[Streamer, streamer, don't fall for it!]
[Isn't that Qing Feng, one of the Dragon Transformation Pool's current captains?]
[That's the monster "Ghost Shadow" from the Nightmare Survival Game!]
[Ghost Shadows specialize in illusions and are a troop-type unit. The more Ghost Shadows there are, and the higher their level, the more realistic their illusions become and the wider the area they cover.]
If this had merely been a test, Xiao Hao could understand.
After all, in a stable society, taking reasonable steps to eliminate potential threats for everyone's safety was perfectly justified.
But using the dead to create an illusion was far too disrespectful!
Though angry, Xiao Hao didn't lash out.
The first thing the Steel Forest had taught him was to control his emotions.
Anyone who couldn't control their emotions couldn't adapt to the Steel Forest.
Now that he knew someone was behind this, Xiao Hao no longer needed to follow horror-movie logic. He could just run!
As long as he remained an ordinary person even when his "life was in danger," he could clear himself of all suspicion!
Watching Xiao Hao flee, Qing Feng frowned slightly from his hiding place.
The Ghost Shadows were indeed his Guardians, but he wasn't controlling their illusions.
What they conjured depended not on him, but on the other person.
Whatever they had conjured, the other person's decision to run left him somewhat disappointed.
As a veteran special forces soldier, overcoming fear was child's play for him. He didn't expect nearly as much from ordinary people.
But he had already seen Xiao Hao's performance in the surveillance footage and had set his expectations rather high. Naturally, seeing him run now was disappointing.
Xiao Hao fled through streets and alleys with ten humanoid spiders chasing him, professing their love for him every so often.
"I like you so much, Xiao Hao..."
"I like you so, so much..."
"Stop running. You'll never escape my grasp..."
"Sweet thing, I'll take very good care of you..."
Xiao Hao's mouth twitched uncontrollably, while the comments on his game interface nearly laughed themselves sick.
They knew this was all a farce and weren't worried about Xiao Hao's safety at all.
[Hahahaha...]
[Hahaha, I'm dying...]
[Little streamer, I'll take very good care of you. Come into my arms.]
[Hop into my bowl!]
[Run faster, streamer! That Female Ghost Shadow's about to kiss you!]
Hopefully, girls confessing their love wouldn't leave Xiao Hao with psychological scars in the future.
As he ran, Xiao Hao did his best to keep his speed under control, even when a Female Ghost Shadow might touch him the very next second.
With his superhuman physique, he could easily break the world record if he went all out.
As he kept running, Xiao Hao sensed the Female Ghost Shadows behind him slowing down.
Had the Dragon Transformation Pool people given up?
Xiao Hao slowed down as well.
Xiao Hao thought he had bluffed his way through yet again, but the sight of what lay ahead made him skid to a halt. Only then did he realize he had celebrated too soon.
A terrifying infant crawled along a crumbling mud-and-tile wall, staring at Xiao Hao with eyes the size of Ping-Pong balls.
Its broken body wasn't human flesh, but a porcelain doll's. Its head was tiny, yet its two eyeballs were unusually large.
The eyes weren't blood-red. Instead, they resembled the plastic eyes of a rag doll, which somehow made them even eerier.
Xiao Hao backed away slowly to avoid provoking the monster, stealing a glance at the comments to pick out useful information.
[Ghost Infant, an advanced wild monster from the Nightmare game and a player's Battle General Guardian!]
[Qing Feng is a very strong player too. Although he carries a gun, guns are completely useless in the Nightmare game, so he's another player who doesn't have "cheats."]
[I remember the Ghost Infant's most twisted ability is parasitism. It enters a living creature, then bursts out of its body to kill its host.]
[Its "Reassembly" ability is pretty broken too. Even if its porcelain body is shattered, it can reassemble itself. You could call it an unconventional immunity to physical attacks.]
[Its Reassembly is pathetic compared to the Primordial Snailfish's, okay? Once it runs out of stamina, it still dies. The Primordial Snailfish's physical attack immunity doesn't consume stamina.]
[The Primordial Snailfish has some major weaknesses too...]
Great.
The comments had actually started arguing at a critical moment.
Reading about the Ghost Infant's parasitic skill sent a chill through Xiao Hao's backside.
Not messing with that!
A clear, childlike voice rang out. "Big brother, hold me..."
The Ghost Infant's white porcelain lips didn't move, yet it could still speak.
Xiao Hao couldn't help marveling at how good the monsters across all these worlds were at learning languages. It felt as though every last one of them knew Chinese.
[Don't be scared, streamer. Put on Jade Armor, and the Ghost Infant won't be able to do anything.]
[The Ghost Infant is a total pushover against the Mantis Shrimp.]
[It can't help it. The Mantis Shrimp counters the Ghost Infant way too hard.]
[The Ghost Infant can enter a creature through openings like the eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth. It can even burrow straight through soft skin. But against the Mantis Shrimp's full-body Jade Armor, it has no way in.]
[It can't even get close to the Mantis Shrimp, okay? It'd be sliced to dust in a second, leaving it unable to reassemble at all.]
Xiao Hao didn't know the Ghost Infant's habits, so he didn't reply carelessly. He had hoped the comments might offer a good solution, but their suggestions were completely useless.
If he hadn't been afraid of exposing himself, the Shadow Seahorse and Mantis Shrimp really were more than a match for these monsters.
The Ghost Infant crawled slowly toward Xiao Hao. Its porcelain limbs were broken, yet the fragile points of support at its joints still held its body up in an eerie fashion.
"Big brother, why aren't you talking?"
"If you aren't talking, does that mean you're letting me crawl into your tummy?"
Now Xiao Hao couldn't stay calm.
His stomach was no place for weird things!
Fear came from the unknown and from weakness. Although the Ghost Infant's appearance hit most people's deepest fears, Xiao Hao had seen far more disturbing things. This was nothing.
Still, to make his act convincing, Xiao Hao had to pretend he was struggling to suppress his fear. He deliberately made his voice tremble as he asked gently, "Little one, what's your name?"
The Ghost Infant stopped crawling.
"Big brother, I don't have a name. Why don't you give birth to me again and name me...?"
Xiao Hao immediately adopted a serious, teacherly expression. "That's not right. Men can't give birth to children. Only women can. Since you've asked, I can't do it, but I can find someone suitable for you."
The corners of the infant's porcelain mouth curled up eerily, splitting all the way to its ears.
"Really? That's wonderful! Thank you, big brother. Where are they?"
Xiao Hao immediately turned and pointed at a Female Ghost Shadow.
"Her! She meets your requirements perfectly!"
Before the Ghost Infant could speak, Xiao Hao immediately addressed the Female Ghost Shadow. "Don't you like me? Then asking you to do one thing for me isn't too much, is it?"
The spider-like Female Ghost Shadows were instantly speechless. Before they could find an excuse, Xiao Hao continued, "If you won't even help me with one thing, what right do you have to ask me to help you? We'd better part ways and leave each other alone!"
Constructing an illusion wasn't difficult for Ghost Shadows, but certain conditions still had to be met.
Why hadn't the Ghost Shadows attacked right from the start?
As Xiao Hao saw it, their attacks needed their own internal logic and justification. Otherwise, they wouldn't have spent so long spouting nonsense at him.
In other Survival Games, the monsters were flesh and blood. Once you crafted a spear, you at least had a chance of winning a direct fight.
But look at the monsters in the Nightmare game: shadows that created illusions, porcelain dolls. How were you supposed to fight those head-on?
Would stabbing a shadow with a spear do anything? Or were you supposed to smash the Ceramic Ghost Infant and then watch it reassemble itself?
There had to be ways to subdue or kill the monsters in the Nightmare game. What Xiao Hao was doing now was repeating what its players had already done!
How had his opponent overcome a nightmare monster and subdued his first wild monster when he had started out unarmed?
Xiao Hao was stalling for time to find a way to break the trap!
Female Ghost Shadow, don't you like me? Then do something for me.
Ghost Infant, I've already found you a suitable candidate. Go ahead.
The Ghost Shadows and Ghost Infant belonged to the same side. Yet according to this "logical progression," they now had to fight each other. Could that create a logical contradiction?
Even if they weren't on the same side, whichever one lost would become the first wild monster the player could subdue!
Both sides remained frozen in place, as though they had hit a bug. Xiao Hao quietly seized the chance to slip away.
Only after Xiao Hao disappeared did Qing Feng emerge from an inconspicuous corner and recall all his Guardians.
During the chase, the Ghost Shadows had actually had several opportunities to kill Xiao Hao outright. Qing Feng had ordered them to slow down.
If the other man really was a player, he wouldn't keep hiding it when his life was on the line.
What Qing Feng didn't know was that Xiao Hao had deliberately created those brushes with death. Had the Ghost Shadows truly attacked to kill, Xiao Hao's instantaneous burst of power would have been enough to kill him on the spot, along with all his Guardians!
Against wild monsters, Darkness Erosion might take a while to wear down their health. Against fragile creatures like humans, it could drain their vitality in an instant!
And Xiao Hao himself also possessed Darkness Domain and Darkness Erosion!
By "sparing" Xiao Hao, Qing Feng had effectively spared himself.
"What a shame." Qing Feng looked regretful. "If only he'd been selected as a Nightmare Survival player. He could really soar."
All ten Survival Games had "safe houses."
The deep sea had the Coral Shell Room, and the Nightmare game had its Sheltered Harbor.
Qing Feng was a special forces soldier. His intelligence, emotional intelligence, and physical fitness were all first-rate, and his mental resilience was exceptional. Despite his gloomy, aloof appearance, his emotions didn't affect him in the slightest!
Negative effects such as fear and intimidation inflicted by the Nightmare game's monsters were far less effective against someone with his iron will!
Even so, he had spent a long time pondering in his safe house before finding a solution, whereas the other man had solved it on the fly!
In fact, once wild monsters became Guardians, their "logic" was no longer essential. It was enough to establish that the monsters were on the same side and were attacking on their master's orders. That made their "logic" airtight, and no amount of smooth talking would help.
But in the Nightmare game, these monsters had no masters. That was also the key to a player's survival.
Had he figured it out because he'd watched the national news?
Even if he had studied survival information beforehand, finding a solution in such a short time was no small feat.
With that thought, Qing Feng left, crossing Xiao Hao's name off his list of suspects along the way.
What he didn't know was that Xiao Hao had indeed watched the national news, but only a little of the beginning before a company manager interrupted him!
He hadn't watched any of the survival information that followed!
He had figured that, with seven days off and this being only the second day, there was no hurry. Watching a replay after he got home would be just as good. Who could have guessed someone would come to test him today?!
Qing Feng had severely underestimated not only his combat strength, but also his intelligence!
And that was exactly what Xiao Hao wanted!
After taking several winding detours, Xiao Hao sensed no pursuit and realized the other man had given up. Only then did he feel safe enough to return to his little home.
A shower, then sleep. The survival information could wait until tomorrow!
Before you continue