New Protagonist? (Two Chapters Combined)

This was a dim little room with a Storage Box, its floor completely overgrown with fungi, as if the house itself was being devoured, making one's scalp crawl.

The Bald Doctor was busy tying up the Hat Man he had carried back, searching him for useful items while continuously issuing warnings.

[I need to get out of this damn forest!]

[Do you hear me!? You little bastard!]

[Tell me how to get out, and I'll let you go!]

Zai Zong stared intently at the game's real-time rendered animation.

This was a different kind of cutscene from CG playback, a method more fitting for the game and the player.

By now, he had noticed that the protagonist he was controlling was starting to feel different.

The scene shifted—the Hat Man was already tied to a chair, unable to move.

It seemed he had been injected with something, leaving his whole body limp.

The Bald Doctor stood to the side, facing some direction, expressionless, muttering to himself.

[I hear her voice sometimes.]

[She's calling me.]

[Calling me home.]

Her?

Zai Zai noted that "her" here used the feminine pronoun.

There was a woman calling out to the protagonist he was controlling?

Who was "she"?

At this point, in Zai Zong's eyes, this game was starting to become mysterious and confusing.

The next scene showed the Bald Doctor standing in front of the bound Hat Man, shouting.

[Where's the exit!?]

[Where is it!?]

[Tell me now! Where's the exit!?]

As the doctor yelled, the Hat Man began to struggle, but the ropes binding him were tied tight, allowing him only to sway and twist.

Seeing this, the doctor swung his fist and landed a heavy blow on the Hat Man's face.

The game immediately used screen shakes and sound effects to deliver the impact vividly, making Zai Zong feel it was several times better than the combat feedback in some action RPGs!

Then the doctor threw another punch, and the screen shook again.

Even as a player, he could feel the force of those two punches through the screen, making him click his tongue and blurt out, "Damn, that's brutal."

After two punches, the doctor's whole body trembled violently, gasping for breath.

But the Hat Man remained silent, saying nothing.

The doctor held nothing back; after a brief rest, he raised his fist and struck again.

This punch, using all his strength, knocked the Hat Man to the ground, crushing the chair leg in the process.

Even Zai Zong was startled by that punch.

Was the protagonist he controlled this fierce?

Was he going to beat the guy to death?

In the game, the doctor spoke again.

[If you don't answer me, I'll butcher you like a dog!]

With that, he turned and left the room.

The game screen gradually went dark.

When it lit up again, Zai Zong was shocked to find that the game had switched protagonists???

It had switched to the Hat Man who had been beaten!?

"Holy shit, is this game the kind with multiple protagonists, multiple main storylines, and multi-threaded narrative? Developer, you're going this big? The text volume and story quality demands aren't low, and the game's prone to bugs—are you really that stubborn...?"

Under Zai Zong's control, the Hat Man broke free from the ropes and staggered to his feet.

[That bastard stole my keys.]

As the Hat Man stood up, the surrounding environment gradually appeared.

This was the doctor's house.

"So it really switched protagonists. Now I'm controlling the Hat Man, and the first goal is to escape the doctor's house?"

Zai Zong first searched the room, crafted bandages according to the prompts, and healed himself.

Then he found that the only door had been reinforced and sealed by the doctor.

So to leave the room, he had to tear down the wooden boards.

Following the hint, he crafted a lockpick, opened the Storage Box in the room, and found an Iron Shovel and a Flashlight inside.

Beneath the shovel's description: a large-scale heavy weapon.

Seeing this, Zai Zong understood.

In extraordinary times, a shovel is also a weapon—very reasonable, yeah!

"Since it's a weapon, me using the shovel to break down the door should be pretty reasonable too, right?"

No sooner said than done. Zai Zong gripped the shovel and slammed it hard against the reinforced door!

"Watch me open it with brute force!"

Bang—

The loud noise made his heart flinch. That was so loud—wasn't it gonna attract the Doctor?

But having a weapon in hand steadied him instantly.

Hmph! Even if the Doctor shows up, no big deal. Two shovel swings and I'll beat him to death!

Finally, the reinforced boards on the door shattered.

But the shovel was rendered unusable due to durability.

Zai Zong saw this and couldn't help but call the devs crafty.

They give you a weapon, and it's only good for opening doors.

Whatever. First priority now is getting out.

So he pushed the door open. Outside, the lights were blazing bright.

And the Doctor was standing right outside the door!

But the next second, for some unknown reason, a click sounded, the lights went out, and the room plunged into Pitch Black.

And the Doctor was nowhere to be seen!

Luckily, he'd scavenged the Flashlight earlier, so he wasn't completely blind.

But the Doctor's disappearance left him scratching his head.

After all, that was a character he'd controlled before. Now it suddenly vanished so eerily? It gave him a faint sense of unease.

But then he remembered this was a Horror Game, and he let it go.

Horror—anything's possible.

"Still, this room is really dark."

Zai Zong used the Flashlight to explore the Doctor's house.

Under the light, he noticed the floor was covered in some kind of fungal plant, dense and uncomfortable to look at.

And the tangled roots were like blood vessels, spreading everywhere.

The whole room gave him an illusion of being alive!

This was an experience he'd never had before!

Pretty novel!

But since he'd already explored this house once while controlling the Doctor, now he was just switching characters to see if he could find anything left behind.

"Hey? What if I go check out that room I couldn't open before? Like the one that might have a monster or a human locked inside?"

No sooner said than done. Zai Zong used the Flashlight to reach the earlier room, clicked the mouse, and a Code Lock popped up.

Clearly, something was locked inside—something serious enough that the Doctor needed a Code Lock to feel safe.

"So now I have to find the password in this pitch-black house?"

Zai Zong put down the Code Lock, and immediately, a voice came from the room.

[Who's there?]

[Please, let me out!]

Zai Zong paused, frowning.

"The person in the room is human? I thought it was a monster. And the Doctor said something like 'it took a lot of effort to lock him in'—so it's another victim. That Doctor really is a psycho."

"Hang in there, bro. I'll find the password and get you out right away!"

Even though the game character couldn't hear him, the strong immersion made him say it anyway.

"Wait! The Radio! Could the password be on that Radio? It's got all those channel numbers carved on it—maybe there's a clue!"

Zai Zong used the Flashlight to go to another room, clicked on the Radio, and examined it.

Still nothing.

So the password wasn't on the Radio.

But—

Zai Zong's gaze shifted to the cabinet against the wall.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

Because the cabinet's position had changed.

He clearly remembered that there was a door against this wall, and earlier, when he was controlling the doctor, he had explicitly said, "Better not go in there for now."

But now this cabinet was blocking that door. Had the doctor done this?

What was behind the door?

Zai Zong walked over to the cabinet, took a look, then pushed it aside, revealing the door.

And at that very moment, a strange female voice shrieked sharply, the piercing sound startling him, making his hair stand on end! He quickly shone his flashlight around, but there was nothing.

"What was that sound?"

Zai Zong nervously looked left and right. Under this oppressive atmosphere, the sudden fright made cold sweat start to trickle down his forehead, though he was unaware of it.

The shrieking sound never came again, but it had already put Zai Zong on high alert.

He cautiously opened the door behind the cabinet and was stunned to find a temporary operating room inside!

Right in the center was a metal table strapped with belts, clearly prepared for someone—or perhaps already used?

Zai Zong surveyed the room. It was empty but messy, with a carpet carelessly tossed on the floor, and the walls covered in large patches of fungi and roots.

There was also an old generator, silently placed in a corner.

Zai Zong walked over and found it needed gasoline.

And he happened to find a storage box in another corner, containing a half barrel of gasoline and a sturdy table leg that could serve as a weapon.

"A new weapon to replace the shovel? Well, it's better than nothing."

He picked up the table leg and equipped it.

Then he poured all the gasoline into the old generator and started it up.

Instantly, the darkness was dispelled!

The room lit up again.

At the same time, the distinctive crackling static of a radio came through.

Clearly, the power had brought it back to life.

Zai Zong pushed open the door and walked out, intending to continue searching for the password.

But when he saw what was outside, his expression froze in shock.

Where the radio should have been, there was now a person lying on the ground!

He was completely naked, his head twisting, his limbs twitching mechanically from time to time.

Several wires were connected to his abdomen, extending to the wall, and beneath him was a dense, interwoven mass of roots, like a bed for him to rest on.

When did this person appear?

With questions in mind, Zai Zong cautiously approached, only to find the game prompt telling him this was a... corpse?

This person, who kept twitching, was actually a corpse!?

At the same time, a description appeared below.

'This corpse's eyes have been replaced by two knobs. Its mouth is wide open, emitting a distorted sound, almost as hard to make out as radio static.'

From the description, Zai Zong understood what this corpse was.

It was the radio!

But why had the radio suddenly turned into a human-shaped corpse?

And why was this corpse still twitching, as if it were alive?

Wait!

Could it be...

That injection the doctor gave him earlier—was this some kind of hallucination caused by that liquid?

Very possible. Given that this was a horror game, he didn't dwell on it or overthink, but went out to continue searching for the password.

Just as he was about to head to the doctor's office, a harsh sound came from behind him.

[4892]

Zai Zong was startled.

This sound... mixed with intense static.

Could it be coming from that corpse?

He immediately returned to the previous room and looked—there was no corpse, no dense, interwoven roots.

On the floor of the room, there was only an ordinary radio, connected to wires, now crackling with a hoarse voice.

[4892]

[4892]

[4892]

Is this the code for the lock?

So everything I just saw was an illusion!

Zai Zong memorized the number, hurried over to the locked room, and tried to open it.

With a crisp click, the code lock popped open!

"Got it! It really was this code!"

Zai Zong couldn't wait to see the person locked inside, so he impatiently pushed the door, only to find—

The door was stuck!

And the text below straightforwardly told him to use a little force.

So he grabbed a table leg and, without hesitation, swung it at the door!

With a loud crash, the door finally opened.

And from inside came another cry for help.

[Save me]

"Coming right up, bro!"

Zai Zong entered the room and found it pitch black, unable to see his hand in front of his face.

But he didn't care about that; he moved straight toward the voice.

However, the next words from the person in the room made him wary again.

The figure in the darkness spoke softly.

[Come closer]

Seeing this, Zai Zong began to doubt whether this person was of the Lawful Good alignment.

I already opened the door for you, shouldn't you come out?

Luring me deeper? What are you planning?

"I feel like this is a trap."

Sensing something was wrong, Zai Zong cautiously stepped forward, then forward again, and then—

Bang—

A loud crash, accompanied by screen shake and blood splatter, along with a cry of pain. Zai Zong was instantly startled by the sudden attack, his whole body trembling.

Damn, an enemy!

I've been attacked!

With his rich FPS experience, he frantically raised the table leg and fought back wildly.

At this point, he didn't bother to see who was attacking him.

Dare to hit me!

Then you're the enemy!

See if I don't beat you to death!

After a few swings, the attacker finally fell to the ground, but instead of crying out in pain, they let out a sinister laugh.

[Hehehe.]

[And now. How will you escape from here?]

[Do you think. You can do it alone?]

As soon as the person in the room finished speaking, Zai Zong heard a very eerie whisper.

The sound made him deeply uncomfortable, as if many people were murmuring in his ear, sending chills down his spine.

And this sound was growing louder and louder.

[]

[Do you. Hear it?]

[She. Is coming.]

No sooner had the words been spoken than the eerie female scream that had startled him earlier rang out again!

The sound came from far to near, and in an instant, the shrill female howl exploded right in his ear!

The entire game screen began to shake continuously, trembling like an earthquake. One by one, the sounds of light bulbs shattering came from the room. Without light, the whole house turned pitch black again!

And the chaotic murmurs grew fiercer, flooding his brain, creating a strong auditory assault. Zai Zong, who had never experienced anything like this, broke out in a cold sweat and panicked.

"What's going on? What happened? What's happening? Who's coming?"

Frightened, Zai Zong quickly moved to the door, trying to close it, but unexpectedly, the sound of a wooden door slamming came from outside.

This he knew well!

He knew exactly what that sound was!

It was identical to the sound of him breaking down the door with a shovel!

If nothing unexpected happened, something outside was about to break in.

A crisp and loud bang rang out.

The door flew open.

At the same time, an extremely chilling howl followed.

Zai Zong knew.

That thing.

Was inside.

Just as he gripped the table leg tight, ready to fight, a humanoid shadow crawling on the ground silently appeared behind him.

Startled out of his wits, Zai Zong saw this scene when he least expected it, his fur standing on end as he blurted out a dialect curse: "I drop you, Lou Mou!"

"What is it! What is it! What is it!"

Zai Zong panicked. A strong urge to survive sent him scrambling blindly through the pitch-black house, completely forgetting he had any means of attack.

Soon, he slammed into a wall. Before he could react, the humanoid shadow lunged at him fiercely. The next instant, a flash of white light, a splatter of blood—game over. He sat stunned in front of the computer.

Watching the screen gradually darken, a line of text slowly emerged.

'Thank you for trying the Dark Forest Demo Prologue! Stay tuned for the full version! If you have suggestions, please DM me on the submission site. Personal developer Shuo Guang is deeply grateful!'

Staring at this message of thanks, Zai Zong remained silent for a long time.

Even after the screen returned to the game menu, he stayed that way.

Only after a good while did he blurt out a curse.

"Horror games, I R N M!"

Then he moved the mouse and clicked Start Game.

He needed to gather material for his new video.