Vroom— The hum of a car engine echoed in his ears.
The vehicle was driving along a desolate country road.
Outside the window were vast woods, and the setting sun cast mottled shadows on the windshield through the leaves.
Zhao Heng snapped back to reality, his blurry vision rapidly coming into focus.
Soon, he figured out his situation.
He was sitting in the driver’s seat of a moving car, both hands gripping the steering wheel.
Although his body felt like his own, the hands on the steering wheel were not his.
Noticing this, Zhao Heng’s expression instantly darkened.
“A roleplay instance that completely strips a player’s abilities?” There were many types of instances.
But if one were to ask which type was the most unpopular among top players—roleplay instances that completely stripped a player’s abilities would undoubtedly rank near the top.
Because in this type of instance, they couldn’t use their original skills, items, or equipment.
Even their attributes would be weakened to match the general populace…
Simply put, they were forced to clear the instance using only what the roleplay character possessed.
This was the type of instance Zhao Heng found the most disgusting and least wanted to play, bar none.
Thinking of this, Zhao Heng tried to summon his weapon, but there was no response.
Then he tried to feel his superhuman strength, but it was equally empty.
Right now, aside from a brain that retained his combat experience, his physical attributes had completely reverted to those of an ordinary person.
“It really is a roleplay instance!” “No way!
How on earth did the constructor of this instance manage to get an S-rank?
A roleplay instance!
And playing as an ordinary person at that!
This means the strength of the enemies appearing throughout the entire instance can only be scaled to a level an ordinary person can handle.” “A level an ordinary person can handle!?” “And this gets an S-rank?!” The car continued along the country road, the surroundings desolate and remote.
Sitting in the car with a grim expression, Zhao Heng genuinely suspected that the constructor of this instance had found a bug.
Because the vast majority of high-ranking instances produced by the system, even puzzle types, were often accompanied by high-intensity combat.
Therefore, Zhao Heng found it incredibly hard to imagine what aspects of an instance where even an ordinary person could defeat the monsters deserved an S-rank.
Why did top players hate roleplay instances that completely stripped their abilities?
On one hand, it was because top players were unwilling to lose their hard-earned abilities and struggle in an instance like an ordinary person.
On the other hand, it was because the vast majority of these roleplay instances originated from low-difficulty instances…
It wasn’t that top players hadn’t tried them, but most of those attempts happened when the world was first gamified, and no one wanted to recall their own miserable and pathetic experiences.
Zhao Heng didn’t want to either.
Although he maintained a high profile on the forums and was equally flashy when rotating to the frontlines, he hadn’t always been like this.
Four years ago, when the world was first gamified, he was just a shut-in otaku.
He hadn’t made any mental preparations.
He stumbled into an instance with his colleagues in a daze and was literally scared into wetting his pants by the gory scenes.
And it happened right in front of the female clerk he had a crush on…
That was the first time he experienced what it meant to be so ashamed he wanted to die.
Over the past four years, he fought his way up from the bottom-tier instances, accumulating sixty thousand Survival Points and becoming a core member of the Longsword Guild.
On the forums, he had hundreds of thousands of fans chasing after him, praising his greatness.
But every night before going to sleep, when he closed his eyes, he could still recall that clerk’s strange gaze…
A gaze filled with astonishment, disgust, and even a hint of pity.
He loathed that gaze, loathed it deeply.
Every time he thought of it, he felt as if he were standing completely naked.
Perhaps to prove that he was different from before.
Perhaps to tell himself that he was different from before.
He began desperately taking on high-difficulty instances, desperately acting tough on the forums, constantly showing off his battle records, and displaying an arrogant attitude.
Even when he felt insecure inside, he spoke with arrogance.
It was as if by doing so, he could completely forget that cowardly version of himself.
At the same time, he began intentionally avoiding those low-level instances that could trigger his memories…
Even if the guild arranged it, he would rather go to higher-level instances.
He just didn’t want to recall that incident or return to that starting point.
But he never expected that this S-rank custom instance would actually be a roleplay instance!
It had an S-rank, yet it was a roleplay type!
And on top of that, playing as an ordinary person.
At this moment, a system window popped up and automatically began playing a CG cinematic—a video of the instance NPC, Mia.
Simultaneously, the system began introducing the objective of this journey to the player.
[You are Ethan Winters.] [You once had a happy family and a deeply beloved wife named Mia.] [But three years ago, Mia suddenly disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Everyone believed she was dead.] [Until a few days ago, you unexpectedly received an email.
The sender was none other than your wife, who had been missing for three years with her fate unknown—Mia.] [The message directed you to a remote farm in Dulvey, Louisiana—the Baker Farm.] [Despite being filled with doubts, your concern for your wife was unstoppable.
You decided to head to the destination alone to investigate and find your wife…] The system prompt slowly faded away.
After watching the prologue…
“…” Zhao Heng immediately suppressed the complex emotions deep within his heart because he discovered a much more serious problem…
He had never heard of this plot before.
He had an impression of all existing high-difficulty system instances, and his guild regularly collected relevant information.
But after racking his brain, he simply couldn’t think of any high-difficulty system instance with a background story like this.
There wasn’t even anything similar.
Could this be…
an original instance?!
Could someone really create an S-rank original instance?!
If it truly was original, then this constructor was an absolute genius among geniuses!
Or could it be that only the plot was different, while the gameplay still followed the formula of a certain system instance?
Just as Zhao Heng was lost in thought, the car slowly came to a stop.
He had arrived at the destination.
A winding path leading into the deep forest appeared at the end of the road.
The trees on both sides of the path were dense, and withered, yellow vines hung down to the ground like some sort of rotting tentacles.
At the end of the path, a shadowy building could be faintly seen.
“…” Zhao Heng looked at the path at the end of his line of sight, thought for a moment, and opened the car door.
Regardless, he should focus on clearing the instance first.
Whether it was an original instance or an imitation instance with a different plot…
for a top player like him, the difficulty shouldn’t be too great.
After all, if the constructor could clear it, with his wealth of experience, there was no way he couldn’t.
Ultimately.
He was no longer that coward who would wet his pants at the sight of gore.
It was time to face that unbearable past.
‘…I’ll use this instance to face it.’ As Zhao Heng thought this, he stepped out of the car.
The moment his feet hit the ground, an indescribable smell in the air immediately drilled into his nostrils.
It smelled a bit like rotting leaves, mixed with the scent of damp, moldy wood.
Zhao Heng wrinkled his nose and casually closed the car door.
Bang.
The sound of the door closing echoed through the woods before being swiftly swallowed up.
Zhao Heng didn’t pay it any mind.
He simply opened the game system, confirmed that this instance had an independent inventory system, and after checking what items were inside, he slowly walked toward the path.
The further he went, the worse the road became.
The trees were dense, and mosquitoes buzzed around wildly.
The damp smell in the air also grew heavier.
This seemed to be a swamp.
Soon, Zhao Heng arrived in front of the dilapidated iron gate of the main house.
He reached out and pushed it.
The chains wrapped around the iron gate let out a harsh, metallic grating sound, but it didn’t budge an inch.
Looking inside through the gate, the courtyard was overgrown with weeds, and the main house looked like a giant beast crouching in the shadows.
“An exploration-style opening?” Zhao Heng scanned his surroundings and quickly noticed a fork in the road to his left, winding deeper into the woods.
He turned and stepped onto that branching path, having a rough idea of the instance’s content in his heart.
It seemed this really was an original instance.
However, if it was an exploration-style instance, it shouldn’t be a big deal for a top player like him, who had fought tooth and nail against all sorts of grotesque monsters in various other instances.
Even without items and stripped of his attributes, as long as the enemies were reasonable, he could still show off his skills.
Thinking this, Zhao Heng continued along the path.
Soon, he spotted an abandoned van.
He walked over, pulled open the car door, and found a project proposal.
It seemed to have been left behind by a production crew that wanted to sneak into a haunted house.
But judging from the fact that the van was parked here and completely totaled, this crew obviously hadn’t made it back.
“A haunted house?” Zhao Heng glanced at the inaccessible main house and continued forward.
But he hadn’t gone far before he felt something was wrong.
It was too quiet.
Excessively quiet.
Aside from his own footsteps and the annoying mosquitoes, he couldn’t hear any other sounds.
Even though the surrounding trees were so lush, it felt as if there were no living creatures.
Most importantly, there were no enemies.
For an exploration type, according to the conventions of system instances, shouldn’t there be enemies ramping up the intensity for the player by now?
Why hadn’t any appeared yet?
Zhao Heng frowned.
Just as he was finding it strange, he turned a corner…
and suddenly saw an old man in yellow work clothes walking silently past ahead of him.
…His breath hitched!
Zhao Heng instinctively tried to activate a skill, only to find his feet as heavy as lead.
He paused, but the decisiveness of a top player still compelled him to step forward and give chase…
but the old man was nowhere to be seen.
“Not exploration?
Ghosts?” Zhao Heng stared at the dirt slope where the old man had vanished.
He frowned, riddled with doubts, but could only continue forward.
He took a few more steps.
At this moment, there were finally animal sounds—the cawing of crows.
He followed the cawing to the side of the road.
On a rock in the roadside weeds lay two animal limbs, looking like cow legs.
Crows were standing on them, pecking at the rotting flesh.
As soon as he approached, the crows were startled and immediately took flight.
Zhao Heng abruptly stepped back, turning sideways to dodge the rushing birds.
Then, he saw a scene that made his eyes widen in shock.
Just to his left, on the path ahead, stood an archway constructed entirely of severed animal limbs.
Several rusted, blackened circular saw blades and coils of barbed wire hung around it.
Flies swarmed madly over it, emitting an irritating buzzing sound.
A disgusting spectacle made purely of animal limbs.
The visual impact was incredibly strong.
Zhao Heng finally knew where the animal limbs on the rock had come from.
“Who the hell is this sick?!” Zhao Heng took a few steps forward and cursed as he looked at the nauseating spectacle of animal limbs, unsure if he was cursing the characters in the instance or the constructor.
What made him even more psychologically uncomfortable was that the only path was blocked, and he had to crawl under that thing.
Truly disgusting.
But he had to crawl under it regardless.
Zhao Heng bent down and slowly approached.
A thick, putrid stench washed over his face.
“Ugh—” Caught off guard, Zhao Heng dry-heaved.
He covered his mouth and nose, quickly ducking under it.
Fortunately, he didn’t encounter anything else after that.
After twisting and turning along the path, he finally saw the house.
Zhao Heng had finally arrived at the stage for the first chapter of the game.
He stopped in his tracks, looked up at the wooden house ahead, and muttered to himself, “There should be enemies here now, right?
Even a farmer with a pitchfork would do.” For some reason, he suddenly kind of wanted to see an enemy appear…
Because he felt this instance was too bizarre, and it gave him a creepy vibe.
He wandered around the perimeter before stepping onto the creaking wooden stairs, following the porch to the entrance of the wooden house on the left.
The door leading inside was wide open, and a lamp hung by the doorway.
However, it could only illuminate a small patch near the door, completely unable to dispel the darkness deeper inside.
It was pitch black within, impossible to see clearly.
Inside and outside the door seemed like two different worlds.
Outside, there was still sunlight.
But inside, it was gloomy and eerie.
Zhao Heng looked at the glowing lamp by the door, hesitated for a moment, and walked in.
Just as he entered, before his eyes could adjust to the darkness…
Bang.
The door behind him automatically slammed shut.
The light shining in from the doorway vanished, plunging the room into absolute darkness.
That muffled bang made Zhao Heng’s heart suddenly clench.
He swiftly turned around, backing up quickly, his eyes warily fixed on the direction where he remembered the door being.
But it was so dark.
He couldn’t see anything clearly.
Without attribute buffs, he had no night vision.
This made Zhao Heng a little panicked.
He didn’t know if the sights he had seen along the way had affected him…
But even his breathing had become somewhat ragged.