Diary

Zhou You hesitated, then chose "Don't save."

The reason was simple. So far, the scenario hadn't been very long. By webnovel standards, it probably wouldn't even make it to three chapters. He could easily remember everything that had happened and go through it all again exactly as before.

But if he saved here and it turned out he'd missed something earlier, there'd be no way to make up for it.

After opening the door, the old woman said nothing more. She tremblingly unclipped the master key from her key ring, shoved it into Zhou You's hand, then turned and left.

But Zhou You keenly noticed that the old woman didn't walk like an ordinary person, one step after another. Instead, she raised one leg high and brought it down hard, then raised the other and brought it down, repeating the motion as she went.

"Both legs... are they prosthetics? And crude wooden ones at that?"

Zhou You stared at the figure gradually disappearing into the darkness, his brows slightly furrowed.

This might be one of the clues to escaping, but he couldn't use it for now.

At least, not yet.

In the end, he shook his head and turned to step into Room 304.

He switched on the light. The first thing that met his eyes was a ruin.

...Or, rather, something even worse than a ruin.

The floor was a chaotic mess of trash—scrap paper, dirt, and rotting food scraps filled every crevice. There wasn't even anywhere to step. The walls were covered in great patches of mold, red, green, black, and white combining into a bizarre, surrealist painting.

There was a window at the far end, but...

Zhou You walked over and briskly pulled open the mold-covered curtains.

As expected, not a single ray of light came through.

All he could see was a wall built from red brick and cement.

The heavy bricks seemed like an insurmountable barrier, blocking any chance of escape. Zhou You knocked on it a few times and heard only an extremely dull echo.

Judging by its thickness, this wasn't something he could break through with his bare hands. He'd need at least a rotary hammer to get through the wall.

"Is this really beginner difficulty? This is a bit much, isn't it?"

Zhou You spat, but despite his words, there was no disappointment on his face.

He simply turned around and gave the room another cursory look.

It was still filthy. Even the bed and desk were covered in mold, and at first glance, nothing seemed different from the rest of the room...

Wait, the desk?

Zhou You frowned and shifted his gaze.

In the corner of the room, a small desk stood inconspicuously against the wall. It looked old and worn, with one of its legs broken and propped up on a stone. A candle stood at the very back of the desk, though it was hard to see from this angle.

It was still moldy, but unlike the rest of the room, the desk wasn't very dusty.

That meant someone had definitely used it.

"But the question is, who?"

Zhou You rubbed his chin as he thought.

Some nameless person? The previous tenant, who'd already met a gruesome end somewhere? Or...

That monster of an old woman?

Zhou You stared at the desk for a while, then cautiously approached and rested one hand lightly on it.

The desk didn't turn into some indescribable monster, nor did it suddenly grow a bunch of gleaming fangs. And no mass of maggots came pouring out of it, either.

He could've handled the first two. Worst case, he'd die once. But the last one...

Sorry, everyone had one or two things they simply couldn't stomach.

After confirming there was no danger, Zhou You checked the drawer first.

Unfortunately, it contained only a jumble of crumpled paper. He unfolded a few at random and found that most were covered in incomprehensible phrases. A few were stained with blood, vomit, and some cloudy, foul-smelling, suspicious slime.

There still didn't seem to be any clues.

An ordinary person would probably have given up on the mess and looked elsewhere by now. But Zhou You was different. He meticulously unfolded every scrap of paper and spread them all across the desk.

He gradually set aside the trash that was simply soaked in liquid, leaving only the sheets covered in words. Yet the account before him was still utterly jumbled—"incoherent" didn't begin to describe it. Only a madman could understand what the writer was trying to say. Still, Zhou You silently memorized every word, then...

Shuffled them all around in his mind and pieced them together again.

After rearranging them, Zhou You found a pen and quickly copied everything onto the blank backs of the sheets.

...A fragmentary diary gradually took shape beneath his hand.

May 8, weather unknown.

I've been living in this house for three months. My savings ran out ages ago, and I've borrowed everything I can from my relatives. My parents think I've joined some kind of pyramid scheme or scam operation—honestly, I wish that were true. Unfortunately, they'll never know that the place I'm in now is more terrifying than any pyramid scheme or scam...

May 8, weather unknown.

The new tenant downstairs called the police. Sirens blared outside the building all day, but not a single police officer came in. That's normal, though. "Garden Residential District, Building 4, Unit 4" doesn't exist. How could the police respond to a place that doesn't exist?

May 8, weather unknown.

Just as I expected, they found out which tenant called the police. As a warning, the Landlady summoned us all to a tenant gathering. The person was hung up in front of us like a pig about to be slaughtered in the countryside. The Landlady held a small rusty knife and carefully demonstrated how to "remove organs from a living body." But even more terrifying was that she somehow managed to make the man barely bleed. Even after most of his organs had been removed, he was still alive—and screaming nonstop...

May 8, weather unknown.

I can't get another cent. My parents' savings are gone—I begged them for all of it. They even sold the house. My relatives and friends have all blocked me. My health is getting worse, too. It's hard for me to even walk now. What do I do? If this keeps up, I'll have to...

August 9, sunny.

—Unlike the earlier entries, this one had only six words.

Just six simple words.

—I have to escape. I must escape.