Run for It!

Lu Xiu was genuinely starting to crack. She had gotten herself so nervous, so terrified, only to discover in the end that she remembered everything!

What was this supposed to be?

Resident Evil 7 was a horror game. Having played it and not having played it were completely different things.

At the same location, if I didn't know where a monster would jump out at my face, then when one suddenly appeared, I would definitely be startled.

But knowing it was coming, was it still scary?

What was more, Lu Xiu had played the original game twice in her previous life. When she made it into a dungeon, it was equivalent to playing it a third time. She knew every last detail by heart.

Under those circumstances, no matter how well the atmosphere was built up, it would be hard for her emotions to fluctuate much—apart from the combat sections.

And after the sudden relaxation that followed the fright, let alone worry...

Lu Xiu's confidence was practically overflowing...

That was not a good sign.

What the hell...

Lu Xiu rubbed the space between her brows. While it was a good thing that her greatest concern had not come true...

Still.

Why had this happened?

Lu Xiu held the steering wheel with one hand and did not look ahead at all. Before the dungeon began, players could not control the car. It would automatically take them to the Baker Estate. After all, what if players were given control and ran around randomly? This was not a system dungeon; there was no content elsewhere, so necessary restrictions and invisible walls were required.

The reason the player's part in the car was still included was mainly to play the recap.

Simply put, the protagonist, Ethan, had a loving wife named Mia. He had once lived happily with her.

But three years ago, Mia suddenly vanished.

Then one day, Ethan received an old videotape and an email from Mia, his wife who had disappeared three years ago and been declared dead. The message directed him to Louisiana.

Though he had his doubts, Ethan's concern for his wife was impossible to suppress. He decided to go to the destination, investigate, and find her.

At this moment.

Ethan was following the letter's instructions, driving toward the Baker Farm in Dulvey, Louisiana.

Lu Xiu did not watch the recap she already knew by heart. Instead, she lowered her head and pondered the reason. The system had clearly said it would strip away her memories, so why had her memories not been stripped?

A system bug?

That seemed unlikely. She had never heard of anything like this happening, either.

Then...

Lu Xiu thought back a little and realized that she could not remember what she had eaten these past few days. Many details of her everyday life had vanished as well.

Put simply, she remembered transmigrating, remembered wanting to create a dungeon, and remembered returning home. Everything after that was gone.

Yet on the other hand, she could recall how she had constructed the dungeon, and all her memories of the games from her previous life were still there.

Lu Xiu's expression became somewhat strange. Could it be that because she had transmigrated and possessed two sets of memories that could be considered conflicting, the system had only stripped away one set?

...That was actually possible!

All she could say was that every gift from fate followed its own path.

While Lu Xiu was lost in thought, the car suddenly stopped. They had reached the destination.

That familiar game setting lay right ahead.

Lu Xiu glanced at it, pushed down the mess of thoughts in her mind, and directly opened the car door and stepped out. Then she stretched her body... But after only one stretch, she sensed something was off. She lowered her arms, turned in place, and looked down at her chest and hands.

Perhaps it was the system's way of ensuring players did not develop cognitive issues.

Although Lu Xiu could not see her chest when she looked down, and the hands before her appeared to be male hands.

When she stretched, however, she could clearly feel her female characteristics, and her eye level had not changed at all.

Ethan, the character she was playing, was much taller than she was.

In short, she could clearly sense that this was still her original body. It had not changed in the slightest.

The feeling was roughly like this—she seemed to have put on an extremely form-fitting bodysuit that did not hinder her movements at all. Her body was inside it, playing the role of Ethan.

What a hassle.

She had thought...

But it made sense when she considered it. Though dungeon players had to play Ethan, not every player was male, and everyone had different heights and body types.

There was no way they could crudely stuff a player's consciousness into a completely unfamiliar body.

As a victim of that very thing, Lu Xiu had plenty to say on the matter...

It really was hard to get used to.

If the difference in body type was too great, then in a combat-focused dungeon, forget fighting—even being able to run would be impressive.

So this kind of role-playing dungeon could only use the bodysuit approach.

There was nothing wrong with it, really.

It was just a little regrettable...

Forget it.

She would be back soon enough anyway.

Lu Xiu shook her head, gathered her thoughts, and headed forward. Since she had the relevant memories, many of the dungeon's difficult parts were no longer difficult.

If possible.

She would see whether she could speedrun the dungeon.

She had heard that after clearing a dungeon, the system would give players a corresponding rating during settlement based on their performance. The higher the rating, the easier it was to receive good rewards.

As Lu Xiu thought, she expertly followed the path and arrived before the Baker Estate's main house.

Then, without even looking at the locked main house, she turned left and headed down another path toward the abandoned house.

Lu Xiu ran the whole way!

There were actually plenty of frightening moments along the route: unsettling noises, rotting animal carcasses, an old man who suddenly passed by, and a horrifying display that looked like some kind of sacrifice ritual, made up of animal corpses and circular saw blades.

But she ignored all of them and simply ran straight ahead.

Very soon.

She reached the abandoned house, the old house that had appeared in the Resident Evil 7 demo.

Even then, Lu Xiu did not slow down or hesitate. She strode forward and pushed open the door.

The moment she entered, the door behind her slammed shut.

Everything before her was pitch-black.

Without panicking, Lu Xiu took the flashlight from her backpack, turned around, pushed open another door, and walked down the corridor, utterly uninterested in anything there.

Of course.

She also turned a blind eye to the disgusting kitchen at the end of the corridor.

As for the tape of death.

To save time.

Lu Xiu did not watch it either and went straight to pull the switch.

Because Lu Xiu knew perfectly well that all of the above was merely setup—or rather, hints to the player that something was wrong with this place, meant to make them afraid.

If it were an ordinary player, after arriving in such a creepy place, they would definitely inspect everything. What if there were clues?

After all, who knew what this dungeon was about?

And while searching for clues, players would be subjected to constant psychological pressure.

Eventually, their fear would grow stronger and stronger, and they would become increasingly anxious.

But Lu Xiu did not fall for that.

Because she knew every key item, every puzzle-solving method, and the entire game flow.

So she ignored all the psychological hints and atmospheric buildup.

She simply pushed the progression forward.

Very soon.

The gloomy, terrifying Baker house became lively.

The sound of thudding footsteps rang out endlessly from within.

...Someone was running around inside!

Come to think of it.

You might not believe this.

In less than ten minutes, Lu Xiu had already reached the basement, holding bolt cutters, and met Mia.

It was practically lightning-fast!

"Mia, Mia, are you okay?"

Of course, dialogue with NPCs could not be skipped. Mainly because she was afraid that skipping it might cause problems when the dungeon officially went live.

So Lu Xiu still followed Ethan's reaction as she remembered it and began interacting with Mia.

Then she followed Mia out of the basement.

Once they reached this point.

Lu Xiu no longer dared to rush.

Looking at Mia ahead of her, she began taking deep breaths and mentally preparing herself.

Because next... it would not be so easy. The combat section was coming.

And Ethan suffered terribly in this section.

There was absolutely no way to cheat through it...

Lu Xiu followed Mia through the dark, terrifying basement until they finally reached the exit Mia had mentioned.

But the exit had long since been sealed off. There was no door at all.

At the sight of this.

Mia suddenly lost control, becoming frantic. She shouted that it was gone, that it was gone, then said that since Ethan had come, they would soon be a family, so it was okay...

In short, she was mentally unstable, and everything about her was wrong.

Lu Xiu was still mentally preparing herself and did not pay Mia any attention. Only after Mia collapsed helplessly onto the sofa did she snap back to herself, turn around, and head for the adjoining room nearby.

After entering, she did not investigate anything and simply waited patiently.

Sure enough.

Before long, Mia's terrified screams came from outside.

By the time Lu Xiu walked out, Mia had disappeared.

But Lu Xiu knew where she had gone.

She took another deep breath, continued following the sequence, left the basement, and headed upstairs.

At some point.

Night had fallen.

It was raining outside as well.

Thunder rumbled.

The noisy sound of rain drifted in from outside.

It made the already gloomy abandoned house seem even more terrifying.

The horror atmosphere instantly hit its peak.

Suddenly.

An unusual noise came from the distance, as though something was battering against a door.

Lu Xiu walked down the eerie corridor and stopped before the door connecting to the other side of the basement.

According to the sequence, once she opened this door.

Mia would come charging in to kill her.