Chapter 1

"Where am I?"

Lin Qing opened his eyes and looked around in confusion.

He lay in a rusty iron cage, which was slowly ascending like an elevator. The rusted iron chains and the unlubricated winch creaked with a terrifying sound.

One floor, then another.

Each floor had glaring lights that shone on Lin Qing's face, which was neither handsome nor good-looking. The light flickered, making Lin Qing close his eyes.

After a while, Lin Qing adapted to the light in the iron cage but felt a bone-chilling cold on his back and heard ghostly howls from below.

He couldn't help but look down.

His hair stood on end.

Below the iron cage was an unfathomable dark cave, with faint lights like ghostly flames flickering in the strong wind, resembling the ghostly phosphorescence in the depths of hell.

The cold, damp wind blew up from the empty abyss, hitting the iron cage like the sobs of ghosts. The wind made the cage sway, and the chilling cold, combined with the creaking of the iron chains, made it seem as if the cage could fall into the bottomless abyss at any moment, causing a deep sense of despair and freezing his soul.

Lin Qing finally managed to calm himself down, grabbed the edge of the iron cage, and looked at the light outside.

A layer of light approached.

He strained his eyes to see.

He had to figure out his surroundings.

Suddenly, a withered human face appeared less than 20 centimeters from Lin Qing!

It was a corpse, severely desiccated, emaciated, and skeletal. The skull-like face had a large mouth open, with a thick wick burning fiercely inside, illuminating the deeply sunken eyes.

In those eyes, which had been dead for a long time and were dried and pale, there was no longer any pain, only despair, deep despair.

Lin Qing was almost frightened to scream.

The iron cage ascended very slowly, and the calm, desiccated corpse gazed at Lin Qing in the cage, its burning mouth wide open, as if laughing silently, until it slowly descended.

But at the next layer of oil lamps, there was another desiccated corpse, its mouth wide open, greeting Lin Qing...

The abyss, the iron cage, the imprisonment, the desiccated corpses, and the horror...

All of this was overwhelming.

"Where am I? Why am I here?" Lin Qing's heart pounded.

His memory gradually became clear. He was Lin Qing, a recent graduate in archaeology.

This year had not been good for him.

His unfortunate major in archaeology led to unemployment upon graduation. He finally found a low-paying job, struggling at the bottom of society, with no future, no money, no time, and no rest...

None of that mattered.

As long as she was there, everything had a light.

His girlfriend's name was Guang, a university classmate.

Guang gave him warmth and hope.

But the only light couldn't withstand the dark clouds of reality.

After a year of persistence, she finally left him, reportedly for a wealthy and handsome man.

Her explanations were forgotten, leaving only the memory of her red, tear-streaked eyes.

She was still so cute.

Lin Qing remembered that he was very calm at the time, not crying, not hating, having no strength to cry, only hating himself.

He repeatedly comforted Guang: "Don't worry. We're still friends. If you need anything, find me."

Guang should seek a bright place, while he, a penniless nobody...

But he inexplicably fell into this dark and terrifying dungeon!

Such a fate seemed perfectly matched, right?

Seeing the layers of desiccated corpses and smelling the faint stench of decay, Lin Qing's body ascended, but his heart sank, as if falling into a bottomless abyss.

There was no doubt that he was in great danger. The origin of these desiccated corpses and the owner of the iron cage were closely related.

Thinking of Guang, who had left him, he felt a faint sense of bitter satisfaction.

Would she, for even a moment, be sad or upset when she heard the news of his disappearance or death a week after their breakup?

"Great," Lin Qing slowly stood up, the fear on his face gradually fading, a calm, self-mocking smile appearing on his lips. "Let's see how much worse it can get."

Death is the ultimate difficulty.

He was already so miserable; how much worse could it get?

The iron cage suddenly shook.

He stumbled, almost falling to the ground.

The iron cage stopped.

Suspended in mid-air, neither touching the sky nor the ground.

A deep green light suddenly shot out from the side, illuminating Lin Qing's body.

Lin Qing looked down and saw his bones, organs, blood vessels, and nerves in clear detail!

"What the hell is this?"

"Scanning and analysis starting..."

"Space code 3636364, human, male, 22 years old, blood type B, no visible genetic diseases. Genetic strength: moderate. Muscle: 4, Reflex: 4, Constitution: 4, Intelligence: 5, Spirit: 4, Charm: 1. Rating: Common. Grouping suggestion: Civilian group."

"Built-in life skill [Archaeological Knowledge] Level 4: Significantly increased ability to identify ancient artifacts and avoid ancient traps."

"What's going on?"

Through the green light, Lin Qing could barely see that the surroundings had changed.

This was a vast space, with countless red dials and screens flashing, like a pack of wolves in the dark, their red eyes filled with malice.

Lin Qing suddenly felt like a lab mouse, held by the tail by cold instruments, hanging in mid-air, while researchers examined him with cold, scientific eyes, deciding which genetic drugs to inject and which experiments to perform...

The feeling of having no control over one's fate was the greatest despair and fear.

"You... get lost!" Lin Qing punched the iron cage. "Let me out!"

But it was useless.

The voice continued monotonously.

"Genetic attribute detection in progress..."

"Collecting data on temperament, character, knowledge, psychology, subconscious, and true self..."

"Plan A: Synchronizing genetic attributes with space database data..."

"Beep... Error in matching..."

"Plan B: Finding alternative similar attributes for matching."

"Beep... Error in matching..."

"Plan C: Randomly assigning space attributes."

"Beep... Loop error in matching..."

"No matching data in the space attribute database."

"Severe error."

"System self-check program initiated..."

The glaring red lights on the dials suddenly went out in large patches.

Lin Qing clenched his fists and thought with satisfaction, "Damn, is something wrong? The worse, the better."

There was a pause of five seconds.

A beep sounded, and the system seemed to restart.

"Emergency plan initiated. Custom generation of space attributes."

"Unique space attribute [Rebellious Tyrant] generated!"

"Attribute data generation starting..."

"Unique space attribute [Rebellious Tyrant] has significant negative effects:

1. Your personality is rebellious and carries a tyrannical aura. In any story, you will always have a low status, destined to be an extra or a minor character, with extremely bad luck, constantly encountering misfortune, and naturally a tragic figure, a nobody, and cannon fodder. You will be the protagonist's enemy and a backup for the female lead.

2. Due to your pride and tyrannical heart, your relationship with the protagonist will be extremely poor, automatically increasing the protagonist's hatred towards you, which is almost impossible to change.

3. In each world, you must complete three fragment tasks. Failure will result in your elimination."

Lin Qing: "..."

As a宅男 (otaku), he was not unfamiliar with the concept of "穿越" (穿越, time travel), but being a tragic nobody in life and entering this place, only to find out that he would be a perpetual tragic figure, wasn't this the legendary "茶几" (tea table)?

Being a nobody for a moment is tragic.

Being a nobody for a lifetime is a tea table full of tragic figures.

Being a perpetual nobody in a cycle is a tragedy (dinnerware)!

Lin Qing's veins bulged on his forehead.

This place was too cruel. They had already imprisoned him, and now they were toying with him. This was truly unbearable!

"Unique space attribute [Rebellious Tyrant] has certain positive effects:

1. Immunity to any protagonist's aura, suppressing its effects. The protagonist cannot charm, inspire, or motivate you to do things for them, and their luck is suppressed in your presence. The suppression effect depends on the level of the [Rebellious Tyrant] attribute.

2. Unique ability [Fragment], completing three fragment tasks in each world will shatter the protagonist's aura! After the protagonist's aura is shattered, it will be converted into the space's unique currency—luck points, which you can absorb.

3. Luck points can be exchanged for any protagonist's skills, rare items allowed in the story, and even the female lead (regardless of her willingness)."

Lin Qing felt a burning heat in his chest, and he screamed, falling to the ground.

His consciousness gradually faded.

World?

Protagonist?

What's the point? Are they making a movie?

At this moment, as if completing a task that required great effort, the iron cage began to ascend again.

Would he face tragedy, a tea table, dinnerware, or a washbasin?

In the darkness, Lin Qing fainted.

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