Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Standing in a spot sheltered from the rain, Chu Yue watched the downpour as his mission concluded. The surrounding environment seemed to dissolve into the rain, with layers of reality rapidly unraveling toward him.

As the light gradually brightened, Shen Yubi saw Chu Yue’s blood-stained shoulder and pale face.

At that moment, Chu Yue felt a tug on the braided cord around his wrist.

He turned his head.

Shen Yubi was pinching the small copper coin on his bracelet, staring at him without blinking.

Chu Yue met his gaze. “What is it?”

Shen Yubi said nothing, his eyes filled with a complex swirl of emotions. Only when the shifting reality reached their feet did he seem to resign himself to fate. He let go and gave Chu Yue a small smile. “Chu Yue.”

“Yeah?”

Shen Yubi said, “You don’t belong here. Don’t come back.”

Chu Yue was startled. Before he could ask anything, a powerful suction erupted from behind him, dragging his body backward.

The dizziness came and went quickly. By the time he stood straight again, the scene before him had completely changed.

He was in a space of absolute white. Chu Yue took only two steps, and his footsteps echoed loudly through the vast emptiness.

[Ding-dong-]

A crisp electronic chime rang out, sounding as if it were right next to his ear yet coming from all directions at once.

Chu Yue pursed his lips, his eyes scanning the surroundings warily.

[Mr. Chu, welcome to the Nightmare World. You have passed your test.]

It was an unfamiliar male voice. Unlike before, as the words fell, the space in front of Chu Yue rippled, and a transparent floating screen gradually manifested.

Taking a half-step back, Chu Yue stared at the screen and frowned.

He figured that the place he was currently in likely corresponded to the “Personal Space” typical of such games.

Without him saying a word, the panel before him continued:

[First, allow me to introduce ourselves. This is the Nightmare Trading System. We hail from a higher civilization and have come here to find fated individuals to trade with and exchange energy.]

[You may treat all of this as a game. As long as you participate in these escape games, we can provide you with rewards beyond your imagination.]

[For example, the unconditional fulfillment of your wishes.]

[Mr. Chu, you have a wish you want to fulfill, don’t you? Your emotions were so intense they were captured by us. This is truly a rare occurrence.]

Chu Yue looked at it. “Any wish?”

[Yes, any wish.]

“Including bringing the dead back to life?”

The man gave a light chuckle and replied, [Of course, Mr. Chu, if that is your wish.]

Chu Yue asked, “Can you even make someone who never existed… exist?”

[Perfectly possible. As long as your level is high enough, your harvest will be even greater.]

Chu Yue fell silent, staring at the screen as he contemplated his current situation.

This was clearly just as Shen Yubi had said-this System had appeared because it detected his intense psychological desires.

[Of course, as a reasonable world, Mr. Chu, since you have passed our test, you have the right to choose.]

[Do you accept the Nightmare Game?]

The voice coming from the screen was incredibly gentle. There was no hint of inflammatory rhetoric, yet it carried a lethal sense of allure.

The temptation had been dangled from the very beginning. Whether he took the bait depended entirely on whether the chooser’s desires could conquer their reason.

And Chu Yue’s desires would never be suppressed by reason.

However, he did not make his choice immediately. Chu Yue’s voice remained steady. “I want to know if I accept, how many games do I need to complete to terminate the contract? And when will my wish be granted?”

[Ah, yes. That is a point I failed to clarify. My apologies.]

His tone sounded somewhat regretful, as if he were disappointed that Chu Yue hadn’t been completely blinded by desire.

[There are differences in the levels of Players who enter the game.]

[The most common Players have all sorts of wishes. Some are for money, some for power, and some even for longevity. These are the ordinary Players of the Nightmare Game.
After entering the game, they clear stages through their own efforts and can exchange their earnings for whatever they need at the Game Store.

At the Game Store, one point can be exchanged for ten thousand RMB, or for one day of life. In a single game, even if you just slack off within the Instance, you’ll get a base reward of one hundred Points as long as you survive.

As long as they survive two Instances, ordinary Players can choose to spend two hundred Points to leave, or they can choose to spend fifty Points to request a leave of absence from the Trading Center and temporarily return to the real world.

There is another type of Player, equivalent to a Member Player within the game.

Their wish is usually to save someone. To do so, they voluntarily sell themselves to the Nightmare World.

This type of Player has relatively less freedom, but the moment they enter the game and the contract takes effect, their wish is immediately granted.

They remain in the Nightmare World forever. Simultaneously, their existence and all information about them in the outside world are erased from everyone’s memory, except for the person they saved.

Of course, the game compensates these people with real estate within the Nightmare World.]

Chu Yue, who had been listening intently to the explanation, suddenly underwent a change in expression upon hearing this part. His already pale face instantly lost all color.

His lips trembled as he tried to speak, but his throat felt blocked, and he couldn’t squeeze out a single sound.

Seemingly amused by his reaction, the man began to laugh again.

[Of course, the final type is someone like you.

Someone like you is our most distinguished Super Member Player.

As someone who was once saved, you entered the game because of that person whom only you remember. If that person is still alive, the Player can enter Redemption Mode.

As long as your level reaches Level 12, you can take him away.

Throughout history, our Member Players have numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but there are fewer than a hundred Super Members. You are the ninety-ninth.

Your test has been passed, which is sufficient to activate Redemption Mode.

As a Super Member Player, if you agree to activate it, the System will provide a Super Gift Pack.

After all, mutual feelings are the most precious things of all.]

Despite having said so much, the man didn’t seem bothered and continued to explain things to Chu Yue.

[However, this is a horror escape game. If you cannot survive safely within a game Instance, you will also die in the real world. You only have one life. Regardless of the type of Player, fifty percent die at Level 1, and those above Level 5 don’t even make up ten percent.]

His voice carried a faint malice, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue beneath a sea of flowers.

Chu Yue’s hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into fists. He stared at the words on the screen, his eyes reflecting the flickering light.

Failure meant death; success meant his wish would be granted.

Perhaps this decision would be difficult for others, but for Chu Yue, it was quite easy.

So everything that changed back then was because of saving him. For all these years, that person had been struggling in this game for over a decade.

Chu Yue thought of Shen Yubi. Was it him?

[Mr. Chu, there is only one chance. You may think it over carefully before making your decision.

In seven days, I will be waiting for you to tell me your answer.]

As the voice faded, the same sensation from before struck him again.

After a moment of daze, Chu Yue regained consciousness and found himself back in his room.

Chu Yue looked up at the ceiling. The light outside the window wasn’t particularly bright, yet it carried a sense of vibrant charm.

This was the difference from the game world.

On one side was a life of luxury; on the other was slaughter and escape.

He sat up from the bed, stripping off his clothes as he walked toward the bathroom.

The bloodstains and wounds had not disappeared just because he returned to the real world.

Neither had that rancid smell.