Seeing the look on Fuyeli’s face, Duya naturally couldn’t be bothered to explain himself.
Duya stood up.
After reloading his save twice in a row, he finally understood the godforsaken difficulty of this game.
Even with the ability to reload, the problem was that the feeling of each death was real.
If it happened too many times, even he might completely break down.
“What time is it now?”
“About six in the morning. You’re going over now?”
Duya looked at the somewhat gloomy sky outside, then glanced at Bulanni, who was still in the bedroom.
He took a deep breath.
“Of course.”
Duya still hadn’t figured out what exactly caused the abnormality after twelve noon, but one thing was certain: Bulanni’s house was extremely dangerous.
One more moment of carelessness, and just like before, he’d die without even knowing what hit him.
“Then please be very careful, Lord Duya.”
Fuyeli smiled and nodded, her expression looking just like a very devoted wife.
“Alright…”
Duya glanced at Fuyeli, then opened the door and walked out.
After stepping outside, his phone rang.
“Hello?”
Ye Xiao’s voice came through the receiver.
“Duya, can you hear me?”
“I can hear you. What’s up?”
“We received an emergency call about a missing middle school student named Lin Xiaoxia. We went to her house to investigate, and found it completely empty except for a gaming helmet… the same model as the one you’re wearing.”
Ye Xiao’s voice was quite somber.
Duya was stunned for a moment.
Lin Xiaoxia… wasn’t that the missing person he had dreamed about?
Why would she appear in reality as well…
Wait a minute?
“Ye Xiao, go check the alleys in the East District. There might be some shady dealings going on there.”
He didn’t know if what he had dreamed was accurate, but if they really found those two octopus monsters in that alley, it would mean that what he had dreamed was very likely something that had happened in reality.
“…Alright.”
Ye Xiao was a bit puzzled as to why Duya knew about the situation in the East District alleys, but she still dispatched a few people to go check them out.
After about three minutes, Ye Xiao called back.
But this time, she seemed somewhat silent.
After about ten seconds, the female supervisor finally spoke.
“You were right. In the East District alleys, we did indeed catch two cultists. However…”
“Is there a problem?”
“Those two cultists were emotionally agitated, their behavior very strange. They seemed… insane?”
Ye Xiao said uncertainly.
“There wasn’t blind worship in their eyes, but rather a desperate, hopeless fear. They were muttering nonstop,”
“Don’t eat me… don’t eat me… don’t eat me…”
After hearing Ye Xiao’s account, Duya didn’t say anything more.
Regarding the abnormality of those two cultists, he naturally thought of his dream.
In his dream, it seemed like he really had wanted to eat them.
Was there something wrong with him?
“Ye Xiao, how’s my physical condition right now?”
“Perfectly fine?”
Ye Xiao asked in surprise.
“Why are you suddenly asking that?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Duya didn’t explain the things he had encountered in his dream to her, because it was indeed a bit too bizarre.
He simply continued.
“I still have some things to take care of here. I’ll hang up now.”
“Okay. Stay safe.”
After hanging up, Duya closed his eyes and rubbed his aching head.
That girl named Lin Xiaoxia had most likely also entered this game.
But where was she now?
Or had she already turned into some kind of indescribable monster?
With lingering doubts, Duya hefted his hammer and walked outside.
At the very least, he needed to figure out what was going on with Bulanni’s house—and what exactly caused that terrifying abnormality at twelve noon.
But since there was still some time before noon, Duya wasn’t in a hurry to go to Bulanni’s house just yet.
Instead, he headed toward the guild in the town center.
Maybe he could get some information there.
Before long, Duya arrived at the town center’s guild.
The moment he stepped inside, he felt a strange eeriness.
It was only seven in the morning, yet the guild was already filled with quite a few people.
These people sat in their seats, completely lifeless.
Every conversation was like a pre-programmed script, repeating the same lines over and over.
Although he knew this kind of thing was common in games, looking at the scene before him still sent an involuntary chill down his spine.
Duya looked toward the guild front desk.
Behind the counter was empty—no one was there.
A few yellowed sheets of paper were stuck to the quest board nearby, looking as though no one had touched them in a long time.
“Anyone in there?”
Duya looked toward the back room and called out.
To his surprise, someone actually responded from inside.
“Coming, coming!”
With that, a girl rushed out from the stairwell in a hurry.
Judging by her slightly disheveled clothes and her hair that wasn’t yet tied up, it seemed she had just gotten out of bed.
Under Duya’s gaze, she finished tying up her hair and said to him with a smile, “Oh, a new face. How can I help you, sir?”
Judging by her appearance, she seemed like an ordinary girl.
But the problem was that the system in Duya’s hand had marked her name in red.
“Suzu Ran.”
That was the girl’s name.
And the system had very thoughtfully added three more characters next to it.
“Romanceable.”
But there was no trace of happiness on Duya’s face.
There wasn’t a single normal thing about this cursed game.
Even a “romanceable” character might actually be some kind of grotesque or terrifying creature.
“I’d like to ask about some news in town.”
Duya looked at her cautiously, his hidden hand gripping the hammer’s handle tightly.
The heavy weight in his hand made him feel slightly more at ease.
Suzu Ran tilted her head, placing her index finger on her lips as if deep in thought.
“What would you like to know? There’s been a big mushroom harvest in town recently, and the bakery on East Street just released a new type of takoyaki…”
Suddenly, her voice stuttered for a moment, like an old radio skipping.
“Oh, right, would you like to take a look at today’s requests?”
Duya stared at the shadow behind her.
The longer he looked, the more he felt that her shadow was unnaturally twisted, like the silhouette of some kind of multi-legged creature.
Just as Duya was about to observe further, the guild door was pushed open again.
Fuyeli flew in slowly, carrying a stack of documents.
She was wearing a guild uniform as well, but when she saw Duya standing there, she paused for a moment.
She quickly returned to her normal expression, but as she flew over to Duya’s side, she lowered her voice and said, “Don’t stare at her for too long. The employees here… are not ordinary people.”