Shen Lin smelled the familiar dampness in the air.
The air was filled with the smell of mildew, mixed with the stench of decay.
He opened his eyes and saw the pitch-black ceiling, the abandoned and dilapidated old building that had been abandoned for a long time, spider webs covering it, large areas of wall paint peeling off, revealing the chaotic and tangled stone walls underneath.
It took him a moment to react. He realized that he should have entered the other world recorded in his notes. The last scene he remembered was the bright light of a flashlight shining on the ground, casting a bright spot, followed by a sharp pain at the back of his head, and then he passed out.
…Where was he now?
Shen Lin got up from the ground, brushed off the dust from his white coat, and looked around. He quickly recognized that he was standing in the empty room on the third floor.
The location was the same, but the time and space had obviously changed.
This was indeed the cold, damp, and dilapidated otherworld. But why was he here? Because he fainted at the entrance of the third-floor room in the real world? Or because after the door on the third floor of the real world opened, new clues would appear on the third floor of the otherworld?
In front of him was a tightly closed door. According to the notes, the door on the third floor of the otherworld was not locked. Shen Lin gently pushed the door open. The old hinges made a sharp, ear-piercing sound as they rubbed against each other, echoing through the empty corridor.
The moonlight outside slanted down, casting a vague shadow on the ground.
There was something curled up there.
When he heard the sound of the door opening, the black shadow slowly crawled out from the ground. He crawled from the dark corner to the moonlight, and the pale moonlight illuminated his face.
He was emaciated, with his entire body looking like the skin and bones left after rapid dehydration, the sagging skin hanging on a nearly powerless skeleton.
His appearance was grotesque and distorted, but Shen Lin could still recognize that he should be a human.
Shen Lin looked at the person in front of him in shock.
KP: “San-check, if successful, continue to extend the duration of madness; if failed, roll another madness behavior and develop madness symptoms; three kinds of madness can upgrade you to permanent madness.”
“Is this the official rule?”
“Village rules are also rules.”
Shen Lin rolled the dice and got a success. Then the duration of madness was extended by another 6 hours.
He had been experiencing temporary madness for a full day and night, and a little more wouldn’t matter.
Shen Lin said, “Roll for investigation.”
Success.
He quickly discovered that the man’s body was covered with fine scales, but it seemed to be in a state of molting. His eyes bulged, his body hunched over, as if he was bending his back, and his skeletal structure resembled that of a shrimp or bee.
He stopped crawling when he reached a certain distance, seeming to have reached his limit.
He looked up at Shen Lin, mumbling incomprehensible words from his mouth.
Shen Lin: “I’ll listen.”
He rolled for listening and luckily got a great success.
KP: “…”
With this great success, Shen Lin heard fragmented pieces of what he said: “Flute, flute… save… flute…”
Shen Lin frowned. He hesitated for a moment before approaching him.
KP: “Are you sure you want to get close to him?”
Shen Lin: “I’ll roll for luck. I want to see if I’m lucky enough that he won’t attack me.”
KP: “Roll.”
Shen Lin rolled.
Result: 85/60.
Success.
He slowly approached the man, trying to hear his voice more clearly and distinctly, hoping to understand what he was saying.
Despite being consumed by hallucinations, he still maintained his sanity. As Shen Lin approached him, he subconsciously recoiled, knowing that he might have unconscious violent behavior, and struggled to keep a safe distance from Shen Lin.
However, he had lost the ability to speak human language. He struggled to articulate the final message: “Don’t… don’t…”
Shen Lin didn’t want to make him feel uneasy. He chose a position where a man wouldn’t avoid him and squatted down, carefully observing the man.
The man was slender, with a delicate frame like that of a teenager, and his face under the long hair seemed to have a faint hint of childishness. Though Shen Lin couldn’t determine his age, he had an intuition that the man was probably in his teens.
Who was he?
Shen Lin tried to communicate with him: “Can you understand me? Nod or shake your head.”
The man hesitated, his eyes peering from under his scattered long hair, full of surprise – this person wasn’t afraid of him, and even spoke to him.
He nodded hesitantly.
Shen Lin asked, “Are you human?”
Tears welled up in his eyes, and the man sobbed as he nodded.
Shen Lin thought for a moment and asked, “Did you become like this because of Director Zheng Heping?”
He suddenly became agitated, his eyes bulging, and his body convulsed violently, as if recoiling in fear.
Clearly, he was a monster with sharp claws and fangs, yet he cowered in a narrow, dark corner, afraid of the touch and harm of others.
His reaction had already told Shen Lin the answer.
Shen Lin looked at him in surprise.
Shen Lin tried to reassure him: “Don’t be afraid. I won’t harm you.”
Then he asked again, “Can I help you? Is there any way I can save you?”
The man remained motionless in the shadows. He didn’t know how Shen Lin had come here. Every once in a while, someone would come to this place, but they were always scared off by him. Some could maintain their sanity, while others would scream madly. Almost everyone would go insane, except for this man, who was the only exception. He was too indifferent, so indifferent that he could calmly talk to him and release a sense of friendliness that made him feel at ease.
Shen Lin thought he hadn’t heard clearly and asked patiently, “Don’t be afraid. I want to save you. Is there any way I can help you leave?”
The man shook his head.
Shen Lin said, “It’s okay. What did you want to tell me just now? Can you speak more slowly and clearly?”
The man opened his mouth, trying to articulate more clearly, but no matter how hard he tried, he could only utter vague words: “Flute… save… flute…”
Shen Lin pondered and asked, “Can the flute save someone?”
He shook his head desperately.
Shen Lin said, “I’ll roll for luck again. I want to understand what he’s saying.”
KP: “Then you’ll roll for a very difficult luck.”
Shen Lin rolled the dice, and he rolled a 23, a failure.
But it didn’t matter.
Shen Lin sighed and continued, “Can the flute save someone? Who do you want to save? The people from the hospital? Or someone else?”
Shen Lin thought of a possibility. He lowered his voice, afraid of startling the man, and asked tentatively, “Is it… Liu Xiaotao?”
The impact of this name on the man was even greater than that of Zheng Heping. He trembled all over, and all his consciousness dissipated in an instant. An inexplicable force robbed him of control of his body, and he let out a painful roar from his throat. A black mud tide engulfed his world, and he let his nature lunge towards Shen Lin in a desperate attack.
Although Shen Lin had adopted a relaxed posture, he never let his guard down. Dementia was when monsters couldn’t control their behavior. He was prepared long ago for this.
As the man lunged towards him, Shen Lin stood up and dodged backward. He sensed that the man was very timid about this out-of-bounds position, but at that moment, the scene in this world distorted, and a gray fog filled his vision.
Shen Lin felt that, before leaving this world, something was shoved into his hand by the man. It felt like the touch of paper.
It had some roughness and felt prickly, but still retained the warmth of human touch.
After Shen Lin left, the monster curled back into the dark corner.
He huddled up, his ugly skin hanging on his thin bones, like a mound of listless mud.
He had been here all along, conscious of his surroundings, guarding this small patch of space, unseen by daylight, with only a faint moonlight overhead.
It was always nighttime here.
He had seen countless people come and go, men and women, young and old, and without exception, they all screamed in madness upon seeing him. Some managed to maintain their composure, while others went mad immediately.
They would use various means to obtain this thin piece of paper from their hands, and although he did not understand the meaning written on it, he knew that everyone wanted it.
He would choose who could have this piece of paper based on the rules inscribed in his bones, but this time, he autonomously wanted to give out this clue.
The monster tilted his head, his cheek pressed against his knees, the moonlight cold but he was already accustomed to it. However, he couldn’t help but reminisce about the way that person looked at him.
He had treated himself as a human, without fear, without disdain, without sympathy, only equality towards his kind.
It seemed like a long time ago, he had always been watched by such eyes.
He forgot.
The world suddenly changed, and Shen Lin suddenly sat up on the bed, a dull pain in the back of his head.
The emotionless voice of the KP sounded: “You were hit by a heavy object, losing 1d6 points of health, roll the dice now.”
Shen Lin: “……”
Shen Lin: “I’ll make a human check right after waking up.”
KP: “You can’t.”
Shen Lin: “That’s a pity.”
KP: “……”
Shen Lin rolled the dice to determine the loss of health points, rolling a 2. He said, “I’ll make a Medicine check to regain some health points.”
KP: “……You can proceed.”
After a successful Medicine check, Shen Lin rolled a 1d3 dice and regained 3 health points.
KP: “…………”
Shen Lin: “-2 plus 3, leaving 1.”
KP: “….Your math skills are really good.”
Shen Lin: “Even elementary school students can do it.”
The KP went silent again.
Shen Lin didn’t know who had attacked him, but the treatment was quite good now. At least he woke up in bed and wasn’t tied up.
He glanced out the window, it should be late now, the streetlights were on, calm and peaceful.
He raised an eyebrow.
The door was pushed open, and two heads poked in.
Han Qianqiu: “Awake?”
Xia He: “Awake?”
Someone pushed them from behind, and the two stumbled and fell into the room.
Yan Xiu walked in, holding a bowl of hot porridge in his hand, and sat beside Shen Lin’s bed, “Awake?”
Shen Lin: “……”
Is “awake?” the only thing you guys can say!?
Shen Lin asked: “Where is Zheng De?”
“He’s causing trouble!” Han Qianqiu’s face was long.
Shen Lin interrupted his long speech: “Was it Zheng De who knocked me out?”
Han Qianqiu choked on his breath, widened his eyes: “How did you know? Damn, do you have eyes on the back of your head?!”
“Before being knocked out, I made a Perception check, and it came quite suddenly. Without any defense, it should be a sneak attack. Most likely it was a player-initiated request. If it wasn’t him, was it you guys?”
“Your intelligence is too high,” suddenly from the corner, Zheng De’s voice sounded. He was tied up like a cocoon and thrown on the ground, looking depressed, “Aren’t you guys afraid to play with such players?!”
“Why aren’t we afraid? Is it not good to lie down and win?” Han Qianqiu retorted.
“Then take away someone else’s hope for victory just because you can?” Zheng De sneered, “Is it worth it to gain only one gold coin after so many games, and it takes six gold coins to have a chance to leave here, is it worth it?”
“Then you wanted to knock out Shen Lin to prevent him from continuing the game?”
“As allowed by the rules,” Zheng De didn’t think there was anything wrong with it, “It just required a confrontation, and I won the confrontation.”
“Too despicable.”
“Pathetic.”
Everyone unanimously commented.
Han Qianqiu asked: “What if you fail?”
Zheng De shrugged, “If I fail, it means you guys win. As a player, I have a copper coin as a bottom line, so I chose to take a gamble. You don’t have to look at me like this, I didn’t intend to harm him, just to temporarily remove him from the game. There are many people who are more ruthless than me. Some people induce others to go insane, and some really kill. You newbies probably didn’t expect that most game rooms allow fighting between teammates. Those who choose to fight also have the opportunity to have the initiative. Once they have a weapon with considerable damage bonus, they can easily kill their teammates.”
Han Qianqiu looked at him in shock.
KP said: “In theory, that’s how it is. As long as it doesn’t violate the rules, you can act freely.”
“Oh, I get it now,” Shen Lin looked at Zheng De meaningfully.
Zheng De shivered all over, nervously asking, “What are you going to do?”
Shen Lin didn’t answer, he calmly walked to Zheng De’s side, looking down at Zheng De from a high vantage point, “When you and Xia He went to check the database of Building B in the Twin Towers, you took Liu Xiaotao’s information. Give me the information.”
Zheng De avoided eye contact, “What information? I didn’t check that information.”
Shen Lin sighed, “What a pity, then I’ll just tear up your card. Of course, I’ll heed your advice, within the limits allowed by the game rules.”
He smiled, a gentle and friendly young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, smiling amiably. He kindly reminded Zheng De, in a gentle tone, “If your card is torn, you’ll need to spend a gold coin to resurrect. Before the game ends, you can’t leave, so no matter how many times you resurrect, you’ll fall into my hands. Quite pitiful.”
Zheng De: “…………”
He glared at Shen Lin, gritting his teeth, “Are you really a newbie? You’re scarier than the monsters.”