From the Start, I Had an 8-Square-Meter Room and Led an All-Girl Team Through the Ghost Realm

Coming-of-age, no romance, all-female team, territory building, haunted-realm exploration

In the dark fog of the haunted realm, Lin Zhizhao was assigned eight square meters of territory.

Her blade veered off course, her arrows missed, and her traps went off half a second late. She thought she was blessed with incredible luck.

Then she realized that every stroke of luck was another IOU to the Old Gods.

Her left eye had already been taken as interest. Debt: 29/50.

The Old Gods were collecting "numbers": 013, 033, 001...

She brought 013 back with her, a modified human who couldn't smell but could tell whether something was broken with a touch of her fingers.

A hacker with a port at the back of her neck, always wondering if she was really just code.

And a former SWAT officer who said more with her knife than with words. The System had turned her younger sister into a vessel.

The station loudspeaker blared all night: "013, return to bed."

Last night, it called Lin Zhizhao by name.

She turned to the others and said:

"Anyone got a power bank? I'm taking this busted speaker apart first."