Chapter 28: Opening the Mystery Box (With heartfelt thanks to Yun Fusheng Zhui for your vote—thank you!)

She opened the second reward pack, and a small, delicate repeating crossbow appeared before her eyes. "Congratulations, Host. You have obtained an exquisite repeating wrist crossbow. This weapon can be concealed within your sleeve and is perfectly suited for you."

In that instant, Wang Keyue felt completely revived, as if her energy had returned in full. She was even tempted to wade back into the sea of corpses for another haul—corpses, the undead, none of that mattered now. What really mattered were these continually surprising treasures!

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Open the next box!" Wang Keyue was swept up in the thrill of opening mystery boxes.

"Congratulations, Host. The third reward pack is an enhanced skill—Eagle Eye," intoned 9538. A green skill card floated in the air. According to 9538's explanation, this was a special skill superior to the basic ones, capable of enhancing one's eyesight and allowing for vision across vast distances once activated.

Oh! Now she had a high-powered telescope, and quite an advanced one at that! She decided to use this skill card soon—it would be a superb tool for reconnaissance.

Wang Keyue spread the fourth glowing orb across her palm and gently pressed, "Open."

The orb flashed, and as the fourth reward pack opened, a scroll materialized in the air. Wang Keyue caught it and slowly unfurled it. The painting inside depicted a landscape, but it was not like any typical landscape painting.

Its lines were bold and simple, and on closer inspection, it resembled a map.

"Congratulations, you have obtained a treasure map and a random reward of fifty gold coins. If you can unravel the secrets of the treasure map, endless wealth awaits you!" 9538 explained.

"Where does this treasure map lead?" Wang Keyue asked with genuine curiosity—she was deeply fascinated by adventure and treasure hunting.

"Host, this map comes with no instructions. Everything must be discovered by you," replied 9538.

Wang Keyue turned the map over and over, scrutinizing it, but she couldn't discern anything unusual.

This map was utterly unlike anything from her own world. Coupled with her unfamiliarity with her current surroundings, she had no points of reference for comparison, so the map was temporarily stowed away in the system's storage.

Now, only the final, undead-themed glowing orb remained. This orb was noticeably larger and brighter than the previous ones. Wang Keyue couldn't help but feel a flicker of anticipation.

"9538, open this orb," she commanded. A flash of white light burst before her eyes, followed by a loud "bang!" as an unidentified object plummeted from midair.

Wang Keyue was so startled by the noise that she nearly jumped out of her skin—no, she actually did. "Ah! My goodness! What is that?!"

She looked closely—damn! What on earth? What was the meaning of this corpse? Staring at the body before her, Wang Keyue felt an icy jolt of fear run through her, her spirit almost leaping out of the system interface.

Patting her chest to calm herself, she glanced about in the firelight. Not far away, the silhouettes of her three teammates with red-lettered armbands flickered around the campfire, their hushed conversation drifting to her ears.

Wang Keyue composed herself and slowly lay back down. She dared not immediately reenter the system, so she simply asked 9538 directly.

"9538, what was that just now?" Wang Keyue wondered if she had overreacted and misseen something.

"Host, please wait. System is scanning... Beep beep! Please rest assured, Host. The item that just appeared was a randomly generated reward from the main program."

"What do you mean? Wasn't that a human corpse?" Wang Keyue pressed for confirmation.

"No, Host! That was not a corpse, but rather... an unknown lifeform!" 9538 replied, though Wang Keyue found the answer somewhat strained.

Resigned, Wang Keyue sent her consciousness back into the system. Upon entering, she saw that in the spacious, bright system space, a human body lay sprawled in the center—a male human body, at that.

How did she know it was male? For heaven's sake, the body was lying there stark naked—it was obvious!

With a thought, a blanket appeared in her hand, which she promptly draped over the figure. Only then did she cautiously take his wrist to check his pulse. Sure enough, it was beating steadily and strongly.

Just as the 9538 system had said, this was indeed not a corpse, but a living, breathing entity!

"9538, tell me—what use is this thing?" Wang Keyue's mind raced, imagining every possibility.

Could it be a bionic human from the future, destined to serve her as its master? Or perhaps a vampire from a parallel dimension, immortal...

"Beep beep beep! This unknown lifeform cannot be identified. There are no instructions for this special item; you must explore its secrets yourself," chimed 9538, its response as mechanical as ever.

Wang Keyue huffed. She suspected that from now on, any reward the 9538 system couldn't explain would be brushed off with such words. She had seen through its tricks at last.

With a wave of her hand, a large cardboard box—the kind used for shipping parcels—appeared beside her. She planned to stash the body in there; after all, she didn’t want to keep running into a naked man every time she entered or exited the system. That would be far too unsettling!

With a single thought, the man who had been lying on the ground vanished in an instant, and the next moment, his body appeared snugly inside the cardboard box.