The Warden Is Cold and Cool

Shang Yu has had a major headache lately. As the warden of a monster prison, he discovered that all the monsters in his prison had been stolen by a live-action horror game.

*

The water ghost, Zombie King, progenitor of vampires, king of the insect race... These monsters had been docile and obedient in prison, and Shang Yu was very fond of them. Now the game had taken them as its labor force, putting them through every kind of torment.

(The monsters: No, we're having a great time in the game...)

*

Shang Yu decided to enter the game himself and bring his monsters back. Keeping the monsters in his prison under control was a warden's responsibility.

(The monsters huddled together, trembling: Please don't come...)

*

Heavenly Palace, a live-action horror game that had quietly launched. Everyone selected by the game had to endure one terrifying escape after another. Each time players cleared a stage, they earned a corresponding number of game points, which they could use to upgrade their abilities.

The game's death rate was as high as 70%. Faced with the terrifying monsters inside, most people had no choice but to flee. Then one day, they saw a man who was cold and impossibly cool...

*

Lucky Player #1: Oh my god! He glared at that female ghost, and she was so scared she dropped to her knees!

Lucky Player #2: It's true, I'm telling you! He had his hands in his uniform pockets, called the Zombie King "Good Boy," and the Zombie King just followed him...

Lucky Player #3: Unbelievable! The progenitor of vampires, who nearly wiped out our whole team, pulled out his own fangs and handed them to that man the moment he saw him...

*

The game was furious, jumping up and down: Who let this man in?! He's about to take all the monsters away!!

Later, the game clung to Shang Yu's leg and sobbed: I was wrong, Daddy...

*

Reader advisory

1. This is an Infinite horror-game story, though the man's presence makes it completely lacking in difficulty.

2. The warden has a cold exterior, but in reality he's a goofball with zero life skills.

3. The warden is the bottom, and the top is a late bloomer. He's very weak at the beginning.

Next story I'm planning to write: Raising a Little Zombie

Xu Yan, a down-on-his-luck young Taoist from a village, inherited the mess his master left behind before dying.

Xu Yan was so poor he couldn't even feed himself, yet every day he had to burn three sticks of the finest incense for his master's thousand-year-old coffin made of peach wood.

Until one day, Xu Yan forgot to burn incense for the coffin. The ancestor inside flew into a rage. The peachwood nails popped out of the coffin lid, and a zombie surrounded by a sinister, chilly aura flew out.

+

Xu Yan shut his eyes, convinced he was done for.

Then he opened them a crack and saw a scrawny, pale little zombie with huge dark circles under its eyes timidly call him, "Papa?"

Xu Yan: "...?"

S-So cute?!

+

Charmed by the little zombie, the young man tightened his belt and resigned himself to becoming a broke stay-at-home dad.

When he saw the little zombie's cheeks were sunken in...

Xu Yan was heartbroken. "How did my child get so hungry?! Daddy's going to catch you a bad ghost from the village right now."

++

When he saw the little zombie's clothes were torn...

Xu Yan was ashamed. "It's all because Daddy has no money. I'll take a few jobs in the village right away and make sure my child has beautiful clothes to wear!"

+

When he saw the little zombie fighting a few ghosts...

Xu Yan's eyes reddened. "Don't be scared! Daddy's coming. Are you hurt, kid?"

The evil ghosts, utterly helpless against the little zombie: "...Are you blind? They're the ones about to die!"

As Xu Yan and the little zombie's life kept getting better, they built a new house at the head of the village and even started raising chickens. People in all the nearby villages began scheming. He was handsome, could catch ghosts, and knew how to farm and raise chickens. He was the perfect son-in-law!

Finally, one day, a matchmaker came to Xu Yan's door to propose a match.

That day, everyone in the nearby villages saw the little zombie go berserk and chase the matchmaker for ten streets, trying to bite her.

The little zombie was furious. "Papa is mine! You people can forget about it, hmph!"

++

The leisurely everyday life of a young Taoist and a little zombie, fighting monsters and farming.

Pretend dad, real CP!

Pre-release story 2: Lighting a Cigarette for the Big Shot [Infinite]

When the sun in the west sank forever and the moon became a cold tomb suspended high in the sky, endless night descended upon the human world.

A mysterious survival game took control of Earth, forcing humanity to become players.

*

"In the game Descent, you'll face all kinds of terrifying creatures: zombies, vampires, ogres, fallen angels... and even your own kind, your companions. Your chances of survival are next to zero!"

"All you can do is grow stronger! Reach the summit!"

"There's only one ultimate goal: survive!"

"Are you ready to face this terrifying survival game?"

The System's mechanical, icy voice, concealing a hint of malice, sounded inside his head. The pale, handsome man with long black hair falling over his shoulders and an air of world-weariness merely crouched on the ground, took a hard drag on his e-cigarette, and picked his ear with his pinky. "What a load of nonsense!"

Qin Yuyu stood up and stretched, then kicked the hideous evil creature charging at him. With a pop, its head exploded into a cloud of blood mist.

"Who cares what kind of trash it is? Just smash it all to pieces!"

*

The city was besieged by zombies. The flimsy city walls were eventually breached, and tens of thousands of zombies poured in from every direction like a tidal wave.

The weak humans were either swallowed up by the zombie horde or fled in all directions, utterly disheveled.

Then an armored tank, modified for combat, came grinding through the zombies. Everywhere it went, zombies burst apart, and it carved a bloody path straight through the sea of undead.

Qin Yuyu sat in the tank's cockpit, driving the modified vehicle with effortless ease. His black hair was tied into a cocky little tuft behind his shoulder, and he pursed his red lips to whistle.

"Explosions: the art of genius!"

*

What kind of soil could possibly produce such a terrifying man?

The people who had been mercilessly tortured by the game stared at Qin Yuyu's outrageous moves, dumbstruck. They wanted to offer him their knees, then solemnly take out a lighter...

To light a cigarette for the big shot!

Theme: Self-reliance and self-improvement