—Drip drop.
The sound of the water droplet, however, awakened him like a heavy hammer.
“Hmm… huh…” Longjing Tea let out a low and heavy groan.
Severe dizziness hit his brain and sweat-drenched his body.
A chilling sensation crept up his back, making his stomach turn. Even though he was conscious, it felt like he was paralyzed, trapped, unable to move.
That was an incomparably vivid sense of fear.
It felt like sleep paralysis; he couldn’t even open his eyes.
After the players got used to turning down the pain sensation to a certain level… they hadn’t felt such vivid and intense discomfort in a long time.
Longjing Tea was so spaced out — struggling to think clearly, just barely realizing he was in the middle of a nightmare.
After Longjing Tea’s third attempt to regain himself. Some sort of transparent and invisible film shattered before his eyes. He felt the weight imposed on his body lifted.
He opened his eyes in an instant, turned over, and sat up in an instant.
“*Deep breaths*, ha… ha… ha…!“
Longjing Tea gasped for air. He used his right hand to brace himself on the ground while wiping away the cold sweat on his face with his left.
He soon realized that the object touched by his right hand was abnormally cold.
—That’s a ceramic bathtub with icy cold water.
Longjing Tea turned around as if he had a new discovery.
—Drip drop.
The faucet, slightly turned and not fully shut, was dripping water into the tub.
Before that, he was lying quietly in the cold water of the bathtub.
—Bathtub? Faucet?
Does the Mist Continent have those?
Longjing pondered as he rose from the tub.
While it wasn’t as modern, that bathroom still held its own. It had that post-90s European design vibe.
He even saw a mirror.
Thinking about it, Longjing Tea gave a shake to get rid of the water on his pants after stepping out of the tub. Not bothering to change into dry clothes, he quickly headed over.
He assessed carefully.
—He recognized his reflection in the mirror. It was “Longjing Tea” from the Mist Continent, not the “Old Chen” he was outside this world.
Even though his clothes had changed since he arrived… he was now wearing a light blue shirt with a modern touch.
This discovery made him relax for a moment.
At least the scariest situation didn’t happen…
However, he entered the dungeon instance while streaming.
But now, not only did all the bullet texts before Longjing Tea’s eyes disappear, but he couldn’t even view the health points and erosion rate display panels.
The feeling in his fingertips felt incredibly real. He gave the back of his left hand a hard scratch with his right thumbnail, and the pain was unmistakably sharp.
100% pain ratio…
I can’t see my health bar.
I’m unable to enter the forum.
I’m unable to see bullet text.
…I couldn’t even log out of the game.
“Damn it, why…” Longjing Tea casually complained, “I don’t want to play that fucking game of ‘Be a hero and get to the 100th floor’…”
[TN: Sword Art Online reference.]
Having said that, he was still a little nervous.
He also couldn’t be sure…if he died here, would he be able to be resurrected?
At this moment, he touched a silver ring inlaid with emerald on his left middle finger.
—That’s my curse vessel.
Due to the outfit change, the one-time-use items and ritual items stored in the wizard robe were no longer with him, but his curse vessel came to this place along with him.
Longjing Tea’s heart skipped a beat. A dark green light exited his pupils.
At the same time, a faint green light simultaneously shone from his emerald gem. As a pale green inverted tree pattern spread from his middle finger towards his wrist, the curse’s power again filled Longjing Tea’s entire body.
Am I able to use spells?
He was a little surprised.
It was a precedent that had never been seen in his previous nightmares.
Is this the legendary [Otherworldly Level] nightmare?
But Longjing Tea did not act rashly.
He withdrew the curse back into its vessel and then checked his body.
“Am I hurt?”
Longjing Tea ran his hand over his back but didn’t feel any cuts or bruises. He was pretty much in one piece.
Nope.
He found his answer.
“—So, am I committing suicide, or is someone trying to kill me?”
He whispered, drying his right hand with a towel beside the mirror. Then, he touched the area under his eyes with his hand—it rarely sweated there.
Although his face was covered in cold sweat, it was dry there.
The faucet in the bathtub was right next to his right hand, and the control to turn it off was nearby as well. So, there was indeed a possibility that it could splash.
He checked his sleeves again.
The right sleeve was found to be more damp than the left… The upper part of the left sleeve was still dry, but the right sleeve was soaked.
It became obvious. He must’ve turned that faucet on and off himself.
However, there was another problem.
Longjing Tea thought calmly and glanced back at the bathtub.
Through those faint water marks, he quickly did some rough calculations in his head.
About three to five hours had passed.
Any more precise, and it’d be harder to figure out.
Just in case, Longjing Tea didn’t turn off the faucet immediately. Although the possibility was very low, if someone monitored the faucet’s status, he would be exposed directly.
The door to the bathroom room didn’t close.
Without putting on slippers, Longjing Tea walked around the room all wet and composed. After ensuring no one else was in the house, he changed into dry, clean clothes.
In the process, he reconfirmed that this was definitely not the era… or the world of the Mist Continent.
Because he saw something like a “television”.
It wasn’t one of those flat-screen TVs, but rather the old chunky kind with dials. The TV was on, but it just showed static.
Longjing Tea looked up at his watch.
—3:50 p.m.
There were dirty dishes on the table. From the remnants, it looked like it was steak or some other type of grilled meat. The sauce was black pepper — definitely Longjing Tea’s favorite.
Longjing Tea checked on his physical state and discovered he wasn’t hungry.
“Then, I should be in the bathtub after dinner…”
He muttered and found a bottle of medicine on the table.
There were no labels on the clear bottle containing blue oval-shaped pills. The color reminded him of the toilet bowl cleaner.
Is this a sleeping pill? Or something else?
Longjing Tea thought for a while and found his coat in the room — a rather stylish blue-black uniform with an emblem.
He pocketed the pill bottle.
Then, he went back to the bathroom and turned off the faucet.
Just then, he heard the phone ring.
He went back to the living room and picked up the phone.
He didn’t speak first, just in case.
A raspy voice came from inside — Longjing Tea was silently relieved he could understand it.
But he quickly frowned.
“Longjing Tea, come to the bureau quickly.” A majestic middle-aged voice came, “Someone is about to be killed… Grab your gun.”
Huh? Am I a cop?
Longjing Tea froze for a moment before realizing something.
Wait…
…About to?
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