At this blunder, the people streaming out of the large hall faltered.
As the last trainee in Zhuge An’s team entered the purple space door, the gate flickered twice before vanishing abruptly amidst ice-cold silence. Tsuchimikado’s team, incidentally next to theirs, immediately arrived to inquire about the situation.
“Our teams’ space doors were quite close,” said Zong Jiu. “He might have accidentally wandered through the wrong one in a moment of inattention. It likely isn’t a big deal.”
Tsuchimikado nodded. “True. The number of people in a team is irrelevant, considering all the instances are S-class. The difficulty is fixed so it doesn’t matter which one you enter.”
Switching the scenarios would indeed make no difference to difficulty.
After the reminder, everyone stopped obsessing over the mix-up. They turned around to greet the other trainees in their team, then went through and disappeared into their space doors.
Considering Zhuge An’s careful and calculative nature, however, was it truly possible he blundered on such a simple matter?
A vague premonition surfaced in Zong Jiu’s mind. However, the tight schedule kept him from continuing to ponder about it.
Under the mechanical urging of the system, he led his team through the space door that Zhuge An’s team was supposed to take.
The border of this door was dark golden. Somehow, the colour easily reminded one of a certain No. 1’s eyes.
The white-haired Magician glanced up, and without the slightest hesitation, stepped into the darkness.
[Trainees detected entering the space door. Initiating transfer…]
[Loading plot introduction…]
A pervasive sensation of weightlessness.
He was falling.
It was unlike any spatial transfer in the past. This time, it was especially turbulent.
It was more than just turbulence; all around him, the space had turned pitch black as if all of creation was enveloped in dense darkness. He couldn’t see the road ahead, only the shearing of wind whistling in his ears as he fell, lifting at his shirt hems.
Zong Jiu gazed at the void above.
Reasonably speaking, when stepping into a space like this, there was no doubt that fellow Xu Su would start shrieking at once.
Yet now, let alone a shriek, he could hardly hear anything.
It was so silent… It seemed he was alone.
He wouldn’t just plummet to his death like this, would he?
Zong Jiu swept away the fringe of hair that slapped persistently at his eyes throughout his descent, squinting.
All of a sudden, what resembled calligraphy ink seemingly dripped from the water surface to the bottom of the vessel, an inky and condensed liquid spreading in the medium, blooming like flowers, dispersing the endless darkness and dyeing it a spectrum of colours.
A scene abruptly appeared before the Magician’s eyes as the frozen colour blocks gradually started to flow.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Standing on earth again, he finally felt a false sense of security.
Ibcu Ale vlvc’a lwwfvljafis wbnf yea mtfmxfv tlr reggbecvlcur olgra.
Ktfgf kjr cb rluc bo atf gfra bo tlr afjw, klat fnfc atf ogbhfc mbibeg yibmxr ralii ribkis yflcu ufcfgjafv.
Ktf rsrafw vlvc’a lrref jcs qgbwqa; la kjr ecmtjgjmafglralmjiis delfa, jr atbeut la vlvc’a fzlra.
Qtja lr tjqqfclcu? Qfgfc’a agjlcffr erejiis obgmfv ab kjamt atf qiba lcagbvemalbc?
Soon the inky streaks around him rapidly spread out, forming streets lined with houses, grey utility poles, and a dark, dreary sky.
In the distance, a flock of white doves took flight from the square with a flutter of pristine white wings, soaring over the grey clock tower of the church not far off, almost as if they were rushing to make the latest prayer service.
Zong Jiu’s eyes widened.
This scene was a little too familiar.
Around him, pedestrians bustled about in trench coats, the same indifference on their features.
Like the famous double-slit experiment, everything outside his field of vision was barren. Wherever his gaze landed, the scene would be arranged to become what he remembered it to be.
He looked around on the spot for a while. After not finding anything interesting in his surroundings, he finally started towards the drab grey church building in the corner.
After all, this scene was taken directly from his memory, a scene so familiar to Zong Jiu that it was etched in his heart.
Because he lived here for more than a decade. Until the old nun passed on, the orange tabby passed on—before the magician he apprenticed under took him in, this was the only place he had lived.
Two blocks around the corner was the first school he attended, then past the square was a run-down neighbourhood.
This church stood between the new and old buildings of the city, as though drawing a divisive line.
Whether rich or poor, before God, everyone was equal.
The doors of the church were wide open.
The iron chain was tied to one side, and the narrow lawn and white walls competed in beauty. Upon the centre spire, a large black cross stood in a match to the gloomy weather.
Strangely, none of the devout followers were present today. It seemed when Zong Jiu stepped into this area, the sound of the streets suddenly vanished and left only the tolling of the church bell ahead, each knell heavier than the last.
Zong Jiu unflinchingly walked through the large doors.
He stopped in front of the basin of holy water at the door and cast his gaze inside.
As expected, at the end of the rows of black pews, a white candle burned on an altar cloaked in white cloth. A hunchbacked silhouette in a black nun’s habit and a veil stood before the altar, head bowed in prayer.
The plot introduction of this instance was certainly intriguing. Zong Jiu narrowed his eyes. He didn’t speak or move at all.
“Let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Sure enough, after chanting, the elderly nun slowly looked over her shoulder.
Her features were just as kind as Zong Jiu remembered them to be. Deeply wrinkled, with eyes deeply sunken in their sockets and shining with benevolent light.
Even though more than a decade had passed for Zong Jiu since the old nun’s death, when he finally stood in front of her, he felt that time had not left much of a trace.
“You have come.” The old nun spoke, a nostalgically kind smile spreading across her face.
“Yeah, I am here now.” Zong Jiu shrugged. “Where is this? Heaven?”
“Heaven?”
After a brief pause, the old nun slowly said, “Naturally not, this is not heaven.”
As if in response to the nun, when she uttered the word heaven, their surroundings changed abruptly.
It was like someone scribbled a different layer of colours over the building and the scene with a colour pencil, breathing life into all the cold, harsh, pallid lines, dyeing everything it touched with a holy, platinum glow.
A large cluster of lilies suddenly bloomed in the long-necked vase on the altar, while hot unleavened bread and crimson grape juice materialised on the empty communion plate.
Beyond the stained glass window, the dreary weather cleared into blue skies and white clouds. Golden sunlight filtered through the window, spilling onto the ground and imprinting patterned light.
Dirt flew from the black pews and gathered in the air, turning into fine dust, bright and shiny.
The distant chanting of hymns, accompanied by the plucking of a seven-stringed lyre, echoed in the small space.
In a flash—and this wasn’t an exaggeration, but a tangible transformation—the spiritual body of a person was cleansed, elevating to a higher state of enlightenment that most would struggle to reach.
Like some kind of metaphysical higher-dimensional existence that infused the body with a higher consciousness, it was refreshing to the ear.
Anything dirty or out of place in heaven all quietly faded away.
Even illogicalities became logical, as every object’s shadow disappeared into thin air.
At the same moment that all creation was coloured with this filter, the old nun smiled. “This is just an ordinary city.”
“Do you still remember what I taught you?”
“I do.”
Even though he knew deep down that this was just an illusion, Zong Jiu still replied calmly. “Respond to the expectations of others and never let desire seize your thoughts.”
“Well done, you still remember.”
The approval on the nun’s face deepened.
“It is seven days away from Judgement Day.” She seemed to murmur to herself. “You should leave.”
“I will wait here for you. I hope by that time, you will have returned to earth and made your choice.”
“That reminds me.”
At this, the old nun suddenly turned her head over, clenching her fist like she did when he was a child, gesturing for Zong Jiu to reach out.
The white-haired young man paused, before extending his hand.
The wizened hand gently loosened, and an item dropped onto the young man’s hand with unerring precision.
It was icy cold and light, even spinning on the latter’s palm.
[Congratulations to the trainee for obtaining a B-rank prop: Iruka’s Silver Coin.]
[Prop ability: This is the magnum opus of a legendary dwarven master in an instance, known as one of the Seven Impossible Wonders. It is said to bring unparalleled good fortune to the user for the subsequent 10 minutes.]
[Note: This prop is a consumable item. Remaining usage time(s): 1. After the number of uses has been exhausted, it will turn into an ordinary silver coin with only ornamental and collectible value.]
“Praise the seven virtues.”
As soon as Zong Jiu received this silver coin, at long last, the voice of the system slowly spoke again.
[The plot introduction has ended. System has finished connecting.]
[The fourth round of Thriller Trainee has commenced, located in the group instance: Judgement Day.]
Once again, the scene around him spun rapidly.
In a fleeting moment, Zong Jiu was spirited from a church into a chilly room.
The clothes he wore changed to a set of plain trousers with a white long-sleeved shirt decorated with blue stripes. A small number plate was pinned to his chest.
The other trainees surrounded him, each looking dazed like they had not yet recovered their senses.
After the baptism of the unknown golden light, all of them felt relaxed and brimming with complete confidence, turning the atmosphere so high it didn’t seem like a horror instance.
Yet, it was apparent everyone experienced a different plot introduction.
At that exact moment, the system announced the mode of the instance.
[This instance has been split into two main tasks. Completion of either will be considered a pass.]
[Main task 1: Experience judgement once. After that, you may return to the trainee dormitories at once.]
[Main task 2: Destroy the instance.]
Translated by 🎏
Edited by Ashen, snoflakesun
t/n. Apologies for the delay. Wasn’t prepared to take on this arc but one of my co-translators has gone MIA, so. Will try to get updates back on track.
Thank you for the update! Hoping your co translator is doing alright as well 🙏
WOOHOO IM SO EXCITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPYER YIPEE
thank you for the update!! JUDGEMENT DAY BEGINS!!
Thank you for the chapter! Judgement Day begins! Yay!!! I wonder what this instance will bring!!!!
thank u for the ud. aaah am so exciteed for this arc
YAAAA EXCITEDDhopefully everythings alr w your co translator
I hope co translator will be alright!
Thank you so much for your translation ♥️
Thank you for the chapter!
Hui~ destroying the instance >D
Thx for the ch ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و
I pick number two. Thanks for the update 🤣❤️
Thank you very much for the update! We appreciate all your hard work!