Free Web NovelChapter 4: Chapter 4: Ma’am, Please Have Some Self-Respect
The ghost woman on the TV was still grinning hideously, but Duan Fei had no time for her. His attention was completely captivated by his Talent.
After a moment of thought, Duan Fei asked himself, ’In this dungeon, does my Gift of the Abyss convert Spiritual Attacks into Spirit Healing?’
A faint system notification chimed.
A new line of text appeared under his Talent on the Attributes panel: "In this dungeon, any Spiritual Attack you suffer will be converted into Spirit Healing. Once your Spirit is full, your Spirit Attribute will be temporarily increased, ????"
The second half of the text was garbled, but it wasn’t hard to guess what it meant.
’And vice versa. Any Spirit Healing received will become a Spiritual Attack.’
When Duan Fei voiced his suspicion in his mind, the garbled text finally revealed itself. The content was almost identical to his guess.
Pinching his chin, Duan Fei now had a good idea of what his "Gift of the Abyss" was in this dungeon.
Simply put, any scare he received in this Mysterious Dungeon would be converted into his Spirit Attribute. All he had to do was get scared a few more times, and his Spiritual Power would keep rising, making him more resistant to supernatural occurrences.
Of course, it would also get a little more... spicy.
Just then, a message popped up in the chat. Little Fatty typed nervously from the other side, "Duan Someone, the TV screen is in a blind spot. I can only see the glow. What do you see?"
"A woman in black. She’s not bad-looking. I’ll send you a screenshot."
"Don’t send it! And don’t video call me, I’m terrified of that kind of horror stuff! You just go ahead and enjoy it by yourself!"
"But she’s actually kind of hot. The artists for this game really know their stuff."
"I know they know their stuff, but I don’t want to know! I’m not a pervert like you guys, getting turned on by creepy things! Don’t do anything rash, wait for me to look something up!"
In the monitoring room, Little Fatty quickly found the relevant procedure in the "Handbook" and sent a screenshot to Duan Fei.
"If you see a woman in black inside the television, with her back to you and dripping water, please pay attention to the color of the water. If it’s red, it means you’re a goner. If it’s clear, try to turn off the television. While turning it off, you can try complimenting her, as this will lower her aggression."
After reading it, Duan Fei frowned in frustration. "I’m not good at lying. I can’t bring myself to praise someone against my conscience."
"You’re worried about your conscience in a game? Just focus on surviving first! If you really can’t think of anything, just tell her her looks are a great contribution to population control!"
"That’s a good one. I’ll remember that."
Rubbing his hands together, Duan Fei reached for the TV’s power button and slowly placed his hand on it.
The woman in black on the TV was still smiling, but she suddenly grabbed her own mouth and pulled it forcefully to the sides.
With the sound of tearing flesh, the corners of the woman’s mouth suddenly split open, as if someone had taken a knife and sliced them all the way to her ears.
Surgical sutures still hung from the wounds, and her sharp teeth looked like nails hammered into her mouth.
[You were awed by the woman in black’s expression. Her terrifying face has filled you with courage. Your Spirit Attribute has been temporarily increased by 5 points in this dungeon.]
His Spirit Attribute shot up to 25 points. This doubling of his Spirit caused the woman in black before him to change once more.
Her rotting skin healed over. Her bloodshot eyes became as lustrous as rubies. Her damp, bloated body grew much fairer. She at least looked human now.
The gesture of pulling her mouth wide now just looked like she was trying to be cute. It made Duan Fei decide he would definitely write a thank-you letter when he got back and advise the artists to get into the adult film industry ASAP.
The feeling was like swapping the Tyrant’s character model in *Resident Evil 3* with Pikachu, so that its footsteps echoed with "Pika-pika."
It wasn’t scary at all. In fact, he kind of wanted to keep watching.
"Little Fatty, you’ve really got to see this. She’s seriously hot."
"I’m not looking! Don’t you even think about making me look at that stuff!"
Now that she was beautiful, the woman in black had lost all her intimidating presence.
Duan Fei was even composed enough to let out a cold snort before preparing to press the button.
Suddenly, a soft hand reached out from the television. The abrupt action made Little Fatty jump in the monitoring room, and his Spirit Attribute plummeted by 3 points.
Duan Fei, meanwhile, heard a notification.
[You were awed by the attack from the woman in black. The clammy sensation has filled you with courage. Your Spirit Attribute has been temporarily increased by 5 points in this dungeon.]
With his Spirit Attribute at 30 points, the "character model" in Duan Fei’s eyes became even more moe.
Her tall figure became curvy and shapely. Her terrifying face was now airbrushed and fair, giving her a more mature charm.
Although her hand was soft, he didn’t like being touched by strangers. He coldly brushed her hand away and said flatly, "Ma’am, please have some self-respect."
[You have applied spiritual intimidation to the woman in black. The woman in black’s Spirit Attribute has been temporarily reduced by 1 point.]
"...Damn it!" the woman in black couldn’t help but exclaim.
"Damn it!"
Little Fatty, who saw this through the monitor, also cried out. He marveled at how his companion was a true man among men, daring to provoke even a supernatural entity like this.
A normal person seeing something like that would, if not piss their pants, at least feel their limbs go cold. That would be a reaction worthy of the name "Mysterious Dungeon."
But not only was Duan Someone not scared, he even turned around and teased her. This Warrior-level behavior left Little Fatty awestruck.
’The joys and sorrows of humankind are not intertwined. I just think they’re perverts.’
Shoving the woman in black back inside, Duan Fei decisively switched off the TV.
The TV screen went dark, and the surroundings returned to normal. Duan Fei now had a general idea of how this dungeon worked.
In short, it was a cakewalk.
With his Talent, the Monsters in this dungeon were all pushovers anyway. That meant he could start thinking about hidden elements and see if he could reap some extra benefits.
As Duan Fei was contemplating the dungeon’s mechanics, Little Fatty’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie.
"Duan Someone, is your Spirit Attribute really low right now?"
Glancing at his 30 points of Spirit, Duan Fei replied, "It’s fine. What’s up?"
"No, it’s just... you look like you’re showing signs of going crazy, so I wanted to ask ahead of time. If you feel like your Spirit Attribute has dropped too much, you can get a free cup of coffee from the machine by the entrance. Coffee restores your Spirit, but it can only make one cup per hour and has some side effects, so don’t drink too much."
"Okay, I’ll keep that in mind."
"You will keep it in mind, right? You really will? Why do I get the feeling you’re not considering it at all?"
Duan Fei remained noncommittal.
’After all, the gain and loss of my Spirit are now reversed. Drinking coffee would definitely decrease my Spirit, and I’d probably still suffer all the negative side effects. The loss would absolutely outweigh the gain.’
’However, if the coffee counted as an item that could be taken out of the dungeon, Duan Fei wouldn’t mind taking some with him.’
’The reason he didn’t tell Little Fatty was because a Talent was extremely important in the game. They might be getting along well now, but there was no guarantee he wouldn’t get stabbed in the back later.’
’Of course, as the game progressed, Little Fatty was bound to notice something was off.’
’But his Talent would change again in the next dungeon, so it probably didn’t matter in the long run.’
Suddenly, a clock began to chime the hour.
The clock tower on top of the small shopping center chimed twelve times, signaling that it was now 12:00 AM.
The flow of time in this dungeon seemed faster than normal. At least, Duan Fei felt like he hadn’t had nearly enough fun yet.
In this dungeon, paranormal events would intensify on the hour, and the Monsters encountered would become even more powerful.
There were still six hours until dawn.
