Chapter 1 The Beginning

The actual situation matched what Copernicus had provided. Less than a kilometer ahead, there was indeed a building, and it occupied quite a large area.

It was a wide and solemn house, with a garden in front of the main door. The garden gate was about two meters from the road. Like the fields along the road, the house was shrouded in darkness, even when viewed from a distance of over ten meters. It was as if the streetlights and moonlight were blocked by some kind of hazy barrier, making it difficult to penetrate this territory.

Arriving in front of the courtyard, Feng Bujue took out a flashlight from his bag and turned it on. The others also took out their lighting equipment, mostly flashlights. Only Meng Jingchan raised a kerosene lighter—the same one he used to light his cigarettes.

"Hey, Brother Chan, aren't you afraid of taking too big a step and having the flame blow sideways and burn your hand?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Not afraid..." Meng Jingchan replied. Judging from his tone, he was about to add an explanation as to why. However, after saying the first two words, his expression changed slightly. It seemed that he had suddenly realized Feng Bujue's words made a lot of sense. But since he had already blurted out the first half of the sentence, he had to finish it. So, after a pause of about three seconds, Meng Jingchan stammered, "Uh... not afraid!"

"I see..." Feng Bujue smiled. He found this Brother Chan quite interesting, so he made a rather malicious joke, "Then I have a suggestion. At the right moment, you can take a sip of wine and spray it at the flame. It can increase the lighting range and cause some damage."

"Hey! Good idea!" Meng Jingchan replied.

"Just put the lighter away and follow us... There are enough people anyway, we don't need your little spark of light." Galileo said.

"Well... alright." Meng Jingchan took the opportunity to back down and put away the lighter.

"There doesn't seem to be a doorbell here..." Ye Zhi had already arrived at the iron fence gate of the garden. As she spoke, she gently pushed the gate, and with a creak, it opened.

The group looked inside. When the scene inside the gate came into view, they realized that it was less of a garden and more of a patch of wasteland surrounded by a fence.

In the courtyard, there was a dried-up pool with a dilapidated fountain in the middle. There were also several fruit trees around, uneven and untrimmed. Weeds had spread beyond the flower beds, and an unpleasant odor permeated the garden.

Perhaps... this place had once been a pleasant, shady retreat, filled with the fragrance of fruit trees and flowers, and the gentle sound of water. But now, it was like a haunted mansion from every horror game. As soon as the players entered, the only thing that assaulted their senses was decay, oppression, and darkness.

"I think... let Invincible go in first." Copernicus said, "With the protagonist's halo leading the way, even if we encounter some sudden danger, nothing will happen."

*Judging by his tone, it seems he knows there will be danger soon after entering...* Feng Bujue thought to himself.

"Ah, that's what I was thinking too." Invincible Courageous stepped forward, appearing quite relaxed. "But at most, there will only be a few wandering ghosts of the trash mob level. I don't think there will be any instant-death danger."

[Protagonist's Halo Transferred]

[The current player with the Protagonist's Halo is—Ye Zhi.]

Just as Invincible Courageous finished speaking, the system prompt rang in everyone's ears.

"Eh? What's going on?" Invincible Courageous was stunned.

"So that's how it is. Saying some purely idiotic things sincerely will cause you to lose the halo..." Feng Bujue muttered, stroking his chin.

"Hey... you should know that I can hear every word you say, right? Can you not be so sharp with your words..." Invincible Courageous said to Feng Bujue with an awkward expression.

"So, that's the condition for transferring the protagonist's halo?" Ye Zhi said thoughtfully.

"I think... there should be two transfer mechanisms." Feng Bujue continued, "Like Brother Invincible just now, losing the halo due to one's own actions is one type." He licked his lips, "There's also a way for players without the halo to actively fight for the protagonist's halo through some action."

"How do you fight for it? Is it by saying insincere, not-so-purely idiotic things?" Invincible Courageous was obviously arguing with Feng Bujue.

Feng Bujue was taken aback. "Eh~ You have a point. Let me try." He suddenly walked to the front of the group, put on a serious expression, "Let me take on the mission of scouting the way..." He straightened his body, striking a "I'm about to transform" pose, and said in an incredibly embarrassing and pretentious tone, "Even if I become the enemy of everything in the world and end up alone, I will stand in front of my companions without hesitation!"

The other five were so shocked by his impassioned speech that they didn't know where to start complaining, and stood there speechless. Meng Jingchan even took a sip of wine to calm his nerves.

Unexpectedly, a few seconds later...

[Protagonist's Halo Transferred]

[The current player with the Protagonist's Halo is—Fearless and Jue.]

"Pfft—" Meng Jingchan spat out the mouthful of wine he had in his mouth.

Feng Bujue turned around with a smug look on his face, "Hmph... a piece of cake."

"That works too?!" Invincible Courageous shouted, "Then can I just shout 'Coach, I want to play basketball!'?"

"Of course not. You have to kneel in front of someone with tears in your eyes and say that sentence in a hoarse voice, with tears welling up at the right moment, to meet the requirements." Feng Bujue said.

"How did you figure out these requirements..."

"I'm just giving my opinion, it might not be right." Feng Bujue spread his hands, "Oh, and by the way, that line of yours is for supporting characters, it will probably fail."

"Tsk... might as well call it the Chuunibyou Halo." Ye Zhi said from the side, "In that case, I don't have any chance, and of course, no interest in fighting for the halo..."

"Actually, you can try it." Feng Bujue said, "For example... punish in the name of the moon..."

"I'm warning you, don't say any nonsense and expect me to repeat it." Ye Zhi directly interrupted Feng Bujue.

Feng Bujue smiled, "Then... Brother Chan, um... and the two astronomical pioneers, are you interested?"

"Don't look at me like this now... I used to be a person who cared about face..." Meng Jingchan replied.

"Hehe... I'll pass." Copernicus replied.

Galileo sighed, "Uh... Brother Feng, I think... only you can handle the protagonist's halo."

"Actually, I think it's quite simple." Feng Bujue said, "For example, if I don't want it now, I can..." He suddenly revealed a very lewd expression, and said with a perverted smile, "I'm not a pervert, even if I am, I'm just a gentleman with the name of a pervert."

[Protagonist's Halo Transferred]

[The current player with the Protagonist's Halo is—Invincible Courageous.]

"As long as you say this kind of line..." Feng Bujue instantly returned to his calm and composed demeanor, "You will definitely lose the halo, but I took the initiative to set up a flag for the transfer, so the transfer mechanism is still random."

"Big brother... don't do this..." Invincible Courageous said.

Feng Bujue completely ignored him and continued, "If you want to get it back..." He suddenly put on a look of exhaustion, but a hint of determination still shone in his lazy eyes, "Wigs, instead of thinking about how to die gloriously, think about how to live gloriously!"

[Protagonist's Halo Transferred]

[The current player with the Protagonist's Halo is—Fearless and Jue.]

"Have you had enough fun..." Ye Zhi supported her forehead with one hand and shook her head. As the saying goes, women will never understand the world of otaku.

"You're going to ruin the protagonist's halo!" Invincible Courageous said, "Stop it! Just keep being the protagonist! No one wants to fight you for it!"

"Oh, then I'll reluctantly... temporarily take on the heavy responsibility of the protagonist." Feng Bujue changed his face faster than flipping a book. He only took a second to return to normal, and stepped into the courtyard.

"In a sense... this guy is amazing..." Meng Jingchan exhaled a smoke ring and said softly to Invincible Courageous and Ye Zhi.

Soon, six figures passed through the garden gate one after another and entered this uninhabited mansion...

…………

At the same time, in the mountains, inside the shrine.

In the corner of a certain room, there was a jar. It was an old brown pottery jar, covered with layers of spider webs, making it inconspicuous in the dark environment.

Suddenly, a human hand stretched out from the jar.

Before passing through the spider webs and dust, the hand was quite clean, and didn't seem to have been in the jar for long.

After the hand came out, naturally an arm followed, but the part above the shoulder was stuck inside, unable to extend further. It was as if the mouth of the jar was a passage connecting to another dimension. Due to the small entrance, the owner of this arm couldn't come out completely.

"Tsk... troublesome." A deep male voice sounded in the dark room.

Against the wall of this room, there was also a shrine. Next to the shrine, there was actually a huge cocoon-shaped object emitting a faint light. The cocoon was more than a meter high, and the circumference of the widest part in the middle was also more than a meter. At this moment, the outline of a human face had protruded from the top of the cocoon. The one who spoke just now was this face.

"The conversion speed of the data fragments is being hindered to this extent..." Another voice sounded in the room, also a male voice, but it came from the rafters, "Are you a Tier 3 Derivative?"

"You Tier 4 guys really like to ask boring questions." The man in the cocoon replied, "Hmph... you wouldn't understand what 'boring' means."

"Is there anything I can help with?" The Tier 4 Derivative on the rafter asked.

"Of course." He replied, "You can try to complete the clearance conditions before the players arrive here, and have them teleported away."