You made all the streamers on the internet kneel before you when you were asked to make a game.

Free exploration?

Choose an identity?

Influencing the future of the world?

These terms are familiar to Federation players.

These are standard features in countless Western fantasy or science fiction masterpieces.

But when they are combined with the term "Chinese horror"...

"Holy crap! Am I seeing things? An open world? This guy's got some serious guts!"

"Taoist priest? Spirit medium? Actor? These career choices... they're so exciting! I love them!"

"Before, we went to see ghost stories, but now good people are making us live like ghost stories? Who can stand this?!"

"This time, we won't go to hell, we'll create hell. Just that slogan alone is enough to terrify me!"

"Brothers, I have a bold idea. Could I become a paper doll maker and make a wife for every player?"

"Upstairs, your account is gone."

……

Inside a minimalist, high-tech apartment in Haeun City.

Lu Zhixing took off his glasses and rubbed his slightly sore eyes.

Dozens of light screens floated in front of him.

Each screen records all his game data, plot points, and logical chain analysis of key NPCs from "The Red Veil" to "The Return of the Soul".

At the very center of all the screens was the update announcement for "Reincarnation".

"To build a complete...Chinese horror universe..."

He read it softly, his face revealing barely suppressed excitement.

As the youngest member of the Federal Academy of Sciences, he has been researching virtual world construction and artificial intelligence emotion simulation for several years.

He knows better than anyone how difficult it is to create an "open world that can be freely explored".

That requires a massive library of materials, complex underlying logic, and massive computing power.

Moreover, this is a world driven by "dynamic emotional AI".

In theory, this is not a feat that one person, or even a small studio, could accomplish.

unless……

Lu Zhixing's gaze fell on the words "good person".

This mysterious designer was never making individual games from the very beginning.

He was using those seemingly disparate demos to test the rules of this world.

"The Red Veil" tests the foundation of ghost marriage and its rules.

"The Embroidered Shoes" tests the logic of searching for relatives and being trapped in a maze.

"Double Happiness" and "The Return of the Soul" introduce deeper concepts such as family, resentment, ghost plays, and ghost markets.

Now, all the fragments are finally being pieced together into a complete picture.

"I see……"

Lu Zhixing let out a long breath, a bitter smile appearing on his lips.

He always thought he was playing a game.

In retrospect, he was just like all the other players, a "tester" who contributed to the creation of this world.

No, perhaps they weren't even testers.

They are more like... lab rats kept in cages for people to observe.

And that "good guy" was the experimenter who held the recording tablet and calmly observed all their reactions from outside the cage.

Instead of feeling angry at being tricked, Lu Zhixing felt an excitement of meeting a worthy opponent.

He put his glasses back on and opened the private chat window with the "good guy".

[Scientia Cult Leader: I'm looking forward to your world.]

He thought for a moment, then added another sentence.

[Scientology Cult Leader: But if it's just about scaring people, that's too boring.]

……

Happiness Apartment, Room 404.

Hao Ren smiled as he looked at the private message Lu Zhixing had sent.

"Boring?"

[Good person: Don't worry.]

[Good guy: This time, fear is just an appetizer.]

[Good person: True despair is when you see all the truth and realize that you are... powerless.]

After sending the private message, Hao Ren closed the chat window.

His gaze fell upon the enormous holographic projection in the center of the room.

It was a sand table.

A vast and complex virtual world sandbox composed of countless data streams.

In the center of the sand table is the "Yin Market," which is already taking shape.

Surrounding the Yin City are unknown areas shrouded in thick fog.

One area has already been lit up.

It was a lonely village nestled beside the road to the underworld.

At the entrance of the village stands a crooked stone tablet with three characters engraved on it.

【Village of the Wrongfully Dead】

This is the starting point of "reincarnation" that he prepared for the Federation players.

He set the official release time of "Reincarnation" for midnight three days later.

Then, he released a second announcement.

This announcement is much shorter than the first one, consisting of only one image.

It was an old, yellowed map.

The map shows the outline of a village, and a much larger area outside the village marked "mass grave".

In the lower right corner of the map, a line of small characters was written in blood-red cinnabar.

Chapter 1: The Wrongfully Died

Welcome home.

The release of this map has once again caused a stir online.

Countless researchers and analysts began to study this rudimentary map frantically, trying to decipher the "good guy's" next move.

Meanwhile, a live streaming room with the ID "Qingshi Archives" quietly started broadcasting.

Professor Chen adjusted his reading glasses and zoomed in on the map to full screen.

His live stream title has only four characters.

[Server Launch Tutorial.]

In an instant, the number of viewers in the live stream exceeded ten million.

Countless players flooded in, and the barrage of comments was so dense that it almost completely covered the screen.

[Professor! You've finally arrived! Tell us quickly, what's the story behind this Village of the Wrongfully Dead?]

[A mass grave right from the start? Wow, wow!]

[Professor, do I have to find a place to kowtow before entering the game this time?]

Professor Chen smiled gently as he looked at the enthusiastic comments on the screen.

"Students, don't rush."

"Before entering a new world, the first thing we need to do is not think about how to beat the game or how to become stronger."

"Then we need to learn how to survive."

He pointed to the three characters "Wangsi Village" on the map.

"Wrongful death, as the name suggests, is an unnatural death."

"Such people harbor the most resentment and have the deepest obsessions."

"The places where they gather are bound to be rule-bound and extremely dangerous."

"Therefore, my first piece of advice to you is also the most important one."

Professor Chen's expression turned serious.

"After entering the game, remember this."

"Observe more, listen more, and speak less."

"And never, ever, easily trust anyone... or even any ghost."