Darkness.
It was the kind of darkness that suffocated. Not the darkness of a bedroom at night, not the safe, familiar dark behind closed eyes. This was a heavy void, absolute, alive. It pressed in from all sides, weightless yet crushing, as if the universe itself had been erased.
Ye Chen drifted inside it, or perhaps he was falling. His mind screamed for anchors, but there were none. No air currents, no light, no ground, no horizon. Only silence. His chest tightened. When he drew breath, the air clawed into his lungs like ice.
His heartbeat was the only thing he could hear—loud, frantic, echoing in the void.
What… happened?
Fragments of memory drifted through his mind. He had walked home late, streetlamps flickering against wet asphalt. The drizzle had soaked through his jacket. He remembered fumbling for his keys, then a sudden, blinding flash—white and absolute—and then… nothing.
Now, this place.
His pulse quickened. Panic clawed at him. His hands flailed in the nothingness, grasping at air, searching for walls that weren't there. The sensation of falling made bile rise in his throat.
Then it came.
A pulse.
The void cracked. A vein of cold blue light split across the blackness like frozen lightning. Then another. And another. The cracks spread in every direction, weaving together into a lattice of glowing lines, sharp and geometric. The void shuddered, and the vibrations rumbled through his chest like a drumbeat.
The ground slammed into existence beneath his feet.
Ye Chen stumbled forward, his knees buckling. The sensation of solidity after infinite emptiness nearly sent him sprawling.
The surface wasn't stone, nor earth. It was metallic—smooth, seamless, and cold. Neon-blue lines coursed across it, glowing faintly like veins of light. They pulsed with rhythm, slow and steady, like the beating of some colossal heart beneath the floor.
Ye Chen froze, his breath misting faintly in the air.
The chamber stretched outward. Circular. Vast. Its walls were lost in shadow, no doors, no seams, no ceiling he could see. Just the endless hum of energy beneath his feet.
"What… is this place?" His voice came out hoarse, raw, swallowed by the emptiness.
No answer came.
But something else did.
A shimmer flickered in front of him, like a mirage in heat. In the next instant, a panel appeared—rectangular, translucent, glowing with pale blue light.
It hovered silently in the air.
Ye Chen's breath hitched.
Words burned into the panel, crisp and sharp.
[Initializing…]
[Synchronization Complete.]
[Participant Registered.]
His throat went dry. He staggered backward, nearly tripping over his own feet.
Another sequence of text followed.
[Name: Ye Chen]
[Level: 1]
[Experience: 0 / 100]
[Health: 100 / 100]
[Energy: 50 / 50]
[Inventory: Empty]
He stared, wide-eyed. His mind spun.
A game interface. That was the only way he could describe it. It looked exactly like the heads-up display of an RPG. But this wasn't a monitor. This wasn't augmented reality goggles. This was floating, real, burned into his vision.
Trembling, Ye Chen reached out. His fingers passed straight through the glowing text. It didn't flicker. It didn't respond.
It was there, indifferent to him.
Before he could think further, the floor trembled.
A low vibration rumbled through the chamber, shaking the blue veins of light until they converged in the center. Lines rotated and locked together, forming a complex sigil—circles within circles, shifting like the gears of a machine.
The sigil pulsed.
From it, something rose.
At first, it looked like liquid metal bubbling upward, defying gravity. It twisted and stretched, forming limbs that bent at impossible angles. Flesh fused with steel. Plates of bone-colored armor pulsed with faint veins. Its head snapped up with a crack, too sharp, too sudden. Then its jaws split open. Rows of jagged teeth rotated in a spiral, grinding against each other with a metallic whine.
A hiss escaped its maw, steam venting from the gaps in its body. Its eyes—two slits of burning red—ignited.
Ye Chen's stomach dropped.
The sigil pulsed again.
Another creature rose. Then a third.
In total, five of them crawled free, dragging themselves from the floor like nightmares clawing out of the abyss.
They spread out, circling him, claws screeching against the metallic surface. Sparks leapt from their movements. Their jaws clattered in unison, teeth grinding.
Ye Chen staggered back, pulse hammering, throat dry. His back hit the wall—or what he thought was a wall. The surface rippled faintly like liquid metal, flexing under his weight but not giving way.
Trapped.
His chest tightened until he could hardly breathe.
The panel flickered again.
[Dungeon Protocol Activated]
[Objective: Survive]
No voice, no guidance. Just those two words, glowing with chilling indifference.
Ye Chen's body locked in terror.
The first creature lunged.
Its claws slashed for his chest.
Ye Chen's instincts exploded. He hurled himself aside. Metal screeched as the claws gouged into the floor, carving glowing scars. Sparks burst upward, hot against his skin.
He hit the ground hard, pain jolting through his elbow.
The monster turned, its eyes never leaving him.
The others clicked their jaws, circling tighter.
He was prey.
The panel flickered.
[Warning: Hostile Entities Detected]
[Recommendation: Eliminate Target]
"Are you kidding me?" Ye Chen's voice cracked. Eliminate them? With what? His bare hands?
The monster lunged again. Its jaws gaped wide, teeth rotating in a spiral meant to shred. Ye Chen screamed, throwing his arms up.
Its maw clamped down inches from his face, teeth grinding, sparks flying.
His forearm pressed desperately against its throat, barely keeping its teeth away. Muscles screamed. His veins bulged. The stench of rot and oil blasted his face.
He couldn't hold it.
His strength was failing.
The teeth ground closer.
I'm going to die.
The thought thundered through his mind.
Panic, raw and suffocating, choked him. His arms trembled violently. He could feel his life slipping, second by second, closer to being torn apart.
Then—something inside him snapped.
Not despair. Not surrender.
Something else.
A spark.
The panel glitched, symbols warping, before new text carved itself across it.
[Adrenal Response Detected]
[Skill Unlocked: Survival Instinct (Lv.1)]
A surge of raw energy ignited in his body. His blood roared, muscles thrumming with unnatural strength. His grip tightened. With a desperate scream, he shoved the monster back.
It staggered, claws screeching across the floor.
Ye Chen gasped, chest heaving, his vision swimming. His body trembled violently, but he was alive.
Alive.
His eyes flicked downward. The glowing veins under his feet pulsed brighter. Without thinking, he reached for one.
The line detached.
It solidified into his hand—hard, jagged, sharp. A shard of crystallized energy and metal, humming faintly.
A weapon.
The monster hissed, lunging again.
This time, Ye Chen didn't freeze. His body moved with unnatural clarity, instincts sharpened by desperation. He sidestepped, adrenaline burning through his veins, and drove the shard forward.
The blade plunged into its eye.
The creature shrieked. A metallic screech shook the chamber. Black ichor sprayed across Ye Chen's face, burning hot, acrid. Sparks burst as the beast convulsed, thrashing violently.
Then, its body dissolved. It crumbled into motes of light, scattering like ash until nothing remained.
The panel flashed.
[Creeper Eliminated]
[+20 Experience]
Ye Chen staggered, clutching the shard, his breath ragged. His arms bled, his knuckles split. His entire body shook.
But he had done it.
He had killed it.
The remaining four monsters froze for an instant. Then their jaws clattered faster, teeth grinding in unison. They circled slower, red eyes narrowing.
Predators. But cautious predators.
The panel updated.
[Objective Updated: Eliminate Remaining Hostiles]
[Progress: 1 / 5]
Ye Chen spat blood from his mouth. His body was wrecked, aching, but his eyes burned.
He was terrified. Every cell screamed to run, to curl up, to pray it was a nightmare.
But beneath the fear, something else stirred.
A fire.
The moment he killed that thing, the moment it dissolved into light—he had felt it. The rush of strength. The intoxicating taste of victory against the impossible.
For the first time in his life, he wasn't powerless.
His grip on the shard tightened until his knuckles turned white.
His voice was hoarse, trembling, but his eyes blazed.
"If this is the only way to survive…"
The monsters clicked, jaws grinding, legs scraping.
"…then I'll kill every last one of you."
And with a roar, Ye Chen charged.