On the screen, a man in a jacket screamed as a pair of pallid hands dragged him into a mirror. Blood instantly splattered across the entire surface, and the bone-crunching, flesh-chewing sounds were utterly horrifying.
Cen Yao, however, remained expressionless as she jotted a line in the notebook beside her: “The glasses-wearing man deliberately stepped on the jacket-wearing man’s shadow, triggering the mirror ghost’s rules.”
The glasses-wearing man was having an affair with the jacket-wearing man’s girlfriend. They exchanged three covert glances when entering the safe zone—murder by proxy, confirmed.
After noting down this bloody bit of gossip, Cen Yao sighed, rubbing her shoulders, which were sore and strained from excessive combat training.
It had been a full year since the Horror Game descended upon Blue Star.
All humans aged eighteen to fifty could be randomly selected to enter a dungeon.
Puzzles, battle royales, supernatural horrors, rule-based mysteries...
Death in a dungeon meant becoming a corpse in reality.
Cen Yao had just turned eighteen a month ago and lived each day like a hamster trapped in a pressure cooker.
She was terrified of death, so she obsessively watched livestreams, jotted down dungeon rules in a small notebook, and even kept track of player backstabbing, infidelity, and secret alliances—anything to deduce the weaknesses of human nature.
But the more she watched, the more clearly she understood her own insignificance.
She was just an ordinary person, with no powerful background and no brave heart capable of remaining unfazed in terrifying environments.
Just as Cen Yao was about to close her notebook, the livestream screen suddenly went black, and a line of glaring red text popped up:
【The next player selection pool has opened. Generating list...】
Cen Yao's breath hitched.
Immediately after, a dense stream of candidate names scrolled across the screen. Cen Yao’s sharp eyes caught her own name, flashing by at the edge of the display.
Candidate list! She was on the candidate list!
Cen Yao’s vision swam, and fear instantly gripped her heart. Just as she despaired, wanting to write her will immediately, a clear mechanical voice suddenly echoed in the quiet room:
“Hello, Host. I am the X-0831 All-Planar Learning Assistance System. From today, I am officially bound to you.”
Cen Yao snapped her head up.
A spherical, snow-white orb, roughly the size of a basketball, floated before her desk. A faint golden halo hovered above its head, making it look like a sticky rice dumpling that had just escaped a children's playground.
The orb had no legs or arms, only two black-bean-like eyes that blinked innocently, appearing overly harmless.
A System.
The legendary System.
Cen Yao slowly reached out, clutching her chest.
Help me.
She, Cen Yao, a prospective university student who had just finished her college entrance exams with average grades, an ordinary family background, and a delicate but unremarkable appearance, had actually stumbled upon the legendary Golden Finger a year after the Horror Game descended!
What was this?
Had fate finally remembered it had a beloved daughter lost among the common folk?
Had Heaven seen her living like a quail waiting to be slaughtered every day and finally had a change of heart?
Was this her ancestral grave emitting green smoke... No, given the current state of the Horror Game, it was best if ancestral graves didn't emit smoke; it would easily be deemed a supernatural event.
Cen Yao's eyes were red with excitement.
If she weren't afraid of scaring away the orb in front of her, she would perform a tiger-pounce kowtow for it right then and there.
“You... you're really a System?”
Cen Yao's voice wavered, but her eyes shone terrifyingly bright.
The orb primly nodded its body. “Of course, this System has been officially registered with the Main God Administration, possesses a proper serial number, legitimate authority, and a standard training process. It is by no means a rogue, unregistered system.”
Hearing the System's affirmative reply, Cen Yao was on the verge of tears.
Ever since the Horror Game descended, she had lived in constant fear.
She was terrified by the players' elaborate deaths in the game, but she had no choice but to grit her teeth and watch, even replaying many scenes multiple times.
Those chosen by the Horror Game who died in a dungeon left nothing behind.
The only thing left was the complete, suffocating death footage in the System's livestream channel.
The Horror Game would livestream players' progress through dungeons in real-time for everyone on Blue Star to see.
Those not chosen could watch the livestreams, scream, analyze, place bets, and cry until they broke down, but they couldn't reach out and pull any player out of a dungeon.
All players, upon entering their first dungeon, would randomly draw their own Talent.
Talent levels ranged from F to SSS.
Someone drew an F-Rank Talent, 'Sleep Soundly,' and was dragged away by a ghost, bed and all, on their first night in a dungeon.
Someone else drew an A-Rank Talent and managed to crawl out of a dungeon where everyone else was wiped out.
And some drew an SSS-Rank Talent, transforming overnight from ordinary people into top-tier players revered by all humanity.
But those were other people.
Cen Yao knew very well that she was just an ordinary person who had just finished her college entrance exams, with average grades, average physical fitness, average looks, and luck that often fluctuated in the lower-middle range.
How ordinary?
She'd never won a lottery since childhood, never gotten more than twenty-eight cents from a red packet scan, and during class, the teacher's random call for recitation always precisely landed on her.
She even suspected that if the Horror Game really let her draw a Talent, she'd most likely get something like 'Gets hungry exactly at mealtime.'
Cen Yao was terrified.
Terrified of waking up one day to find herself already inside a dungeon.
Terrified of livestream viewers watching her being torn in half by a ghost.
Terrified of her parents only being able to watch her die through a screen.
So she could only obsessively watch horror livestreams, using a small notebook to record dungeon rules.
Which rules were easily deceptive, which NPCs couldn't be trusted, which items might have backlash, and when players were most likely to turn on each other.
She also learned combat, practiced running, and climbing, training until her legs were so weak every day that going downstairs felt like a zombie outbreak.
But it was useless.
No amount of training could truly put her at ease.
Because the Horror Game wasn't a sports event.
Ghosts wouldn't adhere to martial ethics just because she ran an extra two kilometers.
Until today.
Until this orb suddenly appeared in her room with a 'bang.'
Cen Yao felt her bleak life suddenly brighten.
She had a System!
She was finally not just an ordinary person anymore!
What was this?
This was fate opening a back door for her!
This was Heaven's subsidy for a child afraid of death!
This was Cen Yao's beacon of hope for surviving in horror dungeons in the future!
“Host, this System possesses extremely powerful functions, covering various aspects such as learning, training, assistance, exchange, and growth planning. As long as the Host cooperates diligently, this System will formulate the most suitable cultivation plan based on the learning module the Host draws.”
The orb's voice was earnest, carrying a hint of inexplicable pride.
“First, this System must emphasize that we, as a learning system, are by no means the type of cheat that grants something for nothing, nor will we directly transform the Host into an unparalleled expert. We advocate for scientific planning, efficient learning, and steady progression...”
Cen Yao's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
A learning system.
It sounded very reliable.
Although she wasn't a top student, she would work hard!
She wasn't afraid of hard work at all!
As long as she could survive, she'd study until she went bald.
“Secondly, this System possesses the finest teaching resources across all planes. The curriculum is extensive, including but not limited to cooking, painting, music, combat, mechanics, medicine, technology, metaphysics, magic, cultivation, alchemy...”
Magic?
Cultivation?
Cen Yao's soul was instantly captivated by those two words.
Her mind uncontrollably began to fantasize.
A fireball in her left hand, lightning in her right, and a pair of black wings on her back.
When a vengeful ghost charged from the dungeon, she'd coldly smirk, “Mere evil spirit, how dare you act so presumptuously before this witch?”
Then, with a single forbidden spell, the dungeon Boss would immediately kneel and cry for its mommy.
The viewers outside would be frantically drooling over their screens.
“She's so strong!”
“Is this the light of humanity?!”
“Sister Cen! I want to have your babies!”
The more Cen Yao thought, the more excited she became, unable to suppress the smile at the corners of her mouth.
After talking for a while, the orb finally realized something was amiss.
“Host?”
Cen Yao didn't react.
“Host?”
Cen Yao's eyes were glazed over, her smile slowly turning twisted.
The orb was silent for two seconds.
The next moment, it shot up violently, like a white cannonball charged and ready, then zipped towards Cen Yao's face.
“Mount! Tai! Crushing! The Top!”
“Ugh!”
Cen Yao's entire face was instantly covered by the orb.
Soft, incredibly elastic, and with a slightly warm touch.
However, the force of that impact was truly not light, immediately knocking her out of her 'Future Archmage Fantasy Channel' and back to reality.
Cen Yao fumbled to peel the System off her face.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was wrong! I shouldn't have zoned out!”
The orb bounced up and down in mid-air, fuming. “This System was giving an important introduction! And the Host actually zoned out! Do you know how important that explanation was?”
Cen Yao guiltily lowered her head.
“No.”
The orb: “...”
It looked even angrier.
Cen Yao immediately raised three fingers. “I promise! I swear! I will listen carefully from now on! Not a single word will be missed! Every sentence you say, I will engrave into my mind, carve into my DNA!”
The orb looked at her suspiciously.
Cen Yao's expression was sincere, her eyes earnest, and her posture docile.
Her main strategy was to admit her mistake immediately; whether she'd dare to do it again was unknown, but this apology had to be swift.
The orb huffed.
“Seeing as you're a new Host, this System will introduce itself again.”
Cen Yao immediately sat up straight, hands on her knees, as well-behaved as a student under the watchful eye of their homeroom teacher during an elementary school open class.
“This System is named the All-Planar Learning Assistance System. Its core function is to help the Host learn knowledge in a certain field and, through courses, training, missions, a store, and other methods, cultivate the Host into a top-tier existence within that field.”
The orb extended a small segment of a light screen, on which a dense array of module names appeared.
“However, what field the Host will study in the future is not directly decided by this System, but rather randomly drawn by a spinning wheel.”
The excitement on Cen Yao's face gradually cooled.
“Random?”
Rate on N.U.
