Soon, the cold prompt of the System rang out.
【Player Cen Yao, dungeon settlement has begun.】
【Dungeon Name: The Little Princess's Full Moon Feast.】
【Dungeon Rank: D.】
【Player Identity: Witch.】
【Main Quest: Retrieve the Witch's treasure within seven days and bring it back to the high tower. Completed.】
【Hidden Plotline Completion: 100%.】
【Survival status of critical NPCs has changed.】
【Hidden Boss, the dark wizard, has been sealed.】
【The dungeon's final trajectory has been altered.】
【Overall Evaluation: S.】
【Settling rewards...】
When Cen Yao heard “Overall Evaluation: S,” her heart leaped slightly with joy.
Although she had tried her best to appear calm throughout the dungeon, who wouldn't be happy to get an S-rank evaluation? She wasn't made of wood, after all.
The next second, the reward panel expanded.
【Base Reward: 1,000 points.】
Cen Yao's eyes lit up.
One thousand!
She didn't have a very clear concept of the value of Horror Game points yet, but since the System was distributing them as a completion reward, they were bound to be useful. Besides, this was the first time she had properly received a dungeon reward. Rounded up, she was now someone with a salary.
The System continued its broadcast.
【Player has been detected to have excellently completed the main quest. Player-end permissions have been upgraded.】
【Player-end System Mall has been successfully unlocked.】
Cen Yao blinked.
The Horror Game's System Mall?
She had the orb's mall, but that was the orb's own thing, clearly not part of the same system as the Horror Game. The unlocking of the player-end mall meant she could now see what kind of items regular players could buy.
It would also make it easier for her to understand the game's economy and rules of survival. As for actually buying anything, she probably wouldn't bother—the items in there likely couldn't compare to the things she made herself anyway.
The System prompt paused briefly, then sounded again.
【Player has been detected to have obtained the gratitude and friendship of the royal family.】
【Special status has been issued.】
【In subsequent supernatural dungeons, the player will have a 15% chance to obtain the goodwill of ghosts and monsters, and a 10% chance to trigger ghost and monster deterrence.】
Cen Yao was startled.
This reward was quite unexpected.
Goodwill of ghosts and monsters? Ghost and monster deterrence?
Although the probabilities weren't high, in horror dungeons, these things could sometimes be even more useful than simple offensive items. After all, not every dungeon was suited for brute force. Sometimes, a ghost softening its heart could mean saving a life.
The cold voice of the System asked one final time:
【Settlement complete.】
【The player may choose to remain in the System Space or return to the real world.】
【Please make your choice.】
Cen Yao hardly hesitated.
“Return to reality.”
Please.
She had suddenly been pulled into a dungeon and disappeared for seven days. Although perhaps not that much time had passed in the real world, her parents didn't know that.
If they saw her room empty, or if they received news of her entering the Horror Game, they would be worried sick. She had to go back first to let them know she was safe.
【Player choice: Return to the real world.】
【Teleportation beginning.】
The white light flared once more.
Cen Yao closed her eyes instinctively.
When her feet touched solid ground again, her nose caught a familiar scent first.
The fresh scent of laundry detergent, the faint smell of wooden floors warmed by the sun, and the fragrance of the gardenia diffuser at the head of her bed.
Cen Yao opened her eyes.
She was back in her own little nest.
The small room on the second floor was exactly as it had been before she left. The curtains were half-drawn, and the daylight from outside filtered in, spilling onto her desk.
Half a cup of water she hadn't finished was still sitting on the desk, and her phone lay face down next to her pillow. The blanket on the bed was tangled in a messy pile, looking very cozy and lived-in.
Standing in the middle of her room, Cen Yao actually felt a sense of having returned from another lifetime.
Just a second ago, she was bidding farewell to the Queen and her daughter in the high tower. Now, she was back in her own ten-square-meter bedroom. The Horror Game really knew how to disorient a person.
Before she could even check her phone, the orb suddenly squealed with excitement in her mind.
【Ding! Congratulations to the Host for obtaining 15,000,000 shock points!】
Cen Yao froze.
“Huh?”
Her voice pitched up slightly.
“What's going on?”
Did she do anything earth-shattering at the end? Didn't she just give the Queen instructions on how to return to the palace, leave some things for them, and then submit the quest to exit? How did that bring in fifteen million?
The orb was already practically going crazy with joy.
It clutched the balance of shock points, wanting nothing more than to plant a couple of kisses on it.
“Host! We've got more income! Fifteen million!”
Cen Yao was a bit dazed.
“But why?”
The orb wobbled its body, its tone turning serious.
“Maybe because you, Host, are simply someone who naturally brings surprises to people.”
Cen Yao blushed. “...”
There... there was no need to suddenly become so smooth-tongued.
The orb continued, “Your choices, Host, punished the wicked in the dungeon and gave a new lease on life to the Queen and her daughter, who would have otherwise been swept away in misery by their fates. You gave them the ability to take control of their own destinies.”
Cen Yao fell silent.
Floating in midair, the orb softened its voice.
“The viewers are human too. It's just that they've been in the Horror Game for too long. They've been hurt by their own kind, deceived by dungeons, and forced by the rules to survive over and over again, so many of them seem numb now. But they all started out as complete newbies too. Only they know the dangers and hardships along the way.”
Cen Yao lowered her eyes, her fingertips gently brushing against her wand.
The orb was right. Every player when they first entered the Horror Game perhaps once hoped that someone would save them. Hoped that a powerful, gentle, and reliable person would appear at their most terrified and helpless moment to give them a hand.
Not everyone was as lucky as she was, and not everyone could wait around for their saving grace. Most people could only grit their teeth and endure it on their own.
Surviving the first dungeon. The second dungeon. The third dungeon.
Then slowly, they grew afraid to trust anyone, afraid to pity any NPC, and afraid to offer even a shred of genuine emotion. Because in the Horror Game, sincerity was too much of a luxury—a luxury so rare it could only be wished for, never expected.
They perhaps had once sympathized with the NPCs in a dungeon. Perhaps they had once reached out to someone who seemed pitiful. But what they got in return might have been deception, betrayal, or death. Over time, no one dared to stick their necks out anymore.
What Cen Yao did this time might have seemed naive or irrational in the eyes of many veteran players. But when they saw with their own eyes that she had actually pulled it off...
Saw the Queen and her daughter escape their originally tragic fate, and the rookies Chen Lin and Wang Tao survive because of her. Saw the villains in the dungeon get punished one by one.
That emotion wasn't just simple shock. It was more like something that had long been suppressed was gently touched.
The orb said, “They will feel shocked, touched, sad, and also envious. Some will see a reflection of their once weak and helpless selves.
Some will remember the NPCs they once pitied but failed to save. Some will feel that, as it turns out, dungeons don't have to be entirely filled with despair. All of these emotions will cause fluctuations.”
The orb perked up and became lively again.
“Plus, your performance itself was incredibly dazzling, Host! The S-rank evaluation, first place on the Rookie Leaderboard, the live stream climbing the Hot List, and the magical strength you displayed—all of this is bound to cause a massive uproar in the System Space.
The degree of emotional fluctuation is right there. So adding it all up, we've obtained another fifteen million shock points.”
It concluded very solemnly.
“You deserve all of this, Host.”
Rate on N.U.
