Chapter Three: Brocade? Brocade!

Tomorrow Has Rain stopped abruptly in his tracks. The beginner talent he had received was [Agility Enhancement]. He glanced at Brocade’s back, shook his head, and could only give up, choosing the middle three floor tiles to start cleaning.

Not a Pro stepped to the wall, observing Brocade up close.

On the side of the weathered statue facing the wall was a face smeared with crude oil paint, blurred and indistinct. Stained with mottled blood, the smell of wind and earth became more pronounced. The collapsed nose bridge and cheek area were shrouded in darkness, but compared to the large, bald head, the mouth was pitifully small. A row of ghastly white teeth protruded in a foolish grin, yet a pair of green, ghostly eyes suddenly slanted, fixing intently on Not a Pro.

[Hint: Due to the intense gaze from the anomalous item Brocade, you must make a Will check to avoid sanity damage.]

[Hint: Checking... Your Will stat is zero. Check failed!]

[Hint: Though the containment facility provides suppressive effects, as this anomaly has special priority, the sanity damage cannot be automatically recovered.]

[Hint: You have taken 5 points of sanity damage.]

[Beginner Warning: If your sanity reaches zero, you will fall into Madness. At intervals, you will make instant death checks, and your actions will be hindered.]

Hiss...

The sudden attack caught Pro Bro off guard. He staggered back a step before Brocade’s eyes slowly shifted away.

Scaly Arm immediately noticed his abnormality. “Something wrong?”

Pro Bro did not hide it, briefly summarizing his experience. Scaly Arm wiped his shiny scalp, realizing that this ‘Anomaly Paradise’ truly lived up to its name—filled with oddities at every turn. As expected, Singularity Corporation did not go easy, maintaining their usual style: even beginner levels bristled with death traps. There could be no carelessness, especially in the high-difficulty battle royale mode, where death could come in countless unpredictable ways.

“This doesn’t feel right. Even a simple cleaning task hides tricks. We need to be alert from the start.” Scaly Arm turned to Ashes and Gallop. “Here’s the plan: aside from keeping watch, we three also need to quickly figure out the mechanics. Since the designers deliberately included stamina settings, let’s at least understand the cost of basic actions.”

The three, after keeping an eye on Brocade, took turns testing stamina usage: sprinting, punching, rolling, recovering... In little time, they pieced together the basics. One point of stamina allowed for an eight-meter dash; after exhaustion, it took about three seconds to recover, during which normal movement was possible. A regular punch cost two stamina, a strong punch three, a side-step only one, but rolling to dodge consumed four.

At Tomorrow Has Rain’s reminder, cleaning the floor also used stamina. More noteworthy, however, was that after cleaning each floor tile, they gained contribution points directly. This proved Scaly Arm’s judgment correct—task rewards were tied to contributions.

“Weird, why did I get more contribution points than you?” asked Not a Pro suddenly, surprising Tomorrow Has Rain. “Cleaning a tile here gives me five percent contribution. Didn’t you get the same?”

Not a Pro shook his head and showed his system prompt: one tile gave him ten percent.

“Wow, double the contribution!” Tomorrow Has Rain’s expression shifted as he revealed his own prompt. “Even if the system is biased, this is too much. Are those of us without the Life talent just supposed to watch?”

Not only Tomorrow Has Rain but even the two elite players looked perplexed. At this moment, Ashes, usually quiet, suddenly spoke.

“That’s not right.”

“What’s not right?” Tomorrow Has Rain frowned. Though he kept a neutral expression, he did inwardly look down on the unknowns like Ashes and Gallop.

“My talent is Will. What’s yours?” Ashes asked, his gaze steady.

“Agility,” Tomorrow Has Rain replied, puzzled.

“And you?” Ashes looked at Gallop.

Gallop responded instantly, “Perception.”

“There are five of us, matching five talents. If the system favors Pro Bro now, it may favor someone else later,” Ashes explained.

Scaly Arm nodded in agreement. “Even though I haven’t spent much time on Titan, I know Singularity’s games are hard but fair—they don’t deliberately widen player gaps. It’s likely as Ashes says: Pro Bro just happened to get a task matching his talent.”

Tomorrow Has Rain suddenly understood, glancing at Ashes. “So that’s it. I was too impatient.”

Scaly Arm also looked back at Ashes, but Ashes was already focused on Brocade, diligently fulfilling his assigned duty.

With this brief interlude behind them, Not a Pro and Tomorrow Has Rain finished cleaning and took over surveillance from Ashes and Gallop. Both gained ten percent contribution for two floor tiles. Afterward, Scaly Arm fairly divided up the wall-cleaning tasks. When the eleventh minute ticked by, Scaly Arm gently pressed the communication button by the door.

The main door slowly rose, revealing the security officer. His eyes quickly scanned the room, finding no bloodstains.

“Well done. You may exit now.”

At his words, the players finally exhaled in relief. Though there had been no incidents during cleaning, the pressure from Brocade lingered throughout. None of them had dared try touching the anomaly, making the task go smoothly. The five left the room at once, the containment facility sealed behind them. Simultaneously, everyone received a task completion notice.

[Hint: You have completed the assessment task—Cleaning—and gained contribution rewards.]

[Beginner Tip: Contribution points affect all aspects of your Foundation life. When they reach certain thresholds, you will receive fixed rewards from the Foundation—character level-ups.]

The cleaning experience, together with the task reward, brought Ashes’ contribution bar to thirty-five percent. He estimated Not a Pro must have reached over fifty percent.

“You newcomers are quite obedient. If you complete the next tasks without mistakes, you’ll receive the medicine you need.” Because the cleaning had gone so smoothly, the security officer’s expression softened. He clapped his hands and looked at the group. “Good, go rest and recover your strength. Close contact with anomalies is no easy matter.”

That’s it? What about the next task?

The players exchanged glances; it was clearly not time to rest yet.

“Here at the Foundation, as long as you complete tasks diligently, you’ll get everything you want. This isn’t just talk, it’s—”

Before the officer could finish, everyone’s vision was suddenly engulfed in darkness.

Boom!

The second floor, stripped of all light, was instantly rocked by a violent explosion. The trembling ground knocked the unprepared players off their feet. The security guards stationed there were also thrown down, powerless to resist.

So it wasn’t time to rest!

In the darkness, the players scrambled to respond. Ashes quickly steadied himself, half-crouched to maintain balance. He felt a powerful gust of wind rush from the direction of the main door, whirling through the second floor. The violent tremors underfoot made it clear: the wolf roaming the wasteland had begun its assault on Hidden Facility No. 19.

“Damn it, everyone stay where you are!” the security officer shouted, his voice strained as he tried to be heard over the howling wind and explosions. “The Foundation’s emergency defenses are active! An external assault won’t succeed!”

Just as he finished, emergency lights bathed the area in gray-white once more. For a moment, it seemed things were under control, just as the security officer had predicted—but the players knew the attack had only begun.

Sure enough, the officer’s furious cry rang out again.

“Get down!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Ashes glimpsed a glaring ball of light hurtling towards them. Instinctively, he dove and curled into a ball in the corner, feeling his back press against the wall as the air pressure on one side of his face surged.

Squinting against the force, Ashes looked toward the source of the wind. Where the entrance once bore the sign “Containment Facility—No Unauthorized Access,” there was now a yawning black fissure!

That blazing projectile had blasted open Brocade’s containment with pinpoint precision. The shockwave destroyed nearby lights; one by one, the gray lamps went out. In that instant, Ashes and the others recalled the security officer’s stern warning:

Never let that thing out of your sight!

[Hint: Battle Royale—commence!]