The Bizarre Mask, Patricide

Boom!

A door was violently smashed open, the handle shattered, and parts scattered everywhere.

The Gourmand Eerie, wreathed in towering fury, had grown abnormally tall, its malformed muscles writhing **.

"I'm asking you, where's my wine?"

Its scarlet Line of Sight swept across the room, locking onto the wooden bed.

But when the blanket was thrown back, the bed was empty.

The Corner of Mouth of the Gourmand Eerie twisted into a sinister grin. "Think you can run?"

In truth, Ji Yan's actions played right into its hands; it had never intended to let him complete the task smoothly from the start.

Though through Ji Yan, it could periodically get Blood Lyre from the Bewitching Eerie in Apartment 101 to satisfy its wine craving.

It still couldn't drink freely every day, but if it caught Ji Yan failing the mission and held him firmly in its grasp, it could negotiate with the Bewitching Eerie in Apartment 101. With persistence, maybe it could squeeze out unlimited Blood Lyre and achieve drinking freedom...

That idea might not work.

The Bewitching Eerie woman was so crazy even the Gourmand Eerie feared her.

But the Gourmand Eerie, already addicted to Blood Lyre beyond resistance, couldn't be bothered to think that far.

Forcing Ji Yan to fail the mission wasn't easy either.

So it struck a deal with Dong Chu.

Players could interfere with the mission, but only through Dong Chu setting a trap for Ji Yan.

What Dong Chu wanted was simple.

Food, and all the gear on Ji Yan!

With one eye lost and food scarce, he had to find his own way to survive.

Dong Chu's Term Talent, Survival Against All Odds, only triggered when favorability hit rock bottom and his living environment became precarious.

The talent granted Dong Chu certain privileges, letting him seize a chance to survive on his own.

This time, the triggered privilege was the ability to initiate one hidden transaction with any Family Eerie.

At first glance, this talent still seemed pretty useless.

It just gave you a sliver of hope when you were about to die, and you had to see if you could grab it.

But used wisely, it could still make a big difference.

"Tonight, someone's sleeping soundly while someone else is running for their life, tsk tsk."

With his Hands behind his head, Dong Chu sensed he'd sleep exceptionally peacefully tonight.

He just had to wait until morning, and then he could slowly reap his rewards.

Inside Room 404, the Gourmand Eerie couldn't smell Ji Yan's scent at all.

Frowning, it looked toward the doorway: "Could he have hidden in that woman's room?"

It first thought of the Bewitching Eerie in Apartment 101—that woman was always opposing it, so it wasn't impossible she'd poached Ji Yan.

Late at night, the Apartment spawned many extremely vicious Eeries, not current residents but former ones who'd been driven out.

These Eeries had many taboos and could easily turn dark.

If Ji Yan got taken out by another Eerie, all the Gourmand Eerie's efforts would be wasted.

In the living room, eerie shadows flickered.

They were the original residents of Room 404, but had all been conquered by Players before.

Their identities had shifted, becoming NPCs in nighttime mode.

Though no longer the Masters of Room 404, they acted more entitled than ever—some watching TV in the living room, others sipping tea, sneaking food from the kitchen.

"A bunch of washed-up rejects, still treating this place like your own home!"

The Gourmand Eerie wanted to go out and catch Ji Yan, but suddenly remembered its nemesis on the 7th Floor. If it sensed the Gourmand Eerie leaving Room 404, it would surely go berserk and chase it down...

Its gaze darkened.

The wine craving hit, and its whole body felt like ten thousand ants gnawing at it, twitching in agony.

It turned to head back inside, wanting to take a couple of drinks to calm down.

But as it turned, it saw a disheveled-haired Eerie sitting in the hallway, holding a bottle of crimson wine, drinking itself into a stupor.

The moment the cork was twisted off, the Gourmand Eerie knew exactly what that wine was.

Blood Lyre!

"Where did that wine come from?"

The Gourmand Eerie asked, recognizing the bottle as the eerie item from Dong Chu's hands.

"Begged off a little mouse."

"Where's that rat?"

"Grabbed his wine and ran off."

The Drunken Eerie drank in a daze, sloshing the half-empty bottle of Blood Lyre in his hand.

"What the hell is this stuff brewed from? Hits hard, hehehe..."

"..."

The Gourmand Eerie's face twisted into a snarl, his eyes fixed on the Drunken Eerie. "Damn it, don't you know that was my prey?"

The Drunken Eerie didn't answer, swaying and mumbling under his breath.

The Gourmand Eerie snatched the bottle from his hand and chugged it down in big gulps, his craving for alcohol overwhelming any restraint...

He drained the entire bottle without a drop left, letting out a blissful howl of satisfaction.

But the anesthetic in the booze hit him hard, his head spinning fiercely.

Tossing the empty bottle aside, the Gourmand Eerie staggered toward his room, his mind foggy.

After just two steps, his dizziness worsened.

His room blurred into multiple overlapping images, hazy and indistinct.

Lowering his head, he glimpsed a rust-stained knife blade jutting out from his chest...

That knife—why did it look so familiar?

The next second, his pupils shrank, veins bulging.

The drunken stupor and numbness vanished in an instant!

He whipped his head around, glaring at the Drunken Eerie behind him, his voice grinding through broken teeth: "That knife... where did you get it?!"

The Drunken Eerie's horrifying face had shed all signs of drunkenness, a smirk playing on his lips: "An old friend of yours gave it to me."

"He told me to pass along a greeting."

"His wife misses you!"

With the Chopper's thrust, blood sprayed from the deformed tumor, cracks spreading outward.

At those words, the Gourmand Eerie's face, a mass of bulging flesh, trembled violently, drenched in terror.

He grabbed at the Chopper with both hands.

But the blade seemed welded to his chest, sinking deeper into his flesh!

"No, no..."

"Who the hell are you? Why are you helping that bastard from 702?!"

The Drunken Eerie didn't let up until the blade was fully buried in the Gourmand Eerie's body, confirming his heart was pierced!

He looked up, meeting the Gourmand Eerie's horrified gaze, and curled the Corner of his Mouth: "Guess who I am?"

"I'm your worthless slave of a son!"

With that, the Chopper was yanked out.

The Gourmand Eerie stumbled through the hallway, the wound in his chest widening.

From the living room and kitchen, the eerie creatures that spawned late at night all gathered, crowding the corridor entrance, watching the scene with a buzzing commotion.

Finally, the Gourmand Eerie collapsed, his bulging flesh visibly withering and drying up, his eyeballs bulging as he stared dead at Ji Yan.

Ji Yan's face was expressionless, his grip tight on the Chopper, but his hand trembled slightly.

Only when the corpse on the floor had completely turned into a pile of dried, shriveled flesh did he move.

"You killed him... hehe... killed him..."

"You... why do you smell so good?"

The eerie creatures behind him gradually closed in, circling the corpse on the ground. A few of them seemed to catch a scent, their noses trailing over the Drunken Eerie's body.

A sting shot through his cheek.

He touched it with his fingers—the Drunken Eerie's entire face was peeling away in strips!

Ji Yan cursed under his breath.

"The Murderer Mask's effect is about to wear off!"

He weaved through the crowd of eerie creatures and hurried back to his room.

Slamming the door shut, he locked it.

Outside came the sounds of tearing and chewing—the late-night eerie creatures were Devouring the Gourmand Eerie.

"That should be enough to kill even a Dungeon boss, right?"

Ji Yan sat down in front of the mirror.

With the eerie item's effect nearly expired, his face was now horrifying.

His Facial Features were splitting and tearing apart, pale bone exposed to the air.

At first glance, it looked like his head was about to split apart!

His cheek throbbed with excruciating pain as the bone spikes along the mask's edge tore free from his flesh, blood staining his neck red...

This was his plan.

Lure the Father Eerie out of the room, then use the killer mask to switch his identity from Human Player to Eerie, catching the Father Eerie in his drunken, numb complacency and delivering a fatal blow!

At this moment, the eerie aura of the killer on him was fading, restoring his Human Player scent.

He reached out carefully and removed the mask.

Puddles of thick black blood dripped onto the table. With a clatter, the human-skin mask was tossed into a corner of the desk...

Ji Yan stroked his own unblemished face, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

"I actually managed to kill the Gourmand Eerie."

This desperate, last-ditch way of breaking the deadlock felt surreal even to him, the perpetrator.

It wasn't until the game panel popped up, further confirming that he had indeed escaped this fatal trap.

Code
Ding! Player has successfully unlocked a new achievement by killing the Family Eerie of Room 404!