Chapter 228. Nüwa Mends the Heavens  (1) Human Body with Snake Tail Ye·Nuwa·Mo

     After two days and three nights of work, Ye Mo’s pyramid model was finally perfected. The next task was to focus wholeheartedly on creating the Book of the Dead

     The Book of the Dead was even more challenging to make than constructing the pyramid. The Supernatural Investigation Bureau even went so far as to rent three pharaoh’s coffins inscribed with passages from the Book of the Dead from the Egyptian Museum for Ye Mo’s research.

     They called it a rent, because they had to be returned.

     However, there were difficulties in the finer details. Fortunately, Anubis’s Shadow Whip had a similar effect, and the dark patterns on the whip proved worthy of study. Finally, a breakthrough was found…

     A week passed, and only one day remained before the next main dungeon would open.

     By then, Ye Mo had also completed the first grand, towering pyramid-like structure in the Yan Mountains. The new-era Underworld of Beijing. The entire building was pitch-black, with eerie winds howling inside and endless cries of agony, perfectly matching the style of a hellish underworld.

     At the same time, she delivered the first batch of underworld equipment (limited in quantity) along with the first Book of the Dead, which had a usable lifespan of one year.  

     As long as a soul with lingering intelligence passed through this Book of the Dead within 72 hours of death, similar to the Register of Life and Death, every detail of their life, including the circumstances of their death, would be recorded

     The King of Hell (Yama) and the underworld attendants could use this system to classify souls, while the police could also rely on it to solve cases more efficiently, freeing up time to maintain public safety.

     Even souls who had been dead for more than 72 hours would display a simple “good” or “evil” alignment when passing through the Book of the Dead, though the accuracy wasn’t perfect. Only the most virtuous spirits would be marked as “good,” while those with extreme malice would be labeled “evil.” The majority would remain ordinary, neutral ghosts. 

     As for establishing underworld branches in other regions of the country and connecting them to the main underworld hub, that would have to wait until after the next dungeon. Who knew? The next dungeon might even bring more surprises.

     Naturally, the existence of the underworld wouldn’t be publicly disclosed for now. Even though many people in the country, having encountered supernatural events, had already begun speculating.

     On the day the main dungeon opened, news outlets across the entire planet were fixated on the event. Both Non-Survivors and Survivors were wildly theorizing about possible dungeon scenarios.

     Every culture in the world was being dissected, and for the first time, the majority of people had learned to respect history. This brought tears of pride to many in China, one of the four great ancient civilizations, as it showcased the profound cultural heritage of the Chinese nation.

     People from other ancient civilizations also swelled with pride—India, Iraq, Pakistan… The only exception was the Middle East, still reeling from recent turmoil. 

     But this time, a significant number of newcomers from the Middle East had joined the Survivor App. After enduring desperate times, they craved strength more than ever and understood that in a true crisis, relying on oneself was the only certainty. 

     This dungeon marked an unprecedented explosion in the number of survivors, reaching heights never seen before

     Just like the other survivors, Ye Mo, Watson, Wang Xue, and Ji Li were making their final preparations. Each had been allocated a full set of supplies: food, clothing, shelter, and transportation as well as their own weapons.

     Ye Mo also had a large amount of energy and resources, enough to build over a dozen Supernatural Investigation Bureau industrial bases bases in the dungeon if needed. With careful budgeting, there might even be leftovers.

     All of this was thanks to the massive income from their two shops.

     At noon, the four gathered in the main hall of the small courtyard in Majing Hutong, lounging in their preferred postures. Then, at exactly 23:58, they almost simultaneously offered each other the same farewell:

     “See you later.”

     At 23:58:24, everything suddenly went black. When Ye Mo awoke in the familiar white space, she found herself clad in primitive animal hides that barely covered her chest. She couldn’t help but admire the well-defined muscles on “her” arms.

     She tried to do a carp jump and stand upright-but failed. That was… embarrassing

     Her gaze dropped to her legs.

     Or rather, where her legs should have been. From the waist down, she now had the massive, coiled tail of a serpent, its scales shimmering in a mesmerizing array of colors, both breathtaking and terrifying.

     This identity is really obvious:

     A descendant of Nüwa?

     The Nüwa clan?

     It’s also possible it’s the Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor clan? Some unofficial historical accounts say the Yellow Emperor also had a human body and a snake tail.

     Other cultures might also have myths of human-bodied, snake-tailed figures, but combined with the yellow skin, black eyes, and dark hair, the odds of this being a Chinese-themed dungeon were overwhelmingly high

     For now, Ye Mo pushed aside thoughts of the dungeon’s missions, mastering movement with her scaled tail took priority. She had no intention of floating forever, nor did she want to struggle mid-battle just to control her serpent half.

     So, she practiced with her snake tail somewhat unskillfully in the white space. Her posture was a bit awkward at first. The friction between her iridescent scales and the ground proved tricky to manage

     If not for being in the white space, the ground might already be scarred by her scales.

     Fortunately, the other survivors hadn’t woken up yet and couldn’t see her clumsy reptilian wriggling.

     After a while, she became mostly proficient.

     Ye Mo then started to focus on her instance and said to the system, “Check dungeon mission.”

  【 B-Class Chinese Mythology Dungeon: Nüwa Mends the Heavens 

     Main Mission 1: Survive.

     Main Mission 2: Save the World. 

     Note: Death in the dungeon or failure to complete main missions results in failure and erasure.】

     “Survival type mission?” Ye Mo immediately sensed the danger of this dungeon.

     The description of the second main quest was very simple yet extremely vague. What was certain was that it was definitely not easy. Saving the world in a mythological dungeon would be incredibly difficult.

    Well, “climbing to the heavens” wasn’t difficult to begin with.

     Ye Mo suppressed her many questions and looked around. There were quite a lot of survivors in this dungeon, over 100.000. They all had black hair, black eyes, and yellow skin. From their appearance, it was impossible to tell who was who.

     Except perhaps for one—Ji Li.  

     While the others were living humans, he alone was a spirit. Though his spectral form bore near-identical coloration to the living, requiring careful observation to discern the difference, his otherworldly nature remained undeniable.  

     Ye Mo waited for a while longer, and Ji Li finally woke up.

     “Jing?”

     “Li?”

     A shared glance confirmed their identities, allies recognized.  

     Ji Li floated up from the ground. For him, technically he was already dead before even entering the dungeon.

     As they compared mission details, Ji Li’s gaze lingered on Ye Mo’s serpentine tail. “Nüwa Mends the Heavens? Save the World?”

     “Yes, what’s your mission?”

     Ji Li quickly checked. He had one main  quest and one side quest. The main mission was survival, meaning just staying alive was victory, and the side missions was saving the world.

     Their missions were consistent, only Ye Mo’s second main missions had become Ji Li’s side missions.

    “No time limit?”

     “No time limit.”

     “…”

     The lack of constraints suggested this mission would likely conclude only when the world was saved, in other words, when Ye Mo succeeded. With great expectations came equally great responsibility.  

     Ji Li spoke gravely:  “Your mission needs to be kept secret.”

     Ye Mo nodded in agreement. If others learned that the dungeon would end if the Chief Survivor died, they might not be as proactive in saving the world, some might even become obstacles. There’s no need to test everyone’s bottom line.

     By keeping it secret, everyone will shift their focus to Nüwa mending the heavens. As for whether they pieced together the truth would depend on their own deductive skills.  

     Ji Li had been awake for a while before the third survivor showed any signs of stirring. It was a female survivor.

     Just as the two of them were trying to figure out who this survivor was, the woman, who appeared to be dressed in tiger skin, sprinted towards them, stopping a meter away. She stared at Ye Mo’s serpentine lower body and blurted, “Are you Sister Jing?”

     “Yes.”

     Wang Xue lunged, but Ye Mo dodged. Wang Xue changed her target to Ji Li. Only to phase right through his incorporeal form.  

     Wang Xue, nearly faceplanting: “???”

     Ye Mo flicked her forehead, “Quickly check your mission.”

     As expected, Wang Xue’s mission was identical to Ji Li’s, and so was Watson’s, who became the seventh survivor to awaken .

     The first twelve survivors were all Chinese, not including the three of them. Among them, five were official members of the Supernatural Investigation Bureau, and their missions were also exactly the same as Ji Li’s.

     Ye Mo had unwittingly become the exception among them.

     It wasn’t until after the twelfth survivor that participants from other countries and regions gradually appeared in the Chinese mythology dungeon Nüwa Mends the Heavens. The very last one to wake up was not a new survivor either.

     Ten minutes later, the dungeon deployment began.  

     Ye Mo’s vision went dark, then bright. In the blink of an eye, she found herself standing in a vast wilderness surrounded by primitive-looking people. Before her stood a white-haired woman with a youthful face, who asked solemnly:  

     “Nüwa, are you ready?”

     Wait—  

     Nüwa?!  

     Though Ye Mo had entertained bold speculations, having this legendary name bestowed upon her still made her heart skip several beats in shock.  

     This was the creator of humans from myth the Nüwa of legend! Though hopefully this official history wouldn’t require her to actually mold clay figures…