Chapter 4

When the information about the副本 world was finally introduced, Fang Li felt as if he had been suddenly thrown into the air, his vision spinning and distorting.

There was no time to be surprised; Fang Li immediately felt dizzy and disoriented, his head spinning violently.

The feeling was truly unbearable, as if he had spun around a hundred times in one spot, his mind becoming muddled.

When this feeling finally subsided, Fang Li felt as if he had fallen from the sky, his feet finally touching solid ground. Then, his distorted vision gradually returned to normal.

Only then did Fang Li realize where he was—a very old house.

The house seemed to be Japanese in style, with wooden boards laid on the floor instead of tatami mats.

In the middle of the wooden boards was a small coal stove.

The coal stove burned slowly, with an iron pot hanging above it, boiling water inside, giving off a strong sense of life from the Edo period.

Unfortunately, Fang Li could not appreciate this sense of life at all.

It wasn't that Fang Li had any sensory deficiencies in terms of living.

There was only one reason for this.

Everything within Fang Li's field of vision was divided by crooked lines, like cracks or a child's scribbles.

The walls had them.

The floor had them.

The ceiling had them.

Even the burning coal stove and the iron pot with boiling water had them.

"Ugh..."

Fang Li groaned as if feeling nauseous.

At this moment, the entire world in Fang Li's vision seemed to be a haphazardly pieced-together defective product, as if it could break at any moment.

In such a situation, how would an ordinary person feel?

It's simple.

Just imagine yourself in an elevator hanging hundreds of meters above the ground, and the elevator is gradually collapsing before your eyes, reducing your standing space bit by bit, and you could fall at any moment. Multiply this situation by thousands or tens of thousands of times.

The feeling that the world could break at any moment, that everything would end before your eyes, and that you might also disintegrate with the world's collapse, is enough to drive a person mad just by thinking about it.

And now, Fang Li was "alive" in such a broken world, as if a light touch of those lines would cause the world to break.

"No wonder Ryougi Shiki and Tohno Shiki couldn't stand this situation."

After all, who would want to live in a broken world that could break with just a touch?

Standing on the edge of a cliff would instill great fear, let alone standing in a world that could break at any moment.

Such an illusion could drive a normal person to madness.

"Interestingly, I feel nothing."

A world that could collapse at any moment?

It doesn't matter.

Because, if that really happened, it would only mean the end of the world, or death.

——"Death."

Fang Li could not generate any emotions in the face of this concept.

Even if the world died, it would be the same.

However, looking at such a haphazardly pieced-together broken world was indeed very uncomfortable.

"Since it's a natural ability, I should be able to do it, right?"

With this thought, Fang Li closed his eyes slightly, with only one idea in his mind.

"Close these eyes."

Only Ryougi Shiki and Tohno Shiki possessed the Dead Apostle Eyes.

However, their situations were completely different.

After a period of adaptation and guidance, Ryougi Shiki could activate the Dead Apostle Eyes at will through her willpower.

Tohno Shiki, on the other hand, could only suppress the activation of the Dead Apostle Eyes with a tool called the Magic Eye Killer.

Fang Li was now doing the same as Ryougi Shiki.

The result was promising.

When Fang Li opened his eyes again, the world before him had returned to normal.

Without looking, Fang Li knew that the ice-blue Dead Apostle Eyes, symbolizing "death," had disappeared, and his eyes had returned to their original dark color.

"It seems my Dead Apostle Eyes are more similar to Ryougi Shiki's in nature, unlike Tohno Shiki's."

Just as this thought crossed Fang Li's mind, the door suddenly opened.

"You, the outsider, what are you still doing here?"

Two men dressed in samurai attire, with swords at their waists, walked in.

"——!"

Fang Li immediately tensed up.

The two samurai, however, glared at Fang Li as if they hadn't seen anything.

"Didn't expect you to have time to slack off here?"

"Get to the city gate quickly, or do you want to go hungry?"

To prevent the sudden appearance of the God's Messenger in the副本 world from being too jarring, the God's Space would provide the Messenger with a basic identity when entering the副本 world.

Of course, it was just a basic identity, such as a resident of a certain city or an employee of a certain company.

This time, the God's Space had prepared an identity for Fang Li as an outsider who had wandered to this place, unable to guarantee his own food and shelter, and was thus conscripted by the samurai to work in exchange for three meals a day.

And apparently, today's job was to guard the city gate.

"Guard the city gate?" Fang Li's eyebrows twitched slightly, and after a moment of silence, he said, "Does that mean we might face the Kabane?"

This one sentence changed the atmosphere around him.

The expressions of the two samurai stiffened slightly, and their eyes turned more hostile.

Their appearance could only be associated with one situation.

That of a person driven to the edge of a cliff, facing a desperate situation, and exhibiting hysteria.

It was clear how much the word "Kabane" had affected these samurai.

Thus, Fang Li began to search his memory of this world.

——"Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress."

This was a world set in Japan after the 1860s.

In this era, the Industrial Revolution had already begun and was gradually influencing the world, leading various countries into modernization.

However, at this time, a kind of monster appeared.

——"Kabane."

A bloodthirsty monster created by the sudden resurrection and brutalization of people who should have been dead.

In short, they were like zombies or the undead.

However, these monsters were different from ordinary zombies and the undead.

Their physical abilities were astonishing, and their regenerative powers were extraordinary. They would not die unless their hearts were pierced.

However, their hearts were protected by a layer of skin.

This layer of skin was as hard as steel, not easily penetrable.

In such a situation, these almost indestructible monsters, driven by their thirst for blood, attacked the entire human world.

If bitten by them, one would be infected and gradually turn into the same kind of monster.

Humans called these monsters——"Kabane."

To combat the threat of the Kabane, the shogunate, which ruled Japan, built steel fortresses called "ekiden" in various places to protect the remaining humans.

Now, Fang Li was in the main quest's second location, the Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, the fortress that appeared at the beginning of the original story.

However, this did not make Fang Li feel any more relaxed.

Because anyone who had seen the original story knew that the Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress would soon be invaded by the Kabane and fall.

At that time, Fang Li would face a group of man-eating monsters and fight them.

Thinking of this, Fang Li touched the dagger at his waist, and a hint of ice-blue light flashed in his dark eyes.

"Indestructible monsters... huh?"

To fight such monsters with an ordinary dagger was like a dreamer's fantasy.

But...

"Let me confirm with these eyes whether they are truly indestructible..."

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