Chapter 1: I’ve Already Beaten the Game, and Now you’re Dragging me into this Horror Story?
Su City, Evening, on a Park Bench
Jiang Zhe sat up from the bench in a daze and looked around.
“Wasn’t I speedrunning the game ‘Scientific Horror Tales’ at home?”
“How did I get here?”
As he finished speaking, dizziness hit his head like pins and needles, causing him to grimace in pain and slap his head repeatedly.
Moments later, the pain subsided, and a wave of memories that didn’t belong to him surged within his mind—crossing over.
The original owner was a homeless man who had nothing and died suddenly in a park.
And this world is one governed by rules.
More than 200 countries around the world select a Chosen One to enter the realm of horror tales in order to survive.
For those who succeed, the nation’s strength, longevity, and physical fitness will be enhanced.
If they fail, a bizarre supernatural invasion will randomly descend upon a city, engulfing it for 48 hours.
After absorbing all the memories, Jiang Zhe couldn’t help but feel his Adam’s apple throbbing; his pupils dilated, and his breathing became rapid.
The bizarre rules of this world are actually the games he cleared in his previous life!
“I am the number one speedrunner in the world!”
After a moment of excitement, he calmed down.
“Unfortunately, with 1.4 billion people in Xia Country, I may not be chosen.”
Just as he was pondering, the sounds of people’s despair came from nearby.
“It’s over, Xia Country’s challenger Zhang Qiang has failed!”
“This 9-star dungeon, the players around the world had failed!”
“One more failure and a 48-hour bizarre attack will descend globally.”
In addition to the crowds wailing all over the place.
The global live broadcast in the night sky was filled with even more pop-ups.
[Expert from Cat Bear Country]: “Our contestant Sukabuyat has also failed. Rabbit, do you have any weapons to deal with the next bizarre invasion? Don’t hide it; we know you must have something!”
[Expert from Xia Country]: “I really don’t have anything!!”
[Expert from Beautiful Country]: “Damn rabbit, you’ve stolen so much of our technology and can’t even produce anything to deal with the bizarre! I’m going to grab your rabbit ears and stew you tonight!”
[Expert from Xia Country]: “A 9-star dungeon, almost impossible to pass!”
[Expert from Aus]: “Luckily the 9-star dungeon has one revival match.”
[Expert from Cana]: “Look, the revival match is coming!”
[…]
“There’s a revival match here too?”
Jiang Zhe looked up along with the terrified people nearby.
Looking at the blood-red sky being covered by a golden banner that stretches across the sky.
[Chosen One of Xia Country, Zhang Qiang, failed to challenge the 9-star difficulty ‘Court of Chaos’, survival time, 4 hours]
[Chosen One of the Beautiful Country, John Carter, failed to challenge the 9-star difficulty ‘Court of Chaos’, survival time, 5 hours]
[Chosen One of Cat Bear Country, Sukabuyat… Survival time, 4 hours.
[…]
[The Revival Match will be held in 1 minute. Chosen Ones across the world, be prepared.]
“A chaotic version of Court of Science?”
Looking at the golden banner under the blood moon, Jiang Zhe was stunned.
He remembered that this level was a purgatory-level dungeon. It was a game script derived from the paradox: ‘The Paradox of Accidental Execution,’ created by the game planner in his previous life.
In this level, no matter which path one took, the end would still be an annihilation, which could be considered certain death!
In his previous life, he spent nearly 27 days progressing on this level. Fortunately, thanks to his ability he finally cleared the level after a total of 797 deaths.
In his pursuit of winning the 1 million yuan prize for achieving global ranking, his hastiness ultimately led to his sudden death, leaving him unable to appreciate the story behind the Court of Chaos.
Now that he has traveled to a different world, he can experience the dungeon again. He is now able to upgrade and become stronger. He swore that he would properly raid each level.
[1 minute is up; the Revival Match has started, and selection is in progress!]
Following the prompt, all men, women, and children in the park square closed their eyes in silence. They hoped that the chosen ones this time could learn from the lessons of the previous chosen ones and fight for more survival time for Xia Country.
While the system rules are being selected, pop-ups continuously filled the Xia Country’s live broadcast.
“This 9-star difficulty level is likely a punishment stage. Too many people have passed the previous stage with the 0.5-star Mother Ghost’s Note!”
“Yeah, it suddenly jumped from 0.5 to 9, and this dungeon is nearly impossible to clear.”
Sigh… don’t bother watching. No matter who the next Chosen One is, they won’t be able to clear it. Just wait for the punishment from the heavens!
“I calculated the odds of clearing the 9-star dungeon using mathematical probability. Without extraordinary talent, I fear that an average person would need to die approximately 1,400 times to succeed just once!”
“…”
This 9-star difficulty requires not only sophisticated reasoning, but also making excellent choices, comparable to purgatory!
Just as the audience all over the world was waiting with bated breath, a new golden banner with the names of the Chosen Ones appeared in the sky.
[The Chosen One of Xia Country – Jiang Zhe! ]
[The Chosen One of Beautiful Country – John Smith! ]
[The Chosen One of Cat Bear Country – Oleg! ]
[…]
The audience who now saw the names of the Chosen Ones shook their heads in disapproval. “This is a dungeon that will lead to their deaths!”
If you are not a master in criminal investigation and reasoning in reality, it is impossible for anyone to survive for 7 days.
Facing the 9-star dungeon, the expert team reluctantly smiled. Even if he’s Sherlock Holmes, he would still drop dead.
However, for the sake of rules and regulations, they still took a look at the identity information of Jiang Zhe of Su City.
It would have been better if they hadn’t looked at it. After they saw it, all the experts were shocked.
“A vagrant?” xN
The entire expert conference room was left dumbfounded.
After the Chosen Ones were selected, Jiang Zhe’s body was transformed into a beam of white light that shot up into the sky.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing on a balcony outside a court building.
There was a dark sky outside the window, but there was a strange light inside the court building, making it look like the surface of the moon.
[It has been detected that the player has entered the 9-star dungeon for the first time and is selecting talents]
[It has been detected that another soul in the player’s brain has just dissipated, and a permanent SSS-level reward has been awarded: ‘Unscientific Summoning.’]
[Unscientific Summoning: You can summon any character from movies, animations, and novels that you are familiar with. As your partner and protector, you can go through levels together on lonely nights. If the summoned character is killed by the bizarre, they will also die in the original world!]
Listening to the prompts in his head, Jiang Zhe couldn’t help but laugh.
“SSS level reward!”
“For me, a speedrunner, it’s dispensable.”
“But to be on the safe side, I’d better call a powerful anime character to protect me, or… kill me.”
Before the game started, he turned around and entered the court lobby in advance.
There was no one there. So he chose to sit in the back seat, then closed his eyes, and one heroic character after another appeared in his mind.
Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Li Xiaoyao*, Moon Worshiping Sect Leader*, etc.
A hero is decided!
“Summoning!”
A white light appeared from the seat next to him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a short person. He felt that something was amiss.
“It can’t be you, can it?”
Jiang Zhe turned his head in bewilderment.
The other person is a 1.2-meter-tall primary school student, wearing a light blue suit and a red bow tie on his chest, with medium brown hair, light blue shorts, and a pair of enhanced elastic football shoes on his feet.
The most conspicuous feature is the black-framed tracking glasses on his face, which reveal a pale look of shock.
“Are you from the Black Organization!?” Conan instantly raised his watch, aimed it at Jiang Zhe, and was ready to fire a stun needle at any moment.
“Conan Edogawa?”
The two of them exclaimed in unison.
T/N: *Characters in The Legend of Sword and Fairy or Chinese Paladin, a Chinese language fantasy video game series. Li Xiaoyao is the main protagonist. Moon Worshiping Sect Leader is the final boss.
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