Chapter 7: Inspiration Trap

Inside the red temple, the bald giant stared fixedly at the altar, his expression grave.

A young man in a blue bodysuit, dressed like a superhero, walked over and said, "Old Gao, I've got this. You take a break."

The bald giant called Old Gao rubbed his temples and asked, "Lei Huo, has there been any abnormal energy fluctuation within Wanghai City?"

Lei Huo: "The situation is currently stable. There are no signs yet of an erosion point emerging."

Old Gao's expression eased slightly as he pressed further: "How's the civilian evacuation going?"

Lei Huo shook his head. "It's not optimistic. In such a short time, relocating the entire city's population is unrealistic. We can only evacuate as many as possible to minimize losses when the dimensional erosion arrives."

Old Gao sighed and fell silent, staring at the altar.

To possess great power yet stand helplessly as what you protect crumbles before your eyes.

This feeling is fucking unbearable.

Seeing Old Gao's gloomy expression, Lei Huo tried to comfort him: "Don't be so pessimistic. What if there's a turn? Look at the time—it's already been an hour since the instance started."

Old Gao spat out a foul breath in irritation. "What good is an hour? Even if we extended it tenfold, it wouldn't be enough."

"You can't say that," interjected the Breaker, Leng Shan, from beside them.

"The first hour of death in an instance is when players most often fail. Ten percent of instances can be survived if you avoid the initial kill—then you can find a way to live until completion."

Old Gao snapped, "I know that statistic. But I'm not like you—I'm the responsible officer for Wanghai City. I can't be as optimistic as you."

"If we weren't facing a B-level instance with a 0% survival rate that's about to go out of control, and if our Breaker here weren't a complete newbie to the Abyss Game, I wouldn't be this pessimistic either."

Old Gao rubbed his shiny scalp. He knew they meant well, yet his inner frustration remained unchecked.

"Speaking of statistics, excluding the added difficulty from imminent loss of control, what's the official record for the fastest completion of a B-level instance? Level 11! That's a genius meticulously cultivated by a major organization. My first B-level completion was at level 15."

"If a newbie can complete Moonlight Sanatorium, I'll run naked all the way around Bai Shui Bay!"

Wu Chang, inside the instance, was unaware of the wager among the temple's occupants. He now held Silver Dawn, aiming at the dying Jin Dun.

As an elite monster and even a mini-boss within a B-level instance, Jin Dun's vitality was extraordinarily resilient—even with half his skull blown open, he still lived.

But bound by the power of the contract, Jin Dun's life force was draining rapidly.

He seemed to have realized something. His single remaining eye flickered with defiance as he reached out and grabbed Wu Chang's pant leg.

"You tricked me, despicable outsider!"

"Despicable? If you're weak, train more. If you can't handle the game, don't play. Why resort to personal attacks?" Wu Chang stepped back, shook off Jin Dun's hand, and fired two more shots at his body.

Each silver bullet summoned by Silver Dawn carried explosion and searing heat. Silver-white flames engulfed Jin Dun's body; the thick grease covering him was the perfect accelerant, causing the silver flames to blaze violently, shooting flames straight to the ceiling.

As the fire burned, a pale red malice emerged from the flames and clung to him.

This was the first time he had seen malice form.

Gazing at the malice, its owner was unmistakably Jin Dun—the scenes within it were precisely the recent gambling match.

But one detail stood out: Jin Dun's dying words in the malice were not about resentment over losing to Wu Chang at the table, but a strange message.

"The sacrifice is about to begin. The deity is destined to descend. This is fate. Unstoppable."

Minutes later, as the flames died out, Jin Dun's body turned to a thin layer of black ash.

The fierce silver flames consumed everything—leaving only a key and a wooden seal.

The dozens of malices originally clinging to Jin Dun vanished, leaving only the final deep crimson malice, now attached to the key in Jin Dun's room.

Wu Chang clasped his hands together and bowed toward the spot where the malices had dispersed, whispering:

"May you all draw good lots in your next reincarnation, and be born into a better family."

The dispersal of countless ordinary malices brought him no reward—but that didn't mean they held no value.

On the contrary, these vast numbers of ordinary malices gave Wu Chang abundant information.

For instance: a player skilled in instance exploration triggered Jin Dun's nighttime private gambling game. Once started, Jin Dun would only defeat players within the game. Three players resisted when attacked by Jin Dun; during combat, Jin Dun transformed into a non-human monster and revealed a weakness to fire. Non-human monster, paired with fire weakness—perfectly countered by Silver Dawn's scorching bullets.

It was these players' lives that verified the intel, making tonight's Russian roulette a great success.

After expressing gratitude to the "strategy group" members, Wu Chang examined the wooden seal dropped by Jin Dun.

The wooden seal was a palm-sized circular plaque, engraved with a crescent-shaped eye, half-closed, as if its gaze were to vanish with the moonlight, plunging the world into darkness.

"Item Name: Traveler's Talisman."

"Item Type: Instance Item (Instance Items cannot be removed from the instance dimension)."

"Item Skill: Protection."

"Skill Description: Equipped, Willpower -2, Inspiration +10, and gain one layer of mental barrier that resists low-tier curses and occult attacks. Activate the Seal of Protection to temporarily strengthen the mental barrier, resisting mid-tier curses and occult attacks. Each activation consumes one Willpower per hour."

"Note: The Merciful Lord protects His devout followers, allowing us to walk through darkness without fear of being lost to evil."

Again, reducing Willpower, increasing Inspiration.

Looking at the Traveler's Talisman, Wu Chang remembered the special medicine distributed by the sanatorium.

Both increased the user's mental resistance, yet both reduced Willpower and increased Inspiration.

According to the attribute panel's description, Inspiration was an extremely vital attribute for sentient beings—it could be understood as the level of mental activity, or as another sense detached from physical organs.

Science, theology, art, even politics—all human understanding of the world relied on Inspiration.

Like Newton, struck by an apple, discovering gravity; or the Founding Mother of Mei, holding the Falling Cherry Divine Axe, discovering that weapons surpass rhetoric.

Countless flashes of Inspiration allowed humanity to rise above countless animals and evolve into what it is today.

For players, Inspiration's heightened mental activity translated into faster learning and mastery of skills, easier discovery of hidden clues in instances, and simpler comprehension of occult concepts and new ideas…

But Inspiration was a double-edged sword. Excessive mental activity caused one to perceive things ordinary people could not.

Moderate discovery created geniuses; excessive discovery created madmen.

When what Inspiration revealed overturned or shattered the discoverer's worldview, Inspiration became a self-destructive trigger.

Thus, the pursuit of unknown Inspiration and the maintenance of one's core Willpower must advance in tandem—like walking on two legs.

Yet everything within Moonlight Sanatorium leaned toward reducing Willpower and increasing Inspiration.

As if some entity in the void were using Inspiration as a trap, luring those within the sanatorium toward it.

And that existence could no longer wait to reveal itself to the people.

As the conjecture formed in Wu Chang's mind, he felt a gaze fall upon him. He followed the gaze and snapped his head up, looking toward the corner of the ceiling.

The sense of being watched flickered and vanished, as if it had been his imagination.

Instance BOSS, right? I dare you to come out and have a go—I'll show you what a black hand means when the time comes.

As his spirit calmed, he imitated Jin Dun's manner and hung the Pilgrim's Talisman on himself.

Before equipping the Pilgrim's Talisman, relying on his fifty-plus Inspiration, even without the admission guide's reminder, he could sense a tremendous danger from outside the room.

After activating the Pilgrim's Talisman, that danger became very faint. He pushed open the door and left the room, only feeling that it was a few degrees colder outside; apart from that, there was nothing else unusual.

Relying on the Pilgrim's Talisman and the number on the key, he quickly found Jin Dun's room.

In an iron box under Jin Dun's bed, he found a white key.

The instant the key fell into his hand, the deep-red resentment that had clung to Jin Dun's body dispersed.

Another reward credited to his account.

(End of this chapter)