Newbie's Quest: Awaiting Challenge

"Brother, come play with me."

For the 999th time.

This is the 999th time Ethan Walker has heard this phrase.

Ethan's gaze lowers to a little girl in red, only reaching his waist, looking up with a stiff smile.

The girl is cloaked in a red cape, her hat covering her head, with two braided pigtails hanging beside her ears, small leather shoes, white socks, and a bamboo basket slung over her right arm. Aside from her unusually pale complexion, she looks no different from a normal child.

But Ethan knows that in fifteen minutes, this little girl's face will split into four parts like a malevolently blooming flower, each petal's edge lined with sharp teeth, spitting out a long, barbed appendage from the center, like a stamen or a tongue!

She has a name, Little Red Riding Hood.

As the final boss of this level, she has been masquerading as a harmless NPC since the game's onset, lurking beside players, aiding in decrypting clues and providing hints.

Only when the last scene, "Grandmother's Cottage," appears does she reveal her true form, tearing off the facade and devouring the players down to the last bone!

If it were an ordinary player, they would be utterly deceived by her seemingly innocent appearance. At the moment of reaching the cottage, seeing the lovely little girl transform into a monstrous man-eating plant would send nine out of ten players fleeing in terror.

But Ethan, who has cleared the level 999 times, fears nothing.

Not only is he fearless, he's even a bit numb.

"Big sis," Ethan laments, teary-eyed, "You've killed me 142 times, and I've killed you 857 times. Rounding off, we're even. Can you just let me pass to the next level?"

Little Red Riding Hood blinks her round, dewy eyes.

"What are you saying, brother? I don't understand."

"…"

This foolish NPC isn't equipped with an additional voice pack. If the player says a bit more than usual, she can't parse it and will only respond with "I don't know."

Ethan sighs deeply, resignedly walking a few steps to his right.

His current location is the player's revival point, also the game's starting point. Here, new players engage in dialogue with NPC Little Red Riding Hood, who guides them to receive a weapon.

To Ethan's right is a storage locker, also known as the "weapon rack."

The locker is divided into an upper and lower section, covered with transparent glass on the top and solid wooden doors below. It appears ordinary but holds vast potential.

Wolf-tooth clubs, iron axes, scythes as tall as a person...everything one could need.

In total, there are ten distinct weapons, each of which Ethan has tried.

He picks up the most inconspicuous inflatable hammer from the corner.

This inflatable hammer, about 1.5 meters long, is decorated in a pink color beloved by strong men, with two symmetric star symbols on the hammerhead, and emits a playful squeaking sound when struck.

A child's toy no normal player would choose.

Ethan has his reasons for selecting it after nearly 900 clears. The inflatable hammer is light and easy to wield, and crucially, the handle's bottom cap opens to reveal buttons for "normal" and "enhanced" modes.

This was a secret Ethan discovered in his 458th game.

However, switching modes takes three seconds, a period which must be carefully calculated during battle. The hammer, heavy as a thousand pounds in enhanced mode, only shows its true power when swung down with both hands, or else it risks throwing out the user's back.

This was a combat technique Ethan mastered after injuring his back three hundred times.

Weapon in hand, the player is ready.

Little Red Riding Hood trots over in her leather shoes.

"Hello, strange big brother, can you help me? I'm Red from the neighboring Lucky District. My mother asked me to visit my grandmother in the Happy District. I…"

Her voice suddenly turns dull because Ethan has pinched her nose.

And her eyes.

And her mouth.

Then he rests his hands behind him.

"Why can't I skip the story?"

Little Red Riding Hood: …

The NPC suspiciously glitches before continuing to relay the story's background.

Ethan idly picks at his hands.

There's no helping it; after hundreds of trials, he knows NPC dialogues can't be skipped, or else he could shorten his clearing time.

Finally, in the last line "Then let's set off," Ethan shoots out like an arrow released from its bow.

The Little Red Riding Hood level is divided into three main scenes: Street, Staircase, and Grandmother's Cottage.

The monsters in the first two scenes aren't too difficult and manageable for beginners. The insanity lies in the third scene, Grandmother's Cottage, which inconceivably houses three bosses: the Wolf, Grandmother, and the final boss, Little Red Riding Hood. Each boss is disguised and has a killing order. New players must first see through their disguises, then defeat them one by one, and finally, beware of "the innocent Little Red Riding Hood's deadly strike."

But to Ethan, who has cleared the game 999 times, these are no issues.

He speeds through the street, slaying three human-faced wolf spiders at the second, seventh, and ninth intersections, stands at the corner bun listening to the boss babble for ages to receive half an old photo, and gathers the other half from a notice board.

Entering the staircase, he ducks low, squeezing into the third floor's water tank to avoid the pursuit of an inverted woman. After she wanders back and forth four times, he climbs out from the tank, ascends to the fourth floor, and enters Grandmother's Cottage.

Inside, a pair of real and fake grandmothers, laughing sinisterly, welcome Ethan and Little Red Riding Hood. Ethan waits for their "chittering" laughter to end; no choice, it's part of the plot.

Then, without even piecing together the clues, he points to the left one saying, "You're the Wolf," to the right, "You're the dead Grandmother," and swings his hammer at each.

"And you."

Ethan turns, facing Little Red Riding Hood's abyssal maw, and stuffs the inflatable hammer into her mouth.

Game over.

The surrounding old scenes crumble like a collapsing sandcastle, gradually fading away.

In a silent darkness, there's a glowing path. This narrow, long path, like a thread suspended over an endless abyss, requires just one misstep to fall into eternal doom.

But for Ethan, who has walked it 999 times, he could do it blindfolded.

No different from before, on his 1000th time, Ethan walks this path, sighing as he goes.

In his previous life, he died suddenly from overwork as 007, waking up in this wretched place. Clearing a thousand times, he still doesn't see the point. He might as well go to hell.

...

He couldn't already be in hell, could he?!

Otherwise, why the endless torment?!

This thought somewhat shocks Ethan. In a moment of distraction, his foot falters, and he feels himself lift off the ground.

Ah?

...

Ah—

Ethan screams as he falls into the boundless darkness, not knowing how long it's been, feeling himself forcefully smashed onto the ground, dazed for a long while.

"Are you alright?"

Vaguely, he hears someone speaking.

He thinks he's hallucinating until his vision clears, and everything around is still familiar.

The gray skies, the deserted long street, and the few mournful bird cries in the silence.

"Whew, I'm back at the revival point."

Ethan is relieved yet disappointed, ready to start his 1001st hunt for Little Red Riding Hood.

But this time is slightly different.

He eyes the nine strangers in front of him, wary.

"Who are you?"

The nine people, in various attire, male and female, don't look like they belong together, all tense.

A girl in sportswear timidly replies.

"We...are all players, aren't you?"

Players?

New players!

Ethan's eyes blaze, frightening the girl across from him into thinking he's a cannibal.

"Don't be afraid," Ethan raises his hand, signaling he means no harm, "I just haven't seen anyone alive in a long time."

"…"