A piercing alarm blared in Schiller's ears.
"Players, please prepare yourselves."
Schiller immediately realized he could not move. He turned to look at Batman beside him. Batman's hand rested on the hunting rifle, yet he remained frozen in that pose.
Given Batman's reaction speed, if he had not been forcibly restrained, he would have fired at least three shots by now.
Everyone instinctively assumed combat stances, but none of them could approach the corpse.
The red twenty-sided die appeared again, and everyone stared intently at the spinning die.
"Free discussion is now enabled. Tactical arrangements may be discussed freely during combat. Time will stop during discussions, and the turn count will remain unchanged."
The electronic voice gradually became hoarse, and flickering fragments of static appeared before them.
"Main quest triggered."
"The Detective Will Die: A heavy snowfall has turned this remote village into an isolated dead end. Worse still, traces of a Wanderer have appeared here."
A group of people with their own motives had gathered under one roof. Then, after that brief peace, the bizarrely dead corpse suddenly began to move.
There was no time. Everyone knew that any strange occurrence meant an anomaly had arrived, and they had to act immediately.
"Subdue the strange corpse within five turns. Reward: Skill Point ×1."
"Battle Start. Turn: 1."
Schiller immediately noticed that the strange sense of restraint around him had vanished. Then he abruptly shifted into a third-person perspective, watching himself stand before the corpse.
It was as though his soul had left his body.
When he looked up, he found that everyone else was the same. They had returned to the appearance of wearing their own clothes, floating behind their bodies in translucent forms. They could move freely, but could not touch anything, like nothing more than virtual projections.