Volume 1. Let the Game Begin
This guy was capturing souls, but it seemed that he didn’t have a so-called “stomach,” so he couldn’t digest the souls quickly.
Was that why the two twisted souls were screaming inside his belly?
Tsk~ just thinking about it gave me the chills.
To be swallowed alive, and still retain awareness inside the belly... how despairing must that be?
From the expressions of those two souls, I could clearly see they were still alive.
Those two swallowed souls were still alive…
In other words, they still had perception, could still feel pain, and were aware of themselves being digested bit by bit.
Moreover… this guy’s digestion didn’t seem to be done through a mouth, but by making the two souls inside his belly tear at each other, hurt each other.
The torn fragments would then become his nourishment.
Don’t ask how I knew this…
Strangely enough, I just knew.
While I was thinking about all that, without realizing it… I had already walked to the doorway.
When I came back to my senses, I was startled to find… I was standing right at the door.
My hand was already reaching out of the room, and a faintly tempting scent was wafting into my nostrils.
Crap!!
I didn’t intend to leave the room—I wanted to return to my body!
Something’s wrong…
My body was being overtaken by instinct!
I could feel my form trembling, craving the sweetness of souls.
Without a physical body, I couldn’t control my desires!
No… I couldn’t waste any more time!
Clenching my teeth, I summoned all my willpower and forcefully moved my legs step by step toward my own body.
At that moment, I was already over three meters tall—not a normal human height, but as if my body had been forcibly stretched.
I bit down hard and pushed my soul back into my physical body.
The first to re-enter was my right hand.
Then, almost instantly, half of my body melted into it.
In that instant, the hunger inside me was cut in half.
My body began to stabilize and anchor my will.
It was a strange, indescribable feeling.
Like a drifting soul had suddenly found a place to rest.
The restless desire to devour souls and grow stronger began to fade.
But even now, I couldn’t fully control my soul.
Not until my feet were completely back inside my body…
That was when I realized, shocked—my left hand wasn’t planning on returning.
I snapped my eyes open.
My body was almost completely under control again.
But I clearly saw that beside my limp left arm, right at my shoulder, that soul-arm wasn’t merging—it was scratching wildly at the air.
At that moment… the evil spirit form, which wasn’t supposed to be able to harm the physical world, suddenly slashed the bed beside me with a “crack”—and the whole bed collapsed.
Gritting my teeth, I reached out with my right hand.
I didn’t care how dirty the floor was—I grabbed the ghostly arm and shoved it back toward my shoulder.
Sweat poured from my forehead.
After what felt like using every last ounce of strength, I finally pushed the soul-arm back into my body.
The moment it re-entered, the out-of-control feeling vanished instantly.
My right hand regained its sensation in an instant.
That immense strength disappeared as well.
“Whew…”
I let out a long breath.
I had really been afraid that arm wouldn’t return.
If that had happened, I’d basically have turned into a walking human weapon.
The evil spirit body was much larger than a human body.
That arm was nearly the same height as me.
If that had gone wrong, anywhere within a meter around me would’ve become a danger zone.
But… I did discover one good thing.
Originally, I thought my spirit form could only leave my body while I was unconscious.
I didn’t expect that I could do it even while awake.
Which meant… if something bad really happened, I could extend both hands out of my body to confront that goat-headed monster while still running with my legs.
Er…
I admit that image sounded a bit funny, but in order to survive, I’d try anything.
Still… it hadn’t come to that yet.
I retrieved my watch from Fang Zheng’s hand.
After a moment of hesitation, I also reached into his pocket and pulled out a substitute doll.
I had devoured his soul, so I could access his memories.
Unfortunately, souls I devoured didn’t retain their personalities.
His memories now felt to me like a first-person film.
Although the time was short, I skimmed through his experiences and figured out some of the game’s rules.
So this so-called permanent game… occurred once a month.
That’s why it was called a "permanent task."
And these permanent tasks only ranged in danger from the lowest level D- to C+.
They rarely exceeded that.
D-level meant even normal people had a chance to survive.
From his memories, I learned that he had once ambushed an experienced player during an A-level mission and stolen his item, surviving by sheer luck.
After that, he understood the cruelty of the game and chose never to leave home, avoiding random missions.
He had survived four permanent missions so far.
This time, it was because of acute appendicitis that he had to be hospitalized—and so he ended up in this hospital.
He had converted some of his points into money for personal use, and most of the rest into various items—mostly substitute dolls.
This time, he was carrying two dolls.
According to his memory, system-given substitute dolls couldn’t be stolen.
But apart from the one given each mission, all other items could be taken freely.
As for how he recognized my watch as the “World Watch”—it was because he had been in the stairwell when I rushed down earlier.
I didn’t notice him then as I ran straight into the men’s restroom.
He saw me and immediately hid in this room.
Then, he saw me come out of a non-bathroom room, and guessed I might be carrying some kind of space or time item.
He immediately noticed my watch…
After all, aside from my phone and the doll hanging around my neck, the watch was the only obvious item.
So he instantly guessed my watch was the “World Watch.”
At that moment, he decided to rob me of my item, rape me, and then throw me to the monster as a one-time substitute.
From his memory, I clearly saw—this guy was absolute scum.
In his time playing the game, he had killed eight people.
I was the ninth.
That’s how someone like him survived.
Unfortunately for him, the recovery scroll he bought had already been used.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t still have to worry about my leg injury.
He came to the hospital because of acute appendicitis.
He’d had surgery yesterday.
Moving around today was nearly impossible, so he gritted his teeth and bought a one-time body recovery scroll and another substitute doll before entering the game.
The scroll had already been used at the start of the game, allowing him to move freely.
But the substitute doll… he didn’t get the chance to use it.
If he had, who knows whether I’d be dead or alive now.
I stashed away the substitute doll he exchanged with points.
As for the one the system gave him—I couldn’t take that one unless he voluntarily handed it over while still conscious.
That was probably the only bit of mercy the system provided.
When everything else had been stolen, at least that doll… still offered a final lifeline.
I touched the doll hanging from my neck.
Surprisingly… the system was still a bit humane.
I put the watch back on.
With the one-time substitute doll, I now had fifteen seconds of extra time.
Plus the system’s substitute doll—that gave me twenty-five seconds total.
Add to that the goat-headed monster following basic physics… I should have about twenty-six to twenty-eight seconds of safety.
Suddenly, time didn’t seem so scarce.
But… that still wasn’t enough to guarantee I’d escape alive.
Right—twenty-five seconds.
For a normal person, that’s enough to run down five to six floors.
If they were fit, maybe even seven to ten.
But… my left leg was broken.
Forget running—walking was already way slower than average.
In other words… escaping from the hospital on foot was no longer realistic.
Then… how could I leave this hospital?
Or find a way to exit this dimension early?
I fell silent for a moment, then gritted my teeth.
At the very least, Fang Zheng’s body would now make a useful decoy.
He had no soul anymore, but his body was still alive.
I didn’t know how the goat-headed monster chose targets.
If it only attacked living souls, Fang Zheng would be useless.
But if it attacked the body first, then devoured the soul… Fang Zheng would be very useful.
But now, I have no way to confirm that.
Tsk!
Walking… was impossible.
My legs couldn’t handle it.
Wait… my legs?
The spirit body?
Could I climb down the building using the spirit body’s arm?
No—impossible.
The spirit body had already reached its endurance limit.
I wouldn’t be able to summon it again for at least a week.
“Ugh… think, think again… Why can’t that monster check under beds or desks? Why can’t it open cabinets on its own? No, no… is the puzzle really in the first rule? The second rule says to escape the hospital before 1:00 AM. Escape… the hospital? What defines the boundary of escape? Is it passing the hospital gate? Or is leaving the building enough?”