Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Yu Lingling was thrown out once again.
She found herself still standing in the bathroom. Her injuries had completely healed, but her bear pajamas were dirty again and stained with quite a bit of blood on the inside. Her pink bunny towel was gone too.
She examined herself in the mirror, troubled by the thought that she would have to take another shower. She had actually been rather fond of this new set of pajamas.
Meanwhile, outside a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, Yu Huan sat quietly in his wheelchair.
A boy of thirteen or fourteen crouched beside him. Five plastic figurines had been arranged in front of the boy. Upon closer inspection, a name could be seen carved into the back of each one in crooked, ugly handwriting.
Several grim-faced men and women stood around them.
Among them was a slightly plump woman in her forties, dressed in purple loungewear. Her eyes were closed, and the ends of her arms, where her hands should have been, were connected to a computer.
The computer had neither power nor an internet connection, yet its screen was lit, displaying footage from the Horror Game Livestream Room.
Five Livestream Room feeds were playing simultaneously, all crammed onto the same screen, so naturally, the image from each Livestream Room was quite small.
The others watched the computer while continuously taking notes.
The moment anomalous energy fluctuations had been detected, the entire area had been cordoned off, and a temporary command center had been set up.
Yu Huan swept his gaze over the group, then took out his phone, intending to send Yu Lingling a few reminders. He had only typed two characters when he raised his head and looked toward the warehouse.
The middle-aged man who had been watching Yu Huan immediately grew even more somber. He hurriedly examined the five plastic figurines.
A crack suddenly appeared down the back of one of them. The entire figurine split in half and toppled to the ground.
On the computer screen, in the feed at the upper left, a young woman in her early twenties was helping several people flee.
Just as the monster behind them was about to catch up, an overweight middle-aged man who had fallen behind reached for the frail woman in front of him and shoved her backward.
He pushed her toward the pursuing monster, a creature with several tentacles whose full form had yet to be revealed.
The young woman protecting the group noticed what had happened. Without the slightest hesitation, she rushed over, rescued the frail woman, pushed her to safety, and activated a protective item.
But she had underestimated the monster’s strength.
The protective item shattered instantly. Tentacles wrapped around the young woman and ripped her in half.
The expressions of everyone taking notes turned grim. They gritted their teeth, fighting back the urge to curse, and continued recording everything they observed.
“Damn it!” someone beside Yu Huan finally swore. “This is what you wanted! You insisted on making them risk their lives to protect people like that!”
No one answered.
The crouching boy began moving his fingers. Countless threads wound around the shattered plastic figurine.
It was clearly made of plastic, yet when the threads pierced it, they seemed to be sewing through living flesh.
The Livestream Room, which had begun fading to gray and closing after the player’s death, slowly regained its color as the boy worked.
But the boy’s face grew paler and paler. He sank from a crouch to his knees as blood soaked his clothes.
Medical personnel stood ready behind him, but afraid of disturbing him, not one of them dared move.
Yu Huan watched the boy for a moment, then looked away and resumed messaging Yu Lingling. He ordered her a healthy lunch.
Once the plastic figurine had been stitched back together, the young woman who had been torn in half came back to life.
Her face was deathly pale. Although there was no longer a single wound on her body, the memory of her death left her trembling uncontrollably.
Her remaining four teammates had already rushed over and gathered protectively around her, glaring viciously at the middle-aged man.
Because they had killed someone, they were granted a temporary five-minute break.
A Horror Game Instance was no child’s play. They had all prepared themselves for death – but not like this. They couldn’t die over something so senseless.
The captain of the five-person team was a woman around thirty. She pointed at the middle-aged man who had shoved someone earlier. “Get lost.”
The middle-aged man burst into tears.
The most hot-tempered young man in the group grabbed him with one hand and hurled him away. “Leave, or die.”
The boy beside Yu Huan had already collapsed, and the medical staff rushed forward to treat him.
A wound deep enough to expose bone had appeared on the boy’s back.
Compared to the girl who had been torn in half inside the Horror Game, the boy’s injury was much less severe. At least with medical personnel present, it wouldn’t be fatal. Even so, the wound was horrifying on his frail body.
All five plastic figurines lay toppled on the ground. Given the boy’s condition, he clearly couldn’t use them a second time.
Yu Huan looked away from him. “It has never been generous. Under what circumstances do you think It would allow you to save Its prey?”
The boy trembled all over. He was around Yu Lingling’s age, but unlike the slightly chubby Yu Lingling, he was practically skin and bone, so emaciated that his features had become gaunt.
Yu Huan’s words were directed both at the boy and at everyone else present. “Because you’re more valuable.”
The boy said nothing. His injuries left him unable to curl up, so he lay facedown on the stretcher instead.
Yu Huan scoffed. “How many more times can you use that skill? Every time an injury is transferred to you, its severity is reduced. Injuries that would be fatal to other players only leave you badly wounded – but how many more times can you endure that? The injuries may be less severe, but the sensation of dying remains with you for several times as long.”
Everyone present was stunned by this revelation.
“What’s going on?”
Yu Huan clicked his tongue. His sister had taken so long to reply to his messages that his good mood had vanished, leaving him impatient. “You people really want it both ways. You can spend points to delay when he has to enter an instance, but he’ll still have to go in eventually. Even if he doesn’t die out here, he won’t survive two Instances.”
The boy’s voice was weak. “Stop… Stop talking.”
Yu Huan felt his phone vibrate. When he saw his sister’s reply, his mood improved again. “Once someone gets dragged into an instance, you might be able to protect them this time, but who can protect them forever? Sooner or later, they’ll die in an instance.
“For people who can’t even survive a few Novice Instance challenges, you sacrifice an experienced Full-fledged Player. For players who die in an instance because they aren’t strong enough, you sacrifice players with special skills. You people really are something.”
Just as someone was about to argue with Yu Huan, the bespectacled woman who had been standing beside the computer spoke. “If this were only a Novice Instance, we wouldn’t have intervened. But these people were dragged straight into a regular Instance without knowing anything. We can’t simply ignore them.”
There were two ways to become a player in the Horror Game Instance system.
The first was to be randomly selected and sent into an instance. There was no way to control it, and no one knew how the Main God of the Horror Game Instance system made Its selections.
The second occurred when the Horror Game descended upon reality and ordinary people were accidentally caught up in it. If they made it out alive, they would become newcomers to the Horror Game. After surviving a total of three Novice Instance challenges, they would gain Full-fledged Player status.
Compared to those who were randomly selected, people who became players through the second route had a higher chance of awakening a skill during a Novice Instance.
Yu Huan was busy replying to his sister and couldn’t be bothered to waste any more words on them. “Do what you want.”