Chapter 19
Chapter 19
The resident of the vacant room on the third floor sniffed the air as it walked down the corridor. Obvious disappointment crossed its bruised, bluish-purple face. With practiced ease, it pressed its dangling eyeball back into its socket and headed toward its room.
Brother B sat in the room he had chosen, paying no attention to the old woman drooling over him from behind. He had activated the privacy filter and was chatting with viewers through the comments. To the old woman’s eerie eyes, he merely appeared to be resting with his eyes closed.
“Are Sister A and Brother Knife really doomed? I quite like Sister A’s mature, commanding vibe.”
Although the Main God’s rules prevented streamers from seeing comments in the Livestream Room that directly revealed information about the dungeon, it was still possible to glean clues from the way viewers phrased certain comments.
This one had clearly come from someone watching Sister A’s point of view. It seemed the situation on the second floor was even more dangerous than he had expected.
“Is there really no way to survive on the second floor? That little girl was pretty cute. I only just followed her.”
Brother B’s fingers twitched. It seemed Sister A or Brother Knife had used some method to switch places with the little girl.
The girl’s doll had been rather cute, and he had a feeling there was more to it than met the eye. Unfortunately, she had guarded it too closely for him to find a chance to touch it.
If she died, he could look for it afterward. Hopefully, the monsters had no interest in the doll.
Brother B said casually, “There is a way to survive. Let the monster inside and fulfill its request. Since this dungeon is called Happy Family, the first thing to remember is that everyone is family. Refusing to let in the family member who owns the room is the stupidest possible move. It’ll only enrage the monster.”
“But now, every monster on an entire floor has already been enraged. Unless they’re all killed, I can’t think of any other solution.”
Brother B suddenly broke off. A wicked smile spread across his face, while his pinkish-purple hair and bear-print T-shirt lent him a touch of youthful playfulness.
“Shh. Something good is about to happen.”
With that, Brother B turned toward the old woman, who was staring at him greedily but remained unable to attack him due to the rules.
“Grandma, we have a guest.”
Before the old woman’s clouded mind could process what was happening, a monster suddenly appeared inside the room.
The monster had clearly opened its own door to return home, only to inexplicably find itself in the room next door. Thinking it had put its eyes in wrong, it dug out both eyeballs and popped them into its mouth for a quick wash. It then spat them out and reinserted them, only to discover that it had still somehow barged into someone else’s home.
Both the old woman and the monster turned to look at Brother B.
Brother B beamed. “Grandma, look. You have a guest.”
An intruder was an enemy.
Someone who knocked first was family, and their request had to be fulfilled.
An intruder could be an outsider, but it could also be another monster.
Even though both the old woman and the monster realized Brother B was behind this, the rules forced them to brawl.
The old woman was no match for the newcomer, but this room was her territory. With Brother B helping from the sidelines as well, she somehow managed to fight it on even terms.
The viewers watching Brother B immediately grew excited.
“Leave it to Brother B to pull something this devious. That skill of his is seriously useful.”
“A lot of people called it useless at first.”
“It does have plenty of restrictions, but in certain dungeons, it’s an absolute trump card.”
The monster had indeed been trying to return home. However, Brother B had already stuck chewing gum outside both the vacant room and the old woman’s room. That was his skill: it linked the two rooms together. The instant the monster stepped through its own front door, it was teleported directly into the old woman’s room.
On the second floor, Yu Lingling confirmed that the monsters enraged at night were stronger than they had been during the day. Rather than remain there, she ran toward the first floor, which no one had chosen.
The stairwell was very dark, and clutter was piled up everywhere.
As Yu Lingling went downstairs, the concrete floor beneath her feet seemed to turn sticky and viscous. Countless hands appeared to reach from the piles of clutter, trying to drag her back.
All the while, the Four Dolls tore into those hands with their teeth.
Yu Lingling slashed relentlessly with the dagger in her hand, but she still couldn’t fend off every attack. She could feel chunks of flesh being ripped from her body, while countless voices screamed that she was in danger and urged her to turn back.
The Four Dolls were the first to be affected. Their attacks grew sluggish, and the skinniest one – a girl wearing a bow – slumped onto Yu Lingling’s back.
Yu Lingling felt her body grow heavier, and her steps slowed more and more. Still, she never stopped. In the end, she simply sent the Four Dolls back into the Dollhouse.
Just before she reached the first floor, Yu Lingling’s steps faltered for the briefest instant before continuing downward.
Not even the viewers who had been watching Yu Lingling’s Livestream Room the entire time noticed the pause.
Once she reached the first floor, Yu Lingling headed straight for the Westernmost Unit without hesitation. By now, she could no longer tell whether it was blood or sweat running down her body. She only knew that her legs felt like lead.
Every time she passed another apartment, Yu Lingling could feel the malice seeping from within – the ravenous desire to flay her alive and swallow her whole.
Yu Lingling stopped outside the Westernmost Unit and knocked. She clearly heard someone inside slurping back saliva, followed by a rush of eager footsteps.
The door opened to reveal a Gaunt Old Man. Behind him, a huge blob of fat with a head lay sprawled across the floor.
“That monster is disgusting.”
“Is she stupid? She has the key to the apartment on the fourth floor, so why did she go to the first floor?”
Meeting the old man’s murky gaze, Yu Lingling said softly, “Hello, Grandpa. I’m here to join you.”
The Gaunt Old Man’s clouded eyes gleamed with vicious eagerness as he hurriedly ushered Yu Lingling inside. The moment she stepped across the threshold, he slammed the door shut. His hands shook with excitement as he tried to hook the chain lock into place. His mouth worked as if he were constantly swallowing something, and he mumbled to the writhing mass of fat on the floor, “My precious grandson, don’t worry. There’ll be food soon. Food very soon…”
As soon as Yu Lingling entered the apartment, she used the Back Scratcher she had found on the fourth floor on the blob of fat.
It had been writhing toward Yu Lingling and was almost touching her foot when it suddenly froze. An inhuman shriek burst from it as it began rolling across the floor. A pair of skeletal, monkey-like hands emerged from the mass of fat.
Overused Faded Back Scratcher: After use, the target’s back will become unbearably itchy, but the itch cannot be scratched. May be used once per instance.
Forget its back. In that state, the blob couldn’t scratch anywhere at all.
It wailed and thrashed, making the same shrill noises as a tantruming child.
Hearing his precious grandson’s screams, the Gaunt Old Man forgot all about the chain he had yet to secure and even forgot about Yu Lingling. His emaciated body lunged toward the blob. “My precious grandson, where does it hurt? Tell Grandpa.”
The blob of fat couldn’t speak. Its hands merely clawed frantically at whatever they could reach.
The Gaunt Old Man couldn’t see what had happened, but he glared fixedly at Yu Lingling. His precious grandson had only become like this after she appeared.
“What did you do? What did you do?!”
Enraged, the Gaunt Old Man rose to his feet. His body began to warp, and hard brown bristles sprouted from his deeply furrowed face.
As the blob of fat continued scratching, one of its hands tore off a chunk of its own flesh.
Its shrill screams and frantic movements abruptly stopped. Ravenous longing appeared on its nearly featureless face, which seemed to consist of nothing but a mouth. Even its eyes, previously squeezed into mere slits by all that fat, widened slightly with excitement.