Why?
Why was this happening!?
Lao Guo wanted to roar, to scream about the incomprehensible situation he found himself in.
Where were his Obsession Items? Where the hell were his big, powerful Obsession Items?!
How could they be gone the moment he entered?
Why were his Obsession Items missing!?
Of course, Lao Guo knew that many high-difficulty game instances placed strict restrictions on players' Obsession Items. For example, if a player in a Red Moon-level game brought a non-core Obsession Item from a Twilight-level game, the item would inevitably lose control the moment they entered. This was because the level of the rules-based horror stories within Red Moon-level games was too high, capable of directly triggering the loss of control in lower-level Obsession Items. Therefore, once a player decided to participate in a Red Moon-level game, they had to clear out any Twilight-level Obsession Items they were carrying, or at the very least carry a Dark Night-level or a core Twilight-level Obsession Item to dare enter.
But the problem was, even the most dangerous and terrifying Red Moon-level games only caused Obsession Items to lose control—they didn't just fucking steal them!
Besides, this was clearly just a solidifying Twilight-level game. At its absolute peak, it could only reach the highest tier of Dark Night-level difficulty. Why were his Obsession Items stolen outright? Why in the world was this happening?
Thud!
With a heavy thud, Lao Guo slammed into a wall and coughed up a mouthful of blood. He was then lifted into the air by the neck by a headless male corpse in the living room, thrown across most of the room, and sent tumbling to the floor, his elbow and the side of his face scraping bloodily against the ground.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
After painstakingly gathering information from various channels about this upcoming 'solidifying' Twilight-level game and confirming that no one had yet bid on this instance's information, Lao Guo had originally made foolproof preparations.
He had bought some intelligence on this instance, knowing that a man named Xusheng had once led survivors in the Shirakawa Apartments to summarize many rules and had left behind various things to help future survivors. For example, the cabinet in the hallway was said to have saved many lives, as were the supply boxes inside the rooms. He also knew that the main dangers in the Shirakawa Apartments came from the 'Debt Collectors' roaming the hallways and the 'Rescue Team' that appeared on the first floor on the seventh day, and of course, those doll-like 'Children' that appeared at night.
For a game that had not yet 'solidified,' one could understand it as the core source of the rules-based horror story still being in a state of evolution and transformation. Thus, the game's difficulty would be much lower, as many things related to the core horror story could not be fully formed at this stage. After 'solidification,' it could be understood that the core of the horror story was basically set in stone. Under normal circumstances, the instance's difficulty would rise to a certain extent; in some cases, it could even jump a whole tier.
For instance, the actual difficulty of the Shirakawa Apartments, a Twilight-level game, could potentially reach Dark Night-level during its 'solidification' phase. And that damned Sacrificial Game wouldn't change the difficulty display at that time, only updating the level after the 'solidification' was complete.
The disadvantage of this was the possibility of veteran players getting wiped while 'smurfing,' since a Dark Night-level instance was already an extremely dangerous and terrifying existence. But Lao Guo was very confident in this regard. He believed that with his rich survival experience, he could easily clear the Shirakawa Apartments and obtain its core Obsession Item. In his eyes, this was also the best opportunity, because once the 'solidification' was complete, the instance would open to all veteran players, and the competition would be far too fierce.
In the end, due to a lack of funds, Lao Guo wasn't able to hoard the information for himself and had to share the entry ticket and related info for this instance with another anonymous player. This resulted in both of them having only half of the information. However, Lao Guo wasn't the least bit worried. Having survived multiple Twilight-level missions and successfully escaped a Dark Night-level mission once, he was confident that with his experience, clearing a 'solidifying' Twilight-level mission would be a breeze. As for the other buyer, if they dared to show up, he would let them know why his nickname was 'Old Ghost.'
He was, of course, also aware that entering this instance with an entry ticket meant he lacked an 'official identity' and would face many difficulties. For instance, his first challenge would be the corpse in Room 210. This thing, which should have protected the room's owner, had judged him to be an intruder and attacked him directly.
For Lao Guo, who possessed multiple Obsession Items, dealing with something like this was also very simple. He just needed to take out his Blood Puppet, which had a very strong restrictive effect on physical horror anomalies... wait, where's my Blood Puppet? Where the hell is my big Blood Puppet?!
The most critical Obsession Item that was supposed to ensure he had no problems at the start, the one he should have kept carefully hidden, was now... gone!
Thump!
With a dull thud, Lao Guo flew high into the air, his whole body plastering against the ceiling before crashing back down, covered in dust and bloody wounds.
He struggled to get up, wanting to check if he had any other Obsession Items, and then he realized.
Where is my Faceless Skull-Eater?
The one I use specifically against players, specifically for killing humans, the one that can precisely devour a person without harming their Obsession Items in the slightest—one of my most valuable items—why is it gone too? How could it just be gone?
Before Lao Guo could figure out where his treasures had gone, the headless male corpse pinned him to the floor, then raised a stained hatchet to chop down at his neck.
At the critical moment, Lao Guo could only reluctantly throw out his bone ash, using it to barely stop the male corpse's movements.
But this item was originally meant to stop living people from turning into anomalies; its effect on things closer to the nature of horror stories was not very strong, especially against something like the male corpse, which had already completely become a part of the horror story's rules. The result was that Lao Guo threw out a large handful of bone ash, nearly using it all up, only to barely stop his opponent for a second. Before he could even run to the living room door, the male corpse caught up and slashed him across the back, cutting open the protective suit he wore under his clothes and leaving a bloody gash.
"Bastard!"
Finally realizing that he might lose his life here, Lao Guo reluctantly resorted to using a bomb. By detonating the explosive to collapse the old, unstable wall, he found a chance to escape the room, covered in dust and grime.
At the same time as Lao Guo's arduous struggle, the two women inside Room 205 were also staring at each other, wide-eyed.
"You... What are you doing? I don't have any money. It's useless to kidnap me..."
A trembling Miwa Maeda cowered in the corner, too scared to move.
But the woman standing before her had a cold expression, gritting her teeth and standing still. She didn't kill the woman in front of her as she had in the previous two loops, using the Obsession Item hidden in her body to strip away her existence and turn her into a 'second life' that she could impersonate at any time and discard as a target for the horror story at a critical moment.
The reason she didn't do so was quite simple: after checking her equipment, she suddenly discovered that one of her scalpels was missing, and her most crucial item for eavesdropping, the invisibility doll, was also gone.
What's going on?
What in the world is going on?!
Why are my things gone? My Obsession Items, the ones I worked so hard to obtain, how could they just be gone!?
The game had just begun, yet things were already completely out of control. The woman became even more hesitant to act rashly, her expression growing more ferocious and terrifying. Her entire face actually began to writhe like a centipede, scaring Miwa Maeda in the corner to the point of nearly fainting.
Click!
Then, the sound of the living room door's lock being opened was heard.
The woman looked up to see a tall, sturdy white man carefully opening the door, followed by a handsome East Asian young man who stepped into the room and smiled at her.
"I figured that without your Obsession Items, a vulture like you who just likes to sit back and reap the rewards wouldn't dare to act immediately. After all, a scumbag who only knows how to hide in the back and observe others, waiting for a chance to snatch the prize, always panics when they find themselves in a crisis."
The man's words were exceedingly impolite.
Understanding his meaning, the woman's expression became even more vicious. A scalpel had already silently appeared in her hand.
It was obvious he was behind all this, but she was no pushover either. Daring to approach her like this, did he really think she was an easy target?
"Sigh, it seems I've stumbled this time. But I'm just a newcomer. If you, sir, can overlook this humble one's offense, we can totally—Aaaahhhhh!"
The woman feigned weakness, but she was only halfway through her act when she screamed and fell to the ground.
A human head with its face cut off opened its mouth wide and bit off the woman's thigh in one go, swallowing the entire leg as if into a bottomless pit.
While she was still thinking about how to feign weakness to find an opportunity, her opponent had acted first without the slightest hesitation, intending to finish her off from the very beginning.
"Aaaahhhhh—"
An astonishing amount of blood spurted from the severed thigh.
Howling in agony, the woman struggled, waving the hand holding the scalpel, trying to do something. But the next moment, the young man closed in, his hand moving like a flash. He directly chopped off the woman's knife-wielding hand. A clean cut, right at her wrist, just as she had cut off his wrist in the previous loop.
The corpse from under the bed had already crawled out, its target locked directly on the woman with the severed hand and leg.
Meanwhile, Gao Hai had already picked up the head and casually snatched the woman's scalpel. He then signaled to Green, who was following him with the paralyzed Miwa Maeda on his back, to start running. On the way, Gao Hai also grabbed the wall clock from 205. They then ran out of the room and back into the hallway. By this time, Maki was already waiting at the door of 206, carrying Lao Guo's backpack, having secured his pistol and explosives.
Everything, from start to finish, took only a few minutes.
Without needing any explanation, Maki simply said to Kaguya, "Trust Hai-kun just like you trust me," and immediately sprang into action. She persuaded Sun Dajun to return to his own room. Gao Hai, on the other hand, went straight to Green. The moment he presented the Faceless Head, an Obsession Item with extremely strong visual impact, and added the line, "Help me or die," Green, who had been observing from the shadows, instantly swore fealty and immediately led Gao Hai to pick the lock of Room 205.
As for Lao Guo, the man had of course noticed Gao Hai taking out his own Obsession Item. But before he could fire his gun or take any other action, Gao Hai had already thrown out the Blood Puppet, trapping Lao Guo with his own Obsession Item, leaving him unable to move in the hallway.
Regarding the black guy, although Gao Hai still didn't know the name of this fellow who had been a background character for two loops, nor why he had so readily followed Lao Guo's every word and become his sacrifice, Gao Hai, being in a hurry, naturally didn't waste words on him. He simply slashed the scalpel against the wall, then pointed it at the man and made a gesture. Seeing the concrete wall easily sliced open, the black guy exclaimed in shock, "Oh man, whatever you say, I'll listen to you," and then ran to hide in 206 as well.
The knocking anomaly had already come downstairs by this time. But with Gao Hai's group in 205 and the others in 206, only the trapped Lao Guo was left in the hallway. Thus, the anomaly was drawn to this overly obvious, taunting target and went straight for him.
By the time Gao Hai and Green came out again, they saw Lao Guo's body distorting and disintegrating bit by bit, his mouth wide open but unable to scream.
The knocking anomaly didn't linger in the hallway. Although Gao Hai couldn't see it, Maki, who had been at the door of 206, had been helping to listen. As soon as she confirmed the footsteps were heading downstairs, she opened the door, tore a rules sheet in half, and slipped half of it under the door of 205 as a signal to Gao Hai, allowing him to confirm the hallway was safe. Then, confirming that Lao Guo was in the process of transformation, Maki mustered her courage, went forward, and stripped the guy of his remaining equipment.
Next came the most dangerous step. Gao Hai, emerging from 205, took out the Rescue Team badge, put a small pin through it, and nailed it directly to the chest of Lao Guo, who was on the verge of being completely transformed by the knocking horror story.
He waited in the hallway for a short while. Upon seeing the disintegration of Lao Guo's body begin to subside and his clothes start to change into a life jacket, he retrieved the Blood Puppet Obsession Item. Then he, too, ducked into 206, locking the main door and closing the living room door.
When they opened the door a few minutes later, Lao Guo was no longer in the hallway. Only a trail of wet footprints remained, leading all the way to the stairwell.
The assimilation effect of the Rescue Team Obsession Item had a very high priority, stronger than the assimilation of the formless knocking horror story. It was highly likely that its effect strength was second only to the core horror story of the Shirakawa Apartments.
Although the process of testing this out had been extremely unpleasant, arguably painful to the extreme, in the end, all that pain was converted into experience, becoming Gao Hai's advantage in the new loop and ultimately helping him annihilate the two veteran players.
Only then did Gao Hai finally relax, giving Maki a thumbs-up.
From the start of their preparation, he and Maki had only briefly discussed a few ideas, taking less than a dozen seconds. Completing the entire operation took only two or three minutes, and their coordination throughout the process was flawless.
"Finally... the two biggest cancers have been eliminated."
After this string of actions, Gao Hai, feeling a bit drained from using several Obsession Items in a short period, took a deep breath. He sat on the living room floor and spoke, filled with emotion.
As for the others present, apart from Maki, who knew everything and cooperated actively, almost everyone was in a state of compounded bewilderment and terror, unable to understand what on earth had just happened in the first few minutes of the game.
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