Xin Xin's eyes widened, and she instinctively began feeling herself over.
But she felt no pain, then realized that she was only playing a game.
At the same time, she felt ashamed of her pathetic performance.
She was playing a game as if she were actually in danger.
She couldn't help marveling again: This was way too realistic!
Before her eyes, the already black-and-white view gradually darkened and blurred from the gunshot wound.
It was as realistic as the painful convulsions after being shot.
Xin Xin swallowed, unsure what to say for a moment.
The protagonist was dead? The game was over? Did she have to reload and start over?
As the screen slowly went black, she thought that was the end.
But the next moment, Lacan's voice suddenly rang out from the darkness.
[What!?]
From his tone, it sounded as though he had discovered something unbelievable.
Gunfire immediately erupted, bangs ringing out in rapid succession.
It was accompanied by loud, furious roaring.
[Ahhhhhhh—!!]
Xin Xin, staring into complete darkness, had no idea what was happening.
She could only vaguely guess that Lacan had encountered something so shocking that he had emptied his magazine and screamed.
But the next second, Lacan let out a howl that made her skin crawl.
[What... is this thing?!]
[Please! Stop! He told me to do it! He told me to do it! It has nothing to do with me! Please, stop! Stop, stop! Ahhhhhhh—!!]
The sound cut off abruptly, leaving Xin Xin staring in shock.
What he had just said... seemed to mean there was someone else in the room?
And this person had been unharmed even after Lacan emptied his magazine?
Someone who could make a hot-tempered man howl and beg for mercy?
What had Lacan encountered while the player's screen was black that terrified him so badly?
What had he experienced in the scenes the player couldn't see?
But one thing was obvious: Lacan had definitely done something, and he knew the other person who had appeared in the room!
As for what exactly it was, she had no idea.
With those questions in mind, Xin Xin's perspective suddenly opened its eyes. But all she saw was a tiled ceiling and a spinning ceiling fan.
It was like someone lying down and absentmindedly staring at the ceiling, blinking now and then.
It looked like a new part of the story had begun.
Xin Xin thought to herself.
Soon, amid the blinking, a man's voice sounded.
He seemed to be reporting something.
[Hello, Doctor. I have the file for the manic patient admitted tonight.]
[He claims someone broke into his home and tried to murder him, so he defended himself with a gun, emptied it, and disturbed the neighbors, who called the police.]
[But strangely, the police investigation found no signs that his home had been broken into.]
[And those scratches on his body were determined to be self-inflicted, not caused by the "intruder" he mentioned.]
[The neighbor across the hall also told the police that they saw him throwing books off the bookshelf, as though he were searching for something.]
[The police tried asking what he was looking for, but he cursed at them for pretending not to know. Based on his behavior, he believes we did something to him. He even explicitly said that his hospitalization was a conspiracy between the hospital and the police.]
[I reviewed his medical records and found that he suffers from severe scopophobia.]
[Doctor, you should examine him. Until further notice, he'll be staying in Room 323 in the transfer ward.]
[But please be careful. He seems very agitated and dangerous.]
The man's voice abruptly stopped the next second.
At the same time, the view that had been staring at the ceiling fan suddenly dipped down and returned to normal.
It was like someone lying down had suddenly sat up.
Then, after getting out of bed, Xin Xin found that she could move again.
It was her turn to take the stage as the player.
But she was a little dazed now.
The dialogue just now had clearly contained a massive amount of information.
"What the heck is scopophobia? Forgive me for being pretty, busty, and long-haired. I've honestly never heard of it."
Some fans in the livestream said they didn't know, while those who did began explaining it.
Very soon, she roughly understood what this phobia was.
Put simply, it was social anxiety. Making eye contact with people made one feel uneasy and afraid, and it was common among people with low self-esteem.
Over time, they would isolate themselves, and eventually develop persecutory delusions. It was a form of mental illness.
From the scattered information, Xin Xin could roughly guess that this Lacan was probably mentally unstable?
He always thought others wanted to harm him.
But...
In the videotape world just now, she had indeed found surveillance cameras.
That meant someone had been watching him.
But what was going on?
For someone with scopophobia, discovering miniature cameras installed in their home meant being constantly exposed to deliberate scrutiny from others.
Forget Lacan—even she probably wouldn't be able to accept that.
This game's plot was far too confusing!
At that moment, Xin Xin realized she was in a hospital ward.
But it was nothing like the clean, orderly hospitals she had visited before.
This room in the game, especially.
It was piled with clutter and containers everywhere. Calling it a storage room would have been more fitting than calling it a hospital ward.
With the lights off, it was dim and gloomy, making the place feel eerie and sinister.
"Did I leave that haunted house and enter a new area?"
Xin Xin looked around without acting rashly.
A new environment meant more unknowns.
But although she wasn't making any moves, trouble came looking for her on its own.
At that moment, a red glow suddenly lit up in the distance.
The faint crimson light was especially conspicuous in the darkness, and Xin Xin noticed it immediately.
It was an illuminated LED sign bearing the English word "EXIT."
So it was obvious. The game wanted her to leave this place.
Xin Xin swallowed, picked up a shovel from the pile of clutter, and gripped it tightly as a weapon for self-defense.
She then cautiously approached the door and looked through the glass panel, finding a corridor outside.
There was even a faint light, so it wasn't completely dark.
Xin Xin looked at the shovel in her hand, psyched herself up, then slowly reached out and pushed the door open before stepping outside.
Outside was a hospital corridor, narrow, long, and winding.
The overhead lights shone brightly, driving away the gloom.
Though this was a hospital, there wasn't a single person in sight. There wasn't even the slightest sound.
It was as if there were no NPCs in this game world besides her.
Standing in the gloomy, silent hallway made her feel uneasy and creeped out.
But standing still wasn't an option either. Urged on by her livestream viewers, she tried walking toward the brighter area.
Like that, she moved carefully and slowly.
Her footsteps clicked crisply against the tiled floor, echoing again and again through the dead-silent corridor.
It added even more uncertainty to the oppressive atmosphere.
At that moment, for some reason, an image formed in her mind.
She felt that the corner ahead was mysterious and unsafe.
It was as though something would be waiting for her there the next second.
Though she knew she was only imagining things, the thought grew stronger in this horror game, making her steps slow down even further.
"It's so oppressive. Why do I feel even more uncomfortable in this hospital than in that house? Hospitals are supposed to save lives, aren't they?"
Xin Xin spoke as softly as a mosquito on her livestream, her voice trembling.
Her viewers comforted her, creating an atmosphere of concern.
But at that very moment, a sudden female announcement made her jolt all over.
[Attention, staff. Room 323 requires emergency treatment. Room 323 requires emergency treatment.]
Realizing it was only an announcement, Xin Xin let out an involuntary sigh of relief.
She wasn't stupid. She knew it was a hint.
It was telling her to go to Room 323.
But wasn't Room 323 the ward of that man named Lacan? Going there now was obviously walking straight into the tiger's den.
"Damn it, why does this game keep pulling these fake-out scares? If there's a ghost, just come out already! Wearing down my nerves bit by bit like this—sooner or later this game is going to drive me insane."
Xin Xin said resentfully as she continued forward and reached a fork.
Looking at the corridors ahead and to her left, she didn't know which way to go.
"This hospital is way too big. Did the developers seriously build an entire hospital model for this? Which way am I supposed to go at this fork?"
She looked down the left passage and found that the lights at the end flickered, brightening and dimming.
And the signs above the department doors along the way were all blank, giving no indication of what department or room they were.
Clearly, there was something wrong with that route!
Xin Xin swallowed and shook her head.
"I'll keep going straight. I'm not taking that path yet."
The livestream immediately erupted in laughter, with comments flooding the screen.
After glancing at the comments, Xin Xin chose to move forward.
With the overhead lights shining down, there was enough illumination, so the path was relatively safe.
Moreover, the rooms on both sides of this corridor were clearly marked.
She first passed Room 304B, then a storage room and the 3F Meeting Room.
Those details told her that she was on the third floor of a hospital.
As she went deeper, she saw what looked like a waiting area at the end of the hall.
That was probably the transfer ward, right?
She quickened her pace and headed forward, her footsteps resounding through the corridor.
Just then, a creaking sound suddenly rang out.
The door to the Nurse Station slowly opened, and an empty wheelchair rolled out, its wheels rattling through the quiet hallway.
Seeing the strange sight ahead, her throat tightened, and she didn't dare approach.
But if she just stood there dumbly, there would be no livestream content.
So, after checking her viewer count, she gritted her teeth and resolutely moved forward.
At the same time, she raised her guard to the utmost.
"Is that wheelchair the same one from the house earlier...?"
Holding the shovel, she carefully approached the wheelchair, but nothing unusual happened.
However, there was a key on it.
A key!
A crucial item!
Xin Xin immediately picked it up. The game promptly informed her that she had obtained the key to Room 323.
"So it really is making me go to Room 323! Damn it! I don't want to go!"
Just then, the female announcement sounded again.
[Attention, staff. Room 323 requires emergency treatment. Room 323 requires emergency treatment.]
Hearing the announcement again, Xin Xin pursed her lips.
"So this announcement is urging me to get to Room 323 as soon as possible?"
She looked ahead. The waiting hall before her was filled with movable chairs, with a wall-mounted screen along one wall and two vending machines positioned by the only passage farther ahead.
Looking at that sole passageway, it was clearly where she needed to go.
After all, the first room ahead bore the number Room 311.
That meant going deeper inside would lead her to Room 323.
Xin Xin gritted her teeth and, encouraged by her livestream viewers, walked over.
The moment she stepped into the doorway of Room 311, Lacan's furious roar came from deep within the corridor.
[Don't fucking touch me!]
The voice echoed through the silent hallway, seeming both near and far, drifting uncertainly through the air.
Then came the echo of another man's voice.
[Sir, if you won't cooperate, then I'm afraid we have no choice.]
[Grab him! Give him a sedative!]
Then came chaotic unrest, things crashing over, and angry curses.
Xin Xin stood at the corridor entrance, not daring to step forward for a moment.
The lights, which had been normal before, began flickering amid those faint, drifting echoes.
The entire hallway alternated between light and dark, as if it were echoing along with those sounds, foretelling misfortune ahead.
At that moment, a strange and dangerous sound effect began playing, adding tension to the scene before her.
At the same time, the broadcast filled with the eerie sobbing of a woman, along with inexplicable tapping sounds.
It was as though even the female announcer in charge of the broadcast had become abnormal.
Faced with this scene, Xin Xin panicked, bracing herself against the wall. Her legs went weak, and she did not dare move an inch.
"Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? I haven't even gone in yet, and you're already pulling this on me?"
Though she said that, the commotion before her did not stop, and the echoes continued.
The next second, an angry roar rang out.
But it came from behind her!
[Where do you think you're running to!? You worthless bitch!]
Xin Xin's entire body bristled!
The sound effects instantly became frantic!
She whipped her head around, her eyes nearly splitting apart!
In the corridor she had come from, a man with a cane emerged, his body badly decayed and shriveled.
Who else could it be but Lacan!?
Or rather, Lacan after death!
It limped along, its face grotesquely twisted.
That crisp tapping sound was the noise of its cane striking the tiles!
Even more terrifyingly, it was not slow!
Xin Xin screamed in terror and spun around to run.
The next second, the neatly arranged chairs suddenly shifted in an eerie manner, instantly piling up in layers before her and blocking her only path.
"Fuck!! Damn it!!!"
Even a two-dimensional goddess streamer like Xin Xin cracked under the fear and started cursing.
At that moment, her viewers reminded her that she still had the shovel and could use it to clear a path.
Only then did she react, hurriedly swinging the shovel in her hand.
Bang—
Crash!
With a single blow, the piled-up chairs scattered all over the floor.
But her shovel shattered as well and could no longer be used.
Seeing that there was a way through, Xin Xin did not dare look back and immediately sprinted away.
Yet behind her, that tapping sound relentlessly pursued her.
At this point, the lights in the entire hallway—or rather, throughout the entire hospital—were constantly flickering, shifting between brightness and darkness.
It made it impossible for the terrified, fleeing Xin Xin to tell which direction was which.
On top of that, the place was connected in every direction, with intersections everywhere. She had even less idea where to go and could only run around blindly, leaving it to fate.
Yet that very behavior allowed the vicious spirit chasing her to get closer and closer!
"Why is this hospital like a maze!? What do I do!? What do I do!!"
Xin Xin was drenched in sweat, her lips and throat dry. She had just passed a corner when she saw the shadow of a limping figure appear on the wall at another corner ahead. As the lights flickered, it drew closer step by step!
It had actually appeared in front of her!
Xin Xin could hardly believe it!
Sure enough, the shriveled, decaying vicious spirit emerged from around the corner the next second. Accompanied by tapping sounds, it rapidly approached, heading straight for Xin Xin!
Terrified out of her wits, she screamed and ran back the way she had come.
"It can teleport! It teleported ahead to block me! If I hadn't seen its shadow just now, it definitely would've caught me at that corner! Why is this hospital so huge!? How am I supposed to escape this maze!? How am I supposed to run!?"
At that moment, a highlighted message worth 1,500 yuan floated across the screen.
It read: Watch the room numbers.
Seeing the message, Xin Xin immediately came to her senses.
She quickly looked at the doors on both sides, and sure enough, each had a room number!
She was currently standing in front of Room 302. Across from her was 303, and ahead was 304!
She understood!
As long as she reached Room 323, she would be safe!
At that moment, the terrifying, deathly tapping sound gradually drew closer from behind her.
At the same time, there were its eerie words.
[I'm so itchy. White maggots are wriggling around inside the flesh. So itchy.]
[I'm so hungry. There's nothing to eat in the Basement. So hungry.]
[I hate you so much. You shut the door and locked it. I hate you so much.]
[You did all of this. You did all of this. Why did you choose me? Why me.!!]
How could Xin Xin possibly care what those incomprehensible roars meant at a time like this?
All she wanted was to get away from that decaying, shriveled monster behind her!
So, with a panicked expression and her silver teeth clenched tight, she ran for her life while counting the room numbers.
"309, 310, 311."
When she reached an intersection, she hurriedly checked the room numbers of the first doors along the three paths before her.
The first room on the left was 312, the first room on the right was 362, and the first room straight ahead was 336.
So she immediately ran left, toward 312.
"313, 314, 315."
She reached another intersection, and the room numbers along the three paths ahead changed again.
394 on the left, 351 ahead, and 319 on the right.
319!
Then there were only a few rooms left before Room 323!
Xin Xin immediately ran into the path on the right, toward 319.
But then something unexpected happened. That shriveled, decaying evil ghost was limping toward her from the end of this very corridor!
She was instantly shocked.
"Why is it here!! Why is the ghost on this path!!"
But the danger did not allow her time to think. She could only turn around and run back to the intersection she had just passed.
This time, the room numbers had changed again.
377 on the left, 301 ahead, while the number on the right-side door was splattered with blood. Only the digit 3 could be seen; the last two digits were completely obscured!
With no other choice, Xin Xin could only run toward 301 ahead.
"302, 303, 304."
She reached the intersection again, but this time, she froze in place in disbelief.
The three paths before her.
Only the path ahead had a visible number, 340. The room numbers on both the left and right revealed only the digit 3, their last two digits covered in blood and impossible to see!
This was...
"It's becoming random!"
Xin Xin said bitterly, staring at the three paths before her without knowing which way to run.
But she had no time left. The tapping behind her was constantly tormenting her nerves!
If she did not choose now, it would catch up to her!
So she gritted her teeth and ran straight toward 340.
Yet she completely failed to notice that the first room in the corridor she had run out of bore the number 320.
"341, 342, 343."
Along the way, the sobbing female voice in the broadcast became sinister and eerie.
In a low voice, it kept repeating words that terrified her.
[You can't escape.]
[You can't escape.]
[You can't escape.]
Those voices lingered constantly in her ears, making her unbearably uncomfortable.
But she could only lower her head and keep running, trying her best to ignore the broadcast.
When she reached another intersection, she was instantly dumbfounded.
All three corridors before her were obscured by blood, and she could only see the digit 3 on each one!
Even more despairingly, the shriveled, decaying vicious spirit was limping toward her from the corridor on the left.
At the same time, an identical ghost appeared in the corridor ahead!
There were ghosts in two corridors!?
Xin Xin's little face instantly turned pale, and she was too terrified to know what to do.
She could not see the room numbers.
Of the four paths, including the one behind her, ghosts occupied three of them.
"What is this? Is it forcing me into a dead end?"
As the lights flickered and the tapping continued to resound, she finally ran into the corridor on the right.
Every room number on this path was covered by blood, making it impossible to know what they were.
Even if Room 323 was on this path, she would not know!
But she had no choice. She could only hurry to the next intersection before deciding what to do.
Then something happened that drove her into complete despair.
Ahead, beneath the flickering lights, a limping shadow swayed across the wall.
At the same time, the tapping rang out clearly, growing louder and closer.
The eerie female voice on the broadcast no longer whispered. Instead, it let out a spine-chilling shriek of laughter.
It seemed to be mocking Xin Xin's helpless performance.
She was on the verge of breaking down and had no choice but to turn around and run back.
But the moment she turned around, she froze in shock.
"This is impossible. This... so that's how it is. I understand. I understand now..."
Xin Xin stared behind her and muttered to herself.
At the far end in the opposite direction, another shriveled, decaying ghost was closing in step by step.
Ghosts had appeared at both ends of the corridor she was trapped in, limping toward her.
The lights flickered, and the broadcast laughed sinisterly.
At that moment, she understood the game's mechanics.
"So... this is a timed escape. Once you miss the correct route, the numbers get covered up, and more ghosts appear. In the end, it drives you into a dead end and leaves you to wait for death alive.!"
At the very last moment, Xin Xin understood this.
But it was too late. Behind the two evil ghosts, several more identical shriveled ghosts emerged.
They rose and fell unevenly as they limped forward.
The overlapping tapping sounds had become a terrifying noise.
Trapped in the middle, Xin Xin could only watch helplessly as they closed in.
But she did not want to give up!
She wanted to live!
At that moment, following suggestions from the livestream chat, she picked up a chair, smashed open the Fire Cabinet on the wall, and took out a Fire Extinguisher.
Then she tried using the Fire Extinguisher to smash the door lock, wanting to see if she could hide in one of the rooms.
But anyone who had played games knew that these doors were merely decorative.
They functioned no differently from invisible walls.
There was no interior model at all!
Yet she still wanted to try. This was VR, and it offered a great deal of freedom. She did not want to give up hope and wanted to use every last ounce of strength to try!
So she raised the Fire Extinguisher high and smashed it down hard.
In an instant, a loud bang rang out, and the doorknob before her suddenly twisted crookedly. It seemed to have worked.
Hope immediately surged in her heart. She raised the Fire Extinguisher again and smashed down wildly.
As the swarm of ghosts approached, her movements grew larger and larger, while the doorknob before her gradually deformed.
Finally, just as the ghosts were about to reach her, the door before her was smashed open!
With a creak, Xin Xin could not wait to hide inside.
But the next second, she suddenly froze before letting out a scream of despair.
Everyone in the livestream could only see a pale, shriveled, decaying face emerge from the Pitch Black room, along with a hand stretching out to cover the entire field of view.
And then came the final voice that confirmed her death.
[You can't escape.]
Yesterday was the Dragon Boat Festival, and we had guests over at home. There were also bratty kids turning the place upside down, so I really had no way to write. Also, the game has been adjusted a little. I won't write Zai Zong's part anymore; it's time to get to the main point. If I kept writing, it would start to feel like I was padding the word count.
Thanks to Little Troll Fake for the support of 12 monthly tickets! Thank you! Thank you!
Thanks to Mi Youyou, Ye Yeye, Clear Moon Return, Qianmo, n1x, Hei L, and BAKANEET for their monthly ticket support! Thank you all!
Before you continue