Chapter 7: "The Dungeon Named 'Midnight City.'"

"Countdown complete."
"All players have arrived. Preparing to enter."
"Instance name: 'Midnight Metropolis'."

The next moment—

Chen Jiang felt the world freeze and shatter into fragments. As the pieces coalesced once more, a deafening roar of music erupted in his ears. The surroundings had shifted; he was now inside a nightclub.

He sat in a booth.

Dumb Snake sat to his left, while the three newcomers he had noticed earlier sat to his right—two men and one woman.

The first instance after entering the "Gods' Paradise" is chosen randomly. Upon clearing it, players gain a one-month safety period during which they can freely choose an instance to enter, or wait for another random selection once the month expires.

There are many types of instances.

Soon, a status panel for the instance floated before his eyes.

"Instance Name": Midnight Metropolis.
"Instance Difficulty": F-grade.
"Main Quest": Survive until dawn.
"Hidden Quest": Find the city exit.
"PS: As this is the first instance for novice players, each player may select one buff that lasts until the end of the instance. If no selection is made within one minute, one will be chosen at random."

The atmosphere in the nightclub was intense.

A crowd of scantily-clad youths swayed their bodies on the dance floor. The scent of perfume and alcohol collided constantly with the smell of hormones. Under the flickering lights, the music thundered in everyone's ears.

Sitting in the booth, Chen Jiang looked at the three buffs that appeared before him.

"Basic Firearms": You can proficiently use, assemble, and disassemble common firearms.
"Basic Parkour": You can master all fundamental parkour movements and apply them fluidly.
"Death's Eye": Your night vision will be enhanced.

"..."

Chen Jiang barely hesitated before choosing the third buff. It wasn't because he thought the third one was stronger; it was simply because he had no use for the first two—he already knew them.

And he was a master at them.

Clearly, they couldn't be compared to some "basic" skill.

Though it might sound strange for a magician to be an expert in firearms, he had once asked his master about it.

His master's answer was that a magician would inevitably have moments where a performance went wrong. When asked what to do in such a situation, Chen Jiang remembered his own reply: "Try to find a way to save it."

His master said he was wrong. The correct answer was to immediately kill the audience.

From that moment on, he became certain that his master was not a respectable magician.

Of course, he certainly wasn't a respectable priest, either.

The next moment—

Through a faint electric tremor in his left arm, he knew which buff Dumb Snake had chosen...

"Attribute Freedom": You will gain 3 free attribute points, which can be added to any attribute, valid only for this instance.

It was a small gadget.

It required some bodily modification. By embedding a transmitter and receiver in his left arm, and an electrode plate inside each of his five left fingers, he could communicate information instantly through rhythmic tapping of his thumb against his other four fingers, without the need for speech or eye contact.

It could pass through most security checks.

This gadget and the surgery were incredibly expensive. Just as he had said: one cannot be a magician without money.

He casually sensed the items he had brought with him.

Players could bring certain real-world items into the Gods' Paradise, but... it seemed only basic personal belongings were allowed. At the very least, the fully automatic submachine gun he had been clutching while sitting in the courtyard had not been brought in.

Just then—

One of the three other novice players in the booth, a middle-aged man, said in a deep voice: "This is our first instance. I believe you all know that death in the instance means true death in the real world."

"We've managed to be resurrected once; I trust no one wants to face death again?"

"I suggest the five of us work together to complete this instance."

He then turned his gaze toward Chen Jiang and Dumb Snake: "This is our second time meeting. It’s clear you two likely knew each other in the real world."

"Everyone has chosen a buff, right?"

"I'll start. My buff is 'Basic Racing'; I possess driving skills nearly on par with a professional racer. This buff should help us escape better in this instance."

"And—"

The middle-aged man drew a fire axe from his belt and weighed it in his hand: "What about you? Did you prepare any weapons?"

He appeared to be asking everyone present, but his eyes were locked firmly on Chen Jiang and Dumb Snake. Based on his years of experience in reading people, these two were not ordinary youths. They showed no excess expression throughout the entire process, and after selecting their buffs, they hadn't even exchanged a word or a glance.

He had only ever seen that kind of absolute discipline in certain people.

"I... I..."

The short-haired girl in the corner of the booth spoke with a trembling voice, pulling a pile of snacks from her coat: "I prepared a lot of snacks, but in the end, I only brought in a little—12 Snickers bars, 4 bottles of mineral water, and a bottle of... pepper spray."

"That's good."

The middle-aged man nodded silently: "If this is a survival-type instance, what you brought will be very useful. What buff did you choose?"

"It's called 'Pink Temptation'. For every piece of clothing I remove, I can teleport ten meters in a designated direction."

"..."

Chen Jiang raised an eyebrow slightly. That was a truly remarkable ability—already supernatural, and stronger than any of theirs. The buffs the others had chosen could be achieved through learning, but hers was something no human could attain on their own.

Only...

It was summer, and the girl was dressed quite lightly; she didn't have many clothes on to begin with. He wondered if wearing more layers beforehand would count. If it did, she would be nearly invincible in this instance.

A random teleport with no cooldown.

The potential for exploitation was immense.

The last boy sitting in the booth kept his mouth shut, his eyes fixed steadily on Chen Jiang and his companion, clearly waiting for them to speak before he would share his own.

He didn't look old, perhaps a high school student.

Seeing this, Chen Jiang chuckled and spoke up.

"The buff I chose is called 'Death's Eye'; my vision will improve at night."

"As for what I brought from the real world, well... I brought a few decks of cards. They might come in handy."

He recognized this middle-aged man.

According to his files, this man was a wealthy businessman from "Chaoge City" and the father of the chubby boy in his college class.

After Dumb Snake also finished his introduction, the last boy in the booth, wearing camouflage, spoke slowly.

"I chose the buff called 'Lone Wolf'. When acting alone, all my physical attributes increase by 5. It only applies to this instance."

"But based on my experience,"

"Acting alone rarely ends well, so I still intend to stick with everyone else."