This is a world of eerie secrets. Vampires, werewolves, technology, potions, ghosts, cyborgs, fortune-telling, puppets—every single terrifying element you can think of is here. You have to carry a lantern whenever you go out. And you can't go far. Once you're ten meters away from the door, the darkness outside will swallow you whole.

  Whether it's a human, a ghost, or Frankenstein's monster that comes to seek medical help, you have to stay calm. If you don't, it will turn hostile.

  In front of the rickety table, Enno is holding a quill pen, writing by the light of the lamp. He's jotting down the rules he's learned since he arrived in this world two years ago in his journal.

  “Enno! It's time! Hang the lantern outside and get ready to open up!” A voice that sounds like bones being chewed comes through.

  Enno shakes his head. That's the voice of the boss of this apothecary shop, who saved him two years ago and is also his teacher. And he's the shop assistant in this apothecary in a strange world.

  “Coming!” Enno shouts.

  But just at that moment, a cold, synthesized voice suddenly sounds in his mind.

  Ding! Your teacher, Berserk Bloodsaw, has assigned you a task: Open up for business and hang the soul lantern outside. Reward for completing the task: 10 Skeleton Coins, 5 Base Experience, and 100 milliliters of pure human blood.

  Enno is stunned.

  This voice... is it a system?

  Has he finally awakened his “golden finger” two years after arriving in this world?

  But he doesn't have time to investigate right now, because he knows that if he doesn't follow his teacher's orders immediately, he'll die.

  Enno quickly steps out of the dim attic. Right in front of him, he sees his teacher dragging the body of an unidentified creature that's been cut in half toward the operating room next door.

  Crimson blood leaves a long trail on the moldy floor.

  Crunch—crunch—

  Inside the operating room, the grating sound of a saw quickly fills the air.

  The voice that sounds like bones being chewed comes again.

  “After we open up, sort out all the expired potions from yesterday and feed them to the little darling in the backyard. Hurry up.”

  Ding! Your teacher, Berserk Bloodsaw, has assigned you a task: Sort out the expired potions and feed them to the [little darling] in the backyard. Reward for completing the task: 10 Skeleton Coins, -10 Little Darling Goodwill, +1 Household Chores Proficiency.

  Enno is stunned.

  As he thought.

  He guessed right.

  This must be his system. Does it have the ability to turn everything he encounters into system tasks?

  Listening to the chewing sound behind him, Enno's expression calms down.

  Creak—creak—

  The wooden floorboards under his feet make an ear-piercing noise from years of disrepair.

  Enno goes to the front hall, picks up the oil lamp from the corner, winds the clockwork mechanism, and drop by drop, crimson blood falls from the inside onto the wick.

  Whoosh—

  A thin, crimson flame flickers to life.

  If you listen carefully, you can hear faint, shrill screams coming from inside the lamp.

  Enno's expression remains calm as he carefully opens the door.

  Outside is pitch black, with a faint mist swirling around, and from time to time, you can hear eerie, sinister laughter coming from the darkness.

  He stays calm, hanging the oil lamp on the doorpost, illuminating the dilapidated sign next to it.

  Bloodsaw Apothecary

  Ding! You've earned 10 Skeleton Coins, 5 Base Experience, and 100 milliliters of pure human blood.

  Enno is about to turn around and go back inside the apothecary when, at that moment, a deep, sinister laugh comes from the darkness.

  “Good morning, young man... Do you have any useless junk you can give to this old hag? I'll give you a proper reward, hehehe.”

  From the darkness, a dim light appears, and an old woman, hunched over and dressed in tattered burlap, pulling a cart, emerges.

  Her face wears a kind smile.

  But Enno clearly sees that she's holding a lantern made of human skin, and the rusty cart she's pulling is actually attached to her hand.

  Ding! The Skin-Picker has assigned you an optional task: Give the [useless junk] to the picker. Reward for completing the optional task: +10 Picker Goodwill, 20 Skeleton Coins, Picker's Reward x1.

  Enno stays calm.

  “Sure, just a moment.”

  Enno quickly turns around, goes back into the apothecary, and grabs two black bags from the entrance.

  You can faintly smell the strong, bloody stench coming from the bags, and something inside seems to be struggling, letting out low, muffled moans.

  Enno calmly places the [useless junk] on the old woman's cart.

  “Thank you, young man. You're a good-hearted soul.”

  The old woman's smile never changes.

  She slowly extends her withered hand and digs out two bloody eyeballs from her own eye sockets.

  “Young man, this is the old hag's reward for you.”

  Ding! You've earned the task reward: +10 Picker Goodwill, 20 Skeleton Coins!

  Ding! You can choose to accept the picker's reward or refuse it. If you refuse, the Picker's Goodwill will drop by -50.

  Enno looks at the two steaming eyeballs and calmly reaches out to take them, saying:

  “I'll take it. Thank you.”

  The old woman's smile is especially bright, but her two empty eye sockets are especially eerie.

  “Good, good!”

  Then, under Enno's watchful eyes, the old woman pulls her cart and slowly disappears into the darkness.

  Ding! You've earned the picker's reward: 1 Tailor's Eyeball, 1 Butcher's Eyeball, +20 Picker Goodwill.

  Enno stays calm on the surface but breathes a sigh of relief in secret as he quickly returns to the apothecary.

  He learned from his teacher that the tailor's shop across the street makes clothes out of human skin, and the butcher's shop sells human flesh. And the picker has the eyeballs of the bosses of those two shops.

  This is another rule he's figured out about this world.

  Never try to offend the walkers in the darkness.

  Enno turns around, forcing himself to stay calm.

  He takes bottle after bottle of expired dark red potions from the counter, puts them in his potion box, and heads to the backyard.

  Passing by the operating room, the sound of cutting still fills the air.

  Enno knows that right now, he'd better not disturb his teacher.

  If you do, the next one lying on the operating table might not be who you think.

  Enno arrives at the backyard.

  He opens the cellar door, and a thick, foul smell hits him instantly, like the stench of rotting flesh and excrement.

  “Hiss—hiss—”

  The cellar is filled with eerie noises.

  Enno knows that what's kept in this cellar is the “little darling” his teacher mentioned, and as for what it really is, no one knows except his teacher.

  Enno pours all the potions from his box into the cellar.

  Ding! You've earned 10 Skeleton Coins, -10 Little Darling Goodwill, +1 Furniture Proficiency.

  Roar—

  Roar—

  The cellar quickly fills with shrill, furious roars, and waves of bloodiness come out.

  Enno quickly shuts the cellar door.

  He breathes a sigh of relief.

  This is the daily routine he has to go through every morning as the assistant of this apothecary.

  And the most important reason he's still alive is that he listens to his teacher and just does what he's told without asking questions. The assistants who didn't listen were already dismembered by his master and fed to the little darling.

  Enno calms himself down and tries:

  “System?”

  And in the next moment, a panel suddenly appears in front of Enno's eyes.