The city skyline glittered as usual, neon lights flashing across glass towers.
Inside one of those towers, Lin Ye sat slumped in his cubicle, staring at the endless spreadsheet on his monitor.
Thirty years old.
No savings.
No future.
And now his manager had just dumped another pile of work on him before leaving to meet a mistress.
"Lin Ye, remember to finish this before midnight. Or don't bother coming tomorrow."
The man's smug laughter still echoed in his ears.
Lin Ye smiled bitterly. He had grown numb to this humiliation.
His girlfriend had left him last week, sneering that he was "a forever loser."
He didn't even argue. What was the point?
But tonight… tonight would not be ordinary.
---
The Descent
At exactly 11:59 PM, the office lights flickered.
The buzzing fluorescent tubes stuttered, and then darkness swallowed the entire floor.
"Power outage?" someone muttered.
But when the emergency lights came on, the windows were no longer showing the bustling city outside.
Instead, an endless black fog pressed against the glass like a living thing, smearing and writhing.
A chill crawled up Lin Ye's spine.
Then—
[Ding!]
A sound that echoed directly inside his skull.
> [Welcome, Player #0001.]
[You have entered the Nightmare Office Building.]
[Only one survivor may leave.]
"W-What the hell…?"
Colleagues gasped and screamed. Someone banged against the window. Another rushed for the stairs.
But the stairwell door had vanished, replaced by a steel wall engraved with blood-red letters:
ONLY ONE SURVIVOR.
The temperature plummeted. From the shadows between cubicles, something… moved.
---
The System Appears
Before panic could explode further, another line of glowing text appeared in front of Lin Ye:
> [Special Qualification detected.]
[Activating Fate Choice System.]
Three options unfolded in midair:
1. Hide under your desk until only one remains alive. Reward: +10 Constitution.
2. Kill your direct superior. Reward: Hidden Identity Card.
3. Sacrifice yourself. Reward: Team Reputation +50.
Lin Ye's breath caught.
"What… the hell is this?"
Others didn't see the choices. They only saw his pale face staring at nothing.
Behind him, his manager—the same bastard who had just dumped work on him—was screaming at everyone to stay calm.
But in his eyes Lin Ye saw cruelty, calculation… and greed.
If only one could leave, that man would kill everyone else without hesitation.
---
The First Decision
Lin Ye's heart pounded.
Option 1: Hide like a coward. Maybe survive. But what if someone found him first?
Option 3: Sacrifice himself? He almost laughed. He had lived like trash for thirty years. Should he die as trash too?
His gaze locked on Option 2.
Kill your direct superior.
A Hidden Reward.
For the first time in years, Lin Ye's lips curved into a genuine smile.
"Why not?"
---
Blood in the Cubicles
The manager kept barking orders. "Everyone listen to me! Stick together, and I'll—"
He didn't finish.
Lin Ye grabbed the heavy stapler on his desk, strode forward, and smashed it into the man's skull.
The sound of cracking bone silenced the entire floor.
Blood splattered across the cubicle wall. The manager's eyes bulged in disbelief, mouth opening and closing like a fish.
"You—"
Bang!
Lin Ye slammed the stapler down again.
And again.
Until the man stopped moving.
A chilling silence filled the office.
Every colleague stared at Lin Ye as if he were some kind of monster.
Inside his mind, a pleasant chime rang:
> [Option 2 chosen. Reward granted.]
[You have obtained the Hidden Identity Card: Deathwalker.]
Lin Ye's breath steadied.
The fear in his chest faded, replaced by a strange calm.
Something in the Shadows
Then came the scratching sound.
From the corridor leading to the elevators, a figure crawled into view.
It wasn't human anymore—skin gray, jaw unhinged, eyes glowing faintly red.
The corpse of a janitor twisted unnaturally, dragging itself forward with broken limbs.
Colleagues screamed.
"It's a monster!"
"Stay away!"
The corpse's head jerked, locking onto the nearest panicked intern. With inhuman speed, it leapt.
Blood sprayed. The intern's shriek cut off in a wet gurgle.
Lin Ye didn't flinch.
Instead, he raised his head, eyes cold.
For the first time, he felt… alive.
---
The Hook
The system's voice whispered again:
> [Identity Card activated.]
[Deathwalker: Once per night, ignore death itself.]
A faint black aura coiled around his body.
Lin Ye stared at the crawling monster, then at the terrified colleagues edging away from him.
He realized something.
This wasn't a curse.
This was his chance.
The nightmare had only just begun.