Chapter 5
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Having the Same Name as the Demon Lord of the Abyss
Even though he was prepared, Ye Zun’s heart was still beating erratically. His pupils instinctively dilated and he almost lost all reason.
In the next second, he ran upstairs suddenly, panicking and almost tripping.
Ye Zun looked up. Above the third floor was supposed to be the corridor on the fifth floor, and there was a ‘4’ written in red, enclosed by a white circle.
His pupils trembled. The same fourth floor from the supernatural post had appeared.
The fourth floor that this building didn’t have!
Downstairs, the sound of something climbing up the stairs approached him quickly.
Ye Zun stood up and sprinted upstairs.
On the ceiling covered with mildew, the black stain slowly expanded like a mass of hair, and a female corpse wearing a black shroud soon crawled out of the stain, scuttling along the wall in the direction of Ye Zun like a spider.
Ye Zun stumbled as he ran to the fifth floor. The doors on the fifth floor were wide open. Two puppets with stitched faces stood by the two doorways on the left and right sides of the corridor. They looked like ten-year-old girls wearing white nightdresses, each holding a life-like toy dripping with blood, a pair of Siamese twins joined by the hands.
“Hee hee hee hee…” The laughter just now came from them.
Ye Zun sat down on the ground, staring at the being in front of him with his eyes wide open. He was so frightened that he lost the ability to run away.
The two ghost puppets rolled their eyes, opened their big endless mouths, and pounced on him ferociously.
The next second——
“Ahhhhhhhh!“
The miserable cry of a ghost.
And, the persistent buzzing of electricity.
Ye Zun leaned against the railing, holding the alcohol spray in his left hand and the anti-pervert taser in his right, panting while trembling.
“Although in theory, ghosts inherently have a damp quality, just in case, it’s better to wear some electrical protection.”
He stretched his arm out and sprayed the alcohol spray twice at each of the two ghost puppets on the left and right, adjusting the taser’s shock to the highest level.
The Siamese ghost puppets finally disappeared amidst the sizzling sound of electric currents.
“Very good, it’s useful.”
At this moment, on the ceiling behind Ye Zun, the slowly descending corpse approached him.
The twisted and damp hair instantly wrapped around his neck, dragging him upwards, trying to hang him to death.
The taser in his hand would be useless on the hair, and it would sting Ye Zun himself.
Ye Zun had to release the taser and fumbled for the lighter in his pocket.
Flick. The flame of the lighter ignited.
Then there was the smell of burnt albumen*.
[T/N: egg white/protein. Not sure how that smells, but maybe like a concentrated hot springs/boiled eggs smell??]
In order to prevent an incomplete combustion job, he immediately sprayed the bottle of alcohol with his left hand towards the struggling hair, making sure to build the fire even bigger.
When he was dealing with the black-haired female corpse, a slender, black shadow with a body soft as rubber crawled behind him and entangled his feet while he was off guard, dragging him down.
The pain of his skin scraping against the concrete steps almost caused him to fall apart.
Ye Zun immediately let go of the spray bottle, firmly grasping onto the railing beside him.
After stabilizing his body, he grudgingly loosened one hand and fumbled around for the awl in the plastic bag dangling from his wrist, using his backhand to pierce the shadow that was holding his captive. While the shadow was struggling, Ye Zun decisively grasped one end of the shadow’s body, ravelling the body around the stair railing to increase friction.
Gripping the shadow tightly with one hand and taking out the scissors still packaged in its plastic shell with his other, he pulled the tall and slender body of the ghost up towards him while unceasingly cutting at it with the scissors until it snapped.
With the awl in his mouth, Ye Zun freed a hand to grab the spray bottle he dropped previously, spraying several pumps of alcohol on the shredded body of the ghost, and then quickly lit it up with the lighter.
“Wet and cold, so horrifying to the touch.”
As the ghost screeched, cold sweat dripped from Ye Zun’s brows. Panting constantly, he slumped on the steps.
He didn’t know when, but one of his gloves had been lost in the scuffle. Ye Zun’s fingers were unsteady and he attempted to fumble the phone out of his pocket for a long time. It was 3:36.
There were only four minutes left before the end of the escape time limit.
Although his legs were soft and his body was in great pain, Ye Zun stood up with the support of the handrails, then began walking to his room on the sixth floor, step by step.
“Back then, I shouldn’t have rented a room on the top floor in a building without an elevator.”
At 3:37AM, Ye Zun stood in his room, breathing heavily. He spilled the broken shards of the baijiu bottle together with the overflowing alcohol inside the plastic bag on the bed.
He flicked the lighter. A bonfire erupted instantly.
In the raging fire, a black shadow struggled to get out, condensing into a terrifying ghost, clamouring at Ye Zun but ending up being swallowed by the fire.
Very soon, the ghost disappeared, and a pale girl hugging her knees sat in the flames.
“How did you know I was here?”
Every ounce of energy in Ye Zun’s body dissipated at one and he leaned against the wall behind him. “During the nightmare loop, you kept asking me if I found you. At the end, when I laid back on the bed, you said I found you. Thinking about this carefully, this was probably a hint, telling me where you are. The ghost in the room had been lying with me on this bed.”
The girl looked at him with a strange smile. “Congratulations on clearing. But don’t be happy so early. Once you enter the amusement park, you cannot leave halfway. When you die in the game, you have to bring in another person until the game ends. I am free, and I wish you luck.”
Ye Zun was both dumbfounded and horrified. “Wait, Lin Youlin, it was you who dragged me into the game? Why?”
But right after he finished saying this sentence, the girl’s ghostly figure dissipated.
The red letters in a grey translucent dialog box appeared in the air again:【 Congratulations Player Ye Zun for successfully completing the novice trial, please leave the instance as soon as possible. The reward will be issued directly after leaving the instance. 】
Ye Zun did not understand the meaning behind this at all. Was this some kind of realistic holographic game developed by a mysterious organisation?
Ye Zun stood by the window, flinging the curtains open and looking out. A chill enveloped his body.
Under the hazy sky, countless ghosts from far and near were heading towards Paradise Apartments, converging in his direction. The dense tide of ghosts could make people’s blood run cold.
“Looks like I really need to find a way to get out of here first, otherwise I’d still die even if the game is cleared.”
After Lin Youlin’s ghost dissipated and the fire went out, a key appeared on the scorched bed.
Ye Zun picked up the key and walked downstairs.
Although this game instance may appear scary, clearly the level wasn’t hard. It was indeed at the perfect difficulty for a novice trial.
Because, at the beginning of the nightmare loop, almost all clues one needed to understand the truth behind this mystery was hidden in the dreams, and when the supernatural post was included, he could find the key for clearance.
In the post, the landlord Lin Youlin felt scared for no reason and left the rental house on her own to go downstairs, but during this process, there was actually no substantial danger.
Until when she reached the first floor, where she saw the two extra sets of stairs going down.
To be precise, Lin Youlin saw a ghost for the first time after she walked down the two extra flights and exited the unit building. There, she saw the ghost on the fourth floor hiding behind the red curtains.
And then, she received a ghost’s call.
Similarly, even if Ye Zun encountered a ghost at the beginning, he didn’t see the fourth floor when walking downstairs, nor was he physically attacked by ghosts.
As long as one calmed down, this thought would arise: when the two of them saw the fourth floor, it’s only after they went down the two floors that shouldn’t exist. This was the common ground.
They would subconsciously think: Could it be that, after passing the two additional floors, I walked into another world?
Lin Youlin believed the ghost call and went back without leaving the community. It was impossible for her to know what she would’ve seen if she chose to leave the community.
But Ye Zun did walk out of the community, and he saw the creatures that sent chills down his spine.
Ye Zun was always constantly stuck on one detail: although ghosts appeared and blocked his door at the beginning of the game, until he walked out of the community, he was not attacked by any one of them.
Would ghosts be so kind as to let Ye Zun escape so easily? Since the ghosts can appear outside his door from the very beginning, why didn’t they attack him from the get-go?
The answer to this question was slowly revealed after he received a ghost call.
Sifting through from the beginning:
Lin Youlin never split the rent with anyone after moving. At the beginning, she was confused and inexplicably felt afraid, to the point where she wanted to go downstairs and wait for the non-existent night shift working sister to come back.
Ye Zun was frightened by the ghost that appeared in the nightmare and ran downstairs, but the ghost never actually attacked him.
Conclusion: Whether it was Lin Youlin or Ye Zun, they both left the room under the guidance or fear of ghosts and went downstairs.
The ghosts’ purpose was clear and consistent: they would do everything possible to satisfy their need to send people to go downstairs late at night, but as long as someone went downstairs, they would encounter extra steps to the basement, and as long as they passed through the extra steps, they would see the fourth floor.
Then, enter the ghostly monsters!
Ghosts would appear in front of people and further affect the player as time progresses, deceiving or attacking them.
On top of that, the ghost on the phone tried pretending to be a player like Ye Zun, trying to trick Ye Zun into a place one kilometer away from this community.
When it noticed that Ye Zun had walked back, the ghost on the phone could no longer hide its resentment, calling him repeatedly.
The purpose of the ghosts was obviously to stop him from escaping. In turn, if he did whatever the ghosts did not want him to do, they would hide the key to escape from him.
Then, doing the opposite, the thing that could save his life must be hidden in Paradise Apartments.
Ye Zun always remembered what his grandmother said. If he encounters a problem, as long as he finds a solution, he will no longer be afraid.
Therefore, after realising what the key to his escape was, even if he was afraid, he decided to go back.
In the nightmare loop, the female ghost said three sentences: “Linlin, where am I? Linlin, have you found me? Linlin, you found me.”
The female ghost’s words corresponded to where Ye Zun was at that time, which were: his room, the stairwell, and in his bed.
And at the beginning of the game, Ye Zun was told: There is a ghost in the room.
This room was obviously not a real room. If it was, the ghost wouldn’t have to turn around and trick people to head downstairs.
Obviously, only after going downstairs and passing the two underground steps into the ghost’s world, then heading back upstairs, can one walk to the room where the ghost’s body hid.
Just like when Lin Youlin went downstairs in a flustered manner, she was tricked back upstairs by the ghost, and then she shared the bed with the real ghost.
Sure enough, only by destroying the ghost in the room can you receive the key to escape.
The key to living and the greatest fear had always been together.
Ye Zun dragged his aching body down the stairs. From the bottom, the sound of ghosts banging the iron gate of the unit building could be heard.
Holding the key, he arrived at the fourth floor.
When going downstairs, there would be two extra flights; when going upstairs, there would be an extra fourth floor.
The steps that seemingly allowed you to escape actually lead to the ghost world. On the other hand, the fourth floor with red curtains that looked frightening at a glance, corresponded to the real Door to Survival.
Ye Zun was not sure at the beginning whether the Door to Survival was on the fourth floor or the third floor, which was why he stood in front of the open third floor door and forced the ghost to show up.
As expected, although the ghost figure originally appeared behind the red curtain on the fourth floor, it was consistent with the ghosts’ eternal purpose, which was to make people scared so they would stay away from the fourth floor, successfully hiding the Door to Survival.
In fact, only the fourth floor did not house real ghosts.
The key in his hand was forcibly inserted into the keyhole of the room on the fourth floor, where it opened with a light twist.
In the next instant, a warm, white light embraced Ye Zun.
Under the hazy sky, countless ghost waves lost their target. Stopping in place, they soon drifted away, going their separate ways.
The author has something to say:
Congratulations on clearance. Welcome to the Demon God’s Amusement Park
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Having the Same Name as the Demon Lord of the Abyss
Even though he was prepared, Ye Zun’s heart was still beating erratically. His pupils instinctively dilated and he almost lost all reason.
In the next second, he ran upstairs suddenly, panicking and almost tripping.
Ye Zun looked up. Above the third floor was supposed to be the corridor on the fifth floor, and there was a ‘4’ written in red, enclosed by a white circle.
His pupils trembled. The same fourth floor from the supernatural post had appeared.
The fourth floor that this building didn’t have!
Downstairs, the sound of something climbing up the stairs approached him quickly.
Ye Zun stood up and sprinted upstairs.
On the ceiling covered with mildew, the black stain slowly expanded like a mass of hair, and a female corpse wearing a black shroud soon crawled out of the stain, scuttling along the wall in the direction of Ye Zun like a spider.
Ye Zun stumbled as he ran to the fifth floor. The doors on the fifth floor were wide open. Two puppets with stitched faces stood by the two doorways on the left and right sides of the corridor. They looked like ten-year-old girls wearing white nightdresses, each holding a life-like toy dripping with blood, a pair of Siamese twins joined by the hands.
“Hee hee hee hee…” The laughter just now came from them.
Ye Zun sat down on the ground, staring at the being in front of him with his eyes wide open. He was so frightened that he lost the ability to run away.
The two ghost puppets rolled their eyes, opened their big endless mouths, and pounced on him ferociously.
The next second——
“Ahhhhhhhh!“
The miserable cry of a ghost.
And, the persistent buzzing of electricity.
Ye Zun leaned against the railing, holding the alcohol spray in his left hand and the anti-pervert taser in his right, panting while trembling.
“Although in theory, ghosts inherently have a damp quality, just in case, it’s better to wear some electrical protection.”
He stretched his arm out and sprayed the alcohol spray twice at each of the two ghost puppets on the left and right, adjusting the taser’s shock to the highest level.
The Siamese ghost puppets finally disappeared amidst the sizzling sound of electric currents.
“Very good, it’s useful.”
At this moment, on the ceiling behind Ye Zun, the slowly descending corpse approached him.
The twisted and damp hair instantly wrapped around his neck, dragging him upwards, trying to hang him to death.
The taser in his hand would be useless on the hair, and it would sting Ye Zun himself.
Ye Zun had to release the taser and fumbled for the lighter in his pocket.
Flick. The flame of the lighter ignited.
Then there was the smell of burnt albumen*.
[T/N: egg white/protein. Not sure how that smells, but maybe like a concentrated hot springs/boiled eggs smell??]
In order to prevent an incomplete combustion job, he immediately sprayed the bottle of alcohol with his left hand towards the struggling hair, making sure to build the fire even bigger.
When he was dealing with the black-haired female corpse, a slender, black shadow with a body soft as rubber crawled behind him and entangled his feet while he was off guard, dragging him down.
The pain of his skin scraping against the concrete steps almost caused him to fall apart.
Ye Zun immediately let go of the spray bottle, firmly grasping onto the railing beside him.
After stabilizing his body, he grudgingly loosened one hand and fumbled around for the awl in the plastic bag dangling from his wrist, using his backhand to pierce the shadow that was holding his captive. While the shadow was struggling, Ye Zun decisively grasped one end of the shadow’s body, ravelling the body around the stair railing to increase friction.
Gripping the shadow tightly with one hand and taking out the scissors still packaged in its plastic shell with his other, he pulled the tall and slender body of the ghost up towards him while unceasingly cutting at it with the scissors until it snapped.
With the awl in his mouth, Ye Zun freed a hand to grab the spray bottle he dropped previously, spraying several pumps of alcohol on the shredded body of the ghost, and then quickly lit it up with the lighter.
“Wet and cold, so horrifying to the touch.”
As the ghost screeched, cold sweat dripped from Ye Zun’s brows. Panting constantly, he slumped on the steps.
He didn’t know when, but one of his gloves had been lost in the scuffle. Ye Zun’s fingers were unsteady and he attempted to fumble the phone out of his pocket for a long time. It was 3:36.
There were only four minutes left before the end of the escape time limit.
Although his legs were soft and his body was in great pain, Ye Zun stood up with the support of the handrails, then began walking to his room on the sixth floor, step by step.
“Back then, I shouldn’t have rented a room on the top floor in a building without an elevator.”
At 3:37AM, Ye Zun stood in his room, breathing heavily. He spilled the broken shards of the baijiu bottle together with the overflowing alcohol inside the plastic bag on the bed.
He flicked the lighter. A bonfire erupted instantly.
In the raging fire, a black shadow struggled to get out, condensing into a terrifying ghost, clamouring at Ye Zun but ending up being swallowed by the fire.
Very soon, the ghost disappeared, and a pale girl hugging her knees sat in the flames.
“How did you know I was here?”
Every ounce of energy in Ye Zun’s body dissipated at one and he leaned against the wall behind him. “During the nightmare loop, you kept asking me if I found you. At the end, when I laid back on the bed, you said I found you. Thinking about this carefully, this was probably a hint, telling me where you are. The ghost in the room had been lying with me on this bed.”
The girl looked at him with a strange smile. “Congratulations on clearing. But don’t be happy so early. Once you enter the amusement park, you cannot leave halfway. When you die in the game, you have to bring in another person until the game ends. I am free, and I wish you luck.”
Ye Zun was both dumbfounded and horrified. “Wait, Lin Youlin, it was you who dragged me into the game? Why?”
But right after he finished saying this sentence, the girl’s ghostly figure dissipated.
The red letters in a grey translucent dialog box appeared in the air again:【 Congratulations Player Ye Zun for successfully completing the novice trial, please leave the instance as soon as possible. The reward will be issued directly after leaving the instance. 】
Ye Zun did not understand the meaning behind this at all. Was this some kind of realistic holographic game developed by a mysterious organisation?
Ye Zun stood by the window, flinging the curtains open and looking out. A chill enveloped his body.
Under the hazy sky, countless ghosts from far and near were heading towards Paradise Apartments, converging in his direction. The dense tide of ghosts could make people’s blood run cold.
“Looks like I really need to find a way to get out of here first, otherwise I’d still die even if the game is cleared.”
After Lin Youlin’s ghost dissipated and the fire went out, a key appeared on the scorched bed.
Ye Zun picked up the key and walked downstairs.
Although this game instance may appear scary, clearly the level wasn’t hard. It was indeed at the perfect difficulty for a novice trial.
Because, at the beginning of the nightmare loop, almost all clues one needed to understand the truth behind this mystery was hidden in the dreams, and when the supernatural post was included, he could find the key for clearance.
In the post, the landlord Lin Youlin felt scared for no reason and left the rental house on her own to go downstairs, but during this process, there was actually no substantial danger.
Until when she reached the first floor, where she saw the two extra sets of stairs going down.
To be precise, Lin Youlin saw a ghost for the first time after she walked down the two extra flights and exited the unit building. There, she saw the ghost on the fourth floor hiding behind the red curtains.
And then, she received a ghost’s call.
Similarly, even if Ye Zun encountered a ghost at the beginning, he didn’t see the fourth floor when walking downstairs, nor was he physically attacked by ghosts.
As long as one calmed down, this thought would arise: when the two of them saw the fourth floor, it’s only after they went down the two floors that shouldn’t exist. This was the common ground.
They would subconsciously think: Could it be that, after passing the two additional floors, I walked into another world?
Lin Youlin believed the ghost call and went back without leaving the community. It was impossible for her to know what she would’ve seen if she chose to leave the community.
But Ye Zun did walk out of the community, and he saw the creatures that sent chills down his spine.
Ye Zun was always constantly stuck on one detail: although ghosts appeared and blocked his door at the beginning of the game, until he walked out of the community, he was not attacked by any one of them.
Would ghosts be so kind as to let Ye Zun escape so easily? Since the ghosts can appear outside his door from the very beginning, why didn’t they attack him from the get-go?
The answer to this question was slowly revealed after he received a ghost call.
Sifting through from the beginning:
Lin Youlin never split the rent with anyone after moving. At the beginning, she was confused and inexplicably felt afraid, to the point where she wanted to go downstairs and wait for the non-existent night shift working sister to come back.
Ye Zun was frightened by the ghost that appeared in the nightmare and ran downstairs, but the ghost never actually attacked him.
Conclusion: Whether it was Lin Youlin or Ye Zun, they both left the room under the guidance or fear of ghosts and went downstairs.
The ghosts’ purpose was clear and consistent: they would do everything possible to satisfy their need to send people to go downstairs late at night, but as long as someone went downstairs, they would encounter extra steps to the basement, and as long as they passed through the extra steps, they would see the fourth floor.
Then, enter the ghostly monsters!
Ghosts would appear in front of people and further affect the player as time progresses, deceiving or attacking them.
On top of that, the ghost on the phone tried pretending to be a player like Ye Zun, trying to trick Ye Zun into a place one kilometer away from this community.
When it noticed that Ye Zun had walked back, the ghost on the phone could no longer hide its resentment, calling him repeatedly.
The purpose of the ghosts was obviously to stop him from escaping. In turn, if he did whatever the ghosts did not want him to do, they would hide the key to escape from him.
Then, doing the opposite, the thing that could save his life must be hidden in Paradise Apartments.
Ye Zun always remembered what his grandmother said. If he encounters a problem, as long as he finds a solution, he will no longer be afraid.
Therefore, after realising what the key to his escape was, even if he was afraid, he decided to go back.
In the nightmare loop, the female ghost said three sentences: “Linlin, where am I? Linlin, have you found me? Linlin, you found me.”
The female ghost’s words corresponded to where Ye Zun was at that time, which were: his room, the stairwell, and in his bed.
And at the beginning of the game, Ye Zun was told: There is a ghost in the room.
This room was obviously not a real room. If it was, the ghost wouldn’t have to turn around and trick people to head downstairs.
Obviously, only after going downstairs and passing the two underground steps into the ghost’s world, then heading back upstairs, can one walk to the room where the ghost’s body hid.
Just like when Lin Youlin went downstairs in a flustered manner, she was tricked back upstairs by the ghost, and then she shared the bed with the real ghost.
Sure enough, only by destroying the ghost in the room can you receive the key to escape.
The key to living and the greatest fear had always been together.
Ye Zun dragged his aching body down the stairs. From the bottom, the sound of ghosts banging the iron gate of the unit building could be heard.
Holding the key, he arrived at the fourth floor.
When going downstairs, there would be two extra flights; when going upstairs, there would be an extra fourth floor.
The steps that seemingly allowed you to escape actually lead to the ghost world. On the other hand, the fourth floor with red curtains that looked frightening at a glance, corresponded to the real Door to Survival.
Ye Zun was not sure at the beginning whether the Door to Survival was on the fourth floor or the third floor, which was why he stood in front of the open third floor door and forced the ghost to show up.
As expected, although the ghost figure originally appeared behind the red curtain on the fourth floor, it was consistent with the ghosts’ eternal purpose, which was to make people scared so they would stay away from the fourth floor, successfully hiding the Door to Survival.
In fact, only the fourth floor did not house real ghosts.
The key in his hand was forcibly inserted into the keyhole of the room on the fourth floor, where it opened with a light twist.
In the next instant, a warm, white light embraced Ye Zun.
Under the hazy sky, countless ghost waves lost their target. Stopping in place, they soon drifted away, going their separate ways.
The author has something to say:
Congratulations on clearance. Welcome to the Demon God’s Amusement Park
Having the Same Name as the Demon Lord of the AbyssEven though he was prepared, Ye Zun's heart was still beating erratically. His pupils instinctively dilated and he almost lost all reason.In the next second, he ran upstairs suddenly, panicking and almost tripping.Ye Zun looked up. Above the third floor was supposed to be the corridor on the fifth floor, and there was a 4' written in red, enclosed by a white circle.His pupils trembled. The same fourth floor from the supernatural post had appeared.The fourth floor that this building didn't have!Downstairs, the sound of something climbing up the stairs approached him quickly.Ye Zun stood up and sprinted upstairs.On the ceiling covered with mildew, the black stain slowly expanded like a mass of hair, and a female corpse wearing a black shroud soon crawled out of the stain, scuttling along the wall in the direction of Ye Zun like a spider.Ye Zun stumbled as he ran to the fifth floor. The doors on the fifth floor were wide open. Two puppets with stitched faces stood by the two doorways on the left and right sides of the corridor. They looked like ten-year-old girls wearing white nightdresses, each holding a life-like toy dripping with blood, a pair of Siamese twins joined by the hands.Hee hee hee hee The laughter just now came from them.Ye Zun sat down on the ground, staring at the being in front of him with his eyes wide open. He was so frightened that he lost the ability to run away.The two ghost puppets rolled their eyes, opened their big endless mouths, and pounced on him ferociously.The next secondAhhhhhhhh!The miserable cry of a ghost.And, the persistent buzzing of electricity.Ye Zun leaned against the railing, holding the alcohol spray in his left hand and the anti-pervert taser in his right, panting while trembling.Although in theory, ghosts inherently have a damp quality, just in case, it's better to wear some electrical protection.He stretched his arm out and sprayed the alcohol spray twice at each of the two ghost puppets on the left and right, adjusting the taser's shock to the highest level.The Siamese ghost puppets finally disappeared amidst the sizzling sound of electric currents.Very good, it's useful.At this moment, on the ceiling behind Ye Zun, the slowly descending corpse approached him.The twisted and damp hair instantly wrapped around his neck, dragging him upwards, trying to hang him to death.The taser in his hand would be useless on the hair, and it would sting Ye Zun himself.Ye Zun had to release the taser and fumbled for the lighter in his pocket.Flick. The flame of the lighter ignited.Then there was the smell of burnt albumen*.T/N: egg white/protein. Not sure how that smells, but maybe like a concentrated hot springs/boiled eggs smell??In order to prevent an incomplete combustion job, he immediately sprayed the bottle of alcohol with his left hand towards the struggling hair, making sure to build the fire even bigger.When he was dealing with the black-haired female corpse, a slender, black shadow with a body soft as rubber crawled behind him and entangled his feet while he was off guard, dragging him down.The pain of his skin scraping against the concrete steps almost caused him to fall apart.Ye Zun immediately let go of the spray bottle, firmly grasping onto the railing beside him.After stabilizing his body, he grudgingly loosened one hand and fumbled around for the awl in the plastic bag dangling from his wrist, using his backhand to pierce the shadow that was holding his captive. While the shadow was struggling, Ye Zun decisively grasped one end of the shadow's body, ravelling the body around the stair railing to increase friction.Gripping the shadow tightly with one hand and taking out the scissors still packaged in its plastic shell with his other, he pulled the tall and slender body of the ghost up towards him while unceasingly cutting at it with the scissors until it snapped.With the awl in his mouth, Ye Zun freed a hand to grab the spray bottle he dropped previously, spraying several pumps of alcohol on the shredded body of the ghost, and then quickly lit it up with the lighter.Wet and cold, so horrifying to the touch.As the ghost screeched, cold sweat dripped from Ye Zun's brows. Panting constantly, he slumped on the steps.He didn't know when, but one of his gloves had been lost in the scuffle. Ye Zun's fingers were unsteady and he attempted to fumble the phone out of his pocket for a long time. It was 3:36.There were only four minutes left before the end of the escape time limit.Although his legs were soft and his body was in great pain, Ye Zun stood up with the support of the handrails, then began walking to his room on the sixth floor, step by step.Back then, I shouldn't have rented a room on the top floor in a building without an elevator.At 3:37AM, Ye Zun stood in his room, breathing heavily. He spilled the broken shards of the baijiu bottle together with the overflowing alcohol inside the plastic bag on the bed.He flicked the lighter. A bonfire erupted instantly.In the raging fire, a black shadow struggled to get out, condensing into a terrifying ghost, clamouring at Ye Zun but ending up being swallowed by the fire.Very soon, the ghost disappeared, and a pale girl hugging her knees sat in the flames.How did you know I was here?Every ounce of energy in Ye Zun's body dissipated at one and he leaned against the wall behind him. During the nightmare loop, you kept asking me if I found you. At the end, when I laid back on the bed, you said I found you. Thinking about this carefully, this was probably a hint, telling me where you are. The ghost in the room had been lying with me on this bed.The girl looked at him with a strange smile. Congratulations on clearing. But don't be happy so early. Once you enter the amusement park, you cannot leave halfway. When you die in the game, you have to bring in another person until the game ends. I am free, and I wish you luck.Ye Zun was both dumbfounded and horrified. Wait, Lin Youlin, it was you who dragged me into the game? Why?But right after he finished saying this sentence, the girl's ghostly figure dissipated.The red letters in a grey translucent dialog box appeared in the air again: Congratulations Player Ye Zun for successfully completing the novice trial, please leave the instance as soon as possible. The reward will be issued directly after leaving the instance. Ye Zun did not understand the meaning behind this at all. Was this some kind of realistic holographic game developed by a mysterious organisation?Ye Zun stood by the window, flinging the curtains open and looking out. A chill enveloped his body.Under the hazy sky, countless ghosts from far and near were heading towards Paradise Apartments, converging in his direction. The dense tide of ghosts couldmake people's blood run cold.Looks like I really need to find a way to get out of here first, otherwise I'd still die even if the game is cleared.After Lin Youlin's ghost dissipated and the fire went out, a key appeared on the scorched bed.Ye Zun picked up the key and walked downstairs.Although this game instance may appear scary, clearly the level wasn't hard. It was indeed at the perfect difficulty for a novice trial.Because, at the beginning of the nightmare loop, almost all clues one needed to understand the truth behind this mystery was hidden in the dreams, and when the supernatural post was included, he could find the key for clearance.In the post, the landlord Lin Youlin felt scared for no reason and left the rental house on her own to go downstairs, but during this process, there was actually no substantial danger.Until when she reached the first floor, where she saw the two extra sets of stairs going down.To be precise, Lin Youlin saw a ghost for the first time after she walked down the two extra flights and exited the unit building. There, she saw the ghost on the fourth floor hiding behind the red curtains.And then, she received a ghost's call.Similarly, even if Ye Zun encountered a ghost at the beginning, he didn't see the fourth floor when walking downstairs, nor was he physically attacked by ghosts.As long as one calmed down, this thought would arise: when the two of them saw the fourth floor, it's only after they went down the two floors that shouldn't exist. This was the common ground.They would subconsciously think: Could it be that, after passing the two additional floors, I walked into another world?Lin Youlin believed the ghost call and went back without leaving the community. It was impossible for her to know what she would've seen if she chose to leave the community.But Ye Zun did walk out of the community, and he saw the creatures that sent chills down his spine.Ye Zun was always constantly stuck on one detail: although ghosts appeared and blocked his door at the beginning of the game, until he walked out of the community, he was not attacked by any one of them.Would ghosts be so kind as to let Ye Zun escape so easily? Since the ghosts can appear outside his door from the very beginning, why didn't they attack him from the get-go?The answer to this question was slowly revealed after he received a ghost call.Sifting through from the beginning:Lin Youlin never split the rent with anyone after moving. At the beginning, she was confused and inexplicably felt afraid, to the point where she wanted to go downstairs and wait for the non-existent night shift working sister to come back.Ye Zun was frightened by the ghost that appeared in the nightmare and ran downstairs, but the ghost never actually attacked him.Conclusion: Whether it was Lin Youlin or Ye Zun, they both left the room under the guidance or fear of ghosts and went downstairs.The ghosts' purpose was clear and consistent: they would do everything possible to satisfy their need to send people to go downstairs late at night, but as long as someone went downstairs, they would encounter extra steps to the basement, and as long as they passed through the extra steps, they would see the fourth floor.Then, enter the ghostly monsters!Ghosts would appear in front of people and further affect the player as time progresses, deceiving or attacking them.On top of that, the ghost on the phone tried pretending to be a player like Ye Zun, trying to trick Ye Zun into a place one kilometer away from this community.When it noticed that Ye Zun had walked back, the ghost on the phone could no longer hide its resentment, calling him repeatedly.The purpose of the ghosts was obviously to stop him from escaping. In turn, if he did whatever the ghosts did not want him to do, they would hide the key to escape from him.Then, doing the opposite, the thing that could save his life must be hidden in Paradise Apartments.Ye Zun always remembered what his grandmother said. If he encounters a problem, as long as he finds a solution, he will no longer be afraid.Therefore, after realising what the key to his escape was, even if he was afraid, he decided to go back.In the nightmare loop, the female ghost said three sentences: Linlin, where am I? Linlin, have you found me? Linlin, you found me.The female ghost's words corresponded to where Ye Zun was at that time, which were: his room, the stairwell, and in his bed.And at the beginning of the game, Ye Zun was told: There is a ghost in the room.This room was obviously not a real room. If it was, the ghost wouldn't have to turn around and trick people to head downstairs.Obviously, only after going downstairs and passing the two underground steps into the ghost's world, then heading back upstairs, can one walk to the room where the ghost's body hid.Just like when Lin Youlin went downstairs in a flustered manner, she was tricked back upstairs by the ghost, and then she shared the bed with the real ghost.Sure enough, only by destroying the ghost in the room can you receive the key to escape.The key to living and the greatest fear had always been together.Ye Zun dragged his aching body down the stairs. From the bottom, the sound of ghosts banging the iron gate of the unit building could be heard.Holding the key, he arrived at the fourth floor.When going downstairs, there would be two extra flights; when going upstairs, there would be an extra fourth floor.The steps that seemingly allowed you to escape actually lead to the ghost world. On the other hand, the fourth floor with red curtains that looked frightening at a glance, corresponded to the real Door to Survival.Ye Zun was not sure at the beginning whether the Door to Survival was on the fourth floor or the third floor, which was why he stood in front of the open third floor door and forced the ghost to show up.As expected, although the ghost figure originally appeared behind the red curtain on the fourth floor, it was consistent with the ghosts' eternal purpose, which was to make people scared so they would stay away from the fourth floor, successfully hiding the Door to Survival.In fact, only the fourth floor did not house real ghosts.The key in his hand was forcibly inserted into the keyhole of the room on the fourth floor, where it opened with a light twist.In the next instant, a warm, white light embraced Ye Zun.Under the hazy sky, countless ghost waves lost their target. Stopping in place, they soon drifted away, going their separate ways.The author has something to say:Congratulations on clearance. Welcome to the Demon God's Amusement Park
