In a daze, Zhang Yuanqing felt something soft and full pressing on him, making it hard to breathe.
Opening his eyes, he saw a round, delicate face and a mischievous smile.
Aunt Jiang hummed:
"You brat, you dare stand me up. I'll sit you to death."
She sat on her nephew in a squat, leaning forward and plopping her butt down hard.
Zhang Yuanqing groaned, almost suffocating. Annoyed, he arched his back, flipping the woman over.
Amidst his aunt's "Ouch!" of surprise, he saw that the sky outside the window was dark. Without realizing it, he had slept from morning until evening.
"Dinner's ready!"
Aunt Jiang lay on her side on the bed, kicking her nephew's butt with a flurry of feet.
"Don't retaliate, okay? I respect the elderly and love the young. I won't stoop to your level."
Zhang Yuanqing slipped to the edge of the bed, put on his shoes, and walked out of the room.
A rich aroma filled the living room. His maternal grandparents were sitting at the dining table, eating. His grandfather had silver hair, was thin and tall, and had a serious, stern face.
"So, what do you think of the date we arranged for you this time?"
At the dining table, his grandmother asked with anticipation.
"Not bad, earns a million a year, a senior executive. Very satisfied!"
Aunt Jiang nodded like a chick pecking rice.
"You say that every time, and every time you block them." His grandmother poked her daughter's forehead hard with her finger, scolding:
"Be more considerate. Think about how old you are."
"Yeah, yeah..." Zhang Yuanqing gloated, then Jiang Yu'er kicked his shin hard.
The two started kicking each other under the table, causing the table to clatter.
"If you're not going to eat, go back to your room."
His grandmother roared, and Zhang Yuanqing and his aunt immediately lowered their heads and shoveled rice into their mouths.
"Grandma, when is Cousin coming back?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
His uncle's family lived across the hall. Recently, his wealthy aunt and his unruly uncle had gone abroad on vacation. During this time, his cousin had been eating dinner here.
"He said he's working overtime tonight and won't be back... That guy, he works like his life depends on it. He's the complete opposite of his idle father." His grandmother complained.
Overtime... Zhang Yuanqing let out a barely concealed "Oh" of disappointment.
After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yu'er returned to their respective rooms, leaving his grandmother to clean up the mess.
.........
Back in his own room, Zhang Yuanqing locked the door and picked up his phone to call his cousin.
Since he couldn't say it in person, he would call instead.
Even though communicating over the phone wasn't as clear as talking face-to-face.
The phone connected quickly, but the loudspeaker played a message in gibberish, indicating that the phone was turned off.
"In a meeting?"
Zhang Yuanqing hung up the phone helplessly. As the captain of the Public Security Team, his cousin was busy with work, and his schedule was irregular. It was common for him to be unreachable.
He was used to it.
Zhang Yuanqing lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, letting his thoughts wander...
Assuming that Bing Ge's disappearance was deliberate, and the target was the black card, then I need to be careful. The safest way is to hand the black card over to my cousin, and then have him report it to his superiors.
Given the administrative level of the Songhai City Public Security Bureau, the influence of the forces from the Jiangnan Province is limited.
But the problem is, the black card is gone. That's the biggest headache... Zhang Yuanqing scratched his head in distress.
A black card that can disappear into thin air is terrifying. If he can't find the black card, he can't turn it over to the country.
He can only be honest with his cousin first, then have him report it to his superiors, and then follow their instructions. He's just an ordinary college student; he can't do anything.
Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing felt a pain in his forehead, a burning sensation. He reached out to scratch it, and the pain intensified.
Huh? It's both painful and burning. What's going on...
Somewhat bewildered, he got out of bed and walked to the full-length mirror by the window, scrutinizing his reflection.
The mirror reflected the face of a young man, with delicate features and fair skin, lacking the perseverance forged by social hardship and the vicissitudes of time.
Only the vigorous energy of youth.
On his forehead was a black crescent moon mark, lifelike, with clearly visible irregular patches on the surface.
At the bottom of the crescent moon mark was something that resembled a progress bar, showing: 90%
This... Zhang Yuanqing staggered back in shock. He rubbed his forehead hard, but the mark was like a tattoo, impossible to rub off.
How could I have something like this on my forehead? When did it appear? Confused thoughts flashed through his mind, mixed with panic and bewilderment.
"Wait! This, this pattern is the black moon on the card."
He was stunned at first, then the idea suddenly dawned on him.
The black card wasn't lost; it had entered his body, in a way he couldn't understand, and turned into the mark on his forehead.
Just as he was feeling lost, he noticed that the progress bar under the black moon mark had changed to 92%. As the numbers jumped, his forehead felt a surge of heat.
What is this, a supernatural phenomenon? High technology? Hallucination?
At that moment, the contents of the letter resurfaced in his mind: This is a gift that can change your life...
"The black card is really a treasure, so my previous guess was correct. Someone coveted this card. Bing Ge didn't want them to succeed, so he sent it to me, and that's why he disappeared..."
While worrying about Bing Ge, Zhang Yuanqing stared at the progress bar with anticipation.
What would happen when the progress bar reached 100%? Having witnessed the strange phenomenon before his eyes, he was full of curiosity about what would happen next.
After a few more bouts of burning pain, the progress bar at the bottom of the black moon finally completed its journey, reaching 100%.
The next moment, a voice with no emotional fluctuations, devoid of feeling, sounded in his ear:
[Character Card Reboot Complete...]
[Name: Unnamed (Please Name Immediately)]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Night Wanderer]
[Level: 0]
[Skills: None]
[Experience: 0%]
[Morality: 60 (Initial Value)]
Under the Morality value was another line of notes:
[Never let your Morality value fall below 60. You may not have had a choice before, but now please be a good person.]
Looking at the fluorescent blue character attribute panel that appeared before his eyes, Zhang Yuanqing was stunned for a long time, wondering what this was.
He tentatively said, "System?"
As a skilled internet surfer, extensive knowledge was a must.
The emotionless voice echoed in his ears again:
[Please Name Your Character Immediately!]
The attribute panel, frozen in mid-air, popped up a fluorescent blue handwriting box.
Not a system. Otherwise, the intelligence is too low. It can't even communicate... With the idea of taking it one step at a time, Zhang Yuanqing stretched out his finger and wrote his name:
Zhang Yuanqing
[Warning, Do Not Use Your Real Name.]
Can't use my real name? Zhang Yuanqing was stunned, then wrote a second name:
Yuanshi Tianzun
[Naming Successful! The Way of the Extraordinary will be activated in ten seconds, Yuanshi Tianzun, good luck!]
Listening to the echoing voice in his ear, Zhang Yuanqing was stunned for a moment, wondering what was going on. Activate The Way of the Extraordinary? Shouldn't you explain what The Way of the Extraordinary is first?
Before he could regain his composure, the ten-second countdown had already ended.
[Ding, The Way of the Extraordinary map has been activated. Welcome to "Night Wanderer - Sheling Tunnel", Number: 0079.]
[Difficulty Level: S]
[Type: Solo (Death Type)]
[Main Quest 1: Survive for Three Hours.]
[Main Quest 2: Explore The Way of the Extraordinary No. 0079, Current Exploration: 0%]
[Note: Non-The Way of the Extraordinary items cannot be brought in.]
[The Way of the Extraordinary No. 0079 Introduction: Do you know about the Sheling Tunnel, one of the ten strange tales of Songhai?]
[The Sheling Tunnel was built at the end of the last century. During the construction of the tunnel, a construction team entered the tunnel to excavate on a rainy night and disappeared into the tunnel, never to be seen again.
[The Public Security Bureau organized search teams to search for several days and found a worker in the mountains who had participated in the excavation that night, but the others were nowhere to be found.
[Although the survivor lived, he suffered some kind of inexplicable stimulation and became mentally ill... No matter how the police officers questioned him, he kept repeating only one sentence.
[He said: Don't enter the temple, don't enter the temple........]
The voice in his ear grew fainter and fainter, gradually becoming inaudible. The scenery in front of him, like the surface of a rippling lake, became distorted and blurred.
Soon, the picture gradually stabilized. Dim yellow lights shone on the uneven walls, and under his feet was a road paved with fine pebbles.
"Where is this?"
Zhang Yuanqing looked around in astonishment, discovering that he was in an old tunnel. The old-fashioned xenon lamps on the arched dome emitted a faint orange glow.
.......
ps: We're 11th in monthly tickets, thank you everyone, you guys are awesome.
Because it is a modern setting, some fictionalization is necessary. In this world, there is only the Public Security Bureau. Everyone is an old reader and should understand.