Chapter 87.2 Crimson Sunset Expedition
the room’s setup was notably simple. the wallpaper was adorned with a crowded ear pattern, which might unsettle those with misophonia, but it posed no apparent threat. in the center of the wall hung a sword. on the opposite side, against the wall, stood a faceless zombie cradling a harp.
the frozen fossils could only mimic skills. they couldn’t capture other details, like the true appearance of the wandering corpse.
everyone looked around, finding no hidden design. it seemed the house of screams would directly demonstrate pei wenwei’s skill to them.
this was like exposing a secret under the sunlight.
the few people at the back of the line exchanged glances. with experienced players up ahead, they could easily catch this skill, making things much easier for themselves.
the thoughts were mostly similar. even some experienced players weren’t overly cautious. they had encountered too many unknowns, making them naturally composed when facing revealed situations.
this theme was clearly a combination of sonic waves and swordsmanship.
the basic caution was there. when the sword floated halfway in the air, they didn’t rush forward recklessly.
the simple longsword emitted an unstoppable sharpness on its own. it began as a breeze, quickly turning into roaring waves. with just one sword strike, the initial momentum was incredibly frightening.
the game was the best at playing with words. it emphasized in its prompt that skill power would be reduced. however, this sword strike had once taken out over a hundred monsters for wen shi in big factory. even if the game adjusted the power to half, it still wasn’t something an ordinary player could withstand.
firing a missile at an ordinary person or shooting them would yield similar results of varying intensity.
“one strike—”
a faint, hollow sound echoed in everyone’s ears, a mimicking of the absurd creatures.
the sword’s blade didn’t thrust directly. instead, it traced an arc. surprisingly, three of the worm players reacted the fastest. they didn’t place their hope on others or expect to resist. without hesitation, they ran towards the zombie.
the worm players didn’t attempt any aggressive actions. in unison, they mumbled amidst the terrifying sword wave, “stick—”
they shrunk their bodies and stuck themselves to the zombie’s shoe soles. the zombie lifted its foot, but in the end, it didn’t manage to flatten them with its heel.
just as the chubby worm passenger on the railway track had said, there were many beings capable of killing worms but due to disgust, they couldn’t be bothered to even step on them.
the longsword seemed to have a strong sense of sadism. its movement was slow, and it hadn’t unleashed its full attack yet.
seeing it hesitate, someone took a couple of steps forward. in that moment, the longsword sliced through the air with a whistling sound that distorted their hearing. all they could vaguely catch were the words “flattens all.”
in such a short time, their thoughts couldn’t keep up. it all depended on instinct. both yu xingzhou and his shadow were subconsciously preparing to use the【time freeze】skill. yu xingzhou considered his teammates and planned to divide the time barrier into intervals, causing a slight delay. however, his shadow beat him to it, pausing time a step ahead. yu xingzhou was also temporarily frozen in place.
the shadow took advantage of the frozen moment to run away alone. he didn’t stop until he saw the almost solid sword light phantoms in the air. a few targets aimed for female players’ necks, while the rest were directed at male players’ lower bodies.
how despicable!
he turned around, lifting his original self, and dashed outside. of course, this wasn’t done out of kindness. he had never seen such a twisted move before. if the first theme was like this, how would they survive the next two?
the time freeze skill was powerful but had a cooldown.
knowing his original self well, he knew the latter wouldn’t owe anyone. when his original self’s turn came to use the skill again, he would probably take him away as well.
in this moment, the only thought in the shadow’s mind was: look at how these shadows have been pushed to what extent. even i have to slow down my pace to save a player.
nervous about the possibility of making noise and hesitant to run too quickly, the saving grace was the modest size of the room–just a few dozen square meters. with the door not too far away, there was ample time. as the lockdown was eventually lifted, the shadow had already managed to escape with the original self.
the exit was also a cloth curtain door. the next theme scene was right ahead, separated by a narrow corridor. as the shadow was contemplating whether to take a look first, laughter came from behind.
clang!
upon hearing the melody of the harp, at that very instant, everyone experienced a nearly gut-wrenching reaction. certain kinds of music indeed possess the ability to contaminate the very essence of one’s soul.
“ugh…” unable to make too much noise, the players who almost vomited covered their mouths and forced the urge down. this scene was accidentally seen by others, intensifying the urge to retch.
the weakened【one strike flattens all】 had its speed reduced. sword energy surged in three layers. the first wave was barely resisted. li nan used the skill【rebound】to create a natural barrier for several players around him. at the same time, xiao hua used the skill【restrain】to temporarily seal a small area. the area that【restrain】could affect was extremely limited. the sword energy came from all directions, and those at the back didn’t have time to get into the safe zone.
li nan didn’t care whether they exceeded the noise limit. without hesitation, he sprinted forward at the fastest speed, and the few people beside him did the same.
not everyone had powerful skills to resist the sword energy. three seconds later, some started to feel a chilling sensation piercing their bodies. when they realized what was happening, their minds went blank, and a thousand words turned into a piercing scream of agony.
“aaaaaaaaaaaaah—”
this scream even left the earworm fossils on the wallpaper baffled. out of some strange sympathy, they weren’t initially planning to bother too much with these tourists. however, someone acted as if they were afraid the earworms wouldn’t hear, causing them to react differently.
“aaaaaaaaaaaaah—”
more than one person let out a scream.
downstairs, the tour guide was puzzled. it was the first time she had heard tourists make such sounds in the house of screams.
“are they slaughtering chickens?” she shook her head.
the screams sounded like a rooster having its neck wrung.
similarly, wen shi and the teenager, both bearing the aura of the cutting princess, avoided each other’s gaze with a guilty conscience.
upstairs, the nightmare continued.
【one strike flattens all】, the third wave of sword energy, targeted the head. with the difficulty reduced, the zombie only made three notes. quick-reacting players endured the intense pain and nausea, using their last ounce of strength to charge forward.
finally, they burst out of the small room.
those who were a bit slower weren’t as fortunate. their heads thudded against the ground, eyes still wide open.
the longsword was hung back on the wall, and the zombie closed its eyes while hugging the harp, as if falling into eternal slumber.
in the narrow connected passage, the stench of blood permeated the air.
several female players could only stare at the ceiling, showing their final respect.
the fortunate wormplayers, having escaped the gruesome fate of many, regained a sense of dignity.
some were only concerned about the instance progress. team leaders immediately began counting heads among the survivors. during this process, they noticed that at least seven or eight people had been cut.
initially, they thought these people were quite resilient, shedding tears and taking potions, but after coming out, they never wailed again. until one of the injured people opened their mouth and let out two “ah ah” sounds. they desperately pointed at their ears, indicating they couldn’t speak and couldn’t hear anymore.
once they exceeded the regulated decibel level, their voices and hearing were taken away, including that of burnt player. this person’s vitality was exceptionally tenacious, still alive, but sadly something on his body was missing.
the pervasive despair made even xiao hua hesitate to think about exploiting the rules to kill him.
“may buddha’s mercy be upon them,” she sighed softly.
“let’s continue.” facing the grim scenes, li nan’s deliberately subdued voice didn’t reveal any emotions, “didn’t you all make your own choices?”
at this point, they could only face it head-on.
reaching the end, they lifted the second layer of curtain. the scene inside was even more perfunctory than the first theme, with only a bloodied person holding a bowl standing in the middle, gazing fixedly at them.
after enduring the blood-soaked journey before, facing another attrition battle would thoroughly wear down their spirits. they needed some hope at this point. yu xingzhou acted decisively, asking the players to stand behind him and indicating he would use time freeze. then, everyone launched a group attack.
almost simultaneously, he set up a time barrier in front of himself, seamlessly transitioning to using the skill.
during that frozen second, everyone realized just how correct this decision was. the bloodied figure’s speed was too swift, freezing right in front of yu xingzhou, mid-motion of raising the bowl.
its body was remarkably resilient, and no weapon could pierce it completely. those with attack skills focused on the main assault, and together they eventually broke through the bloodied figure’s head.
this round proceeded smoothly, with no casualties. their shaken spirits were slightly adjusted.
yu xingzhou’s voice was low, “only one theme remains. i don’t want any foolish infighting at this point.” he issued a warning in advance, “no matter who tries to play tricks, i’ll make sure they pay with their life.”
someone sighed bitterly, “rest assured.”
the first two rounds had been deadly enough. now, no one wanted to gamble with their lives.
the unit moved forward, their primary focus not on guarding against those around them, but on the potential dangers up ahead.
…
downstairs, wen shi, the teenager, and the tour guide gathered to munch on melon seeds.
the melon seeds belonged to the tour guide.
this had nothing to do with letting go of prejudices. it was just that waiting had become too boring.
wen shi frowned. “why is it taking so long?”
the first two themes were all about speed. it shouldn’t have taken this much time.
ignored, wen shi glanced at the ticket seller and deliberately muttered to himself, “quite resilient, huh? only a few screams in total.”
the scene was set up by the ticket seller. she definitely knew what would happen.
npcs always had a sense of pride in their creations. the ticket seller’s voice was soft, but the curve of her lips kept lifting. “perhaps they wanted to scream, but couldn’t.”
couldn’t scream?
had they lost their voice?
while continuously cracking melon seeds, wen shi’s eyes revealed an unclear emotion.
a melon seed accidentally slipped and fell to the ground. in that moment, wen shi and the tour guide’s eyes met, then they both calmly looked away.
under the light of the old bulb, even the single melon seed on the ground cast a shadow.
wen shi stared at it for a while.
the presence of the shadows disturbed his judgment. wen shi had always thought that this instance focused on the struggle between the bright and dark sides of human nature. but now, it seemed that the crux of the issue wasn’t replication. it was deprivation.
the game had started by stripping them of their shadows, then locking their skills, and now it was taking away their voices.
it was systematically taking away everything from the players. if everything was taken away, wouldn’t the players evaporate from existence?
a shadow fell over wen shi’s heart. initially, he hadn’t paid much attention to the skills being locked, considering it only applied to a single instance and wouldn’t remain fully sealed even after the scenic spot was downgraded. however, the current situation indicated that the more deprivation occurred within the instance, the more unfavorable it became.
as he furrowed his brow, contemplating a strategy, he heard the system’s prompt:
“player 460872, your skill【one strike flattens all】has been temporarily locked.”
“player 460872, your skill【reanimated corpse—shell breaker】has been temporarily locked.”
“player 460872, your health points have been temporarily adjusted to one hundred, wandering corpse ability disabled.”
“the above restrictions will remain until the completion of this instance.”
the sequence of prompts indicated that the people upstairs had successfully passed through the house of screams.
even though the announcement should have made people uneasy, wen shi seemed to have a different perspective as he quietly smiled. he got up from his seat and walked over to the staircase, taking the initiative to welcome his teammates.
the sound of descending was light, as if everyone’s steps were ethereal.
wen shi lifted his gaze and saw people with horror-stained pants, pale faces, some clutching the handrail, their gazes vacant as they descended the stairs. others seemed to have aged ten years overnight.
it wasn’t until they saw the light below that they realized they had escaped the ordeal.
wen shi cleared his throat, “took so long?”
someone, whether player or shadow, rushed up to him, gripping wen shi’s shoulder firmly. “why it took so long? let me tell you the answer. in the second theme, we relied on our skills to defeat a bloody corpse together, and then we entered the third theme room. there stood the black and white impermanences and the judge.”
“the judge?”
“that’s not important. they’re all paper figures, they have no attacking power.” the person laughed manically a couple of times. “what matters is that the judge held a wordless heavenly book, and kept spouting nonsense about unfinished life spans and reviving tonight. now guess what happened?”
what was sealed was the bloodlock feature, and the judge was the one who decided matters of life and death. wen shi had already anticipated what was coming next, but still went along with asking, “what happened?”
“the bloody corpse unexpectedly appeared behind us. it came back to life! after resurrecting right there, it charged at us and gave us a good thrashing!”
this unexpected revival shook everyone, with some losing their heads on the spot. if the resurrected bloody corpse hadn’t slowed down significantly, at least half of them would have met their end there.
the person was on the verge of collapse. there was even a gash on their head from the impact.
“what i can’t accept the most…”
wen shi patiently listened as he continued.
“is that i chose the first option! the first one! i asked for a revote, and i was almost led down a one-way path by a bunch of idiotic things.”
“……” now wen shi truly began to sympathize with him.
the more miserable the tourists, the happier the tour guide became.
she enthusiastically came over to watch the show, but her excitement faded when she saw the bloodstained pants in the stairwell. after a pause, her sarcastic words turned into elusive glances, “well… it’s getting late today, everyone should go back and get some rest.”
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