Chapter 1: Eerie Game Invitation (Revised)

The heavy flesh leaps into the void,

The soaring soul crashes to the earth.

—Volume 1: Spirit and Flesh

The scent of blood is exhilarating.

Qi Si wiped the bloodstains from his face and took a deep breath, letting the thick, fresh scent of blood fill his lungs.

It had been a long time since he last killed someone; he was a bit out of practice. The blood had splattered further than expected, dirtying the studio floor.

Of course, the floor was already dirty.

While the deceased was still alive, the rain boots he wore from outside had left muddy prints everywhere, creating a complete mess.

—Whether to clean up first or dispose of the body first, that was the question.

Qi Si pulled out a handkerchief, stood quietly with eyes lowered, and gently wiped the blood from the blade.

Without warning, an electronic voice echoed intermittently from the depths of his mind:

【You have killed player ‘Liu Ajiu’… Upon detection, your sins are heavy…】

Qi Si tilted his head and said, “But he didn’t wear shoe covers when he entered.”

…Three hours ago, March 9, 2035, 6:00 PM, Jiang City.

As usual, Qi Si was nestled in his studio checking his collection.

The studio was located in an abandoned warehouse in a secluded suburb, a place that people generally wouldn’t notice or visit.

If nothing unexpected happened, he could fish a beautiful animal carcass out of formalin and slowly process it using taxidermy or wet preservation techniques.

But an accident happened anyway.

At about 8:50, someone kicked open the warehouse door and rushed in.

It was a travel-worn man shouting “Robbery!” He pulled a gun from his trouser pocket and ordered Qi Si to squat down in a nasty tone.

Qi Si couldn’t understand why anyone would have the wild idea to come to this godforsaken suburb to rob someone, and even uniquely choose a warehouse that looked dilapidated on the outside.

The first choice for a robbery most likely to find spare change would usually be small shops, grocery stores, and the like in urban villages and outer city streets.

Even considering risks and rewards comprehensively, if one wanted to reduce the probability of entering the Security Bureau’s sight, the best plan should be to block someone at the back door of an illegal bar with a knife.

Qi Si was therefore convinced that the man was the type of person he detested—an idiot who deserved to be chopped up and fed to pigs.

However, after weighing the pros and cons, he still put on a panicked expression, raised his hands high, and consciously and quickly squatted by the base of the wall.

More than rude idiots, Qi Si hated trouble.

Shortly after his birthday on January 1st, he suddenly fainted. His soul drifted out of his body and wandered in the air for a long time before returning to his physical form.

The doctor said it was a terminal illness called “Soul Weightlessness.” As the condition worsened, the patient would one day never wake up again.

At that time, the doctor looked at Qi Si with sympathetic eyes: “Your illness is an extremely rare case, with no more than ten confirmed cases globally. You can do what you want in your final days, or do something meaningful.”

Qi Si asked, “For example?”

The doctor said, “You can cooperate with our treatment and research. If our research achieves a breakthrough with you, your name will be recorded in history.”

Qi Si asked again, “Has anyone ever been cured?”

The doctor was very honest: “Of course not, otherwise why would it be called a ‘terminal illness’?”

“…”

Qi Si refused the doctor’s request to sign an organ donation registration form. Rather than having his name in medical history, he preferred his name to appear on a list of criminals for a major violent incident.

He planned to use the last three years of his life to do what he wanted. These things could be making specimens, playing with people, or even slaughtering someone, but it would definitely not be confronting a random robber.

Right now, he only hoped the man would take the money and get lost quickly, not wasting his precious remaining life.

The man pressed the gun against Qi Si’s head, muttering like a psychopath, “Sorry, I have no other choice… tell me where the cash is!”

Although electronic payments were ubiquitous in 2035, Qi Si actually did have banknotes reserved for underground transactions.

He narrowed his eyes and pointed to the depths of the studio: “Room 3, the corner near the drain, the brown leather suitcase.”

The man turned and ran toward the indicated room.

Watching his back, Qi Si belatedly remembered that there were some unusual collections in that room, definitely the kind that would scare someone into calling the police… things were becoming more troublesome.

As the man saw the room full of human specimens and rushed toward the door with a face full of terror, Qi Si had to stand up, casually pull the kicked-open warehouse door shut, and put some effort into tightening the deformed latch.

Disposing of a body wasn’t easy these days; quicklime, hydrogen peroxide, and hydrofluoric acid were all hard to come by.

But for Qi Si, it wasn’t that difficult either.

He had been a child with strong hands-on abilities since he was young, and his learning and execution abilities were the same.

Briefly estimating the distance and assessing the risk, he directly pulled out a blade hidden in his custom bracelet and ambushed the man. Relying on his familiarity with the human body, he stabbed the correct spot with speed and precision.

The man died, falling to the ground, blood splattering far.

Qi Si disarmed him and found there were no bullets in the gun.

This matter was truly full of absurdism and humor, like a mobster putting a salted fish in a delivery package.

Qi Si laughed silently.

He smiled as he wiped the blade clean, smiled as he made the decision to dispose of the body first, and then smiled as he planned the method to destroy all evidence.

Hmm, break the limbs, bend them into shapes convenient for transport, stuff them into a suitcase, and send them where they belong… 【You have killed player ‘Liu Ajiu’. You have priority to choose whether to inherit his game eligibility.】

The electronic voice that sounded again was emotionless, followed immediately by the birth of a curling gray mist that filled the entire space.

Qi Si raised an eyebrow and moved his gaze to observe his surroundings.

In front of the man, a black metal card slowly condensed into shape, floating indistinctly.

The card’s surface was engraved with gold-foiled patterns; on closer inspection, they were the branches and vines of a giant tree, flowing like a living thing as the light flickered.

Qi Si dropped the handkerchief, bent down, and reached out two fingers to pick up the metal card.

A line of silver-white writing appeared in the void:

【Eerie Game Invitation】

Eerie Game? What is this?

Qi Si’s gaze lingered on the unfamiliar term.

As if sensing his confusion, countless pieces of non-narrative information bypassed the cognitive process and entered his mind.

The Eerie Game, created by an existence called ‘rule’, selects eligible players from around the world and puts them into instances filled with eeriness and ghost stories to investigate puzzles and complete tasks.

This is a lethal game teeming with Ghosts. If a task fails or one dies in an instance, the player’s existence in the real world will also be erased.

But danger and opportunity coexist. Players who successfully clear an instance can obtain a large number of points; as long as one has enough points, any wish can be fulfilled.

【Would you like to become a player and enter the Eerie Game?】

The coldness on the invitation’s surface soaked into his fingertips. Qi Si withdrew his hand and subconsciously raised his index finger to tap his chin.

Having just been diagnosed with a terminal illness and then encountering an unexpectedly appearing supernatural power, it felt like a calculated arrangement of fate.

Together with the previous absurd encounter, it all seemed like a carnivalesque prologue before the screening of a grand drama.

He thought for a moment and asked, “Can you cure my illness?”

【In the Eerie Game, you can obtain everything you want: wealth, power, health… everything is available.】

【And all you need to face and overcome is the fear of the eerie.】

The newly appearing silver-white text did its best to be seductive.

Qi Si asked again, “How many points are usually needed for a wish like curing a terminal illness? Roughly how many instances do I need to enter?”

【Sign the Contract, and you will naturally know when the time is right.】

“I know very little about this so-called ‘Eerie Game’. Can I make a decision in a few days?”

【Please make a decision within five minutes, otherwise it will be automatically regarded as giving up eligibility; all your memories related to the game will be erased, and you will never be selected as a player again.】

Emphasizing the timeliness and uniqueness of an opportunity is a common tactic for fraud or induction, much like a trap or a scam.

But Qi Si felt that since he only had three years of life left anyway, even if he lost everything, he wouldn’t lose much.

As long as the benefits were considerable enough, he could do anything that violated laws, regulations, and public order and morals, let alone putting his entire net worth on the chessboard.

Whether ending up without a whole corpse in the Eerie Game or living a life worse than death, any ending was better than a boring death from illness.

At least he gained an interesting experience in the final moments of his life, didn’t he?

In the void, a teleprompter with prompt text appeared faintly.

Qi Si smiled and read the sentence on it: “I am willing to become a player and enter the Eerie Game.”