"Xiao… Zi… Feng…"
"Xiao… Zi… Feng…"
A trembling, hoarse whisper drifted into his ears.
Xiao Zifeng frowned and slowly opened his eyes, still half asleep.
A round, oversized face loomed inches away from him. Its eye sockets were pitch black, dark liquid trickling out. The lips were painted a garish red, streaks of fake blood running from the corners of its mouth.
"Ghost!"
Xiao Zifeng shouted and threw a punch without hesitation.
Bang!
"Ow!"
Thud!
The "ghost" took the punch straight to the eye and toppled backward, hitting the floor hard enough to make it shake.
Snort—
"Hahaha!"
"Wu Hao, are you insane? Trying to scare Xiao Zifeng? He's the national youth fighting champion!"
"Seriously. Look at Xiao Zifeng—top scorer in the province. Admitted straight into Shanghai University without even filling out an application. He shows up today and just naps. Meanwhile we're burning through brain cells trying to decide our futures!"
Huh?
Still dazed, Xiao Zifeng lifted his head.
A classroom. Classmates.
Right.
They were back at school to submit university preferences. He'd stayed up gaming the night before, and since he didn't even need to fill anything out, he'd fallen asleep at his desk.
So the ghost just now—
He looked down and twitched.
A two-hundred-pound fat guy was sitting on the floor, clutching one eye while glaring up at him with the other, full of wounded resentment.
"Are you sick or what?"
Xiao Zifeng rolled his eyes and pulled him up.
Wu Hao—nickname Fatty—his deskmate and best friend.
Great guy overall. Just embarrassingly dramatic.
"I'm heading back to Shanghai soon," Wu Hao said with a grin, even though he'd just been punched. "Thought I'd leave you with an unforgettable memory before I go. Besides, consider it early training. What if you get selected by the Horror World one day?"
The laughter in the classroom died instantly.
Fear flickered across several faces.
"Shut up. You're the one who'll get selected. You and your whole family," Xiao Zifeng shot back.
Three years ago, the world was swallowed by darkness.
All electrical systems failed. Phones went dead. The entire planet was plunged into absolute black.
Many truly believed it was the end of humanity.
The darkness lasted three days before finally lifting.
And from that moment on, anyone over sixteen could be randomly chosen and dragged into another world—
The Horror Instance World.
The chosen were called Travelers.
To return alive, they had to clear their assigned instance.
Instances were ranked F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS.
Clear an instance, and you'd receive rewards.
Ghost-powered artifacts.
Body parts transformed into ghost weapons.
A bound ghost under your control.
Or even supernatural abilities.
But despite the tempting rewards, not a single person on Earth wanted to be chosen.
Because even the lowest-tier F-rank instance—the so-called beginner level—had a survival rate of barely twenty percent.
Many instances still held a 100% mortality rate to this day.
According to incomplete statistics, in the three years since the Horror World descended, nearly one million people had died in horror instances. In the first year, the survival rate was 0.3%.
Out of every thousand people selected and sent into the Horror Instance World, only three made it back alive.
In the second year, it rose to 2%.
By the third year, it reached 5%.
The gradual increase wasn't luck. After the Horror Instance World descended, countries across the globe jointly established the Blue Star Horror Instance Network.
On the network, governments released information about known instances, along with strategies shared by those who had successfully cleared them.
Even so, after three full years, the overall survival rate had only climbed to five percent.
Across the entire planet, the mere mention of the Horror Instance World was enough to make people turn pale.
Wu Hao was the only one who dared joke about something like that in front of Xiao Zifeng. If it had been anyone else, Xiao Zifeng would've personally gifted them an overnight stay in the ICU.
"Hehehe."
Wu Hao was long used to Xiao Zifeng's insults. He chuckled and said, "Come on. Let's grab a drink."
"Let's go."
Wu Hao was flying back to Shanghai the next morning. Xiao Zifeng figured he should at least see him off properly.
They headed to the barbecue stall across from the school—their usual spot. In the middle of the afternoon, they were already ordering skewers and beer.
They kept eating and drinking until after nine at night. Wu Hao stumbled into a taxi, drunk, and leaned out the window.
"Madman, your old man's flight is at six in the morning. If you don't come see me off, you're definitely getting selected by the Horror World."
The taxi driver shuddered and glanced at Xiao Zifeng in the rearview mirror, subtly pulling out his phone as if ready to call emergency services at any moment.
Making jokes like that these days—getting punched was considered a mild outcome.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Stop nagging. Your old man will be there," Xiao Zifeng shot back, swaying slightly. "Hurry up and get lost. Go sleep early. Don't let the plane wake up before you do."
"I'm off! And hey—once your place gets demolished, you better come to Shanghai and find me."
"Got it. Your old man will come visit his unfilial son. Now scram."
He watched the taxi drive away before staggering toward home.
Then—
As he passed a roadside stall, he paused.
His eyes lit up.
The stall was covered in masks—every single one modeled after ghosts.
They all shared one thing in common: each mask depicted a ghost that had appeared before on the Horror Instance Network.
After the Horror World descended, governments worldwide began encouraging the production of ghost-related merchandise.
Ghost masks, toys, horror films, novels—even songs were encouraged to incorporate supernatural elements.
The goal was simple: increase the public's psychological resistance to fear.
"How much for this Blood Butcher mask?" Xiao Zifeng asked, pointing at one with a brutish face, thick features twisted into a savage snarl.
"Ten."
The vendor didn't even look up.
Beep.
Xiao Zifeng paid with his phone, grabbed the mask, and continued walking home, muttering under his breath.
"Trying to scare me? Fatty, just wait. Tomorrow I'll scare the hell out of you."
His house wasn't far from the school. He reached it in less than ten minutes.
It was an old residential complex. A massive red "Demolish" character was painted across the outer walls. The area had already been included in Su City's urban redevelopment plan.
The compensation agreement had been finalized. Once the payout arrived in a few days, demolition would begin.
Back home, Xiao Zifeng went straight into his bedroom.
He lived alone.
"Dead Fatty… I'll scare you stupid…"
Drunk and mumbling, he put the mask on his face and drifted off to sleep.
Ding.
Who knew how much time had passed when a strange, eerie giggle echoed inside his mind.
"Hehe… Congratulations, lucky one. You have been selected by the Horror Instance World!"
"Your first instance will begin in eight hours. Dear Traveler, please make your preparations."
"Horror instances are very fun. So many rewards waiting for you!"
"The only requirement is… that you survive. Hehe…"
"Your Traveler status panel has been generated. You may view it with a thought."
"Instance generated. F-rank instance…"