| WRIAWW | Welcome to the Infinite Space | 02
After leaving the hospital, Zong Le headed straight into the subway station.
The public facilities in Guiyi City were quite old, and the subway station was grimy, with dirty stains in every corner.
Ignoring the people who skillfully jumped over the gate, Zong Le dutifully bought a ticket, swiped his card, and entered the station.
The station where he boarded wasn’t too crowded, and there were plenty of seats available. After riding for two stops, an elderly man with a cane shakily boarded the train. Upon seeing all the seats taken, his expression changed, and he began to shout loudly.
“Where has the sense of social morality gone? Why won’t anyone give up their seat when they see an elderly person?”
The seated passengers responded indifferently—some were on their phones, others were dozing off, and some even raised their newspapers to cover their faces. A nosy young man with dyed yellow hair spat on the ground and muttered, “Old bastard.”
The old man’s face twitched, and he gripped his cane, ready to strike.
Just as a fight seemed imminent, Zong Le quickly stood up. “Grandpa, there’s a seat here. Please sit.”
Because of this gesture, a potential argument was instantly defused.
“What a psycho.”
The young man, who had been eager to pick a fight, glanced at Zong Le, who had voluntarily given up his seat, and immediately lost interest.
Zong Le was taken aback.
He thought to himself, My bag doesn’t have any hospital logo on it, so how did this guy know so accurately that I just came out of the psychiatric department? That’s pretty impressive.
Zong Le lived in the suburbs of Guiyi City, quite a distance from the city center.
With nothing else to do while standing, he leaned against a pole and took out his phone.
Although Dr. Wang wasn’t a good person, his advice did make some sense.
Back at the hospital, Zong Le had briefly considered his situation. At this stage, he not only needed to reintegrate into society but also address his immediate financial difficulties. In comparison, finding a job was indeed necessary.
“But given my current situation, with no work experience, it’ll probably be hard to land a long-term position. Maybe I should start with short-term jobs and see which one suits me best.” With this in mind, he opened a job-hunting app.
At that moment, the train arrived at a new station. This was a transfer hub, and the flow of people getting on and off was like a tidal wave. Zong Le took a couple of steps to the side to make way but was unexpectedly shoved by a strong force, causing him to stumble and drop his phone.
Not far away, the young man with dyed hair, who had deliberately pushed him, made a face as if to ensure everyone noticed.
“Oh, sorry!”
Instead, it was the innocent bystander who had been indirectly affected who apologized profusely, who bend down to pick up the phone. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t notice.”
Before Zong Le could say anything, the man offered a solution. “Check if the screen is cracked. If it’s damaged, I’m willing to compensate you with a new phone.”
“Uh... it’s fine. It’s not cracked, there’s no need to compensate.”
“Oh, okay. I’m really sorry.”
After the man left, Zong Le couldn’t help but glance in his direction.
Having been out of the hospital for a few months, he had come to realize that most people in the city were like the young man with dyed hair—full of hostility and a desire to cause trouble. In contrast, this polite stranger was the first of his kind Zong Le had encountered, and it felt oddly unfamiliar.
Little did he know, the man was also talking about him with his companion.
“Old Liu, what took you so long?”
“I accidentally knocked an NPC’s phone. Let’s get straight into business.”
Liu Jianhua waved his hand, not wanting to dwell on it. “The weirdness level of this mission isn’t too high...”
As he spoke, he glanced at another person who had been visibly nervous from the start. From the normal black-and-white pupils, Liu Jianhua deduced that this was also a colleague from the Infinite Space.
"You're a survivor here for this mission too, right?"
"Brother L-Liu, hello! I'm Wen Pushi, a D-level survivor!"
Upon being addressed, Wen Pushi immediately straightened up and bowed, his tone full of flattery.
The hierarchy among survivors was strict. To survive, lower-level survivors inevitably had to cling to higher-level ones. This kind of flattery was nothing; even dirtier deals were commonplace in the Infinite Space, it was hardly surprising.
"What's a D-level doing in the ultimate dungeon?" Liu Jianhua asked, puzzled.
At this, Wen Pushi couldn't hide his frustration. "Brother Liu, you might not know this, but after the ultimate dungeon in Guiyi City was activated, the main system shut down all other dungeon missions. And since survivors are bound by the rule to enter dungeons and complete missions, we lower-level survivors had no choice but to come here..."
Liu Jianhua sensed there was more to the closure of other dungeons, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it.
"Alright. I just used my psychic abilities to sense that weirdness lurking in the front carriage. Zuo Dai and I will handle the main mission. As for you... your level is too low, so stay in the back carriage and focus on side missions. Let's aim for a perfect team evaluation and earn more survival points."
Surprised by how approachable these two B-level veterans were, Wen Pushi exclaimed, "Thank you, boss!"
"Mm, go ahead."
Meanwhile, Zong Le was completely unaware of their conversation.
He was staring at his phone, utterly baffled.
Twenty minutes ago, the app named "Today's Recruitment" had a dark black background; now, the interface had turned plain white.
Not only that, but the previously listed recruitment updates had also transformed. The once neatly arranged job postings had vanished, leaving the screen empty, devoid of anything.
After freezing for at least thirty seconds, words slowly began to appear.
【Bzzz... Searching... Searching...】
【Unknown error detected... B-level survivor Liu Jianhua identified... Mismatch between person and identity... System error...】
【System checking... Please wait... Check successful... Rebooting...】
【Would you like to bind to the main system? Yes/No】
Zong Le flipped his phone over and back again.
No matter what button he pressed, even when he tried to power it off, the words on the black screen showed no sign of disappearing or changing.
"Is my phone broken...?"
He had spent a fortune on it. If it broke, with the little money he had left, he wouldn't be able to afford repairs.
Helpless, Zong Le followed the prompt and pressed 【Yes】, praying it wouldn't cost him extra.
Fortunately, his prayer was answered. After pressing "Yes," the phone paused briefly, and the previous white text shattered, reassembling into a new, golden, glowing message.
【Binding successful】
【Welcome to the Infinite Space, Zong Le】
Upon entering the app, the first thing that caught his eye was his personal profile.
【Name: Zong Le】
【Level: E】
【Survival Points: 0】
【Current Location: SSS-Level Ultimate Dungeon—Guiyi City】
"Strange, how does this app know my real name? Has the real-name verification system gone this far?"
Zong Le looked at the newly appeared information with confusion, scratched his head, and began browsing the job listings.
This time, the app displayed very few job postings, most of which were grayed out. Only one was highlighted.
【The Strange Subway of Guiyi City Line 4】
【Task Level: C】
【Description: This is a subway that coincidentally departs at 4 PM but unexpectedly collides at 4:44. Passengers are in a panic. As temporary safety officers, you need to handle this emergency.】
【Main Task: Restart the train】
【Side Task: Protect the safety of the passenger】
Looking at the task level and then at the level beneath his name, Zong Le suddenly understood.
"Well, it seems job postings also consider experience. I have no work experience, so of course, I’m at the lowest level."
"What a user-friendly job app," Zong Le thought with respect.
【it is detected that the tasker is in a mission scenario. A beginner task has been automatically generated based on your survival level.】
【Side Task (Beginner Task Bonus)】
【Description: You are the temporary safety officer for Line 4 subway. Please protect the passengers in Carriage 4 during this event.】
Base Task Reward: 20 survival points for each passenger kept alive】
Before he could finish reading, the lights on both sides suddenly went out. Immediately after, a loud "boom" echoed.
Everyone stumbled forward due to the sudden brake, and the carriage instantly descended into chaos.
"What the hell?"
"Who stepped on my foot? Do you have a death wish?!"
Others were thrown off balance, and screams filled the air.
Zong Le, with his quick reflexes, grabbed the handrail in time and stood firm.
While managing himself, he even had the leisure to glance at his phone.
The time on it happened to be exactly 4:44.
As people cursed and tried to figure out what was happening, a beam of white light pierced through the darkness.
"Everyone, quiet!"
At the junction between two carriages, someone raised a flashlight and shone it over.
The light acted like a signal, and the noisy carriage instantly fell silent.
Seeing the chaos under control, Wen Pushi took the opportunity to display his work ID on his phone: "I’m a staff member of Guiyi City Subway."
"Just now, I received a notice from my superiors that a paranormal activity has occurred on Line 4. Please remain calm and follow my instructions. I will ensure everyone’s safety."
The passengers in the carriage exchanged glances, and after a moment, laughter erupted.
"Hahahaha! Did you hear what he said? A paranormal activity? That’s hilarious!"
"He’s crazy. This isn’t a TV drama. Ghost stories? He must be out of his mind."
Among the crowd, the guy with dyed yellow hair laughed the loudest.
Looking at the chaos before him, Wen Pushi frowned in disgust. Just as he was about to continue, he saw a handsome black-haired youth, who looked like a model from a high-end magazine, struggling to push through the crowd.
"Um... I can vouch for that." Under the gaze of the entire carriage, Zong Le also raised his phone: "I’m also a temporary safety officer recruited by Guiyi City Subway. I just received a notice from my superiors about handling a paranormal activity and ensuring everyone’s safety."
Seeing this, Wen Pushi felt a surge of joy.
He had originally thought that this C-level mission only assigned three survivors, but he hadn’t expected to pick up an extra teammate. He immediately extended his hand in goodwill: “Wen Pushi, nice to meet you.”
“Zong Le, nice to meet you. May I ask...”
Although Zong Le had stepped forward to cooperate, he was filled with questions. For instance, what did the strange event mean?
And why did the recruitment app suddenly display so many unfamiliar terms?
Most importantly, why did this person’s eyes, like his own, have distinct black and white pupils instead of being entirely black? This was the first time Zong Le had encountered someone who seemed “normal” like him, and he was eager to find out if this person was a fellow patient.
Unfortunately, Wen Pushi interrupted him: “Brother, we can chat later. Right now, the most important thing is to focus on the mission.”
“Ah, oh, alright.”
Reluctantly, Zong Le had to set aside his many doubts.
Even though Zong Le had stepped forward to vouch for them, the people in the carriage showed no signs of believing them. Especially the guy with dyed yellow hair, who, upon realizing Zong Le was the same person who had tried to mediate his fight earlier, immediately sneered.
“Bullshit! What are the odds of something like this happening? I bet you two are in cahoots and trying to scam us.”
To be fair, even though they had shown their work IDs, mere words without evidence were hardly convincing.
In the darkness, panic quickly spread with just a few words.
“It’s definitely fake. It’s probably just a sudden brake and a power outage. It’ll probably be back to normal soon.”
“Exactly, there’s no such thing as paranormal events in this world.”
Even the elderly man Zong Le had helped earlier trembled as he raised his cane, pointing at the two and scolding: “The world is going to hell, it’s going to hell!”
With so many people backing him up, the yellow-haired guy became even more aggressive: “Come on! If you have the ability, show me some supernatural stuff.”
In this situation, Zong Le felt somewhat helpless.
He whispered, “So, what do we do now?”
“What do we do? We wait.”
Unlike Zong Le’s unease, Wen Pushi crossed his arms, his expression cold and indifferent.
“Let them make a scene. There’s no point talking to these NPCs in this bizarre instance. They won’t believe anything we say now. They’re the type who won’t admit the truth until they see the coffin. We’ll have to wait until something really happens before they change their tune.”
After saying this, Wen Pushi suddenly realized something.
“Wait, why are you even asking me this? Isn’t it common sense for survivors to treat NPCs as human shields?”
A faint sense of foreboding crept into his mind, and he silently checked the mission participant’s level.
When he saw the gray “E” floating above Zong Le’s head, Wen Pushi was utterly stunned.
“Holy shit?! You’re a newbie???”
Caught off guard by his reaction, Zong Le was startled.
He hesitated before speaking: “Well, yes, this is my first time taking on a job like this. Uh, does this job require any prerequisites? Will being a newbie affect things?”
“You’re asking me?! It’s a huge problem! For example, you’re still clueless about the situation!”
Wen Pushi snapped in frustration.
He never expected to encounter a newbie in the ultimate instance.
After all, even the simplest instances in the Infinite Space had a certain mortality rate, let alone the ultimate instance. A C-level mission in the ultimate instance was practically equivalent to a B-level mission in other instances.
Encountering a newbie who would only be a burden in such a perilous place was bad enough, but what was even more infuriating was that this newbie seemed completely clueless, babbling something about job recruitment and part-time work. Wen Pushi couldn't help but feel his anger rising.
However, babysitting the newbie and explaining the basic rules would earn him 50 survival points.
For the sake of the points, Wen Pushi suppressed his rage.
"You were a modern person before entering the Infinite Space, right? Have you ever read any infinite flow novels?"
"I am indeed a modern person, but I don’t have the habit of reading novels..."
Seeing the increasingly dark expression on this "senior worker," Zong Le quickly added, "I’m sorry, Senior Wen, for causing you trouble. Don’t judge me by my thin arms and legs—my stamina and reflexes are actually pretty good. How about you give me directions later, and I’ll do the work?"
"..." Wen Pushi was speechless.
No matter how good a newbie’s reflexes were, could they possibly compare to those of survivors like him who had enhanced their bodies?
It was a common belief on the survivor forums that only those who had completed their rookie tasks were qualified to handle supernatural events.
The survival points from the rookie task were quite substantial, often referred to as "startup capital." With enough luck, this startup capital could fund a full-body enhancement for the newbie, which would elevate them beyond the realm of ordinary humans.
Before entering the ultimate dungeon, Wen Pushi had only barely completed one dungeon and two tasks. He had been unlucky, needing two tasks just to scrape together enough points for a single full-body enhancement.
Even so, it was enough for him to send this stick-thin newbie flying with a single punch.
The difference between an enhanced body and an unenhanced one was like night and day.
"Alright, alright," Wen Pushi said impatiently, eager to get through the explanation. "Just know that this isn’t some part-time worker’s game of make-believe. This is a real, existing Infinite Space. We’re currently in a C-level task of the ultimate dungeon, and the slightest mistake could cost us our lives. For the sake of your own survival, you’d better listen to me..."
His impatient speech was cut short by a piercing scream.
"Someone’s dead!!!"
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