36: Chapter 36 Phantom Cube

"A lucky draw event?"

Seeing the chat messages in the Management Group, Chen Mo instantly woke up.

He hadn't expected that besides lurking to steal hidden information, the Management Group actually offered such perks.

After obtaining an S-rank rating, he now had 1000 horror coins in hand and had to participate.

The Group Leader quickly sent a link with the title: "Thriller Blind Box".

Chen Mo clicked immediately, and a purple gift box with a clown's ghostly face drawn in the center popped up before his eyes.

Below it was a raised clickable bubble that read: Pay 100 horror coins to participate.

Chen Mo clicked it immediately, and after paying 100 horror coins...

The clown box began to shake violently, and after a "Bang!", the gift box turned into a cloud of white mist.

Immediately, rays of golden light shot out.

A line of text appeared before Chen Mo's eyes, growing from small to large.

"Thanks for participating!"

"This... I didn't expect there to be empty box results?"

The Thriller Blind Box returned to its original state, and next to it was a scrollable box displaying winning information that could be expanded.

After clicking the downward-pointing triangle, the winning information expanded and kept refreshing continuously.

[Congratulations to Huangquan Sanshao: Won C-rank material, Rosemary * 1]

[Congratulations to Miss Ghost: Won D-rank item, Goat Head That Can Chat With You]

[Congratulations to Lao Liu: Won skill card, Electric Shock Beam]

[...]

"On average, 3 out of 10 people win, a probability of 33.33%. You've got to be kidding me, is my bad luck returning again?"

Chen Mo refused to believe it and continued to draw.

"Thanks for participating!"

"Thanks for participating!"

"Thanks for participating!"

Four consecutive "Thanks for participating" messages directly took over the screen.

[Damn, what kind of dog-shit luck does this guy called Return to Zero have to draw four "Thanks for participating" in a row?]

[Probably just terrible luck.]

[Rare, truly rare.]

[Wait, isn't this guy called Return to Zero an Apprentice Administrator? Where did he get the horror coins?]

Return to Zero was Chen Mo's nickname in the Management Group. When he was pulled into the Management Group, he hadn't chosen a name; it had come with the account.

To be honest, he felt it sounded much better than his own game ID.

If there were ever an item like a "Name Change Card" in the future, Chen Mo would want to change his username.

Moreover, through the reactions of the users in the Management Group, Chen Mo obtained another piece of key information.

Only when Chen Mo entered a dungeon could this group of Administrators see him, but once he returned to reality, this group of Administrators didn't know what Chen Mo was doing.

Therefore, Chen Mo, lurking in the Management Group, effectively had a second identity.

[Probably someone with connections. It's normal. I once even saw a rich kid who came with 10,000 horror coins.]

[Little brother Return to Zero, your level isn't high enough yet, so you can't chat happily with us.]

[However, if you need any help, I, Lao Liu, will definitely have your back.]

[You're just trying to cling to his thigh, aren't you, Lao Liu? You little trash, what ability do you have to protect a newcomer? At the very least, it should be someone of the Vice Group Leader's level.]

[Wait, are my eyes hallucinating? A B-rank item? Someone drew a B-rank item?!]

Chen Mo himself was a bit stunned; after four consecutive "Thanks for participating" messages, he had almost wanted to give up on the lucky draw event.

After all, horror coins were the hard currency within the game. After entering the next dungeon, they would be needed to purchase potions to replenish Mental Value and HP, making them a very precious strategic resource.

But the psychology of trying to win big with a small bet is a common human flaw.

Just like gamblers, even though it's clear that 99% of people will end up losing everything, only 1%—no, 0.1%—of people are able to make a fortune from it.

Yet every gambler thinks they will definitely be that 1% in the end. This is the legendary small-probability event.

Those who run casinos just exploit this psychology to constantly amass wealth.

They don't care whether you live or die. Even if that 0.1% can make hundreds of millions, in the end, the casino can still make a fortune off the 99%.

[Return to Zero? Damn, did he save up for a big one?]

[The highest-level blind box of the day, the rarest B-rank item, was actually drawn by a newcomer?]

[Return to Zero, where is your address? I want to go visit.]

[I say, Lao Ba, you want to go kill and loot again, don't you? "Visit"? The result of the "visit" would just be you turning both the person and the item into your toys.]

[Congratulations to Return to Zero. So envious, ahhhh! I've joined for half a year and have never even seen what a B-rank item looks like.]

[Is Return to Zero a handsome guy? I want to date you, share half the item.]

Analyzing the chat history, Chen Mo was certain that the Administrators within this Thriller Game definitely all lived on the same Earth with him.

And they all belonged to the type of guys whose mental state wasn't very good.

Chen Mo speculated that the addresses of these people were either mental Hospitals or some strange places.

However... what exactly is the principle behind this Thriller Game?

It could directly pull people into a game world, and if one died inside, they would really die in reality.

The senses inside, the spurting blood after killing someone, the smells—they were no different from actually killing someone in reality.

Of course, Chen Mo had never killed anyone, but his human instinct was certain that it was an absolutely real feedback.

Although it was now the year 2048 and there were already VR games on the market that could achieve five-sense experiences, those still required actual game pods to run.

A single game pod cost 500,000 RMB, and that was for the lowest configuration.

Chen Mo didn't have a game pod, yet he could be directly pulled into the Thriller Game; it was truly too weird.

Furthermore, time operated on two different modes compared to Earth's time.

Three days had passed inside the game, yet no time had elapsed in reality.

This also meant they were in different dimensions.

"Forget it, there's no point in thinking so much right now. Let's look at the newly obtained item first."

Chen Mo clicked on the system backpack, and the first item was the newly obtained one.

[Item: phantom cube, ID: B211]

[Using this cube, you can recreate a dungeon you have previously cleared.]

The description was very simple, consisting of only this one sentence.

Chen Mo held his chin, checked around, confirmed that all doors and windows were locked, and that no one would interrupt his casting time.

He returned to the room alone and entered the most hidden Secret Room, "Virus X".

Then he took out the phantom cube and held it in his palm.

[Please enter the name of the dungeon you have previously cleared: _______]

Chen Mo immediately entered No. 18 Hospital.

[Do you want to generate the dungeon?]

Yes.

[Please point the cube at the player you want to pull in.]

Chen Mo aimed it at himself.

The next second!

A beam of white light flashed rapidly before his eyes.

Opening his eyes again, Chen Mo instantly arrived at the front desk of the No. 18 Hospital.

[Note: Players inside the phantom cube will only lose Mental Value when attacked; you can choose to bring the player out of the dungeon at any time.]

"Holy crap?"

Looking at the 1-to-1 recreated scene before him, as well as the raised bubbles that popped up allowing him to choose his own profession, Chen Mo was shocked.

In the distance, ghost shadows were numerous, and he could even hear the sound of the Female Nurse's high heels moving.

"That is to say... in the future, I can directly pull tourists into the phantom cube to experience the real No. 18 Hospital dungeon?"