As evening approached, Xu Lun had already returned to his apartment.
It was an old two-story apartment building, with four rooms on each floor. Xu Lun's room was 202 on the second floor, and Mafuyu Kirisu lived next door in room 201.
Xu Lun took out his key, opened the door, and turned on the living room light.
Once the light came on, a perfectly ordinary single apartment was revealed to him. The apartment was about forty square meters, laid out as a one-bedroom, one-living-room space. It was furnished with basic home appliances, giving it a simple feel.
Xu Lun walked into the small kitchen and put the groceries he was holding into the refrigerator.
Returning to the living room, Xu Lun sat on the sofa. A gentle breeze blew in, stirring the curtains of the balcony's French windows.
"I remember closing the window."
"Could a thief have snuck in?"
Xu Lun looked at the balcony, recalling when he left that morning, then slowly got up and walked towards it.
Empty.
The small apartment could be seen in a single glance; there shouldn't be anything that could hide.
At that moment, a sound came from the kitchen.
Xu Lun clenched his fists, intending to see who was so bold.
There was no one in the kitchen, but the refrigerator was open, and the two boxes of beef were floating in the air, their packaging torn open, and the beef visibly reduced.
"This isn't a normal world, is it?"
Witnessing the supernatural scene, Xu Lun couldn't help but blurt out his thoughts, his mind in a jumble.
That's right, Xu Lun wasn't a local; he was a transmigrator.
Eighteen years had passed since he grew from an infant to an adult, and he had never encountered any supernatural events. He had always thought this was a normal world of various anime, at most with some low-level martial arts.
Until today, Xu Lun's worldview began to collapse.
"A magical girl isn't going to pop out of nowhere, is she?"
"The magical girl genre before I transmigrated seemed to be quite dark and messed up. I hope I'm not the one getting sacrificed."
As his thoughts raced, Xu Lun saw a half-meter-long chameleon emerge from above the refrigerator, throwing the box it held onto the floor, revealing a human-like expression of disgust.
"Water-injected meat, how disgusting."
"Then go find the vendor."
Looking at the scattered beef on the floor, Xu Lun's expression was somewhat twisted.
"I've been annoyed with that supermarket owner for a while now. How about I take you to him?"
Unsure of what this talking monster was or if it was dangerous, Xu Lun tried to buy time, retreating his steps, planning to rush out directly from the balcony.
"But you look even more tempting."
The chameleon's body gradually became ethereal, and it looked at Xu Lun with bloodlust.
"Are you willing to be eaten by me?"
Accompanying the inquiry, a sudden gust of wind pressure shot towards Xu Lun's throat.
"Something's coming."
Xu Lun reacted quickly, swinging his hand forward. A cold, slimy sensation came, followed by his palm being pierced through.
Blood sprayed, and the edges of the gruesome wound had dense small holes, accelerating the blood loss.
"Blocked it?"
"You should just be an ordinary person."
A slightly bewildered voice came from all around, tinged with a hint of dissatisfaction.
Xu Lun didn't speak; he was trying to locate the chameleon.
In the narrow room, with the force and speed of the previous attack, he couldn't run. If he ran, he would die immediately. He had to deal with it here to have any hope of survival.
The chameleon was extremely fast, and its previous attack made no sound, but an extremely fast attack would cause changes in wind pressure. With preparation, as long as he felt it again, he could follow the attack to find the exact location.
"Wouldn't it be better to just become my food?"
"Lower beings should be eaten by higher beings."
"This is the law of nature; you should obey."
Voices came from all directions, interfering with Xu Lun's judgment.
Drip, drop.
Blood was continuously flowing. Xu Lun calmed down, praying for the chameleon to act quickly. If it intended to wait until Xu Lun bled dry, he would have no choice but to try a desperate gamble.
Time passed minute by minute. The chameleon's eyeballs rotated, coldly staring at Xu Lun, a hint of urgency flashing in its heart, thinking:
"Can't wait any longer; it's just a lower being anyway. That just now was an accident."
The sound of a television crashing came, and at the same time, the chameleon launched its attack—that bullet-like tongue.
Ignoring the chameleon's crude feint, Xu Lun detected the wind pressure from above.
"The ceiling!"
His muscles bulged. Xu Lun used his injured right hand to once again grab the attacking tongue. Enduring the pain of the barbs tearing his flesh, he bent his knees slightly, jumped, and directly used force to pull the chameleon down.
"What?"
The chameleon was in disbelief, frantically trying to retract its tongue.
But Xu Lun had already begun to swing his uninjured left fist.
Ora ora ora ora ora ora!
"No!"
Punch after punch, the chameleon's body twisted in the air, emitting a piercing shriek. It simply couldn't withstand Xu Lun's continuous immense force, breaking its invisibility.
Ora ora ora ora ora ora!
Without stopping, Xu Lun pressed the monster onto the floor, throwing even stronger punches. What if this chameleon had some kind of regeneration ability?
Blood splattered, and fragmented body parts scattered.
Ora ora ora ora ora ora!
Only when the chameleon hung on the collapsed floor like a wrung-out rag, completely lifeless, did Xu Lun stop punching.
"Only capable of invisibility, yet it dares to call itself a higher being."
"And it dared to ruin the beef I bought."
"Damn it, the floor's broken. How much is that going to cost to fix?!"
Amidst his gasps, a ring-shaped pattern suddenly appeared on Xu Lun's wrist.
Numerous ethereal information boxes also appeared out of thin air in front of Xu Lun.
["Player detected as deceased"]
["Evolution qualification transfer complete"]
["Prospective Player Xu Lun"]
["Trial mission will now be activated for you"]
["The Paradise congratulates you in advance"]
["Welcome to this great evolution"]
"Am I bleeding too much and hallucinating?"
At this moment, the pendant hanging around Xu Lun's neck also glowed, absorbing the puddle of chameleon on the floor into the pendant.
"You too?"
This was a pendant he had since he transmigrated. It hadn't changed for so many years, but today it actually lit up.
["Trial world randomized"]
["This trial world: City of the Dead"]
["Identity insertion complete"]
["Trial mission randomized"]
"Please, I'm still bleeding!"
The ring on his wrist had already lit up.
Making Xu Lun disappear from the room out of thin air.
Drip, drop.
A few drops of blood dripped from mid-air, landing on the floor and splattering, proving that someone had just been there.
The empty room fell into silence.