Chapter Twenty-Two: The Unsolvable Instance, "The Letter"

Upon hearing Bai Wan’s exclamation, Zhou Lu immediately told Liu Tong to stop the car, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"No way... what is your next dungeon?"

Everyone turned their gaze toward Bai Wan.

Bai Wan said, on the verge of tears, "The Letter. My next dungeon is 'The Letter'."

Damn the system! I only stole its Ghost Ship and one abyss-grade supernatural item—is it really necessary to target me like this? Is it even human to force someone into an "unsolvable" grade dungeon for their second trial? Wait, the system isn't human anyway. Never mind.

"Hiss... Xiao Wan, your next dungeon is 'The Letter'?" Zhou Lu and the others were dumbfounded. This kid’s luck was truly wretched. Although the supernatural system was known to favor high-potential players with harder dungeons, nobody had ever heard of someone entering an unsolvable-grade dungeon on their second round.

Zhou Lu said with a complex expression, "Xiao Wan, your luck is really something else. How many days until you enter? We have one spot left for a company-sponsored trip; why don't you take it and go out for a stroll?"

Wang Meng, sitting next to Bai Wan, patted his shoulder. "Do you have any family left? Big Brother can help you look after them."

Li Yintian picked up his phone and said, "I’ll go buy you some food. What do you like to eat? Yin-ge is treating you today."

Su Yueling thought for a moment and added, "Captain, the compensation fund for the Supernatural Hunters should be arriving tomorrow..."

"Hey, stop, stop! Don't do this! I'm scared. Listening to you guys makes me feel like I’m already dead," Bai Wan said, nearly crying. Don't give up on me! I can still be saved!

"Ahem... alright, let’s be serious. Stop teasing Bai Wan. An unsolvable-grade dungeon isn't a guaranteed death sentence; it's just extremely difficult. Look on the bright side: unsolvable dungeons usually feature a Dark-Blood Skeleton Shop. If you encounter that even once, you’ll take off." Zhou Lu comforted him. "Our Hunter Alliance has three S-grade hunting squads. Wang Mian, the captain of the Hunter God Squad, rose to prominence after clearing an unsolvable dungeon. Bai Wan, I believe in you."

Bai Wan nodded, feeling a bit warmer and encouraged.

Then, he saw Zhou Lu take out his phone and start tapping away. "Xiao Wan, what’s your ID number?"

"Why?"

"Nothing, just buying you some insurance."

"..."

Bai Wan’s composure was crumbling, and he felt a surge of anger. One day, he would crash the entire supernatural game, one dungeon at a time! Damn it! Targeting me, are you? If I don't force you into a system crash, my name isn't Bai!

Fortunately, his bug-exploiting ability was powerful, and coupled with the Blood-Stained Bandage and the Blood-Bone Statue—two potent supernatural items—an unsolvable-grade dungeon might not be impossible to fight. One was blood-grade, the other abyss-grade; both were high-tier supernatural items. According to the documents Liu Tong had sent him, the quality of supernatural items from low to high was: Common, Blood, Cursed, and Abyss. Common items were already hard to come by, and Blood-grade ones were even rarer. Cursed-grade items were pitifully scarce, mostly held by veteran game elites. As for Abyss-grade, they were legendary and practically heirloom material.

The Blood-Bone Statue was certainly not an item for a novice dungeon; it would be incredibly difficult to obtain even in high-level dungeons. Yet, Bai Wan had forced it out by exploiting a bug. That was his lifeline. Whether it was an abyss-grade item or an unsolvable dungeon, both were beyond the ordinary, and it was hard to say who would come out on top.

The only problem was that Bai Wan was still too much of a novice, too underdeveloped, and lacked the supernatural coins to fully realize the value of these items.

While Bai Wan was pondering how to make money, the car broke down for the third time.

"Damn it, the tire blew again..." Liu Tong’s face turned livid. This was the third time the tire had blown today. What kind of luck was this? It was utterly absurd.

"Do we have any new tires left?" Zhou Lu asked, feeling weary. Nothing had gone right today.

"This is the last one." Liu Tong installed the final spare tire, which had been meant as a precaution against supernatural sabotage. He never expected to use it so soon. He finished changing the tire and got back into the car, but before he could even start the engine, a *bang* echoed.

*Bang!!*

Liu Tong: "..."

Hey, I haven't even started driving yet!!! That’s going too far!

Everyone got out of the car, and the Lancheng Squad stared at the cursed tire with wide eyes.

"This is too ridiculous. We haven't even moved?"

"Did we offend some kind of supernatural entity? One whose kill method is attacking tires..."

"A... a tire-blowing ghost?"

"That's possible. It might be a rule-based horror..."

While everyone was analyzing the situation, Bai Wan stood behind them, feeling guilty, and looked up at the sky, pretending to admire the weather. "The weather is really nice today."

Suddenly, Zhou Lu turned to Bai Wan and asked, "Xiao Wan, what do you think? Do you think this is a rule-based supernatural entity?"

Bai Wan looked tense for a moment, then replied in a firm tone, "That's right. How could a tire blow three times in a row? This must be a rule-based supernatural entity, no doubt!"

Zhou Lu nodded, thinking the same. "Our car must have been targeted. Let's just abandon it here."

In the end, everyone decided to leave the car and proceed on foot. Fortunately, they weren't far from their destination. After walking for about an hour, they reached a forest.

"Come on, there's one last step to joining our Lancheng Squad," Zhou Lu said with a smile, despite the day being cursed and the feng shui being poor. The path was winding, but the result would be worth it.

Bai Wan nodded and followed behind them. They arrived at a graveyard filled with tombstones. Bai Wan looked at the markers in surprise.

Zhou Lu and the others went quiet, their expressions solemn. Su Yueling’s eyes grew moist. Bai Wan could sense that the atmosphere had changed.

With his back to Bai Wan, Zhou Lu said deeply, "These are our comrades who sacrificed themselves while hunting supernatural entities. Most of them didn't have bodies left, so we could only erect tombstones for them here."

Bai Wan was shocked as he looked at the dense rows of tombstones. There were so many...

"Everyone who has sacrificed themselves throughout the generations is buried here."

Zhou Lu walked to a tombstone featuring a photograph of a young man. He placed the flowers he had prepared in front of it and said, "This was a young man who joined us three months ago. He didn't do well in school, so he quit high school to deliver food. He wasn't the brightest, but he was a good person. A few days ago, the department store was haunted; he didn't make it out, and he disappeared without leaving a final word. To this day, I still don't know how to face his parents."

He walked to another tombstone, offered flowers, and continued, "This was the young man’s girlfriend. A poor soul. After learning of her boyfriend’s death, she cried for a long time, then tried her best to be strong. Last month, when the school was haunted, she went to handle it, but didn't make it out. It turned out that every time before, her boyfriend had come to save her at the critical moment. But this time, the boyfriend who promised to always protect her was already gone..."

Zhou Lu walked further away, stroking a tombstone with a nostalgic expression. "Bai Wan, this section is for the older generation—my predecessors and the people I started with. Back then, I was just like you, a fresh recruit. I had a captain and teammates, calling them 'Big Brother' every day. I watched them slack off and bicker, but now, I’m the only one left. The traces of our era are gone; only I remember them now. When I’m gone, our era ends."

Zhou Lu turned to Bai Wan and smiled. "Do you think they were fools? Throwing away their lives for others? Was it worth it? Weren't they afraid of death?"

Bai Wan looked at the tombstones, his heart heavy, and said nothing.

Zhou Lu smiled and continued, "Supernatural entities are humanity's natural enemy. Faced with them, humans are small, fragile, and powerless. When the department store was invaded, the casualties were heavy. When the school was invaded, many students lost their future. In the eyes of the supernatural, humans aren't even livestock—they can swallow and torture us at will...

"Actually, Bai Wan, everyone is afraid of death. But people are different. Some face despair and wait to die, while others, in the face of despair, do not retreat and bravely take the most courageous step of their lives. We, the Supernatural Hunters, are those who refuse to back down when faced with despair. What the hell is a 'supernatural entity'? If you dare to come to my turf, I’ll take one of your legs even if it costs me my life!

"If supernatural entities hunt humans, then humans can hunt them back. That is the origin of our name, 'Supernatural Hunters'! One day, there will be no more supernatural entities in this world!"

Bai Wan felt a shock to his soul. To hunt the supernatural with a human body—that is a Supernatural Hunter. He could hear the indomitable courage and soul of his predecessors hidden beneath the name.

Zhou Lu smiled and added, "Everyone has their own reason for joining the agency. There are those who hold up the banner of justice for human peace, but they are few. Most are just ordinary people who refuse to accept their fate, who cannot stand by while humanity is helpless against the supernatural.

"The department store was haunted, and countless died, but our delivery boy sent many people to safety before he perished. The school was invaded, and that young man's girlfriend exhausted her life to stall the entity, ultimately protecting the future of many students. Every person whose name is on these tombstones might seem insignificant, but they were all people who feared no despair and dared to take the most courageous step at the critical moment. Throughout history, it is precisely such people who have pushed human civilization forward step by step.

"Humanity has grown from weakness to where we are now through courage and effort. If everyone can stand up at the critical moment, then one day, faced with the heartless slaughter of the supernatural, humanity will have the power to strike back. These tombstones will ultimately become the witness to the rise of human civilization.

"I have thought about giving up, but every time I do, I feel as if these tombstones are watching me, asking me for an answer. They seem to be asking: When will humanity defeat the supernatural? Was their sacrifice worth it?"

Zhou Lu took out a cigarette, looked at the tombstones, and said, "So, Bai Wan, remember: the final mission of our Lancheng Agency is to permanently protect these tombstones, never letting them suffer the slightest harm. These tombstones of our ancestors are our original intention when we encounter setbacks, and they are the strongest belief that protects us..."

Zhou Lu lit the cigarette, took a drag, and slowly exhaled, the smoke drifting into the air. Bai Wan heard this with moist eyes, wiping away his tears. The ancestors were truly great. These tombstones indeed needed to be protected well.

Bai Wan said with a firm gaze, "Bai Wan, a recruit of the Lancheng Agency, swears to protect the ancestors' tombstones with his life!"

Zhou Lu nodded with satisfaction. At that very moment, a commotion seemed to come from the sky. Bai Wan looked up in confusion, only to see a shooting star falling.

*BOOM!!!*

Then, another, and another.

*RUMBLE!!!*

Within seconds, everything around them became empty. Not a single tombstone remained.

Zhou Lu’s mouth hung open, and his cigarette dropped to the ground. Bai Wan’s face twisted in agony.

The, the tombstones...

The entire scene fell into a deathly silence, everyone staring blankly at the smoking craters where the tombstones had been, now obliterated by the meteor shower.