Chapter 1 Half a Face

Half of an aged, pallid face appeared in the crack that had been forced open. The old woman’s bloodshot pupils looked black in this black-and-white world, fixed on Feng Bujue.

Since the door wasn’t completely open yet, Feng Bujue had two choices. One, he could simply yank the door open and greet her with his pipe wrench. Two, he could observe, wait, and think…

“Did I disturb you?” she actually spoke.

Feng Bujue didn’t answer the question directly, but tentatively asked, “Excuse me… are you feeling unwell? I heard shouting.”

“It’s an old problem. I’m very sorry if I caused you any trouble.”

“Not at all… I didn’t understand the situation. My apologies,” Feng Bujue replied.

Upon hearing this, the old woman glanced at Feng Bujue again, then turned and slowly walked back into her room.

Feng Bujue closed the door and muttered softly, “Is this thing a person or a ghost…” He walked toward the tatami mats. “If it’s a person… then this is a serious rheumatism patient. If it’s a ghost…” He sat down cross-legged, picked up the teapot on the table, and poured himself another cup of tea. “Then since I entered this script, I haven’t encountered a single person yet. All I’ve seen are demons and monsters.”

Creak, creak… More sounds came from above him.

“What is it this time?” Feng Bujue looked up, staring at the crossbeam under the ceiling, from which the sound originated.

Suddenly, the light bulb above him flickered twice. The next second, the wire holding the bulb snapped, and the bulb went out, dropping to the floor with a crash and shattering.

The room plunged into darkness, and at that moment, a bolt of lightning flashed outside, casting an eerie shadow on the floor through the window bars and curtains.

Two seconds later, another light source illuminated the room.

Feng Bujue calmly took out his flashlight, turned it on, and shined it directly upwards, muttering, “Please, let it be a rat.”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a rat.

Only a few seconds had passed from when the light in the room went out to when Feng Bujue turned on his flashlight, but now, what hung from the beam was no longer a light bulb, but a corpse.

It was a female corpse, dressed as a housewife, looking quite young, not even thirty years old. Her face was twisted, her eyes rolled back, and her mouth was half-open, with traces of saliva running down her chin.

The corpse’s face was directly facing Feng Bujue, as if looking down at him. In this atmosphere, it wouldn’t be surprising if the female corpse suddenly came to life and attacked Feng Bujue.

But what happened next once again exceeded Feng Bujue’s expectations.

He suddenly lost control of his body and returned to the state he was in when watching the opening CG of the script. The scene before him began to change on its own.

Then, the image in Feng Bujue’s eyes changed from a dilapidated room to a misty street scene, and he was standing on the sidewalk.

Even more inexplicably, the system voice rang out again at this moment:

[It’s an afternoon in November. You’re about to visit a friend in town alone.]

“What’s going on? Another script introduction?” Feng Bujue was encountering this situation for the first time, but he still listened carefully and recorded every word of the system’s prompt.

[An hour ago, the sky was clear and bright, the sun shining brightly, and there wasn’t a single cloud in the azure sky. But an unexpected fog descended without warning, and the surroundings were shrouded in an unknown darkness. A sense of fear缠绕缠绕you, your will almost collapsing, frantically running, avoiding some non-existent threat. Eventually, you lost your way in the fog.]

[Your mind is in chaos, your memories are blurred, you don’t know if everything around you is real or just an illusion, you don’t know… if you can even reach your destination.]

As those words ended, Feng Bujue regained his ability to move, and he also received a new task:

[Main Quest Triggered]

[Find your friend's address and arrive there.]

“No way… two main quests?” Feng Bujue really did see another main quest in the game menu. The previous quest, [Stay in the house until dawn], was still there and unchecked, but now there was a new one added below.

“Hmm… what about the corpse from before? How did I get here? Am I supposed to play several roles in this script?” Feng Bujue pondered. “Or… am I still in that room, just seeing a hallucination similar to a death flashback?”

This Nightmare Mode script was becoming increasingly puzzling. The main quest only indicated what to do next, without revealing any information related to the script’s ultimate goal. Feng Bujue was now completely clueless about the plot and could only be led by the nose.

The dense fog churned heavily, slowly swirling around him. There wasn’t a trace of wind, as if the fog was moving under its own volition.

Feng Bujue habitually checked to see if he had gained any plot items, but he found that the set of keys was gone, and in his suit pocket, there was now a slip of paper.

He took it out and looked at it. The paper read: 6 Ban-cho 4-5.

“Seriously…” Feng Bujue said.

This time, there were still shadows of people nearby. In the fog, the shadows appeared, disappeared, then reappeared, then disappeared… indicating that he wasn’t alone. Feng Bujue could hear the footsteps of these shadows, as if they were moving around him, maintaining a certain distance, without anyone approaching.

Click, click, click…

That annoying sound was still there, very faint, very distant, almost imperceptible. When he listened carefully, it disappeared again.

Feng Bujue took a step, cautiously dragging his feet forward, walking through the suffocating darkness. Occasionally, cars would pass by on the road beside him. With such poor visibility in this small town, the cars were naturally moving very slowly. Like slowly crawling behemoths, blurry shadows appeared from afar, then suddenly disappeared.

Although a strange and dark environment enveloped Feng Bujue, he didn’t immerse himself in this atmosphere, but remained vigilant, observing and analyzing everything around him.

The cold, damp air permeated this sea of darkness. Even the headlights of passing cars couldn’t provide much light. Feng Bujue tried to illuminate the way with his flashlight, but the light couldn’t penetrate the dense fog in front of him. Visibility was less than three meters.

He couldn’t even see the road clearly, let alone find an unfamiliar address in an unfamiliar town.

After walking for a while, he saw a street lamp not far away, the pole standing firm and straight, emitting a weak, flickering light. Feng Bujue held onto the railing on the side of the road and quickly approached it.

Next to the lamppost was a bus stop. Feng Bujue quickly walked closer, wanting to see if there was a town map or something similar.

The result was gratifying. There was indeed a map.

Feng Bujue quickly found the location of the bus stop he was at, and then found the location of 6 Ban-cho. Estimating from the map’s scale, it was only about two kilometers away, and at his pace, it would take a maximum of twenty minutes to walk there.

Knowing the route made things much easier. Feng Bujue had a good memory and wouldn’t get lost after seeing the map once. To be on the safe side, he also memorized the names of all the streets near his route to prevent getting off track, and then he set off.

After walking for a few minutes, he remembered something else. What would he see if he used [Winning Strategy] now?

Judging from the current situation, this script didn’t seem to have a main boss. Instead, it was made up of many strange monsters, and the plot was mysterious, bizarre, and extremely grotesque. However, if all of this was an illusion created by a certain entity, such as an evil spirit, then using the skill might give him some breakthrough clues.

Anyway, the skill didn’t consume anything, so he might as well use it. Feng Bujue activated it.

Who knew that the next second, his own face would quickly flash before his eyes? A blank, terrified face with wide eyes, but without a trace of life in the pupils.

There was no information in the menu, only a severe headache was transmitted. Imagine the pain of a hammer hitting a finger heavily happening inside the skull…

“What’s going on?” Feng Bujue supported his forehead. “What was that just now? What’s with this script? Could it be that my skill is ineffective in Nightmare Difficulty?”

Just like everything else that happened in this script, he couldn’t get an answer. Everything seemed mysterious, unknown, and chilling.

…………

Feng Bujue walked this distance for nearly thirty minutes. The actual distance was somewhat different from his estimate, and walking through this strange fog inevitably affected his speed.

But he eventually succeeded in reaching his destination. It was a Western-style mansion with a small garden outside, where flowers were blooming in the flower beds, but in this humid fog, he couldn’t smell any fragrance.

The iron gate outside the garden wasn’t locked, and opened with a push. Feng Bujue walked straight through the garden and arrived at the front of the mansion. He knocked on the door, but no one responded. He waited for a moment, but it was the same.

Feng Bujue tried to turn the doorknob. The door was actually open. He pushed the door open and entered the dark foyer. Although the house was fully furnished, it still felt very spacious.

[Current quest completed, main quest updated]

[Explore the mansion]

A cluster of flickering lights lit up from the second-floor corridor. Feng Bujue naturally accepted such obvious guidance with pleasure. He walked up the stairs to the second floor, his steps firm and his breathing steady, but every step he took caused the wooden planks to creak, which was very harsh.

When he arrived on the second floor, the light disappeared, but Feng Bujue still had his flashlight to illuminate the way. Ahead was a corner. He quickly walked towards the first door directly in front of him, and without hesitation, pushed it open.

The moment he opened the door, a strange scent entered Feng Bujue’s nose. It was a very strong smell, a mixture of perfume and blood.

In the room, there was a huge double bed, and a woman, or rather… a female corpse, was lying on the bed.

Although she was completely naked, her body was completely rotten, and blood had stained the entire bed red. Her eyes were open, and her face was facing the door, her empty eyes staring at the spot where Feng Bujue was standing.

And standing next to the bed was a monster, hunched over, with the neck and head of a vulture, the upper body of a human, and the lower body of a spider, with a huge silk sac and eight insect legs.

The monster’s mouth was full of blood, which was slowly dripping from the corners of its mouth. It seemed that Feng Bujue, the uninvited guest, had disturbed its meal.

Seeing someone push the door open, the monster made a strange cawing sound in its throat and bypassed the bed, approaching Feng Bujue.

Feng Bujue didn’t want to engage in close combat with such a strangely shaped creature. He quickly took out his pistol and pulled the trigger at the monster, firing five shots in one go. At this distance of less than five meters, and indoors, Feng Bujue, who at least had a D in Marksmanship Specialization, hit every shot.

What he didn’t expect was… that this monster was unexpectedly vulnerable. The first two bullets hit its chest, seemingly causing it to lose its ability to move, and when the next three shots were fired, it had already fallen to the ground and was no longer moving.

“What the hell…” Feng Bujue looked at the disgusting-looking monster and felt that this script was becoming more and more inexplicable.

He put away his gun, walked to the female corpse on the bed, wanting to see if there were any clues. The corpse was lying flat, motionless. Feng Bujue suddenly realized that the female corpse’s face looked a bit familiar.

“Wait… isn’t this the one who hanged herself?” Feng Bujue suddenly realized.

Just then, the female corpse suddenly moved. Her rotting body suddenly sat up, turned her face towards Feng Bujue, opened her mouth wide, and let out an extremely shrill scream.

Feng Bujue felt like his eardrums were about to be pierced. Just as he was about to swing his pipe wrench to shut her up, unexpectedly, a strange scene occurred again…

He once again lost control of his body, and what he saw became CG footage again. The corpse-reviving woman, the bizarre monster, the mansion behind the garden… all disappeared, and the scene changed again.

In the blink of an eye, the environment in front of Feng Bujue became a busy office. He was sitting behind a large desk, the computer on the desk still using a CRT monitor, and the case was also on the desk, with files and office supplies piled up next to it.

[The company you work for is facing a crisis of bankruptcy, and the superiors have made a decision to lay off employees.]

“This jump is too big! There has to be a limit to stream of consciousness!” Feng Bujue was truly at a loss this time.

[As the company’s youngest deputy minister, you have been assigned as the person in charge of the layoff work. You must dismiss a large number of seniors who have more experience than you, and be responsible for explaining to them, thus facing tremendous pressure.]

“Hey! What’s with this plot? Please, just let me stay in a haunted house for a night or kill monsters in a mansion!” Feng Bujue exclaimed in his heart, “Suddenly, it’s become this kind of social realism plot! This is the scariest thing! Speaking of which, is this related to the previous two plot lines? Is it the same person? No way! This guy’s house was destroyed by a typhoon, he’s responsible for layoffs at work during the day, his house is haunted at night, and the friend he made lives in a mansion and raises monsters? Is this guy even human?”

[After the lunch break, the office became busy again…]

The introduction ended again, only explaining some dispensable settings, and then throwing Feng Bujue another main quest:

[Main Quest Triggered]

[Work until quitting time.]

Only one thing remained consistent, and that was that everything around him was still black and white.

Feng Bujue could move again, but now he really wanted to smash his head into the monitor: “Saying to work until quitting time… at least explain what ‘my’ job is… also, what time does this company get off work…”

Everyone in the office was busy, running around with files, or sitting in front of computers, typing quickly on the keyboards, and no one could be seen slacking off.

Several young female employees even seemed to be rushing when printing something, not to mention eating snacks, looking in the mirror, or even chatting. The male employees were even more like they were facing a formidable enemy, with constipated expressions on their faces. Some even had a white band tied around their heads, with words like “Guts” written on it, making going to work like taking the college entrance exam.

“Hmm… is this the power of layoffs,” Feng Bujue said. “Speaking of which… the way they are now, they’re actually doing it for me to see, right.”

“Hirata-kun!” A voice interrupted Feng Bujue’s thoughts.

Feng Bujue turned his head and saw a middle-aged man with a receding hairline, wearing black-framed glasses, around forty years old.

“Is he talking to me…” Feng Bujue thought to himself. “So my name is ‘Hirata’… a name that’s destined to be broken and dead, where do I even start complaining about this…”

“Hmm… yes,” Feng Bujue said, looking at the other person.

“This is the financial report for the last quarter. The department head needs it before he leaves work today,” the middle-aged man said, handing over a document.

Feng Bujue thought to himself: The department head needs it before he leaves work, what does it mean that you’re giving it to me, the deputy minister… Even if the department head went to take a dump, you could put it on his desk, right? Are you trying to show off your work ability in front of me? Or are you afraid that after putting the document on the department head’s desk, other colleagues will secretly throw the report you made into the paper shredder to screw you over?

Feng Bujue sighed and said in a low voice, “Why am I thinking about this… it’s none of my business.”

“Hirata-kun, what did you say?” The middle-aged man didn’t hear him clearly and asked with some confusion.

“Ah? Oh… oh, I got it, I’ll pass it on to the department head. Just give it to me,” Feng Bujue replied casually.

The middle-aged man respectfully bowed to a junior: “Thank you for your trouble, Hirata-kun,” and then turned and left.

“What is this… is this script trying to tell me that being unemployed is more terrifying than being haunted…” Feng Bujue curled up one corner of his mouth, loosened his collar, casually threw the report aside, and then began to look for clues related to the game.

There were so many objects on this desk, and so many people in the office, he didn’t believe that he couldn’t even find out the basic situation of “Hirata-kun”.