2. Endless Hell

It wasn't over yet.

After checking the panel, Song Cheng looked up, suddenly spotting two lines of numbers floating in the darkness.

[Strength: 1~1]

[Favorability: 100]

Tong Jia put on her clothes and cotton boots, and walked towards the door.

Song Cheng called out, "Boss."

Tong Jia stopped in her tracks, and the two lines of numbers also halted.

"Still calling me boss?" A sharp voice came through, "We've already gotten this close, and you still won't admit it? Tell me, is there any part of my body you haven't touched? Speak up!"

Even though Song Cheng couldn't see anything, he could imagine a young girl standing with her hands on her hips, looking annoyed.

He called her boss just to confirm that those two sets of data belonged to Tong Jia.

At this moment, he had his confirmation.

Then he called out, "Jia."

"Call! Me! Wife!" A fierce voice responded.

"Wife."

"That's more like it."

As she spoke, Tong Jia opened the door just a crack, careful not to let the minimal warmth inside the house escape. She then stepped sideways out of the door.

Halfway out, she quickly retracted her foot and with a "bang" shut the door, running back to the bed.

Song Cheng felt his face embraced and sensed those two lines of data were now very close.

The pair of hands were not very fleshy, nor were they warm.

"Remember, now that you are my husband, you are responsible for me. You are not allowed to die unless I do! Otherwise...otherwise, even as a spirit I won't spare you!" A slightly domineering voice echoed.

Song Cheng nodded.

That pair of hands then withdrew.

The wooden door opened and then closed again.

In the darkness, the last two lines of data also disappeared. Outside, the sound of a little wooden stool being moved came in "chi chi chi" noises, followed by a "dang dang dang" of an axe splitting wood.

The sounds of the axe and the blizzard melded together, delivering a sense of desolation that accentuated the silence inside the house and... the rare peace in this Chaotic World.

Song Cheng gathered his thoughts and observed this sudden change.

As a time-traveler, he was no stranger to sudden information and panels appearing.

Especially since this panel was the game assisting device he himself had coded, making it all the more familiar.

As for the game...

He thought for a moment and shook his head.

'Impossible.'

'That game was a horror game that had scared players to death, yet as per the memories of his predecessor, this was merely a Chaotic World that at most involved some Martial Path and it wasn't related to that horrible game.'

Song Cheng absolutely, absolutely, absolutely didn't want to find himself and the panel trapped inside the worldview of that horror game.

'Impossible.'

He emphasized again to himself.

Then he carefully examined the panel and data from top to bottom.

Pressing the panel.

Firstly, Longevity was indeed a "player" characteristic, but it was just immortality and not invulnerability.

Secondly, a person's strength had both a "minimum" and a "maximum" value.

The minimum value is determined by the Realm; to enhance the Realm, one needs to practice Cultivation Techniques. Cultivation Techniques enhance your physical condition, allowing you to control stronger powers – this forms the most basic strength of your being.

The maximum value is determined by skills and weapons, among other factors, with skills being most crucial. Skills decide the extent of power you can emit. The stronger the skill, the more fearsome and yet, the harder it is to find.

The fact that Tong Jia's data showed "1~1" indicated she was a regular person and had not practiced any skills, so if she had 10% strength, she could only use that 10%, unable to leverage any potential of her body.

The reason he and Tong Jia getting along granted him Remaining Points was due to the "encourage reproduction" message he saw before traveling, which prompted him to design the "cheat points" into this Assisting Device. It is linked to binding one wife and maintaining a harmonious marital relationship with her, enabling him to receive "cheat points" daily. However, he could only bind one target; any extra would be ineffective.

Slowly...

Slowly...

Song Cheng looked again at that last line of data.

[Taboo: Unlocked]

He couldn't believe it and looked again carefully.

Suddenly, a spine-chilling coldness shot up to his forehead, as if numerous pale Dead Man's hands were caressing his skin, causing goosebumps to ripple across.

'No, how can this be?'

'When I was making the Assisting Device, I clearly didn't add this option.'

'This shouldn't appear.'

Song Cheng stared at the gray "[Taboo: Unlocked]" characters.

All the other characters were black, only this line was gray, precisely corresponding to the "Unlocked" words.

But simply the word "Taboo" pulled Song Cheng back into that extremely terrifying game world.

The game was called "Endless Hell."

The gist of the game was "Battle Royale."

Run, was to evade evil spirits.

Kill, was to kill competitors and snatch resources.

It was a "post-apocalyptic" type single-player game.

Originally, the game had won the favor of many players due to its excellent graphics and complex and interesting settings, even reaching a point where countless players requested an online version, allowing "Endless Hell" to be played in multiplayer.

But later, some bizarre, eerie, and odd incidents occurred.

Many players died while playing "Endless Hell"...

When the police investigated, they found no injuries on them, nor any signs of homicide. It seemed as if they had been scared to death, their death expressions were horrifying, faces twisted, limbs rigid and bent at strange angles.

Therefore, "Endless Hell" was banned.

But the Song Cheng from before the time travel had secretly kept a copy.

As a staunch materialist, Song Cheng would listen to "horror movie music" to stay alert and place Ghost Hand figurines on his desk to prevent dozing off while working.

How could such a person believe in ghosts?

So, once the dust had settled, Song Cheng directly tried to create a game assisting cheat and began to explore "Endless Hell."

Suddenly...

He zoned out.

Because he discovered he could no longer recall the "Endless Hell" he had played, all incidents from that period were gone.

The next moment, his entire body began to tremble, his limbs ice cold, as if plunged into an icy cavern.

Because he had realized... the world he had traveled to might just be the worldview of "Endless Hell," perhaps even larger and more terrifying...

The reason it was "Unlocked" might be because he had traveled to the era before the terrifying worldview of "Endless Hell" had completely descended.

After a long while...

Song Cheng clenched his fists suddenly.

'Survive!'

'Survive!!'

He took a few deep breaths, looked at the panel, and said softly, 'Add points!'

Above the panel, a "+" appeared after "Heart's Eye."

Song Cheng tried adding 1 point after "Heart's Eye."

The progress for "Heart's Eye" in the skills bar instantly changed from "Uninitiated（0/1）" to "Uninitiated（1/1）", followed by a jump to "Entry Level（0/2）".

A strange feeling emerged.

It was as if he was using a cane, finely sensing the sounds of the world, touching the shapes of objects, and after years had passed, he had made progress. This progress allowed him, even as a blind man, to faintly sense the outlines of objects near him.

He looked up, scanning his surroundings, everything was still black.

But as he touched the bed, that touch and sound in his darkened world acted like a drawing brush, sketching a "gray and white" colored sketch.

As he touched more areas, the sketch became more complete, gradually forming a gray bed made of pale lines in the darkness.

In the blind man's world, shapes appeared.

This slightly relieved Song Cheng.

He looked up toward the distance, intending to use his hands to feel more of the world.

Suddenly, he saw two lines of data.

It was Tong Jia's data.

Tong Jia was outside the door.

But despite the door separating them, he could still see.