Chapter 7: Inspiration Trap

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

A young man dressed in a blue bodysuit, styled like a superhero, walked over and said, "Old Gao, I've got things covered here, you should rest for a while."

The bald, burly man known as Old Gao rubbed the space between his brows and asked, "Lei Huo, have there been any abnormal energy fluctuations within the Wanghai City area?"

Lei Huo: "The situation is currently stable; there are no signs of any erosion points appearing yet."

Old Gao’s expression softened slightly, and he continued to press, "How is the citizen evacuation going?"

Lei Huo shook his head. "The situation is not optimistic. In such a short time, relocating the entire city's population is unrealistic. We can only evacuate the crowds as much as possible to ensure that when the plane erosion descends, the losses will be fewer."

Old Gao sighed and looked silently at the altar.

To have the ability but only be able to watch helplessly as the things one protects crumble before one's eyes.

This feeling is just too damn miserable.

Seeing Old Gao’s gloomy expression, Lei Huo tried to persuade him, "Don't be too pessimistic. What if there's a turning point? Look at the time; an hour has already passed since the dungeon started."

Old Gao exhaled a breath of frustration. "What use is one hour? Even if you extended the time tenfold, it wouldn't be enough."

"You can't say it like that," interjected Leng Shan, a Breaker nearby.

"The first hour after entering a dungeon is when players are most likely to fail. Ten percent of dungeons can be cleared if you just survive the initial 'first-sight kill' and find a way to stay alive until the end."

Old Gao said irritably, "I know that data, of course, but I'm different from you all. I am the person in charge of Wanghai City; I can't afford to be as optimistic as you."

"If we weren't facing a B-rank dungeon with a zero-percent survival rate that is about to lose control, and if our current Breaker wasn't a rookie who just joined the Abyss Game, I wouldn't be this pessimistic either."

Old Gao rubbed his shiny scalp; he knew the two meant well, but he still couldn't suppress the agitation in his heart.

"Speaking of data, not counting the difficulty increase from being about to lose control, what is the fastest official record for clearing a B-rank dungeon? It's level 11! That was a genius carefully cultivated by a major organization. My first time clearing a B-rank dungeon was at level 15."

"If a newcomer can clear the Moonlight Sanitarium, I’ll be damned if I don't run naked around Baishui Bay!"

Wu Chang, who was inside the dungeon, did not know about the bet made by the people in the temple. At this moment, he was holding the Silver Dawn, aiming at the dying Jin Dun.

As an elite monster or even a mini-boss in a B-rank dungeon, Jin Dun’s vitality was extremely tenacious; even with half his head blown off, he still hadn't died.

But under the constraints of the contract’s power, Jin Dun’s vitality was rapidly fading.

He seemed to have realized something; his only remaining eye flickered with unwillingness as he reached out to grab Wu Chang’s pant leg.

"You plotted against me, you despicable outsider!"

"Despicable? If you're bad, practice more. If you can't play, don't play. Why resort to personal attacks?" Wu Chang stepped back, shook off Jin Dun’s hand, and fired two more shots into Jin Dun’s body.

Each silver bullet condensed by the Silver Dawn’s skill carried explosions and scorching heat. The silver-white light enveloped Jin Dun’s body, and the grease covering him acted as the highest-quality accelerant, causing the silver flames to burn violently, the firelight shooting straight to the ceiling.

As the flames burned, a pale red resentment flew out from the fire and attached itself to him.

This was the first time he had seen resentment manifest.

Gazing at the resentment, the owner was indeed Jin Dun, and the scenes contained within were of the bet that had just taken place.

However, there was one point to note: the last words in Jin Dun’s resentment were not about his unwillingness to lose to Wu Chang at the gambling table, but a strange piece of information.

"The sacrifice is about to begin, the gods are destined to descend; this is fate, unstoppable."

A few minutes later, as the flames died out, Jin Dun’s body turned into a layer of black ash.

The intense silver flames had burned everything away, leaving only a key and a wooden seal.

The dozens of resentments that had originally been attached to Jin Dun in the room dissipated, leaving only the final deep-red resentment, which remained firm and shifted to attach itself to the key to Jin Dun’s room.

Wu Chang pressed his palms together, bowed toward the spot where the resentment had dissipated, and whispered:

"I wish you all good luck in your reincarnation; may you be born into a good family in your next life."

The dissipation of the many ordinary resentments did not bring him any rewards, but that did not mean they were without value.

On the contrary, these large quantities of ordinary resentments provided Wu Chang with a lot of information.

For example, a player skilled in dungeon exploration triggered Jin Dun’s private night gambling game; once the game started, Jin Dun would only defeat the player within the game. Three players resisted when attacked by Jin Dun; during the battle, Jin Dun transformed into an inhuman monster and revealed a weakness to fire. An inhuman monster, combined with the weakness to fire, was perfectly countered by the scorching bullets of the Silver Dawn.

It was these players who verified the intelligence with their lives that led to the great success of tonight’s Russian roulette.

After expressing his gratitude to the "Strategy Group" members, Wu Chang studied the wooden seal dropped by Jin Dun.

The wooden seal was a palm-sized round plaque, with a crescent-shaped eye carved on its surface. The eye was slightly closed, as if the gaze was about to fade away with the moonlight, bringing the world into darkness.

"Item Name: Traveler’s Amulet."

"Item Type: Dungeon Item (Dungeon items cannot be taken out of the dungeon plane)."

"Item Skill: Shelter."

"Skill Description: After equipping, Willpower -2, Inspiration +10, and gain a layer of mental barrier capable of resisting low-level curse-type and occult-type attacks. Activating the Seal of Shelter can temporarily strengthen the mental barrier to resist mid-level curse-type and occult-type attacks; consumes one point of Willpower per hour after activation."

"Note: The merciful Lord will shelter His devout believers, allowing us to walk in the darkness without fear of being lost to evil."

Another case of lowering Willpower and increasing Inspiration.

Looking at the Traveler’s Amulet, Wu Chang thought of the special medicine distributed by the sanitarium.

Both could increase the user’s mental resistance, but both would lower Willpower and increase Inspiration.

According to the description on the attribute panel, Inspiration is an extremely important attribute for intelligent beings. It can be understood as the level of mental activity, or as another kind of sense that transcends physical organs.

Science, theology, art, and even politics—humanity’s understanding of the world in every field is inseparable from inspiration.

Just like Newton being hit by an apple and discovering gravity; the Great Ancestor of Beauty holding the Cherry-Blossom Axe and discovering that weapons are better than eloquence.

Countless sparks of inspiration allowed humanity to stand out from countless animals and evolve into what it is today.

For players, the mental activity brought by Inspiration, when reflected in practical use, allows players to learn and master skills more quickly, makes it easier to discover unknown clues in dungeons, and makes it easier to understand various occult and new concepts...

But Inspiration is a double-edged sword; mental activity that exceeds that of ordinary people will make one see many things that ordinary people cannot.

Moderate discovery creates geniuses; excessive discovery creates madmen.

When the things discovered through Inspiration subvert or even destroy the discoverer’s cognition, Inspiration becomes the fuse for self-destruction.

Precisely because of this, the Inspiration to explore the unknown and the Willpower to maintain one’s original heart must be improved in synchronization—walking on two legs.

Yet everything in the Moonlight Sanitarium was leaning toward reducing Willpower and increasing Inspiration.

It was as if something existing in the void was using Inspiration as a trap, inducing the people in the sanitarium to walk toward it.

And that existence could no longer wait to show its form to the people.

As the speculation formed in Wu Chang’s mind, he felt a gaze fall upon him. He followed the gaze and suddenly looked up toward the corner of the ceiling.

The feeling of being watched flashed by, as if it were an illusion.

Dungeon boss, is it? Dare to come out and spar? I’ll let you know what a "black hand" is then.

As his spirit calmed, he followed Jin Dun’s example and hung the Traveler’s Amulet on his body.

Before wearing the Traveler’s Amulet, relying on his fifty-plus points of Inspiration, he could feel immense danger from outside the room even without the reminder from the admission notice.

After activating the Traveler’s Amulet, this danger became very faint. He pushed the door open and left the room, feeling only that it was a bit colder outside; other than that, there were no other abnormalities.

Relying on the Traveler’s Amulet and the number on the key, he quickly found Jin Dun’s room.

In the iron box under Jin Dun’s bed, he found a white key.

The moment he got the key, the deep-red resentment that had been attached to Jin Dun dissipated.

Another reward received.

(End of chapter)