A line of numbers appeared before Ji Xun's eyes.
"Ji Xun"
Strength: 0.71 Constitution: 0.58 Agility: 0.62 Mental: 4.73
Description: Weak
"An info panel, huh... well, that's direct," Ji Xun muttered.
Since he had already come to terms with the fact that he had crossed over, seeing the panel didn't seem too strange to him. Instead, the first thing he did was analyze his physical condition based on these numbers.
The 4.73 mental stat was most likely related to his crossing over—or perhaps it had something to do with him personally.
However, the other stats were embarrassingly low.
He guessed that the average human body had stats around 1.0 for each attribute, but his were barely over half that, making him feel like a frail patient.
What was even more terrifying was that, as he continued to observe, these numbers kept dropping!
"You have encountered curse energy. Constitution -0.002"
"You have encountered curse energy. Constitution -0.001"
"Mental corruption immunity."
"Just being near it causes continuous contamination? No wonder I feel so weak..." Ji Xun cursed inwardly, quickly realizing that this mental corruption was akin to radiation—any exposure caused ongoing harm.
Clearly, he needed to keep his distance from the woman on the bed.
He glanced down and noticed that the clothes weren't his own, but his body still felt familiar. It seemed that he had replaced the original owner, though he had no memories of the person.
He glanced at the woman again. A monster she might be, but she was undeniably beautiful.
"Heh..." Ji Xun mocked himself, carefully avoiding the naked corpse on the bed as he feared waking it up.
Being naked wasn't a great option, so he picked up the scattered clothes from under the bed and put them on.
A dirty tactical suit, with armored steel-toe boots, a stab-proof vest, and a crude gas mask. It looked like something for field operations. To his surprise, the equipment belt hidden under the clothing contained two large-caliber revolvers and some ammunition.
In a world with monsters, carrying guns wasn't that odd.
Ji Xun grasped one of the revolvers, his finger instinctively brushed the trigger as he checked the ammo. He couldn't help but remark, "The craftsmanship of the guns here isn't bad."
The revolver was clearly from a small arms workshop, with irregular marks of hand-polishing on various parts. But despite this, the revolver was well-constructed, with high-quality materials. Given its large caliber, one shot could likely turn a person's head into mush.
The bullets had special silver markings on the heads, likely not just for decoration but indicating a special purpose.
Clearly, this gun wasn't just for humans—it was likely designed to fight monsters.
"What kind of world is this?" Ji Xun's curiosity only grew.
Holding the revolver, he had initially thought of testing it on the corpse lying on the bed. However, after a moment's consideration, he dismissed the idea.
If guns were enough to kill a "B-grade disaster" creature, the original owner probably wouldn't have died last night.
Although he didn't understand why the monster hadn't woken up yet, it was definitely not "dead"—at least, not by his definition of death.
The top priority now was to leave the room.
Ji Xun geared up and approached the exit of the room.
The iron door in front of him was intricately designed and looked ancient, rust covering it. It had dents that looked like someone had tried to break it open with force, but they had failed.
Ji Xun pressed his ear to the door and knocked. The sound was muffled, just as he had expected—very thick.
He wasn't going to force it. Instead, he carefully studied the door's structure.
Luckily, there was a small ventilation hatch, probably for passing food. He pulled out a knife from his holster and considered whether it would be possible to use it to unlock the door.
Just then, as he was examining the door, he suddenly heard a series of mechanical clicks from inside. The lock mechanism on the iron door seemed to open on its own.
Was it a coincidence?
Or had he triggered some kind of mechanism?
He glanced back. The corpse was still unmoving.
The door had opened. Whatever was on the other side, he would have to face it.
After briefly considering the possible outcomes, he put on the gas mask and pushed open the door.
As the door creaked open, what greeted Ji Xun was a tightly sealed corridor that looked like something out of a post-apocalyptic bunker.
A gas lamp?
That was an antique from two or three hundred years ago.
Ji Xun immediately noticed the flickering wall lights in the hallway and speculated about the building's age.
What kind of place was this?
His mind was filled with a strong desire for answers when, once again, a line of text appeared before him.
"You have gained enlightenment: Anomalous Spatial Area '407 Anomalous Creature Containment Facility'"
"Disaster Rating: B"
"Exploration Progress: 47.1%"
"Death Rate in this Space: 69.4%"
"Keywords: Survival"
"Mission: This is a mysterious research facility containing mutated creatures. You need to survive for three days here."
"Completion Rewards: Randomly generated curse energy materials or finished cards. The higher your exploration rating, the greater the rewards."
Ji Xun stared at the text and quickly understood.
This seemed to be some kind of game-like instance or a special space?
However, he didn't have enough understanding of this world to grasp what exactly "Anomalous Spatial Area" meant.
But the nearly 70% death rate... that was a glaring fact.
The dangers in this bunker likely weren't limited to the creature lying behind him; there had to be others.
There were probably other people here too.
Just as he was about to step out into the hallway, his hand instinctively went to the revolver at his waist.
He carefully surveyed his surroundings.
This corridor, sealed with no windows, appeared to be an underground facility. Every dozen meters or so, there was another iron door of the same kind. His eyes could see at least two or three dozen rooms.
"Do all of these rooms contain monsters?"
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than he heard the faint sound of a door creaking open.
The door in the next room was being pushed outward from within.
Something was coming out!
Ji Xun immediately became alert and swiftly drew his revolver, aiming at the figure emerging from the door.
But clearly, the occupant of the next room had already sensed someone in the hallway.
And they were faster!
In the instant they saw each other, both weapons were aimed at the other.
When Ji Xun recognized the figure as human, he hesitated for a split second, realizing they weren't about to shoot.
What was more concerning, however, was the weapon aimed at him—the barrel of which seemed to be mounted on the person's right arm, with a faint shift of the goggles above the person's eyes.
What was that?
A mechanical arm?
Or perhaps... a single soldier's steam-powered high-pressure jet cannon?
Ji Xun couldn't quite describe the weapon accurately.
It was a steam-punk style mechanical device, with a 30mm metal barrel mounted on the person's arm, complete with well-crafted brass valves, pressure gauges, and metal plating, as well as three high-pressure pipes running to a small steam boiler on their back. The chest and joints on the legs also had intricate mechanical structures, almost like a full-body exoskeleton for single-person use.
The boiler was emitting white steam, clearly powered by steam energy.
But forget the mechanical tech—what caught Ji Xun's attention more was the shimmering energy shield around the person's body.
A mixture of primitive steampunk and magical force shields, giving off an incredibly bizarre cognitive shock.
"Magic-punk?"
Ji Xun had thought that, with his gun, even if there were a confrontation, it would be a 50-50 chance.
But this person... they had magic!
Looking at the magical force shield, Ji Xun immediately realized that the technological and power systems in this world were far from normal.
Oh.
This had been clear from the moment he saw the naked corpse.
The equipment was on a completely different level.
Clearly, picking a fight wasn't the wisest choice.
Ji Xun realized that his situation was more complicated than he had initially thought.