World Generation…

Ruan Mobei crashed heavily onto the ground.

The sensation of his soul being ripped apart by a claw didn’t feel light like what He Songming had witnessed. It was more like the pain of having died once, filling his body, reaching all the way to his bones. Ruan Mobei could only curl up tightly, eyes squeezed shut, gritting his teeth against the unspeakable agony.

After what seemed like an eternity, he slowly regained control over his limbs. Ruan Mobei worked hard to steady his breathing, finally managing to push himself up, sitting on the ground.

Everything around him was pure white, eerily quiet with not a sound to be heard. The spherical system floated silently in midair, emitting a cold white light that reminded Ruan Mobei of the full moon he had seen on the night he escaped.

Xiao Ming should have successfully escaped by now.

He had gone south with the convoy, heading towards the life he had always dreamed of, free from the knowledge of his past and the curse-like ability he carried. That way, he would never again bring about the horrific smell of cannibalism, attracting the Wendigo.

The kind-hearted nuns would care for him as they did other children, watching him grow up.

Ruan Mobei rubbed his face, finally relaxing completely.

Aside from the system, a small yellow firefly floated above him at an angle, pulsating with life.

He reached out, his fingertips brushing the tiny light. It seemed to suddenly be infused with energy, and the firefly erupted into a dazzling burst of light, scattering into countless little sparks that flew in all directions.

“██, ██████”

A whisper, endless and indistinct, echoed in his ears, soft and ambiguous like a murmur.

But Ruan Mobei couldn’t understand the meaning of the voices. He couldn’t even discern whether there were any distinct syllables; he could only vaguely make out what seemed to be a sentence.

Countless fragments of fireflies landed around him in the pure white space, like something had been lit, and patches of bright yellow gradually emerged.

Beneath his feet, a small patch of light appeared, resembling the fine stamens of an invisible flower.

Ruan Mobei extended his hand, but there was nothing to touch.

At this moment, the system’s voice finally echoed again in his mind.

[Soul fragment 1 collected. 100 points awarded, which can be used in the memory mall to redeem items.]

[…Adaptation complete. Memory mall opened.]

What?

Ruan Mobei furrowed his brows. He hadn’t yet risen from the ground but instead crossed his legs, adopting a more comfortable position.

“System, open the store.”

A semi-transparent panel unfolded before him. On the shelf was a single item: a phone. Ruan Mobei instantly recognized it as He Songming’s phone. It was marked with a need of 80 points for redemption.

“Why does your store only have one item?”

[The system’s other options had yet to be unlocked.]

Alright then. Ruan Mobei reached out, and unlike the semi-transparent panel, this phone was real. He held it firmly in his hand.

He exerted a little force, and a pop-up window appeared before him.

[Do you want to use 80 points to redeem “His Phone”?]

[Yes] / [No]

Ruan Mobei pressed [Yes], and another pop-up jumped out.

[Do you want to use 80 points to redeem “His Phone”?]

[Yes] / [No]

Ruan Mobei pressed [Yes] again.

Another pop-up appeared.

[Do you want to use 80 points to redeem “His Phone”?]

Ruan Mobei…………

What’s the deal?

Does it not want him to take it?

Well, then he was really going to take it.

Ruan Mobei kept pressing the Yes option, repeating it over a dozen times. Finally, when another pop-up appeared asking if he wanted to redeem “His Phone” with 80 points, he didn’t even look at the subtly different phrasing and pressed Yes again.

The pressure holding the phone loosened, and Ruan Mobei successfully retrieved He Songming’s phone.

The phone had clearly been used for a while. The screen was crisscrossed with faint scratches, and the edges of the tempered glass were starting to peel. Ruan Mobei pressed the lock screen button, and the default screensaver of the system lit up, prompting him to enter a password.

“System, what’s the password?”

[The password requires 30 points to unlock.]

This was clearly not something it wanted to tell him. Ruan Mobei laughed in frustration. Fine, if it didn’t want to tell him, he could guess.

People always said He Songming was highly intelligent, skilled in social matters, but in Ruan Mobei’s eyes, he had a rather pure heart. He remembered the time when he accompanied He Songming to the bank to exchange money for studying abroad. He Songming had entered his bank card password right in front of him, leaving Ruan Mobei barely able to hide.

[The bank card’s password was He Songming’s birthday.]

Ruan Mobei entered He Songming’s birthday.

[Incorrect password.]

Next, he entered the last six digits of He Songming’s ID number and the last six digits of his phone number. All were incorrect. The screen displayed the cold message: Incorrect password. You have 2 more attempts. After failing, the account will be permanently locked.

Ruan Mobei furrowed his brows, hesitated for a moment, then finally tried entering his own birthday.

He really couldn’t think of anything else.

With a beep, the lock screen was unlocked.

Ruan Mobei froze. The information contained in this incident made him slightly dazed.

What did it mean that He Songming used his birthday as the phone’s password?

He knew that parents often used their child’s birthday as a password, but he had never heard of friends doing the same.

Ruan Mobei pressed his lips together. He looked up at the system. The light orb remained silent and still, refusing to offer any further information.

He could only set aside his confusion for the moment and began to look through the contents of He Songming’s phone.

The apps on He Songming’s phone were few. Apart from a few social and work-related apps, there were no games or video apps—terrifyingly clean.

Was this really a phone belonging to someone in modern society?

Ruan Mobei opened the contacts at the bottom of the screen and was shocked to find that there was only one name in the contact list.

[Ruan Mobei]

His name was the only one in an otherwise empty list.

Ruan Mobei took a deep breath, steadying his trembling hand, and opened He Songming’s WeChat. Amid the notifications from various public accounts that couldn’t be turned off, the chat window with him was pinned at the top.

Aside from that, there were no messages from anyone else.

The contact list contained only his name.

Ruan Mobei opened QQ—no group chats, no other contacts. Only the chat with him, filling the entire message column.

He couldn’t think of anything for a moment. What was going on? Was this phone only used to contact him? What about other classmates and friends? Didn’t he stay in touch with anyone else? Could there be another phone?

But he had never heard of this!

Ruan Mobei held the phone, frozen, not moving. After a long period of inactivity, the screen slowly dimmed.

His mind was a tangled mess. Taking a deep breath, Ruan Mobei finally opened the unread Messages.

Apart from notifications from the bank and 10086, there was only one contact: him.

The last message sent by He Songming was that string of numbers edited ten minutes before the car accident: 16593455746.

A string of meaningless numbers—not anyone’s phone number. Ruan Mobei didn’t recall it at all.

“System,” Ruan Mobei lifted his head, holding the phone. He asked, “Is this really He Songming’s phone?”

The system remained silent.

Trying to mess with me, huh? Fine. Ruan Mobei closed his eyes, muttering to himself not to get angry.

He couldn’t do anything about the system.

“When does the next world start?” He put the phone in his pocket, changing the subject.

[Anytime] 

The system finally responded.

In this strange space, Ruan Mobei felt no fatigue. He was eager to finish the task as quickly as possible and return to the real world to knock on He Songming’s door and ask him what was going on with his phone and that message.

“Then let’s begin.”

[Ready to load the next world. Confirm?]

“Confirm.”

The moment he spoke, everything suddenly went black. The system’s cold voice echoed in his mind.

[Loading world…]

[Forest generated]

[Cave generated]

[Generating love, fear, and despair…]

The sensation of weightlessness hit him, and Ruan Mobei felt himself plummeting heavily, falling toward the unknown. The wind rushed past his ears, carrying the scent of fresh grass.

“Can we at least have a countdown next time?” He helplessly suggested.

The system remained silent.

Not long after, Ruan Mobei crashed face-first into the ground. He fell hard, and it took a while for him to get back up.

Thankfully, the damp earth wasn’t too hard. His arms and legs only had a few scrapes, though the impact on his insides hurt more than anything else.

Ruan Mobei struggled to adjust his breathing, reacquainting himself with his real body. The familiar pain shot through his nerves and into his mind.

In the last world, when he was just a soul, he hadn’t felt any pain. Even when the Wendigo’s claws tore through him, he had only felt the sensation of having died once after returning to the space.

When the sharp pain in his chest finally began to fade, he slowly stood up, realizing he was in a circular pit. The pit looked ancient, the bottom overgrown with weeds, and the walls sprouted green plants.

Ruan Mobei looked up, startled. There was someone crouching at the edge of the pit, staring down at him.

It looked like a person. Cautiously, only their head was peeking out. Their long black hair tangled into knots, and with the equally tangled beard, their entire face was covered, leaving only two bright eyes visible.

At that moment, those eyes were filled with confusion.

Ruan Mobei recognized those eyes.

He twitched his lips, barely holding back a burst of laughter, and shouted, “He Songming, pull me up!”

The wild man, hearing his voice, seemed shocked. He shrank back in fear, his furry head disappearing from Ruan Mobei’s view.

Ruan Mobei……………………

“He Songming?”

“He—Song—ming—”

Ruan Mobei called out two more times, but the wild man seemed truly frightened and did not appear again.

He left… Well, let him go.

Ruan Mobei took a deep breath, no longer wasting his efforts. He surveyed the surroundings and grabbed the grass growing along the cave walls. With a strong pull, he yanked the shallow-rooted plants from the soft dirt.

No good. The roots were too shallow; they weren’t enough to help him climb out.

Ruan Mobei was troubled. The system seemed to keep creating difficulties for him. In the previous world, it turned him into a ghost, unable to roam freely except by He Songming’s side. This time, it threw him into a pit—couldn’t he have landed somewhere a little less dangerous?

Helpless, he sat back down at the bottom of the pit, considering other options. It seemed to be a jungle. Trees towered overhead, and sunlight filtered through the tangled branches, casting round patches of light. The air was a little humid, the temperature just right—likely summer, or tropical regions.

His phone was gone, probably forced to stay in the system’s space. He was left with only the two clothes on his body.

Just as Ruan Mobei was thinking about how to dig a slanted slope up the cave wall, that furry head reappeared in his sight.

The wild man had returned. This time, he was holding a nearly two-meter-long wooden pole, the thickness of his arm, with one end sharpened into a spear.

The wild man knelt at the edge of the pit, trying to poke at Ruan Mobei with the spear. Ruan Mobei flinched, avoiding it. He was afraid this He Songming, who had no idea what was going on, might poke him through with that sharp tip.

The wild man paused, then continued trying to poke at Ruan Mobei. Ruan Mobei dodged, and they were locked in a stalemate for the next seven or eight minutes, neither willing to stop.

Finally, Ruan Mobei gave in, ending the pointless standoff. He leaned against the cave wall, panting, unable to hold back an eye roll.

He was tired.

Let whatever happen, happen.

The spear tip found its mark, poking at Ruan Mobei’s arm. He didn’t move. He looked up at the wild man, He Songming, kneeling above him. At that angle, he suddenly noticed…

He Songming wasn’t wearing any clothes.

No, really. He wasn’t wearing anything.

Ruan Mobei stared in shock. He Songming knelt there, his strong chest and lean waist fully exposed, including the places Ruan Mobei definitely shouldn’t be looking at.