In the darkness of the night, a small cottage stood alone on the wasteland, its lights shining brightly.
Inside, a tall young man stood by the window, holding a watering can and lazily humming a tune as he watered the potted plants on the windowsill. His posture was relaxed and comfortable.
A bored golden retriever with soft fur wandered over to his feet, sat upright, and nuzzled his leg, its tail thumping against the floor in a slow rhythm.
The young man glanced down at the dog, his long lashes casting shadows over his eyes. A faint smile curled his thin lips, and his narrow, phoenix-like eyes sparkled with amusement.
His picturesque face took on a warm hue, making him appear very approachable.
"What's wrong, feeling bored?" the young man asked, his voice gentle and pleasant.
He set down the watering can and placed his slender, attractive hand on the golden retriever's head, gently stroking it.
Facing the inky darkness outside the window, the light from the cottage cast a bright patch on the grass outside.
In the distance, something seemed to be moving, rapidly approaching.
The young man didn't lift his head, seemingly unaware, continuing to pet the dog while softly murmuring to himself, "It does seem a bit boring lately."
As he finished speaking, something burst into the light outside the window with a loud "bang."
A face slammed heavily against the window, causing the entire glass pane to tremble!
The young man paused and looked up.
Right in front of him, a face was pressed against the glass, eyes wide open and bloodshot.
Sweat glued the person's hair to their forehead, and the terror and desperation of their escape had drained all color from their face.
They gasped for breath, eyes trembling as they stared at the young man inside the cottage.
Encountering such a composed, clean, and beautiful young man in this place and at this time seemed incredibly surreal. Their look showed that they thought they were experiencing a hallucination.
But then their eyes slowly shifted to the cottage door, and as if they had found a life saving rope, a spark of hope lit up their face.
Just as they reached for the door, a massive beast claw, large enough to cover an entire human, silently attacked from behind!
Thick blood splattered across the window.
The person who was alive just moments ago was now completely deformed, like a flattened skin stuck to the window, face still twisted in the last moments of unwillingness and despair, slowly sliding down.
The young man, Xia Jing, retracted his smile, expressionlessly staring at the bloody imprint on the window.
Outside in the night, the giant beast stood quietly.
The golden retriever sensed something, stood up uneasily, tilted its head in thought, then cautiously took a step back.
A pair of enormous beast eyes appeared outside the small window, peering inside.
One eye of the beast was as large as half a human.
It crouched outside the window, staring straight at Xia Jing inside the cottage.
Sharp, meter-long beast teeth nearly touched the glass, seemingly capable of shattering it with minimal effort and easily biting the young man in the cottage in half.
Its hunger seemed to spark countless fantasies, drool dripping from its mouth.
Its claw impatiently clawed at the ground, but just as it opened its mouth and exhaled a hot breath, intending to turn its fantasies into reality, the young man inside gently raised his eyes, shifting his gaze from the bloodstain to meet the beast's eyes directly.
The beast froze.
In those beautiful phoenix eyes of the young man, there was no emotion left.
Only coldness remained, a coldness like an ancient glacier, that is cold enough to freeze the entire wasteland.
The beast's pupils disappeared from the window.
With heavy footsteps, the beast turned and slowly walked back into the darkness...
The golden retriever swallowed hard, glancing at Xia Jing.
The scenery outside the window began to change.
The wasteland vanished, replaced by a summer rainforest with faint screams in the distance.
Then the rainforest disappeared, and a stone wall appeared, pressing closely against the window, as if they had entered a mysterious cave.
The stone wall also vanished, revealing a desert, then a snowy field, the surface of the moon, and a green wall maze...
The cottage began its daily drift through this eerie world.
When it stopped again, Xia Jing picked up a cloth, expressionlessly opened the door, went outside and started unhappily cleaning the glass.
Clearly, his mood was very poor.
The golden retriever lay down, watching Xia Jing clean in annoyance, its tail thumping the floor again as if it were secretly laughing.
This time, they had stopped in an indoor corridor, with the cottage door embedded directly in the corridor wall.
Xia Jing hadn't been cleaning for long when the sound of hurried footsteps echoed nearby, and a man and woman appeared around the corridor corner.
They kept glancing back as they ran forward frantically.
When they saw Xia Jing, they screamed in shock, coming to a sudden halt.
The man, about one meter and ninety centimeters tall and heavily built like a small mountain, stood protectively in front of the woman. Both were panting heavily, full of suspicion and fear.
The woman stammered, "Ah, you... are you... with us?"
The man immediately stepped back, wary: "No, I don't remember anyone like him in our group when we first entered this place!"
The woman hesitated, turning pale: "Then is he... another monster?"
The man cursed, finding themselves at a dead end, unsure where to escape next, noticing words appearing on the white wall nearby.
"Four double rooms available today!"
"Pay with 200g of monster parts with at least 100 energy density per person to stay in the safe house for 24 hours!"
"Scan complete, you both possess qualifying monster parts. If you wish to stay, please think of the items you intend to pay with!"
The couple was stunned, unable to comprehend the situation.
Meanwhile, Xia Jing finished cleaning the bloodstains.
He turned slightly, raising an eyebrow.
The arrival of new guests improved his mood, which had been ruined by the dirty bloodstains.
"Welcome to the safe house, this place is the chaotic realm between the dungeons. Monsters cannot enter without permission, ensuring absolute safety."
"If you wish to enter the safe house," Xia Jing smiled elegantly, "please make the appropriate payment."
*
Li Jianqiang and Zhang Xue were a couple.
As they followed Xia Jing into the safe house, they remained skeptical.
They carried two dragon horns in their pockets, after entering this place and experiencing several near-death escapes these were the only monster parts they had collected following "veteran players". They didn't expect them to be useful now.
Xia Jing led them to the front desk.
A small electronic scale sat on the counter.
The dragon horns that disappeared from their pockets earlier now lay quietly on the counter.
Xia Jing, in a good mood, picked up a dragon horn and placed it on the scale, speaking gently: "One dragon horn has exactly 100 energy density, 202g. One horn per person, you can rest in the safe house for 24 hours."
Li Jianqiang and Zhang Xue stared at the scale, clearly not a human invention, unsure what to ask first.
Li Jianqiang broke the silence, asking warily, "Are you sure monsters can't get in here?"
As he spoke, the corridor outside disappeared, replaced by an underwater scene, with a school of fish swimming by...
Li Jianqiang was stunned.
"Once the safe house door closes, it begins randomly drifting. But don't worry, when you exit, it will return you to your dungeon," Xia Jing explained, satisfied as he put away the dragon horns.
He then smiled, "If you have extra qualifying monster parts, you can upgrade your room or extend your stay. Here's the menu, feel free to consider it."
His slender fingers opened a menu and pointed.
Zhang Xue glanced at it instinctively.
Li Jianqiang frowned.
The menu listed various room types, packages, and how many hours they could stay based on the amount and energy density of monster parts exchanged.
However, this was their first time in this terrifying world, barely understanding the rules, let alone having extra monster parts.
If not for Zhang Xue's quick thinking in picking up the dragon horns from a dead monster, they wouldn't have even made it into this so-called safe house...
Li Jianqiang wasn't concerned about upgrading packages.
He watched as the bizarre monsters outside pressed against the glass window, just as his heart raced, the scene changed again, clearly drifting to another dungeon.
He swallowed hard, finally calming down from their sixteen-hour escape.
His eyes filled with hostility.
He coldly asked Xia Jing, "What is this place? Are you human or a monster?"
Xia Jing finished recording the transaction, smiled lightly at the question, and asked:
"What do you think I am?"
The young man's beauty made their hearts skip a beat.
Li Jianqiang snapped back, sweeping the menu off the counter, grabbing Xia Jing's collar, gritting his teeth, "Don't play games with me. You must be human, right?! If you work here, tell your boss to let us go!"
Zhang Xue, scared, tried to intervene, but her eyes were also filled with fear.
Everything was too strange.
They were just out shopping on a regular holiday, got involved in a car accident, and inexplicably entered this "dungeon game" surrounded by monsters.
Was this some secret human experiment?
Or an alien creation?
They were utterly confused, only wanting to leave this place!
This young man was the only seemingly harmless, willing to communicate individual they had encountered...
Zhang Xue pleaded, "If you work here, please, ask your boss to release us. We won't report this, just let us go..."
Xia Jing, in a white shirt, looked like a delicate, refined young man.
Being roughly shaken by Li Jianqiang didn't faze him at all.
He raised a hand, gripping Li Jianqiang's wrist.
Those slender, beautiful five fingers appeared fragile and weak, therefore Li Jianqiang completely disregarded them.
But the next second, he cried out in pain, hurriedly pulled his hand away, protected his wrist, took two steps back, his heart pounding, and his face showing astonishment.
...This young man was incredibly strong. For a moment, he even felt as if his wrist was about to be twisted off!
Xia Jing stood firmly, calmly straightened his collar, without showing any anger at Li Jianqiang's action, nor any fear, not even impatience.
He simply lifted his eyes slightly, with a half-smile, and said, "Boss? There's no such thing in this place."
Li Jianqiang and Zhang Xue were taken aback.
Zhang Xue hurriedly said, "But, but this safe house of yours..."
Xia Jing's tone was gentle as he said, "From the moment I woke up, I was here, the safe house was also already here."
Most of the time, Xia Jing was good-tempered and not easily angered.
He spoke almost mildly, "So, I'm very sorry, your questions are also my questions. I can't provide any answers for you."
Li Jianqiang and Zhang Xue wanted to ask more, but Xia Jing continued speaking.
He said in a light tone, "By the way, please remember the rules of the safe house."
He pointed to a clock hanging on the wall behind him.
"First, please keep track of time yourselves. If you don't intend to renew your stay, make sure not to drag it out to the full 24 hours, because the safe house will forcibly eject you by then, and you might face many unexpected situations."
"If you want to leave the safe house early, you can approach the door. The safe house will automatically return you to your respective dungeon, and you can observe the situation outside to decide when to leave."
"Second, the small shop in the safe house supplies various small props. If needed, you can purchase them yourself, with the exchange currency still being monster parts."
"Third," Xia Jing said with a smile, "violence and filth are prohibited in the safe house, because I don't like them."
Li Jianqiang and Zhang Xue were still in a daze.
Xia Jing had already stepped out from behind the counter, rolled up his sleeves, and naturally asked, "Are you hungry? What would you like to eat? Each person can enjoy three meals within twenty-four hours. Your room is the first one on the left ahead. You can enter directly. If you don't want to eat, you can rest there."
Li Jianqiang opened his mouth but didn't know how to continue asking due to Xia Jing's attitude.
Finally, he said sullenly, "I'm not hungry."
Zhang Xue, after a moment of silence, seemingly compromised, said wearily, "...I, I would like a bowl of noodles, any kind will do."
Xia Jing glanced at her and smiled, "Alright, please wait a moment."
...
When Xia Jing disappeared into the kitchen entrance, Li Jianqiang mockingly said, "You still have an appetite to eat?"
Zhang Xue, slumping on the sofa, muttered, "...Who knows if it's the last meal."
Li Jianqiang's face changed, and he cursed, "Stop saying such ominous things!"
He cautiously surveyed the safe house.
This safe house was roughly estimated to be about two hundred square meters.
The entrance was a small living room, with the kitchen to the left of the hallway ahead, and the so-called small shop on the right. Further in were four rooms.
The entire safe house was clean and tidy, with potted plants by the windows, two goldfish in a small fish tank, and a golden retriever sitting in the corner, wagging its tail and innocently looking at them...everything was filled with a sense of everyday life.
A sense of everyday life that could create a feeling of safety.
Li Jianqiang turned and looked out the window.
Outside the window, it was unclear which dungeon it was.
A group of players saw the safe house, and some, obviously experienced players who knew about the "safe house," joyfully rushed over.
But in the next second, cracks appeared on the ground under their feet, revealing rows of dense teeth within the gaping fissures.
It was a monster's mouth...
All the players fell into the fissure's mouth, and the scene outside the window changed again, leaving Li Jianqiang drenched in cold sweat.
The stark contrast between the warm safety inside the safe house and the hellish chaos outside was extremely ironic.
Li Jianqiang couldn't sit still at the thought of returning to that instance in 24 hours.
He went to check out the small shop.
The shop had rows of display shelves filled with a variety of bizarre monster parts and items.
There were teeth, sickles, eyeballs, and even blood-soaked monster hearts...
Suppressing his discomfort, Li Jianqiang moved closer to examine them. Each item had a small price tag indicating how many grams of monster parts with a certain energy density were needed for exchange.
His eyes flickered as he tried to directly take an item from the shelf, but he couldn't.
Without the exchange material, the small items seemed glued to the shelves with 502*.
Li Jianqiang's heart raced as he tried to forcibly take an item, only to hear a sudden light laugh behind him, nearly making him jump.
He turned abruptly, seeing Xia Jing's slender figure quickly pass by the small shop.
Swallowing hard, Li Jianqiang clenched his fists, gritting his teeth as he walked out of the shop.
...
Zhang Xue seemed to have given up on questioning Xia Jing.
Fear and exhaustion had drained her mind, and after finishing her noodles, she went to her room to rest.
After quietly exploring outside for a bit, Li Jianqiang returned and said, "That guy is definitely an employee of the boss behind this place! I checked the kitchen, there were no ingredients at all. The food you ate must have been teleported from elsewhere!"
Zhang Xue got up and listened to him.
After sixteen hours of high-pressure escape, Li Jianqiang's mental state was like a broken string.
He paced back and forth in the room, speaking rapidly, "This place is definitely a man-made facility, everything here is artificial! If it's man-made, then there must be a solution!"
Zhang Xue hesitantly asked, "What do you plan to do?"
Li Jianqiang's eyes were bloodshot, "I'll tie that punk up! Even if we can't leave this dungeon, at least we can stay hidden in this safe house!"
Zhang Xue opened her mouth, then said softly, "But you heard him, once the time is up, the house will automatically kick us out."
Li Jianqiang: "If we keep him under control, his own life is on the line, do you think the house would still dare to kick us out?! And those items, we can't take them now, but once we control that pretty boy, what will we not be able to use here?!"
Zhang Xue thought Li Jianqiang had completely lost it.
She had nearly gone mad herself, but Xia Jing's calmness had given her a chance to breathe and think.
Zhang Xue tried to persuade him, "I have a feeling the rules here aren't that simple... and didn't you fail to handle him before?"
Li Jianqiang snapped, "Of course, I can't do it alone! You think I'm discussing this with you for nothing?!"
Zhang Xue took a step back, "I think we should avoid confronting the manager head-on..."
Li Jianqiang glared at her, "He's not a monster, what are you afraid of? He's just a bit stronger!"
Zhang Xue shook her head, her voice hoarse, "This place isn't a normal world, you can't use common sense to judge it. I just carefully thought about it, that manager might not be a monster, but he might not be human either..."
Li Jianqiang had lost the ability to think rationally, he only feels that Zhang Xue was refuting every word he said, rejecting his every idea. Irritation, anger, and fear mixed together caused him to lose his mind.
He grabbed Zhang Xue's arm roughly, snarling, "You hide behind me whenever there's trouble, you want me to protect you, and now you won't even help me?!"
His brute force startled Zhang Xue. She incredulously said, "How can you say that? I may not match your strength, but I've done a lot too. Without me, you'd have died with those people at the start... Without me, we wouldn't be able to enter here now!"
Li Jianqiang laughed in anger, "So I owe my survival to you?!"
"I, I don't mean that. I'm just saying we got this far not just because of you alone," Zhang Xue started to feel scared, "Let me go, have you gone crazy?"
"I'm crazy! You still have the mood to eat noodles, while I can't eat a thing!" Li Jianqiang suddenly lifted her, coldly questioning, "You think that pretty boy looks good, so he must be a good person, huh?"
"I don't think that!" Zhang Xue struggled and screamed, "You forgot, no violence is allowed here!"
This completely triggered Li Jianqiang, who gave her a hard slap, knocking her onto the bed, snarling, "You dare to use that pretty boy's rules to scare me—"
Before he could finish, an invisible force yanked Li Jianqiang out of the room.
Dizzy from the slap, Zhang Xue heard his terrified scream amid the ringing in her ears.
She got up, ran out stumbling.
Somehow, the safe house had returned to their dungeon, the familiar hallway.
The door was wide open, and Li Jianqiang was thrown out backward, like garbage.
—Thrown straight toward a two-meter-tall humanoid monster with a massive dragon head, that was searching for prey outside the safe house, from which it's species they had narrowly escaped several times before.
Zhang Xue froze in place, her pupils dilated.
The humanoid monster turned its head at the commotion, fixing its gaze on Li Jianqiang, who was flying towards it.
It seemed to ponder for a moment, surprised that it's prey would just fall from the sky.
Then—
It smiled, opening its huge mouth, with the corners reaching its temples.
With a crisp "snap," the sound of bones breaking, Li Jianqiang's terrified expression froze on his face.
His feet lifted off the ground, a row of teeth biting into his neck, and his head tilted limply to one side
Crimson blood dripped onto the ground.
Zhang Xue's legs gave way, and she fell to her knees.
She covered her mouth, her eyes wide open.
The monster outside the safe house spat Li Jianqiang out of its mouth, its cold, sinister gaze passing through the safe house's living room and hallway, greedily fixing on her.
Zhang Xue couldn't make a sound, her whole body trembling, tears streaming down her face, unable to move as if under a restraining spell.
The lights in the living room had long since gone out.
Soft, deliberate footsteps came from the right corner.
A tall, handsome young man stepped into the living room, stopping in the shadows.
Zhang Xue couldn't see his face clearly.
She could only sense that he glanced outside.
Then, the young man's gentle voice broke the darkness.
"Do you want to leave with him?"
An ordinary question.
Yet Zhang Xue shivered all over, feeling as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
She shook her head vigorously.
Covering her mouth, she sat on the ground, desperately scooting back, shaking her head repeatedly.
"Then, Tuanzi," the young man seemed to have no other thoughts, speaking gently, "close the door."
The golden retriever responded, walked to the door, raised its head to face the blood-splattered monster outside, and lifted a paw.
With a "bang," the door shut, cutting off Zhang Xue's view of the monster.
The safe house returned to darkness and silence.
* 502 - is a very strong glue brand in China.
Author's Note:
First, let's have Xia Xia make an appearance~
Since this is an infinite flow novel, the main focus will still be on exploring dungeons. In the next chapter, Xia Xia will be heading into an dungeon to play.
Love you all, muah!