Absolute Death Game

Unlike the fixed log-on times in the newbie group, once you become an official employee, work hours are much more flexible, and logging on and off the game is very casual, especially for the elite Green Dragon Group.

However, generally, no one likes to log on at night because the game runs in sync with real-world time, meaning night in reality is also night in the game. During the game's nighttime, monsters are the most active, and the game's pursuit of realistic lighting means visibility is extremely low in the pitch-dark surroundings.

Even with the moonlight, it's hardly comparable to daytime, and it's very easy to get surrounded by monsters, making nighttime monster hunting and leveling a suicidal endeavor for those not strong enough.

Who could be logging on at this late hour? Xiao Buli wondered as he walked over, cradling his glass of wine.

As he drew nearer to the door, he faintly heard the low murmurs of a human voice, as if someone was talking to themselves while on their phone.

"Shh, someone's coming," a voice said, followed by silence.

Xiao Buli was slightly surprised. The voice was too faint for him to clearly identify who it was, but it felt somewhat unfamiliar.

He pushed open the door and walked in. Not far from the doorway, at a side-facing desk, Bai Yunfei sat neatly in front of a computer, intently operating the keyboard.

"Good evening, Xiao Buli. I didn't think you'd notice this place," Bai Yunfei remarked without turning around, fingers rattling on the keyboard.

"How did you know it was me?" Xiao Buli asked curiously.

The tapping on the keyboard stopped suddenly, and Bai Yunfei slowly turned around, offering Xiao Buli a slight smile, "It's the reflection on the screen—couldn't sleep either?"

Xiao Buli nodded and sat down at a table nearby.

Bai Yunfei appeared surprisingly spirited, in contrast to the somewhat listless demeanor he exhibited during the day.

"If you don't mind, I have something to do," he said as he turned his head back and resumed his actions.

"What are you doing?" Xiao Buli asked out of curiosity, walking behind Bai Yunfei as he spoke.

"Just a quest," Bai Yunfei replied.

On the screen, Bai Yunfei was standing in front of a burning corpse.

Xiao Buli felt that the corpse looked familiar. "Is that—the corpse from the jail?"

"Yes, its ghost gave me a quest to bury its body and to find his wife as well. Since I couldn't sleep, I decided to go out and complete the quest," Bai Yunfei explained.

"Where's the ghost?"

"Right beside my character," Bai Yunfei said.

Indeed, in the shadow of the flames in a corner not far from Bai Yunfei, a translucent figure stood, seemingly there yet not, almost as if it were afraid to approach the firelight.

"How come we didn't see the ghost before?"

"Of course you couldn't see it. I can see it because—I'm a Necromancer, don't you remember?" Bai Yunfei said matter-of-factly. The fire gradually extinguished, leaving a pile of white powder on the ground. He used the Gather Skill on the powder and obtained a quest item: 'Exile's Ashes'.

"His name is Duan Yuheng, a fellow townsman of Duan Yimao. He had a feud with Duan Yimao as a child, so once Duan Yimao came into power, he was captured and tortured to death. On his deathbed, he yearned to return to his wife's side and asked me to bury him and his wife together after meeting me," Bai Yunfei explained.

As he said this, Bai Yunfei paused, turning his head back, yet his gaze fell on a spot just to Xiao Buli's right. "Quite an interesting story, isn't it?" he said, winking.

Xiao Buli instinctively glanced to his right, but there was nothing there.

"Are you talking to me?" he asked, puzzled, but Bai Yunfei didn't answer his question and continued to control his character on the path.

Bai Yunfei's screen seemed somewhat different from Xiao Buli's. The pitch-black night was tinged with a white mist, allowing him to clearly see the road in the distance. Walking on the desolate mountain road, fleeting shadows resembling people drifted by from time to time, but Bai Yunfei seemed not to notice, his focus solely on hurrying along the road.

"What are those shadows?"

"Ghosts, or lost fragments of memory. Of course, ordinary people can't see ghosts unless they want to be seen — but I think you knew that already, didn't you?"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

This guy is speaking in riddles. Xiao Buli thought to himself. "What do you mean by what you just said?"

"What did I say just now?" Bai Yunfei seemed to be playing dumb. Without waiting for Xiao Buli to press further, he cheerfully said, "Ah, I think I've found the place."

Before them lay a mass burial mound, a desolate graveyard that looked extraordinarily eerie under the night sky, with several walking corpses wandering aimlessly and a pack of corpse-eating dogs surrounding them with covetous eyes, their eyes glowing like ghostly fires in the night.

Begone, undead! Bai Yunfei cast a group scare spell on them, and the corpse-eating dogs scattered as if they had seen a ghost. Bai Yunfei stopped in front of a grave.

"This should be the place," he muttered to himself. He equipped a crane-beak hoe in the weapon slot and began to dig, quickly unearthing a rotten coffin. Bai Yunfei placed an urn inside and reburied it.

Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire

A semi-transparent figure emerged from the grave, taking the form of a young village girl, and the faint shadow that had been following Bai Yunfei became clear as well. The two embraced each other and turned into a beam of white light, slowly floating toward the sky and gradually vanishing.

System prompt: Quest "Till Death Do Us Part" completed, rewarded with 20 Merit Points.

Bai Yunfei stretched lazily. "Heh, that was lucky; it turned out to be a Merit Point quest. It wasn't a waste of my effort after all."

Xiao Buli suddenly remembered his own 100 Merit Points. "What are Merit Points used for?"

"Do you have Merit Points?"

Xiao Buli nodded. "A hundred points."

"That's pretty good luck, but it's still not enough. If you want the Merit Points to really count, I suggest you farm some more. You should accumulate at least 500 points. They'll come in handy later on."

"Handy for what?"

Bai Yunfei fell silent again. Xiao Buli pressed him a few times, but seeing that he wouldn't speak, he couldn't help but sigh. What a chatty fellow. After drinking more than a cup, sleepiness gradually crept up on him.

"Never mind, I'm off to sleep."

Only after Xiao Buli had gone out did Bai Yunfei turn around and glance at the vacant seat to his right. "An interesting fellow. Perhaps he'll show some unexpected performance. What do you think?"

Xiao Buli always felt that Bai Yunfei seemed to know something, but he also knew when to back off. These old birds from the Green Dragon Group had been working in the company for so long, they must have noticed something, right? He would probe slowly in the future.

As he thought, he fell asleep.

The next morning he woke up, it was already past nine o'clock. Since it was Sunday, he wasn't in a hurry to go to work. He realized it was payday. Though he had been feeling precarious lately, as long as he wasn't dead, he still needed to earn a living. So, he perked up and went to Qin Shimoon's office to collect his salary.

"Good morning, Xiao Buli. Are you here for your salary?" Qin Shimoon's face still looked charming. Xiao Buli nodded and sat down casually across from Qin Shimoon, without the restraint he felt previously. After yesterday's experience, he felt it was no longer necessary.

"Here is your salary from last month. Since you took part in the Azure Dragon Group dungeon raid yesterday, you also get an additional five thousand yuan. Speaking of which, I'm not sure if you're extremely lucky or unlucky to have encountered such a thing on your first day."

When Xiao Buli heard this, he couldn't help but give a bitter smile. If this were good luck, he wasn't blessed enough to enjoy it; he would rather have tried to get into the White Tiger Group.

He felt a little comforted looking at the numbers in his passbook.

"Do you plan on going out today?"

Xiao Buli nodded. "Yes, it's not every day I earn some money and have time off. Of course, I have to enjoy myself."

"Then I wish you a fun time," Qin Shimoon said with a smile.

Xiao Buli thought to himself, 'Yeah, right,' smiled, and walked out.