HM Chapter 35

The items in the system store were clearly linked to the “Prank Game” instance, though their descriptions were rather strange.

For instance, the current item on display looked remarkably like the wardrobe Yuan Yuxue had hidden in during the first game.

[Neighbor's Wardrobe]

[Description: Love is impossible to hide, just like how I hid in the wardrobe but was still found by your husband.]

Yuan Yuxue: “??”

Confused, he continued to browse and found the item's function detailed below the description:

“Not detected by any ghost units for three minutes. Afterward, it applies a 15-minute debuff attracting all ghost units' attention.”

Yuan Yuxue pondered, substituting “ghost units” with “enemy units.” When he tried to purchase it, a “points insufficient” prompt appeared, and he noticed the price.

Exactly 1000 points.

Yuan Yuxue: “.”

The price was equivalent to one unit of energy, which was not suitable.

Ignoring his current lack of 1000 points, he moved on to the next item.

[Wishing Diary]

The diary looked very similar to the one left by “Mom,” with a gray cover and a hefty feel.

[Description: Wish for whatever you want, if it comes true, consider me a loser.]

Yuan Yuxue had grown accustomed to disregarding the unhelpful descriptions and focused on the function.

“Make a wish. Once the wish is granted, you will pay an unexpected price in exchange.”

The cost was 3000 points.

Although very useful, it was even more expensive.

Yuan Yuxue silently examined the third item refreshed in the store—

[Medical Apparatus]

[Description: Little kid, don't cry, the shot won't hurt. The nurse's head comforted the child while holding the needle.]

Yuan Yuxue stared at the description for a full three seconds, feeling a strange sense of dark humor, before moving on to the function.

“Summon a knife-wielding ghost that will indiscriminately attack everything it sees, including other ghosts.”

The price was 1500 points.

Yuan Yuxue considered closing the random store, finding the items too expensive.

However, just before closing it, he noticed the last item refreshed and clicked on it.

The image of the item was almost identical to the mask he currently possessed, now in ruins, making Yuan Yuxue think it was a supply from the lab.

[Mask]

[Description: A useless item—who would really want to buy this?]

Desperately needing it, Yuan Yuxue: “……”

The function, however, was quite proper, stating: “A fragile, ordinary mask. When worn, no one will find it strange that you are wearing a mask, and no one will notice your appearance.”

Yuan Yuxue’s lashes trembled slightly as he cautiously checked the price—

80 points.

He could just afford it.

Yuan Yuxue quickly spent his last points, leaving a pitiful balance of 5 points, and exchanged for the mask, putting it on.

At this moment, the system panel popped up a prompt asking if he wanted to enter the “safe zone.” Yuan Yuxue stared at the option for two seconds before tentatively selecting confirm.

…

On the official survival player forum, a newly posted thread quickly garnered numerous replies and made it to the popular section.

[Spam] Shocking! A default ID suddenly topped the newcomer points ranking, straight to number one

1st Floor Climbing Levels is Exhausting (Lv3): I casually refreshed the newcomer points list, hoping to find some good candidates for a fixed team, and saw a default ID shooting to the top. The terrifying part is, their points are 18252, over ten thousand more than the second place...

2nd Floor Wishing for a Safe Run Next Time (Lv1): Eighteen thousand points? Is that real? Isn’t the newcomer points list only for those who entered the survival world within thirty days? Even if you enter instances every day for a month, you can’t accumulate that many points...

3rd Floor Climbing Levels is Exhausting (Lv3): It wasn’t accumulated, it shot up in one go.

The ID wasn’t in the top hundred before. Now it’s terrifyingly thought-provoking—could they have gotten eighteen thousand points from one instance? Even the top-ranked veterans didn’t achieve that as newcomers!!

4th Floor Soy Sauce (Lv1): I double-checked to make sure the first post wasn’t exaggerating. Only then did I dare believe it. Terrifying indeed.

10th Floor Fake Buster (Lv2): Seriously, Lv3? Is tricking people fun? This kind of obviously fake thing and you still post?

113th Floor Climbing Levels is Exhausting (Lv3): ?? How am I tricking anyone? What’s the point of making this up? The rankings are visible to everyone.

116th Floor Embarrassed for You (Lv3): Yeah, everyone can see, so they know you’re lying.

…

207th Floor Climbing Levels is Exhausting (Lv3): Help, why so many scolding posts! Stop it, I really saw it then! Refresh now and it's gone! Did that newcomer instantly use up almost twenty thousand points?

344th Floor Fake Buster (Lv2): More lies? How could anyone spend that many points in one go? Let me help you make it believable—the newcomer got super lucky in their first instance, drew several high-value items in the random store, exchanged them all, and cleared out the store. Then you pulled them into your fixed team, and they told you about it—believable? If not, I can make it more credible.

Probably overwhelmed by the posts accusing him of making things up and comparing veterans, the thread’s creator stopped replying, but the thread continued to climb in popularity, until a reply on the thousandth floor abruptly changed the tone and quickly exploded the forum—

1001st Floor Big Boss (Lv7): The OP didn’t lie. I took a screenshot.

[Points Screenshot.jpg]

Moreover, they dropped from eighteen thousand to eight thousand points in an instant, then disappeared from the ranking. I’m also curious what they bought.

…

The player forum is semi-anonymous, with player IDs linked to their historical points total (including redeemed points) displayed as levels. Level 7 indicates a player with over 500,000 points, a well-known veteran, rarely seen on the forum, whose appearance caused a frenzy.

With a Level 7 veteran vouching and providing a screenshot, no one doubted the post’s authenticity anymore, instead focusing on the astonishing information.

A newcomer with such potential was explosive news from any perspective. The current top player, renowned for their meteoric rise during their newcomer period, was widely known among the player base.

Jealousy, malice, and those eager to curry favor abounded.

Some frantically sought to be carried through instances by the newcomer, while others, consumed with envy, viciously cursed this talent to die in the next instance. Of course, many high-ranking teams extended olive branches.

Yet, within this thread, the central question of debate had become rather peculiar—

How did he spend that many points so quickly??

Unfortunately, the player in question couldn’t answer their query.

Yuan Yuxue had not yet found a way to access the player forum.

However, he had pieced together some of the rules through the system panel.

He was currently in one of the many player safe zones, named “City of Delicacies,” which unlike other uniquely themed safe zones, was notable only for its abundant and affordable food, attracting numerous laid-back players, earning it the nickname “Retirement City.”

In the safe zone, the use of tools and talents was prohibited, and fighting was forbidden outside designated areas, with every player protected and bound by rules.

Each player could live in the safe zone for seven days free of charge, then pay a daily fee of 1000 points, with a mandatory instance every month.

Yuan Yuxue automatically translated “entering an instance” as undertaking a mission.

So, for a moment, he was slightly hesitant—

Only one mission every seven days, or even once a month…

Such a good deal?

He wouldn’t be destroyed?

Yuan Yuxue grew confused, seriously recalling if the lab had recently proposed any changes to the treatment of combat robots… apparently not.

He even suspected he had been sold to another dimensional center by the lab.

But he liked it here.

And after completing a mission, instead of being placed in a sealed “cocoon,” he could move freely within the safe zone. This was a treatment beyond his conceptual understanding.

He could scan many humans around him.

Yet these humans seemed indifferent to him, neither avoiding him with disgust nor being overly cautious, just passing by ordinarily.

He wasn’t specially restricted here and could move freely.

Yuan Yuxue had no concept of “free time” and didn’t realize he could do anything he wanted after completing a mission.

Thus, since entering the safe zone, he hadn’t moved from his spot. He sat on a bench, eyes slightly downcast, staring dazedly at a small flower sprouting from a crack in the stone.

He had been sitting for a long time, and among the passersby, some ignored him, some found him oddly aloof and avoided him, and some, seeing him sitting alone for so long, felt a strange sense of pity.

“Uh,” a girl approached him, “are you a newcomer?”

From Yuan Yuxue’s perspective, he saw her white leather shoes.

Yuan Yuxue had indeed heard Curly and the others refer to him as a “newcomer,” so he responded, “Yes.”

The girl looked at his slender figure, appearing quite frail, seemingly just an adult, and without companions, felt even more sympathetic. Standing before him, she comforted him, “It’s normal for newcomers to be scared. When I first got selected for this damn survival game, I cursed for two days straight and cried secretly at night.”

“But after a few instances, you get used to it. People are the most adaptable creatures on Earth, surviving day by day.”

The girl handed him a warm, freshly bought piece of bread, “Don’t lose hope. Stay strong and survive. One day, we’ll get out of this damned place.”

Yuan Yuxue: “...

“…Thank you.”