Chapter 1 Something Soft and Full

In a daze, Zhang Yuanqing felt something soft and full pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe.

He opened his eyes and saw a round, delicate face with a mischievous smile.

His little aunt hummed, “You little rascal, you dare stand me up? I’ll sit you to death!”

She sat on her nephew in a duck-sitting position, leaning forward and slamming her rear down hard.

Zhang Yuanqing grunted from the impact, nearly suffocating. Annoyed, he arched his back, toppling the woman over.

Amidst his little aunt’s cry of “Ouch,” he saw that it was dark outside the window. Unknowingly, he had slept from morning until night.

“Time to eat!”

His little aunt lay on her side on the bed, kicking her nephew’s butt with a flurry of deadly kicks.

“Hey, no retaliation, okay? I respect the old and love the young; I won’t lower myself to your level.”

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

The living room was filled with a rich aroma. His maternal grandpa and grandma were sitting at the dining table, eating. His grandpa’s hair was silver, and he was tall and thin, with a serious, unsmiling face.

“So, how was the match I arranged for you this time?”

At the table, his grandma asked with some anticipation.

“Not bad, a million annual salary, a corporate executive, very satisfactory!”

His little aunt nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

“You say that every time, and every time you block them,” his grandma scolded, poking her daughter’s forehead hard with her finger. “Pay attention, and think about how old you are.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Zhang Yuanqing gloated from the side, and then Jiang Yu’e kicked him hard in the calf.

The two began kicking each other under the table, making the table “bang” non-stop.

“If you’re not going to eat, get back to your room.”

With a shout from his grandma, Zhang Yuanqing and his little aunt immediately lowered their heads and shoveled rice into their mouths.

“Grandma, when is cousin coming back?” Zhang Yuanqing asked.

His uncle’s family lived across the hall. Recently, his wealthy aunt and his unruly uncle had gone abroad for travel, and during this time, his cousin had been eating dinner here.

“He said he’s working overtime tonight and won’t be back… That guy is a workaholic, the complete opposite of his idle father,” his grandma complained.

Overtime… Zhang Yuanqing couldn’t hide his disappointment and said, “Oh.”

After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yu’e returned to their respective rooms, leaving his grandma to clean up the mess.

…

Back in his room, Zhang Yuanqing locked the door and picked up his phone to call his cousin.

Since he couldn’t say it in person, he’d call.

But communicating over the phone was never as clear as speaking face-to-face.

The call went through quickly, but the speaker played a birdlike sound indicating that the phone was turned off.

“In a meeting?”

Zhang Yuanqing reluctantly hung up the phone. As the captain of the Public Security Team, his cousin was busy, and his work and diet were irregular. These kinds of situations where he couldn’t be reached happened often.

He was used to it.

Zhang Yuanqing lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling, letting his thoughts wander…

If Brother Bing’s disappearance was caused by someone, and their target was the black card, then I need to be careful. The safest way is to give the black card to my cousin, and then have my cousin report it to his superiors.

With the administrative level of the Songhai City Public Security Department, the influence of forces from the Jiangnan Province is limited.

But the problem is, the black card is gone. That’s the biggest headache… Zhang Yuanqing scratched his head in distress.

A black card that can disappear into thin air is terrifying. If I can’t find the black card, then the method of handing it over to the country won’t work.

I can only be honest with my cousin first, let him report to his superiors, and then listen to their arrangements. I’m just an ordinary college student; there’s nothing I can do.

Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing felt a pain in his forehead, a burning sensation. He reached out to scratch it, and the pain became more intense.

Huh? It’s painful and hot, what’s going on…

He left the bed in a daze and walked to the full-length mirror standing by the window, examining himself in the mirror.

The mirror reflected the face of a young man, with delicate features and fair skin, without the resilience beaten out by society, nor the vicissitudes washed out by the years.

Only the vigor of a young man bursting forth.

On his forehead, there was a black crescent moon mark, lifelike, with irregular patches visible on the surface.

At the bottom of the crescent moon mark, there was also something like a progress bar, showing: 90%.

This… Zhang Yuanqing was shocked and stepped back. He rubbed his forehead hard, but the mark was like a tattoo, impossible to rub off.

How could I have this kind of thing on my forehead? When did it appear? Confused thoughts flashed through his mind, mixed with panic and bewilderment.

“Wait! This, this pattern is the black moon on the card.”

He was stunned for a moment, and then the idea suddenly dawned on him.

The black card wasn’t lost, but had entered his body, turning into a mark on his forehead in a way he couldn’t understand.

While he was still lost in confusion, he noticed that the progress bar at the bottom of the black moon mark had become 92%. With the numbers changing, his forehead felt a burning sensation.

What is this, a supernatural phenomenon? High technology? Hallucination?

At this moment, the contents of the letter floated into his mind again: This is a gift that can change your life…

“The black card really is a treasure, so my previous guess was right. Someone coveted this card, and Brother Bing didn’t want them to succeed, so he sent it to me, and that’s why he disappeared…”

Zhang Yuanqing worried about Brother Bing while also staring at the progress bar with a hint of anticipation.

What will happen when the progress bar reaches 100%? Having witnessed the marvel before his eyes, he was full of curiosity about the changes to come.

After several more burning pains, the progress bar at the bottom of the black moon finally completed its journey, reaching 100%.

The next moment, a voice without emotional fluctuations, without feeling, sounded in his ears:

[Character card restart complete…]

[Name: Unnamed (Please name immediately)]

[Race: Human]

[Occupation: Night Wanderer]

[Level: 0]

[Skills: None]

[Experience: 0%]

[Morality: 60 (initial value)]

Below the morality value was a note:

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

Looking at the fluorescent blue character attribute panel that appeared before him, Zhang Yuanqing was stunned for a long time, wondering what this thing was.

He tentatively said, “System?”

As a skilled internet surfer, extensive knowledge was a necessary quality.

The emotionless voice echoed in his ears again:

[Please name the character immediately!]

The attribute panel, frozen in mid-air, popped up a fluorescent blue handwriting box.

It’s not a system; otherwise, the intelligence would be too low; it can’t even communicate… With the thought of taking things one step at a time, Zhang Yuanqing reached out his finger and wrote his name:

Zhang Yuanqing

[Warning, do not use your real name.]

Can’t use his real name? Zhang Yuanqing was stunned, and then wrote a second name:

Yuanshi Tianzun

[Naming successful! The Spirit Realm will open in ten seconds, Yuanshi Tianzun, good luck!]

Listening to the voice echoing in his ears, Zhang Yuanqing was stunned for a moment, wondering what was going on. Open the Spirit Realm? Shouldn’t you explain what the Spirit Realm is first?

Before he could calm down, the ten-second countdown was already over.

[Ding, the Spirit Realm map is now open. Welcome to “Night Wanderer – Sheling Tunnel”, number: 0079.]

[Difficulty level: S]

[Type: Single-player (death type)]

[Main quest 1: Survive for three hours.]

[Main quest 2: Explore Spirit Realm 0079, current exploration progress: 0%]

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

[Introduction to Spirit Realm 0079: Do you know about the Sheling Tunnel, one of the top ten urban legends of Songhai?]

[The Sheling Tunnel was built in the late last century. During the tunnel construction, a construction team entered the tunnel to dig on a rainy night and disappeared into the tunnel, never to be seen again.

[The Public Security Department organized search teams to search for several days and found a worker in the mountains who had participated in the excavation that night, but the others were missing.

[Although the survivor lived, he was mentally affected by some inexplicable stimulus and became crazy… No matter how the security officers questioned him, he kept repeating only one sentence.

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

The voice in his ear became lower and lower, gradually becoming inaudible. The scenery in front of him, like the surface of a lake with ripples, became distorted and blurred.

Soon, the picture gradually stabilized, and dim light shone on the uneven walls. Under his feet was a road paved with fine stones.

“Where is this?”

Zhang Yuanqing looked around in astonishment and found himself in an old tunnel. The old-fashioned xenon lamps on the arched ceiling emitted a weak orange halo.

…

ps: We are 11th in monthly tickets, thank you all, you are awesome.

Because it is a modern background, some overhead settings will be made. In this world, there is only the Public Security Department. Everyone is an old reader and should understand.