Chapter 53: What Cheat? This Is All My Hard Work and Sweat!
[Server-wide Announcement: Congratulations on the successful completion of the Nightmare-level solo dungeon—The Abandoned Village Chronicle!]
[Below are the comments left by the players who cleared the dungeon…]
Due to the discrepancy between dungeon time and real-world time flow, Baili Dao had just finished being reprimanded by his superior for having delusions about the polluting nightmare-level dungeon.
The next moment, the system notification and interface popped up in front of all players afflicted by the spiritual disaster.
The entire Paranormal Affairs Bureau office fell into a deathly silence.
Moments later, a thunderous mixture of astonished shouts and incredulous questions erupted.
“Holy crap! Someone actually cleared the nightmare-level dungeon!”
“No way! Seriously? And solo, too?”
“Is it just me, or does this top player have a somewhat awful attitude? The comments left are so annoying.”
“Bro, I’m pumped! My fists are already clenched!”
“……”
The leader’s expressions still bore traces of exasperation, now frozen stiff.
He was still trying to reason with his subordinate, and suddenly some top player appeared and cleared the nightmare-level solo dungeon?
Where was his face supposed to go?
“Ahem, Baili, can you calm down? Even if someone cleared the nightmare-level dungeon, it probably wouldn’t be the newbie you mentioned!” the leader sighed, pressing his forehead.
This was just too coincidental.
Had he not checked the almanac before leaving today?
But Baili Dao hadn’t heard a word of the leader’s words. His gaze was fixed firmly on that string of comments left by the player who cleared the dungeon.
That familiar, unconventional style of thinking.
That irritating tone.
It could be! It really might be the Widow!
He still vividly remembered the sly moves and trash talk from the truant dragon dungeon.
Without hesitation, Baili Dao immediately pulled up his friends list, found the player’s ID, and sent a message—
“Brother! What are you up to? Was the dungeon announced just now completed by you? Did you happen to clear your exclusive dungeon?”
“The Paranormal Affairs Bureau really welcomes talent like you! If interested, we can talk more.”
A few seconds later, a reply came.
But the content left Baili Dao speechless.
Widow: “I did just clear a dungeon, but it wasn’t nightmare level—only a regular hard dungeon. There was a ghost bride inside whom I spent a long time ‘putting to rest’ so she’d let me pass.”
Baili Dao: “Uh, you mean ‘convince.’ Brother, you made a typo; you could have just used voice input.”
Widow: “No typo. Thanks to years of drinking Kidney Treasure tonic—one bottle refreshes the mind, two bottles banish fatigue, three bottles grant immortality. Kidney Treasure! Tastes amazing!”
Baili Dao: “……”
Are you seriously not joking?
You actually went after a ghost?
Although XP is free for humans, you shouldn’t... at least not like that...
Oh no, could it be that the other party really is a widow ghost bride, so it just happened to line up with your XP?
Baili Dao still wasn’t convinced.
His intuition told him this was no mere coincidence; Widow must be connected to that nightmare-level dungeon!
But the brother’s attitude seemed firm.
Pressing further might backfire and sour his view of the Paranormal Affairs Bureau, so there was no need.
“By the way, what are the daily shop and duo queue?” Widow asked again.
Baili Dao answered as usual.
“These features unlock after level 5. The shop updates daily with different equipment and items; I heard legendary tiers sometimes appear, but the prices aren’t affordable for most. Each player’s shop contents differ, so luck plays a big role.”
“Duo queue lets you enter team dungeons with a friend, unless it’s a special dungeon like last time’s truant dragon that requires specific items. You can also find commission posts on the app where players not confident in their strength seek someone to carry them through dungeons, usually with generous rewards.”
As he spoke, Baili Dao suddenly paused.
He seemed to realize something.
His typing hand trembled slightly.
Slowly, he asked, “Brother, what level are you?”
The other party didn’t hesitate and immediately replied, “Level 6. You should be able to see it, right?”
Wu Wang stared at Baili Dao’s ID marked Lv7 in the friend list.
Looks like the other guy was also working hard to level up!
He’d jumped a full level in just a few days!
Truly a diligent player of the Paranormal Affairs Bureau!
Unbeknownst to them, Baili Dao’s hand now shook like a faulty electric circuit, his expression growing stranger by the moment, ending with a glum look towards his leader.
The leader mistook Baili Dao’s demeanor for being struck by some blow and hurriedly asked what had happened.
Baili Dao’s mind went blank momentarily before blurting out:
“Boss, are there cheats in the Spiritual Disaster game?”
“Like cheats that let you hit level six in three days.”
The leader: “?”
Why did you suddenly lose your mind?
If there were cheats in the Spiritual Disaster game, superhumans would be everywhere in reality!
His expression turned odd as well.
Then, with a heavy heart, he patted Baili Dao’s shoulder and comforted him:
“Baili, I partly bear responsibility. I shouldn’t have crushed your enthusiasm for newcomers like that. How about this: after work, visit Dr. Jiang. There’s a business trip task we plan to send you on. You should rest well first.”
Dr. Jiang’s full name was Jiang Xingyue.
He was the Paranormal Affairs Bureau’s most outstanding psychologist in Mingyang City’s branch.
Members who suffer mental contamination from dungeons or develop psychological issues usually come to him for treatment.
His therapies were widely praised.
This was also the first doctor Baili Dao intended to take Widow to meet after recruiting him into the Paranormal Affairs Bureau.
“No, no need... I’m fine,” Baili Dao rubbed his temples helplessly.
“Just tell me about the business trip mission.”
He was beginning to suspect that Widow might actually possess some item that concealed his level, as the leader had suggested.
Seeing this, the leader could only explain the mission.
“You’re coming with me to the neighboring province. They just issued a red alert and requested our help. Apparently, some supernatural creature has awakened deep in the mountains there and harbors hostility.”
“Supernatural creature? Hostile?” Baili Dao was puzzled.
The leader shrugged helplessly.
“Not sure. All we know is it’s hostile towards humans—and, oddly, penguins.”
Baili Dao: “?”
What kind of nonsense is that?
How did penguins even come into this?
————
Wu Wang ended his conversation with Baili Dao.
He sat on his bed, continuously rubbing a rusty broken sword—the hidden reward he had just drawn.
The bad news: the sword wasn’t drawn from the question-mark loot box.
During the draw, a message said the Wanbao Trading Company’s warehouse lottery was under maintenance. Wu Wang assumed it had nothing to do with him.
Later, the system compensated him by letting him draw from another in-game warehouse.
The good news: even the Abyss God played fair.
He also grabbed the game warehouse loot!
The result was this epic broken sword.
How could a scholar cheat? All this was hard work and sweat!
Moreover, the sword’s effect was very peculiar.
If the Yin Yuan Village truly existed and the Yin Yuan God was still sealed there, the broken sword might be useful; otherwise, it would just be a scrap of iron.
Wu Wang reckoned he could use it to reap a great harvest from the Yin Yuan God.
Now, he was about to set off to find Yin Yuan Village!
“Second sister! Got a question for you!”
Wu Wang opened his bedroom door and stepped out.
He saw the hamster at the dining table stuffing food into its mouth, making muffled sounds.
He completely failed to notice the strange black steel pen that had mysteriously appeared on the bed, oozing faint blood-red ink.
It was drawing the character for “death” on the blanket.
Because some bastard hadn’t formally said goodbye to it, the pen spirit had been summoned and hadn’t left yet…