Old Man Eerie Face, Hunting Rules

In the corridor, the two headless bodies on the floor were still twitching slightly.

Everyone present was like participants in a deadly game of "Red Light, Green Light."

Whoever moved would instantly have their head explode.

The female player who had been planning to run froze, not daring to move under Huang Ran's shout.

Ji Yan was also astonished.

No interaction required.

Killing players while ignoring the apartment's rules.

They couldn't even see how the killings were happening.

Where did this eerie entity come from? Was it really an apartment resident?

It seemed that because no players tried to escape, the old man's eerie face did not continue to kill players.

At this moment, a warning panel appeared before Ji Yan.

"Warning, player! You are in contact with an S-rank mission Eerie. This Eerie is the core NPC for the main quest and possesses extremely high danger."

"For your own safety, please quickly discern the behavior that triggered its hunting!"

Seeing the panel's prompt, Ji Yan couldn't help but break out in a fine sweat on his forehead.

As expected, the other party was that mysterious thief!

Just as Miss Xu had said, this mysterious thief didn't care how many players were trying to catch it. Tonight, it still came out brazenly, continuing to steal and dig through walls.

At this moment, Huang Ran, Liu Yitong, and the others also received game prompts, realizing that the eerie entity before them was the thief all resident players were trying to catch. Their expressions looked comical.

The thief was found.

But how the hell were they supposed to catch it?

At this moment, the old man's eerie face emitted a higher-frequency cry.

Under the interference of this sound, the players present felt dizzy and disoriented.

"You all should have received the game notification, right?"

Huang Ran closed his game panel and reminded his teammates, "Meaning, this eerie entity has its own rules for hunting. As long as we follow them, it won't hunt."

"As long as we don't run, that eerie entity won't..."

"Bang!!"

However, before he could finish speaking, the female player in front of him, who hadn't dared to move, suddenly had her head explode.

A bloody scalp landed on his shoulder, still radiating heat.

Huang Ran's eyes widened.

What happened?

That woman didn't turn to run, nor did she move erratically. Why was she hunted?

Huang Ran, who thought he had figured out the rules and was temporarily safe, turned a little pale.

Seeing this, another player also showed fear.

He looked at Huang Ran in a panic, "Brother Ran, wasn't it fine as long as we didn't run? Why did her head explode?"

Huang Ran remained silent, staring grimly at the old man's eerie face.

Behind them, Ji Yan also narrowed his eyes.

Liu Yitong's pretty face was also pale, and he subconsciously asked, "Why is Ji Yan..."

Ji Yan said in a low voice, "It's wrong."

"The rule for that eerie entity's hunting isn't running at all."

"Then what is it?" Liu Yitong asked, trembling.

Ji Yan pondered.

He stared at the old man's eerie face and then said, "I have a guess for the answer, but I can't confirm it yet."

"How can we confirm it?"

"If a few more people die, we'll know."

"..."

Including Ji Yan, Liu Yitong, and the others present, there were seven other players.

In just one minute, another player's head exploded, splattering blood.

Then, after another two minutes, another player died violently.

One player broke down and scrambled away, and as expected, their head exploded.

In the corridor, the strong smell of blood was suffocating and nauseating.

Move and die, don't move and also die.

You die if you make a sound, and you die if you don't.

This is utterly random killing, with no way to safely avoid it.

As time passed, new players stumbled into the passage. They saw the bloody scene, still clueless. By the time they realized something was wrong and tried to run, their heads had already exploded.

"Damn it, I wish I hadn't gotten involved in this mess."

"I finally managed to get a family member in this instance, and all my efforts are wasted now."

"Who the hell said that being in a crowd meant this thief would just run away?"

The players were breaking down one by one.

Ignoring the wails of the other players, Ji Yan turned to Huang Ran and said, "I know the rule for killing."

Huang Ran's mouth twitched. "You know it, so why tell me?"

"Because you have a gun."

Ji Yan pointed at the old man's eerie face. "Although I don't know the specific hunting rules, as long as that face can be silenced, the crisis should be temporarily resolved."

"Should?" Huang Ran shot him a cold look.

Ji Yan retorted, "Why don't you suggest a definite solution?"

"How will we know if we don't try?"

"You're the one in a hurry right now, because based on our positions, you'll definitely die before I do."

Huang Ran: "How do you know I'll die first?"

Ji Yan smiled slightly. "I just know."

Huang Ran's face darkened. Although he disliked Ji Yan's attitude, his words weren't entirely unreasonable.

The eerie face's howling was indeed causing him a severe headache.

Gripping the eerie gun in his hand, he raised it and fired at the eerie face.

The eerie bullet tore through the old man's face, eliciting a pained howl. The thief's massive body shuddered.

The next second, another old man's eerie face grew on its back, emitting even more nerve-wracking sounds.

The blond man clutched his head, looking at Ji Yan in agony. "This is your brilliant plan?!"

Ji Yan spread his hands. "I said it from the start, it's just a guess."

Worse still, as if stimulated by that single bullet, the black worms on the thief's body suddenly swarmed out from the floor and began crawling towards them.

Seeing this, the remaining few players completely lost it.

The moment the eerie worms climbed onto his toes, the player jumped up as if electrocuted. Before he could even land, his head exploded, spraying blood mist.

Next was the female player behind him. She cried hysterically, her psychological defenses crushed by immense fear, screaming, "I don't want these disgusting worms to bite me, I..."

As blood splattered and the female player died, only Ji Yan, Huang Ran, and Liu Yitong remained in the blood-red passage.

The eerie worms crawled over the corpses, continuing to advance towards them.

Liu Yitong trembled, desperately clutching the sweater his Grandmother had knitted.

If he ran, his head would explode. If he didn't run, the eerie worms would gnaw him to bone. There was no way out!

Ji Yan suddenly placed a hand on Liu Yitong's shoulder and said in a low voice, "Let the worms crawl on you. No matter what happens, don't do anything."

"Huh?" Liu Yitong was stunned. Ji Yan hadn't explained clearly.

The eerie worms first climbed onto Ji Yan, who was positioned further forward, quickly covering his lower body. As they burrowed into his clothes, they even began to gnaw at his flesh, and blood soon flowed out.

Liu Yitong and Huang Ran stared with wide eyes.

But even with his lower body bleeding profusely, Ji Yan remained unfazed. He calmly looked at the bloody mess.

"Ji Yan!"

Liu Yitong covered his mouth, unable to help but cry out.

Soon, both of them noticed something. Despite his mangled flesh, Ji Yan could remain calm, as if he felt no pain.

Ji Yan glanced at them. "Open your personal status, and you'll know the answer."

"My current status is that my mental strength is almost depleted, but my HP is still full."

"This means everything we're seeing is just an illusion!"