As soon as Ji Yan came out, a game announcement rang in his mind.
"Ding! Congratulations to the player for successfully obtaining the Blood Lyre and completing a C-tier mission."
"Mission reward obtained: Scissorhand Mask."
"Rarity: Rare."
"Description: Once, a man named Edward wore this mask to avenge the girl he loved. Every time he killed someone, he cut off the murderer's face and stitched it onto the mask. What undying love, isn't it?"
"Ability: Using this eerie item increases perception by 5%."
"Ding! Talent activated. Hidden information about the eerie item obtained."
"Hidden operation: Let the mask suck the user's blood to activate its hidden effect—player can assume the identity of the Eerie Scissorhand Murderer."
"Mission summary: The player still has not gained the father's favorability. Keep up the good work!"
"Hidden information triggered again."
Ji Yan's eyes flickered. This talent was simply too useful.
It was like putting a gun in different people's hands. Others could only use it as a fire poker.
But he could empty its bullets, turn it into a murder weapon, and make full use of its true value!
Going by that logic, even if Ji Yan obtained a low-level eerie item, he could use his talent to upgrade it in another way?
As for that rating, Ji Yan did not care.
That Gourmand Eerie was a cold-blooded snake. Even if you pleased him ten thousand times, he would take it for granted. Ji Yan had never expected any favorability from him.
He took the rewarded eerie item from the Tool Bar. It was a clown mask, horrifyingly stitched with blood-smeared human faces. It felt as though he were staring directly at the dead, making his skin crawl.
"How do I make the mask absorb my blood?"
Ji Yan hesitated for a moment.
Then he poked a finger into the mask's mouth.
The next instant, a sharp pain struck him.
It felt as though something sharp had pierced him. When he pulled his finger out, blood was already seeping from the tip.
Looking at the mask again, it seemed to have come alive. The human skin upon it writhed like terrifying ghostly faces, wailing in agony!
At the edge of the mask, rows of stark white bone spikes had actually grown out.
The entire mask seemed to have been given life.
Horrifying and bizarre!
"This should count as activation, right?"
Ji Yan was not sure.
Just as he wanted to put it on and test its effects, a startled voice came from behind him.
"Didn't you leave, or did you run back?"
Ji Yan turned around and saw Dong Chu's mocking expression.
Dong Chu had been about to make a few more sarcastic remarks, but when he saw the human-skin mask in Ji Yan's hand, his expression froze slightly.
Ji Yan put away the eerie item expressionlessly. He did not bother responding to Dong Chu and simply turned toward the living room.
After being brushed off several times, Dong Chu frowned, growing increasingly displeased.
Liu Yitong had also returned to the living room.
"Why are you back?" When she saw Ji Yan, she likewise assumed he had returned without completing his mission.
"I completed the mission. Why wouldn't I come back?" Ji Yan sat down and took out the coarse grain food he had gotten from the Bewitching Eerie.
The moment Liu Yitong and Dong Chu saw the coarse grain, they believed him. But Apartment 101 was known as a deathtrap. Only three hours had passed—how had he completed it?
Tearing open the Compressed Biscuit, Ji Yan casually said, "I got lucky. That eerie liked my face, so she gave me half a bottle of Blood Lyre."
The two exchanged glances, and it was impossible to tell whether they believed him.
But regardless, Ji Yan was alive and kicking, eating food. That meant he had cleared the mission.
At the mention of "getting lucky," Dong Chu's face darkened as though he had swallowed a fly.
"Fuck! Why don't I ever get that kind of luck?"
His mission had been to get Eerie Grandmother a set of dentures.
Following the mission prompt, he had gone to the sixth floor to look for them. Not only had he failed to find any, he had nearly been captured by the eerie residents there and turned into a human specimen.
In the end, he failed the mission. Eerie Grandmother turned hostile and plucked out one of Dong Chu's eyeballs as punishment.
Ji Yan had not noticed until now that the guy had become one-eyed.
He looked rather ridiculous.
Ji Yan had no favorable impression of him and could not be bothered listening to his complaints. He continued eating the food in his hand.
Since Liu Yitong had completed her mission, she had also received her portion of food for the day. But compared to what Ji Yan had, hers was naturally far more meager.
Dong Chu was the one suffering the most. Not only had he received no food for the day, he had also worsened his relationship with "Eerie Grandmother."
The reason he had survived in Room 404 until now was because he had earned considerable favorability from Grandmother, preventing the Gourmand Eerie playing the father from targeting him.
The Gourmand Eerie's mission stages had the highest player death rate.
Yet among the three eeries in the room, he was the weakest.
Therefore, with Mother and Grandmother's protection, the Gourmand Eerie had not attacked Dong Chu or Liu Yitong, though he had remained covetously watchful...
Having lost an eye, Dong Chu already felt a strong sense of crisis.
With no food, Dong Chu could only take out what he had saved from yesterday. Perhaps due to the eerie environment, the already mushy food was now covered in a layer of black fuzz.
After only two bites, Dong Chu vomited.
Then he turned to look at the biscuit in Ji Yan's hand, the hunger in his stomach protesting fiercely.
After coughing twice, he was just about to speak when Ji Yan cut him off. "Stop looking. You're such an amazing veteran player—how could you possibly think highly of this coarse grain food in my hands?"
Ji Yan looked back at him with the same expression Dong Chu had used toward him that morning.
Dong Chu's face darkened.
Liu Yitong, standing nearby, almost could not hold back her laughter.
"Give me a biscuit, and I can tell you about the two eeries, your Mother and Grandmother."
"A Compressed Biscuit in exchange for a life-saving clue. That's a profitable deal, isn't it?"
"You'd better decide quickly, or I might change my mind later."
Dong Chu continued lowering his stance.
He had to eat, not just because he was hungry, but also for his condition tomorrow.
Eerie World was a gamified world. Every day, players had to consume nutritious food, otherwise all their physical stats would decline significantly the next day.
He had already lost an eye, and his vision had declined. His physical condition could not deteriorate any further.
"Then change your mind. It's not like I'm stopping you."
Ji Yan put the last bit of biscuit into his mouth.
Dong Chu's mouth twitched, and he sneered. "You really are a newbie. You've only been here one day, so you have no idea how important an information gap is."
"You got lucky today, but you won't get lucky every day."
Ji Yan took a sip of water and shrugged. "Tomorrow's problems can wait until tomorrow."
"If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, would you kill yourself today?"
"Fine. If you insist on playing hero, I won't stop you. Just don't come begging me tomorrow. In this room, no one understands those three eeries better than I do."
"It's getting dark. Beautiful Liu, hurry back to your room. Don't let this Unlucky Ghost infect you with his bad luck!"
After glancing at Liu Yitong, Dong Chu turned and returned to his room.
Liu Yitong frowned slightly but said nothing. She seemingly did not like Dong Chu's temperament either.
Ji Yan found it somewhat amusing.
With Omniscient Understanding, eerie information was the last thing he lacked. Maybe one day, Dong Chu would have to come beg him instead.
After screwing the cap back onto his bottle, he turned to Liu Yitong and said, "This is the first time I've seen someone begging for a bite to eat, yet acting as if the other person should be the one begging him."
"Has he always been this ridiculous?"
Liu Yitong shook her head and said helplessly, "That's just how he is."
"He entered this Dungeon two days before me. In Room 404, he always has to act superior to everyone else."
"You'd better not offend him. You're here on your first day, after all. When it comes to equipment and experience, you're at a disadvantage."
Ji Yan said nothing. He did not like stirring up trouble, but if someone insisted on biting him, he would not show mercy either.
"This Apartment shuts off its lights after nine. Once the lights go out, no matter what you're doing, do not leave your room."
"After midnight, you must be lying in bed asleep."
Seeing the sky outside the Apartment gradually darken beneath the thick fog, Liu Yitong explained the Apartment's nighttime rules to Ji Yan.
Ji Yan raised a brow. "What dangers are there at night?"
"At night, many terrifying unknown NPCs spawn in the Apartment. They can enter the rooms, and if players encounter them, they'll be forcibly assigned hell-difficulty missions."
"Some out-of-control NPCs can even attack players directly."
"There was a player before who woke up in the middle of the night, instinctively opened the door, and went to the bathroom. When we woke up the next day, his skin fragments had clogged the toilet..."
"Some say the NPCs that spawn late at night can drop Collector's-grade equipment, but what idiot would gamble their life on that?"
After listening to Liu Yitong's warning, Ji Yan nodded.
He was not interested in the Apartment at midnight either. The daytime missions alone had already exhausted him enough.
When Liu Yitong returned to her room, Ji Yan handed her a piece of bread.
Liu Yitong looked puzzled.
Ji Yan simply said, "Thank you."
No matter what, Liu Yitong had explained so much Dungeon information to him. He should show some appreciation, and he did not like owing favors. Liu Yitong was short on food right now, and while a piece of bread was not much, it was still life-saving rations.
Liu Yitong understood what he meant. She smiled and could not help taking a jab at Dong Chu.
"That's why I say, rather than offend someone, it's better to lend someone a hand. Nothing but benefits comes from it."
Before you continue