Chapter 8
Chapter 8
The Anomaly Hunter licensing exam was basically the college entrance examination’s Super Pro Max edition.
Every examinee looked grim. Only Qin Lan and Xue Chuan seemed relaxed.
Qin Lan had the heaven-defying trump card of unlimited resurrection.
Xue Chuan, meanwhile… was simply too carefree to worry.
In his words, everyone died eventually. Compared to dying inside a Safe Zone, dying to an anomaly was far more romantic.
Then again, with his A-rank Talent, his survival odds were probably much higher than everyone else’s.
“Let’s get going too.”
Seeing the others set off, Xue Chuan rubbed his hands eagerly.
The examinees had been assigned different routes, both to prevent infighting and to ensure there were enough instances to go around.
No single instance could possibly provide the ten anomalies required by the exam.
Even the 2-Star [Road to the Netherworld] instance from Qin Lan’s college entrance examination had contained only four anomalies.
Of course, greater difficulty did not necessarily mean more anomalies.
Qin Lan had heard of one instance that contained only a single anomaly from beginning to end. It never even appeared in physical form, yet the instance was rated above 5-Star difficulty.
Inside it was an unknown existence called [Death]. It used every means imaginable to engineer accidents that killed the humans trapped in its instance.
Several Anomaly Hunters with A-rank Talents had apparently joined forces to clear it. Even then, they failed to kill the anomaly and could only designate its territory a forbidden zone.
As for the present, perhaps Qin Lan’s aggro-drawing Talent was at work. The pair had traveled less than a few hundred meters into the Fallen Zone when their surroundings began to change.
The environment warped — a clear sign that an instance was dragging them inside.
Anomalies were like antlions beneath desert sand. They concealed themselves under the grit, built traps, and waited for passing ants to stumble in.
Then they dragged their prey into their domains and slowly tortured them to death.
“Oh? We found one already?”
Xue Chuan’s eyes shone as if he had spotted a beautiful woman on the street.
“Brother, sometimes I seriously question your preferences,” Qin Lan said. “Who looks this excited about getting dragged into an anomaly instance? You look like you’re visiting a brothel.”
Even while mocking him, Qin Lan quickly reviewed the instance information.
The information poured directly into a person’s mind upon entry, like a game explaining its rules to the player.
Some scholars had once proposed that anomalies and instances were actually a peculiar kind of “game,” with humans serving as its players.
But the theory was absurd and lacked evidence, so it gradually faded from discussion.
—
[Terror Subway]
Difficulty: 3-Star
Cursed Artifact Present: Yes
Rule 1: You must ride the subway to the terminal station and disembark before you can leave the instance.
Rule 2: Unknown
Rule 3: Unknown
Instance Description: You are a recent university graduate. One morning, while taking the first subway of the day, you fall asleep in your seat. As you slumber, you fail to realize that you have embarked on a journey from which there is no return…
—
“A 3-Star instance?”
Qin Lan was stunned. He had never expected a 3-Star instance to form only a few hundred meters from the Safe Zone exit.
At such a short distance, only 1-Star instances should normally appear.
The scene changed rapidly. Before Qin Lan knew it, he was seated aboard a moving subway train.
The car swayed. It was not packed, but there were plenty of passengers.
Stale air mingled with coughs, muttering, and the drone of the air conditioner, creating an inexplicably oppressive atmosphere.
Xue Chuan sat across from him, rocking with the carriage and looking half asleep.
Qin Lan tried to speak but found that he had no control over his body. The instance’s rules had already taken effect, forcing him into the role of the “sleeping passenger.”
It felt exactly like watching an unskippable cutscene in a game.
“Terror Subway… What kind of anomaly will appear? A physical one? A paranormal one?”
Even with resurrection as a safeguard, Qin Lan did not dare grow careless. He immediately began analyzing the situation.
“The description sounds more paranormal. Probably a haunted subway where one supernatural phenomenon after another keeps happening?”
He had just reached that conclusion when control of his body returned.
Qin Lan immediately prepared to wake Xue Chuan and exchange information, but before he could move, a shrill roar split the air.
“You disgusting creep! How dare you take secret pictures of me!”
Qin Lan turned in confusion.
Two burly humanoid creatures resembling pigs standing upright were pointing their phones at him and snapping away, apparently recording a video.
The nearby passengers cleared a path and whispered among themselves while Qin Lan stared in disbelief.
The two pig-women continued shrieking at ear-piercing volume.
“Disgusting! Shameless! Pervert!”
“I’ve called the police. You’re finished!”
Qin Lan finally understood.
Terror shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull, making every hair on his body stand on end.
“Fuck!”
“What kind of fucking Terror Subway is this?!”
He had been sleeping. How had he become some creep taking secret pictures?
Had he not just woken up? He had not done anything!
Xue Chuan looked equally baffled. He glanced from the two pig-people to Qin Lan, then raised a thumb in admiration.
“Amazing, brother. I never knew you were a pig-loving furry.”
“Your tastes are intense.”
I’m not a fucking furry!
Qin Lan nearly lost his mind.
Two towering figures were striding toward them from the far end of the train.
They moved with astonishing speed, and each footfall made the entire carriage shake.
Their clothing was difficult to make out, but it vaguely resembled a security uniform.
“Subway security?”
Qin Lan had barely begun to relax when his heart leaped into his throat again.
The two hulking figures had no features.
Their faces were patches of blurred darkness. They did not even possess anything that could properly be called a head.
“Brother, I don’t think those things are coming to help you…”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this!”
Xue Chuan’s expression turned grave. He thrust his right hand into his pocket and pulled out… a bottle of setting spray.
Qin Lan’s mind stalled.
Xue Chuan smiled awkwardly. “Sorry. Bad luck. Didn’t draw anything useful.”
He tossed the setting spray aside and rummaged through his pocket again.
Wait a minute, brother.
Was his Talent some kind of lottery draw?
Only now did Qin Lan realize that the A-rank Talent on which he had placed such high hopes merely let Xue Chuan draw random items.
The two “security guards” had already reached Qin Lan.
He felt only suffocation.
The faceless guards radiated an unsettling, sinister aura. Simply standing there, they felt like two mountains bearing down on him.
“Ha-ha, well… Is there some misunderstanding?”
Qin Lan laughed dryly.
Secret Art: Baton Three Strikes, Three Guards!
First strike, the legs — prevent escape.
Second strike, the mouth — prevent begging.
Third strike, the head — prevent thinking.
Several brutal blows later, Qin Lan collapsed without a breath left in him.
[You were pounded into a handmade beef meatball. Killer: Subway Security.]
[Strength permanently increased by 0.7.]
[Skill replication progress: 25%.]
Qin Lan returned from the agony to find himself still seated on the subway.
Across from him, Xue Chuan lolled backward with his mouth open, looking half asleep.
Phantom pain from the batons made Qin Lan rub his head instinctively.
“Good grief. Even street thugs don’t hit that viciously…”
Still, the attribute gains from an anomaly in a 3-Star instance were terrifying. A single death had granted Qin Lan a full 0.7 Strength.
He clenched his fist. Abundant power flowed through his muscles and bones, and the definition of his muscles had visibly sharpened.
Before, his body had shown only faint traces of occasional exercise. Now every aspect of it was moving toward perfection.
He was like a precision machine whose every component and gear was being optimized.
Once set in motion, it would unleash a deafening roar.
“The Strength increase is substantial, so that beating wasn’t wasted… But what is this skill replication progress?”
Inspiration flashed through Qin Lan’s mind.
“Does it mean their baton technique?”
Could repeated deaths not only strengthen his attributes, but also give him a chance to learn skills from anomalies?
If so, the potential of his twice-awakened Talent was even more frightening than he had imagined.
But then he noticed a problem.
One beating had produced only twenty-five percent progress.
Even if the gains did not diminish, he would have to endure at least three more.
The thought of suffering that legendary baton technique several more times darkened his face.
The familiar shriek rang out again.
“You disgusting creep! How dare you take secret pictures of me!”
Qin Lan’s mouth twitched. “Again…”
To avoid diminishing returns from the same death, he chose to resist this time.
“Hey! You can eat whatever garbage you like, but you can’t spew whatever garbage you want!”
“Just standing there, you two pig-headed freaks are enough to give me nightmares. Why would I take pictures of you?”
Qin Lan argued fiercely.
His goal was not survival, but the vindication of his aesthetic standards.
The two pig-creatures froze, then screamed even louder.
“What do you mean? I’m fat, so I can’t be beautiful?”
“In ancient times, fat was beautiful! Besides, I’m not fat. I’m voluptuous!”
“And what gives you the right to define me? We refuse to be defined! Beauty cannot be defined!”
Qin Lan’s scalp tingled.
“Fuck, are you Cthulhu? Undefined, impossible to behold, an indescribable entity?”
At the rear of the carriage, the two hulking anomalies charged again. Their footsteps beat like drums against Qin Lan’s heart.
“Security! He took secret pictures of us and tried to define us fairies without consent!”
Baton Secret Art: Three Strikes, Three Guards!
“Don’t worry, brother! Behold my treasure… Fuck, why is it a basketball?”
Amid the chaos, Qin Lan collapsed once more.
[You were rolled into handmade gummy candy. Killer: Subway Security.]
[Constitution permanently increased by 0.2.]
[Skill replication progress: 35%.]