"Your prey died in fear. You have gained 600 Fear Points!"
Hearing the system notification, Shen Hao smiled. The woman's death had given him 600 Fear Points outright.
That was quite a lot.
He was in an excellent mood now.
While the townspeople were being hunted down by the puppets, he had earned a total of 1,500 Fear Points, bringing him to level 6 and leaving him 300 experience points short of level 7.
Now that he had gained another 600 Fear Points, he had gone straight up to level 7.
His experience was now 300/1,500.
He needed another 1,200 Fear Points to reach level 8.
That was already incredibly fast. This was only his second instance.
Now he understood that high-level people were not easily frightened, but once he made them feel fear and despair, he would gain a great many Fear Points.
He wondered how many Fear Points the two remaining people could give him. It would be perfect if he could reach level 8 by the end of this instance.
Reaching level 8 in just two instances was something no one else would dare imagine.
But now, he was close to doing it.
At the sight of Zhao Yuqing's gruesome death, Cheng Xu and Jiang Yue's confidence was crushed in an instant.
Now they suddenly realized how laughable their original idea had been.
With their strength, how could they possibly stand against these puppets?
They were like mantises trying to stop a chariot.
Cheng Xu had almost resigned himself to his fate, but when he looked at the Demon Blade in his hand, he was unwilling to give up.
His short blade could easily kill any puppet, as long as he could stab it into the puppet's body.
With such a powerful weapon, how could he give up so easily? Was he inferior to a woman?
No matter what, he couldn't give up so easily.
"I can do it. I know I can!"
He desperately encouraged himself in his heart, and his gaze gradually grew resolute. His self-hypnosis had worked.
Cheng Xu tightened his grip on the Demon Blade and charged at a puppet, brimming with confidence.
As long as he landed one slash, no matter how powerful the puppet was, it would fall to the ground and lose its ability to fight.
He quickly reached a puppet and swung the Demon Blade in his hand straight at its head.
However, he had underestimated the puppet's speed and reflexes.
The gap between them was too great.
The puppet quickly jumped aside, easily dodging his attack. Then its arm began to stretch and reshape itself, turning into an enormous pair of scissors.
The puppet then charged forward with astonishing speed. Before Cheng Xu could react, the scissors had already caught his arm.
Cheng Xu's heart jolted, but then the puppet exerted its strength. The scissors snapped shut, and his arm fell to the ground along with the Demon Blade.
Everything happened too fast, too suddenly. Only when he saw his arm fall to the ground did he feel the agonizing pain in his shoulder.
"Aah—"
Cheng Xu lay on the ground, letting out a shrill scream.
The courage and confidence he had just gained through self-hypnosis vanished in that instant.
Overwhelming despair and fear spread through his entire body once more.
This was a power he simply couldn't stand against. Even with the Demon Blade, it was useless. The gap was too great!
Now he could only be forced to accept his fate: death.
But if he successfully cleared this instance, he could reach level 10 and become an ability user, gaining the extraordinary power he had always dreamed of.
But now, there was no hope left.
He was deeply unwilling to accept it, but faced with something he couldn't possibly contend with, he was powerless despite his wishes.
He roared in unwillingness, but the puppet gave him no chance. It swung the large scissors in its hands again, bringing them around his waist.
Snip.
The scissors closed again, and even more intense pain shot through his body.
He watched helplessly as his body was cut in two.
The agony and despair battered the last of his reason, making him let out a shrill scream. As he screamed, his consciousness gradually faded away completely.
"Your prey died in fear. You have gained 500 Fear Points!"
"Why only 500?" Shen Hao was speechless.
That meant he would have to gain 700 Fear Points from the third person to level up.
It would be a real pity if he couldn't reach level 8.
Now only his final prey remained.
Shen Hao turned his gaze to the last woman, thinking about how he should kill her to gain more Fear Points.
But the woman gave him no chance.
After witnessing Cheng Xu and Zhao Yuqing's deaths, Jiang Yue had fallen into utter despair. Her mind was on the verge of collapse.
After Zhao Yuqing had absorbed that drop of blood, her physical body had been able to stand against a true demon-type ability user. Even so, that puppet had defeated her in a single blow.
Cheng Xu had possessed the Demon Blade, an exceptionally powerful weapon, but what of it? He had still been killed easily.
He hadn't even been able to fight back.
She had nothing, and her only extraordinary item wasn't even one that could increase her combat power. What could she possibly use to fight those puppets?
It was simply impossible!
Her body collapsed weakly to the ground. Now she knew she was certain to die.
The puppet with the chainsaw slowly approached her. Jiang Yue cried out in terror and kept backing away until her body hit the wall.
She had just witnessed Zhao Yuqing's gruesome death with her own eyes. She absolutely did not want to die at the hands of this chainsaw-wielding puppet.
She saw the Demon Blade lying on the ground. Strength suddenly surged through her body, and she rushed over with a scream, picked up the sharp blade without hesitation, and plunged it into her own chest.
In her despair, she had chosen suicide.
Perhaps this was the last of her dignity.
"Your prey chose suicide in despair and fear. You have gained 600 Fear Points!"
"600 points?"
Shen Hao let out a helpless breath. Sure enough, he was still 100 Fear Points short.
He went over to Jiang Yue's corpse and looked at the short blade in her chest. It was quite an interesting blade, and it belonged to him now.
He reached out, and the blade pulled free of Jiang Yue's chest and flew into his hand. He put it into his inventory.
Just as he was about to leave, he saw that there was still a man in the room: Zhang Zhiqiang.
After Shen Hao possessed him, he had remained unconscious inside, and he happened to wake up at that moment.
"How did I forget about him? Now I can get enough experience to reach level 8."
Zhang Zhiqiang opened his eyes in the room and took a deep breath. He wasn't dead. He was still alive, and the realization filled him with excitement.
Having come close to death twice, he valued life even more now.
Being alive was better than anything. As long as he was alive, there was still hope for everything.
He struggled to his feet and dragged his badly injured body out of the room. When he saw the scene outside clearly, he couldn't help letting out a cry of despair!
His companions were all dead, their corpses right in front of him.
And that wasn't all. Those terrifying puppets were also in front of him, and they had him completely surrounded!
He had nearly been killed by those puppets twice, and now he had just woken up only to see them again.
It was the same every time!
He felt as though he had fallen into a terrifying cycle.
In that instant, he felt that being alive wasn't so wonderful after all.
Sometimes being alive was torment instead!
His mind completely collapsed at that moment, and he charged madly at the puppets.
He didn't want to live anymore!
Perhaps dying here would be a release.
A puppet attacked, sawing Zhang Zhiqiang's body in two with a chainsaw. He died screaming.
"Your prey died in fear. You have gained 500 Fear Points."
A smile appeared on Shen Hao's face. Zhang Zhiqiang had woken up at just the right time, giving him the last experience he needed to reach level 8.
What a good person.
He would have liked to thank this good person, but he no longer had the chance.
He looked forward to meeting them again. He swore that if he encountered these people again, he would be much gentler and definitely wouldn't be this cruel.
"Mission complete. The instance will close in five minutes."
Hearing the system notification, Shen Hao prepared to leave, while also looking forward to the rewards from this instance.