He is lost in the heights of joy, while she lingers in the depths of despair.

Bang!

The chubby police chief was startled by the door being kicked open so suddenly. He only recovered his senses after the door slammed against the wall with a loud thud. Seeing Chen Sheng standing in the doorway, he flew into a rage and roared, "Chen Jueshen, do you have no sense of decorum? Don't you know how to knock before entering?"

"Decorum? Let's talk about decorum once you've paid me the quest reward you owe me!"

Hearing those words from Yan Shidong’s uncle, Chen Sheng immediately envisioned the face of a vile capitalist. Resentment welled up from his heart and malice took hold; without another word, he rolled up his sleeves and slammed a fist into the police chief’s face.

"I’ll teach you to cheat me out of my labor!"

"Let's see if you dare to stiff me again!"

"This punch is for the last time you stiffed me!"

"And this kick is for trying to stiff me again!"

Fists and feet flew. Chen Sheng was brutal, landing every strike with solid force. Yan Shidong’s uncle managed to scream for the first minute, but for the next three, he couldn't even make a sound.

He had passed out.

"The settings for these NPCs are truly realistic..." Chen Sheng muttered to himself, filled with inner admiration. Not only was the experience of this 'healing game' excellent, but the level of realism was easily ninety-nine percent. He only withheld the final one percent because he felt his own knowledge was limited and wanted to leave himself a margin for error.

Here, when an "NPC" was injured, they bled, screamed, and begged for mercy. When they died, it felt real, too—the corpse retaining a lingering warmth.

Without a second thought, Chen Sheng grabbed the steaming cup of tea from the desk and splashed it onto the chief's face.

Then... the chief still didn't wake up.

"Isn't this how it's done in the TV shows? Why isn't he waking up?" Chen Sheng looked perplexed, so he simply began to search the office.

Aside from a box containing fifty-denomination currency notes, he found nothing else.

"I'll just take this as my quest reward from last time..."

Chen Sheng picked up the box and prepared to leave, but suddenly, a knife appeared in his hand.

It was neither long nor short, looking very much like a fruit knife. However, compared to a standard fruit knife, it was quite peculiar; the edge shimmered with a cold light, and faint traces of blood were visible, as if it were a murder weapon that had claimed lives before.

"Why does this knife look so familiar?" Chen Sheng felt a surge of doubt. He examined it closely, and the more he looked, the more familiar it seemed. He felt certain he had seen this fruit knife somewhere before.

"The lover is in a place of joy..."

A voice suddenly drifted in, an ethereal and haunting operatic aria. It was impossible to tell if it was male or female, but the sound was saturated with an unyielding, lingering sorrow.

Chen Sheng froze, and the aria continued.

"The concubine is at the moment of heartbreak..."

"The moon knows the grievance in my heart..."

"Meeting is difficult, but parting is easy..."

"The abandoned wife now regrets her delay..."

"Do you remember, my lord, the day we compared ourselves to the phoenixes?"

"Do you remember how you broke your promise and pursued another branch?"

"Do you remember that your old love now has no place to rest her body?"

"Do you remember the orphan with a mother but no father?"

"My dear lord..."

"Do you know that my long illness has turned into consumption..."

"And soon, I shall die of heartbreak for you..."

Listening to the delicate, soul-piercing melody, Chen Sheng suddenly remembered where he had seen the fruit knife.

It was from the "newbie experience dungeon" at the very beginning.

"Does it think I’m an veteran now, so it’s continuing that dungeon for me?" Chen Sheng raised an eyebrow, turned slightly, and tossed the fruit knife in his hand.

Although it was just a fruit knife, when thrown by Chen Sheng, it acted like a hidden weapon, instantly piercing the back of Yan Shidong’s uncle’s neck.

A spray of blood erupted. After a slight twitch, the police chief went completely still.

The warmth left his body. He was dead.

"Your murderous nature is still as heavy as ever. Every time I see you, you are killing someone..." Following a sudden, soft sigh, a graceful figure emerged from the shadows. She moved with elegance and poise, her face painted in stage makeup, looking at Chen Sheng with a mocking smile.

"Are you Xu Qingqian?" Chen Sheng remembered that after the "newbie experience dungeon" vanished, the "guide NPC" who walked in had been described exactly like this. Since that place was the former residence of the opera master Xu Qingqian, this "Ah Qian" was undoubtedly her.

However, upon hearing this, the figure showed a trace of confusion. With a look that was both mournful and resentful, they said in a hollow voice, "I am... and yet, I am not."

The voice was strange; it sounded male, yet sharp, and while it could be female, it possessed a certain magnetism.

Chen Sheng stepped back half a pace under that gaze.

He remembered how this person had died.

It was truly an eyesore!

"You're afraid? You can actually feel fear?" Seeing Chen Sheng step back, the figure looked astonished, even incredulous.

They could not imagine that this man before them—who acted like a human, yet committed murder in the police station; who acted like a ghost, yet was a man of "great desire" capable of leaving this world—could ever feel afraid.

That day, "he" had intentionally retreated to let the man go, wanting to see what his origins were. Although "he" knew the man possessed an execution tool, as a malevolent spirit who wielded such tools, "he" felt no fear.

In fact, the Black-Faced Impermanence’s intervention had something to do with "him" provoking the entity, tied to the original wielder of the gallows. What "he" hadn't expected was that after one move, the Black-Faced Impermanence never struck again, even after the man reappeared in Upper Sanjiang City.

So, "he" had to come personally.

"Stay back. Looking at you is an eyesore," Chen Sheng said, showing his disgust without reservation.

"You!"

In a fit of rage, a sickly green light surged in "his" eyes, transforming into two beams—a manifestation of pure malice. A terrifying drop in temperature followed.

In an instant, the police chief’s office was covered in frost.

The curse of a malevolent spirit descended upon Chen Sheng.

However, like a drop of oil falling into a clean, dry pot, the curse simply slid away, unable to even stir the fabric of Chen Sheng's clothing.

"Want to fight?" Chen Sheng raised his hand, and his "newbie equipment" appeared. The crude gallows projected a power that transcended time.

Facing a formidable enemy, the gallows had awakened.

And in that moment, time within the office began to turn strange.