Chapter 1: Death Acrobatic Troupe 001

Jian Bumian opened his eyes.

Icy air enveloped his whole body. He shifted slightly and realized he was lying on the ground; the floor was hard and cold.

Faint crying sounds came from not far away.

He sat up, raised his hand, and his fingertips inadvertently brushed against his cheek—

In the next moment, Jian Bumian froze completely.

…What he touched was no longer a cold, empty void, but warm, soft skin.

What’s going on?

Jian Bumian was puzzled. He frowned and looked down at his own body.

A slender figure, snow-white skin, his delicate skin reddening at the slightest pinch.

It was a very fresh and fair young male body.

Familiar yet strange.

This was his body… from long ago when he was still alive.

What’s going on? Is he alive again?

Jian Bumian shifted his gaze from his body and looked up, observing his current surroundings.

The place he was in now was a huge hall.

The hall was crowded with people. Like Jian Bumian, they had been suddenly transported here, completely unresponsive.

Jian Bumian noticed the large characters suspended in the middle of the hall.

Blood-red slogans, as if smeared with the blood and minced flesh squeezed from countless corpses.

A child’s voice came from somewhere, reading this text aloud.

Eerie, piercing, distorted, echoing throughout the hall.

【Infinite World】

【Welcome, players, to this new world! The Infinite World will bring you the most thrilling and exhilarating death experiences!】

Jian Bumian stared at these two lines of slogans and slightly hooked the corner of his lips.

“Infinite World”

These four words were all too familiar to him.

After he died in the Real World, his Soul was conscripted by the “Infinite World,” reincarnating through one terrifying and horrific world after another.

However, his identity wasn’t a player. He had worked as a Ghost NPC for many years, toiling for the “Infinite World” for a long time.

And now…

Jian Bumian glanced again at his own familiar body.

In a sense, he had been resurrected.

—Although he was still in the Infinite World.

But now, he had transformed from a Ghost NPC into the identity of a living Human player.

A Malicious Ghost draped in fresh human skin, mingling among the living.

Jian Bumian narrowed his eyes, a smile gracing his beautiful, thin lips.

—Interesting.

But the other people in the hall were far less composed than Jian Bumian.

Upon seeing these blood-red, terrifying characters, they immediately panicked.

Like dying fish darting and scuttling about.

Piercing cries of alarm arose.

“What’s going on? How did I end up here after waking up?”

“Is this some kind of film crew’s prank?”

“Damn it, let me out! I’m in a hurry to get to work!”

The blood-red characters took note of their pathetic struggles and coldly shifted their text.

【Chosen players, do not panic. You are much more fortunate than ordinary, mediocre people.

—You will get to taste the most thrilling and exciting death in history!

Experience pain beyond compare! Die in fear unimaginable!

These are things ordinary people could never experience! Aren’t you lucky~】

The child’s voice no longer read the text in a declarative manner but cheerfully sang it like a nursery rhyme.

It paused, and its singing tune became even more eerie and distorted.

【Ah—the game is about to begin!】

【Welcome to Instance No. 1: “Death Acrobatic Troupe”!】

【From now on, you are the new Acrobat Trainees in the “Death Acrobatic Troupe”.】

【Your mission——is to successfully survive until the acrobatic performance in five days.】

【Countdown to Ghost NPC entrance: One minute.】

The child’s voice and the blood-red text disappeared.

Replaced by a huge countdown suspended in the middle of the hall.

【00:00:59】

【00:00:58】

Everyone fell silent instantly.

Until one person broke the silence.

“…So… what exactly is going on? Are we really going to die?”

The blood-red characters floating in mid-air, the eerie and piercing child’s voice, all signaled that this was not simple.

Others’ trembling voices rose one after another.

“Impossible, we haven’t broken any laws, why would they kill us?”

“It must just be a prank by a film crew! We’ll be able to get out soon!”

“What’s all the noise?! We’ll know in a minute if people really die or not!”

One minute later, the “Death Acrobatic Troupe” instance would open, and the Ghost NPCs would appear.

Jian Bumian sat off to the side, watching this group of panicked new Players, silent.

He just found it noisy.

Suddenly, an electronic voice abruptly sounded in his mind.

It wasn’t echoing in the hall; it was like a mouse had burrowed into his brain, chattering away.

【Hello, Mr. Jian Bumian. You are truly, truly fortunate to have drawn this System just as you became a new Player.】

【I am “Strategy System 001”.】

【In the upcoming death experiences, I will arrange various exciting conquest missions for you, making your death even more stimulating and wonderful!】

【Failure to complete missions will result in Erasure!】

Jian Bumian frowned, his thin lips parting slightly:

“What do you mean by ‘Conquest Mission’? Conquer who?”

His voice was pleasant, youthful, a gentle and soft young male voice, very suitable for whispering sweet nothings.

【Mr. Jian Bumian, please don’t rush to inquire about the mission details first, nor am I in a hurry to assign you a mission. —After all, I don’t know if you can survive the First Selection Round.】

As the words fell, a small pop-up window appeared in Jian Bumian’s mind.

【Strategy System 001’s Livestream Room (Bound to Novice Player Jian Bumian): Viewers: 0】

Jian Bumian: “…?”

Do new players in the Infinite World now get this many frills?

Jian Bumian didn’t dwell on it too much. He looked up again at the huge countdown in mid-air.

The numbers were jumping rapidly, their color becoming redder and redder, so red it seemed they could only achieve this hue by killing everyone present, wringing out their flesh, and squeezing out their fresh blood.

【00:00:30】

Thirty seconds left.

Jian Bumian squinted, roughly counting the number of people present.

There were several hundred people in total.

The more people entering an instance, the more people would die in it, and the more dangerous it was.

Back when Jian Bumian was a Ghost NPC, he encountered instances with hundreds of entrants; generally, only a single-digit number of people survived to the end.

If even fewer people entered, probably no one would make it out alive.

And the First Selection Round always had the highest death toll; the rules of death were at their most chaotic.

Many people died in the First Selection Round without understanding how or why.

The purpose was to make the newcomers recognize their situation—this was not a prank, nor did they accidentally wander onto a horror film set. Here, one could lose their life at any moment.

【00:00:00】

The countdown reached zero!

Everyone instantly fell dead silent. The air froze.

An iron door was violently pulled open, followed by the sound of footsteps. The sound was incredibly heavy, not seeming like something normal human feet could produce.

The light inside the hall was dim; they couldn’t see where the Ghost NPC had gone.

Perhaps it was already among the crowd.

“Creak—”

A ghastly white light suddenly illuminated the hall.

As everyone’s eyes stung from the sudden glare, they finally saw the owner of the footsteps clearly.

It was a fat man, over two meters tall, with a bloated form. His flesh was tightly wrapped in clothes, layered and stacked; the whole person looked like a mountain of meat.

The most terrifying thing was the thick iron chain he dragged in his hand.

The iron chain was hooked with blood-red human tissue or severed limbs.

Things like a broken half-finger, half a chunk of milky-white brain, a bloodshot green eyeball.

The stench of corpses and blood permeated the air.

Everyone stared at this NPC, too terrified to even make a sound, only the faint hiss of sharp intakes of breath remained.

The fat man grinned, an unpleasant, muffled voice drawn from his obese chest.

“From today onwards, you are all Trainees of this Acrobatic Troupe! I’m responsible for being your instructor!

I will train you for the next five days. After five days, I will select some of you to perform an acrobatic show for the Distinguished Guests!”

A middle-aged man next to Jian Bumian collapsed to the ground, trembling as he muttered:

“Ac- Acrobatic training… If we just cooperate well with the training, we should all survive and pass through safely in five days, right?! Huh?!”

Hearing his words, Jian Bumian spoke calmly: “Not necessarily.”

In the Infinite World, some things were exaggerated to a deathly degree.

“Acrobatic training” might not be simple training at all, but something that could cause death.

–However.

Jian Bumian’s beautiful, fair face broke into a strong smile, dimples showing at the corner of his lips.

He liked it very much.

He had been a Ghost NPC for far too long; he was tired of it.

Changing things up occasionally, experiencing being a Player, was a very nice experience.

He really wanted to see the reactions of those NPCs who knew him when they saw him return, draped in human skin.

He also wanted to try whether the NPC’s usual methods could work on Players in the Infinite World.

The fat acrobatic troupe member swept his gaze over the people below, shook the iron chain in his hand, and said: “Next, you will undergo a pre-academy physical examination. Those who do not pass the examination will be screened out by the Acrobatic Troupe.”

Beside the fat man was a pitch-black door. The intense stench of corpses seemed to emanate from within.

The fat man’s eyes bulged like a goldfish’s. His voice suddenly rose, and he enunciated each word: “Furthermore, to ensure the best possible effect from the examination, every single person must take off their shoes and clothes. You cannot carry anything on your person, especially self-defense weapons.—Otherwise, bear, the, consequences, yourselves!”

This rule immediately caused an uproar among the crowd.

No weapons allowed, not even clothes that could provide some minimal protection. Going alone with the most fragile and bare body to open a door reeking of corpses… wasn’t this courting death?

Besides, the fat man had already said there was a certain probability of failing the physical exam!

No one knew the criteria for passing or failing! What would happen if someone failed?!

The fat man said: “Now beginning. Those whose names are called, enter the examination door in order.”

Silence fell over the crowd. Everyone was praying in their hearts not to be the first unlucky one named.

Jian Bumian watched coldly from the side; he wasn’t very nervous.

His attention was focused on his flat, shrunken stomach. …A bit hungry.

Wanted to eat something…

Wanted to eat something delicious…

Even though he had turned back into a human, his Soul had been modified by the Infinite World, transformed into the most suitable Evil Spirit for serving as an NPC.

So, currently, he probably shouldn’t be considered a truly living person.

He wanted to devour more of his own kind, NPCs, to fill his empty Soul and make himself stronger.

Jian Bumian really wanted to devour a Ghost right there on the spot, as an appetizer for this instance.

While Jian Bumian was pondering, the fat man called out the first unlucky person’s name.

“Wang Er.”

Ah, it wasn’t him. What a pity.

Jian Bumian thought carelessly. A look of disappointment flickered across his handsome, gentle face, his lips pursing.

A bespectacled man named Wang Er walked out of the crowd with his head hung low. Under the fat man’s watch, he shuffled tremblingly into the examination room.

Time trickled by.

Everyone waited nervously.

Would this person pass, or fail?

What would be the consequences of failing? …Could it be being sent back to the safe Real World?

Hopefully so.

Ten minutes passed.

“Argh—!”

A blood-curdling scream suddenly erupted from the examination room!

The scream was hoarse and distorted, as if something beyond human capacity had forced its way through his throat and yanked his Fear out.

The fat man chuckled.

“What a pity. This person failed the physical exam and cannot become a glorious Acrobat Trainee…”

He turned, entered the examination room, and closed the dark door.

After the fat man went into the examination room, the screaming abruptly stopped. Silence returned inside.

As if no one had ever entered.

The crowd slightly breathed a sigh of relief, naively thinking that failing meant being sent back to the Real World.

The screaming must have stopped because the bespectacled man was sent back…

Creak. The fat man opened the door.

He was still dragging the long iron chain in his hand.

But the chain was now entwined with many additional pieces of fresh, bloody flesh. Hanging from it was a long, deflated, reddish, tube-like thing.

Some couldn’t help but glance several times at that tube, subconsciously wondering what it was.

Until they heard the cold wind passing through the tube, producing a hoarse “aaah aaah…” sound.

They then suddenly realized it was the bespectacled man’s windpipe.

The bespectacled man was dead. His stripped windpipe let out a hoarse cry because of the wind.

Splat.

The iron chain swayed, and the windpipe fell to the ground, instantly crushed into a thin, fleshy pulp under the fat man’s foot. The screaming-like wind sound abruptly ceased.

The first person who went in for the examination had failed and been disposed of.

People finally understood where the minced flesh on the iron chain came from before, and why the stench of corpses emanated from the examination door!

The crowd burst into screams!

This place… could really kill people!

The fat man shook his iron chain and grinned sinisterly:

“The second one to go for the physical examination—”

“Jian Bumian.”

The fat man’s gaze fell on Jian Bumian. The crowd’s gazes followed.

Jian Bumian stood in the crowd, easily visible.

He had a slender frame, snow-white skin, soft black short hair, a pair of caramel-colored eyes shimmering with light, and exquisitely delicate facial features. He was the kind of beauty that transcended gender.

Even though he was dressed in the most inconspicuous white pajamas, the entire person still looked like an expensive doll in a display window.

…Was such a good-looking person about to die?

Veteran Players felt a sense of pity.

—After all, a person with such an appearance, though beautiful, was also very fragile and easily broken. Their combat strength wouldn’t be too high, and they might even be cowardly and prone to tears, dying very easily.

Unless they could rely on their beauty to gain the favor of a powerful player in the Infinite World and become a qualified vase.

But contrary to the expectations of the veteran players, Jian Bumian didn’t show a look of fear or trepidation.

The corners of his lips curled higher and higher, his caramel-colored eyes brimming with laughter.

Jian Bumian walked with long legs, striding through the crowd, heading towards the examination room.

The fat man warned again:

“To ensure the best possible effect from the examination, every single person must take off their shoes and clothes. You cannot carry anything on your person, especially self-defense weapons.—Otherwise, bear, the, consequences, yourselves!”

Simultaneously.

Jian Bumian’s livestream room emitted a “Ding-dong.”

【Strategy System 001’s Livestream Room (Bound to Novice Player Jian Bumian): Viewers: +1】

【Viewer 033: Stripping right off the bat? This exciting already?】