Ch. 22 - The Unsolvable-Level Dungeon — “The Letter”
Zhou Lu, hearing Bai Wan’s outcry, immediately had Liu Tong pull over. A trace of disbelief flickered in his eyes.
“You can’t be serious... What’s your next dungeon?”
Everyone turned to Bai Wan in unison.
Bai Wan looked utterly defeated. “It’s The Letter. My next dungeon is The Letter.”
Damn that system. All he did was swipe a ghost ship and one abyssal-grade paranormal artifact. Does it really have to go this far?
Second dungeon and it’s already tossing him into an unsolvable-level scenario? How is that even remotely fair? So inhuman.
Wait, no—he remembered. The system isn’t human to begin with. Never mind, then.
“Hsss… Your next dungeon is The Letter?” Zhou Lu and the others all stared, dumbfounded.
That kind of luck is just pure tragic. Granted, the system did have a habit of throwing high-potential players into more dangerous dungeons…
But this is an unsolvable-level dungeon! No one had ever entered one on their second round.
Zhou Lu’s expression was complicated. “Little Wan, your luck’s really something else. How many days until the dungeon? We’ve still got one ticket left for an all-expenses-paid vacation—I’ll give it to you. Go out and relax a bit.”
Sitting beside him, Wang Meng patted Bai Wan on the shoulder. “You got any family left? Big Bro can help take care of them.”
Li Yintian pulled out his phone. “I’ll go buy you some food. Name whatever you want—today, it’s on me.”
Even Sue Yuening seemed to ponder something before speaking up. “Captain, the compensation funds for fallen hunters should be hitting our accounts tomorrow…”
“Hey, hey, hey! Stop! Stop right there! Don’t talk like that!” Bai Wan looked like he was on the verge of tears. “You’re making it sound like I’m already dead.”
Please don’t give up on me. I’m not past saving yet!
“Ahem… alright, let’s get serious. Don’t scare the kid. It’s not like unsolvable-level dungeons are certain death. They’re just really, really difficult. But look on the bright side, those dungeons almost always come with a guaranteed Dark Blood Skull Shop. Just seeing one is enough to change your life.”
Zhou Lu tried to comfort him. “There are three S-rank hunter squads in the whole Hunting Alliance. The captain of the ‘Godslayer Squad,’ Wang Ye, rose to fame after clearing one of these. Bai Wan, I believe you’ve got it in you.”
Bai Wan nodded, a bit warmed by the encouragement. He genuinely felt a sliver of hope.
Then Zhou Lu took out his phone and started tapping away. “Xiao Wan, what’s your ID number?”
“Huh? Why?”
“Nothing major. Just buying you some insurance.”
“….”
Bai Wan’s mindset began to collapse.
Also, he was starting to get pissed. One day—he swore—he’d wreck this entire damn game. One dungeon at a time.
Screw you, system. You want to target me? Fine. But unless I crash you into a blue screen, I’m not Bai Wan!
Still, at least his bug skills gave him some edge. Plus, with the Blood Bandage and the Blood Husk idol—two powerful paranormal artifacts—this dungeon might not be entirely hopeless.
One blood-tier, one abyss-tier—both were high-grade.
He’d seen from Liu Tong’s dossiers: paranormal item qualities, from lowest to highest, were Normal, Blood, Cursed, and Abyss.
Even a Normal-ranked artifact was hard to come by, and Blood-ranked was even rarer.
Cursed-ranked items were almost mythical—basically monopolized by veteran elites.
And Abyss-ranked? That stuff was so rare it could practically be enshrined as a family heirloom.
The Blood Husk statue absolutely didn’t belong in a newbie dungeon. Even in high-level scenarios, it would be ridiculously rare.
Yet Bai Wan had glitched it into existence. That was his trump card for survival. Whether it was an abyss-tier artifact or an unsolvable-level dungeon, both stood above the norm. It wasn’t clear which was stronger.
The only issue was… Bai Wan himself was still too much of a rookie. Underleveled, undergeared, and dirt-poor. He couldn’t fully leverage the potential of those artifacts yet.
While pondering how to make more coins, the car broke down for the third time.
“Damn it, the tire blew again…” Liu Tong’s face was grim.
Seriously? This was the third blowout today.
What the hell kind of cursed day is this?
“Any spare tires left?” Zhou Lu was starting to look exhausted too. It felt like nothing had gone smoothly all day.
“Just one.” Liu Tong slapped on the final backup tire. They’d only packed that much in case a paranormal entity messed with the vehicle—and now even that was spent.
As soon as he mounted the last tire and got back in, they heard another loud bang.
BANG!!
Liu Tong: “……”
Hey!?I haven’t even started driving yet!! Are you kidding me?
Everyone got out of the car. The whole Lan City squad stood there, staring at the damned tire like it had murdered their dog.
“This is ridiculous. The car didn’t even move.”
“Did we offend something paranormal? What if it’s one of those entities that attacks via tire sabotage?”
“Tire… Tire-bursting ghost?”
“Could be. Might be some kind of rules-based anomaly…”
While everyone else was studying the bizarre situation, Bai Wan stood at the back pretending to examine the sky, trying to look innocent.
“Beautiful weather today.”
Suddenly, Zhou Lu turned to look at him. “Little Wan, what do you think? Think this is a rules-type paranormal?”
Bai Wan’s face tightened for a second, then he answered with righteous conviction, “Absolutely. There’s no way tires blow three times in a row like this. Definitely a rules-type paranomaly!”
Zhou Lu nodded. That matched his suspicions too. “This car’s probably been marked. Let’s ditch it here.”
In the end, the squad agreed to abandon the vehicle and proceed on foot. Fortunately, their destination wasn’t far.
After about an hour’s hike, they reached a forest.
“Come on,” Zhou Lu said with a smile. “One last step before you’re officially part of the Lan City squad.”
Though today had been full of weirdness and bad luck… they’d made it through. The path had been bumpy, but the destination made it worthwhile.
Bai Wan nodded and followed.
Eventually, they arrived at a graveyard, its grounds covered in tombstones.
Bai Wan was visibly taken aback. All around him, gravestones stretched in dense, silent rows.
The atmosphere shifted.
Zhou Lu stood with his back to him, his voice low and heavy. “These are the fallen—comrades who died hunting paranormal entities. Their graves.”
Bai Wan stared at the names carved in stone.
So many of them…
“All those who’ve fallen throughout the years… are buried here.”