Chapter 1 Anomaly

In late July, Feng Bujue suddenly stopped logging into the game, claiming he was “in seclusion to write.”

This sudden and unusual behavior naturally caused a great stir among his circle of friends…

Fortunately, he didn’t have many friends…

Xiao Tan was the easiest to fool, just like the song says—"Tell him a lie twice and he'll believe it’s true."

An Yueqin was also easy to deal with. After all, she hadn’t known Brother Jue for long. As long as Feng Bujue delivered quality work on time… the editor had nothing to say.

As for Bao Qing… his relationship with Brother Jue was currently very delicate. When the two of them met alone, the atmosphere was like a secret rendezvous between underground party members. But when they interacted in a crowded environment, it always felt like they were putting on an act…

Finally, let’s talk about Ruo Yu and Xiao Ling.

The two of them… were clearly not so easily fooled.

However, Brother Jue soon realized that he didn’t need to fool them. Because shortly after he gained Spiritual Consciousness, he discovered that… both Li Ruoyu and Gu Xiaoling had Spiritual Consciousness as well.

Feng Bujue understood that since he could perceive their abilities, they could definitely sense his. Therefore, he neither raised questions nor offered explanations. The meaning was… let’s keep the matter of Spiritual Consciousness unspoken, and no one will mention it; you decide when to reveal it.

…

August 4th, 8:00 AM.

Feng Bujue went for his usual ten-kilometer run and then returned home.

“Phew…” He took a long breath as he pushed open the door and closed it behind him.

“Hmm… my physical fitness has been improving by leaps and bounds lately… At this rate, I can go out and right wrongs…” he muttered as he changed his shoes and headed towards the bathroom as usual.

Three seconds later, just as he rounded the corner of the living room, something caught his eye…

“Hey…” His first reaction was to turn and question Assas, who was on the sofa, “What happened to my game pod…”

Brother Jue asked this because… in the half-hour he was out running, the original game pod in his home had been replaced with a new one that was larger and slightly different in style.

“Woody’s idea.” Assas stuck out her tongue and licked her lips. “The old one has been disposed of for you, and I replaced it with a new one, meow.”

“You could have at least asked me beforehand…” Feng Bujue muttered.

“There was nothing to ask.” Assas replied, “It doesn’t cost you a penny, and the standard pod is replaced with a luxury pod. Plus, it’s a one-stop service for moving, replacing, and installing. You have no reason to refuse.” She paused. “Because I know you hate trouble, I made sure to get it done quickly while you were out running, meow.”

“According to you, I should praise your thoughtful service and give you a good review then…” Feng Bujue replied with narrowed eyes.

“There’s no need for that.” Assas rubbed her face with her paws and said, “Giving you the luxury pod is also to allow you to play the game better and perform better in the gamble.” She raised a paw and pointed at the game pod. “As the saying goes… ‘A craftsman must first sharpen his tools if he wants to do his job well.’ You’re almost level fifty, so giving you some hardware support is only right, meow.”

“Heh…” Feng Bujue chuckled. “Actually, Woody just saw that I haven’t been online for a long time and is using this method to remind me, right…”

“Correct.” Assas replied, “And he already predicted that you would say the above sentence with a smile, so he asked me to convey the following message to you after you finished speaking—‘Feng Bujue, although you are gifted, your foundation is unstable… With your qualities, when practicing the Dun Jia Heavenly Book, a profound Taoist study, you must not be impatient, otherwise, there is a risk of Qi Deviation.

For the past half-month, your abilities have been growing rapidly, and now you should slow down the progress temporarily, in accordance with the principle of gradual progress.

Therefore, I suggest you take a three-day break and level up to fifty in the game first.

Hehehe…’”

“Why do you have to repeat the ‘hehehe’…” Feng Bujue interrupted.

“He said to be ‘exactly as he said’, so I just did as I was told, meow~” Assas replied, “Okay, I’ve delivered the message. I’m going back to sleep, don’t bother me, haa… meow, meow…” As she spoke, she yawned… and curled up her body and tail.

…

Half an hour passed quickly.

Feng Bujue took a shower, ate a self-made nutritious breakfast, and then eagerly lay down in the game pod.

To be fair, he was very happy to get a free new pod. After all, the interior of the luxury pod was more spacious and comfortable to lie in; it also came with an expensive air filtration system, humidity control system, and temperature control system.

Besides… he hadn’t been online for a long time, and for a somewhat playful… oh no… a professional writer who liked to gather material, the game itself was also very attractive.

[Welcome to our company's product. Scanning has begun, please wait.]

[Scanning complete, citizen ID confirmed: sh13***313, name: Feng Bujue; connected device: nL2055 luxury single-person game pod, no abnormal external hardware detected; cardiopulmonary function is within normal range; neural connection program is ready, please select the connection type.]

[The connection type is non-sleep mode, adjusting… adjustment complete, please confirm loading the game or returning to the previous option.]

[Program starting, loading the game in ten seconds…]

After a familiar voice prompt, Feng Bujue entered the long-missed login space.

As usual, he first opened his in-game mailbox.

Because he hadn't logged in for a long time, the mailbox was full of messages. Fortunately, Brother Jue was used to this. He skillfully operated and dealt with all the letters from the past half-month.

“Okay… let me see…” Then, Feng Bujue opened the social tab, “Wow… there are quite a few people online on this weekday morning…”

This sentence was actually nonsense. Most of his friends were professional players, whose job was to play games, so it was understandable that they were online on weekday mornings.

“Hmm… I’m the only one online from the Hell Front.” Brother Jue then muttered, “Okay…”

At this moment, he suddenly realized… that he was the most unprincipled person, so… he decided to solo a Nightmare scenario to calm his nerves.

Considering that Brother Jue's character attributes have not changed much since the last scenario, I will not repeat them here to avoid wordiness.

In short… after skillfully operating on the touch screen for a while, he entered the queue for the single-player survival mode (Nightmare)…