Ke Li dragged Xue Li stumbling through the building as they ran. He held a very small flashlight in his hand, the feeble light barely illuminating a meter in front of them. This was the only prop they could use.
The game had transported them to a building without lights, so dark that they couldn’t even see their own hands. They could only discern the locations of others by the sound of their voices.
When they first entered the game, there were six of them moving together. Gradually, the number dwindled without them realizing it. By the time they noticed, there were only three of them left.
The flashlight was held by the player at the front. Since no props could be exchanged after the game started, and they were new players with only ten points awarded, ten points couldn’t exchange for anything good. Many people entered the beginner’s dungeon without carrying anything, just waiting to clear it successfully and win points to purchase better props.
Only one player had exchanged for a small flashlight beforehand, which turned out to be very useful in this environment.
Ke Li and his sister Xue Li thought the people behind them had stopped talking because everyone was tense in such an environment.
In fact, they had all disappeared, without a sound or trace, as if they had simply vanished into thin air.
When the three of them realized no one was behind them, they were terrified, huddling closely together and moving forward step by step. Xue Li tightly grasped her brother’s arm, her palms damp with sweat.
They followed the hallway and stairs down, hoping to at least leave this damned building, but they walked for a long time without finding an exit.
“Gulp.”
Xue Li’s fingers tightened, gripping Ke Li’s forearm as her voice trembled, “Did you guys just hear something?”
It sounded like someone swallowing saliva, very low and muffled. She couldn’t tell where the sound came from.
The three of them stopped in their tracks. The player holding the flashlight slowly swept it around, revealing pockmarked green baseboards exposing the gray-black concrete beneath.
The upper white walls looked damp, with irregular yellow stains scattered across them. The white paint, affected by the moisture, was wrinkled and raised in patterns like wrinkled skin.
It was too dark to see anything in the distance, but at least there was nothing abnormal in the small area they occupied.
The player breathed a sigh of relief, loosening his grip on the flashlight. His palm was sweaty, damp and hot, and he felt like the flashlight might slip out of his grasp.
The game projected the players’ psychological and physiological states with near-perfect realism.
Although he knew nothing could truly happen to him, he still sweated profusely in this atmosphere.
Just as he was about to continue moving forward with the two people beside him, he felt a chill on the tip of his nose.
Was it leaking water?
He wiped his index finger across the tip of his nose and instinctively rubbed it with his thumb, only to realize it wasn’t water, but a small drop of viscous liquid.
It was then that this player realized he had only checked the surroundings, not above.
A chill ran down his spine, his hair standing on end, as if he had already anticipated what he would see. He trembled as he shone the flashlight upwards.
In the dim white glow, he couldn’t see clearly, but what he witnessed still made everyone present shudder to the bone.
On the ceiling protruded a large oval bulge, the white plaster cracked with countless black fissures, even covered in yellow and green mold spots. The largest crack in the center of the bulge seemed to breathe, opening wider and wider, with transparent fluid seeping from the crevices.
In the blink of an eye, the three of them recoiled in horror. Before they could react, the massive crack tore through the surrounding plaster and plunged downwards, engulfing the player in front in one gulp.
Only the flashlight remained, rolling a few turns on the ground.
“Aaahhhh!”
Faced with the sight of the monster’s prey, the two people screamed and collapsed to the floor. After swallowing the player, the monster immediately retracted back into the ceiling, seemingly in no hurry to devour the other two.
Though terrified to the point of collapse, Ke Li still had some presence of mind. With one hand, he grabbed the flashlight that had rolled to his feet, and with the other, he dragged Xue Li as they fled blindly.
The two of them ran for their lives, like lost lambs about to be slaughtered, bursting into one of the rooms and immediately locking the door behind them.
This act seemed to give them a sense of safety. Xue Li had no strength left, if not for Ke Li pulling her, she wouldn’t have been able to take a single step.
Gasping for breath, she slumped against the cold wall. Recalling the sight she had just witnessed, she shuddered and quickly scooted over to her brother, pressed against his warm arm until she felt the chill of the wooden door against her back. Only then did she stop.
Ke Li had also lost all strength, huddling tightly with his sister, the two of them leaning against each other as the flashlight in Ke Li’s hand sustained their remaining sanity.
“What… what was that thing just now?” Xue Li was still trembling all over.
Ke Li shook his head, his voice also quivering, “Perhaps… it’s the monster we’re supposed to fight.”
“Who wants to fight that thing!” Xue Li’s face contorted in defiance, her voice rising a few notches.
“Shh~ Be careful, or that monster might hear us,” Ke Li immediately cautioned in a low voice.
Xue Li quickly closed her mouth and said nothing more.
Gripping the flashlight tightly, Ke Li calmed himself down before thinking to survey their surroundings. Not daring to move around, he simply extended his arm with the flashlight to look around.
This seemed to be a dormitory, with a bunk bed neatly arranged on each side and what looked like a table in the middle. He couldn’t see clearly and didn’t dare go over for a closer look.
This type of dormitory, he had only seen in history books, a style from thousands of years ago. There should be a window at the far end, perhaps allowing them to know their current location.
The door was on the far right, and since they were both sitting on the ground, their view was obstructed by the tall bunk beds. Ke Li couldn’t see if there was a window, so he stood up, leaning against the door and stretching out the flashlight as far as he could to the side.
In the flickering light, it seemed like there was a black shadow standing inside.
His heart skipped a beat, a chill running down his back. No, he must have seen it wrong. It was probably just a coat rack or something.
Although he tried to reassure himself, his body grew increasingly stiff, and the trembling that had just stopped began again.
Even Xue Li at his side sensed something amiss, rising quietly to ask, “What’s wrong?”
By the light of the flashlight, she saw her brother’s eyes wide, staring intently at something. She followed his gaze but saw nothing, as it was too dark.
The dormitory fell into a hushed silence.
With their vision obstructed, their other senses became heightened. Although they didn’t hear any sounds, the same thought arose in their minds—something was coming.
“Let’s go, hurry up.”
Ke Li immediately turned to open the door but forgot in his panic that he had locked it earlier. He twisted the knob several times but couldn’t get the door open.
That feeling grew more and more apparent. Ke Li forcefully turned the handle, pushing and pulling, frantically trying to open the door.
“The lock! The lock! You locked it!” Xue Li cried out in urgency.
In the darkness, an indistinct shadow gradually spread upwards from the illuminated floor. Ke Li and Xue Li seemed to sense the icy presence behind them.
“Tap, tap, tap.”
A strange sound came from behind them. Their breathing grew rapid, sweat beading on their foreheads.
“I can’t open it, why can’t I open it!” The more anxious Ke Li became, the more his hands trembled, failing to unlock the door several times.
Xue Li’s eyes were wide with terror as she pounded on the door, shouting for help.
Their breathing grew increasingly frantic, the impending unknown danger filling them with escalating fear. They didn’t notice the faint orange glow that appeared behind them.
Until a faint voice, laced with coolness, sounded from very close behind.
“Need some help?”
The two of them trembled as they turned their heads, a face half-black and half-red floating behind them.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
A few minutes later, a red candle burned on the floor, its flickering flames casting three massive black shadows on the wall.
“So you were in the room all this time?” Xue Li sat on the floor hugging her knees, looking at the handsome youth. The earlier fright still left her shaken, her voice wavering.
Zhou Zhou also sat cross-legged on the floor. Upon hearing her words, he silently nodded. His eyes scanned the two beside him but didn’t find the dialogue boxes that usually appeared. Yet he could clearly hear and see them speaking—this direct conversation was his first experience of it.
“You really scared me to death. I thought another monster had appeared. Why didn’t you say anything?” Xue Li muttered. She had intended to complain further but swallowed her words upon seeing his exquisite, porcelain-like features in the orange candlelight.
Ke Li’s face reddened slightly. He was someone who valued propriety, and his earlier frantic screaming and fleeing didn’t bother him in front of his sister who knew him inside out. But in front of a stranger, he felt somewhat embarrassed.
He cleared his throat twice to draw the other two’s attention before speaking, “I’m Ke Li, and this is my sister, Xue Li. Who are you?”
Zhou Zhou’s eyes seemed to contain a light within, his exquisite features unmarred by any blemish. “Hello, I’m Zhou Zhou.”
“Are you alone? Did you also escape here?” For the moment, they were relatively safe, so Ke Li wanted to exchange some information and see if he could learn anything.
“I’ve been alone here all along,” Zhou Zhou said honestly.
When he first entered the dormitory building, he did see someone—a person cowering in the corner like a frightened bird. Despite Zhou Zhou’s excellent eyesight, able to discern tear streaks on the person’s face, he had only waved and said a word before they screamed and ran away at an unimaginable speed.
Leaving Zhou Zhou standing there with his hand raised in greeting.
Unsure why the other person reacted as if seeing a raging flood or beast upon seeing him, Zhou Zhou felt disappointed and decided to return to his own dormitory first.
His dormitory was on the innermost part of the fourth floor. Not only had the exterior of the dormitory building become dilapidated, but the inside was also rundown and old, covered in dust and cobwebs everywhere. He was about to start cleaning the dormitory when these two people came in.
After observing them for a while, he realized they seemed unable to see in the dark and could only rely on that small flashlight to navigate. Wanting to talk to the two, Zhou Zhou remembered he had a lighter and candles in the drawer, so he quickly took them out to provide them with light.
The strange tapping sound they had heard earlier was actually Zhou Zhou lighting the candle with the lighter.
Later, when they couldn’t open the door, Zhou Zhou took the initiative to help them unlock it. Thinking his good intentions had finally won them over, he pursed his lips, his heart swelling with delight as the three of them formed a small circle.
Tsk tsk, this kid was even worse off than them. Xue Li and Ke Li thought he had been alone ever since entering the game and had been hiding here, too afraid to go out. A hint of pity arose within them.
“Don’t worry, there are three of us now. You don’t need to be afraid,” Ke Li reassured him.
Zhou Zhou continued nodding obediently, saying a soft “okay.”
The candlelight was brighter than the flashlight, seeming to bring some warmth to the room. Xue Li glanced at Ke Li, then at Zhou Zhou, and asked softly, “So what should we do next? That monster looked so horrible, with its cracked body and yellow and green spots all over. Just one look made my hair stand on end.”
Ke Li’s brow furrowed as well. Regardless, they still needed to find a way out of this building. The goal was to find the exit and leave within three days, though it was unclear if it meant the exit of this building or something else. They could only rest for a bit before continuing onwards. Recalling the vague glimpse of the monster’s appearance, he admitted to feeling somewhat daunted as well.
As Ke Li and Xue Li fell into contemplation, Zhou Zhou pointed upwards with his index finger, a hint of curiosity in his voice as he asked, “Is that what you’re talking about?”
Ke Li dragged Xue Li stumbling through the building as they ran. He held a very small flashlight in his hand, the feeble light barely illuminating a meter in front of them. This was the only prop they could use.
The game had transported them to a building without lights, so dark that they couldn’t even see their own hands. They could only discern the locations of others by the sound of their voices.
When they first entered the game, there were six of them moving together. Gradually, the number dwindled without them realizing it. By the time they noticed, there were only three of them left.
The flashlight was held by the player at the front. Since no props could be exchanged after the game started, and they were new players with only ten points awarded, ten points couldn’t exchange for anything good. Many people entered the beginner’s dungeon without carrying anything, just waiting to clear it successfully and win points to purchase better props.
Only one player had exchanged for a small flashlight beforehand, which turned out to be very useful in this environment.
Ke Li and his sister Xue Li thought the people behind them had stopped talking because everyone was tense in such an environment.
In fact, they had all disappeared, without a sound or trace, as if they had simply vanished into thin air.
When the three of them realized no one was behind them, they were terrified, huddling closely together and moving forward step by step. Xue Li tightly grasped her brother’s arm, her palms damp with sweat.
They followed the hallway and stairs down, hoping to at least leave this damned building, but they walked for a long time without finding an exit.
“Gulp.”
Xue Li’s fingers tightened, gripping Ke Li’s forearm as her voice trembled, “Did you guys just hear something?”
It sounded like someone swallowing saliva, very low and muffled. She couldn’t tell where the sound came from.
The three of them stopped in their tracks. The player holding the flashlight slowly swept it around, revealing pockmarked green baseboards exposing the gray-black concrete beneath.
The upper white walls looked damp, with irregular yellow stains scattered across them. The white paint, affected by the moisture, was wrinkled and raised in patterns like wrinkled skin.
It was too dark to see anything in the distance, but at least there was nothing abnormal in the small area they occupied.
The player breathed a sigh of relief, loosening his grip on the flashlight. His palm was sweaty, damp and hot, and he felt like the flashlight might slip out of his grasp.
The game projected the players’ psychological and physiological states with near-perfect realism.
Although he knew nothing could truly happen to him, he still sweated profusely in this atmosphere.
Just as he was about to continue moving forward with the two people beside him, he felt a chill on the tip of his nose.
Was it leaking water?
He wiped his index finger across the tip of his nose and instinctively rubbed it with his thumb, only to realize it wasn’t water, but a small drop of viscous liquid.
It was then that this player realized he had only checked the surroundings, not above.
A chill ran down his spine, his hair standing on end, as if he had already anticipated what he would see. He trembled as he shone the flashlight upwards.
In the dim white glow, he couldn’t see clearly, but what he witnessed still made everyone present shudder to the bone.
On the ceiling protruded a large oval bulge, the white plaster cracked with countless black fissures, even covered in yellow and green mold spots. The largest crack in the center of the bulge seemed to breathe, opening wider and wider, with transparent fluid seeping from the crevices.
In the blink of an eye, the three of them recoiled in horror. Before they could react, the massive crack tore through the surrounding plaster and plunged downwards, engulfing the player in front in one gulp.
Only the flashlight remained, rolling a few turns on the ground.
“Aaahhhh!”
Faced with the sight of the monster’s prey, the two people screamed and collapsed to the floor. After swallowing the player, the monster immediately retracted back into the ceiling, seemingly in no hurry to devour the other two.
Though terrified to the point of collapse, Ke Li still had some presence of mind. With one hand, he grabbed the flashlight that had rolled to his feet, and with the other, he dragged Xue Li as they fled blindly.
The two of them ran for their lives, like lost lambs about to be slaughtered, bursting into one of the rooms and immediately locking the door behind them.
This act seemed to give them a sense of safety. Xue Li had no strength left, if not for Ke Li pulling her, she wouldn’t have been able to take a single step.
Gasping for breath, she slumped against the cold wall. Recalling the sight she had just witnessed, she shuddered and quickly scooted over to her brother, pressed against his warm arm until she felt the chill of the wooden door against her back. Only then did she stop.
Ke Li had also lost all strength, huddling tightly with his sister, the two of them leaning against each other as the flashlight in Ke Li’s hand sustained their remaining sanity.
“What… what was that thing just now?” Xue Li was still trembling all over.
Ke Li shook his head, his voice also quivering, “Perhaps… it’s the monster we’re supposed to fight.”
“Who wants to fight that thing!” Xue Li’s face contorted in defiance, her voice rising a few notches.
“Shh~ Be careful, or that monster might hear us,” Ke Li immediately cautioned in a low voice.
Xue Li quickly closed her mouth and said nothing more.
Gripping the flashlight tightly, Ke Li calmed himself down before thinking to survey their surroundings. Not daring to move around, he simply extended his arm with the flashlight to look around.
This seemed to be a dormitory, with a bunk bed neatly arranged on each side and what looked like a table in the middle. He couldn’t see clearly and didn’t dare go over for a closer look.
This type of dormitory, he had only seen in history books, a style from thousands of years ago. There should be a window at the far end, perhaps allowing them to know their current location.
The door was on the far right, and since they were both sitting on the ground, their view was obstructed by the tall bunk beds. Ke Li couldn’t see if there was a window, so he stood up, leaning against the door and stretching out the flashlight as far as he could to the side.
In the flickering light, it seemed like there was a black shadow standing inside.
His heart skipped a beat, a chill running down his back. No, he must have seen it wrong. It was probably just a coat rack or something.
Although he tried to reassure himself, his body grew increasingly stiff, and the trembling that had just stopped began again.
Even Xue Li at his side sensed something amiss, rising quietly to ask, “What’s wrong?”
By the light of the flashlight, she saw her brother’s eyes wide, staring intently at something. She followed his gaze but saw nothing, as it was too dark.
The dormitory fell into a hushed silence.
With their vision obstructed, their other senses became heightened. Although they didn’t hear any sounds, the same thought arose in their minds—something was coming.
“Let’s go, hurry up.”
Ke Li immediately turned to open the door but forgot in his panic that he had locked it earlier. He twisted the knob several times but couldn’t get the door open.
That feeling grew more and more apparent. Ke Li forcefully turned the handle, pushing and pulling, frantically trying to open the door.
“The lock! The lock! You locked it!” Xue Li cried out in urgency.
In the darkness, an indistinct shadow gradually spread upwards from the illuminated floor. Ke Li and Xue Li seemed to sense the icy presence behind them.
“Tap, tap, tap.”
A strange sound came from behind them. Their breathing grew rapid, sweat beading on their foreheads.
“I can’t open it, why can’t I open it!” The more anxious Ke Li became, the more his hands trembled, failing to unlock the door several times.
Xue Li’s eyes were wide with terror as she pounded on the door, shouting for help.
Their breathing grew increasingly frantic, the impending unknown danger filling them with escalating fear. They didn’t notice the faint orange glow that appeared behind them.
Until a faint voice, laced with coolness, sounded from very close behind.
“Need some help?”
The two of them trembled as they turned their heads, a face half-black and half-red floating behind them.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
A few minutes later, a red candle burned on the floor, its flickering flames casting three massive black shadows on the wall.
“So you were in the room all this time?” Xue Li sat on the floor hugging her knees, looking at the handsome youth. The earlier fright still left her shaken, her voice wavering.
Zhou Zhou also sat cross-legged on the floor. Upon hearing her words, he silently nodded. His eyes scanned the two beside him but didn’t find the dialogue boxes that usually appeared. Yet he could clearly hear and see them speaking—this direct conversation was his first experience of it.
“You really scared me to death. I thought another monster had appeared. Why didn’t you say anything?” Xue Li muttered. She had intended to complain further but swallowed her words upon seeing his exquisite, porcelain-like features in the orange candlelight.
Ke Li’s face reddened slightly. He was someone who valued propriety, and his earlier frantic screaming and fleeing didn’t bother him in front of his sister who knew him inside out. But in front of a stranger, he felt somewhat embarrassed.
He cleared his throat twice to draw the other two’s attention before speaking, “I’m Ke Li, and this is my sister, Xue Li. Who are you?”
Zhou Zhou’s eyes seemed to contain a light within, his exquisite features unmarred by any blemish. “Hello, I’m Zhou Zhou.”
“Are you alone? Did you also escape here?” For the moment, they were relatively safe, so Ke Li wanted to exchange some information and see if he could learn anything.
“I’ve been alone here all along,” Zhou Zhou said honestly.
When he first entered the dormitory building, he did see someone—a person cowering in the corner like a frightened bird. Despite Zhou Zhou’s excellent eyesight, able to discern tear streaks on the person’s face, he had only waved and said a word before they screamed and ran away at an unimaginable speed.
Leaving Zhou Zhou standing there with his hand raised in greeting.
Unsure why the other person reacted as if seeing a raging flood or beast upon seeing him, Zhou Zhou felt disappointed and decided to return to his own dormitory first.
His dormitory was on the innermost part of the fourth floor. Not only had the exterior of the dormitory building become dilapidated, but the inside was also rundown and old, covered in dust and cobwebs everywhere. He was about to start cleaning the dormitory when these two people came in.
After observing them for a while, he realized they seemed unable to see in the dark and could only rely on that small flashlight to navigate. Wanting to talk to the two, Zhou Zhou remembered he had a lighter and candles in the drawer, so he quickly took them out to provide them with light.
The strange tapping sound they had heard earlier was actually Zhou Zhou lighting the candle with the lighter.
Later, when they couldn’t open the door, Zhou Zhou took the initiative to help them unlock it. Thinking his good intentions had finally won them over, he pursed his lips, his heart swelling with delight as the three of them formed a small circle.
Tsk tsk, this kid was even worse off than them. Xue Li and Ke Li thought he had been alone ever since entering the game and had been hiding here, too afraid to go out. A hint of pity arose within them.
“Don’t worry, there are three of us now. You don’t need to be afraid,” Ke Li reassured him.
Zhou Zhou continued nodding obediently, saying a soft “okay.”
The candlelight was brighter than the flashlight, seeming to bring some warmth to the room. Xue Li glanced at Ke Li, then at Zhou Zhou, and asked softly, “So what should we do next? That monster looked so horrible, with its cracked body and yellow and green spots all over. Just one look made my hair stand on end.”
Ke Li’s brow furrowed as well. Regardless, they still needed to find a way out of this building. The goal was to find the exit and leave within three days, though it was unclear if it meant the exit of this building or something else. They could only rest for a bit before continuing onwards. Recalling the vague glimpse of the monster’s appearance, he admitted to feeling somewhat daunted as well.
As Ke Li and Xue Li fell into contemplation, Zhou Zhou pointed upwards with his index finger, a hint of curiosity in his voice as he asked, “Is that what you’re talking about?”
