There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: First Active Skill

The Abyss employed some kind of black-box technology—a method for slowing down time within the game.

When players were in the game, their perception of time was completely different from real-world time.

Eight hours spent in-game was equivalent to just one hour in reality.

However, this technology placed a certain strain on the human brain, so daily use was limited to five hours. Even so, it was a godsend for a great many people.

The same was true now. A full game session might take nine hours, but that was just a little over an hour in the real world, which met the needs of many office workers and students.

After confirming he had six hours left to complete the dungeon, Duan Fei noticed the lights in the duty room start to flicker again before finally going out.

Although the lights were out for only a few seconds, Duan Fei heard the furtive footsteps of some creature in the room. He could even hear its hungry breathing and its rank, foul breath near his ear.

When the lights came back on, Duan Fei discovered the duty room was covered in crimson handprints—there were even a few on his own clothes.

[The changes to the room have made you aghast with terror. The bloody handprints have filled you with courage. Your Spirit Attribute is temporarily increased by 5 points within this dungeon.]

Little Fatty, watching through the monitor, jumped in fright again. He was immediately thankful that he wasn’t the one in that duty room.

This dungeon was actually quite famous in *The Abyss*. Though the specifics varied each time, the general structure was always the same.

You had to patrol and inspect an area for a set amount of time and then leave safely. Along the way, you could find some items and occasionally unlock a few Skills.

After finishing, you would also receive valuable Abyss Coins—one thousand per run. The payout was comparable to that of a Tier Four Dungeon.

The rewards in *The Abyss* were generally stingy, so this dungeon was considered quite generous.

However, because the dungeon’s design was so morbidly twisted, it was widely acclaimed by the players.

"Thank you, developers. My brother was scared to death. I’m his younger brother and have successfully inherited his game account. Feeling great."

"My Mom asked why I’ve bought so many diapers lately. How the hell should I know! Just hurry up and give them here so I can put them on!"

"My roommate said he was terrified after playing this dungeon. I’m terrified too, because I don’t have a roommate. P.S. My roommate also feels like he doesn’t have a roommate."

As he recalled the details of this dungeon, Little Fatty quickly flipped through his manual. "Don’t worry," he said. "Those bloody handprints are just for show. You can ignore them."

"So there’s really no one behind this?"

"There is, but they can’t be found."

"Alright," Duan Fei said, resigned.

’I was hoping to find the culprit and teach them a lesson.’

’How dare they leave handprints on me? They’re asking for it!’

Little Fatty failed to detect the slight annoyance in Duan Fei’s tone and continued, "The real problem is the power outage. We’re running on the backup generator. The Monsters in this dungeon get stronger as time passes, and their strength doubles in the dark. The backup power won’t last long. First, go to the safe and enter the code: 4139."

Duan Fei walked over to the safe, entered the code, and watched one of its compartments slide open.

Inside were a flashlight and a toolbox, with a note stuck to them that read: "For Power Outages."

"You need to take the flashlight and toolbox and get to the electrical room as quickly as possible to restore the main power. Otherwise, we’ll have a total blackout."

"Okay, how do I get to the electrical room?"

"The route there is pretty complicated. Luckily, there’s a map in the manual. Just listen to my directions..."

"...Just send me a screenshot."

"Oh, right."

After receiving the screenshot from Little Fatty, Duan Fei grabbed the flashlight, found the stairwell, and started heading down to the first basement level.

Even though his destination was supposedly on the first basement level, Duan Fei felt like he had been walking down the stairs for a very long time without finding an exit.

Green emergency lights glowed overhead, and the stairs stretched endlessly downward. Duan Fei felt like he had already descended thirty floors, but he still hadn’t seen any sign of the basement level.

Suddenly, the walkie-talkie crackled, and Little Fatty’s voice came through.

"CRACKLE... Duan Someone... CRACKLE... return..."

"Why is your voice cutting in and out?"

"...CRACKLE... bad signal."

"Then just use Feixin."

"...CRACKLE... The signal’s bad."

Not wanting to argue over the walkie-talkie, Duan Fei immediately messaged Little Fatty on Feixin: "Did you just try to reach me on the walkie-talkie?"

"No. You went missing after you entered the stairwell. I thought you’d failed the mission."

"I’m not on the monitors?"

"There are no cameras in the stairwell itself, only at the entrance and exit. But ever since you went in, I haven’t seen you come out."

"Hmm... I see. Can you check what I’m supposed to do if there’s a strange voice on the walkie-talkie?"

A few minutes later, Little Fatty sent the solution.

"If you hear a companion’s voice on the walkie-talkie but you’re certain it isn’t them, don’t panic. It’s a fake. It only tells lies, so all you have to do is the exact opposite of what it says."

"I see. It just told me to turn back, so that means I should keep going down. Still, it feels like a waste..."

After a moment’s thought, Duan Fei spoke into the walkie-talkie. "Can humanity invent a perpetual motion machine?"

"...CRACKLE... no..."

"Which means we can. Even though this is a game, seeing that answer is still pretty gratifying. Is faster-than-light interstellar travel possible?"

"...CRACKLE... impossible..."

"Wow, you say the sweetest things. Do aliens exist?"

"...CRACKLE... I’m not..."

"Oh? Then who are you?"

"...CRACKLE... I am not a lackey of the Evil God..."

After it said this, the walkie-talkie suddenly emitted a loud hum, followed by sounds like a watermelon being crushed and an egg being cracked. The noises vaguely gave Duan Fei a sense of phantom pain.

When the humming stopped, the walkie-talkie lit up again. But the voice that spoke was not Little Fatty’s; it was a middle-aged man’s.

"You’re Duan Someone, right?"

"I am. Who’s this?"

"You know too much. When I get my hands on you, I will torture you to death in the most painful way possible. I guarantee it."

"So who ARE you?!"

[A threat from a mysterious entity comes through the walkie-talkie. The terrifying words have greatly boosted your morale. Your Spirit Attribute is temporarily increased by 30 points within this dungeon.]

Previously, seeing the woman in black had only ever increased it by 5 points at a time.

But now, this person had said a single sentence, and his Spirit Attribute had shot up by 30 points, soaring to a total of 65.

If supernatural entities had Levels, this one was undoubtedly in a league of its own. The woman in black wasn’t even worthy of carrying its shoes.

’Could this be the final boss?’

’Would killing it drop a hidden reward?’

’But with my Talent, I don’t give a damn who you are—you’re all going down!’

Just as Duan Fei picked up his Crowbar, ready to take on the boss one-on-one, the system’s notification chimed again.

[You have completed an achievement: Temporarily increasing your Spirit Attribute by over 50 points in a single dungeon. You have acquired an active Spirit-related Skill.]

[Congratulations, you have obtained Spiritual Armor.]

A card materialized out of thin air, then sank into Duan Fei’s mind and transformed into an active Skill.

After reading the Skill description, Duan Fei felt that his luck was pretty good.