Strangeness Begins

In his daze, Zhang Yuanqing felt something soft and voluptuous pressing down on him. He could not breathe.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a round and exquisite face and a mischievous smile.

His aunt whined: "Brat, how dare you stand me up? I'll sit on you until you die."

She sat duck-legged on her nephew, leaned forward, lifted her bottom, and sat down hard.

Zhang Yuanqing groaned as she sat down and almost stopped breathing. He straightened his back in anger and flipped over the woman.

As his aunt exclaimed, he saw that it was already dark outside the window. Unknowingly, he had slept from morning to night.

"Time to eat!"

His aunt lay on a side of the bed and kicked her nephew's butt with a deadly series of assaults.

"Don't take revenge, okay? I respect the old and cherish the young. I won't lower myself to your level."

Zhang Yuanqing slipped over to the bed, put on his shoes, and walked out of the door.

A rich aroma wafted through the living room. The grandparents sat at the table eating. Grandpa was silver-haired, lean, and tall, his face serious and unsmiling.

At the table, Grandma asked expectantly, "So, how's the partner I arranged for you this time?"

"Not bad. He's a corporate executive with an annual salary of a few hundred thousand dollars. I'm satisfied!"

Aunt nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

"You say that every time but you end up blocking them." Grandma poked her daughter hard in the head and scolded her.

"Grow up. Think about how old you are."

"That's right, that's right…" Zhang Yuanqing was gloating at the side when his calf was kicked by Jiang Yu'er.

They kicked each other under the table, which rattled constantly.

"Go back to your room if you're not going to eat."

As Grandma roared, Zhang Yuanqing and his aunt immediately lowered their heads to eat.

"Grandma, when will Cousin be back?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.

His uncle's family lived opposite them. A while ago, his wife, who came from a wealthy family, and the dissolute uncle had gone on a trip overseas. During this period, his cousin ate dinner here.

"He said he was working overtime tonight and wouldn't be back at night… He's a workaholic. He's the opposite of his deadbeat father," Grandma complained.

Overtime… Zhang Yuanqing could not hide his disappointment.

After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yu'er returned to their rooms, leaving Grandma to clean up the mess.

…

Back in his room, Zhang Yuanqing locked the door and dialed his cousin's number.

Since he couldn't say it in person, he might as well call.

It was just that they could not communicate through the phone.

The call went through quickly, but all he heard was nonsense that indicated the phone was switched off.

"He's in a meeting?"

Zhang Yuanqing hung up the phone helplessly. As a group leader, his cousin was busy with work, and his diet was irregular. Such situations where he could not be contacted happened from time to time.

He was used to it.

Zhang Yuanqing lay on the bed and looked at the ceiling, letting his thoughts scatter…

Assuming Brother Bing's disappearance was not natural and the other party's target was the black card, I would have to be careful. The safest way was to hand the black card to his cousin and let him report it to his superiors.

With the administrative level of Songhai City's Security Bureau, the influence of the forces in Jiangnan Province was limited.

But the problem was that the black card was missing. This was the biggest headache… Zhang Yuanqing scratched his head in distress.

A black card that could disappear into thin air. Just the thought of it was terrifying. If he could not find the black card, the method of handing it over to the country would not be possible.

He could only confess to his cousin first and let him react to the higher-ups before following the arrangements. He was just an ordinary university student and could not do anything.

Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing felt a pain in his forehead. It was a little hot. He reached out and scratched it. The pain was even stronger.

Hmm? There was burning pain. What's going on…

Slightly dazed, he left the bed and walked over to the dressing mirror that stood by the window. He examined his reflection.

In the dressing mirror, a young man's face was reflected. His facial features were delicate and his skin was fair. He did not have the firmness of an adult or the maturity gained through the vicissitudes of time.

There was only the vitality of a young man.

On his forehead was the black imprint of a full moon. It was vivid and the irregular patches on its surface were clearly visible.

At the bottom of the full moon mark, there was something like a progress bar. It showed: 90%

This… Zhang Yuanqing retreated in shock. He rubbed his forehead hard, but the mark was like a tattoo that could not be removed.

How can I have such a thing on my forehead? When did it appear? Confused thoughts raced through his mind, mixed with panic and confusion.

"Wait! Isn't this the black moon on the card?"

He was stunned at first but he soon realized it.

The black card hadn't been lost. It had entered his body and, in a way he couldn't understand, had become the mark on his forehead.

In his confusion, he realized that the progress bar under the black moon had become 92%. As the number jumped, his forehead felt hotter.

What was this, a supernatural power? Advanced technology? Hallucination?

At this moment, the contents of the letter surfaced in his mind again: This is a gift that can change one's life…

"The black card is really a treasure, so my previous guess was right. Someone coveted this card. Brother Bing didn't want the other party to succeed, so he sent it to me. As a result, he disappeared…"

Zhang Yuanqing stared at the progress bar expectantly as he worried about Brother Bing.

What would happen when the progress bar reached 100%? After witnessing the miracle in front of him, he was filled with curiosity about the changes that would happen next.

After a few waves of burning sensation, the progress bar at the bottom of the black moon finally completed the journey and reached 100%.

The next moment, an emotionless voice sounded in his ear.

[Character Card rebooted…]

[Name: To be named (Please name it immediately)]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Night Wanderer]

[Level: 0]

[Skills: None]

[EXP: 0%]

[Moral Value: 60 (Initial Value)]

Below the moral value was another note:

[Never let your moral value fall below 60. You might not have had a choice before, but please be a good person from now on.]

Looking at the glowing blue character attributes panel that appeared in front of him, Zhang Yuanqing was stunned for a long time. What was this?

He tried, "System?"

As an expert in Internet surfing, such knowledge was a must.

The emotionless voice echoed in his ears again:

[Please name the character immediately!]

A blue handwritten box popped up on the attribute panel that was frozen in midair.

It wasn't the system. Otherwise, its intelligence would be too low. He couldn't even communicate with it… With the thought of taking it one step at a time, Zhang Yuanqing stretched out his finger and wrote his name:

Zhang Yuanqing.

[Warning: Please do not use your real name.]

I can't use my real name? Zhang Yuanqing was stunned.

He wrote down the second name: Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning.

[Naming successful! The Spirit Realm will be activated in ten seconds. Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning, good luck!]

Hearing the voice echoing in his ears, Zhang Yuanqing was stunned for a moment. What was going on? Activating the Spirit Realm? In the first place, shouldn't it explain what the Spirit Realm was?

The ten-second countdown ended before he could regain his composure.

[Ding, the Spirit Realm map has been activated. Welcome to the "Night Wanderer—She Ling Tunnel", No. 0079.]

[Difficulty Level: S]

[Type: Individual (Death Type)]

[Main Mission 1: Survive for three hours.]

[Main Mission 2: Explore Spirit Realm No. 0079. Current Exploration Rate: 0%]

[Remarks: Non-Spirit Realm items cannot be brought in.]

[Spirit Realm No. 0079: Do you know one of the top ten ghost stories in Songhai City, the She Ling Tunnel?]

[The She Ling Tunnel was built at the end of the last century. During the tunnel's construction, a construction team entered the tunnel to dig on a rainy night and disappeared into the tunnel, never to be seen again.

[The Security Bureau organized a search team to search for days. They found a worker in the mountains who was involved in the excavation that night, but the others were nowhere to be seen.

[Although the survivor lived, he suffered some inexplicable stimulation and became mentally ill. After going crazy, no matter what the police asked, he only had one sentence to say.

[He said: Don't enter the temple, don't enter the temple…]

The voices in his ears grew softer, fading to nothing. The landscape twisted and blurred like the surface of a frilled lake.

After a while, the image smoothed out. A dim yellow light shone on the uneven walls, and the pavement was paved with fine stones.

"Where is this place?"

Zhang Yuanqing looked around in amazement and found himself in an old tunnel. The old-fashioned tungsten lamps on the curved dome gave off a faint orange glow.

....