Chapter One: Beginning with a Trillion Underworld Coins

9:00 p.m.

The classroom was brightly lit, while darkness reigned outside. At this hour, the senior high students were attending their evening self-study session, with forty minutes left before dismissal.

Inside, Chen Mu’s eyes snapped open. He stared around in confusion. After a brief daze, realization dawned, and he muttered in disbelief, “I… I’ve actually been reborn…”

Chen Mu remembered with perfect clarity: he had survived to the fifth year of the bizarre apocalypse.

In that world, horrors roamed freely, and the human realm had become a living hell. In countless scenes of death, even the slightest violation of the rules would invite the wrath of the supernatural. If luck was on your side, you might escape with a missing limb; if not, you became a meal for monstrous entities.

To survive in that nightmarish apocalypse, one had to contract with spirits, use special artifacts, possess extraordinary intelligence, or… have ghost coins.

Of course, neither power, cunning, nor ghost coins were easily acquired. Especially the ghost coins—ordinary ones were useless. Only those minted by the Underworld after the apocalypse’s arrival could truly tempt the spirits.

But acquiring such coins was nigh impossible.

Once in possession of these ghost coins, however, one could move with ease through the apocalypse. With enough of them, even the kings of ghosts would bow before you.

In his previous life, Chen Mu had managed to survive five years. By a twist of fate, he discovered the Bank of the Underworld.

There were rumors in the apocalypse: the Bank of the Underworld concealed trillions in ghost coins. With that fortune, the apocalypse became paradise—every fierce spirit would be your servant.

Driven insane by one harrowing scenario after another, Chen Mu resolved to risk everything and rob the Bank of the Underworld.

Five years scraping by in the apocalypse had honed his skills. He possessed a spatial ring, one of the rarest artifacts, capable of holding countless ghost coins.

But when he made his move, he triggered the bank’s deadly mechanisms. In an instant, infernal flames erupted to consume him.

With no escape, Chen Mu made a desperate decision. He used his spatial ring, bellowed with all his strength, and miraculously sucked the entire Bank of the Underworld into the ring.

Moments later, though, he was burned alive by the raging hellfire.

Before death claimed him, Chen Mu gave a bitter, self-mocking laugh.

At that moment, he had become the wealthiest man in the apocalypse—yet died before he could spend a single coin.

He was not willing to accept such an end.

Luckily, to his utter astonishment, he was reborn.

Snapping back to the present, Chen Mu hurriedly felt for his finger.

The next moment, wild joy flashed in his eyes.

He had been reborn—and the ring was still there!

But that wasn’t all. To his even greater shock, the entire Bank of the Underworld was still inside the ring!

All those billions of ghost coins were his to use at will.

For reasons unknown, his rebirth had brought the ring, the bank, and the mountain of coins with him.

He now began anew with trillions in ghost coins!

Even after five years in the apocalypse, this excitement left him trembling.

It took five minutes for Chen Mu to calm his racing heart and take stock of his situation.

He glanced up at the classroom’s digital clock—June.

If memory served, the apocalypse had descended the previous May, five years ago. That meant the nightmare had been raging for a month already.

Yet everything around him seemed normal. His classmates were still at their desks, the homeroom teacher marking papers at the podium, and motivational banners for exams hung on the walls.

The sports field outside was as calm as ever.

None of this surprised Chen Mu.

A month had passed since the onset of the apocalypse, but its effects were still slight. Most people had yet to be affected, and order still held.

Chen Mu knew that the apocalypse’s influence expanded gradually.

At first, perhaps only a handful worldwide would be touched, forced to participate in supernatural scenarios, struggling for survival under their bizarre rules.

Those receiving a supernatural task had to reach the designated scenario at a specified time.

Some scenarios were for individuals; others, for groups.

Eventually, two years after the apocalypse’s arrival, entire cities would be drawn into a single scenario, transforming the world into a living hell.

Completing a scenario brought rewards, but such fortune was rare.

Even the lucky survivors would face ever more harrowing scenarios ahead. As time passed, more and more people would be swept in, order would collapse, and panic would rule—a true apocalypse.

If Chen Mu remembered correctly, this was the calm before the storm. In another month at most, all order would crumble, and humanity would witness the true horror of the apocalypse.

“These supernatural scenarios can be bought, and spirits can be hired. With this month, I must purchase as many scenarios and hire as many spirits as possible, gathering more artifacts.”

Chen Mu understood: even with all the ghost coins in the world, he still needed power to survive.

Otherwise, just as in his previous life, he would die in infernal flames despite his unimaginable wealth.

He surveyed the classroom. On closer inspection, it was clear that in just a month, the apocalypse had begun to change everyone.

Though books were spread before his classmates, few were actually reading.

Most whispered nervously, fear and unease written on their faces.

Clearly, they had heard rumors of supernatural scenarios and had gained a basic understanding of some rules in this new world.

For example:

You must participate if you receive a supernatural task—refusal means death;

Tasks appear at random. Who receives them, when, and how often is all a matter of luck.

Yet no one realized the apocalypse had truly arrived. They still hoped order would hold, that everything would pass.

So, classes continued, teachers taught, and the old routines struggled on.

Suddenly, a scream pierced the classroom. A girl who had just been chatting with her deskmate now stared in terror, her trembling finger pointing at her desk.

There, a blood-red slip of paper had appeared, bearing the words:

[Supernatural Task: Midnight Canteen]

At the same time, two other students found identical slips on their desks.

Such notes meant the unlucky recipient had been chosen for a supernatural task and would have to complete it in a supernatural scenario.

Chen Mu looked at his own desk. A slip had appeared there as well: [Supernatural Task: Midnight Canteen].

He was not surprised; before his rebirth, he had received this very task at precisely this time.

Unlike the others, who were gripped by fear, Chen Mu’s eyes shone with a faint excitement.