Zhu Yan turned on his phone's flashlight and opened the table of contents, reading each entry carefully by its faint white light.
Cannibal House, page 558.
The pages were unusually soft and thick, like human skin.
"[Cannibal House]: A horror creature that is neither particularly common nor particularly rare..."
Zhu Yan read silently to himself, following the neat handwriting down the page.
"They feed on the flesh and blood of players."
"The higher a [Cannibal House]'s level, the more players it needs to eat."
"Humans or unpolluted livestock can also serve as food, but horror creatures absolutely cannot."
"It cannot eat any horror creature!"
It couldn't eat horror creatures.
If I roleplay as a horror creature, could I fool the [Cannibal House]?
Reading on the tram made Zhu Yan a little dizzy. He took a sip of sweet fruit tea to settle himself and continued reading.
"However, a [Cannibal House] cannot capture wild players or humans on its own."
"Many [Cannibal Houses] deep in the mountains light themselves up at night to attract passing travelers."
"Therefore, [Merry Happy Land] places [Cannibal Houses] under centralized management..."
Zhu Yan read the next sentence and drew a soft breath.
"...and assigns a landlord to each [Cannibal House]."
"The landlord may be any other horror creature."
So are there actually two bosses in the Cannibal House landlord task?
Did the Lv.4-5 announced by the female voice earlier refer to the levels of two horror creatures?
Then did his task, "kill the Cannibal House landlord," actually require him to kill two things?
A chill spread across Zhu Yan's back, and he felt a little frightened.
If he hadn't bought this book, he wasn't sure he would have thought of that.
"A landlord may sign a [Lease Agreement] with the relevant department of [Merry Happy Land]."
A Lease Agreement?
That was interesting. Zhu Yan read on.
"...to have a fully equipped [Cannibal House] at an extremely low rent, but must guarantee the [Cannibal House]'s food every cycle and make sure it stays in a good mood."
"Otherwise, the [Cannibal House] will make noises because it is hungry."
If the house makes noises, it means it's hungry, Zhu Yan repeated to himself.
"The landlord must put food into the [Cannibal House]'s mouth to feed it."
That was the end of the section on [Cannibal House].
Zhu Yan closed the book and watched the silhouettes of trees racing past the window, feeling his mild motion sickness ease.
The vehicle was already on the highway, speeding toward the dark mountains.
Zhu Yan raised a hand to massage his slightly tense scalp, slowly turning the words over in his mind.
The last sentence was interesting. The [Cannibal House]'s mouth...
Could it be that only a specific part of the [Cannibal House] can eat people?
And where is the [Cannibal House]'s weakness?
There was also the landlord. He didn't even know what the landlord was.
One of those two things is level four and the other is level five. How can I kill them both?
So far, Zhu Yan had no weapon he could use besides his abilities.
He went back to the online store and spent 40 Bone Coins on a short dagger and a bottle of universal potion.
Both could deal with level-four monsters, and having them made Zhu Yan a little more confident.
He sipped his fruit tea, feeling the sweetness gradually fill his mouth and bring him a little happiness.
After relaxing a little, Zhu Yan turned his attention back and checked the descriptions of his upgraded abilities.
"[Roleplay] Lv.5: Congratulations, your ability has undergone a small qualitative change."
"You can roleplay as any horror creature, but you can only fool horror creatures at level five and below. This effect has no time limit."
"You can partially alter your aura to fool players at level five and below, making them believe you are another person or a horror creature. This effect has no time limit."
"In each instance, you can hide your player tattoo for 1.5 hours."
Zhu Yan felt a little pleased.
The difference between levels four and five was that at level four he could only roleplay as horror creatures at level four and below, while level five had no such restriction.
In other words, if Zhu Yan encountered enough high-level horror creatures, he could use their appearances to intimidate others by borrowing their might!
It was convenient, useful, and novel.
Zhu Yan collected himself and continued on to the description of [Complaining], which had gone up one level.
"[Complaining] Lv.4: You can direct personal attacks such as insults and blame-shifting at a specific target, and point out that they caused your misfortune, thereby weakening their spirit and draining their strength."
"At present, players and horror creatures at level four and below are affected by this ability."
"This ability does not affect you."
[Humiliation] hadn't leveled up, so there was no need to check it.
Zhu Yan studied the bright red words in his field of vision, pondering.
His task was to "kill" level-four and level-five horror creatures.
His strongest ability was level-five [Roleplay], which could fool horror creatures at level five and below.
But [Roleplay] had no offensive power.
And level-four [Complaining] merely "weakened their spirit" and "drained their strength." It didn't seem capable of killing them outright.
[Humiliation] was only level two, which was a stretch.
In this round, the only thing he seemed able to rely on was the short dagger from the online store.
The level-five creature could wait, but the dagger could definitely deal with the level-four creature.
Zhu Yan lowered his head and turned the silver-gray steel dagger over and over, examining it with interest.
Meanwhile, about eight kilometers away from him.
In an official vehicle also heading toward the quarantine zone, Guan En, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly sat up straight and listened with some disbelief to the female announcement that had abruptly appeared.
"Hello, player. An instance you can enter has been detected."
"After the instance [Cat-and-Mouse Game] ended, you completely lost your memories and data concerning a certain person."
Guan En's expression gradually grew grave.
Would the mysterious player the police department had been searching for also appear in the next instance?
"Of course, a certain person felt that wasn't enough. He chose to risk going to the quarantine zone where you are, to secure one more benefit for himself."
Guan En listened quietly, his attention completely focused.
"In two hours and twenty minutes, the instance [Devouring Villa] will begin. Instance location: Villa No. 12 in the Remote Suburban Isolation Zone."
Guan En froze.
That was his originally assigned quarantine location!
"Would you like to participate in the instance [Devouring Villa]?"
He glanced at his superior in the front seat and chose "yes" without hesitation.
The announcement had been quite clear.
That person was participating in the instance "to secure more benefits for himself."
Now they had already lost the other party's identity information, and surveillance cameras couldn't capture a clear image of him either.
He had clearly used the power of [Merry Happy Land] to do that.
If he really obtained even more, the police department's work would become much harder.
Even if there were many doubts about the matter of "spreading instance contamination," he was a player after all.
It was necessary to bring him back and take his statement!
The bright red text disappeared, and Guan En was so nervous that cold sweat broke out on his palms.
He didn't know whether this instance would be difficult.
He really had far too many questions.
If I can take this person away without trouble, at least some of those questions can be answered, right?
"Attention, player: You will enter the instance [Devouring Villa] in two hours and twenty minutes."
"Horror creature level: Lv.4-5 Cannibal House landlord."
"Instance task: Kill the player who threatens the Cannibal House landlord's safety and protect the most precious treasure in the house."
Kill?
Guan En's heart skipped a beat, and the sight of his colleague's corpse that morning suddenly flashed through his mind.
He gripped the armrest and retched, feeling acid rise into his throat.
...Kill the person who saved my life outright, and become [Merry Happy Land]'s accomplice?
Who would be willing to do that?
Guan En closed his eyes, his heart pounding like a drum.
A moment later, he took out his phone and dialed a number.