Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Doomsday Omens
The dungeon settlement is complete, and Wu Chang is about to leave when a prompt appears before his eyes.
"Player completed the C-Level dungeon in 45 minutes, setting the fastest record for clearing a C-Level dungeon in the Desolate Realm. This record will be recorded on the leaderboard. Do you want to disclose your in-game nickname?"
"Decline."
He checked the original fastest clearance record for the C-Level dungeon; the time was 3 hours, 23 minutes, and 45 seconds.
He was just under three hours faster.
Thinking back, when he cleared it, he indeed took quite a few shortcuts.
Using the mountain resentments as road signs, the main quest one: heading to Huai Valley Village, was at least a day and a half faster than others.
Following that, going to Chen Family Village, round trip, was almost four days faster.
This doesn’t even count the fact that he pushed the Decease Rite to start a month earlier.
As expected, after setting the fastest C-Level dungeon clearance record, he also set the record for the lowest level clearance of a C-Level dungeon.
He moved the previous level 10 record to level 8.
After similarly refusing to display any identifying information, he left the Crimson Courtyard and returned to the real world.
Player nickname: Doesn’t Eat Beef.
Player Level: 10 (0/2600)
(4100/1900)——(2200/2200)——(0/2600)
Title: Perfectionism, Master of Breaking the Game.
Life: 21
Power: 20
Agility: 15
Endurance: 16
Energy: 14
Inspiration: 90
Will: 64
Free attribute points: 0
Rotten Silver Coins: 5000.
Skills: Mamba Iron Elbow, Firearms Use (Proficient).
Cultivation Technique: Thunder Skill Fragment (E).
Items: Silver Dawn, Favor of the Goddess of Fortune, Whisperer’s Echo ×1, Mortal Poison, Secret Magic Knight Order Newcomer’s Guide, Soul Cleansing Banner, Four-sided Age Fire Lamp, Shadow-Facing Face.
Talents: Exorcism, Calamity.
Wu Chang glanced at the attribute panel and stretched with a strong yawn.
The first thing to do after leaving the dungeon is to have a good rest for a day.
It was still early before the eSports hotel room would expire, so he ripped open a bag of chips, twisted open a bottle of fizzy drink for slobs, and lit up the computer screen.
The fun time was about to begin.
In the evening, when checkout time was approaching, Wu Chang’s phone rang. Glancing at the contact, he answered the call and asked:
"Fang Hui, what’s up?"
"Boss, not a shadow of you for a whole day, what are you up to, so busy?"
Wu Chang: "Interviews, you know, I’m not like you, if I don’t find a job, I have to go back home to inherit the family business."
"What kind of work?"
"Funeral industry." Wu Chang wasn’t lying, he had just sent off a whole village and dug a pit to bury Chi Yuan, saying it’s the funeral industry shouldn’t be an issue.
Fang Hui felt he was being toyed with and said irritably:
"As a salesman, second box half-price, right. Alright, stop talking nonsense, are you free tonight?"
"Depends on what it is."
"7 PM at Golden Fish Village, seafood, king crab, all you can eat."
"I obviously have time."
After hanging up the phone, he checked out of the eSports hotel, and Wu Chang walked to Golden Fish Village at a leisurely pace.
Golden Fish Village, a landmark restaurant near Wanghai University, is characterized by just one word: expensive.
The advantage is it doesn’t fool the poor.
With a per capita consumption of hundreds to over a thousand, if Wu Chang didn’t use his Rotten Silver Coins to exchange for money, he’d have to rely on petty loan apps to afford it.
Only by freeloading on a wealthy person like Fang Hui could he get in the door.
He looked at the luxurious sign of Golden Fish Village and subconsciously clenched his fist.
If his life followed a normal path, with ordinary interviews, work, being a workhorse, he might never voluntarily come here to spend in his lifetime.
But now, the Exorcism Talent and Abyssal Game have given him this opportunity, allowing him to aim for places even higher than here in the future.
If you don’t take what heaven offers, you’ll bring misfortune upon yourself.
If he can’t find his footing in the Abyssal Game, then he might as well die in the dungeon.
Just when his expression was serious, and his brows furrowed as if making a firm decision, a cheeky voice sounded behind him.
"Boss, is that expression because you’re constipated or having a tummy upset?"
Wu Chang rolled his eyes and looked at the couch potatoes behind him in room 426.
Just when the atmosphere was going well, these guys ruined it.
Forget it, he’s not the type of player who’s a battle maniac; being stealthy and cunning is more his style.
Leaving the inexplicable state of a battle maniac, he sensed something amiss.
The Abyssal Game seemed to be subtly influencing his mind, making him more susceptible to his desires, more aggressive, and enticing him to throw himself more wholly into the Abyssal Game.
There was a moment earlier when he even felt that to explore the Abyssal Game, he could resort to any means necessary and would eliminate whoever dared block his path.
With his 64 points in Will Attribute, he was still being affected by the Abyssal Game, and he dared not imagine what might happen to ordinary players who stayed in the game for too long.
He shivered, and suddenly the words spoken by "Little Red" in the public area square echoed in his ears.
"Living in a collapsing world, humans will eventually be bitten back by power, the bosses in the instances have shown this more than once."
This sentence, combined with his recent experience, seemed to be the trumpet of pre-apocalyptic revelations.
An indescribable suffocating feeling surged forth, as if he were in the Moonlight Sanatorium, directly facing Leman’s true form, his gaze penetrating it, seeing Leman’s essence was merely countless intertwined emotions.
At this moment, unlike that encounter with Leman, through the strange emotions stirring in his heart, he vaguely saw certain scenes.
He couldn’t understand what he saw, but he was certain it was a glimpse of the future.
He could see only a corner and couldn’t grasp the full picture.
The sky was filled with red, which he couldn’t tell if it was the red of resentment, the red of the Crimson Courtyard, or some other deeper shade of red.
Everything he saw was being consumed by that streak of red.
He didn’t know what that red represented, just that what he saw absolutely must not happen.
For this, he had to do something.
Before he could sink deeper into the vision, he relied on his strong will to forcibly break free from the illusion.
Damn, his Inspiration was high, and he saw some weird stuff.
He took a deep breath and turned to say, "Hui, I want to eat fish."
Fang Hui waved his hand, "Arrange it!"
Everyone went to the reserved private room, and soon they understood the purpose of Fang Hui’s feast today.
He had brought the policewoman who saved him during an emergency evacuation before.
Fang Hui’s girlfriend is named Meng Yawen, she sports a neat short haircut, her demeanor is professional, and she exudes a heroic aura.
If an AI were to generate a "female cop" image, and it didn’t use Meng Yawen as a model, that means the AI still needs practice.
According to convention, anyone who catches Fang Hui’s eye is no ordinary person.
Meng Yawen works at the Wanghai City Headquarter, she has served in the military, even as a special forces soldier, and after retiring she returned to Wanghai City and joined the Wanghai Headquarter.
Though Fang Hui introduced her casually, a little thought reveals the girl’s background is somewhat profound.
While eating, Fang Hui talked about his post-graduation plans.
With guidance from his uncle, he wants to become an adventure influencer, specializing in filming newly discovered special natural landscapes.
In the past six months, many remarkable natural landscapes have started appearing worldwide, these landscapes are bizarre and otherworldly, differing from other scenic spots on Blue Star, as though coming from another realm.
Players like Wu Chang of the Abyssal Game know these landscapes are remnants of instances causing uncontrolled erosion, the aftermath of the removed erosion crisis.
Yet the official explanation is that these are special areas previously unexplored by humanity.
As the number of such special areas keeps increasing, both the video platforms Douyin, Kuaishou, and Bilibili have seen groups of content creators using them as material for filming.
After hearing this, Wu Chang felt a bit concerned; those places were once instances, and even if the visible erosion crisis is resolved, who knows what hidden dangers might lurk.
"Hui, I feel there’s something strange about those places, what if there’s radiation or toxins? Your Yawen works for the government, she surely knows more than me. You should listen to her opinion."
He tried to persuade Meng Yawen to join him in dissuading Fang Hui, but to his surprise, Meng Yawen wasn’t worried, instead she said:
"It’s okay, whatever Fang Hui likes to do, let him do well. I also like adventures, I can accompany him when he goes, then there’s no need to worry about accidents."
Fang Hui was deeply moved and held Meng Yawen’s hand.
"Yawen, no matter where we go, I’ll always be with you."
Watching the two become mushy, for a moment, the room was filled with a sour taste.
The sour taste of jealousy.
Seeing that he couldn’t persuade them, Wu Chang gave up.
After dinner, Fang Hui and Meng Yawen were nowhere to be seen, leaving the three single guys to return to the dorm together.
He Wei muttered, "A love saint is truly a love saint, it only takes half a month to mix with the target of his affection."
Wu Chang patted He Wei on the shoulder, comfortingly:
"Cheer up, Fang Hui has only Meng Yawen, but your computer and portable hard drive have thousands of teachers waiting for you. You’ve already won too much."
He Wei: "Damn!"
In the days that followed, it took Wu Chang two days to recover from the vision he saw during the Inspiration burst.
If any ordinary person had caught a glimpse of what he saw, their Sanity value would have gone to zero instantly.
Only he managed not to collapse after witnessing it; his Will Attribute even increased by 15 points.
Renewing his spirit, Wu Chang turned back into a sunny and cheerful young man, but upon looking at the Attribute Panel, his mood turned sour.
An extremely urgent and very real problem lay before him.
He’s out of money.