Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Yu Lingling’s voice rang clearly in every viewer’s ears.
“That logic is something else.”
“She really didn’t break any rules.”
These viewers had seen plenty of ruthless, decisive players, cautious and calculating players, and even cruel players who enjoyed torturing NPCs and their own companions to death. But those had all been veterans, while Yu Lingling was merely a newcomer.
The Livestream Room feeds for newcomers and veterans were separated into different sections.
Only those who had just begun entering instances were assigned to the newcomer section. A newcomer had to clear three instances before they officially qualified as a Horror Game player.
At that point, their Livestream Room would be moved to the newcomer section. Players at that level not only gained the right to choose their own instances but could also earn Game Coins after clearing them.
Spending a single unit of Game Coins was enough to unlock the Game Store.
The Game Store offered not only items, but also skills. The latter, however, cost an astronomical amount of Game Coins.
A player’s only chance to obtain a skill for free – or even an Exclusive Skill – came from the first three randomly assigned instances they entered as a newcomer.
Under normal circumstances, a Novice Instance was among the least difficult scenarios in the Horror Game.
Even so, fewer than half of all players survived and cleared them. Only ten percent obtained a skill, and receiving an Exclusive Skill was rarer still. An entire batch of newcomers could pass through without a single one gaining an Exclusive Skill.
A Normal Skill could be bought from the Game Store. It might appear as a randomly listed product or be put up for sale by another player.
When a player with a Normal Skill died, the skill would drop and could be picked up by someone else.
Players could use skills themselves, give them away, or trade them.
However, each player could possess only three skills at a time, so every choice had to be made with care.
Removing a skill required a special item, and such items only had a chance of appearing in S-rank instances or higher.
As for an Exclusive Skill, each one was unique within the Horror Game. Even if its owner died, an Exclusive Skill would not drop. It would simply disappear from the game forever.
An Exclusive Skill could still turn out to be useless, but every player who possessed one was a target sought after by the major guilds.
It could be said that the first three Novice Instance runs were the dividing line between players.
Viewers in a Livestream Room could see only public information. Confidential information such as skills, hidden instance identities, and missions remained invisible to them.
Most newcomers knew none of this. They did not even realize they were being livestreamed.
With no idea that they needed to hide anything inside an instance, newcomers often revealed enough through their reactions and decisions for experienced players to gather intelligence on them.
Aside from guild representatives collecting information on promising newcomers, most people who watched newcomer broadcasts were merely looking for entertainment and hoping to see them make fools of themselves.
After seeing Yu Lingling’s performance, several viewers immediately posted comments.
“Which major guild trained this newcomer?”
“She was probably raised specifically to farm a skill.”
“Tsk, how boring. Whichever guild is trying to manufacture a god here, just come out and claim her already.”
Since players only had a chance to obtain skills during their first three instances, major guilds would specially train selected candidates, then engineer an opportunity for them to enter an instance once the time was right.
This required an enormous investment of manpower and resources, but if even one out of a hundred candidates survived and obtained a skill, the guild was guaranteed to profit.
The Horror Game had existed for many years, and people had discovered a pattern: the younger a person was when they entered an instance for the first time, the more likely they were to obtain an Exclusive Skill.
Some of the commenters were simply stirring up trouble for fun, but even more were scouts from the major guilds. They were trying to probe for additional information.
No one could have believed Yu Lingling was a complete rookie. After cleanly dispatching the man, she didn’t rush to loot his body. Instead, she headed toward the other room, where the snoring was slightly quieter.
The room was cluttered with junk, and even the roof was damaged. A gaunt figure lay asleep on a battered wooden plank in the corner.
Yu Lingling crept to the sleeper’s side. Her hand rose and fell, driving the dagger into their throat with swift, ruthless precision.
The person on the bed never had the chance to scream. All that escaped them was a barely audible grunt. Their body gave one violent kick, then went limp. In the blink of an eye, they had stopped breathing.
Yu Lingling didn’t lower her guard just because they had stopped moving. She even dragged the dagger viciously across the sleeper’s throat, slicing it open.
Blood sprayed across Yu Lingling’s clothes and hand, but her expression didn’t change in the slightest. Her eyes remained perfectly clear.
During all those days she’d been locked away, Yu Lingling had spent every day thinking about the fastest, least strenuous way to deal with anyone who appeared before her. She had even read quite a few books on the subject.
She had practiced countless times in illusions, but none of those attempts had ever felt as real as this.
This time, Yu Lingling could feel the warmth of the blood spraying onto her hand and smell its distinctive metallic scent. She wiped the dagger clean on the bedsheet before turning and leaving.
A true professional never looked back at the scene of the crime!
“I bet ten Game Coins she’s killed at least ten people in real life.”
“Obviously. Anyone who goes for the throat instead of the heart like that is clearly a real expert.”
“She only has a dagger. Stabbing the throat is the fastest, easiest, and most foolproof option.”
Any players who had survived this long and were still able to watch the stream had more or less gotten blood on their hands.
Only complete novices made the heart their first target when killing someone. A stab to the heart was certainly fatal, but the ribs were in the way, so there was no guarantee they would hit it on the first try.
If the dagger got wedged against a rib and failed to kill the target in one thrust, the other person might struggle, cry out for help, or even fight back.
Even if the heart was hit, death wouldn’t be instantaneous. If the dagger pierced a ventricle, the victim would lose consciousness within ten to thirty seconds and die within a few minutes.
Ten seconds was short, but it could also be a very long time – more than enough for the victim to make some noise.
If the wound was too small, the injured person might hold on for several minutes or even longer, giving them a chance to call for help or move around.
A stab to the neck, on the other hand, could cause massive blood loss within seconds, render someone unconscious almost instantly, and kill them within tens of seconds. With the windpipe damaged, the victim would be almost incapable of making any sound.
Most importantly, the blood vessels in the neck were thick, the target was large, and it was easier to locate in the dark.
Yu Lingling only had a dagger, and its blade wasn’t very long. That was why she had gone straight for the throat both times.
Such decisiveness could never come from a novice.
Yu Lingling knew exactly where to strike, and her hand hadn’t trembled even once. Training alone couldn’t produce that. She had obviously killed before – and not just once or twice.
After stepping outside, Yu Lingling glanced once more at the woman locked inside the filthy chicken coop.
The woman’s gaze first fell on Yu Lingling’s bloodstained clothes, then shifted to the hand gripping the dagger. As if suddenly realizing something, she jerked her head up. Her eyes widened, and the corners of her mouth began to rise.
Yu Lingling raised an index finger to her lips in a shushing gesture.
The woman covered her mouth with both hands and nodded vigorously.
Yu Lingling said softly, “I’ll let you out later.”