4
Morgan Turner strolled over and glanced at me. “Jordan Cooper, don’t be nervous. It’s just having fun.”
I looked back at Alex Parker. It had its head bowed, as if it were doing something important, completely focused.
It looked a bit like one of those grinning-cat memes online.
It seemed really happy.
That was good. Alex was always so full of life. Unlike me, sometimes tormented by my own thoughts.
Morgan said, “If I’m not mistaken, they’ll make their move against us tonight.”
I was curious. “How do you know?”
Morgan’s tail swished unconsciously. “Because I can hear them. It sounds something like this.”
It opened its mouth, and I heard soft footsteps, like someone creeping closer on tiptoe.
They were like thieves, but they couldn’t steal Time Coins.
They were here to… steal our lives!
5
“Cat-shaped piggy banks would probably sell well, especially the white cat.”
I thought I heard someone say that.
Morgan closed its mouth, its eyes suddenly darkening.
I knew this was serious. Few things could make Morgan this angry.
Morgan’s personality was both like mine and the opposite of it.
It didn’t readily accept other people’s kindness. Despite its ability to travel through dungeons, it always kept its distance from NPCs.
It lived in its own world, like a hedgehog bristling with spines, never saying a kind word to anyone.
If it wanted to protect anyone, it had to be Alex—the cat who was always meowing and eagerly exploring everything.
Clearly, those pigs had enraged this fearsome being: the S-rank dungeon BOSS of Vang Sinh, whom players called the “Grim Reaper.”
Morgan walked to the door and said softly, “No need to wait any longer. I’ll send them on their way.”
I sighed. They’d started out planning to steal, and now it had turned into a robbery.
I picked up Alex, who was still looking bewildered.
“Let’s go. We need to finish this quickly.”
6
The moment the door opened, Morgan sprang outside.
In Vang Sinh’s story, Morgan was a cat that couldn’t be seen more than three times. It wandered through the abandoned orphanage. Its arrival marked the beginning of death.
It was both nimble and lightning-fast.
“Get that cat!”
The pig-person gripped a butcher’s knife, looking like Riley Turner from *Journey to the West: Demon Subduing Heaven*.
But in an instant, Morgan Turner passed right through his body.
Like a raindrop striking the surface of a lake, the pig-person froze for a second, then his whole body trembled as ripples spread through him.
His soul had been shattered.
That was how terrifying Morgan Turner’s damage was.
From the moment it was born, it had been an S-rank dungeon BOSS—a very high starting point.
Dungeons were ranked SSS, SS, S, A, B, and C.
Most S-rank dungeons had been upgraded to that rank later on.
Vang Sinh was the only dungeon in the safe zone open only to me that had been S-rank from the start.
I lifted Alex Parker up. “Alex Parker, are you hiding your true strength?”
Just then, a massive axe came crashing down at me.
Damn it, had they realized I was the real target?
I didn’t panic. I kicked the short pig-person in the leg.
As expected…
0 damage.
Morgan Turner was faster, taking the axe in its body.
The blade sank halfway into it, nearly cleaving it in two.
Alex Parker leaped over and blew on Morgan Turner’s wound.
“Ah!”
A bloodcurdling scream came from its mouth.
It wasn’t Morgan Turner’s voice. It sounded like a dead pig.
Morgan Turner quickly recovered and shoved the axe blade out.
It narrowed its eyes, then shot forward like lightning again.
Before long, the battle was over.
A complete rout.
For the first time, Alex Parker showed off its astonishing healing ability.
The damage players could deal to Morgan Turner was still far too limited.
I said, “There aren’t any pigs left. Where are we supposed to get the ingredients for this recipe?”
Morgan Turner looked at Alex Parker. “There are still a few. Tell me the Piggy Bank recipe.”
Alex Parker’s eyes clouded over, and it spoke in three different voices:
“One body.”
“Press it into a mold.”
“Seal the soul.”
“Drain the flesh and blood.” As they were talking, a shrill voice cut in: “Little…”
The second word was swallowed before it could be spoken.
I asked, “What was that?”
Morgan Turner said, “An elite monster tried to butt in, but how could it cause trouble inside Alex Parker? It was in its stomach in one step.”
World Chat: “Zone 32 Alert: Piggy Bank is incapacitated.”
7
“Here’s the recipe.”
I handed the handwritten notes to the demon.
He took off his sunglasses and examined them carefully. “I need to verify they’re genuine.”
I looked at him. “Are you trying to stiff me?”
The demon’s eyes flickered. “You wiped out Piggy Bank. How could I possibly dare to welsh on you?”
I’d already been delayed here long enough. Even if time in the dungeon didn’t match real time, a few days must have passed in the real world.
“Then give me the Malice Ticket while I’m still asking nicely.”
The demon fell silent.
When people refused to see reason, a fist was the strongest argument.
He said, “This is a safe zone. You can’t attack me.”
I replied, “But you gave me the quest. I turned in the quest item, so if you don’t give me the reward, I have the right to force you to hand it over.”
NPCs in the World Theme Park could welsh on rewards.
They could stall and refuse to pay out quest rewards.
If players tried to claim what was theirs, the system would find a hundred ways to dodge responsibility.
After all, this was a horror game dungeon, where human malice was plain to see everywhere.
But that didn’t mean players had no way to get their rewards back.
Like I said: force them to pay.
If you could take it, it was yours.
The demon said, “I misjudged you this time. Come on. I’ll get you the ticket in Cyber Kowloon.”
As he left the room, the clanging of metal stopped in several places.
Probably a third of the players in the Forge were keeping an eye on him.
He chuckled. “Ever since I got the Malice Ticket, guilds have been hanging around me. I used to wonder why. Now that you’ve shown up, I understand. There are no secrets in this world.”
“Have you figured out how to deal with them? They’re the pillars of this game.” “If I remember right, some top players entered the World Theme Park a long time ago.”
8
Cyber Kowloon, a district where high technology coexists with a low standard of living.
It’s also called District 2.
You can see plenty of cyborgs here.
The place was once hit by a horrific tech-zombie virus. Even a scrap of information online could turn someone into a living zombie.
All kinds of mechanical zombies appeared, reducing the district to ruins.
But once the zombies reached a massive scale, the virus mysteriously disappeared.
In the end, the various gangs took control of everything here.
“Lawless” and “chaotic” are still synonymous with District 2.
But high risk means high profit. Most of the players here are no pushovers.
As I followed the demon here, more and more players gathered around us. Morgan Turner and Alex Parker walked on either side of me, helping me keep my cool.
The demon glanced at me, surprised. “You’re not worried at all?”
I pulled out my small mirror and checked my reflection. “Actually, I’m a little worried.”
If my makeup smudged and someone recognized me in real life, I’d be done for.
But it should be fine. The boss had done my makeup himself this time.
He was best at painting on his own featureless face.
The makeup was so intricate and lifelike it seemed almost fake. It made him look like someone who couldn’t possibly exist, giving him an uncanny-valley effect.
I didn’t care. In this bizarre world, I looked perfectly ordinary.
The demon strolled along. “You’re interesting. Can I ask which guild you belong to? Why are you so confident?”
I smiled politely. “You can’t ask that.”
He was at a loss for words.
I thought to myself, he was trying to stall. The more people gathered, the better for him.
There was no guarantee the Malice Ticket was even here. He wanted to create chaos—and didn’t seem worried that the fire he’d started might burn him, too.
For a dungeon BOSS, players were difficult to deal with.
Bound by all sorts of rules, BOSSes had their hands tied.
But here, there was nothing to worry about. Morgan Turner wasn’t the BOSS of the World Theme Park. Away game—power at 100%.
Sorry, I keep forgetting about Alex Parker. It really wasn’t the type to know how to fight.
How should I put it?
Even I, a terrible fighter, could beat it.
But cute is justice. Alex Parker was very popular with the NPCs.
In some ways, it was even better at getting by than I was.
“Alex Parker.”
It turned to look at me. “Meow.”
I said, “Protect me later, okay?”
“Meow.”