INHA Chapter 65

The thought that all 300 phones could be evil objects sent chills down everyone’s spines. This was by far the most terrifying evil object incident the Anomaly Handling Bureau had faced in terms of danger.

Even though no one knew just how powerful these evil objects might be.

Up until now, most police chiefs were aware that the content broadcast in the official livestreams was real. So, when the Bureau issued the highest-level red alert, all police officers and special forces were immediately mobilized. Every available resource was brought into play to ensure that the phones were collected as quickly as possible.

The developer who had purchased these 300 phones was also brought in for questioning. They were told that the phones might contain a virus that, if spread, could cause serious issues for the network.

This explanation left the developer pale with fear. They quickly handed over the registration information of all players to the police.

Since the game had not yet been officially released and was still in internal testing, it would be possible to trace the identity of each registered account and, consequently, their address.

One of the police officers came up with an idea: why not send a message directly to the players of the mobile game? The message would warn them not to use the phone anymore due to a possible virus, and let them know that police officers would be coming by soon to collect it.

However, many officers shook their heads, pointing out that while this idea might seem good, there was no guarantee that someone wouldn’t panic upon receiving the message and immediately destroy the phone.

In short, human nature is unpredictable. It might be safer to act discreetly.

As a result, police forces across the city were deployed. Although they didn’t use sirens to clear the way, many city residents noticed that there seemed to be an unusually large number of police cars on the streets today. In just half an hour, three police cars had already passed by.

People began to speculate—was there some major case happening in the city? Would it affect their daily lives? Some felt a bit uneasy.

Young people tried searching for relevant local topics on Weibo, but found nothing, leaving them equally puzzled.

Meanwhile, Zhao Bufei was engrossed in playing a mobile game. He had received his phone half a year ago by participating in a mobile game promotion. The deal was simple: if he registered, played the game seriously for at least a year, and helped find bugs, he could earn various rewards.

The game’s eerie art style was particularly addictive.

Of course, the main reason Zhao Bufei was so invested was that he was only in his second year of high school and had only a basic phone that couldn’t handle many games. Watching his classmates with the latest smartphones filled him with envy. When he asked his parents for a new phone, they scolded him.

“You’re in school right now. What do you need a new phone for? The one you have works just fine—don’t waste money.”

“Your mom’s right. Do you think it’s easy for me to make money? Your phone isn’t even broken. Your mom and I still use old phones, and yours is already better than ours.”

Zhao Bufei’s parents couldn’t understand why their son was so fixated on getting a new phone.

Although he felt down for a while, Zhao Bufei soon bounced back. He understood his parents and didn’t hold any resentment. But every time he saw someone with the latest phone, he couldn’t help feeling a pang of envy.

Then one day, he saw an ad for a mobile game. It promised that if you played the game for a year, you’d receive a smartphone. If you found bugs, you could even earn cash rewards.

This was such a good deal that Zhao Bufei didn’t hesitate to jump on it. He quickly signed the registration form and successfully received the phone.

When he got home, he even mentioned it to his parents, assuring them that he would only play the game at home and wouldn’t spend more than an hour on it each day.

Zhao Bufei’s parents weren’t overly strict. They figured that as long as Zhao Bufei could control himself, playing some mobile games wasn’t a bad thing. After all, if he just kept studying all the time, he would eventually get stressed out.

Zhao Bufei’s father was also a fan of games, though he mostly played card games on the computer, which required real money to buy in-game currency. Thanks to his excellent skills, he had never spent any money on those games.

When he heard that this mobile game even offered cash rewards, he immediately perked up and asked Zhao Bufei, “How much money can you earn?”

Zhao Bufei replied, “If you find a hidden bug, you can get at least a thousand yuan, and up to ten thousand yuan, depending on how many bugs you find.”

Zhao Bufei’s father was intrigued. “How about I play for you? I’ll give the phone back to you when you get home. How does that sound?”

He thought it was the perfect scenario—he could play games and make money at the same time.

Zhao Bufei’s mother couldn’t help but interject, “Where in the world do you find something like this? It’s probably a scam.”

“Who cares if it’s a scam or not? At least they actually gave us the phone. If I sell it, I could easily get over a thousand yuan. The specs are pretty good,” Zhao Bufei weakly countered.

Zhao Bufei’s mother was at a loss for words and waved her hand dismissively, saying, “Fine, you two can do whatever you want. I’m tired of nagging you and getting complained about.”

Zhao Bufei’s father quickly joined his son. They started tinkering with the phone and logged into the mobile game. The opening scene depicted a small town, but the art style was eerie and creepy. Each house in the town contained monsters, and the character Zhao Bufei registered had to search for supplies and water during the day while finding a place to hide at night to survive the dangers.

The game didn’t limit the number of players in a team, but players could kill each other to steal supplies. Moreover, killing another player granted an extra life. Even if you were killed by a monster, you could revive once.

Besides that, the town also contained some items that could counter the monsters, but these items had to be found by the players themselves.

After watching the rules and the exceptionally detailed animation, Zhao Bufei’s father couldn’t help but slap his thigh in excitement. “This game is way more interesting than my card games.”

Zhao Bufei warned, “Dad, we only have three lives, so we need to be careful.”

If all three lives were used up, they would have to pay to continue, costing a thousand yuan. The game even seriously provided a warning: “Try to survive. After you use up all three lives, you’ll uncover an even more terrifying secret.”

The two of them ignored this message and eagerly started playing.

Six months passed.

Zhao Bufei would play for an hour every evening, and his father would play only after getting off work. Since they didn’t want to spend money on in-game purchases, they played cautiously and carefully.

The early stages of the game weren’t too difficult. The father and son managed to hang in there for quite some time, but eventually, they would fall prey to the monsters.

The monsters, hiding in the shadows and covered in eerie eyes, were so lifelike that despite being just a part of the game, both of them felt a chilling sensation upon seeing them. The monster was too real.

After getting over their initial shock, they became even more excited.

They thought the game was absolutely fantastic.

In the following months, the father and son managed to find many useful items. However, other players, unwilling to spend money and eager for PvP action, would hide in the shadows, waiting to ambush other players.

The father and son lost another life this way.

Angry, they spent a month tracking down and taking revenge on the player who had killed them. The more they played, the more addicted they became, to the point where they even started dreaming of being in that monster-infested town. The dreams felt incredibly real.

And today, once again, it was time for their father-son gaming session. Over the past six months, their relationship had grown much closer, to the point where Zhao Bufei’s mother felt a bit jealous.

However, as the father and son continued playing, Zhao Bufei’s mother heard a knock at the door. Curious, she opened it and was surprised to find two police officers and an investigator standing outside. Feeling a bit nervous, she asked, “Is there something you need?”

The two police officers had a vague sense that they were dealing with something important, but they didn’t know the specifics.

“Good afternoon, ma’am. Is your son Zhao Bufei at home? We need to speak with him,” one of the officers asked routinely.

Zhao Bufei’s mother immediately felt uneasy. She quickly invited them in, nervously asking, “Has my son done something wrong?”

The officers scanned the room before opening the door to the side bedroom. There, they found their target, Zhao Bufei, holding the very phone they were looking for. The investigator immediately grew tense and pulled out a talisman from his pocket as if preparing for danger.

The police officers, also on edge, spoke sternly, “Please step outside.”

Zhao Bufei was frightened and confused, as was his father. They both quickly forgot about the game, with Zhao Bufei’s first instinct being to exit the game so that his character wouldn’t be left standing in the street, vulnerable to other players.

But the investigator, even more anxious, quickly said, “Do not touch the phone. Put it on the table immediately.”

Zhao Bufei hesitated, “But—”

His father swiftly took the phone from him and placed it on the table, apologizing to the officers, “I’m sorry, the kid is too young to understand.”

The investigator cautiously approached the phone and quickly placed the immobilizing talisman on it. To his relief, the talisman had no reaction. He sighed, picked up the phone, and glanced at the eerie, sinister-looking game on the screen before choosing to exit it.

The group returned to the living room, where Zhao Bufei and his parents sat on the couch. The police sealed the phone in a secure bag, speaking sternly, “This phone contains a software virus. We need to confiscate it.”

Although Zhao Bufei was reluctant, he obediently nodded.

The investigator, for caution’s sake, asked Zhao Bufei, “Why did you want this phone in the first place?”

Zhao Bufei was taken aback and replied hesitantly, “I wanted a better smartphone. There was this event for the mobile game that offered it for free.”

The investigator was aware of this and continued, “During the six months you’ve had this phone, did you notice anything uncomfortable or unusual?”

Zhao Bufei scratched his head, thinking for a moment, and said, “Not really… I don’t take my phone to school, so I only play for an hour at home.”

Zhao Bufei’s father sensed something was off. The questions being asked seemed unrelated to the phone virus, and he had a nagging feeling that the phone was being taken for another reason, though he didn’t dare to ask.

The investigator nodded and added, “If anything strange happens later, make sure to call the police.”

Zhao Bufei and his parents nodded eagerly.

The group then moved on to the next location. Again, they found the person there playing the same game. The investigator immediately recognized the game as the one Zhao Bufei had been playing.

The game’s distinctive style was hard to miss.

He couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was too coincidental that everyone they visited was playing the same game.

He asked the same routine questions he had asked Zhao Bufei. The individual responded similarly, saying they only took the phone for the free game, and that it was indeed very enjoyable, leading to an addiction over time.

They added that they hadn’t encountered anything unusual, except that sometimes playing the game intensely made them feel mentally active and affected their sleep quality.

They even dreamed about the game.

“And then?” The investigator asked, becoming more anxious.

The person replied, “Nothing more. I just adjusted my routine, and I haven’t had any more dreams.”

The investigator immediately frowned, wondering if he might be overthinking things. However, due to his cautious nature as an investigator, he promptly reported the fact that individuals who played the game had dreamed about the Monster Town game. All other investigators received this information from the handling bureau and were instructed to ask target individuals if they had dreamed about Monster Town and what those dreams entailed.

The frightening part was that, so far, every target individual found by the investigators and police had indeed dreamed about Monster Town.

And their dreams were consistent; everyone dreamed of escaping from monsters in Monster Town.

When asked if they had dreamed of being caught by monsters, they all said no.

Next, a team was informed by the parents of one target that their child had become a vegetative state just a few days prior due to an unknown cause and was currently in the hospital.

The information was immediately reported, and the team rushed to the hospital to check on the child. The child lay there quietly, unresponsive to the outside world. The doctors stated that the child had no illness and had inexplicably fallen into a coma, never to awaken.

The investigator, sensing something significant, asked the child’s parents if they had seen the child playing a mobile game.

The parents confirmed this and mentioned that the child had been quite obsessed with the game.

The investigator asked the parents to bring the phone. Upon opening the mobile game, he was stunned to find that the character in the game was hiding in the dark without any input from him.

Dialogue boxes continued to appear from this character:

【Amy is so cool】: Boo hoo hoo

【Amy is so cool】: Oh my god, can someone save me?

The investigator broke into a cold sweat and had a terrifying thought.

Could it be that the child in the vegetative state had actually had their soul enter this phone, or rather, this game called Monster Town, becoming this character?

If his theory was correct, it would mean that anyone who possessed this phone might potentially enter the game or that the game itself had become possessed. Anyone who downloaded this game could also end up inside it.

This was the true killing rule of the cursed phone!

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