The small living room was filled with dry crusts of blood; every floor tile was soaked with fresh blood, and nobody knew what kind of terrifying event had occurred here.
Thick strands of blood silk crisscrossed the room, binding two figures.
One of them wore a red coat, her lips grotesquely smeared with fresh blood, and around her were scattered numerous dinner knives stained with blood.
The other figure was a giant humanoid puppet, its face covered with a mask painted with strange patterns, its body made of wood, and several decaying hearts piled up at its chest.
"You dare to come to the ninth floor at Level 5? If it weren’t for the fact that trapping these two has drained too much power, you’d probably die a thousand times and still not escape."
The bedroom door slowly opened, and the boy who had been unconscious in bed walked to the doorway.
With each step he took, his body aged rapidly, wrinkles crawling up his cheeks, black hair gradually turning white.
By the time he stood beside the man, his face was full of death intent, as if his life was nearing its end, "Do you still remember your name?"
The man, engulfed in a thick stench and the smell of blood, looked at the name on his arm expressionlessly, his eyes calm.
"Then do you remember how many times you’ve died in total?"
"You still remember that?" The old man nodded, "I knew we’d meet again, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon."
His body continued to turn into blood silk, slowly merging with the room, "What you just experienced was a memory from my childhood, only the most unlucky people possess the Black Box, it chose me, and I chose you, now it’s your turn to make a choice."
"Are you sure you want me to make a choice now? I’ve forgotten a lot of things..."
"I’ve been waiting for this moment, only choices made under these circumstances are the most genuine." The old man parted his atrium, taking out a black box, "You’ve met the minimum qualifications to become a manager, you can now choose your own path."
"If you want to destroy this world filled with disaster, misfortune, and oddities, then open the lid on the back; if you want to find the way out and redeem this world occupied by fierce ghosts and monsters, then open the lid on the front." The old man’s body was still dissolving; he didn’t have much time left.
"Which path did you choose before?" The man didn’t make a hasty choice; he felt this decision would be very important.
"I chose the back, but I failed. My memory was torn into fragments, and the Black Box hid in this fragment of my childhood memory."
"It seems choosing the back is dangerous." The man pondered for a while, then finally said, "Can I open both lids? I want to redeem this world, but I feel there are some things in this world that should be destroyed."
"Choosing both paths simultaneously, both the power of the front and the back might want to kill you!" The old man had never seen anyone make a choice ; what’s the point of choosing if you want both?
After a pause, he added another sentence, "You need to think it through, you may find in the future that even death is a luxury. You’ll encounter even more terrifying things later on, like a manager task, where you die forty-five times just to pass, and in some managers’ memories, dying once means eternal damnation, do you have the confidence to pass with one life?"
"I don’t have confidence, but what does that have to do with the choices I make?" The man grasped the top and bottom lids of the Black Box and simultaneously opened it.
Nothing unusual happened in the room, inside the Black Box was another Black Box.
"What’s inside this box?"
"You’re currently a Level F Manager. Each time you raise your Manager level, you can open one layer of the box. If you can reach the end, you’ll see what is truly hidden within the box." The old man held the Black Box in his hands, his body turning into Blood Silk, bit by bit he opened Han Fei’s chest. He personally placed the Black Box into Han Fei’s atrium: "Remember, the Black Box is hidden in the deepest part of your consciousness. You must remain alert at all times."
After the Black Box was placed into Han Fei’s chest, his lost memories surged like a tidal wave. In that moment, Han Fei felt as if his head was about to explode, and he fell to the ground in pain, passing out.
After stitching up Han Fei’s chest and restoring everything, the old man’s body had also reached its limit.
In the last moment before he dissolved, his eyes carried a complex emotion: "Speed up your exploration. Go to as many places as you can before they find you. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to encounter hope in some building. You’ve chosen the hardest path, but you should be able to do it. At least you’re much stronger than I was. I only dared to come to the ninth floor when I was at level nineteen. Such a crazy fellow, don’t you know if you die in the game, you’ll also be brain-dead in reality?"
The aged figure completely dissolved into Blood Silk, and all the intercrossing blood vessels in the room began to wither away. The oppressively terrifying atmosphere dissipated.
"Player No. 0000, please note! You have completed the Level F Manager task—Building Chief—beyond your current level! You’ve earned triple the task experience! You have received the basic reward of two additional Free Skill Points! You have earned the basic reward of the Level F Manager title—Building Chief!"
"Building Chief (Level F Manager title): Friendliness of all permanent residents inside the building plus ten! Randomly acquire a Level F Manager Talent! When going out, you may choose one resident with a friendly friendliness level to accompany you!"
"Player No. 0000, please note! Level F task suggestions are to be collected between levels ten to twenty. Since you have successfully completed the Level F Manager task beyond your current level, you will receive one of the rarest growable Level F Manager Talents!"
"Player No. 0000, please note! Congratulations, you have earned the growable Level F Manager Talent—Soul-summoning!"
"Soul-summoning (An extremely rare Level F Manager Talent with a one in ten-thousand chance of acquisition, can be continuously strengthened as the player’s level increases): Has a certain chance of summoning players with a Ghost Encountering Physique in a special form to your side, can only be used once per night."
"Player No. 0000, please note! You have successfully leveled up to Level 6! Free Attribute Point plus one!"
The headache gradually lessened, and faint voices echoed in his Brain Sea. Han Fei slowly remembered everything.
"It was the old man who sold me the game helmet!" Han Fei suddenly woke with a start, excitedly waving his arms, but accidentally bumped into someone beside him, and a pungent scent of blood wafted into his nostrils.
Turning his head to look, Han Fei realized Xu Qin was sitting right next to him, continuously wiping a Dinner Knife. However, the more she wiped the knife, the more bloodstains appeared.
"Awake?" Her lips, bright red, curled upwards. Xu Qin turned her head to look at Han Fei: "Did you come to the ninth floor to find me?"
Seeing Xu Qin’s blood-covered lips and her movements wiping the Dinner Knife, Han Fei decided to tell the truth.
He struggled to stand, staring into Xu Qin’s eyes: "I died forty-five times in that Dream, I thought I would never wake again."
Hearing that Han Fei had died forty-five times, Xu Qin acted out of character, saying nothing, but her hand wiping the knife seemed to exert more force.
"Player No. 0000, please note! Xu Qin’s friendliness plus twenty! Your neighborly relationship with Xu Qin has been upgraded to Friendly."