Chapter 26
Chapter 26
After all four anomalies had left, Xiao Yi began examining the things they had brought him.
When using Anomaly Possession, Xiao Yi gained access to some of the anomaly’s abilities, and the anomalies in the instance would not attack him. He was neither a player nor an anomaly, so there were certain rules he did not need to follow.
This was the Exclusive Skill Xiao Yi had acquired when he tore open an anomaly’s belly and crawled out from inside it. In some ways, the skill was absurdly powerful, but it also came with many restrictions.
First, the anomaly he possessed was chosen at random.
Second, he had to fulfill the anomaly’s lingering obsession.
If he failed, he would remain in the instance forever and become part of the anomaly.
Sometimes, however, the anomaly’s obsession was muddled and chaotic, leaving Xiao Yi to determine what it truly wanted.
Even though Brother B had already suspected what had caused the deaths of the boy’s family in the diary, he still couldn’t help clicking his tongue when he heard the truth.
Brother Knife stared intently at Brother B. “You said you could save me.”
There were countless kinds of items in a Horror Game Instance, so Brother B never made promises. From beginning to end, he had never once said he would save Brother Knife.
Brother B stared back at him. “You’re still hiding something.”
Brother Knife’s gaze darted away. Finally, he said, “The people who ate the boy’s flesh might not have been limited to the diary writer and the murderer in the West Unit on the Fourth Floor. And that murderer once gave meat pies to the boy’s parents.”
Yu Lingling pressed the tip of her tongue against her teeth.
Back then, anyone who could afford to live in an apartment building like this could not have been too badly off. At the very least, they would not have been so poor that they had to eat human flesh just to fill their stomachs.
And yet, they had done it anyway.
As for whether the meat pies contained the boy’s flesh, no one but the murderer knew.
Through such an act, the man did not see himself as a murderer. Instead, he saw himself as the one in control of everything, satisfying his own dark desire for dominance.
More precisely, he had been declaring his victory with the boy’s parents none the wiser.
Yu Lingling could practically imagine how smug the murderer must have been at the time, along with the indescribable satisfaction filling his heart.
How third-rate.
Yu Lingling found everything the murderer had done painfully third-rate.
The murderer had an antisocial personality, and Chen Xiaofeng’s family was hardly any better.
But this was simply too crude.
Yu Lingling noticed that Brother Knife was trembling as he spoke. The fear in his eyes was so genuine that it seemed as though he had experienced everything himself.
Even the legs of his shadow were slowly vanishing.
Yu Lingling gently pinched one of the Teddy Bear Doll’s ears. “Then let’s split up and look for clues.”
Brother Knife fixed her with a stare. “But you went to the killer’s home in the Westernmost Unit on the fourth floor.”
After Brother B chose the third floor, he had not kept watching Yu Lingling the way Brother Knife and Sister A had.
Yu Lingling nodded. “That family required me to be a good child, and their standard for a good child was preparing gifts for the family. I couldn’t satisfy them, so I had no choice but eliminate the anomaly.”
“There was a scarred man inside and a woman wearing an apron,” Yu Lingling continued, having no reason to hide this part. “The male anomaly told her to get things ready and cook, so I only dealt with the male anomaly at the time.”
The Personal Survival Condition required her to provide flesh and blood. It was plainly telling her to kill either the other residents or outsiders like Sister A and the others.
Either choice would have made the man stronger.
Yu Lingling could not do that, so she had no choice but solve the problem at its root. With no family left, there was no longer any need to provide enough meat for the family members.
Everything Yu Lingling said was true. She had merely omitted some of the process and shared only the outcome.
Holding the Teddy Bear Doll in both arms, Yu Lingling said, “I didn’t want to risk staying in that apartment, so I had to find somewhere else to live. I’d only just knocked on another door and gotten it to open when I was swapped away.”
Brother B would have made the same choice in Yu Lingling’s position, so he accepted her explanation. “We need to go take a look.”
Yu Lingling had no objections.
Brother Knife sensed that something was off, and realization suddenly struck him. “You’re not a newcomer.”
Yu Lingling’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled at Brother Knife, but she didn’t answer.
Brother Knife fell silent. Yu Lingling was a Full-fledged Player, and since she could deal with supernatural entities, there was a good chance she had a skill of her own. Like Brother B, she wasn’t someone he could afford to provoke right now.
The three of them arrived outside the Westernmost Unit. Brother B and Yu Lingling both turned to Brother Knife.
None of them could be certain what would happen once they knocked, and Brother B naturally wasn’t about to take the risk himself.
Yu Lingling, on the other hand, knew exactly what would happen inside. Just thinking about what would come afterward filled her with anticipation.
Brother Knife silently stepped forward, gripping his knife in one hand as he knocked with the other.
The door slowly opened from within. The woman who answered wore an apron, but blood was continuously pouring from her belly, and her mouth was packed with sharp teeth. A trail of bloody footprints stretched behind her, and within moments, a pool of blood had formed on the floor.
The instant Brother B saw the female ghost in the apron, he assumed she was the one Yu Lingling had mentioned earlier.
The woman grinned when she saw Yu Lingling. She had no tongue, and tiny pitch-black hands darted between her teeth.
Brother Knife recoiled in fright.
Yu Lingling raised the Teddy Bear Doll to hide the smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
After delivering the letters, the Four Dolls had taken advantage of Brother B and the others’ absence to clear out the residents on the first floor.
While dealing with the residents in the West Unit on the Fourth Floor, Yu Lingling had discovered that all the lesser ghosts summoned by the Four Dolls were under their control. This female ghost, however, had a mind of her own.
That was why Yu Lingling had chosen her when devising the plan.
Even if Brother B realized that the woman wasn’t strong enough, it didn’t matter. They could simply pin everything on the missing male resident.
The woman produced a sheet of paper covered in words written in blood. The note floated in a circle before the three of them.
“Be a good child. Host a feast for the neighbors.”
Brother B’s expression turned grim.
Brother Knife glanced behind him in alarm, and his nervousness quickly infected Brother B as well.
Yu Lingling frowned.
The woman flung the note at Brother Knife, then slammed the door shut.
Brother Knife was growing paranoid. “It’s so cold.”
The corridor had always been chilly, but when Brother B saw that note, he distinctly felt the air grow even colder.
Brother B looked at Yu Lingling.
Her expression was equally grim. She nodded, confirming that she had felt it too, then asked, “Have you ever encountered a mission mutating like this?”
Brother B shook his head.
Yu Lingling was silent for a moment. “The Flesh Mountain on the first floor should be enough to feed all these ghosts.”
Brother B had originally planned to feed Brother Knife to the ghosts if all else failed. But given how many ghosts there were, one Brother Knife wouldn’t be enough. Should he join forces with Yu Lingling to eliminate the ghost inside this unit instead?
But if they did that, would they lose their chance to obtain the crucial clue?
Yu Lingling clearly wanted that crucial clue as well. Dungeon clears were graded, after all.
What Brother B didn’t say was that although he had never personally encountered a mutation, he had heard about them. If a dungeon mutated, the rewards would increase severalfold. There was even a chance of obtaining a special item.
Yu Lingling glanced at Brother Knife, who had visibly relaxed after hearing her words, then at the pensive Brother B. She had already created an opening for Xiao Yi. Now it was up to Xiao Yi to seize it.
As for that cold draft…
Battered Palm-Leaf Fan: A fairly useless fan. Feeling a little warm? Give it a wave. Unlimited uses.
Normally, it would have been completely useless. Here and now, however, it was exactly what she needed. The atmosphere had already been built up perfectly, after all.