ground.
"Haven't used a gun in a long time," Xia Huilan rubbed her wrists.
Barely a breath had passed.
All the scorpions were dead.
This dark, abandoned corridor grew silent once more.
Wu Xiaode stood stiffly in his combat stance, staring at the floor full of monster corpses, and muttered under his breath, "...I didn't even... get to strike..."
"What?" Xia Huilan didn't catch it.
"Nothing. Just thinking my meals taste wonderfully soft and sweet," Wu Xiaode said.
Xia Huilan shot him a sideways glance. "The night is still young. You need to conserve your stamina."
"What do you mean? Once I kill five, we can head back, right, Sis?" Wu Xiaode asked, looking clueless.
"That's not how it works. The ones you need to kill are monsters carrying Soul Force; these ordinary monsters don't count," Xia Huilan explained as she reloaded her magazine.
That made it click for Wu Xiaode.
Thank goodness Xia Huilan had followed him in, otherwise he'd have been completely clueless about these basics.
Xia Ni spoke up abruptly:
"Abnormal vibrations detected ahead. Spectral analysis and characteristic matching confirm an approaching high-intensity Soul Force fluctuation."
"What does that mean?" Wu Xiaode asked.
"A big one is coming," Xia Huilan said with a serious expression.
The three of them found a corner, dragging over various obstacles to form a temporary stronghold as they rapidly prepared for battle.
Shortly after.
A massive silhouette appeared deep within the corridor.
Xia Ni produced a soft-shelled luminescent sphere and hurled it far ahead.
The light instantly illuminated the passage.
A monster roughly the size of a truck was slithering steadily toward them.
Judging by its body alone, it was a gigantic python-like monstrosity, its entire length covered in damp, gloomy scales that dragged across the bone-piled floor, leaving behind a long, viscous trail.
Yet atop its body sat a huge human head, glaring with a pair of cruel pupils as it looked down from above at the three tiny humans ahead.
"Hsssssssss—"
It let out an aura-filled, murderous sound and lunged straight toward the trio.
"Identity comparison failed. No matching category in database. Commencing tentative attack."
Xia Ni said gently, reaching out to grab into empty air—
A rotary machine gun manifested in her grip. Holding it in one hand, she pointed it at the monster.
Wu Xiaode's eyelid twitched.
Noticing his concern, Xia Huilan explained softly, "I loaded it with a miniature spatial storage bin to act as an armory."
"What kind of tech is this... I've never even heard of it..." Wu Xiaode muttered.
The rotary machine gun was already humming as its barrels spun.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Firepower fully unleashed!
Bullets poured out like streams of light, streaking down the long passage and slamming into the monster like a torrential downpour.
The human-headed giant snake seemed startled, hastily burying its head beneath its long serpentine body.
"Bullet attack effect: Low."
"Weak point suspected to be the head."
"Changing weapon."
Still maintaining her gentle "welcome home" tone, Xia Ni retracted the machine gun and reached into the void with both hands simultaneously.
A huge cannon barrel appeared in her hands, which she hoisted onto her shoulder.
"Electromagnetic cannon ready."
"Current environmental suitability rating: A+."
Before anyone could even blink—
The human-headed giant snake let out a miserable shriek, sent spinning away by a blast of sheer force as if it were being swept aside like trash.
Xia Ni stood her ground, but her feet sank deep into the stone floor, leaving only her knees and above visible on the surface.
The recoil was simply too powerful!
Only a slaughter machine like her could withstand the recoil of an electromagnetic cannon without fear!
***
"What did he say?"
"He refused, and even said he was cool."
"Damn it... did he figure something out?"
"Hard to say."
Both voices fell silent.
This was a deserted building filled with corpses; dried black blood stained the walls and floors in a shocking manner.
Two men stood on a crossbeam near the ceiling of the building.
One man held a ball of ghost fire in his hand.
The other wore a gray rhino mask.
After a moment, the man holding the ghost fire spoke: "Guess Demon, this kid isn't biting. We might as well give up."
"Give up? Ghost Flame, do you think those rewards you just took were for nothing?" said the man in the gray rhino mask.
The man called Ghost Flame mused, "I've caught plenty of people with my ghost fire before, but not a single one ever claimed they were cool—the kid must have something wrong with his head."
"All the more reason to kill him," Guess Demon said in a deep voice. "While he's still seventeen and hasn't fully matured, I want him to taste true despair before he dies."
"Your puppet said he could slap that fellow on the mountain of corpses, and you can't beat that fellow," Ghost Flame noted.
"Yet no one has ever been able to handle two powerhouses with over 10 points of Soul Force at the same time—even Xiao Baihong got roughed up by us," Guess Demon retorted.
"The Boss could."
"We're not provoking the Boss. We're just here to kill this punk."
"Then... take him down?"
"Let's go. I have plenty of ways to find him, after all—"
Guess Demon glanced down.
On the ground below, every single corpse raised its head, opened its gray eyes, and stared up at him in unison.
"Wherever there are corpses is my home turf," Guess Demon said viciously.
***
Wu Xiaode glanced at the time.
Two minutes.
Scarcely two minutes had passed, and a battle of this intensity had already erupted.
"Sister Lan, turns out you're this strong," he stared at Xia Huilan and said.
"Strong? What strength? I'm just an ordinary person. Xia Ni was originally meant for self-defense and shouldn't be exposed unless absolutely necessary, otherwise—" Xia Huilan didn't finish.
Wu Xiaode nodded slightly.
Right.
This battle robot was simply astonishing. Once exposed, the whole world would be shaken.
By then, Xia Huilan would have nowhere left to hide.
And she was just an ordinary person.
"Sister Lan, is it because you built such an incredible robot that those people are giving you a hard time? Is that it?" Wu Xiaode asked.
"No," Xia Huilan shook her head. "This is just the 92024 model. The truly terrifying one is the 92025..."
"Why didn't you bring the 92025 model?" Wu Xiaode asked.
"It isn't finished yet," Xia Huilan said.
Before Wu Xiaode could ask, she explained, "It's epoch-making, but before I could do much more, the upper management impatiently demanded I hand over the results. The results weren't even done yet—those idiots, they don't understand a thing about what I'm doing, but they wanted to harvest the fruits immediately."
"That's strange, why couldn't they just wait?"