The Horror Game Player Administration Bureau was an agency with little real authority, yet one that couldn't simply not exist.
Back when the Horror Game had first appeared, it triggered a wave of genuine social panic.
Very quickly, the government established this department to register and manage players.
Over time, people gradually got used to it.
In the beginning, players were fairly obedient. After all, they had lived as ordinary citizens for so many years, and the power of state institutions was still something they acknowledged.
But after the game developed for a while, things changed.
The Horror Game brought danger—but it also brought enormous opportunity.
Think about it: if you were a ferocious tiger, would you obey the restraints imposed by a bunch of harmless little rabbits?
Especially when a person's life was constantly hanging in the balance, extreme emotions were far more easily provoked.
Slowly, many people realized that these players were fundamentally impossible to forcibly control.
Weapons were largely useless—players possessed too many bizarre and abnormal abilities.
In the end, only players could restrain other players.
At that point, numerous hidden aristocratic families, ancient lineages, and the forces of major military districts began to surface one after another.
These people either mastered secret arts that allowed them to rise rapidly in the game, or they had disciplined training systems and massive population bases.
All in all, the Horror Game Player Administration Bureau was gradually hollowed out, becoming little more than a shell.
Their only routine task was registering the basic information of players who entered the game.
And if someone died, they would help collect the body.
Ma Jun had missed school for several days, so it seemed the school had already notified the bureau.
That was why someone came knocking to register him.
Ma Jun opened the door.
The two men standing outside gave him a stiff, mechanical smile.
"Student, looks like you successfully cleared the instance," one of them said.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you," Ma Jun replied with an equally fake smile. "Would you like to come in and sit for a bit?"
He said it politely, but his body didn't move aside even a fraction.
The bureau staffer's expression stiffened slightly.
Still, neither of them minded. Players who had just returned from an instance were rarely in a good mental state.
Especially first-timers.
Being as calm as Ma Jun already made him an outlier.
"We're just here to register you. No need to come in," one of them said.
"Please cooperate."
"Sure," Ma Jun answered readily.
The two moved quickly. They only registered Ma Jun's name, home address, and school information.
They didn't ask about anything else.
In the past, the bureau had conducted comprehensive registrations, including player attributes and detailed data.
But as their authority waned and players grew stronger, they wisely stopped asking.
Even if they asked, there was no guarantee anyone would answer.
And it could easily lead to trouble.
So why bother?
"Is that it? That's all?" Ma Jun asked, puzzled.
"That's it," the staffer said with a smile. "Student Ma, have a good rest."
As they were about to leave, the younger of the two suddenly looked curious.
"Ma Jun, according to our records, you've been absent from school for five days."
"Don't tell me you stayed inside your first instance for half a month?"
Generally speaking, beginner instances in the Horror Game took three or four days to clear.
Five days at most.
Half a month… what on earth had Ma Jun been doing in there?
Seeing that Ma Jun lived in an old residential building and had no notable background, the young staffer dared to ask.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have had the guts.
Ma Jun didn't bother hiding anything.
After all, player rankings would eventually be public—there was no point trying to conceal it.
"Oh," he replied casually, "I got a survival mission. Stayed inside for half a month."
Gasp!
Both staffers sucked in a sharp breath.
"A survival mission?"
"Ma Jun, your luck…"
The young staffer clenched his teeth, not knowing how to evaluate it.
Survival missions were notoriously difficult. Other than death-match missions, they had the lowest survival rates.
Fortunately, Ma Jun had lived.
"The rewards must've been decent, right?" the young man asked. "How many levels did you gain?"
The moment the words left his mouth, he felt it might be inappropriate and hurriedly added, "If you don't want to say, that's fine."
Ma Jun answered casually.
"Pretty decent, I guess. Went up seven levels."
"Hah—"
The older staffer couldn't hold it in and laughed.
The younger one's mouth twitched. "Student, you're… really humorous."
In his mind, Ma Jun was obviously dodging the question and messing with him.
Seven levels?
That meant Ma Jun was level eight now.
What kind of joke was that?!
The young man had worked at the bureau for three or four years.
Let alone reaching level eight in a single instance—
Even clearing all three newbie instances and reaching level eight was almost unheard of.
The current strongest record was still held by the man once hailed as the "Number One Prodigy," now known as the Black Feather Apostle—White Hong.
When White Hong broke through the newbie phase, he was level seven.
That achievement alone had shocked countless people.
And now this nameless, good-looking, jealousy-inducing young man in front of him—
One instance. Level eight?!
Believe that?
He'd rather believe that a top celebrity would publicly confess their love to Ma Jun and stick posters of him everywhere.
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