Chapter 1943: Ghost Skull Mystery 4

Lin An felt his head about to split open; he struggled to open his eyes, and instinctively saw everything before him as a blur.

He couldn't make out his surroundings; the dim light overhead looked like spots, forming one circle after another in his field of vision.

The air was damp, like moldy cardboard boxes in a warehouse, with waves of cold air drilling into his nostrils.

"Am I... entering... a mission...?"

His voice was hoarse.

The moment he woke up, Lin An instinctively rose as fast as he could, subconsciously wanting to guard his surroundings.

But as soon as he stood, an unprecedented weakness surged through his limbs, nearly making him stumble and fall.

"Bang!"

He hastily grabbed a cabinet-like object nearby, and Lin An's heart jolted as he realized something was off.

His body was incredibly strong—muscle control and nerve reflexes exceeded ordinary people by thousands of times! With his physique, how could he possibly not even stand steady!?

(This weakness wasn't due to long-distance transmission!)

Lin An suddenly lowered his head to look at himself, and his right hand instinctively threw an empty punch.

All he heard was a strained punching sound.

After a few seconds, as his vision gradually cleared, Lin An discovered to his disbelief that his power had vanished.

It was as if he had returned to before the Apocalypse—not only was his body extremely weak, but even the powerful senses he had grown accustomed to were reduced to nothing. The Thought Space was empty; no, he should say he had no mental power at all!

The room was small; in Lin An's view, he had clearly been transported to a dust-filled bedroom, wearing only a simple black combat uniform.

"My power... has completely disappeared!?"

The immense sense of loss from suddenly losing his power made it hard to adapt. It felt as if his whole body were shackled in heavy chains; right now, Lin An even felt his breathing was somewhat labored.

Before Lin An could think further, a cold system prompt soon sounded:

"The mission will start in three minutes; current scene: Ghost Skull"

"This mission is a special one, with no time limit and no compulsory requirements. The exit is located at the city's edge, already marked on the map."

"When leaving the mission scene, please ensure you have obtained the minimum cognition, otherwise the system will automatically erase you upon exit!"

"Mission start countdown: 179..."

"178..!"

The countdown began.

After Lin An quickly scanned the mission information, his face immediately turned grim.

The information was scarce; although Number 77 had warned him beforehand that this mission was problematic, Lin An didn't expect the post-entry details to be so sparse either—indeed, it was the vaguest mission he had ever experienced.

"Much like what Number 77 said, after obtaining the minimum cognition, should we escape from here?"

Noticing the words 'escape' and 'no time limit,' Lin An instantly realized that once the mission started, they would continually face threats—or unknown attacks—otherwise the system wouldn't have used the word 'escape'.

And the requirement was that one needed the minimum cognition to leave...?

This can be understood as forcing them to actively seek information within the scene; merely fleeing would be useless.

"The problem is... how low is the minimum? That's where the difficulty lies..."

Lin An frowned; this ambiguous requirement was the most troublesome. Once the critical moment arrived, they might think they had enough, only to be erased by the system upon escaping—or they might think they weren't enough, when in fact they already were...

Thus, even their final stage became a gamble with their lives.

"No wonder Number 77 had me exchange for the Eye of Creation... If I misjudge, I still have a chance to try again."

Lin An's heart eased slightly, and he continued to ponder.

As for his power and equipment completely disappearing...

His eyes flickered, and Lin An subconsciously glanced at his right hand.

"The Death God Set is gone, but I'm not dead yet."

"The Apocalypse Ring is still here..."

"From this, it seems our power and equipment have vanished—likely the system sealed them off."

"If we reason backward like this, does it mean the scene we're in isn't that big, and the enemy isn't that strong? Otherwise, if we still had our pre-entry strength, we could probably explore the whole city in a few seconds."

"The communication function is also blocked, which is troublesome... But if we reason backward from this... does it mean we need to find each other? Need..?"

He reasoned based on the scant information.

Although Lin An was extremely unaccustomed, having been used to hyper-effective thinking that could simulate countless possibilities in a second, he now felt like he had gone from a supercomputer to an old calculator.

But fortunately, during his time in the Houston War Zone, he had experienced losing power before, so his adaptation speed wasn't slow either.

"Just like when I first dealt with the Meme Doll—I had little power back then..."

"Having a restart opportunity in hand, my chances of survival are far greater than others'. Moreover, perhaps someone could solve this mission for me, allowing me to pass just by lying down."

Although the probability was tiny, under immense pressure Lin An could only try to think as positively as possible.

Taking a deep breath, Lin An quickly adjusted his mindset, intending to follow his past experience and begin exploring his surroundings.

He was still under the system's protection period, so everything was safe.

But before Lin An could even start rummaging through the room, a heavy object hit the floor with a clatter.

Immediately after came a curse.

Huh?

Is there someone else here?

Lin An instantly looked up toward the direction the sound came from outside the door; after a brief stunned pause, he gave a self‑deprecating smile, realizing that, accustomed to sensing the environment with mental power, he had mistaken the lack of 'feeling' for nobody being there.

Let's go check it out.

Without hesitation, Lin An grabbed the dust‑filled table lamp in the room and used it as a weapon as he pushed the door open.

Although it was still the protection period, the commotion outside was likely from other mission participants, but just in case, the table lamp could still kill someone.

Soon, as he pushed the door open with a creak, Lin An immediately saw a huge ogre wedged tightly in the doorway.

The hallway was dim, indeed a two‑row apartment building.

And that noise was precisely the sound made when the ogre opposite the door fell while toppling.

Moreover, just like Lin An, the other four rooms each saw a task participant emerge in different forms.

Everyone's reaction was nearly identical; except for this ogre, everyone, like Lin An, held a "weapon" and cautiously did not fully step out.

In the eerie silence, the five all gazed at the ogre jammed in the doorframe, their eyes filled with mutual caution.

I don't know if it realized that everyone was staring at it.

This ogre, obviously terrifying in looks and the most monster‑like among them, suddenly changed expression and shouted urgently:

"I'm not a monster! Damn it! I'm not accustomed to this body!"

"We're all on the same side! Please, someone pull me out!"

Indescribable shame and embarrassment, the ogre wore a sorrowful expression; its body lodged in the doorframe writhed like a fish.

Heavens, what a pity! He never even dreamed that, as a top‑level Star‑Destroyer, the greatest danger after entering the Skull‑Ghost mission would be getting stuck in the doorframe and unable to stand!