Spirit Realm Wanderer

Chapter 4: The Supernatural Descends

In a daze, Zhang Yuanqing felt something soft and plump pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe. Opening his eyes, he saw a round, delicate face and a mischievous smile. His aunt grumbled “You little brat, you dare stand me up? I’ll sit on you until you’re dead.” She straddled her nephew, leaned forward, and brought her butt down hard. Zhang Yuanqing let out a muffled groan as she sat on him, nearly choking him. In a fit of anger, he arched his back, sending the woman tumbling off. Amid his aunt’s startled cry of “Oh my!” , he saw that it had already grown dark outside the window; without realizing it, he’d slept from morning until night. “Dinner’s ready!” His aunt lay on her side on the bed, delivering a relentless barrage of kicks to her nephew’s buttocks. “Don’t take it out on me, okay? I respect my elders and care for the young—I’m not going to stoop to your level.” Zhang Yuanqing slipped to the edge of the bed, put on his shoes, and walked out of the room. A rich aroma wafted through the living room. His maternal grandparents were seated at the dining table having their meal. His grandfather, with his silver-white hair, was tall and gaunt, his expression stern and rarely smiling. “So, what do you think? Is the match we arranged for you this time any good?” At the table, Grandma asked with a hint of anticipation. “Not bad at all—a million a year, a corporate executive. I’m satisfied, very satisfied!” Her aunt nodded her head rapidly, like a chick pecking at grain. “You say that every time, and every time you end up blocking them.” Grandma jabbed her finger firmly against her daughter’s head and scolded “Use your head a little. Think about how old you are.” “Right, right...” Zhang Yuanqing gloated from the side, only to get a hard kick to the shin from Jiang Yuerr. The two started kicking each other under the table, making the dining table rattle nonstop. “If you’re not going to eat, get back to your room.” Grandma bellowed, and Zhang Yuanqing and her aunt immediately lowered their heads and started shoveling food into their mouths. “Grandma, when is my cousin coming back?” Zhang Yuanqing asked. His uncle’s family lived right across the hall. Not long ago, his aunt—who came from a wealthy family—and his wild and carefree uncle had gone on a trip abroad, so his cousin had been eating dinner here every night. “He said he’s working late tonight and won’t be back until late… He’s the kind of person who works himself to the bone—a complete opposite of his good-for-nothing father,” Grandma complained. Overtime... Zhang Yuanqing let out a disappointed “Oh.” After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yuerr went to their respective rooms, leaving Grandma to clean up the mess. Back in his room, Zhang Yuanqing locked the door, picked up his phone, and dialed his cousin’s number. Since he couldn’t talk to him in person, he’d just have to call. Even over the phone, it just wouldn’t be as clear as talking face-to-face. The call connected quickly, but all that came through the speaker was the bird chirp signaling the phone was turned off. “In a meeting?” Zhang Yuanqing hung up helplessly. As the head of the public security team, his cousin was swamped with work, and his schedule and eating habits were irregular—situations like this, where he couldn’t be reached, happened all the time. He was used to it. Zhang Yuanqing lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, letting his thoughts wander... Suppose Bingge’s disappearance was no accident, and the other party’s target is the Black Card—then I’d have to be careful. The safest approach would be to hand the Black Card over to my cousin, who could then report it to his superiors. Given the administrative level of the Songhai City Public Security Bureau, the influence of factions from Jiangnan Province is limited. But the problem is, the Black Card is missing—that’s the biggest headache....... Zhang Yuanqing scratched his head in frustration. A Black Card that can vanish into thin air—the very thought is chilling. If I can’t recover it, the plan to hand it over to the government won’t work. He’d just have to come clean with his cousin first, let him report it to his superiors, and then follow their instructions. After all, he was just an ordinary college student—there was nothing else he could do. Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing felt a slight ache on his forehead—it felt a bit hot. He reached up to scratch it, but the pain only intensified. Huh? It’s both painful and hot—what’s going on... Somewhat dazed, he got out of bed and walked over to the full-length mirror by the window, scrutinizing his reflection. The full-length mirror reflected the face of a young man: delicate features, fair skin—neither the steely resolve forged by the hardships of life nor the wear and tear of the years. It radiated only the vibrant vitality of youth. On his forehead was a black, circular moon-shaped mark, lifelike and vivid, with irregular patches clearly visible on its surface. At the bottom of the full moon mark was something resembling a progress bar, displaying: 90%. “This…” Zhang Yuanqing stumbled backward in shock. He rubbed his forehead vigorously, but the mark was like a tattoo—no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t rub it off. “How did this get on my forehead? When did it appear?” Chaotic thoughts flashed through his mind, mingled with panic and confusion. “Wait! Isn’t this… isn’t this pattern the Black Moon on the card?” He froze for a moment, then it suddenly clicked. The black card hadn’t been lost—it had entered his body and, in a way he couldn’t understand, transformed into the mark on his forehead. Just as he was puzzling over this, he noticed that the progress bar beneath the Black Moon mark had reached 92 percent. As the numbers flickered, his forehead grew scorching hot. What was this—a supernatural phenomenon? High technology? An illusion? At that moment, the contents of the letter came back to him: “This is a gift that can change your life...” “The black card really is a treasure, so my earlier guess was right. Someone was after it, and Bing Ge didn’t want them to succeed, so he sent it to me—and that’s why he went missing...” While worrying about Bingge, Zhang Yuanqing stared at the progress bar with a hint of anticipation. What would happen when the progress bar reached 100%? Having witnessed the miraculous events before his eyes, he was filled with curiosity about what would come next. After a few more stinging sensations, the progress bar at the bottom of the Black Moon finally completed its journey, reaching 100%. The next moment, a voice—devoid of emotional fluctuation or sentiment—rang in his ears [Character Card reboot complete... ] [Name: To Be Named (Please name immediately)] [Race: Human] [Class: Night Wanderer] [Level: 0] [Skills: None] [Experience: 0%] [Morality: 60 (Initial Value)] Below the Morality value is a note [Never let your Morality drop below 60. You may not have had a choice before, but now, please be a good person. ] Staring at the fluorescent blue character stats panel that appeared before him, Zhang Yuanqing was baffled for a while, wondering to himself, “What on earth is this?” He tentatively asked, “System?” As a seasoned internet surfer, having a broad range of knowledge was a must. A voice devoid of any emotional inflection echoed in his ears once more [Please name your character immediately! ] The stats panel, frozen in midair, popped up a fluorescent blue text box. It couldn’t be the system—otherwise, it would be far too unintelligent to even communicate… Adopting a “take it one step at a time” approach, Zhang Yuanqing extended his finger and wrote his name Zhang Yuanqing [Warning: Do not use your real name. ] Can’t use his real name? Zhang Yuanqing paused for a moment, then wrote down a second name Yuanshi Tianzun [Name successfully set! The Spiritual Realm will open in ten seconds. Yuanshi Tianzun, good luck! ] Hearing the voice echoing in his ears, Zhang Yuanqing was momentarily bewildered. He thought to himself, “What’s going on? Opening the Spiritual Realm? Shouldn’t you explain what the Spiritual Realm is first?” Before he had a chance to regain his composure, the ten-second countdown had already ended. [Ding. The Spiritual Realm map has been loaded. Welcome to “Night Wanderer—Sheling Tunnel,” ID: 0079. ] [Difficulty Level: S] [Type: Single-Player (Death Mode)] [Main Quest 1: Survive for three hours. ] [Main Quest 2: Explore Spirit Realm No. 0079. Current Exploration Progress: 0%] [Note: Non-Spirit Realm items cannot be brought in. ] [Introduction to Spirit Realm No. 0079: Have you heard of the Sheling Tunnel, one of the Ten Great Ghost Stories of Songhai? ] [The Sheling Tunnel was constructed at the end of the last century. During its construction, a construction crew entered the tunnel to excavate on a rainy night and vanished inside, never to be seen again. [The Public Security Bureau organized a search party that combed the area for several days. They found one worker in the mountains who had participated in the excavation that night, but the others were nowhere to be found. [Although that survivor lived to tell the tale, he suffered some inexplicable trauma that left him mentally unstable and completely deranged... No matter how the police questioned him, he kept repeating the same phrase over and over. [He said: “Don’t go into the temple, don’t go into the temple…”] The voice in his ear grew fainter and fainter, until it was barely audible; the scene before his eyes, like the surface of a rippling lake, began to distort and blur. In the blink of an eye, the scene gradually stabilized. A dim, yellow light shone on the uneven walls, and beneath my feet lay a path paved with fine gravel. “Where am I?” Zhang Yuanqing looked around in astonishment and realized he was in an old tunnel, where vintage xenon lights on the arched ceiling cast a faint orange glow.