“System maintenance complete.”
“Mental link stable, logging into the game…”
Once the maintenance time had passed, Duya put on the brain-computer interface once more.
With the cold system notification sound, the world before his eyes was covered in blood red.
A sense of weightlessness and dizziness struck him simultaneously, a sensation that almost made Duya lose consciousness.
“Dear Player, welcome back.”
When he opened his eyes again, Duya found himself standing in a dilapidated hallway.
Judging by the yellowing, peeling wallpaper and the surrounding environment, this appeared to be a hotel.
The entire corridor was filled with a thick smell of mold and a certain scent of decay.
The lights flickered with a buzzing sound, making Duya’s shadow dance between darkness and light.
“Why did the spawn point change to such a hellish place?”
Duya frowned slightly, instinctively reaching toward his waist… but there was nothing there.
His equipment slots were completely empty, and even the large wooden club from his beginner gear had vanished.
Furthermore, what made it a bit strange was that the game’s stat system was simple to the point of being primitive.
Duya pulled out his phone, which displayed his level and HP.
Other than that, there was nothing.
Such a minimalist UI even made it hard for him to distinguish between the virtual and the real world at times.
‘Sigh… leave that for later.’
Rather than worrying about those trivialities, the immediate priority was to figure out where he was.
Consequently, Duya crept forward with caution.
Observing the eerie, terrifying environment, Duya couldn’t help but click his tongue.
“You call this a relaxing, healing game?”
“Healing the soul… more like sending it to the afterlife in style.”
Although the system repeatedly emphasized that this was a romance-themed, relaxing, healing game, it was clear that Duya was not going to fall for the system’s nonsense.
However, he was always cautious.
Being without a weapon naturally left him feeling insecure; if he had a weapon, he wouldn’t need to be afraid even if he encountered danger.
After all, there was a saying: in a horror game, once you have a weapon, the one who should be afraid is not the player, but the monster.
He followed the stairs down and checked the sign hanging above.
“Third floor…”
Had he been spawned on the fourth floor of this hotel just moments ago?
While Duya was pondering, a white figure suddenly flashed by in the depths of the corridor.
The figure was extremely fast, but Duya had still clearly seen that mane of white hair.
Bubble Shadow!?
Duya’s pupils contracted sharply.
His body instinctively pressed against the wall.
The white shadow had flickered past the end of the corridor, leaving behind a scent in the air that resembled soap bubbles.
Without a doubt, this was the scent of Bubble Shadow.
He had been tracking her for nearly three months.
If he didn’t find any leads now, even he felt like he might go insane.
He even felt the urge to shout out loud.
‘Ah, Bubble Shadow.’
Of course, his mental state hadn’t reached such a deranged level yet.
Duya held his breath, his gaze fixed tightly on the depths of the hallway.
After that flash of white disappeared, he had no idea where she had gone.
The lights in the hallway were acting broken, flickering on and off.
In the dead silence of the darkness, Duya clearly heard the sound of a door being pushed open slowly.
Something seemed to be approaching him in the dark.
Duya kept his body pressed tightly against the wall.
His heart began to beat faster.
Having snapped out of his surprise at finding Bubble Shadow, he realized that he had no weapons to counter her.
This meant that if he were discovered, he was likely the one who would die.
Who was the hunter and who was the prey… that remained to be seen.
But regardless, he did not want to give up easily.
No matter how cautious he was, he understood that opportunities were fleeting.
Missing this one could very well mean missing out forever.
Moreover, his mentor had taught him a truth once.
Facing fear directly was the best way to eliminate it.
Thinking of this, Duya took a deep breath, calmed his heart, and prepared to head to the second floor to continue tracing the tracks of Bubble Shadow.
Just as Duya was about to head to the stairwell…
“What are you doing?”
That cold, strange voice rang out from behind him.
Duya felt a chill crawl up his spine to his brain.
Like a frightened bird, he spun around instantly.
He saw a woman with a pale, ghastly complexion standing behind him.
She looked at Duya with indifference, holding a bag of unknown contents that looked extremely heavy.
When did this woman get behind him?!
Looking at the woman’s pale face, cold sweat broke out on Duya’s forehead.
Fortunately, he was a professional investigator, so he quickly regained control of his emotions and said quite calmly.
“I am looking for someone—a girl with white hair and purple eyes. Have you seen this girl?”
The woman didn’t react at first, her expression unchanged from beginning to end.
The coldness and dullness of her face made one feel an inexplicable chill the longer they looked.
She was like a puppet; just looking at her brought the uncanny valley effect to mind.
“Her?”
The woman finally opened her mouth, her voice just as coldly monotonous: “She is in room 204. But I advise you, don’t go in. Someone… has died in there.”
Having said that, the woman paid no mind to what Duya was thinking.
She pushed open the door of the room beside them and walked inside.
Afterward, there was no movement at all.
No sound of footsteps, no sound of lights turning on; it was as if no one had ever entered.
The increasingly bizarre environment made Duya’s expression turn ever more solemn.
He took out his phone; there was currently only one main quest displayed.
“Go to room 204.”
What exactly was in room 204?
Duya didn’t understand, but maintaining his cautious attitude, he carefully made his way to the second floor.
Compared to the third floor, the second floor appeared even more sinister.
While the third floor had flickering lights, upon arriving at the second floor, everywhere he looked was pitch black, as if the entire world had been swallowed by darkness.
In the darkness, he could vaguely see rows of doors lining the corridor.
Although they were closed, it felt as if someone was watching him from behind them.
The eerie atmosphere caused Duya to involuntarily soften his breathing.
He slowed his pace as much as possible, inching toward room 204.
While moving, he checked his phone repeatedly.
The logout button on the screen was lit up.
Once he encountered any dangerous situation, he would press it immediately to ensure his own safety.
Finally, he stood at the door of room 204, his hand slowly gripping the doorknob.
Just as he was about to open the door to investigate, a pale hand landed on his shoulder.
The terrifying woman had silently returned behind Duya.
“Didn’t I tell you not to go in?”