Earth, Jakarta, 4 PM.

Seo had a half-smoked cigarette in his mouth, wearing a casual suit with a floral shirt underneath it, and stood with his hands in his pockets by the roadside. He casually glanced over at a nearby girl on the pavement dressed in cool clothing.

As it was the height of summer.

In modern cities, there are no ugly women in the summertime.

They just put on makeup, wear sunglasses, and summer dresses. Even if they are not particularly attractive, they can transform themselves into stylish urbanites by wearing a mask and applying eye shadow.

Some of the girls who noticed Seo's gaze didn't show any displeasure. Instead, they teased him by sticking out their tongues and throwing seductive looks at him.

However, there was a slight sense of fear in their eyes, along with the red blood vessels that filled their pupils.

Making the scene somewhat off-kilter and eerie.

Everyone on the street was chatting.

Even two strangers walking side by side to work were chatting like old friends.

Seo flicked the cigarette butt into a nearby trash can, and casually glanced back at the two strangers walking together behind him, finding their conversation very interesting.

"Have you eaten?"

"Yes, I have."

"What did you eat?"

"Well, actually, I haven't eaten anything. How about you?"

Obviously not a normal conversation. This kind of senseless conversation was happening everywhere on the street.

Although people were talking.

It was obvious they weren't really listening to each other. They were just talking about themselves, seemingly with a lower IQ than the AI intelligence level of a trashy online game.

The whole world gave the feeling of an abandoned wasteland that had not been maintained for a long time.

At that moment -

The cleaner standing nearby walked over and picked up the cigarette butt that Seo flicked onto the ground earlier, muttering to himself.

"Thank you, you really tossed that cigarette butt well."

"This looks like an expensive cigarette!"

"Do you know, I'm already 67 this year. I used to be proud of it as living a long life is a good thing, isn't it?"

"But now, I suddenly feel that living too long may not be a good thing. Have you lived a long life?"

After saying that.

The old man lifted his head and stared at Seo with a hopeful and urgent expression as if waiting for something.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Seo took out another cigarette from his pocket and lit it, "Old man, this is the cheapest street cigarette. It's a pile of crap. Your eyes are not good."

"Go get your eyes checked."

It wasn't a very polite thing to say.

Especially to an elder.

But the old man didn't get angry after hearing that, instead he breathed a sigh of relief and walked away with his broomstick over his shoulder, "Good, good. My son also loves smoking this cigarette."

"You should also get your lungs checked. You and my son will die from smoking soon."

"If you both die together, I can save some money on the funeral."

"..."

Seo sighed lightly, feeling a bit annoyed as he looked down at his watch. He absentmindedly flicked the cigarette ash on the ground.

On the garbage bin, there were two eye-catching and glaring signs.

"Do not throw garbage into the trash bin, violators will be held responsible!"

"Cigarette ashes must be flicked on the ground, violators will be held responsible!"

Aside from these slogans, there are various other giant slogans on the exterior walls of high-rise buildings throughout the city.

"Cannot refuse conversation with any strangers!"

"If someone approaches you, you must respond!"

The entire city appears especially strange amidst the hustle and bustle!

While most people appear to be in high spirits, the bloodshot eyes betray that most people are on the brink of a mental breakdown.

Seo stood in place, growing impatient while waiting, without speaking.

Two months ago, this world was forever changed.

Everyone remembers that day clearly.

Two months ago.

A voice rang out in the minds of people all over the world.

"Game update announcement!"

"The new Earth 4.0 version will start updating without stopping from April 1st at 12:00 AM. The main content and adjustments of this update are as follows."

"1. Optimize servers and improve stability."

"2. Add this month's rule 'Active Experts': all players must talk to others 1000 times per day. Those who violate this rule will become mute and the rule will be canceled after two months."

"3. Optimize the sea level on some maps."

"4. All players can activate a visualized personal panel."

"The Snow Sea Project Team wishes all players a happy game in version 4.0."

"P.S. In the next update announcement, the project team has decided to add the 'horror' element as the monthly rule. Please stay tuned, players."

...

Just a few simple sentences.

It seems like an ordinary game update announcement, but the problem is that this isn't a game; it's happening in reality!

April 1st is also known as April Fools' Day.

The sudden sound ringing in the ear and the panel in front of me felt like an April Fools' joke.

At first, most people were confused and didn't know what was happening.

That was until the next day after that day passed.

Almost 20% of the world's population became mute.

And then humanity realized that this darn version update was actually a genuine supernatural event!

Although many people had the wishful thinking that it was real and went to complete their daily rule tasks on the first day.

But----

Not everyone had the chance to talk to someone else for 1,000 sentences every day.

This included mute, vegetative, severely brain-damaged, children who were unable to talk, and more.

In just one day, nearly 20% of the world became mute.

Fear quickly spread across the planet.

This unknown and mysterious force allowed various conspiracy theories to spread through multiple channels!

No one knew what had happened, but they knew that they had to talk to someone else for 1,000 sentences every day.

Even if it was meaningless chatter.

Otherwise, the consequences would be permanent muteness.

Without any reason.

Of course... From a certain perspective, people who were already mute seemed to be able to ignore this punishment, and they didn't need to complete the daily rule task, so they could avoid this punishment.

It was good news to hear, right?

However, even if they faced such a disaster, humanity quickly adapted to it and developed various regulations, including ensuring that everyone could talk to someone else for 1,000 sentences every day as much as possible.

For those who are facing difficulties, they can seek help from the government, which has set up an emergency assistance hotline for this purpose.

The upper echelon of society is earnestly discussing the matter while trying to maintain social stability and gradually searching for a solution.

It is a terrifying thing when all of human power is mobilized.

The slogans on the outer walls of these skyscrapers are the product of the first month.

However... just when humanity seemed to have become accustomed to this mode of operation and believed that things could not get any worse.

The second month arrived.

On the first day of May, that voice once again resounded in everyone's ears.

"Game Update Announcement!"

"The new version Earth 4.1 will not undergo system maintenance and will begin updating at 12:00 am on May 1st. The main contents and adjustments of this update are as follows:

"1. Fixed the bug where some players would not die from falling from a high place. This is now set to be mandatory: without any protective measures, falling from a height of 18 meters or more will result in death."

"2. Fixed the bug where some players would die from a small fall. This is now set to be mandatory: falling from a height below 18 meters will not result in death."

"3. Added new rule tasks with rewards. After completing daily rule tasks, players will receive certain rewards."

"4. Added the monthly rule "Calm Mind, Cool Nature": if a player imagines a ghost in their mind for more than three seconds, they will die instantly. This rule will be removed after two months."

"5. Added the gameplay of "Skill Drops."

"When a player dies, a skill fragment will drop beside their body. Any player can pick up these skill fragments, and when five identical fragments are collected, they will form a complete skill."

"The Snow Sea Project team wishes all players a pleasant game experience in version 4.1."

"P.S. Next update preview: the project team has decided to add the element of "life" into the monthly rule. Please stay tuned, players."

At the moment the voice sounded.

The global population began to decrease rapidly.

Ordinary people usually do not think of ghosts if they have not seen any relevant hints.

These hints include----

Hints from film and television works, folk stories, self-implied hints from walking alone at night, strong hints from related keywords, and unintentional actions in dreams at night.

Simply put.

If you imagine ghosts in your mind, you will die.

It's straightforward.

As soon as the announcement was made for the game, almost everyone's minds subconsciously conjured up images of ghosts and supernatural horrors.

Imagination has always been a point of pride for humans, but at this moment, no one felt proud.

But at this moment, no one is proud.

Most people did everything in their power to distract themselves and empty their minds.

After experiencing what happened last month, no one doubted the truthfulness of the game's announcement.

However, there were still many people who couldn't control their minds. The more fearful they were, the more the images in their minds multiplied like a slideshow on fast-forward.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

When the image of ghosts appeared in their minds and lasted for three seconds, death was inevitable.

Today is already May 18th.

And 18 days have passed since the update announcement.

During this time, except for the first day when the death rate was high, humans quickly found solutions.

Solution one was to keep busy.

For example, by not throwing garbage into trash cans, this encouraged the cleaners to have more work, distracting the brain from random thoughts.

Solution two was to immediately remove all videos, movies, and other video content.

Initially, only supernatural videos and movies were removed, but it was quickly discovered that even a melody with a slightly eerie tune could easily evoke the most straightforward fear in everyone's hearts in this tense situation.

Thus, a drastic approach was taken: all music and videos across the internet were simply taken down and strict control was implemented over most communication forums.

The number of keyword checks during content reviews was in the tens of thousands.

Solution three involved eliminating certain things from the foundation in order to prevent association with anything demonic.

Dolls, mannequins, and all other similarly disturbing objects were to be destroyed.

Anything that could potentially trigger the uncanny valley effect would be destroyed.

All mortuaries and crematoriums were to be closed as well.

The entire city would remain bright and illuminated, with household and street lighting kept on at all hours to ensure that no dark spaces were left for shadows to lurk.

Solution four.

Was diverting attention to sex. One should fill their mind with promiscuous and obscene materials to prevent frightening thoughts from resurfacing.

That was why Seo had catcalled a woman in the street earlier and why she had responded so out of character by flirting back.

It was like a larger production.

Everyone was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, suppressing their fears, while allowing their desires to bubble up within them. It was like living in a movie set.

All the strange conversations that took place between passersby.

Were simply to meet the daily task of speaking to 1000 people a day.

It didn't count if one spoke to oneself, it had to be with someone else.

That was why the maintenance worker had eagerly watched him, hoping he would reply so that he could tick off his quota of daily interaction.

The specific criteria for counting which conversation could be a part of the daily interaction rules were nuanced but important to the overall structure of society.

Using the daily rule task progress bar on the panel as a standard...

...

Seo flicked the cigarette butt he just finished onto the ground in front of a man in a suit nearby, then glanced at the personal panel in the upper left corner.

"Player Name": Seo.

"Player Equipment": None.

"Player Skill": D-level skill "Calm Mind".

"Player Title": None.

"QP Balance": 1038.

"Monthly Rules":

1: "Active Expert" task progress: 782/1000.

2: "Peaceful Mind" task progress: 0/0.

He had talked to people 782 times today and needed to speak to 218 more people to complete the daily task.

As for the QP balance...

Starting from May 1st, completing the "Active Expert" rule task every day would award 1 QP. Until today, a total of 18 QP had been awarded.

The remaining 1020 QP was obtained from the Jakarta Enforcement Bureau.

Just as he was thinking that...

A young man on a motorcycle came quickly towards him from the distance and skidded to a stop in front of Seo. Blowing a whistle, he smiled and said: "Hey, bro, I'm not too late, am I?"

"Oh, by the way, do you remember the guy we met at the counter when we bought medical gloves last time?"

"That guy is dead. When I went to buy supplies today, I found out that he wasn't there and asked about him."

"Hey, guess what?"

"That guy's wife wore red lingerie and hung red lanterns with lots of candles in the bedroom to avoid thinking about that thing when he didn't come home after work."

"Preparing to give her man a romantic surprise."

"As a result, when the young man pushed open the door and saw the thing in the bedroom, he couldn't help but think of that thing and fainted on the spot."

"It's a pity, I wonder what that woman was thinking."

"She's just hurting her own man."

"Anyway, what I was going to say..."

"..."

Just as Seo was about to say hello, the man in front of her started babbling and wouldn't stop. She felt a twitch in the corner of her mouth and a dull headache behind her temples after raising her hand to greet him.

If the daily rule task "Active Person" forced all players to talk to others 1000 times a day, it would torture everyone.

But there would always be someone who enjoyed it.

It was the person in front of him.

The person is a heavy talker.

They were always disliked wherever they went, but now the whole world had become a talker.

"Wait a minute…"

Seo tried to stop him weakly: "If I'm not mistaken, you've already completed your daily rule task shortly after waking up, right? You don't have to say so much now."

However, it's good when he not reply.

When he reply, the man in front of him became more excited.

"Bro, if you didn't remind me, I would've forgotten about this morning. Let me tell you..."

"..."

Seeing that he couldn't interrupt the man in front of him, Seo silently took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He pretended to accidentally drop it on the ground and bent down to pick it up, then started to speak.

"Calvin, get ready..."

Based on psychology.

If someone talks non-stop and you can't interrupt them, you can drop something on the ground and start talking as you pick it up.

This way, you can subtly interrupt them without them noticing.

However, he had only just opened his mouth.

And then he was interrupted again.

Calvin giggled triumphantly as he straddled the motorcycle, placing his hands on his hips. "Bro, don't you remember? We read that book on 'How to Deal with Chatterboxes' together, right?"

"Hey, has no one told the world?"

"When they publish a book like 'How to Deal with Chatterboxes,' can chatterboxes see the book too?"

"Really..."

His voice suddenly stopped.

Seo's face darkened, and he couldn't bear it any longer. He picked up the pack of cigarettes from the ground and put it directly in Calvin's mouth.

Word by word, he said, "I'm warning you for the last time!"

"If you keep buzzing in my ear like a fly, I'll sew your mouth shut!"

"Now, drive for me!"

"Go to Tribeca Park, there's a job looking for someone to do it!"

"...Oh."

Calvin took the cigarette case out of his mouth and wiped off the saliva from it before stuffing it back into his pocket. As he twisted the throttle, he prepared to drive onto the main road.

However, just before he set off, he hesitated for a moment and asked.

"Bro, I bought several types of medical gloves this time. They're all in the trunk. Do you want to take a look? One of them is…"

"Shut the f*ck up!!!"

"Oh…you're so fierce…"

…

Seo, feeling jaded, sat on the back of the motorcycle with an unlit cigarette in his mouth, staring blankly at the bustling street beside him.

Feeling the fierce wind rush by on both sides.

Calvin.

He was an orphan who grew up in a welfare institution with him.

He could speak earlier than most children, and he always had a lot to say.

He had been following him since they came out of the welfare institution, and most of the time, he was a good helper. If only he didn't talk so much.

It would be perfect if there was a rule that allowed every player to only speak up to ten sentences a day.

…

And they were on their way to Tribeca Park in the east of the city to start work.

Since the disaster struck, they had a new profession.

"Special event cleaners."

In simple terms, it meant collecting corpses of people who died from seeing ghosts. The scenes of these deaths were often extremely gory, with scattered body parts and blood all over the floor.

Just one glance at the scene would make one's heart fill with fear that was almost uncontrollable.

And fear...often meant that they had entered the three-second countdown for the rest of their lives.

They were hired by the Jakarta Enforcement Bureau.

They were responsible for cleaning up the death scene. When regular law enforcement officers see such scenes, they find it hard to control their fear and can only find those with stronger mental resilience to do the job.

Before the disaster, the two of them worked in a morgue and were quickly found by the agency.

The pay for special event cleaners is not low.

They can earn sixty million Rupiah, plus bonus of any soul shards that fall near the body.

...

Soon.

It was five o'clock in the afternoon.

Seo and his partner arrived at Tribeca Park.

Now this place had already been surrounded by police tape. Many law enforcement officers in police uniforms stood on the side and forced out an awkward smile as they talked to each other.

Enormous speakers around the area deafeningly played electronic music.

"If i am the DJ, do you love me?"

All these attempts were to keep the atmosphere as light-hearted as possible and avoid triggering unwanted crises.

No one, not even a passerby, could be seen around the cordon.

See, it's not hard to change the nature of human beings to watch the excitement.

However, it's not that hard for humans to distinguish what's more important to focus on.

Upon seeing Seo and his partner arriving.

A leading law enforcement officer outside the cordon hastily approached and said in a slightly stern tone, "The incident happened in a restaurant on the first floor of the square."

"A customer thought of a ghost for some reason while eating and died on the spot."

"Flesh and blood splattered everywhere."

"This scene was witnessed by other customers in the restaurant."

"Fear quickly spread, and the remaining customers couldn't control their emotions. They couldn't help but think of ghosts in their minds, and they all died suddenly."

"The situation now is somewhat complicated."

"We have no choice but to comb through all the customers in the mall as soon as possible. Although customers on the second, third, and fourth floors have spontaneously remained in place, they are aware of what happened on the first floor."

"What you need to do is to clean up the bodies on the first floor as soon as possible and try to calm the emotions of other customers on the second floor and above."

"And it's better to do it faster. No one knows how long other customers in the mall can control their emotions."

"Once one customer's emotions collapse and are completely invaded by fear..."

The captain's voice trembled with fear as he said, "Then the whole mall will be completely invaded by fear, and even the entire city will, those damned..."

"Hey!"

Noticing that the captain's emotions were starting to get out of control, Seo frowned and heavily patted the captain's shoulder. He spoke with a slightly louder and deeper voice.

"Control your emotions."

"Phew!"

At this point, the captain naturally realized that his emotions had almost slipped out of control. As a captain who has gone through the ghost gate and come back, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead in gratitude and looked at Seo. Later, he spoke again.

"If this operation is completed successfully, you will be given an additional one billion as a reward."

"No need."

Seo shook his head. "According to the old rules, every twenty million is exchanged for 10 points, and you can transfer it to me."

"This..."

The captain hesitated for a moment before nodding, saying, "Although I don't know what you need the virtual currency for, they should agree to it as it's worthless and everyone has it."

"It's just collecting it that's a bit bothersome."

"It's strange though, there have been more people in the city lately exchanging cash for virtual currency. It's really odd, as the virtual currency seems to have no use. Although, recently, even the higher-ups have started to collect it for some reason."

"Hmm."

Seo furrowed their eyebrows, not saying anything further. They pulled a pair of medical latex gloves out of their portable suitcase, put on a mask, and, together with Calvin, strode into Tribeca Park, passing through the police cordon.