"The Haunted Town instance will open in five minutes. You will be teleported into the instance in five minutes. Please prepare in advance."
There was not much to prepare, though, because nothing from the real world would be brought into the instance except the clothes on their backs.
So all players needed to do was prepare themselves mentally.
Five minutes later, the teleportation began, and Shen Hao appeared in the instance.
It seemed to be evening in the instance, though it might not have been.
The sky was gray and overcast, with no sun in sight, making it hard to tell the exact time.
There were no lights to be seen in the town, nor could there have been, because no life existed here.
The entire town had been reduced to ashes by a great fire. The remaining buildings were covered in black scorch marks, and ashes filled the air, swirling as though the fire had only recently been extinguished.
This was Haunted Town, exactly as described in the instance guide.
Shen Hao opened the game system panel to check his current status.
Name: Shen Hao Class: Demon Level: 5 Experience: 80/800 Base attributes: Constitution 20, spirit 20 Mission: You have arrived in Haunted Town, a place whose very name strikes terror into people's hearts. But you are a demon, and your very existence is the greatest terror of all. Now, you will replace the instance boss. You must kill those outsiders and ensure that Haunted Town's fearsome name continues to spread throughout the world. Help the doll complete her revenge (optional mission).
Shen Hao closed the system panel and sensed something watching him from behind. He hurriedly turned around.
Behind him was a little girl of six or seven. No, it was a doll.
The doll girl wore a white dress and was very cute, like a princess from a fairy tale.
Her face was not much different from a real person's, but a closer look revealed visible seams where her arms joined her shoulders. The seams at her finger joints were even more obvious.
If not for those seams, it would have been hard to tell whether she was a doll or a real person.
Shen Hao now understood that he was playing the man who had made these dolls. The man had been killed by the townspeople, and his lingering resentment had turned him into an evil spirit.
At the same time, his hatred had given the dolls life, setting off a series of strange events in the town.
They were the culprits who had turned the town into what it was today.
When the Haunted Town instance first appeared, the man's vengeful spirit had been very powerful, and many dolls had acted alongside him, making the instance extremely difficult.
But after the instance was cleared for the first time, the man's vengeful spirit was severely weakened, and most of the dolls were burned. Those dolls never respawned afterward, causing the difficulty to drop sharply and earning it the fine name of "Mercy Town" today.
In subsequent runs, players only had to deal with this one doll. Though she was the most powerful of all the dolls, she stood no chance against players who had already cleared the instance many times.
But things were different now. He was here, and Haunted Town had to live up to its name.
He looked at the doll girl before him, and she looked back at him with her large, obsidian-like eyes.
"Hello," Shen Hao said with a smile.
The doll's eyes shifted. She did not speak, but he could tell she was happy.
Just then, Shen Hao suddenly noticed that several transparent threads had somehow become wrapped around his fingers. At that moment, he had the feeling that the doll before him was like his own hands and eyes.
He could control the doll however he pleased through these threads.
If he controlled the doll, her strength should increase considerably.
After all, the doll had fixed patterns of behavior and could not adapt to changing circumstances, but he could.
Still, that alone did not seem quite enough. After all, he had four opponents, and all of them had been through instances many times.
He did not think he could win by crushing them.
But if he only fought them to a standstill or won with difficulty, he could not gain many fear points.
After all, these people had been through instances many times and would not be frightened easily.
But it was not as if there was nothing he could do. This was a C-rank instance, after all, and dangerous places still existed.
It was just that the players already knew where the dangers were, so they simply never went there.
But he was the boss of this instance, and he could change that.
With just a few changes, the instance's difficulty could rise several levels.
"The instance will officially begin in fifteen minutes. Players, please prepare yourselves."
Hearing the game system's notification, Shen Hao noticed a change in his body. His limbs were gradually becoming blurry, and before long, his physical body vanished completely, leaving him entirely transparent.
"Have I become a spirit?"
Shen Hao was somewhat pleased by the change. After all, he could experience what it was like to be a ghost while he was still alive.
He immediately opened the system panel.
Base attributes: Constitution: 0 (20-20) Spirit: 20+100 Ability: Possession (you can possess anyone who screams)
He had now inherited the boss's base attributes. His spirit had increased by 100 points outright, but his constitution had fallen to 0 because the instance boss was a ghost with no physical body.
Even so, the feeling was quite nice. Freed from the constraints of his body, his soul was completely liberated.
With a thought, he sent a stone on the ground, charred black by the flames, floating into the air.
The stone weighed about as much as a brick. With his spiritual power, controlling a stone of that size was fairly easy, but if it were any heavier, he would not be able to control it.
There was also a special ability, Possession. It was actually somewhat useless, and he probably would not get to use it. After all, the players entering this instance were not novices; they could not lose their composure at the slightest scare.
Having learned about his powers, Shen Hao wasted no time and left with the doll.
He had to rearrange the instance.
Four men and women appeared in the town.
For a town that had been abandoned for so long, this was a very strange occurrence.
After all, this place no longer belonged to the living, and no living people should have appeared here.
The four of them looked fairly relaxed. Although Haunted Town's atmosphere was far more oppressive than they had imagined, it was not enough to frighten them.
"I heard this was a freebie instance," a man of twenty-four or twenty-five said. "Doesn't that mean we're getting free experience?"
"Even if it is a freebie instance, we should still be careful. You wouldn't want to break Haunted Town's two-year record of no deaths, would you?"
The speaker was a woman with a hint of coldness on her face. She had already cleared five or six instances, and spending so long in such environments had made her heart cold and resolute.
Her words made the man's expression change slightly. Deeply displeased, he was about to retort when the oldest man in the group patted him on the shoulder and spoke with a smile.
"Let's not get upset with each other. This is a Thriller Paradise instance, after all. Even if it isn't very difficult, it'll still be dangerous if we have conflicts within the team."
The man continued, "My name is Cheng Xu. I'm level nine right now, and this is my advancement instance. If I clear it, I'll awaken as an ability user."
Cheng Xu's words made the others envious. He was level nine and about to awaken as an ability user, and his pre-advancement instance was the easiest one, Haunted Town. His luck was enough to make anyone envious.
"Bro, you're way too lucky," the man of twenty-four or twenty-five said.
"I'm Zhang Zhiqiang, and I'm level seven. I'm still a long way from awakening."
The cold woman said, "Zhao Yuqing. Level seven as well."
Zhang Zhiqiang could not help saying, "Sis, you look like we owe you a hundred thousand yuan."
Zhao Yuqing glared at him fiercely and seemed about to flare up. Cheng Xu hurriedly stepped between them, worried that they would come into conflict.
He was about to advance, and having two teammates like these was a real headache.
The last person was a girl in her early twenties. She was somewhat introverted and had not spoken the whole time. Only after seeing the others introduce themselves did she speak.
"My name is Jiang Yue. I'm level eight."
"Everyone's level is pretty high," Cheng Xu said. "I remember that people matched with this instance are usually around level five or six, but the lowest level on our team is seven."
Zhang Zhiqiang said, "Yeah, I thought I wouldn't get a chance to enter this freebie instance, but here I am."
"Looks like we're all pretty lucky," Cheng Xu said with a smile.
Come to think of it, he was the luckiest of them all, getting an instance like this when he was close to reaching level ten.
As long as he cleared it without trouble, he would be able to access supernatural power and awaken as an ability user.
It was a dream shared by who knew how many people, and now it was within his grasp.
Zhao Yuqing, however, frowned deeply and said, "Don't you think there's something unusual about this?"
"What's unusual about it? Sis, you're so gloomy that everything looks unusual to you."
"You two, stop butting heads. No matter what, we're a team now, and sticking together is the most important thing."
Zhao Yuqing's words also made Cheng Xu a little uneasy. There was indeed something unusual about it. The others could say they had been lucky to get matched with this instance.
But he was a level-nine player, and the system really had no reason to match him with an instance like this.
I hope nothing is really wrong, Cheng Xu prayed.