Chapter 18: The Highest Level Task at Present

The latest detected mission was clearly one that had just appeared, and it was very close to Yan Junze's home.

[Coordinates confirmed: Building No. 5, FH Community.]

[Mission name: Look at Her Face;

Mission level: Hair-raising (low);

Mission background: None.

Mission description: Look at her face and ask her what she needs;

Mission reward: 1000 points of Different Dimension Energy;

Mission punishment: Unknown;

Mission hints: 1. The evil spirit cannot be locked down; 2. She is like a maggot in one's bones; 3. You may call her—Back-faced Woman;

Remarks: You cannot comprehend how terrifying a crazy woman can be.]

"Hair-raising!!!"

This was the first time Yan Junze had seen a mission level identified as "hair-raising."

As of now, it seemed that horror levels ranked from Anxiety-Inducing to Trembling with Fear, and then to Hair-raising, with higher levels beyond that being unknown.

[Look at Her Face], this mission was definitely the one with the highest difficulty coefficient among all the missions Yan Junze had encountered so far.

If completed, just the reward of Different Dimension Energy alone reached an astounding 1000 points.

However, this mission had no background description. Moreover, why was it called "Look at Her Face"? Could her face be difficult to look at, or impossible to see?

Additionally, the mission was located within FH Community itself. His home was in Building No. 7, while Building No. 5 was right next door. To leave the community without taking the road opposite, one had to pass by Building No. 5.

At this moment, the words "Perception of Strange Events completed" emerged again in Yan Junze's mind. Please note that known events have been designated current levels, which may have a certain probability of rising or falling over time.

Up to this point, the "Perception of Strange Events" function had finally been fully released, and besides [The Old Woman Knocking at Mid-Night], it provided feedback to Yan Junze on three other strange events.

The last reminder in the text was very important—meaning that if Yan Junze did not choose to complete these missions at the moment, the levels of certain tasks could increase or decrease as time went by.

If the level increased, the difficulty of completing the task would grow even greater for Yan Junze.

"It seems to be urging me to finish quickly," Yan Junze muttered under his breath.

No sooner had he spoken than the living room door opened, and his mother, Li Man, hurried in with an empty basket. She closed the door behind her, put down the basket, changed into slippers, and sat down on the sofa, her face pale.

Her series of actions were clearly abnormal, and she had actually returned home carrying an empty basket.

Yan Junze observed that his mother's complexion was indeed off. He calculated the time and realized that Li Man had been gone for less than ten minutes, a duration insufficient for reaching the market. So why had she run back home alone?

"Mom, what happened?"

"Son." Li Man came back to her senses, apparently organizing her words. After pausing for a few seconds, she said, "Don't... don't go near Building No. 5 for the time being. There's... strangeness happening there again."

Yan Junze was stunned for a moment, thinking to himself that [Look at Her Face] had been discovered so quickly, and during the daytime no less.

Under normal circumstances, strange events tend to occur most frequently at night. Cases like broad daylight or early morning are indeed rare.

That's why Spacetime Atlas classified the "Look at Her Face" task as "hair-raising (low)" in terms of horror level.

Before Yan Junze could ask further, Li Man continued, "Auntie Zhao who lives in Building No. 5 has just been taken to the hospital. I personally... personally saw her bleeding from all seven apertures; she was unconscious when they lifted her into the ambulance."

"Did you call the police?" asked Yan Junze.

"We did, but they said they had to put us in line, couldn't prioritize it as a special case," replied Li Man with visible concern.

Seeing her still anxious, Yan Junze asked uneasily, "Mom, did you also see that thing? What was it?"

"A woman wearing a white short-sleeve top and white shorts..." Li Man couldn't help shivering as she spoke, "There were many onlookers who saw her, but that woman disappeared quickly at the stairwell corner, and now all the residents of Building No. 5 are in a state of panic. When I came up just now, I saw some people already packing up to leave."

"Did you see this woman's... face?" Yan Junze asked cautiously.

"No." Li Man looked up at him with a hint of surprise and shook her head, "According to the neighbors from Building No. 5, the woman initially appeared at the first-floor stairwell of Building No. 5, but she was facing away from everyone, facing the wall at the foot of the stairs."

The Back-faced Woman, this woman must be the Back-faced Woman mentioned in the task.

Yan Junze felt a chill running down his spine, his skin crawling with unease.

The horror level was classified as "hair-raising (low)", and although the Back-faced Woman's task was very close to him, he currently had no desire to engage with this woman.

He would consider it only after completing a few other tasks, collecting more Different Dimension Energy, and ensuring he had enough to Rewind safely.

Of course, that was assuming the task level of the Back-faced Woman did not escalate over time and that an Exorcist had not eliminated her.

"By the way, aren't you going to school? You're going to be late," Li Man suddenly realized, urging repeatedly.

Yan Junze immediately grabbed his backpack, and Li Man exited the house with him, descending the stairs.

They did not take the nearest way out of the community because that would have taken them past Building No. 5; instead, they chose to pass by the adjacent Building No. 4.

Along the way, Yan Junze glanced in the direction of Building No. 5 and noticed people still leaving in a panic, but there was no sign of the Back-faced Woman.

After leaving the community and telling his mom to be careful, mother and son parted ways at the street corner, with Li Man heading to the market and Yan Junze to school.

The incident in Zhang Tiantian's office the day before had apparently been kept under wraps, known only to the teachers who were present at the school at that time and Zhou Dali; the other students were unaware of it.

Zhou Dali was tight-lipped and hadn't spread the word. Seeing Yan Junze panting as he rushed into the classroom, he gave him a knowing wink.

Yan Junze sat down next to him, and Dali immediately asked, "Are you sure you're okay? Were you scratched by Teacher Zhang who got possessed?"

Yan Junze cleared his throat and said, "Come, let me give you a detailed description of Teacher Zhang's face, poked blind with a ballpoint pen, and see if you can dream of her tonight."

"Oh, too bad, class is starting," Dali laughed awkwardly, pointing to Xiang Decai who was entering the classroom.

But this class wasn't taught by the form teacher.

Xiang Decai stood at the classroom door, quickly locked his gaze on Yan Junze, and gestured, "Yan Junze, come with me for a moment, someone is looking for you."

Yan Junze stood up and looked disdainfully at Zhou Dali, "I've noticed you aren't afraid of anything, except for strangeness."

"Bah!" Zhou Dali retorted with a roll of his eyes.