A sense of shock washed over Fang Zhen.
He was actually seeing a small town—an inhabited one!
Through the thin mist, he could faintly make out plumes of smoke rising from chimneys, proof that people really lived in the town. They were living their lives here.
Fang Zhen was utterly stunned.
The town itself wasn't spectacular. It looked like an underdeveloped settlement with few buildings, less prosperous than any random village in the northern part of the Xia Country.
But it wasn't the town's prosperity—or lack thereof—that shocked him.
It was the people.
There were people!
Fang Zhen's mind raced as he considered the implications.
The Dark Path ended on a hillside, overlooking a small town below.
The town was inhabited.
This meant that this instance might actually contain a real world, one with human beings.
'But are these humans real, or are they like NPCs in a game?'
Based on his experience fighting the goblins, Fang Zhen guessed they were most likely real people, living according to real-world logic.
Everything in the instance seemed to operate on real-world logic.
If that was the case, he couldn't help but be shocked.
Was what he was seeing just a small town?
Was it?
'That's not just a small town.'
'It represents an entire civilization!'
'A civilization from another world!'
Seeing this one leaf, Fang Zhen could see the coming of autumn. The realization dawned on him, and a sense of awe naturally welled up inside.
'Just what is the origin of this computer Xiao Yi gave me, and this Dungeon Life game on it?'
'I've actually encountered an otherworldly civilization?'
'What kind of close encounter is this? Does this count as meeting aliens?'
Fang Zhen's heart pounded with excitement.
He suddenly felt that the computer and the Dungeon Life game held a significance that was both unfathomable and profound.
After all, this was just an instance in a Nameless World.
If a civilization already existed in an instance from a Nameless World, he couldn't imagine what beings might exist in the normal, elite, or Heroic Realms.
And beyond that, there were still the epic, Legend, and god-and-demon level worlds.
Fang Zhen's blood boiled with excitement.
"It seems Xiao Yi gave me something incredible," Fang Zhen mused.
Fang Zhen took a deep breath, then another, trying to calm his surging emotions.
After a few more, the tempest in his heart finally subsided.
'Calm down, calm down.'
Right now, he was only getting a glimpse of the whole picture, but it was enough to sense the vastness of the Dungeon Life game's world. Still, what he could see was limited to what was right in front of him.
'Don't think so far ahead. One step at a time. I need to clear this instance first.'
'There will be plenty of time later. Take it slow. I've only just experienced a Nameless World; I shouldn't be thinking about god-and-demon levels yet. Experience tells me it's best to stick to what's within my capabilities. I can explore more once I'm stronger and leave some surprises for my future self.'
As Fang Zhen thought this, his emotions did indeed calm down significantly.
He was mentally tough, with a resilient mind and a strong ability to adjust his mood. He quickly regained his inner peace.
He looked at the small town below the slope. 'Should I go down and take a look?'
With this in mind, he tried to find a path down the hillside.
But after just two steps, he suddenly found he couldn't move forward.
"Huh?" Fang Zhen felt a strange sensation.
He tried again, changing direction, but it was as if an invisible force was blocking him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move forward, just treading in place.
Fang Zhen found this very strange.
'Don't panic when something happens. First, stop and think.'
Fang Zhen didn't get anxious.
He stood still, closed his eyes to think for a moment, and then opened them again.
Instead of trying to force his way past the end of the Dark Path, Fang Zhen took a few steps back.
He retreated without encountering that invisible barrier.
After this test, Fang Zhen once again took two steps forward.
After those two steps, he hit the invisible barrier again.
"Heh... I get it now."
'I can retreat back into the Dark Path, no problem, but I can't go down into that town no matter what I do.'
'What is this? An invisible wall?'
He had played plenty of games and was quite familiar with some of their mechanics.
There was a common game mechanic where if a character hadn't reached a high enough level or didn't possess a key item, they simply couldn't travel to the next map or unlock a new area.
Some online games had similar mechanisms, and so did their instances.
Fang Zhen frowned slightly.
'Just a moment ago, I thought this was a real world, and now there's an invisible wall?'
'Does this mean this is just a gamified world after all?'
A moment later, he dismissed the idea.
If it were a gamified world, it was far too realistic.
The Goblin Camp he had cleared felt like the real world in every way, both by feel and by intuition.
The appearance of an invisible wall that he couldn't pass through didn't necessarily mean the world was unreal or gamified.
'Perhaps the problem... lies with me?'
A flash of inspiration struck Fang Zhen.
This Nameless World seemed completely real, no matter how he looked at it.
Perhaps the goblins and the people in the town below were real beings living here.
The invisible wall Fang Zhen encountered didn't necessarily indicate a problem with the world itself.
Perhaps it was an issue with Fang Zhen himself.
He was, after all, an "outsider."
And that mysterious computer, along with the Dungeon Life game, might have placed some restrictions on him.
As for what those restrictions were, Fang Zhen had no idea.
The Dungeon Life game was too mysterious. Fang Zhen felt that with the information he currently had, it was impossible to figure it out.
'All right, I'll head back for now.'
'I can't go down anyway, and I've reached the end of the Dark Path, so I should have cleared it.'
'I'll go back and check the computer to see if anything has changed.'
'I have a feeling I've definitely cleared this instance, and after clearing it, there should be some new content.'
Having thought it through, Fang Zhen was no longer conflicted.
He took one last, deep look at the small town below, as if to burn its image into his eyes and his mind.
Then, Fang Zhen turned and headed back along the Dark Path, retracing his steps toward the Light Gate.
…
Twenty-some minutes later, Fang Zhen returned to the location of the Light Gate.
Seeing the white Light Gate on the forest path, Fang Zhen took a deep breath.
He adjusted his gear, gripped the linen sack, and stepped through the Light Gate.
A brief, slight dizziness.
Fang Zhen's consciousness quickly cleared. He looked around and saw he was back in his living room.
"Finally back," Fang Zhen sighed at length, feeling an indescribable sense of security.
He had only been in the instance for a single morning, but it felt like a lifetime ago. Returning home, Fang Zhen felt like someone who had been away for months, finding everything in his house both familiar and strange.
His tense muscles began to relax. It was impossible to feel truly safe in the instance, but being home was much better.
Fang Zhen slackened his grip, dropping the linen sack. He unstrapped his gear, unclipping the Anti-Riot Shield and other equipment and tossing them on the floor.
His body was no longer tense like it was in the instance, but loose and relaxed. Not even bothering to take off his riot suit, he walked to the kitchen, opened the double-door refrigerator, and pulled out a Diet Coke.
He picked up the can, pulled the tab, and took a big gulp.
The ice-cold, fizzy cola filled his mouth with a familiar taste. Fang Zhen's Spirit was instantly refreshed. GULP, GULP. He downed half the can of sugar-free soda.
"Ah... refreshing," Fang Zhen said, his thirst quenched. He let out a long breath.
He let out a fizzy burp, and carrying the half-empty can, he walked over to the sofa and slumped into it without a care for his appearance.
No wonder someone wrote a song with lyrics that said if they ever became rich, their first choice wouldn't be to travel the world, but to lie on the biggest, softest sofa in the world, eat, sleep, wake up, eat again, and just do that for a year.
'This is the life.'
Fang Zhen took another sip of his ice-cold cola, feeling a bit wistful.
He just sat there on the sofa, spacing out, not doing or thinking about anything. When he was thirsty, he took a sip of his ice-cold cola.
Ten-some minutes passed like this. Fang Zhen felt his energy greatly restored, as if he had taken a nap with his eyes open. The intense fatigue from the instance was completely swept away.
Only then did he stand up, stretch, and toss the empty cola can into the trash.
'That's enough rest. I've stolen a moment of peace, but there's still work to be done.'
Fang Zhen took off his riot suit, changed into some loungewear, and walked into his computer room.
He went to his computer. The Dungeon Life game was still running.
He noticed that the Dungeon Life game had a new dialog box on the screen, one that wasn't there when he entered the instance.
"Congratulations, you have cleared the Easy difficulty instance 'Dark Path' in the Nameless World."
"Do you wish to proceed to the results screen now?"