Messenger of Calamity

Chapter 1: Thieves' Den

“Welcome to the Thieves' Den.”

Yan Qing felt like someone who had napped into the evening—his eyes opened, but his mind remained dazed, a sense of disorientation reflecting on his retina as though he had awakened in another lifetime.

Stone floors, marble walls, a ceiling inlaid with luminous pearls—though there were no windows, a gentle breeze still flowed through, keeping the air fresh.

Without a doubt, this place was a modified cavern.

Why am I here?

Yan Qing instinctively tried to stand, but his buttocks felt glued to the chair with some kind of universal adhesive.

No matter how he moved, he couldn't leave his seat!

Noise stirred around him, and only then did Yan Qing notice there were three others in the hall besides himself.

They each occupied one position around the marble table in the center of the room.

Like him, they were trying to stand but were similarly restrained by some strange force, locked in place.

Their outfits varied, but they shared a similar theme—each was dressed to resemble an animal.

From Yan Qing's angle, left to right, they were:

The one in a black wolf-hide hood—‘Wolf’.

The one in a white fox mask—‘Fox’.

The one with a scarf made of crimson snakeskin—‘Snake’.

But even ‘Wolf’ and ‘Snake’, who wore no full masks, still had their faces obscured by veils, making identification impossible.

So that means...

Yan Qing realized something, and as if anticipating their first reactions upon awakening, the hall had copper mirrors hung on every wall.

So by slightly turning his head, he could see his own appearance:

A furry creature with yellow firewood-colored fur... a wolf?

“Didn’t expect the Thieves' Den secret realm to actually be real.”

‘Fox’ chuckled, his voice magnetic and evocative of a noble scoundrel: “Only the greatest thieves get summoned here for a big score. That means we’re all in the same trade, right?”

“I don’t know where you’re from, but where I come from, only government dogs poke into other people’s business.” ‘Snake’ slouched lazily in his chair, but his words were sharp: “I’m here to see if there’s a big score, not to make friends.”

“See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil.” ‘Wolf’ spoke steadily, his voice seasoned with years of underworld experience: “Since the Thieves' Den gave us disguises, let’s refer to each other by code names.”

“I’m Black Wolf.”

“You’re White Fox.”

“He’s Red Snake.”

“And this thief king seated at the head... is Yellow Dog.”

Yan Qing's eyes widened.

He forgot his situation for a moment and argued, “My mask is clearly a wolf!”

“Wolf? More like a country mutt! Not even the kind used for hunting—just one good for guarding gates.”

White Fox somehow produced a folding fan, snapping it open to cover his mask as he mocked him mercilessly:

“How strange. By the standards of the Thieves' Den, the four of us should be the strongest thieves under fourth transition.

The one sitting in the main seat is supposed to be the thief king beneath Foundation stage.

Yet this time, the thief king didn’t get the wolf, fox, or snake masks—just the dog?”

“Maybe the masks aren’t linked to strength,” Red Snake seemed to defend Yan Qing, then turned the tone: “Maybe the Thieves' Den assigned them based on personality? Can’t the thief king be an honest and loyal dog? Right?”

Faced with their ridicule, Yan Qing remained silent—not because he was too angry to speak, but because something they said was extremely important.

“Enough arguing,” Black Wolf suddenly said.

At that moment, the stone table contracted to reveal a deep cavity.

A massive sand table rose slowly from within.

During the moment of silence, Yan Qing finally collected his thoughts and realized where he was.

After graduation, he had joined a game company as a level designer.

The company operated a fantasy MMORPG called 《The Messenger》.

But Yan Qing was purely a single-player elitist and hated the idea of working in the game after work.

So he barely played his company’s game.

After helping colleagues tweak a few dungeons, the company decided he wasn’t busy enough and gave him more work—design a new dungeon.

As a new hire, he didn’t qualify to create major eight-player endgame content.

Instead, he was assigned a low-level four-player dungeon for practice.

While designing it, a thought struck him—what if the dungeon connected to the main world? Wouldn’t that be more immersive?

So he spent a week working on the idea and submitted a proposal titled “Thieves' Den.”

According to his design, the dungeon location was naturally the Thieves' Den.

The Thieves' Den was a secret safehouse created by a legendary thief lord, known only to a chosen few top-tier thieves.

“Thieves' Den” was a four-player instance.

Upon being summoned, players would appear in the hall of the cave, automatically disguised by the system to enhance immersion—

After all, many players looked ridiculous, and cutscenes would end up looking like an alien convention.

Yan Qing remembered finishing the proposal during an overtime session at home.

After emailing it, he collapsed onto his bed and passed out.

When he next opened his eyes, he had arrived here.

This cave.

These four disguised thieves.

Wasn’t this exactly the “Thieves' Den” he had designed?

So not only had I transmigrated into 《The Messenger》, I even started inside my own dungeon?!

The sand table was now fully formed, with tiny lifelike figures moving across it, as if an entire city had been shrunk onto the table.

Above the sand table, lines of text appeared, clearly visible to all four from any direction:

“Target of this heist: Chang'an, Anguo Temple, Bingzi Pepper Forest”

“Arrival Location: Eastern Archway, Vermillion Bird Avenue”

“Arrival Time: Five days from now, third quarter of midday”

“Exit Condition: Remain within Vermillion Bird Avenue for half a quarter, and you will return to the Thieves' Den”

“Exit Deadline: Fifth quarter of midday”

“Heist Success: Obtain the Token - Bingzi Pepper Forest”

“Heist Failure: Lose 9000 spirit jade and permanently lose access to the Thieves' Den”

At the same time, golden light burst from a grand temple on the sand table.

The hall turned transparent, and everyone could see a silver-bladed straight sword resting in a massive golden cabinet at the rear of the temple.

Just as Yan Qing had designed it—what made “Thieves' Den” unique was that the dungeon only handled the planning.

The real combat took place in the main world.

But the emphasis was on the preparation—if done well, the theft could succeed without any fighting.

If combat was triggered, it could lead to being ganged up on and failing the mission.

In a game, this might be fun.

But in the real world?

Attempting to steal a national treasure from the heart of a city—wasn’t this just begging to die?

“Bingzi Pepper Forest? Isn’t that Emperor Zhou’s sword?

And it’s not in the palace, but in Anguo Temple?”

White Fox grew excited.

“Now that is a worthy target.”

“This reward is interesting...” Red Snake tapped the table.

“Turning Bingzi Pepper Forest into a token...”

“How do we split it?” Black Wolf asked.

“There’s only one Bingzi Pepper Forest.”

“Don’t forget, there could be other treasures in the safe with it,” White Fox laughed.

“Even if the sword is useless as a token, there will be plenty of people in Qi or Liang eager to buy it just to insult Zhou.”

Suddenly, a voice rang in their ears:

“Movement unlocked. Personal rooms now accessible. Teleportation enabled. Please return to the Thieves' Den before the drop time, or it will count as a failed heist.”

Black Wolf stood and found he could move again.

“I have business. I’m leaving. Let’s reconvene this time tomorrow to plan the heist.”

Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked through a back door.

A sharp click followed—clearly, others could not enter his personal room.

“So aloof,” White Fox fanned himself and murmured, “Let’s ignore him. Shall we chat—”

Bang!

Yan Qing slammed his door shut, escaping as if running for his life.

White Fox glanced at Red Snake.

Red Snake gave him a cold stare.

The two exchanged glances for a moment, then turned and entered their own rooms.

Inside his personal room, Yan Qing finally relaxed.

In theory, they couldn’t attack each other inside the Thieves' Den.

But this wasn’t a game—Yan Qing wasn’t going to gamble on that.

He checked his pockets and moved his body a bit.

He quickly confirmed one fact:

Though he had transmigrated into the game world, he was still just an ordinary human.

More accurately, an unclassed, roughly level 1 mortal.

But the dungeon he designed—“Thieves' Den”—was meant for players between first and fourth transitions, i.e., levels 10 to 39.

He hadn’t even reached the minimum level requirement.

He also lacked the world’s currency: spirit jade.

He remembered that many missions in 《The Messenger》 penalized players by deducting spirit jade.

If players didn’t have enough (which was rare), they would die and lose experience instead.

The more jade you lacked, the more EXP was lost.

Losing experience was bad enough.

But if he didn’t come up with 9000 spirit jade in five days and failed the heist...

Could he give up the mission?

Of course.

Not stealing equaled forfeiting.

But the price was losing jade—or dying.

For a player, that was no big deal.

But Yan Qing was a real person!

He forced himself to calm down and realized things weren’t completely hopeless.

Though he didn’t know why he ended up in this dungeon as one of the thieves...

The other three seemed quite capable.

Maybe they could complete the heist without his help.

He could just ride their coattails.

But...

There was a peephole in the door.

Yan Qing peered out and saw the hall was empty.

His three teammates had returned to their rooms.

They weren’t transmigrators like him.

Nor were they players.

They were likely native to this world.

Yan Qing was certain because of something he said earlier—his words had come out in this world’s language.

So had his teammates'.

Yet he understood them perfectly without knowing why.

Only after speaking himself did he realize something was off.

But they understood “Thieves' Den” in great detail.

They knew what kind of people were summoned here.

They showed no fear of stealing a treasure.

Clearly, they were criminals deeply immersed in this world.

If they realized how weak he truly was...

Wouldn’t they strike him down?

Even in online games, there were high-level players who bullied low-level alts—how much more so in a world where strength dictated survival?

And this world had supernatural powers—just reaching level 10 and transitioning granted abilities beyond normal human limits.

So not only did Yan Qing need to survive this heist...

He had to make sure his teammates never realized he was just a weakling tagging along!