Chapter 19: Black Death and the Deity 001 Part 2

Once a friend request from Jian Bumian was approved, there was a certain probability of being assigned to the same Instance together.

Since the Instances in the Infinite World were all, without exception, perilous, why not just venture through desperate situations with the pretty little beauty?

Jian Bumian: “…………”

He pretended not to see these private messages.

Besides private messages from individual Players, there were also invitations from some guilds and teams.

Like the Cat Team—

【Cat Team: Dear little Jian Bumian, want to join the Cat Team? Every member of our team is assigned a cat. They can be brought into Instances. They won’t die, won’t get hurt, you can pet them anytime, anywhere~~】

And several strange guilds with messages interspersed within red hearts.

【Click me to see thrilling love triangles Guild: Little beauty, want to join our guild? Guild members are all experienced veterans in the game of love. We can teach you, hand-in-hand, how to flirt with ghosts or Players, teach you how to rely on your face to get a sliver of hope in Instances. Click in and take a look!】

Jian Bumian: “………………”

Ah, this, maybe forget it.

Too wild.

If there was a foodie team that could teach people how to eat Malicious Ghosts, he would be quite willing to join.

But in the entire Infinite World, there definitely weren’t other people like him.

Prone to getting hungry, and liked to eat.

All bark and no bite.

Jian Bumian remembered how he was just a tiny bit away from devouring that ghost, and he hated it so much he gritted his teeth.

Just a tiny bit away from devouring that Malicious Ghost!!!

Why was his luck so bad!

While he was sulking and gritting his teeth, he clicked the food ordering function in the menu.

There was no red wine on the menu.

He could only order a serving of sweet and sour braised pork trotter.

The sweet and sour braised pork trotter was soon delivered through the small window in the room.

Players who could survive to reach the Instance Transit Station were generally not simple.

Most Players possessed very good physical fitness and needed a lot of replenishing Food.

So the Player Inn prepared massive portions of Food, afraid of not filling their strong bodies enough.

But Jian Bumian was an exception…

Jian Bumian looked at this massive, full bowl of sweet and sour braised pork trotter and froze.

In the end, he laboriously carried the sweet and sour braised pork trotter back to his room, placed it on the small coffee table before the screen, and then sat cross-legged on the floor.

The sweet and sour braised pork trotter was served in a large porcelain bowl as big as a human head.

The pork trotter was unexpectedly stewed very well. The lean meat was soft and tender, the fatty meat was rich but not greasy. Stewed for a long time in the soy-colored ginger-vinegar sauce, the juices had completely soaked into every part of the meat, emitting the unique aroma of ginger vinegar and meat.

Besides the large trotter, the inn also provided a complimentary bowl of rice.

The rice was steamed just right, not sticky, not greasy, the white, fluffy grains distinct and separate.

Pouring the hot, steaming ginger-vinegar meat sauce over the white rice was simply a delicacy of the Human World.

Who didn’t like a combination of carbs and protein?

Wearing plastic gloves, Jian Bumian ate happily.

As he ate… he actually, for a split moment, felt that the red wine-flavored Malicious Ghost he’d barely missed eating couldn’t compare to the sweet and sour trotter and rice.

Ah, if only the Malicious Ghost in the next Instance tasted like sweet and sour trotter.

Jian Bumian thought.

Without realizing it, he polished off the entire bowl of pork trotter. Looking at the empty bottom of the bowl, he couldn’t help but be a little surprised.

Seems like he had been hungry for too long.

Sigh.

After eating and drinking his fill, Jian Bumian picked up the single-use Pajamas provided by the inn and entered the bathroom to take a bath.

He remembered when entering the Player Inn, the System had prompted—

One could search for the survival clue for the next Instance within this inn.

And the survival clue could possibly be a living creature that would actively come to find the Player.

If it was the latter, that would be great. Jian Bumian was too lazy to go find the clue.

Jian Bumian took off all his clothes and soaked himself in the bathtub. The white steam completely submerged his upper body, leaving only a pink-tinged face visible.

He felt a bit drowsy and wanted to lean directly against the small pillow on the edge of the bathtub to sleep.

But he couldn’t sleep!

He still had an important matter!

Jian Bumian forcefully propped open his blurry consciousness and asked the Strategy System.

“System, what will the Conquest Mission for the Target NPC in the next Instance be like?”

He could never forget the reason he’d just barely missed eating the Malicious Ghost.

It was because he had to take Time to complete this damned Conquest Mission.

If he’d known, he wouldn’t have procrastinated so much.

【…………】

【Dear Player, this will only be known after entering the next Instance.】

【However, you can speculate. After a mutual confession of love, what would two people who “love” each other do next?】

【The “thing” to do next is the System Mission of the next Instance.】

【Mr. Jian Bumian, you can use your clever little head to think about it.】

Jian Bumian: “………………”

Jian Bumian, who had zero romantic experience and a head full of nothing but filling his stomach, truly couldn’t figure out what to do next.

Uh, two people going to eat together?

But no matter what the System Mission was, he would seize the Time to complete it, learn from the last Instance’s lesson, and fill his stomach early.

Jian Bumian thought hazily. Without realizing it, he closed his eyes and sank into a deep sleep.

The bathtub had a timed water-draining function to prevent Players from falling asleep in the bathtub and drowning.

Half an hour later, the water in the tub was sucked dry by the drain. Jian Bumian lay in the bathtub, his head resting on the soft waterproof pillow, deeply asleep.

Although his Soul had been modified by the Infinite World and was very powerful, very special…

The body he had used during his lifetime was quite delicate. For instance, it tired very easily, and he would uncontrollably fall into a deep sleep.

In the space between dreaming and waking, Jian Bumian suddenly felt something crawling over his body, bringing a sticky, clammy sound, causing the pores of his sensitive skin to involuntarily dilate slightly.

Cold, soft, furry.

But this furry sensation wasn’t the traditionally cute kind of fluffiness, but rather a spine-chilling texture.

“Mmph.”

Jian Bumian opened his eyes groggily.

He saw something black flash past his bare, fair body.

Jian Bumian instantly jolted awake. He bolted upright, rubbing his eyes.

A rustling sound came from within the disposable slippers placed beside the bathtub.

He poked his head out of the tub and looked over.

He saw a Doll.

A Rat Doll.

This Rat Doll was made very realistically. Each strand of stiff black bristle seemed to be manually threaded into the fabric, extraordinarily lifelike.

Its small eyes were a murky blood-red, as if fresh blood had been injected into them.

Only the stitching marks at the connecting points of its limbs barely revealed it was originally just a Doll.

Jian Bumian: “…”

He wanted to reach out and grab this Rat Doll.

But the next moment, this Doll started moving.

This movement was in every sense of the word.

For example, its stitched fabric black chest began to rise and fall with breathing. Its black nose made faint sniffing sounds.

Its blood-red eyeballs rolled around in all directions.

Then, it got on all fours and began crawling rapidly, trying to rush out of the bathroom.

But because its body had no bones inside, only cotton, its crawling motions were extremely bizarre, like some kind of dying black bug.

Jian Bumian left the bathtub, silently picked up the disposable slippers the Rat Doll had crawled over, threw them into the trash, and then, barefoot, went to find the Rat Doll.

The Rat Doll had already scurried out of the bathroom and scurried toward his bed.

The Rat Doll sensed Jian Bumian approaching, and since the space under the bed was solid and couldn’t be squeezed into, it could only huddle against the foot of the bed, letting out a sharp, piercing screech.

Jian Bumian wanted to stomp on the Rat Doll.

But he saw the Doll’s mouth was holding something.

Jian Bumian looked down.

—He saw what the Doll was biting was… his own head.

To be precise, his own head, also turned into a Doll.

Although Jian Bumian rarely looked in the mirror and paid little attention to his own appearance…

He at least knew his own identifying physical features, the kind that were recognizable at a glance.

Like soft, black fragmented hair, overly fair skin, rare caramel-colored eyes, very curly eyelashes.

The Doll head being held in the rat’s mouth possessed all the above markers.

From the break point of the Doll head, one could see that this Jian Bumian Doll had been bitten off and torn apart from the neck by some kind of beast.

Specially dyed blood-red cotton, like minced flesh, hung at the severed neck of the Doll head.

This was the survival clue for the next Instance.

A rat, Jian Bumian’s head.

Taken individually, either one represented nothing good.

They were even omens filled with Death.

Jian Bumian thought, could it be that in the next Instance, he was fated to lose his head?

He really didn’t want to lose his head. It would be too painful, way too painful.

Jian Bumian felt a bit gloomy.

The survival clue disappeared after a while.

Jian Bumian took out a new pair of disposable slippers and returned to the bathroom to take another bath.

Using Soap, he vigorously scrubbed his entire body, every inch, thoroughly clean. Especially the places the Rat Doll had scurried over, which he washed until they turned an unnatural red.

Jian Bumian changed into clean disposable Pajamas and, riding the warm feeling from the bath, quickly dove into the bed.

His bare, slightly cool feet were tightly tucked into the blanket.

His head was also completely buried under the covers.

…Mainly afraid of rats coming to disturb his sleep.

A dreamless night.

Jian Bumian woke up, and what appeared before his eyes was no longer the familiar, warm Player Inn.

Instead, he was in darkness. A large string of blood-red text appeared before him.

【02 Instance has been successfully loaded.】

【02 Instance is a “Game-type Instance.” Difficulty unknown. Completely new Instance.】

【…Please prepare for transfer, Player. You will arrive at the 02 Instance in five seconds.】

Jian Bumian opened his eyes. What appeared before him was a very unfamiliar scene.

He was sitting on a worn-out straw bed. The surrounding furnishings were just like this bed, exuding an ancient, decrepit sense of decay.