Chapter 3 Who Am I 2

Wang Zixuan shuddered violently.

Afterward, the entire school—no, the entire society—fell into chaos.

People nearby would suddenly vanish, only to reappear out of thin air a moment later. Those who survived were in a wretched state, while those who died met gruesome ends; anyone who could still maintain a human form was considered lucky.

And most of those who managed to come out alive were on the verge of a mental breakdown.

The weird world, instances.

These two terms conquered every website and app at an unprecedented speed. Everyone was in a panic, and the streets looked like scenes from a disaster movie: people desperately trying to get home, others screaming on the main roads in terror, and some trying in vain to maintain order...

From time to time, people would still suddenly vanish and then suddenly reappear.

Wang Zixuan had finally managed to get home. Just as his family of three sat in the living room, terrified and unsure of what to do, his vision suddenly blurred. Then, for some inexplicable reason, he arrived here and saw words floating in mid-air.

An instance...

He had entered one after all...

Wang Zixuan crouched on the ground, at a loss for what to do.

The man in the gray hoodie was in a similar situation to Wang Zixuan, but he was more level-headed.

After accepting the news that 'everyone could potentially enter an instance,' Zhuo Xing reacted quickly and began gathering a large amount of related information online.

Due to some kind of restriction, everyone who had been inside an instance could not bring out specific details about its content. Furthermore, the information they posted was mostly incoherent, with every word dripping with fear and panic.

However, as long as one was willing to collect and synthesize the data, some useful information could still be gleaned.

For example, rules would appear within an instance that everyone had to follow. The consequences of violating these rules varied in severity: some would die on the spot, others would lose their sanity, and some might face punishments like being locked up in isolation. In short, it was best not to break the rules.

Another example: do not think about escaping or stalling. One post mentioned that a teammate was unwilling to enter a school at the time; as a result, the gates closed before he went in, and his head exploded right there outside.

But Aunt Wang and the middle-aged man—Sun Tao—were not so lucky.

Aunt Wang lived in a village and usually did a lot of manual labor. She had been hoeing the fields all day today, only seeing a few familiar village women, and knew nothing about the instances.

Sun Tao was a long-haul truck driver who had driven through the night yesterday and slept until the afternoon today. He had only woken up ten minutes ago to make himself a bowl of instant noodles; before the water had even boiled, he had mysteriously entered the instance.

Not only did these two know nothing, but when Zhuo Xing and Wang Zixuan explained the instances to them, Sun Tao didn't believe a word of it.

"Young people these days don't have a single honest word in their mouths! What instance? Why don't you just say we're being tricked by ghosts!"

"I think you're all in this together to fool me! What, you want money? I'm telling you, let me back right now, don't force me to get violent!"

Wang Zixuan was young to begin with, and being intimidated by Sun Tao's aggressive tone, he immediately hid behind Aunt Wang and Zhuo Xing.

Although Aunt Wang didn't understand what an instance or the 'weird' was, she at least had some common sense. When one is unclear about a situation, following the advice of those with experience is the safer bet.

Thus, Wang Zixuan and Aunt Wang instinctively drew closer to Zhuo Xing, keeping a step's distance away from the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man wasn't a complete fool. He was getting tired after shouting for so long, and noticing that the other three were tending to group together while he was being invisibly isolated, his expression darkened.

At that moment, he spotted Lin Xiangjun, who was standing alone.

To establish dominance and save face, he chose to direct his anger toward this seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl who looked very fragile.

Lin Xiangjun, like the other three, gave him a glance but offered no reaction.

Sun Tao's temper flared even more.

He didn't dare lay a hand on the three over there—two men and a sturdy middle-aged woman—but a little girl dared to put on airs in front of him?

Lin Xiangjun was already unhappy about being interrupted while reading the rules, and now this person was charging at her to grab her after being ignored.

Lin Xiangjun grew even more displeased.

She first twisted to the side to dodge his outstretched hand. The middle-aged man's momentum carried him forward a few steps, and Lin Xiangjun took advantage of this opening to dash through the residential area's main gate.

"You little b*tch!"

The middle-aged man spewed foul curses, controlled by a rage that made him only want to catch Lin Xiangjun. Consequently, he charged in after her without a second thought.

Tsk, she wasn't the only one ignoring him, yet he specifically chose to target her? Did she look like an easy mark?

A cowardly bully who picks on the weak.

Lin Xiangjun only ran a few steps forward. After confirming that Sun Tao had entered and was still cursing, she slowed down and stopped, crossing her arms as she watched him.

"What are you looking at! Who do you think you are, you little brat? You don't even know how to answer a question. Why so arrogant? If you're so capable, keep running!"

Sun Tao immediately reached out to grab her.

Lin Xiangjun didn't dodge.

She also wanted to see what the consequences of violating the rules would be.

Sun Tao was initially smug when he reached out, as if Lin Xiangjun stopping her evasion was a sign of her bowing to him, allowing him to regain some face.

But very quickly, his smugness turned into horror.

His body froze stiffly in place, as if someone had brushed a layer of quick-drying glue over him. His outstretched hand remained uselessly suspended in mid-air, unable to move forward another inch.

What... is this?

"What's with that foul mouth? If the children hear you, they'll learn bad habits!"

An old man in a security uniform slowly opened the door to the security booth.

When she was looking at the rules from outside earlier, she remembered the security booth was empty; the room had only a bed and a table, with no place to hide a person.

Where did the security guard come from?

The Old Security Guard didn't care about Lin Xiangjun's confusion.

He wore a common security uniform with logos on the chest, back, and arms. He wasn't wearing a hat, revealing a shiny scalp with a few sparse, short strands of hair around the edges. His hands were behind his back, as if he were out for a stroll.

If there was anything abnormal, it was his extreme age. The sagging skin on his face almost covered his eyes, and age spots spread from his forehead to his neck. He walked with bent legs and a hunched back, his trembling posture looking several years older than the three old men outside her high school gate who couldn't muster two front teeth between them.

She really didn't understand why these residential areas and schools always hired such elderly security guards. Was it because when they got into a fight with a bad guy and got knocked down in two hits, they could sue the bad guy for a fortune?

Fortunately, although this old man was aged, his teeth seemed to be in excellent condition.

Lin Xiangjun watched as he shuffled with small steps over to the motionless middle-aged man, muttering about not teaching children bad habits while reaching out to grab the man's wrist.

He didn't seem to use much strength; with just a gentle downward tug, Sun Tao's entire right arm was torn completely from the shoulder blade.

Skin, muscle, fat, bone, and fascia—it was as if these structures no longer existed. The entire arm was like a chicken foot that had been stewed all day until it was soft and tender, easily slipping off the bone with a light pull, detaching from the torso just like that.

The visual impact was too great. Even though Lin Xiangjun was mentally prepared, she still recoiled a step in shock.

Calm down, calm down.

Don't be afraid, don't panic, she comforted herself while suppressing the instinctive muscle spasms in her throat.

She couldn't vomit. The rules said no littering; vomiting on the ground would likely count as a violation.

Violating the rules meant ending up like Sun Tao, being torn apart and eaten. Did she want to become like that? Lin Xiangjun questioned herself. If she didn't want to die, she had to control it—she absolutely had to control it.

Lin Xiangjun didn't retreat further, nor did she look away.

Scenes like this would only become more frequent, not less. If she couldn't adapt in the beginner instance, where would she adapt when the instances became increasingly dangerous?

It was normal to be afraid seeing a dead person for the first time. It was fine; she just needed to look a few more times to get used to it.

Calm down, calm down.

Lin Xiangjun, think about the offerings you burned for yourself! Think about those beautiful clothes and big houses! Think about those luxury goods, jewelry, and sports cars! Think about the powerful items you might possess and the money you could never finish spending in this lifetime!

Pull yourself together, you idiot! If you don't, all of that will belong to someone else!

You won't get to enjoy a single cent!

The driving force of money was unimaginable, especially for someone like Lin Xiangjun who had been poor for half her life. At the thought of her dying and all that massive wealth belonging to others, her heart felt sharp stabs of pain, and a fire seemed to ignite within her.

In less than half a minute, Lin Xiangjun calmed down. She was no longer afraid, no longer wanted to vomit, and stopped trembling. It was as if she had taken a miracle tonic; her gaze became resolute.

Lin Xiangjun fixed her eyes on the security guard, carefully observing his movements.

With this look, she could see where the problem lay.