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.”

He placed a bouquet of flowers he had prepared in front of the grave and spoke softly. “This kid joined us just three months ago. Dropped out of high school after struggling with his grades and started delivering food for a living. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but a good person at heart. A few weeks ago, there was a haunting at the department store… He didn’t make it out. Didn’t even leave a final message. To this day, I still don’t know how to face his parents.”

He moved on to another tombstone, laid down more flowers, and continued, “this was his girlfriend. Poor girl. She cried for days after his death but eventually pulled herself together. Last month, when a paranormal incident broke out at her school, she stepped up to deal with it. In the end, she didn’t make it out either. Turns out, every time she’d faced danger before, her boyfriend had always been the one to save her. But this time... the one who promised to protect her was no longer there.”

Zhou Lu slowly walked farther down the path, placing a hand gently on another tombstone. His expression turned nostalgic.

“This area belongs to the older generation—my peers, my seniors. I was just like you back then, Bai Wan… the newest rookie on the team. I had a squad leader, teammates. We’d call each other ‘brothers’ all the time. I remember the way the seniors bickered like they had nothing better to do… but now, I’m the only one left.”

“Our traces from that era are gone now. Only I remember them. And the day I’m gone too, that era will end.”

Zhou Lu turned to look at Bai Wan, smiling faintly. “You probably think they were foolish, don’t you? Giving up a perfectly good life to die for others. Weren’t they afraid of death?”

Bai Wan gazed at the rows upon rows of gravestones, feeling the weight in his chest grow heavier. He didn’t answer.

Zhou Lu smiled again and continued. “Paranormal entities are humanity’s natural enemy. In front of them, we’re small, fragile, powerless. The only way we can deal with them is to temporarily seal them away, or crash them like frozen systems. That’s the only method we have.”

“Once a paranormal entity crashes, it’ll take years before it can awaken again. That’s the breathing space we need to grow.”

“A while ago, the department store was invaded. So many casualties. Then a school was attacked, and countless students lost their futures. In the eyes of the paranormal…humans don’t even qualify as livestock. They devour us without a second thought.”

“The truth is, Bai Wan, everyone is afraid of death. But people are different. Some freeze up in despair and wait for the end. Others, when faced with despair, take a single step forward—the bravest step of their lives.”

“We para-hunters are those who refuse to back down in the face of despair.”

“If the paranormal can hunt humans, then humans can turn around and hunt them. That’s the meaning behind our title—Paranormal Hunters. One day, there will be no more entities left in this world.”

Bai Wan felt his spirit tremble. 

To hunt the supernatural as a mere human—this was the essence of a paranormal hunter.

Zhou Lu chuckled, then went on. “Everyone who joins the bureau has their reasons. Sure, there are those righteous types who wave the banner of peace for all mankind. But they’re rare. Most of us… we’re just ordinary people who refuse to accept fate. People who can’t stand the idea that humanity is helpless against the paranormal.”

“When the department store went dark, that delivery kid managed to get a lot of people out before he died. He saved many lives.”

“When the school was attacked, his girlfriend held off the entity long enough to protect the future of dozens of students. To those students, she became a hero they sincerely admired.”

“Each person buried here may seem insignificant… but they all stood up against despair, and took the bravest step of their lives when it mattered most.”

“I’ve thought about giving up, too. But every time that thought crosses my mind… I feel like these tombstones are watching me. Like they’re asking for an answer. As if they want to know—when will humanity finally be able to fight back against the paranormal?”

Zhou Lu took out a cigarette, lighting it as he gazed at the graves.

“So, Bai Wan, remember this—our final mission in the Lan City Bureau is to protect these gravestones. Never let them suffer even the slightest damage. These are the monuments of those who came before us, and in our darkest moments, they are our resolve.”

He exhaled slowly. Smoke drifted up into the open sky.

Bai Wan listened to the stories, deeply moved. He gave a firm nod. These graves—he would protect them with everything he had.

With unwavering eyes, Bai Wan declared, “Bai Wan, new recruit of the Lan City Bureau, swears to protect the graves of our fallen, to the death!”

Zhou Lu nodded in quiet approval.

And just then, the sky rumbled.

Bai Wan looked up, puzzled—only to see a meteor streaking through the sky.

BOOM!!!

Then another.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Zhou Lu’s mouth fell open. The cigarette in his mouth slipped to the ground.

Bai Wan’s face twisted in horror.

The... the gravestones—!

Everyone stood frozen, eyes wide, staring as meteors fell near them—smashing directly into the earth around the graveyard, knocking several tombstones askew.

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