chapter 1
When Cheng Miao woke up, she found herself in a large room filled with all sorts of smells. Holding her still-dizzy head, she squinted and carefully examined her surroundings.
It was a place much like a prison dormitory, with mattresses laid out haphazardly on the floor, pressed together with only a narrow path left in the middle-barely enough for a person to squeeze through sideways. On the yellowed, mottled wall, several large characters were painted in blood-red: Low-grade Dormitory (30/50).
Her mind was still buzzing, and she could vaguely hear a woman’s sharp screams and a man’s angry curses not far away, mixed with a strange, indescribable sound.
Frowning, Cheng Miao tried to locate the source of the noise. The sound was shrill, reminiscent of SpongeBob’s voice, oddly out of place in such an environment.
She staggered to her feet, recalling the scene before she fell asleep, and walked toward the source of the sound.
Earlier, she had gone out with friends, had a bit to drink, went home to sleep-and woke up here.
The noise was coming from a tall table against the wall. Everyone was gathered in front of it, keeping a not-too-close, not-too-far distance, breaking down and wailing, which made Cheng Miao feel a bit uneasy as well.
Squeezing through the crowd to get a closer look, Cheng Miao saw that the table was not empty-on it was a slick, shiny… cockroach.
Cheng Miao was afraid of many things: ghosts, and bugs.
But she had a trait-the more scared she was, the calmer she appeared on the surface.
For no other reason than that she was socially anxious and liked to use outward indifference to avoid social interaction.
And as a pretty girl, she didn’t want to show any expressions of shock or panic.
So, while she kept a cool face, she was actually breaking out in goosebumps all over.
Suddenly, she saw the cockroach… stand up…
It was quite large, and when it stood upright, its bottom two legs supported its big body.
The tentacles on its head rubbed together as if it were wringing its hands, and Cheng Miao even saw it lean forward, mimicking a human bow to greet everyone.
Cheng Miao’s expressionless face was on the verge of collapse. Did someone inject me with hallucinogens…?
Could this be a drug trafficking ring…?
“Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Survival Inn. This is the Cockroach Dormitory. Each of you was carefully selected to enter the Game. I hope you’ll work hard, clear the Game, and return to the human world.”
The cockroach, tired of standing, sat on the edge of the tall table, its tiny, almost invisible legs dangling and swinging in the air.
“You are all Newcomers. For your first stay, you’re in the Basic Dormitory. I am your Front Desk, Ah Zhang. The Dormitory is divided into high, medium, and low grades, and I’ll be registering you all. Those who fail the Game are not eligible to stay…” Ah Zhang smiled, its tentacles swaying cheerfully.
“The Dormitory series isn’t very difficult, so the rest time isn’t long either. For your first entry into the Basic Dormitory Game, you have ten minutes to prepare. Advancing from Basic to Intermediate Dormitory gives you one day, and from Intermediate to Advanced Dormitory, three days.”
Ah Zhang looked everyone over, its tone growing impatient.
“Once you leave my Cockroach Dormitory, you’ll move on to higher-grade Inns, until you can clear the Eden Club and return to reality.”
Annoyed by the noisy crowd, Ah Zhang suddenly stood up and stomped its thin legs, its tone irritable. “Those afraid of bugs, stop wailing! You’re staying in the lowest Dormitory-did you expect Mr. Panda to serve you? Only we lowly Four Pests citizens work so tirelessly!”
Cheng Miao: Uh, no, you’ve misunderstood. They’re not screaming so miserably because they’re afraid of cockroaches.
After its inexplicable outburst, no one dared to cry or shout anymore. Covering their mouths, trembling, they stared at the giant cockroach.
Ah Zhang seemed satisfied, its tone softening as it offered a bit of encouragement.
“As long as you clear the Game! Perform well and earn enough money, and you won’t have to worry about not being able to stay in a high-grade Inn. The higher the grade, the better the service, the higher the standard of living-tsk tsk tsk…”
“The money you earn after clearing a level can be used to pay the Room Fee, or exchanged for equivalent wishes, or spent at the Grocery Store to buy Items and necessities. Whether you save or spend is up to you-there are no requirements.”
As someone who had read plenty of infinite flow stories, Cheng Miao was much calmer than the others, who were already on the verge of fainting from fear.
This is an endless Game of fighting monsters and clearing stages, only far more dangerous and difficult than the literal meaning suggests.
Aside from that, Cheng Miao had already shifted from initial confusion to calmness, carefully analyzing the current situation.
Since 2328, an incurable plague had spread across the world. Whether the afflicted could recover seemed almost mystical.
Those who contracted the plague would fall into a deep sleep. When they would wake, or if they could wake at all, depended entirely on luck; medicine was useless.
Those who managed to wake up were often moved to tears, claiming they had finally returned alive and even received rewards… There was no end to such rambling statements.
The International Medical Organization determined that the illness could trigger mental complications.
Thinking back now… those people weren’t insane.
They very likely, just like herself, had arrived at this so-called Survival Inn.
Cheng Miao’s spirits lifted. Quite a few people had woken up, which meant there was hope of clearing the Game!
“Excuse me…” Ah Zhang looked toward the speaker, a fresh and clean-looking girl.
The girl had delicate features; at first glance she might not be stunning, but she possessed a charm that made people want to keep looking.
In short, she was beautiful and very pleasant to look at.
Tsk, she appeared calm on the surface, but her voice was trembling.
Ah Zhang mischievously landed on her shoulder, and as expected, felt the girl’s whole body stiffen.
Cheng Miao swallowed hard, trying her best to ignore the fact that a giant cockroach was currently on her: “Since there are many different types of Inns, will we enter Instances together with Players from other high-level Inns?”
Ah Zhang wiggled its antennae. It had been a long time since it met a Newcomer who didn’t collapse immediately; lately, the quality of Newcomers had been declining, and they weren’t even tasty…
Ah Zhang multitasked, eyeing Cheng Miao’s tender, tofu-like skin, while dutifully fulfilling its Front Desk responsibilities: “Naturally, yes. As for the probability, that depends on your luck. Entering Instances with Players from high-level Inns has its pros and cons.”
“One more thing: to ensure the Game proceeds peacefully and amicably, violence against other Players is prohibited inside rooms. It’s true that some Items can be used outside Instances, but the user will also suffer severe backlash.”
Cheng Miao let out a small sigh of relief. This would greatly increase a Newcomer’s survival rate.
As for what Ah Zhang said about not being able to use violence, she’d just take note for now; the specifics would have to be explored herself.
“Thank you, I have no more questions.” Cheng Miao shifted her shoulder cautiously.
You can fly away now, please don’t stand on me, I’m begging you.
Actually, Cheng Miao still had a bellyful of questions. Having read so many horror infinite flow novels, she could list all sorts of infinite flow Game formats: livestream types, competitive types, metaverse types…
But asking more wouldn’t help as much as surviving the first Game and coming back alive. Besides…
Cheng Miao glanced out of the corner of her eye at the disgusting cockroach still lingering on her shoulder, feeling that Ah Zhang’s words always seemed to have hidden meanings, never telling the whole story.
Ask too much, and preconceived notions might cloud her judgment.
Ah Zhang flew up, hovering in the air and watching Cheng Miao for a while. “What’s your name?”
“…Cheng Miao.”
Having her name known by this obviously unfriendly cockroach was definitely unpleasant, but Cheng Miao didn’t dare refuse a question from the Front Desk NPC.
Ah Zhang didn’t linger, turning and flying up to a high table.
Cheng Miao’s sharp eyes caught sight of a rectangular opening in the wall next to the high table, like a window set in a door for passing things through. And at that window, there was another identical giant cockroach.
“Bro, First Team and Second Team both failed to clear the stage. We get extra dinner tonight.”
“Really? The Newcomers lately are just too weak. I’ll go take a look.”
After the two cockroaches left through the opening, Cheng Miao belatedly realized that the opening was set in a door.
Only, the door had no handle or lock, blending almost seamlessly into the wall, making it hard to notice.
Thanks to those two cockroaches, others also discovered the door.
Next to her, a chubby Uncle, as if grabbing a lifeline, darted toward the door with surprising agility, pounding on it desperately. “Help! Is anyone there? Open the door and let me out!”