Chapter 8: Abyssal God! Activate!

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[Player Name: Widow#9527]
[Player Level: Lv1 (Each level-up grants one freely assignable attribute point)]
[Strength: 10 (Top-tier professional boxer level)]
[Constitution: 10 (Elite long-distance runner level)]
[Agility: 10 (Top-level parkour athlete)]
[Intelligence: 11 (Unusually high, but long-term neurosis makes the system somewhat skeptical)]
[Mental Power: 35 (Average is 5; normal humans max out at 10—are you really human?)]
[Charm: 5 (Plain and pleasing appearance, but strange behavior causes this value to steadily decline)]

Wu Wang raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. How could a mere game panel be so critical of his face and manners? Could it possibly have independent consciousness?

Without hesitation, Wu Wang slowly bent down and stripped naked. In the dark space, no one could admire the sharp lines of his muscles. Then, he began doing calisthenics by himself, his gun swinging and aiming everywhere.

After about ten minutes, he glanced at the personal panel again and noticed a change in one stat.

[Charm: 4 (What the hell are you doing! Where’s your sense of propriety and civility? Damn bastard!)]

"Okay, so it really does have some consciousness. This is getting interesting. Is it AI evolution or some life form’s consciousness taking over the system?" Wu Wang thought, expressionless as he pulled on his pants.

But no matter how much he called out in the dark space, no sound answered him. It seemed the presence of this consciousness was rather subtle.

Wu Wang stopped trying to trigger the system’s awareness and looked down further at his personal panel.

[Inventory: Gaoshan High School Uniform]
[Skill Slot: Shadow Combat Technique, Vision of Truth]

“Hm? What the hell are these skills?” Wu Wang ignored the strange school uniform in the inventory and curiously opened the descriptions of the two baffling skills.

[Shadow Combat Technique (Active): You can swap any part of your body with your shadow, real or illusory, consuming 5 spirit energy per second, no cooldown (Player Spirit Energy = Mental Power × 10)]
[Note: Please, another me!]

This shadow-related skill was probably obtained from the previous dungeon. When forcibly logged out, Wu Wang had heard the sound indicating a hidden condition was met. That problem-plagued dungeon full of bugs and dead ends probably had catching ghosts as a hidden objective. After all, it was supposed to be impossible.

[Vision of Truth (Passive): Allows you to see through certain truths, revealing falsehoods and twisted tasks in their true form]
[Note: %@ watches you from the abyss]
[Gods! I am beginning to understand everything!]

The original task provided by the twisted dungeon. And it was a passive skill. That didn’t sound like good news.

“Is this damn skill a curse given by that annoying 'Ke'? And it watches me from some abyss?” Wu Wang muttered oddly, “Are you some Abyss God?”

Unfortunately, he hadn’t experienced other dungeons yet.

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He didn’t quite understand what this so-called twisted task was about. Wu Wang decided to check other items on the panel.

With a thought, the Gaoshan High School uniform appeared in his hand from the inventory. He raised an eyebrow, surprised that an item could materialize out of thin air.

“I even have a storage ring now! Too bad I lack an old master who can teach me fire-starting and alchemy,” Wu Wang lamented.

Since the Shadow Combat Technique was a hidden reward, this uniform must be a sort of compensation reward.

Turning it over, the uniform was a bit worn; the chest emblem and the faded characters "Gaoshan High School" on the back showed signs of repeated washing. Evidently, its original owner came from a poor family who couldn’t afford a new uniform and kept washing this one.

[Gaoshan High School Uniform: Wear it at midnight and stand anywhere on campus to unlock a directional dungeon]
[Note: Hide! Quickly hide! Don’t let it see me!]

Wu Wang was surprised. He had thought it was some defensive gear but it turned out to be the key to unlocking a new dungeon.

“As expected, the dissonance is severe…”

From the moment he entered the novice dungeon to when Ke with bloodshot eyes started spying on him, Wu Wang had felt something was off. Only now, seeing the uniform’s effect and note, did he understand where the dissonance came from.

“The earlier info was too sparse. I don’t know the ghost’s identity, why it hides in shadows, or why the classroom lights flicker. Now I get it—it never belonged to that dungeon!” Wu Wang’s mind raced.

Even the worst game developers in reality know to have a plot or a backstory, or at least character roles. But that problematic dungeon had none of that.

You enter and get slaughtered by ghosts, the clear condition is a dead-end loop. It felt like the dungeon’s sole purpose was to kill everyone.

Not even Hidetaka Miyazaki would be this cruel!

Such a masterful spiritual disaster game shouldn’t have such a crude dungeon. Unless the lecture hall and the ghost were forcibly stitched together. They had no relation whatsoever!

“The ghost should be part of Gaoshan High School, not that strange lecture hall,” Wu Wang squinted at the uniform in his hand.

He couldn’t know the cause behind this anomaly. Or rather, to find out, he’d have to investigate the so-called Gaoshan High School.

Smiling wryly, Wu Wang thought, “Heh, what a blatant trap. Only an idiot would fall for it. Do I look like an idiot?”

An entity capable of altering dungeon structure—whether a person’s handiwork or a certain item’s influence—was best avoided for now.

Immortality didn’t mean invincibility.

Tormenting someone was far too easy. For example—sealing oneself in a cement barrel and sinking to the sea floor; upon revival, suffocating to death, repeating endlessly.

In such a case, immortality became a true source of agony: unable to live, unable to die.

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Just as he finished his scornful thought, his right hand suddenly lifted uncontrollably.

On the inside of his wrist, a red vertical pupil stared directly into Wu Wang’s eyes. Murmurs echoed inside his skull; his consciousness began to sink and twist. His skin tingled as if growing alien organs.

Wu Wang reacted quickly, turning his gaze away.

Yet in a daze, he still saw that red pupil wink at him.

The next second, his hand felt sticky.

Looking down, the once-faded uniform had changed.

Now it was stained with various pigments, as if tossed into a dye vat and stirred recklessly. The most abundant color was red.

A foul metallic stench hit his nostrils, making him frown instinctively. The familiar texture and years of suicide attempts helped him realize immediately:

The red wasn’t paint.

It was blood.

Old, dried blood at that.

Most importantly, the uniform’s panel description had changed too—

[Bloodstained Uniform: Holder must reach any campus environment and wear this within 24 hours]
[Note: It caught me. Now it’s your turn… Run!]
[Failure to complete the task within the time limit will cause the dungeon to descend upon the holder’s closest person]
[Target locked—Wu Xiaoyou]

Wu Wang’s fist clenched tightly with an audible crack, his fingernails digging deep into his palm—his emotions roiled fiercely.

Because of the name it displayed.

Not long ago, she had prepared “Chicken Stew with Mushrooms” instant noodles for him at the dining table.

She was Wu Wang’s second sister.

His only family in this world.

“You damn it! The Abyss God has started, hasn’t it?” Wu Wang’s voice was gritted with rage.

He never expected that the “Vision of Truth” skill from that annoying 'Ke' could distort items!

And the damn skill was passive, completely unstoppable.

After a deep breath, he calmed himself.

Looking at the tattered uniform in his hand, Wu Wang grinned fiercely and said, “You want to watch me have some fun?”

“Fine! Then open your damn eyes wide and see how I speedrun Gaoshan High School!”