Nourishing the Blade with Blood, Playing with Hearts

Seeing Long Yuan staring at him, Ji Yan swallowed the last bit of bread in his mouth and was about to speak when a voice came from behind: "Once the door opens, follow me. Don't stray more than ten steps away."

"The fog outside is thick. If you get lost, don't bother hoping to return to the apartment."

Behind them stood an eerie figure wrapped entirely in bandages, only a pair of bloodshot eyes visible, with a Work Badge hanging from its chest that read "Apartment Manager."

The Bandage Eerie showed no kindness to Ji Yan and the others; in fact, every word dripped with contempt and disgust toward these foreign lodgers.

"How big is that 'Rat'?"

Long Yuan, who had taken off his headphones, asked abruptly.

Facing Long Yuan, the Bandage Eerie immediately changed its tune: "Mr. Long, so you're here too. I didn't see you just now."

"Haven't seen you around much lately?"

Long Yuan yawned. "Sleeping."

"Mr. Long works day and night for the apartment; you deserve a good rest."

At the Bandage Eerie's two-faced behavior, the other players showed varied expressions—some silently cursing the Dorm Manager for being such a bootlicker, others in awe of Long Yuan.

After all, which player could make even an eerie grovel in the Eerie World?

Long Yuan yawned again. "You still haven't answered my question."

The Bandage Eerie spoke up: "That Rat was found yesterday. Not small either. Looks like it's been parasitized for a while."

"The Landlord hates these things the most. He put up the notice today, insisting on cleaning them out within a day."

"If Mr. Long joins in, clearing them out shouldn't be hard."

Ji Yan listened from the side, lost in thought.

Just what was this "Rat" they kept talking about?

The Bandage Eerie took the key and unlocked the apartment's main door.

"Woo—!!"

As the door swung open, the howling wind rushed in, like thousands of resentful specters wailing, sending chills down everyone's spine.

The group shivered from the cold.

The Bandage Eerie walked ahead and said coldly to Ji Yan and the others: "Stay behind. If anyone chickens out and runs, the punishment is having your feet chopped off and being thrown into the thick fog."

"The things in that fog will eat anything."

"They like to eat slowly, and to keep the food fresh, they deliberately avoid vital spots, letting you watch yourself being devoured."

The Bandage Eerie's laughter carried a mocking tone, enjoying the sight of the players' pale, terrified faces.

The intimidation worked well. Once out of the apartment, the players practically clung to the Bandage Eerie.

From within the thick fog came occasional bone-chilling sounds of chewing, as if countless eyes were fixed on them.

Two minutes later, the Cleanup Squad, under guidance, soon arrived at the back building of Crimson Apartment.

Passing through an alley littered with shredded flesh and garbage, a filthy, stinking Drain Ditch appeared before the squad.

The ditch was piled high with trash, and countless rats had turned it into their paradise. They had been fed so well that they were as big as adult tabby cats, tearing at unknown corpses in the ditch, their eyes bloodshot and red.

Some of the Female Players nearly fainted.

The Male Players clutched their cleaning tools, trembling.

Seriously, these mutated-looking rats—didn't they eat people?

"There are way too many rats!"

"Forget about clearing them out; we'd be lucky not to end up as food!"

Though they had prepared themselves, seeing the scene firsthand still broke the players' composure.

This Drain Ditch was over twenty meters long, filled with countless rats!

"I'm only here to lead the way."

"Clearing them out is your job."

The Bandage Eerie stepped back, its gaze indifferent, as if it had nothing to do with it.

The players shivered in the cold wind, their eyes all fixed on Long Yuan.

At that moment, he was clearly their only hope!

Noticing their gazes, Long Yuan's face twisted with disgust: "I took this mission to advance the main storyline."

"Not to save you useless lot."

The other players fell silent at his words.

But since Long Yuan didn't move, they didn't dare to either.

They were clearly planning to just stall like this.

Maybe realizing that, Long Yuan changed his tone: "Unless... any of you have something valuable on you?"

A thin, pale-skinned Female Player huddled there: "But if we could come here, we're already worth nothing."

Then the female player looked at her own body and turned to Long Yuan. "...Or do you need to take care of some urges? I can do that."

"Woman? Hah, in a hellhole like this, flesh is the cheapest thing there is."

Long Yuan crossed his hands and shook his head with a cold laugh.

"Then... what exactly do you want?" a male player asked woodenly.

Sensing he had them in his grasp, Long Yuan clapped his hands and laid out his goal. "Your blood still has some value."

He patted the knife at his waist. "This kitchen knife of mine needs to drink fresh human blood every day. It's not easy to raise."

"As long as you take turns feeding my blade for one day, I'll finish this dungeon for you."

"It doesn't draw much blood either—just 1,000 milliliters."

The moment they heard that, their faces went deathly pale.

1,000 milliliters!

Even a strong, healthy person couldn't handle losing 1,000 milliliters.

Let alone these already malnourished people, a few of whom hadn't eaten in three days and showed signs of anemia.

Wasn't this just asking for their lives?

Ji Yan, standing at the very back, watched Long Yuan's faint smile and more or less understood what was going on.

Blood Nourishment for Artifact!

Long Yuan had never had good intentions from the start.

The apartment had rules that forbade conflict between players, and his kitchen knife needed fresh human blood to sustain itself. He couldn't directly kill or force anyone, so he used this dungeon as a pretext to pressure these desperate players into feeding his blade.

Even advancing the main quest was probably just a secondary goal.

Once that 1,000 milliliters of blood was drained, it was no different from a slow death.

Ji Yan shook his head.

These people were too naive—expecting a savior in an Eerie World.

Long Yuan had survived over a hundred days and nearly cleared every dungeon. Only an idiot would think he was some kindhearted fool.

"Time's running out."

"You have no way out, but I do."

"I've grinded 60% favorability with the Landlord. Even if I turn back to the apartment right now, I'd only lose a bit of it."

"Right?" Long Yuan glanced back at the Bandage Eerie behind him.

The Bandage Eerie said, "As a distinguished guest of the apartment, Mr. Long is naturally entitled to such privileges."

The players exchanged looks, their faces full of despair.

Long Yuan spat out his gum, his eyes glinting with amusement.

He had survived this long in the Eerie World because he understood human nature inside and out.

Only Ji Yan remained silent.

He turned and looked at the endless swarm of rats, pulled out his chopper, and moved closer.

A red-eyed rat saw Ji Yan approaching. Not only was it unafraid, but it bared its fangs, looking ready to devour him.

Ji Yan didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, raised his blade, and brought it down. The knife blade pierced through, blood splattering.

Beg for help?

He, Ji Yan, never begged anyone.

These rats were overrunning the place; there was no way to clear them one by one. Since Long Yuan had a way to complete the dungeon, there had to be another method.

As for what that method was—

His talent would definitely tell him the answer!

Wielding his chopper, he killed several rats in a row. By the time he reached the seventh, a familiar Hidden Information Panel popped up in his line of sight...