The knocking on the door outside grew increasingly intense.
The reinforced door, wrapped in sheet metal, had dents hammered into it, the entire door teetering on the brink of collapse.
It was indeed a non-human force.
Even while immersing himself in solving problems, Baiyu kept an eye on the state of the reinforced door. At this rate, the door should be able to hold out for a while longer.
But the troublesome thing was.
Black mist kept invading through the door's crevices, resembling flowing water spreading across the floor and walls.
Wherever the mist eroded, the surface rapidly aged, revealing withered yellow and gray marks.
"Simulation Realm..."
His face turned grim as he recalled relevant knowledge.
Chapter three of Volume Two of the "Mystical Manifesto"—The Simulation Realm, is formed when strange items, aberrations, and extraordinary entities evolve to a certain extent, resembling a domain-like area.
The Simulation Realm alters its surroundings, controlled at the creator's whim; once humans are swept into such a realm, the survival rate is less than one percent.
When it rains, it pours.
This damn world, whatever you fear comes true.
"I've lived a peaceful life for three years, viewing strangeness and aberrations only in the Canglan Daily. Yet, in this critical moment of unlocking a cheat, do I have to be so unlucky?"
Baiyu pondered back and forth, utterly perplexed.
Hold on.
Cheat?
Could it be related to this cheat of mine?
Baiyu focused his spirit, the translucent frame reappearing, only a line of small text was added under the counter.
"Novice mission: Complete the remaining thirteen mysticism problems before 12 o'clock tonight."
Shit!
It turns out those who harm you the most are your own teammates!
Baiyu slammed the table hard, he just wanted to peacefully immerse himself in problem-solving—was that wrong?
There was no time to think.
The advent of the Simulation Realm forced him to change his plan.
Due to the spreading black mist, the reinforced door was already rusty, it could crumble into a heap at any moment. Baiyu stuffed the exercise book with a pen at his waist, walked into the utility room, and pulled out a climbing rope.
The second rope was half-priced when the store had a sale.
His friend, who loved showing off, bought one, so Baiyu casually bought one too, but it's been lying unused in the utility room since.
Secured the climbing rope.
Baiyu stepped onto the window ledge, carefully climbing down the building's wall.
This was the last resort.
One slip and he'd be left hanging mid-air waiting to die, but the emergency situation left him no choice.
After descending the height of two floors, a blast sounded above Baiyu's head.
It was the sound of the reinforced door being breached.
A dense black mist enveloped the window at a visible speed, the entire room suddenly dimmed, the flowing darkness swallowing Baiyu's dwelling.
"The Simulation Realm is about to fully unfold, growing stronger with time!"
"What on earth did she come into contact with during her lifetime?"
Baiyu's face became solemn.
Extraordinary events occurring in the urban area are generally caused by extraordinary items or certain strangeness lurking in shadows.
The master had mentioned on more than one occasion how to handle extraordinary events in class: first, run; if you can escape the influence of an extraordinary event entirely, that's best.
If escaping is impossible.
Then try to minimize your presence, strive to survive like a salted fish, and wait for help.
Given this Simulation Realm's rate of expansion.
Baiyu knew he'd be swallowed before climbing down the building.
So escaping wouldn't work; either way, it would be a dead end. Baiyu gritted his teeth, stepped on the air-conditioning unit, and grabbed the protruding patterns on the wall.
From afar.
He looked like a human-shaped toad clinging to the wall.
At this moment he dared not breathe loudly.
Squeak, squeak...
A piercing noise echoed at his ear, at the apartment's window stood a figure swathed in black mist, emitting the purest aura of evil and corruption.
Baiyu couldn't see its form clearly.
Its entire face was blurred, only a pair of eyes emitted a crimson light.
Judging from the contours, it was the neighboring female streamer.
The crimson eyes roved about, seemingly searching for Baiyu's trace. It slowly left the window after a while, but like a tide, the darkness spread outward.
One floor, two floors!
Baiyu couldn't evade in time, and was enveloped within the Simulation Realm.
Entering the Simulation Realm, the surroundings immediately turned frigid. The air was thick with black mist, visibility was less than ten meters, and the world was disturbingly silent without a trace of sound.
"At least a panic-level disaster, the entire complex will be engulfed by the Simulation Realm!"
Baiyu felt a heavy burden.
Though unclear why the aberration moved away, he knew well: if ordinary people are caught in such an extraordinary event, their survival rate is incredibly low.
"Many tenants in the complex haven't attended courses on mysticism."
"Their understanding of extraordinary events is mostly from newspapers, news broadcasts, live streaming platforms, and short video apps, possibly unaware they are being caught in an extraordinary event."
Baiyu understood what would happen to this complex.
But for now, he couldn't act rashly.
Otherwise, he'd trigger unpredictable changes, possibly becoming cannon fodder.
Standing on the air-conditioning unit, Baiyu waited a minute, feeling somewhat idle.
It seemed the aberration had already moved far away, though the Simulation Realm kept expanding, reaching the complex's entrance.
However, Baiyu was sure he was safe for now.
Because he'd just seen shadows appear in another building, followed by a power outage, then over ten screams rang out.
Someone was killed!
The aberration wasn't in this building.
He thought for a moment.
Baiyu reached towards his waist, took out the bundled exercise book, "I can neither shout nor run, might as well quietly solve some problems, nothing can stop my learning."
...
Outside the complex, a long tape had been pulled up.
Police cars with a tech-styled design parked at the complex entrance, blocking the road. Uniformed officers were evacuating residents from nearby buildings.
"Chief, it's confirmed the aberration inside possesses a Simulation Realm—there have been significant casualties!"
The chief, a middle-aged balding man named Zhou He.
"The investigators haven't arrived yet? The efficiency of the Anomaly Bureau shouldn't be this slow!" Zhou He stared at the black mist spreading from the complex.
In mere moments.
The black mist had enveloped the entire area, even eroding the sky above.
This was a major extraordinary event occurring in the city; if uncontrolled, it could lead to vast casualties, his dismissal would be minor—losing control could cost him his life.
Just as he wanted to call for urgency.
A flying car appeared in view, quickly stopping at the complex entrance.
A woman in a floral shirt hopped down, walked into the complex without looking back: "Secure the perimeter, set up isolation magnetic fields, don't let the Simulation Realm spread outside the complex."