CH 1

Late at night, a convenience store about to close.

Xiao Lan has changed out of his uniform and is collecting his things. The young man has handsome features and his skin is a coldish white, normally he would have gone home quickly and scrambled to wash up and go to bed as he needed to be up at 5am the next morning to start his new part-time job.

But at the moment he doesn’t know where to go.

Today he has just been evicted by his landlord, who wants to raise the price of his broken bed, which leaks during the day and at night, creaks all day and is on the verge of falling apart, and Xiao Lan, who has almost all his income to pay off his debts, doesn’t have any money left.

So, after a fancy taunt about being poor, Xiao Lan had to pack his things and leave, his black backpack in his hand now being all he had.

Xiao Lan opened the door to the staff room as he thought about finding a vacant room for the night.

Outside the door is pitch black.

Xiao Lan suddenly felt that something was wrong, had he …… just turned off the lights?

How could he have gone to turn off the lights when he hadn’t even left the convenience store and the lights were switched on and off in the opposite direction to the staff room.

The darkness was unusually silent, even the sound of the engines of the occasional car that used to pass by was gone.

In the corner, a darkness that seemed thicker than the night was spreading.

The situation was odd, so Xiao Lan took a long stride straight around the deep blackness and stormed out of the convenience store, not forgetting to lock the door as a qualified employee.

Out the door and straight onto his old bicycle, which rattled all over except for the bell, the tall, lean youth pedalled as fast as he could, away from the convenience store’s location.

The city’s night breeze, mixed with the hustle and bustle of the day and exhaustion, blows his dark, slightly curly hair with a hint of dust, not quite refreshing, but the smell Xiao Lan knows best, and it remains the same today.

The wind unknowingly stopped and the strange sensation still did not subside.

It was too quiet, so quiet that it was eerie. There were no human voices, no sound of the air conditioning running, not even the sound of insects or wind, the whole world felt like it was standing still at the moment.

A thick darkness fills the streets from afar, swallowing up the streetlights that are already battling sleep, and little by little the streets are plunged into darkness, darkness that is inching closer to Xiao Lan.

Seeing the situation, Xiao Lan adjusted the handlebars and sped off in the opposite direction to the darkness.

But after passing several streets, all were equally silent, and when I looked up, there was a gradual approach of darkness in every direction.

–Surrounded.

The darkness encroaches upon him with a fury and the next moment Xiao Lan is plunged into total darkness.

When I opened my eyes again, a door appeared in front of Xiao Lan.

It is not a high-class product, it is the kind of poor quality chipboard door often found in public toilets, the surface of the glue skin is peeling off, to fall off the embellished, revealing the wood chips inside, the door also says.

The rich woman is looking for a child 136XXXXXXXX]

[Are you stupid upstairs? This is the ladies room]

[Good, you’ve managed to get my attention]

There was even a whole song written by someone who was a good man, revealing a less-than-commonsensical pungency ……

Xiao Lan twisted the handle, but there was no response. I tried pushing the door again, but it wouldn’t budge. When has a public toilet door ever been of such good quality?

Looking out through the doorway, there was no sign of anyone halfway around either.

Looking around, this toilet cubicle is dimly lit and flickers a little now and then, the walls are large mouldy stains and the floor is all dusty and mixed with stagnant water, as if it hasn’t been used for a long time.

But here’s the scarier thing – Xiao Lan’s backpack is gone!

Not only the bag, but also the disposal bento that he couldn’t sell out of today, and the only fifteen dollars and thirty cents cash he had left, as well as his exclusive ride, Mr. N-hand bike born in the last century.

Now all he has left is a broken phone in his pocket with a screen he had to glue on with clear tape, and …… clothes and shoes that don’t add up to a hundred dollars from head to toe.

“All my belongings-” Xiao Lan couldn’t resist rubbing his face to see if he could wake himself up from the nightmare.

Just when you think you’re poor enough, reality slaps you in the face and tells you “no, you could be poorer”. I don’t know if it’s more frightening to be in this strange place, or if it’s more deadly to be in this moment of bankruptcy.

“Ha ……”

Suddenly, a hoarse, unpleasant laugh rang out from outside the silent cubicle door, accompanied by a gloomy, icy wind blowing across the ears, making one extremely uncomfortable.

Xiao Lan jerked his head up, he had just made sure there was no one outside.

Suddenly, a line of text appeared unscientifically out of nowhere in front of Xiao Lan’s eyes.

[You are so poor that Zhang Dong feels happy that there is finally someone poorer than him in the world, so he decides to give you a chance]

[Trigger hidden side quest: Reach Out]

[Mission Statement: Reach out and borrow a piece of paper from the lucky people at the door]

[Mission Reward: Random Skill1, Zhang Dong’s Gift1]

[Hint: The hidden branch is extremely rare, this mission cannot be abandoned, failure of the mission will prevent you from leaving the current space forever]

This is the rhythm of being trapped inside the toilet as Arashi forever if you don’t succeed!

What a hardcore opportunity.

There is an expletive I don’t know if I should say.

After Xiao Lan tried to open the door to no avail and made sure he couldn’t climb the wall to get through, he finally resigned himself to the fact that he was in a creepy toilet looking for someone to borrow paper from!

It’s also a fucking ladies room ……

But who is Zhang Dong?

After a while, someone finally entered this toilet, and there were quite a few of them.

They surveyed the toilet: the dust everywhere, the mould on the walls, the water on the floor and the low wattage of the lights that were flickering at the moment made the atmosphere inexplicable.

“That ……”

A voice sounded hushed, echoing through the shabby scene, even creating an echo.

“Ah – there’s a ghost!”

An ear-splitting scream rang out, dispersing the courage they had managed to gather, and then several of them scrambled back out, and after a moment of persuasion by a man in a suit, they refused to enter again.

The only people who finally chose to go into the toilet to have a look were the man in the suit and two gangster-like men and a short-haired female student. They went and stood in the doorway of the cubicle where the suspected sound was coming from and the man in the suit was about to ask questions.

But then I saw a hand sticking out of the gap below the door, “Excuse me, can I borrow a piece of paper?”

Four people: “……”

They want to go back.

Who among you has not heard of one or two strange stories about toilets. The paper borrowing next door is a classic, and is at the top of the list of weird stories, killing anyone who borrows it.

The female student shrank back slightly.

The punk brother with the gold chain next to him couldn’t help but lift his trousers, probably because he was afraid he’d piss himself and be embarrassed.

The man in the suit seemed to have seen a lot of things, and at this moment his face was not white coming to his heart. He pushed up his glasses and said calmly, “Are you one of the people who were pulled in here? The sudden darkness around you was very quiet, and you woke up and appeared here.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

It turns out that Xiao Lan is not the only one who has encountered something strange. Xiao Lan doesn’t know whether to be happy or sad at this moment, what can pull so many people to other places at once? It was even more troublesome than a single person encountering a paranormal event.

“The one in there is probably the same as us.” The man in the suit said to the three around him, again seemingly troubled, “I don’t have any paper on me, do you have any?”

The punks looked at each other, good men never carry paper across the streets.

“I …… I have.” The only girl fished a packet of pink wrapped napkins out of her bag and handed them over shakily at the gesture of the man in the suit.

“Thanks.” Xiao Lan reached out to take it, and the cat on the tissue met his eyes with wide, innocent eyes.

Instantly, the task display in front of me changed to [Completed].

At the same time, a skill card and a vintage European-style envelope with ” Luo ” written on it appeared out of thin air in front of him.

After touching the card, it disappears and the information about the skill comes to Xiao Lan’s mind.

[Name: Poverty Can’t Limit My Imagination (Bound)]

[Abilities: 1. Imagine an ability and give it to yourself within five minutes; the poorer you are, the more powerful it becomes (lv.1) 2. Enhance the player’s physical qualities according to the level of poverty (passive)]

[Cooling time: 24h].

[Description: I may be poor, but I can dream! This is the last stubbornness of the poor]

Xiao Lan : “……”

It was clearly a skill that came with its own taunt. As a negative bourgeoisie, he felt discriminated against.

Looking at the ability description Xiao Lan pondered, an ability, not sure if it was an ability a human physique could achieve or an inhuman ability, needed to find a chance to test it out. And the more poor the more powerful the skill description makes Xiao Lan have a bad guess, should he never be able to get out of poverty and become rich in his life ……

As for ability 2’s enhanced physicality, Xiao Lan bounced in place twice and seemed to be jumping higher and more easily than before. More than that, he didn’t feel much, was he not poor enough in the eyes of the skill?

As I thought of this, another line surfaced.

[Current Poverty Index -22,260,800, just reached the level of skill activation. Please keep up the good work and strive to create brilliance in the path of poverty]

22,260,800, which is exactly the sum of all the miscellaneous debts Xiao Lan had, plus the loan sharks that inexplicably appeared on him.

Is this skill in the hope that he will one day be sunk into the sea by his creditors with cement? Is there any humanity left!

Create your sister’s brilliance!!!

Xiao Lan, expressionless, turned his attention to the envelope, on which several lines of instructions appeared.

[Name: The Unopenable Envelope (Bound)

[Note: This is Zhang Dong’s endorsement of you because you’re poorer than he is, but this envelope looks like a random supermarket-stopper]

The words “supermarket stagnant goods” are in plain view.

Xiao Lan : “……”

Take a deep breath and resist the urge to shove it down the toilet and flush it away.

I’ve been locked in the ladies room for a long time and all I got was this piece of crap, Old Zhang, aren’t you a bit too stingy!

Xiao Lan pushed the door open and calmly exited the cubicle, washing his hands in the process, in front of mixed looks from onlookers who didn’t know whether to say, “You’re in the mood to go to the toilet” or “There’s a pervert hiding in the ladies’ room! To show his innocence.

After that they walked out with the other three, led by the man in the suit, to join the others.

The crowd gathered, the man in the suit, the punk with the gold chain, the punk with the flowery arm, three schoolgirls, a couple, the middle-aged woman and the rich, balding middle-aged man.

Together with Xiao Lan, there are 11 in total.

Everyone was about to exchange words, and before they could, the roll-up door behind them, which looked like it was rusted shut, opened a little with a toothsome metallic scraping sound.

An aura of cliché pervades.

Everyone’s eyes couldn’t help but shift over.

What appears behind the roll-up door is a shabby supermarket about the size of the toilet just now, not too large, dimly lit, stained, and with shelves in disarray, even with suspicious dark handprints and finger scratches on the walls.

“Welcome to the End of the Line Supermarket, lucky people!” A gentle, nice female voice rang out.

A woman in a shopper’s uniform suddenly appeared in front of everyone’s eyes. Xiao Lan was certain that there was no one in sight when he surveyed the supermarket, so where did this woman appear from?

With a sweet but stiff smile, she addressed them in a warm tone.

“Next, you will be involved in supermarket activities.”

“Every hour, please meet at the cashier’s desk and choose one item in the presence of the boss.”

“Penalties will be imposed for selecting items out of order and for failing to make a selection after the time limit.”

“Enjoy your game!”

With a bow to the crowd, the female guide intended to leave.

“Wait a minute!” The balding middle-aged man hastily stopped her, “What the hell are you doing here? Recording a show or a prank? I’m up and down a few million a call, I’m really not interested in playing with you guys.”

The saleswoman still had that stiff smile, “This is Advent World and you are all the chosen lucky ones.”

“What the hell, I want to leave now!” The punk with the gold chains was quite annoyed, he looked fierce, but in fact he was most afraid of such godly events. Now his spirit was strained to the limit and he went straight up and grabbed the female guide’s wrist.

The female guide still repeats, “You’re all lucky ……”

The gold-chained punk interrupted her rudely, yelling, “Bullshit! You’re warned not to play this game with me!”

The shop assistant still had the same creepy, stiff smile, which hadn’t changed a bit from the moment she first appeared to this moment. Xiao Lan felt that the situation was not right and hastily spoke up to stop the golden chain: “Calm down-”

Before she could finish her sentence, the golden chain had already slapped towards the female guide and her body flew straight out, her head hitting the wall heavily with a muffled sound.

The shopgirl’s body slid slowly down the wall, leaving a crimson trail of blood, and she lay motionless, her chest no longer rising and falling, like a broken mannequin.

“I, I …… didn’t use much force,” the gold chain said incredulously, looking at his hand.

A silence fell over the crowd, the sudden appearance of the game and this bizarre woman was already hard to digest. Now that this woman was dead, was there any chance of them leaving?

“She …… she moved.” The short-haired female student pointed at the female guide on the floor, alive and dead.

Just see the shopgirl’s whole body spasming up, her head still hanging, but her body propped up in the position of lying on her back on the ground, and with a bizarre movement on all fours she moved closer to the gold chain ……

The gold chain saw the situation and turned to run, but the female guide sped up and jumped right on top of him, limbs firmly restraining him.

And then the head-scratching scene appeared – the two had fused!

Like chocolate in the heat, it slowly melted into a puddle. Then, out of this puddle slowly crawled a human form – wearing a guide’s uniform and a sweet but stiff smile.

It’s a female guide!

The author has something to say.

Xiao Lan flushed the envelope down the toilet in a fit of rage.

Luo : ……

— End –