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Chapter 11 An Ordinary Job
It's still the same temple.

The incense and candles were bright, and the smoke was swirling around.

The only difference was that the page floating on the altar had changed again, but it still looked the same withered yellow.

But the moment Zhou You touched it, a prompt appeared in front of him.

"The player has been detected to possess the item: the skeleton inside the door. The player can choose to replace this instance with a special instance. Please note that the difficulty of this instance may be too high for your current level, but there is a chance to obtain extremely rare rewards and a potion that can effectively treat your condition."

"May I enter?"

Zhou You didn't make a direct choice. Instead, he carefully read the last sentence for a while before reaching out and resolutely pressing the button.

—We came into this godforsaken place precisely to find a chance to heal ourselves, even if it's just a medicine that targets the symptoms rather than a cure. But what's that saying again?

Something is better than nothing, right?
The instant Zhou You made his choice, the pages seemed to malfunction, flashing rapidly in mid-air before transforming completely. The paper gradually became tattered, like those old books from the 1980s, and even the text began to shift from standard printed font to the early ink-based Song typeface.

"Unknown special item detected: the intervention of the skeleton inside the door."

The script is being revised.

"Script changes complete."

Special instance: The Night Watchman.

Type: Calamity.

"Erosion level: low to medium".

"Number of resurrections: 10+5 (additional numbers from the corpses inside the gate)."

Background: Like many young people of your age, you also harbored dreams and aspired to make a name for yourself. That's why you left your hometown and came to this coastal city. Unfortunately, things didn't go as well as you imagined. Because you didn't have much education, you went through a lot of hardship to find a job patrolling the streets at night—although the salary wasn't much, it was enough to keep you from starving.

"But what you don't know is that this job is not simple at all."

"Because before you, five people had gone missing and three had died tragically in the same position."

"And you, you are very likely to be the ninth one."

"Requirements: Survive for five days and patrol the entire block at least once."

"Please note that the time in this scenario is divided into 'day' and 'night'. When you actively choose to complete certain conditions in the game space, or when you die more than a certain number of times, the time will immediately change back to daytime. Daytime is relatively safe, but your range of movement will be limited, and you will not be able to complete patrol missions."

"This script can only be saved automatically."

"This reward is: 500 Soul Stones and one random purple special item."

(Item and talent levels, from lowest to highest, are: white, green, blue, purple, orange, silver, red, gold, and unique gold.)
"The second reward is an extension of one and a half months of life, and a dose of Sanchu Decoction to prevent the disease from worsening."

"May I enter?"

—Well, now there's no exit option at all.

Zhou You pursed his lips, then directly chose to enter.

"Hey"

I could vaguely hear some sound.

"Hey kid!"

The voice grew louder and more aggressive. "Hey kid, I... I'm fucking calling you!"

A sudden loud noise jolted Zhou You awake from his daze.

Opening his slightly heavy eyelids, the first thing he saw was a face full of anger.

At first glance, the man appeared to be around thirty-six or thirty-seven years old, bald, and wearing a green security guard uniform commonly seen around 00, with a particularly conspicuous red armband pinned to his arm.

At this moment, this person was looking at Zhou You with a displeased expression, seemingly quite hostile.

Since he had just entered the script and was not yet familiar with everything around him, Zhou You decided to proceed cautiously for the time being.

"Excuse me, may I ask who you are?"

who ever thought.

Such a simple and polite remark, however, was like a match that ignited a firework, instantly enraging the other party.

"Who am I??? Are you fucking out of your mind? You don't even recognize your boss's face? You came to me crying and begging, and I only gave you a job to make ends meet because we're from the same hometown. Is this how you repay my kindness? It's only your first day at work, and you're already dozing off?"

"Um, I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush."

While casually responding to the middle-aged man who was about to bite, Zhou You first glanced at himself out of the corner of his eye.

—She wore the exact same green uniform as the man, only it was a bit worn and dirty, with dark black stains visible in some places.
It looks... kind of like blood?
Before Zhou You could investigate further, the middle-aged man suddenly slammed his hand on the table.

With a loud 'bang', Zhou You finally realized what had woken him up.

"I'm talking to you, are you even listening to me?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou You quickly coughed twice and then put on an apologetic smile.

"Excuse me, excuse me, I was a little distracted just now and didn't notice. Is there anything I can help you with?"

The saying goes, "You can't hit a smiling face." Looking at this seemingly harmless and incredibly friendly smile, the middle-aged man couldn't bring himself to get angry. He could only say in a stern voice, "I'm here specifically to remind you that it's time to go to work. Today is your first day on duty. Due to staff shortages, you'll be the only one on night duty for the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled and don't fucking cause any trouble."

"Excuse me for interrupting."

"what?"

"I think I've forgotten. What is my job again?"

"—You fucking don't even know what your job is!" The middle-aged man was about to burst into a tirade, but then he seemed to remember something and suppressed his anger, instead offering a reluctant and patient explanation.

"I'll say it one more time, and for the last time: your task is simply to patrol all the main streets of Qinghe District between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.—including the Changsongpo area next door where a park is about to be built—and record all the problems you see, then submit them to me at the end of each shift."

"--Um, so if something happens along the way, like thugs committing crimes, thieves helping people move for free, or something particularly strange, what should I do?"

"You don't need to worry about that," the middle-aged man waved his hand. "All you need to do is take a walk around, come back, write the report, that's it, simple, right?"

No, it might not be simple at all.

Zhou You stared at the middle-aged man, keenly noticing a deep-seated fear and apprehension in his eyes.

But in the end, he simply grinned and gave a peaceful smile.

"Yes, I understand. I'll get ready to work now."

(End of this chapter)