87: Chapter 86 An Ordinary Life

The morning sunlight stung the eyes, just like the escape route from Xibalba that day.

Pei Duo sat on the wooden floor, holding a retro safe she had bought online. Her fingertip caressed the black jade pendant one last time.

It was covered in grime and riddled with cracks. It felt cold, hard, and rough, like a paving stone casually picked up from a roadside flowerbed. Gone was the gentle warmth, and gone was the lazy voice that called her 'Duo Duo.'

"Clack."

The latch closed. This brass lock, bought for nine yuan and nine jiao on a certain shopping app, locked away a magnificent myth.

Pei Duo stood up, shoved the box into the deepest corner of the wardrobe, and pressed it down firmly beneath the pile of old down jackets she never wore.

Next, she took out her phone and expressionlessly uninstalled the notorious supernatural forum APP.

Having done all this, she faced the mirror and forced out a standard, toothy smile.

"Pei Duo, it's time to grow up."

Mother Pei's loud, down-to-earth voice came from outside the door: "Duo Duo! You're going to be late for the interview! Breakfast is on the table, two eggs, eat up and scram!"

Pei Duo pushed the door open. The living room TV was broadcasting the morning news. Father Pei, ruddy-faced, shook the newspaper, making it seem as if the acute myocardial infarction from a few days ago was just an unfinished nightmare.

Soy milk steamed warmly, and the fried dough sticks were golden and crispy.

This was the mundane, human life her brother had traded for by 'deleting his account.'

She sat down and chewed the slightly scalding fried dough sticks in large bites, but tears suddenly fell, without warning, into the bowl of soy milk, mixing with the sweetness as she swallowed them down.

...

Once the thrilling moments are extracted from time, its flow becomes astonishingly fast.

Without system prompts or vengeful ghosts demanding life, Pei Duo's life received the most standard 'feel-good' script—though, it was the most boring kind of workplace feel-good story.

Her prestigious degree, combined with the terrifying stress resistance and observational skills honed in the s-rank instance, allowed her to thrive in this top state-owned enterprise in Jiangcheng.

Complex office politics? In her eyes, they held less lethality than a single glance from the 'One Death' Speaker in Xibalba.

Tricky project deadlines? Could they compare to the Nine Hells of Mictlan?

At twenty-five, she was confirmed, promoted, and received a raise.

At twenty-six, she became the youngest Deputy Director in her department and bought the SUV she had long coveted.

At family gatherings, Father Pei and Mother Pei smiled so widely their wrinkles bloomed, boasting to everyone: "Our Duo Duo is sensible, stable, and successful!"

Pei Duo obediently served tea and water, her smile freezing her facial muscles stiff, like an exquisite display piece.

Only late at night, after finishing overtime and driving alone through the Jiangcheng tunnel, would she subconsciously glance at the empty front passenger seat.

Someone should be sitting there—a woman cleaning a knife, or a man pushing up his glasses.

In the winter of her third year at the company, Pei Duo finally managed to arrange a meeting with those two people.

The most expensive private dining restaurant in Jiangcheng had the heating turned up high in the private room. Pei Duo wore a perfectly tailored high-end professional suit, her makeup as exquisite as a mannequin in a display window.

The door was pushed open.

A blast of cold wind swept in two figures.

The appropriate smile on Pei Duo's face froze instantly.

Three years had passed, but Xu Mo was still Xu Mo, wearing an assault jacket. However, his signature gold-rimmed glasses had been replaced by heavy black tactical goggles. A piece of his left earlobe was missing, as if violently torn off by some beast, the edges covered in ugly hypertrophic scars.

And Lin Sa...

She still had neat short hair, but her walking posture was somewhat strange.

When she sat down, the angle at which her right pant leg stretched out was unnaturally rigid—that was the sound of metal striking bone; that was a mechanical prosthesis.

"Long time no see."

Xu Mo's voice was hoarse and rough, as if his vocal cords had been smoked.

"L-long time no see."

Pei Duo felt like her throat was stuffed with cotton. She wanted to ask, 'Does it hurt?' but felt the question was sickeningly sentimental.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was eerily suffocating.

Pei Duo desperately tried to find topics, talking about recent real estate policies, the state-owned enterprise's year-end bonuses, or which top celebrity had caused another scandal.

Xu Mo and Lin Sa listened quietly, occasionally agreeing, but their eyes were always drifting.

They subconsciously scanned the room's ventilation outlets and stared at the meat-slicing knife in the waiter's hand, their muscles constantly tense.

"Are you... still running instances recently?"

Pei Duo finally couldn't help but ask the forbidden question.

Xu Mo's hand paused while lifting his teacup, and a flash of fatigue crossed his eyes behind the goggles: "Yeah. Just came out of a B-rank instance. It was like going to pay respects at a grave."

"The versions have changed now."

Lin Sa's voice was cold as she unconsciously twirled the stainless steel dinner fork in her hand. "The divine pollution is getting worse, and rule-based horror stories have become mainstream. The old-fashioned brute-force approach doesn't work anymore."

Pei Duo opened her mouth, wanting to say, 'I understand rule-killing too,' but suddenly realized that all the experience in her mind had rusted away over the past two years of reports and PPTs.

She didn't understand what 'pollution index' they were talking about, nor did she know what 'Sanity Value Threshold' meant.

She was obsolete.

Or rather, she had been completely purged from that circle.

The waiter brought out a Beef Wellington. To preserve the texture, it was only cooked rare.

The moment the knife and fork cut through the flaky crust, bright red blood seeped out along the lines, spreading across the pure white bone china plate, glaringly red.

"Crack!"

A harsh, brittle sound.

The stainless steel fork in Lin Sa's hand was forcibly bent by her, the sharp tip deeply embedding itself in the solid wood tabletop!

She stared fixedly at the pool of blood, her pupils contracting violently. Her entire body trembled fiercely, as if that were some S-rank horror story about to reawaken.

"Lin Sa!"

Xu Mo reacted extremely quickly, grabbing Lin Sa's hand. He skillfully pulled out a small brown vial with no label from his pocket, poured out two white pills, and stuffed them into her mouth.

"Swallow them. It's steak, not that thing."

Xu Mo's voice was deep and strong, carrying the practiced tone of someone who frequently soothes a mad person.

Pei Duo was terrified, holding the wine decanter mid-air, frozen in place.

After calming Lin Sa, Xu Mo looked up.

His gaze fell upon the equally bloody steak on the plate in front of Pei Duo. His brow furrowed slightly, and a flicker of undisguised worry crossed his eyes.

The next second, he naturally reached out, directly taking away the expensive steak in front of Pei Duo, and pushed his own plate of fully cooked meat sauce pasta toward her.

"Sorry, I scared you. She has a bit of PTSD, an old problem."

Xu Mo smiled apologetically, gesturing to the pasta. "You eat this. This is safe, no blood, won't frighten you."

His tone was like coaxing a child who hadn't been weaned, or perhaps protecting a fragile piece of porcelain.

Boom—

Pei Duo looked at the plate of pasta, and an unprecedented sense of shame washed over her like a tsunami.

Pei Duo ate this meal with no taste, finding it harder to swallow than the compressed biscuits from that year.