The City of Forgotten Memories

The Breath is Gone?"

Outside Yi Bai's residence in the Dead Man's Resort, Lilith frowned, her thorned whip swaying gently beside her as if relaying some hidden message to its mistress.

"Hmph! You may have escaped this time, but not next time!" she muttered, her high heels clicking louder and fainter with every step.

After a long pause, Snake Sixteen emerged from the shadows. His cold, piercing gaze tracked Lilith's departure, and he murmured to himself, "Foreigners better stay in their place... if they anger Mr. Ralph, well..."

Inside the small cabin, Yi Bai was in a state of mild frustration.

He felt as though the horror game had targeted him specifically.

From the very start, his extra talent draw seemed to have drained all his luck, as every dungeon he entered carried unexpected twists.

The Third Hospital was one example. The Children's Amusement Park was another. Even what should have been a simple Dead Man's Resort turned out to have a "wolf" in the player team.

Now, in the Blood Hunt quest, the reality was starkly different from the information published by the Order of the Heavens.

He had expected a thrilling, high-stakes battle royale, but instead, everything was eerily quiet.

After confirming that the area was clear of danger, Yi Bai dispatched shadow figures to gather intel, entering house after house without finding a single clue.

"Wait! This is..." Yi Bai snapped back to attention. His eyes landed on the pristine desk. The surface, which had been empty moments ago, now held a dusty old diary.

A chill ran up Yi Bai's spine.

At the same time, the system's voice echoed in his mind:

"Congratulations, lucky player Yi Bai. Through the Blood Hunt quest, you have successfully entered a special dungeon — The City of Forgotten Memories."

"Introduction: Memory is a strange thing. It recalls both joy and pain, love and hatred. But what happens if one loses their memory? Are they still themselves? A memory woven from despair and suffering can be crushing. One tries to forget, only for it to grow clearer. Slowly, the memory begins to spread uncontrollably, forming a familiar yet foreign city. Here, memories loop, pain and despair repeat endlessly."

"Tip: Memory may not just be memory. If one possesses another's memories, will they replace them? Or... will they steal what was once theirs?"

The voice faded, leaving behind a chilling silence. Each word seemed to carve itself deep into Yi Bai's mind.

The City of Forgotten Memories. A twisted dungeon born from the memories of a terrifying being — a place where despair and agony intertwined.

But the questions lingered. Could memories really spill out from one's mind and manifest in the form of a real, tangible city? And more importantly, what kind of power did the entity behind this dungeon possess? It had to be an unimaginable force, possibly even one that could not be named.

"I'm just a peak-tier ghoul. Why would such a force target me, sending me into the memory dungeon of some unspeakable being?" Yi Bai muttered under his breath, his unease growing.

His gaze drifted to the diary on the desk — clearly the key to the quest.

"Maybe opening this diary will trigger something... some unknown change in the city?" Yi Bai thought, hesitating.

His intuition screamed at him that opening the diary would lead to unforeseen consequences, but he knew he had no choice. Without doing so, he wouldn't be able to gather more information, and the quest would stall.

The Blood Hunt was an ongoing task, and once initiated, it could not be stopped. Yi Bai still had six chances to retreat to the Third Hospital for respite, but he wouldn't waste them unless he encountered a real threat.

"Wait! I'm in the Blood Hunt now. Everything beyond my current power level is sealed. If I head to the Third Hospital, will I regain the abilities I lost, or will they remain sealed? And if it's the latter..." Yi Bai paused, his mind racing.

His thoughts quickly spiraled, distracted by a sudden, strange curiosity about his "honeymoon" with Lina.

"Oops, not the time for this!" Yi Bai snapped back to reality. Taking a deep breath, he sat down on the spotless chair.

He wasn't one to passively wait — taking action might give him an edge.

The moment he sat, an odd sensation overwhelmed him. A complex mixture of emotions surged within him, unidentifiable and deeply unsettling.

His face darkened as he felt an oppressive weight in the air, an ominous presence creeping into his mind. Without hesitation, he flipped open the first page of the diary.

Black ink splattered across the page, as though someone had spilled it on the paper, obscuring whatever name had been written there.

The next page, however, revealed crooked handwriting:

"April 1st, 0404."

"Dad hit mom again, then begged her not to leave, saying he would change."

"Mom forgave Dad as usual and gave me money to buy buns from Grandpa Li's shop, then sent me off to school."

"I did as I was told and went to Grandpa Li's shop with my friend Ah Sheng."

"Grandpa Li's buns are famous all over the city!"

"Ah Sheng disappeared, and I had to go to school alone."

"After school, there was no one at Ah Sheng's house. It was very quiet."

"I'm so tired, I think I'll go to sleep. That's all for today's diary."

The simple, straightforward words were chilling in their innocence.

Yi Bai's spine stiffened.

The next page wouldn't turn, as if some curse had been placed on it. No matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't budge.

Frustrated, Yi Bai closed the diary. The moment he stood, the world around him seemed to shudder, like a switch had been flipped.

The once silent world came to life with vibrant color and sound. Birds chirped outside, and the bustling noise of street vendors filled the air.

But what made Yi Bai's skin crawl was the unmistakable sound of a man yelling, breaking things, and cursing, coming from just outside his door.

4o mini