Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 3 Renting a House
It's still the same space.

The woman's voice continued to ring out.

"you are dead."

"Died at the hands of his landlady."

"Your death was utterly pointless."

"You didn't uncover any erosion points, nor did you advance the plot in any way, so you won't receive any reward for this death."

However, Zhou You ignored the voice. He stared blankly ahead, seemingly still unable to shake off the terror of death.

But next second.

But then he suddenly grinned.

Then, he suddenly burst into laughter.

—Was the death utterly pointless?
What a joke!
This death has yielded far more benefits than any previous one!

—At least now we have a clue how to get through the game!

After a while, the laughter stopped, and Zhou You chose to enter again without hesitation.

It was the same stairwell. This time, Zhou You walked to the second floor without hesitation, but this time he didn't knock on any doors. Instead, he stood there, looking up at the corridor on the third floor, and waited silently.

—The previous tenant wailed out one of the pieces of information.

"Follow the rules and don't disturb other residents."

About three or four minutes later, a series of footsteps suddenly sounded.

The footsteps were very strange; they didn't make the stomping sound of ordinary shoes hitting the ground, but rather a short, rapid tapping sound, like a rhythm.

It felt as if the feet that were walking were not human feet, but two dry wooden sticks.

Soon, a wrinkled face peeked out from the dark stairwell.

This time, before the other party could make any move, Zhou You went to meet them first.

His face showed no panic or fear, only a warm, sun-like smile.

"Hello, I'm the new tenant. Are you the landlady?"

The old man, as still as a dead tree, made no response.

It stared at Zhou You for a long time with its pale eyes, but still couldn't see clearly. So it raised its hand and pressed it against its face.

Then, this person actually gouged out an eyeball, put it into the stained clothes, and carefully wiped it.

A fat maggot peeked out from between the eyes, wriggling its body as if looking for food, but was immediately pushed back down by the 'landlady'.

Despite the bizarre and terrifying scene, Zhou You's smile remained as bright as ever.

—The previous tenant wailed out a second message.

Be polite.

Half a day later, the 'landlady' seemed to have finally wiped her eyeballs clean, stuffed them back in, and then opened her dark mouth, speaking in a hoarse, sawing voice.

"A new resident, right? Did you bring any money?"

Zhou You recalled the introduction at the beginning of the script, hurriedly rummaged through his clothes, and sure enough, found a whole wad of money in his shirt pocket.

But before taking it out, he hesitated slightly, then subtly separated half of it before handing over the rest.

A faint smile finally appeared on the old woman's face, and her withered lips slowly opened—

This time it wasn't enlarged, and there were no sharp teeth inside.

However, the person still felt a churning in their stomach.

Because there was hardly any flesh or blood in that mouth, only countless plump white maggots scattered throughout—densely packed, layer upon layer—and as they wriggled, a lot of dark yellow sap dripped down.

A foul stench suddenly assaulted his nostrils, but Zhou You gritted his teeth, suppressing everything that instinctively surged to his throat, and swallowed it back. A few seconds later, a smile reappeared on his face.

The sun was shining brightly, just like before.

The old lady stared at him for a while, then nodded in satisfaction.

"He's polite, but it's a pity he didn't get paid much, only enough for half a month. Remember to renew the lease when it expires, don't make me, this old woman, nag you, otherwise..."

The old lady was still smiling when she said "otherwise," but for some reason, Zhou You felt a chill creep up his spine.

It was as if some pure malice seeped into the body, instantly filling the nerves, and finally seeping into the bone marrow, leaving one with only a chilling and bizarre feeling.

Zhou You remained frozen for a while before breaking free from this inexplicable feeling, but he immediately noticed something amiss and couldn't help but ask.

"This is a quarter's rent, how can it only cover half a month's rent?"

The conversation abruptly stopped.

Zhou You instantly realized what was happening, immediately shut his mouth, and stopped asking questions.

Sure enough, right before his eyes, the old woman's mouth was wide open, almost the size of a basketball, and the wriggling maggots quickly stiffened, hardened, and finally turned into pale white teeth.

Zhou You finally understood what it was that had bitten him to death earlier.

—Although he didn’t want to know at all.

However, just after he stopped speaking, the old lady's mouth finally stopped widening. Her eyes, which had been tilted back to almost a 90-degree angle and were nearly bulging out of their sockets, stared straight at him with only cold indifference in them.

After a long while, the old woman's mouth finally closed little by little. She looked at Zhou You and casually uttered a sentence.

"No matter where you see the price, I say half a month, and it's half a month."

Zhou You didn't answer, but simply lowered his head, indicating his agreement.

But just a few seconds later, he suddenly asked again.

"So, landlady, what consequences will I face if I don't renew the lease when it expires, or if I plan to terminate the lease?"

The old woman, who had already started walking, suddenly turned her head—but her body didn't move at all; only her head turned—and scanned Zhou You up and down with her cold gaze.

However, all it saw was a polite, smiling face.

"If you don't renew the lease, I'll just have to collect rent from you. Anyway, you 'people' can sell anything on you – limbs, heart, liver, spleen, stomach. Don't worry, I'm very familiar with this job. I can guarantee that you won't die until you've been removed to the very last bit."

The old lady said this in an extremely calm tone, as if she were talking about something very ordinary.

No wonder the residents of 204 were on the verge of collapse; anyone would have been unable to withstand such a slow, visceral dissection.

Even after hearing such terrifying things, Zhou You didn't react; he simply nodded.

So the old lady continued slowly.

"As for terminating the lease, we do not accept any termination of the lease here, nor do we allow tenants to leave. You can only find a way to make money yourself. Oh, by the way, you can ask someone for money, but don't expect anyone to save you. No one can enter here except for those seeking rentals. No one can bail you out. And once I find out that you want to expose the information about this place, I, the old woman, will have no choice but to 'collect rent' from you in advance."

As they were talking, the old lady had already led Zhou You to the third floor. The 'head' that had been twisted 180 degrees finally turned back, and the guy rummaged around in his pocket for a while before pulling out a rusty keychain from the lower right corner of his coat.

Zhou You glanced over casually and noticed that the keychain was marked with floor numbers. There were ten spare keys for the second and third floors, which matched the number of unit doors. However, the fourth floor was empty, and there was only one key for the fifth floor.

The old lady carefully examined it for several minutes, and then gouged out her eyeball again to wipe it before finally recognizing it.

The key was inserted into the lock, and with a heavy 'click,' the dilapidated door of unit 304 opened.

—A putrid stench instantly filled my nose and mouth.

At the same time, a mechanical female voice rang in Zhou You's ears.

"Congratulations, you have reached the save point. If you die, you will start again from here."

"Once a save point is saved, it cannot be changed. Please be careful not to put yourself in a deadly situation."

"Would you like to save?"

(End of this chapter)