After class ended, the class monitor, Qin Jia, walked over to Ma Jun with the attendance register in hand, her expression complicated.
"Ma Jun, congratulations," she said. "You survived."
Qin Jia was a girl with skin so pale it was almost translucent. She wore thick glasses, had noticeable dark circles under her eyes, and looked like she hadn't slept properly in a long time.
Everyone in her family was very fair-skinned.
Ma Jun understood that well.
"Thanks," he replied with a faint smile. "You didn't get picked, right?"
"No."
A trace of disappointment appeared on Qin Jia's face—mixed with a hint of relief.
Not being pulled into the horror game meant losing the chance to break past one's limits and gain power—but it also meant not having to live on the edge of life and death every month.
"I'll report it for you," Qin Jia said. "You should be the last one."
"Our class has five people selected in total. All of them cleared their first dungeon—not bad."
"But the class next door wasn't so lucky. I heard Gao Yang… didn't make it."
Ma Jun fell silent for a moment.
Seeing the sadness on Qin Jia's face, he asked, "Who's Gao Yang?"
Qin Jia froze, then remembered Ma Jun's usual personality and sighed softly.
What she didn't know was that Ma Jun had already witnessed countless separations of life and death in the horror game.
"Oh, right," she added after a pause. "After some time, those of you selected to participate in the game will be transferred to other classes."
"Take care of yourself."
There was a hint of sorrow in her voice.
Players of the horror game were always gathered together.
After the newbie phase, they would be assigned to various factions based on their own wishes.
For now, Ma Jun hadn't thought much about that.
The following month passed uneventfully.
All the items Ma Jun had consigned were sold, earning him 30,000 gold coins. Without hesitation, he set up a training room in the player space.
Five days in reality equaled one full month of training inside.
And the cooldown for the training room was also one month.
In other words, after almost every dungeon run, he could come here to train.
The training room was equipped with many specialized training devices.
Unfortunately, Ma Jun still didn't have any proper techniques.
All he could do was basic physical conditioning.
Even so, inside the training room, Ma Jun once again realized just how strong he had become.
His speed, strength, and coordination had all reached astonishing levels.
With the buffs from the Ashen Hunter Set, Ma Jun felt that purely in terms of physical ability, he could already spar with Akuna.
Now, if Sbinse dared to provoke him again, Ma Jun could kill him with just a flick of his finger.
Even if the enhanced Daniela trio joined forces, they still wouldn't be his match alone.
He was now itching to enter his second dungeon and test his strength.
And in the midst of his anticipation—
The second dungeon arrived silently.
The familiar sensation of weightlessness returned.
A faint dizziness followed.
The black vortex appeared once more, swallowing Ma Jun whole.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a modern city.
And it was still in Huaxia.
Cars streamed past, crowds flowed endlessly.
Skyscrapers towered into the sky, people hurried along the streets, walking with the wind.
In their hands were sleek, modern mobile phones—
Devices that looked like products already obsolete for over a decade.
The clothes people wore were equally modern.
Explosive hairstyles, ripped jeans—everything was there.
A system prompt sounded beside Ma Jun's ear.
[Current Dungeon: Harbor Island Case!]
[Dungeon Level: Undetermined!]
[Dungeon Background: This is Harbor Island, a city plagued by strange cases. As special investigators from the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, you have come to Harbor Island to assist in solving supernatural cases. Please note: each case has a different difficulty level. Act within your limits!]
[Current Objective: Within 14 days, solve at least one case!]
Harbor Island?
Cases?
The corner of Ma Jun's mouth curved upward.
This seemed… interesting.
The dungeon difficulty was still undetermined.
It looked like the challenge would depend on which case one chose.
As he was thinking, a voice suddenly rang out behind him—surprised, yet tinged with joy.
"Ma Jun!"
"Hm?"
Ma Jun turned around and immediately saw Jiang Han, standing among several other players.
Players really stood out.
Nervous, excited expressions—far too conspicuous.
Jiang Han even more so.
Long black hair, clean and sharp features, a unique and cool aura.
Compared to the other players, she stood out like a crane among chickens.
Of course, the most eye-catching one was still Ma Jun himself.
Dressed in a silver-gray, Victorian-style set—
A flowing coat, a beret with swaying tassels—
He was outrageously eye-catching.
Jiang Han noticed him instantly.
A hint of envy appeared in her eyes.
This set of equipment—one glance was enough to tell it was no ordinary item.
At the very least, it was white-grade or above.
It was simply too enviable.
Even with her status as an elite seed, before the newbie phase ended, she only had a few white-grade items supplied by the military district.
As for ordinary players?
They didn't even dare to dream.
Finding a single white-grade piece was enough to make them secretly celebrate.
Jiang Han's heart brimmed with excitement.
She had actually run into Ma Jun again…
She had thought they would never meet again.
And yet, they had been assigned to the same dungeon.
Her once-calm heart lake rippled with wave after wave of emotion.
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