Murder in the Haunted House

This house is a typical medieval-style residential building.

With its sturdy stone walls and wooden roof, the dark windows make it look like a haunted house.

But now, it will become a real 'haunted house'.

Led by Xiao Yu, the group of skeletons, zombies, and ghosts all entered the house. The house looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. The main structure was still very well preserved, but the house was empty and covered in dust. All the valuables in the house were gone. Only some rough furniture remained, including a wardrobe, a table, a broken bed with little straw left, and, oh, a wooden treasure chest.

This wooden treasure chest is the lowest quality type of treasure chest. It can contain some common quality weapons and equipment, and has a very low chance of containing magic scrolls. It is specifically designed for novice adventurers, and monsters cannot open it.

Although it can't be opened, it can still be used.

After scanning the room, Xiao Yu already had a plan in mind.

"Alright, let's prepare for battle. Although there are only three of them, they have both ranged and melee fighters, plus a mage. If we fight head-on, we'll suffer heavy losses, so an ambush is essential. First, we'll move the box to the middle of the room. Then, you bunch of walking corpses, go Play Dead down next to the box. You know how to Play Dead?"

This Play Dead is actually a skill, a skill that walking corpses possess.

Skill Name: Play Dead

Skill Description: A skill unique to zombie-type monsters, allowing them to lie on the ground and disguise themselves as ordinary corpses.

After using this skill, you will enter a state of suspended animation, where you will be treated as a corpse by the system and slowly recover your lost health. In this state, you will not take any damage when attacked. Using it again will reactivate you.

PS: This skill can only be used outside of combat.

This skill is unique to zombie-type monsters. Xiao Yu guessed that its prototype should come from the zombie resurrection scene in horror movies. Some zombie horror games often encounter this situation: you see a corpse from afar, you shoot it but it doesn't react, but as soon as you get close, the corpse immediately gets up and bites you.

These kinds of things are often annoying, but it's not bad that I can use this trick now.

The three undead were one walking corpse and two zombies. They all lay down around the box as Xiao Yu had instructed, looking like corpses, lifeless.

"Alright, now it's our turn, the four of us skeletons." Xiao Yu pointed to several corners in the room suitable for hiding, and directed the other three skeletons to hide in the wardrobe, on the roof, and under the bed. Xiao Yu prepared a hiding place for himself behind a wooden barrel.

"Then it's your turn, the three of you ghosts. Your task is to lure them in. I remember the demon spirit has a Phantom Sound skill, right? You can imitate a little girl's voice, right? Make some crying sounds to attract those adventurers. Once they enter the house, we'll make our move."

After saying that, Xiao Yu hid behind the door.

Everything is ready; we're just waiting for the enemy to walk right into our trap.

The three ghosts exchanged a glance, then all floated away.

Meanwhile, the trio, now considered prey, are still battling Undead monsters in the Death Wilderness.

"Die, you scum!" The Invincible Sword God roared, sweeping his longsword across and cleaving the skeleton soldier in two at the waist.

Burning Hands! With a wave of the Invincible Magic God's Staff, flames shot out in a cone, igniting several zombies within the spell's range.

"Watch out, there's a ghoul behind you!" the Invincible Sword God shouted a warning.

"Don't worry, let me handle this!" The Invincible Bow God fired an arrow with a snap, pinning the ghoul that Cheap Shot the mage from behind to the ground.

"GAMEOVER!"

"Haha, that's a piece of cake."

"How was that? Wasn't my arrow a beautiful shot?"

Looking at the mess all around them and smelling the acrid stench of burning corpses in the air, the three of them started bragging and joking.

The three of them certainly had reason to be proud. This game, War of the Gods, was touted as completely realistic and extremely difficult, but it didn't seem that difficult for them. All three of them were high-level players who had played some realistic hardcore games, and had even completed some melee combat simulation programs specifically used for training, such as Lethal Weapon and Ancient Warfare Expert.

It can be said that the three men's use of cold weapons was no less than that of professional Warrior in ancient times—theoretically speaking.

Sure enough, they quickly dispatched a bunch of monsters, and in the blink of an eye, all three of them had leveled up to level three, all within a day of entering the game.

"Big brother, what attributes should a mage add?" the Invincible Magic God asked.

"Of course, increase Intelligence, you idiot!" said the Invincible Sword God. "Once you get Intelligence to fifteen, you can change your class to Berserker Mage."

The Invincible Magic God scratched his head, "I want to switch to Arcane Vanguard. I heard it allows for dual magic and physical attacks, and thirteen intelligence points are enough. Playing a mage isn't fun."

The Invincible Sword God explained, "Arcane Vanguard is okay in the early game, but it's useless in the late game. Trust me, switching to Berserker Mage is definitely the right choice; it's for the sake of the overall situation."

"What about me, boss?" The archer with the hunting dog ran over too. "I'm thinking of switching to a ranger. I heard rangers can tame wild animals as pets. This hunting dog is useless, and rangers are strong in melee combat too."

"What do you know? Rangers are better suited for solo play, they're all-rounders, but in team battles, pets are useless in the late game, nobody wants them in a party. So listen to me, switch to Archer, get a good bow and you can kill people one by one. Aren't you an archery god? Why are you playing melee? By the way, what's your agility?"

2 PM.

"Then we're almost there to become a sharpshooter. Let's go level up quickly, then we can go back to town and change jobs."

As they talked, the three of them set off on their journey once again. The Death Wilderness was full of Undead, but they were scattered in small groups, hiding in abandoned houses, tombs, and cellars. There were also a few scattered monsters, but these one or two monsters were of no interest to the three of them.

As they walked, the archers who were scouting ahead suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" the Invincible Sword God asked curiously.

The Invincible Bow God gestured for silence, "Listen!"

The three of them pricked up their ears, and sure enough, they heard a faint sobbing sound coming from afar, like a little girl crying. In the pitch-black night of the Death Wilderness, it sounded rather eerie and quite unsettling.

"There's a story here, let's go!"

Any normal person would be terrified in this situation, but gamers are not normal people. The crying meant something special, which instead excited the three of them.

Following the sound, they hadn't gone far when, as the fog gradually dissipated, a farmhouse came into view. The crying sound had faintly come from that direction.

Upon arriving at the door of the hut, the Invincible Sword God kicked the door open and peered inside. It was dark, and he could only vaguely make out the outline of the structure.

"Let's go in!" He lifted his leg and was about to walk inside.

The Invincible Magic God, however, was somewhat hesitant. He tugged at the Invincible Sword God's sleeve and said, "I wonder if this is a trap?"

"Hmph," the Warrior scoffed. "Don't worry—it's definitely a trap."

Even knowing there was something wrong with the cabin, the Invincible Sword God remained extremely confident in himself. This game wasn't your average game; it was a motion-sensing game where the player's skill had an exceptionally high impact.

The Invincible Swordsman is a high-level player who has completed the "Swordsmanship Master Training Program." Even without using any skills, his combat power far surpasses that of ordinary Warrior players.

So he stepped inside, and the mage hesitated for a moment, then summoned a ball of light for illumination and followed him in.

The cabin wasn't large; the three of them walked a few steps before entering. At the far end of the cabin, all three were pleasantly surprised.

There's a treasure chest!

Sure enough, at the very back of the hut, a treasure chest clearly appeared before the three of them, right on the empty floor of the hut. However, besides the treasure chest, there were other things in the room: three corpses, each lying around the treasure chest, with a hand on top of the chest on each corpse, making it look as if the three people had starved to death around the treasure chest.

In this Death Wilderness filled with negative energy, corpses also signify the Undead. The three of them tensed up instantly. The archer shot an arrow directly at a corpse, but there was no reaction.

The Invincible Sword God, however, was not relieved; instead, he frowned.

They had encountered some seemingly lifeless corpses before, only to come back to life as soon as they got close, so they were naturally on guard.

The Invincible Sword God thought that it was very likely that when they went to open the chest, the three corpses would suddenly come to life and attack the people opening the chest.

Yes, the threat in this plot lies with the person who opens the chest. Thinking of this, the Invincible Sword Saint sneered, "Hmph, but you've run into me, so you're just unlucky."

"You two wait here, I'll go scout ahead."

The Invincible swordsman was confident that even if all three corpses rose from the dead at the same time, he could hold them off. With that time, his two companions would be more than capable of supporting him.

However, just as he walked towards the chest and touched the lid,

"Now!" Xiao Yu roared, and four skeletons suddenly appeared from behind the door, under the bed, in the wardrobe, and on the roof: two skeleton soldiers, one skeleton Warrior, and one skeleton archer, all rushing towards the mage and the archer at the same time.

The Warrior immediately realized something was wrong. Those corpses weren't a trap at all, just a smokescreen. He whirled around and drew his sword, but just then, a low growl came from behind him. The corpse closest to him had come to life and pounced on him, biting his neck.

The Invincible Sword God suddenly felt dizzy. Oh no, he'd been poisoned!

However, he had been poisoned by the zombie's Corpse Poison skill.

With an elbow strike, the Invincible Sword God sent the zombie flying. In the blink of an eye, two more corpses pounced on him. The Invincible Sword God blocked the attack from the zombie on the left with his shield, and slashed his longsword directly at the other zombie. To make matters worse, several ghosts flew in from outside the wall, and one of the demon spirits raised its hand and cast a Touch of Negative Energy.

Skill Name: Touch of Negative Energy

Skill Description: Releases a negative energy wave on the target, weakening living beings and healing Undead.

This skill is a healing skill for the Undead, but for humans, it is an absolute negative effect. The Warrior immediately felt a wave of weakness, and his strength decreased by three-tenths. His sword did not split the zombie in two, but only went in half a foot, and instead got stuck on the zombie's shoulder.

The other two zombies immediately swarmed forward, knocking the zombie to the ground. The zombie even used its Bite skill, and blood and flesh flew everywhere, accompanied by screams of agony.

Meanwhile, the battle on the other side also quickly came to a conclusion. Faced with the close-range attacks of two skeleton Warrior and one skeleton soldier, the mage and archer were somewhat at a loss.

The archer fired an arrow, but it passed right through the gaps in the skeleton soldier's bones. Xiao Yu thought to himself, "Lucky me, I actually got hit by a 50% immunity to piercing attacks." Without hesitation, he slashed at the archer's head with his sword. In his panic, the archer could only raise his bow to parry, but the sword snapped the bow in two. Then, a Consecutive Sword Strikes followed—thud! thud! Three swords pierced the archer's body in quick succession. Unlike the Priest before him, who was clad in heavy armor, this guy was only wearing leather armor. The three consecutive sword strikes left him bleeding profusely, his intestines spilling out.

The mage, in a panic, swung his staff like a club, forcing Xiao Yu back. He glanced down at the half-dead archer, then at the Warrior Bite by three zombies, and disregarding the cramped space, unleashed a Burning Hands. A torrent of flames erupted in all directions, instantly igniting everything flammable in the room. Xiao Yu and the other two skeletons were immediately too terrified to approach. The Undead's fear of fire took effect; even knowing they wouldn't be burned to death instantly, they dared not rush forward, as if an inexplicable fear held them back.

Fortunately, one of the four skeletons was a skeleton archer, who fired an arrow straight at the enemy.

With a whoosh, the bone arrow pierced the mage's chest.

The mage groaned, and his spells were immediately rendered useless.

What else is there to say? The three of them rushed forward, wielding swords and axes, and cut the mage to the ground.

"Damn it, I should have advanced to Arcane Vanguard first. If I could wear armor, I wouldn't have died so easily," the mage thought despairingly, before finally passing away.

In the blink of an eye, the three adventurers were dealt with. The battle was surprisingly simple and quick; indeed, there is strength in numbers.

"Well done, guys, let's keep going."

The three adventurers dropped several pieces of loot, but unfortunately, they were unusable. After picking them up, they were all displayed as "[Adventurer's Relics]", which could be placed in the loot sequence, but their attributes could not be viewed.

Everyone naturally rolled their rolls, and the loot was quickly distributed. Unfortunately, Xiao Yu didn't roll anything, but Big Water Cunt rolled a leather armor worth 19 points. He added it to the loot list so he wouldn't lose experience points if he died.

Xiao Yu checked his experience points and found that he had gained over 40 experience points from killing the three adventurers. His current experience points were 23/100. He only needed to kill a few more to level up.

"Then let's get moving!" Xiao Yu said. This house could be put to good use; there should be quite a few adventurers leveling up in the vicinity.