Horror games? Whatever, I'll die.

Despite being starving, most people didn't touch the bottle of water that looked suspicious.

But sometimes, such obviously suspicious props can actually be important clues.

Liang Zaibing stuffed the bottle into her backpack, leaned against the edge, and looked in the direction of the door, tapping her fingers on the railing intermittently.

He is waiting.

The instance severely restricts their movement from the very beginning, which conflicts with exploring the world and finding a way to survive. Therefore, the instance is very likely to have a hidden exploration time, such as at night.

The laboratory ceiling lights suddenly dimmed, plunging the entire room into darkness where only blurry black shadows could be seen.

The emergency light in the corner turned on, its eerie blue glow casting a ghostly glow on everyone's faces.

However, the surveillance camera did not light up with a red dot, and seemed to have stopped working and remained unresponsive.

The players rustled around for a moment, then quickly quieted down again.

They had already decided on their plans for tonight, deciding to remain still and observe for the next day.

Nighttime could be a time for exploration, but it could also be a time for traps. Of course, it's best to let others test the waters first when it comes to such risky things.

Liang Zaibing fumbled to put the Boundless Cloak on, then walked directly through the iron cage toward the door.

He had only taken two steps when his right hand was suddenly grabbed. Liang Zaibing instinctively pulled hard, almost throwing the other person over his shoulder.

Lin Yisen desperately pulled his face off the railing and dragged his body back, shouting, "Let go, it's me!"

Liang Zaibing was speechless, but she still let go of his hand.

Lin Yisen's arm was thus spared the danger of dislocation.

"Are you going to regret it?"

Lin Yisen melted the iron cage and climbed out, rubbing his hands together and chuckling awkwardly, "No, I meant squeeze in."

"..."

"I'm a veteran player, after all. I have plenty of experience and items. Don't always look at me with that disgusted expression. It hurts my self-esteem."

Liang Zaibing struggled to pull open a corner of her cloak. "Be quiet. If you attract the researchers, I'll throw you out."

To be honest, before meeting Lin Yisen, he always felt that he was sometimes a bit crazy, but now compared to a real lunatic, he is still too normal.

The two men, wrapped in a black cloak, stealthily slipped through the wall and left the laboratory where they were being held.

As expected, only two rows of dim lights were lit in the corridor, and no one was stationed there.

The laboratory opposite them, labeled SH-03, was holding four other players. Liang Zaibing didn't want to cause trouble for Louis Sheng, so she walked around that room and forward.

There was no one in SH-05's room, and the cage was empty, but there seemed to be some indistinct objects in the corner.

As he craned his neck to look through the window, Lin Yisen suddenly leaned close to the back of his neck and asked in a very low voice, "Aren't you worried that the extra 'person' is me?"

Liang Zaibing didn't even turn her head, still focused on identifying the furnishings inside. "Don't worry, because that Joker is actually me."

"..."

"..."

Lin Yisen forced a stiff, awkward smile. "You're kidding, right?"

Lin Yisen was anxiously awaiting the other party's reply when he suddenly felt that the scene before him seemed to have undergone some subtle changes.

At the far end of the line of sight, a darker shadow appeared in the gray expanse.

Lin Yisen shuddered, twisted his stiff neck, and slowly raised his head little by little.

The black toes of his shoes floated above his head.

The dark, inky mask stared at him silently, its black pupils reflecting no human image, as if it could suck in his soul.

"A ghost! Run!"

Lin Yisen gritted his teeth to suppress the urge to scream, grabbed Liang Zaibing, turned and ran like mad, looking back as he ran.

But the ghost lingered, relentlessly following him.

Liang Zaibing had just confirmed that there was no danger inside SH-05 and was about to go in to check when he was pulled away and made to run.

He turned around nervously, only to find that the vengeful ghost Lin Yisen had mentioned was none other than little Zhang Shiyi.

Seeing that they had run off somewhere, Liang Zaibing quickly grabbed Lin Yisen and brought him to a sudden stop.

"Why did you stop? Did you shake off the ghost?" Lin Yisen turned his head with lingering fear and found that the ghost was still there. He almost ran away again.

Liang Zaibing struggled to stop him, saying, "Calm down, this is a cursed object possessing a soul, not a ghost from a dungeon."

Lin Yisen's gaze lingered on the faces of the man and the ghost with a mixture of belief and doubt. "Really?"

"More real than real gold, otherwise you wouldn't have survived this long. I would have chopped you up for a midnight snack long ago."

"But how is that possible? I've never seen anything like it before..."

Lin Yisen suddenly fell into a dazed state of muttering to himself.

"Why is it impossible?" Liang Zaibing was surprised that a veteran player like him was making such a fuss.

"Soul possession usually only occurs when a player uses a cursed item."

Liang Zaibing was a little stunned. He had only completed two instances and didn't know much about these basic settings.

"Are they not allowed to freely appear in the instance?"

If it weren't for the system warning that the soul cannot leave the cursed object's body within ten meters, it would be an excellent scout.

"It's not that it's impossible, but the spirits that possess you are usually unruly old men who won't listen to you except during sacrifices, let alone show themselves on their own." Lin Yisen thought of the two great gods he had enshrined in his backpack, and his expression was extremely annoyed.

Not only are they impossible to use under normal circumstances, but the offerings they make are also outrageously expensive, so he will not use those two cursed items unless it is a matter of life and death.

Run if you can, use items if you can't, cursed items are your last resort.

"Oh, really?" Liang Zaibing glanced at Eleven, who was obediently floating behind, feeling secretly pleased but pretending to be nonchalant.

-----

"Please stop pretending, you're obviously smug to death, okay?"

"Damn, I hate people who show off the most."

"Am I the only one who noticed that this ghost looks somewhat familiar?"

"Vocal, did you manage to snag the last dungeon boss?!"

"I want to report this. There are perverts here who are abducting children."

"Good job, son! I've been eyeing this handsome young man for a long time."

"I never imagined I'd become a grandfather at such a young age."

"What an adorable little boy! Let Auntie give him a kiss."

"Hey, that's some pretty heavy taste. Not only is he a pedophile, but he's also a necrophiliac."

"I'm so angry and cold. It's 4022 and we still don't have freedom of sexual orientation? When will those who are sexually attracted to armed helicopters finally stand up?"

-----

Liang Zaibing completely ignored the audience members who were spouting nonsense and refusing to pay a single penny, and continued searching the surrounding laboratories.

db-04.

He could roughly guess that the "sh" in the lab's designation meant "experimental subject," and that a more accurate name for the lab was "animal house."

What does db stand for?

Moreover, the door to this laboratory is different from that of the SH laboratory; it has no window and is exceptionally thick and heavy, leaving no way to explore except by going inside.

"Go in and have a look."

But the moment Liang Zaibing passed through the wall, he knew something terrible was about to happen.

The family photo on his chest radiated an astonishing heat, almost burning his skin.

He instinctively reached out to exit db-04 and activate the cursed item, but the sight before him made him stop.

Under the blue light, everything in the room was clearly visible: the lab bench, the equipment, the piles of documents—there was nothing supernatural about it.

Eleven floated silently in mid-air, motionless, its gaze fixed on the huge glass tank in the center of the room.

A forearm connected to a hand floats in the shimmering, light red liquid.