This was a strange, eerie otherworld.
Vampires, werewolves, high-tech gear, potions, ghosts, cyborgs, fortune-telling, puppets—pretty much every creepy thing you could imagine existed here.
You had to carry a lamp when going outside.
Don't wander far.
Once you stepped more than ten meters beyond the front door, the darkness out there would swallow you whole.
Whether your patient was human, ghost, or some stitched-up abomination, you had to stay calm.
If you weren't calm, it would turn hostile toward you.
In the dim back room, Lyn sat at a rickety table, quill in hand, writing by lamplight.
In his journal, he listed the rules he'd figured out over the two years since crossing into this world.
"Lyn! Time's up—hang the lamp, we're opening shop!"
A hoarse voice rasped through the air, sounding like someone chewing on bones.
Lyn shook his head. That voice belonged to his boss—the owner of their apothecary, and also the man who'd saved him two years ago. His teacher. Lyn was just the shop helper in this otherworld pharmacy.
"Coming!" Lyn shouted.
Right then, a cold synthetic voice echoed in his mind:
Ding! Your teacher, Bloody Chainsaw Man, has issued a task: Open the shop and hang the soul lamp by the door. Reward: Skeleton Coins x10, Basic EXP x5, Pure Human Blood x100ml.
Lyn froze.
That voice… a system?
After two years in this world, had he finally awakened a cheat skill?
But he didn't have time to dwell on it—he knew if he didn't follow his teacher's order immediately, he'd be dead.
Lyn quickly left the gloomy attic.
His teacher was dragging a bisected unknown creature toward the operating room beside it.
Crimson blood trailed across the moldy floor.
Thwump—thwump—
Soon, the piercing whine of an electric saw rang out from inside.
The bone-chomping voice called again: "After opening, sort out yesterday's expired potions and feed them to the little darling in the backyard. Don't waste time."
Ding! Your teacher, Bloody Chainsaw Man, has issued a task: Sort expired potions and feed them to the backyard [Little Darling]. Reward: Skeleton Coins x10, Little Darling Favor -10, Housework Proficiency +1.
Lyn blinked in surprise.
Yep.
He'd guessed right.
This had to be his system—turning everything he encountered into mission prompts.
Hearing the chewing sounds behind him, Lyn steadied himself.
Creak—creak—
The old wooden floorboards groaned underfoot.
Lyn reached the front room, grabbed an oil lamp from the corner, and wound its mechanism. Droplets of crimson blood oozed onto the wick.
Whoosh—
A flicker of red flame lit up. If you listened closely, you could hear faint, anguished screams from inside the lamp.
Keeping his expression calm, Lyn opened the door.
Outside was pure darkness, veiled in mist. From within, faint, eerie laughter drifted now and then.
Staying composed, he hung the lamp on the doorpost, illuminating the tattered sign beside it:
Blood Chainsaw Apothecary
Ding! You received Skeleton Coins x10, Basic EXP x5, and Pure Human Blood x100ml.
Lyn turned to go back inside—but then a low, chilling laugh rose from the shadows.
"Good morning, young man… Got any useless trash for this old granny? I'll give you something in return, heeheehee."
From the darkness, dim lantern lights appeared. A hunched old woman in ragged burlap pulled a cart forward. Her face wore a kindly smile.
But Lyn clearly saw she was holding a human-skin lantern, and the rust-covered cart was fused to her arm.
Ding! Skin-Picking Scavenger issues an optional task: Give [Useless Trash] to the scavenger. Optional reward: Scavenger Favor +10, Skeleton Coins +20, Scavenger's Payment x1.
Lyn stayed calm.
"Sure, just wait a second."
He hurried back into the shop and grabbed two black sacks from the entrance. A heavy stench of blood wafted from them; something inside struggled, letting out muffled moans.
Calmly, Lyn placed the [Useless Trash] onto the old woman's cart.
"Thank you, dearie. You're a kind soul." Her smile never changed.
Slowly, she reached a withered hand into her eye socket and pried out two bloody eyeballs.
"For you, young man, from this old granny."
Ding! You received task rewards: Scavenger Favor +10, Skeleton Coins +20!
Ding! You may accept or refuse the scavenger's payment. Refusing will reduce Scavenger Favor by 50.
Facing the steaming eyeballs, Lyn kept his composure, took them, and said, "I'll take them. Thank you."
The old woman beamed—though her empty eye sockets were deeply unsettling.
"Good, good!"
Then, under Lyn's gaze, she hauled her cart and vanished into the darkness.
Ding! You received Scavenger's Payment: Tailor Shop Owner's Eyeball x1, Butcher Shop Owner's Eyeball x1, Scavenger Favor +20.
Lyn remained outwardly calm but secretly exhaled. He went straight back inside.
From his teacher, he'd learned the tailor shop worked with human skin, and the butcher shop sold human meat—both directly across the street from their apothecary. The scavenger had both owners' eyeballs.
That was another rule he'd figured out:
Never cross those who walk in the darkness.
Turning back, forcing calm onto his face, Lyn sorted the bottles of expired black-red potions from the counter into his kit, then headed to the backyard.
Passing the operating room, the thwump-thwump of the chainsaw still echoed.
Lyn knew better than to interrupt his teacher then—if he did, the next body on that table might not be the creature's.
Reaching the backyard, he opened the cellar door. A wave of putrid stench hit him, like rotten flesh and excrement.
Hiss—hiss—
Weird noises rose from below.
Lyn knew what lived down there: his teacher's so-called "little darling." What exactly it was, only the teacher knew.
He dumped all the potions from his case into the cellar.
Ding! You received Skeleton Coins x10, Little Darling Favor -10, and Housework Proficiency +1.
Roar—roar—
Furious shrieks erupted, mingled with the stench of blood.
Lyn shut the cellar door fast.
He let out a breath.
This was his daily routine as the apothecary's helper.
The reason he'd survived was simple: he obeyed his teacher without question. Helpers who disobeyed had long since been chopped up and fed to the "little darling."
Steady now, Lyn tested the air: "System?"
And in the next instant, a translucent panel suddenly appeared before his eyes.