Chapter 2: The Instance Begins
Ten minutes remained before the beginner-zone instances officially opened.
Since this was Su Qiong’s first time entering a game level, the notoriously stingy system bat took a moment to explain the rules.
“Every player randomly assigned to the ‘Poverty’ instance is a pampered flower,” the bat explained. “In the real world, they live in wealth and privilege. They’ve never experienced what it means to be poor.”
Su Qiong thought to himself: Right. The system has a very interesting definition of the word “random.”
“Before they enter,” the bat continued, “the system asks them to pick a starting amount of money between 10 and 1,000. Heeheehee! Those greedy rich people will definitely pick the highest amount, won’t they? Even though a thousand probably seems like spare change to them.”
The bat wrapped its leathery wings tightly around itself, hanging upside down from a branch in front of Su Qiong. It wriggled with glee like a happy maggot.
“Once they pick their number, the system sends them to different locations based on what they chose. Then, their mission is to multiply that money ten-thousandfold within five days!”
The bat was getting more and more excited, blood rushing to its tiny upside-down head. “Once they get inside, they’ll realize there’s absolutely no way to make that much money! Hahahaha! Oh, you proud and privileged children, despair! Beg for a few measly coins! Throw away your dignity and let me trample on your perfect lives!”
Its little black eyes rolled back in supreme pleasure.
Su Qiong, whose expression had remained completely blank the entire time, reached out both arms. He grabbed the bat and firmly turned it right-side up.
Its villainous speech interrupted, the bat glared furiously. It twisted out of Su Qiong’s grip, flew to another branch, and hung upside down again.
Su Qiong reached over and turned it right-side up once more.
“Hey!” After Su Qiong flipped it several times, the bat’s fur puffed up in anger.
“Does forcing someone to live completely against their nature make you happy?” Su Qiong asked. He was turning a bat upright—even though bats are supposed to hang upside down—and it wasn’t making him feel any happier. So why was the bat so excited about forcing rich people to be poor?
Th-that actually made some sense.
The bat was totally speechless. It even forgot to flip itself back upside down. It slapped Su Qiong’s hand away with its wing, then pointed at the glowing screen to introduce the notable players entering the instance.
“Lu Shufan,” the bat announced, pointing to a cheerful-looking guy. “He’s one of the few who volunteered to play. He’s a gaming streamer who talked about IF a lot. When registration opened, he was streaming to over a million people. He told his fans to sign him up, making him the person with the most registration forms in the world.”
The rules stated that multiple forms for the same person only counted as one entry. Still, tens of thousands of forms had poured in for Lu Shufan in just five minutes, nearly crashing the servers.
“After asking his fans to sign him up, Lu Shufan turned around and registered his best friend: Shi Yuntian,” the bat continued, shifting the screen. “Shi Yuntian is a three-time world champion in esports who just retired. That’s the guy standing next to him.”
Su Qiong thought: What a great best friend.
Having gotten exactly what he wanted, Lu Shufan was grinning from ear to ear. Beside him, the tall, muscular Shi Yuntian looked incredibly furious.
Shi Yuntian knew he had offended plenty of people over his career. He fully expected someone to register him. But he never, ever imagined that his own best friend would be the idiot to drag him into a death game.
“Big brother~ Just play the game with me~” Lu Shufan whined in a fake, sickeningly sweet voice.
“Ugh. Get lost!” Shi Yuntian snapped.
Su Qiong silently looked away. Fortunately, I don’t have eyes, so I can’t feel nauseated.
“And over here,” the bat said, shifting the view to a young man in a sharp suit and tie. He looked completely out of place on the foggy wasteland. “Yu Qimiao. In the real world, he’s a genius entrepreneur who made it onto the global rich list in just five years. Someone like him has definitely never been poor. Heeheehee! The system dragged in quite a few special characters.”
Unbothered by the bat’s wicked laughter, Su Qiong asked flatly, “Anyone else?”
“That’s it. Each instance can only hold so many people, so not every famous player gets put in the same one,” the bat paused, then remembered something. “Actually, there is one other unusual player.”
On the screen, Su Qiong saw a very ordinary-looking man. Compared to the streamer, the esports champ, and the billionaire, he looked like a nobody.
“Player ID: Those Who Obey Me Win,” the bat said lazily. “He’s a relative of the Awakened One.”
“Oh,” Su Qiong understood.
He knew from the game’s servers that the system had deliberately let one beta player wake up just to spread the terrifying news about IF. But the player slipped back into a coma too quickly, leaving the system disappointed. Still, that player must have told his family all about the game’s secrets before he passed out.
That meant Those Who Obey Me Win was the only player who actually knew how IF worked. No wonder a crowd of desperate players was already treating him like a king.
“Any other questions?” The bat put its wings on its hips, looking very proud of itself. “Today’s a special offer. I’ll tell you anything.”
“Yes. Two things.” Su Qiong looked at the bizarre trees, his coffin, and the pulsating white fruits. “This place is very strange. It must have some kind of purpose, right?”
The bat shuddered. That question was way above its pay grade. If it answered, the main system would delete it from existence.
“My second question,” Su Qiong continued, seeing the bat’s fear. “Why do I have a name?”
His code might be a sloppy mess, but his name—Su Qiong—was a proper human name. And the bat had just said the theme of the first instance was Poverty, which was exactly what “Qiong” meant in his name. Was it possible he wasn’t actually a game bug?
The bat trembled even harder, deeply regretting its brag from a moment ago. It never should have answered a low-level employee’s questions!
“I’m your boss! I don’t serve low-level workers!” the bat snapped, immediately going back on its word. “You’re only allowed to ask the system questions after you earn some KPI by clearing an instance!”
“…” Su Qiong stared at it. “So you’re just throwing a tantrum because you don’t know the answer.”
“Get lost!”
[Welcome, players, to the instance “Poverty.”]
[This is the first opening of this instance. A total of 30,000 parallel instances have been created. Players who clear the instance the fastest or achieve the highest scores may receive bonus rewards.]
[Main Quest: Multiply your starting net worth ten-thousandfold within five days.]
[Hint: There is more than one way to clear the instance. Players must figure it out themselves.]
When the robotic announcement finished, the players looked completely lost. They were still standing on a vast, empty plain. There were tons of survival games on the market, but none of them started without giving a single clue.
“Brother Shi~ I don’t know how to play this game~ Teach me!”
“Get lost!” Shi Yuntian glared at Lu Shufan. “If you use that disgusting voice one more time, we are not teaming up.”
“Alright, alright,” Lu Shufan coughed, returning to his normal voice. “Any clues?”
“No.” Shi Yuntian sighed. “I only play combat games. I’m no good at puzzle stuff.”
Lu Shufan played a lot of games, but even he was stumped. The two decided they needed to team up with others. They both glanced at Those Who Obey Me Win, the guy claiming to be the ultimate game guide. He was surrounded by a massive crowd of followers, his nose pointed arrogant to the sky.
Shi Yuntian looked away in disgust. “Forget it. Anyone but him.”
Lu Shufan didn’t want to beg a guy like that either. He scanned the area and spotted someone standing all alone.
It was Yu Qimiao. He was still wearing his tailored suit, looking like a man used to giving orders, though a hint of nervousness cracked his calm expression.
Nearby, Su Qiong had already slipped into the instance. His situation was extremely dangerous. The system hadn’t told the players the difference between white-name NPCs (helpers) and red-name NPCs (killers). Instead, the system just told players that killing any NPC might drop cool loot. Meanwhile, the red-name NPCs wanted to kill white-name NPCs too.
Since Su Qiong had exactly zero attack power, he needed to find a smart player to team up with, and fast.
He ignored the arrogant player and his massive crowd of followers. Teaming up with him would only lead to death or being used as a shield. Instead, Su Qiong floated silently toward the three famous men, hoping to piggyback on their skills. He preferred a dangerous genius over a loyal idiot.
Wrapped in his cloak, Su Qiong silently drifted toward Yu Qimiao and eavesdropped on his muttering.
“There are 30,000 parallel instances,” Yu Qimiao whispered to himself. “If there are about fifty players in each, that’s one and a half million players. But five million entered the game. That means this instance specifically selected us based on some criteria.”
Correct, Su Qiong thought, giving the man a mental gold star.
“When we had to pick a number, I chose the lowest possible value: ten,” Yu Qimiao continued analyzing. “The NPC with the apple said the system is fair. So, it’s safe to assume everyone here picked ten. That means our winning condition is the same: earn 100,000 within five days.”
Yu Qimiao’s eyes narrowed. “If the main quest is that simple… then it means it’s going to be impossible to earn 100,000 inside this level. In fact, we probably won’t be able to earn anything at all. If the local economy is poor, no amount of hard work will matter.”
As a self-made billionaire, Yu Qimiao understood exactly how money and economies worked.
Su Qiong silently applauded him. Without a single clue from the system, Yu Qimiao had already figured out the catch. Su Qiong had to team up with him! If Yu Qimiao could use his brilliant brain to beat the game, Su Qiong could just sit back and do absolutely nothing.
Because Su Qiong’s body was essentially a marshmallow, he made no sound when he walked. Thanks to the mimicry cloak, he was practically invisible. But Yu Qimiao’s survival instincts were insanely sharp. He sensed something near him and instantly checked his bracelet.
[NPC (White)] Su Qiong
[Level] 0
[Skill] No skills detected
[Item] Mimicry Cloak (Low-level item; no bonuses)
“You’re a system NPC? Are you here to kill me?” Yu Qimiao’s hand immediately dropped to his waist, ready to draw a weapon.
Su Qiong quickly jumped back a few feet to show he wasn’t a threat. He tried using his brain waves to send a long, detailed explanation of why he was there to help.
Yu Qimiao didn’t react at all. He just kept staring, his face full of suspicion.
Su Qiong realized with a sinking feeling: Wait… does my telepathy not work on players? This trashy game system was going to get him killed!
Seeing the monster just standing there, Yu Qimiao thought back to the three terrifying NPCs they had seen earlier. If this white, bandage-wrapped creature attacked, he was dead. He frantically thought about yelling for the other players to help.
Sensing Yu Qimiao’s panic, Su Qiong felt a little disappointed. Yu Qimiao was smart, but he was way too cautious. In a horror game, you had to take risks.
My dream of doing absolutely no work is ruined, Su Qiong sighed.
He took a step forward, planning to find another way to prove he was friendly. But the second he moved, the environment suddenly warped.
The blue sky shattered into an overcast, gloomy gray. Freezing snow began to fall, making the players shiver violently in their thin clothes.
Using the sudden distraction, Su Qiong rushed forward, unraveled some of his bandage-like fabric, and wrapped it around the arm Yu Qimiao was using to hold his weapon.
Yu Qimiao gritted his teeth. “Damn it. What a powerful NPC.”
Su Qiong paused. …What? Did you not just read that my level is zero?
If Yu Qimiao had just tugged his arm a little bit, he would have realized the bandages were incredibly weak. But instead, Yu Qimiao lifted his chin proudly and closed his eyes. “I surrender. Go ahead and kill me.”
“…” This was getting weird.
Instead of a fatal blow, Yu Qimiao heard a creepy, echoing nursery rhyme.
The players gasped as a new scene faded into view. They were standing on a freezing dirt road leading to a bleak, rundown village. A broken stone monument at the entrance read: Gangan Village.
Over a dozen men were loitering at the entrance. They were terrifyingly skinny, their skin stretched tight over their bones. They wore ragged, thin clothes, and they were covered in a thick layer of greasy dirt, smelling as if they hadn’t bathed in a decade.
Their deeply sunken eyes stared greedily at the players.
An old, wrinkly man stepped past the monument and slowly approached the youngest female player in the group. His cloudy eyes locked onto her, but it wasn’t just lust. It looked like pure, rabid hunger and madness.
The old man reached out, mumbling a bizarre nursery rhyme. “Gangan Village, nothing but bare branches. Where is my wife?” “Ask my mother, ask my sister. Where is my wife?”
“I don’t know! Stay away from me!” The young woman screamed, hugging her arms and backing away in terror. “I’m not your mother, I’m not your sister, and I’m definitely not your wife!”
It wasn’t just the women who were terrified. The male players felt chills crawling down their spines under those hungry stares.
“Where is my wife?” Su Qiong heard the song getting closer. He and Yu Qimiao were still tangled together and couldn’t run.
“Wife. Be my wife,” a hollow, raspy voice whispered. A pair of sunken eyes suddenly leaned in, coming face-to-face with Su Qiong.
Su Qiong couldn’t smell anything, but Yu Qimiao nearly choked on the bachelor’s rotting stench.
The creepy villager stared hard at Su Qiong’s puffy white body. Then, he shook his head in disappointment.
“You’ve got a dick. You can’t be my wife.”
The smelly man turned around and wandered back to the entrance, singing his song.
“???” Su Qiong looked down at himself. Wait, I’m male code?
“There is something very, very wrong with this village,” Yu Qimiao whispered, finally opening his eyes.
Before Yu Qimiao could even process the village, Su Qiong lifted his wrist. NPCs had control bracelets too, though theirs were pitch black. Because the bachelor had interacted with Su Qiong, it triggered the first real clue of the game.
[Gangan Village has a permanent population of 405 residents, 398 of whom are male. The average annual income per person is 200 yuan.]
[Mission: Assist the players in entering Gangan Village and completing the main quest.]
“The total annual income of the entire village is only about 80,000,” Yu Qimiao realized. He had been right. It was mathematically impossible to earn the 100,000 they needed just by working in this village.
Yu Qimiao looked at the black bracelet, then looked at the bandages gently wrapped around his arm, and finally looked at Su Qiong’s squishy marshmallow face. He finally understood. This NPC wasn’t trying to kill him. It was trying to help him.
“Sorry, just now I…” Yu Qimiao started to apologize.
But before he could finish, the sharp shwing of a blade sounded from behind them.
“Danger! Yu Qimiao, run!” Lu Shufan screamed, violently shoving Yu Qimiao out of the way.
Shi Yuntian leaped high into the air, his muscles bulging as he swung a massive blade straight down at Su Qiong’s round head.
“Move!” Shi Yuntian roared. “Leave this NPC to me!”
