1
Standing in the noisy game lobby, I felt a little bewildered.
A huge electronic screen stood in the middle of the lobby.
It continuously displayed the names of horror-game instances and the players taking part in them.
Though I’d never been here before, I had a strange feeling about the place.
“You look a little lost, miss.” A man in a black jacket walked over.
He smiled at me. “Your first time here?”
I nodded.
“Then you’re lucky you ran into me. You can call me Vương. I’ve cleared five instances.”
He seemed to assume I was a newcomer entering a horror game for the first time.
But I’d just come out of an SS-level instance.
Still, that worked out well enough. I paused, then looked at him with an anxious, admiring expression.
“Vương, I don’t understand why I’m here. Can you tell me what this horror game is all about?”
He looked pleased and raised an eyebrow.
“As your senior, I’m happy to answer questions for you rookies. But there’s a lot you can only learn after surviving one brush with death after another. I can’t just give it all away, can I?”
I said awkwardly, “I don’t have any information to trade.”
“Easy.” He suddenly reached out toward me.
I tensed, ready to teach him a lesson with the martial arts Cố Mặc Trì had taught me if he tried anything.
To my surprise, he only held up two fingers and waggled them. “Two thousand.”
“Two thousand what?”
He chuckled. “Yuan, obviously. WeChat Pay or a bank transfer, whichever you prefer. Either works for me.”
“…”
When I didn’t say anything, he turned serious.
“Too expensive? You’d pay at least three thousand for this information elsewhere. My price is more than fair.”
I didn’t think it was expensive. When your life was at stake, being able to pay your way out of danger was something to be grateful for.
I just hadn’t expected money to be welcome even in a horror game.
I opened my mouth, about to answer.
A cold electronic voice suddenly began counting down:
“Three, two…”
My head suddenly spun, and I nearly lost my balance.
Vương caught me.
I thought I heard him mutter, “This damn game.”
The next second, a flash of light filled my vision, and every sound in the lobby vanished.
I was back home.
A scrap of paper was clenched in my hand.
It was the last thing Vương had slipped into my hand.
2
The scrap had Vương’s WeChat number on it.
I added him as a friend.
He accepted right away.
Him: “Hey! I knew you’d add me.”
Me: “What do you know?”
Him: “Some unwritten rules of the horror game, and tips for clearing a few instances.”
Me: “How do I know what you’re telling me is true?”
Him: “Because I have a conscience, and there aren’t many people like me.”
Me: “…”
When I stayed silent for a long time, he seemed uneasy.
“Eighteen hundred is fine too, pretty, kind girl. Trust me, the information’s definitely real. I’m about to run out of money for food.”
That made him sound even more like a scammer.
Him: “Don’t believe me? Then let me give you a quick introduction to this horror game.”
“The horror game is like a parallel world, with its own rules. Anyone who can enter it must have a powerful desire and be close to death.”
Close to death?
I frowned. My annual physicals had always come back great.
Maybe his words had planted the idea in my mind. The sun was shining outside, but my hands and feet were ice-cold.
I transferred him 2,000 yuan.
Him: “Thanks, big spender.”
For the next hour or so, he told me about the rules of the horror-game world and little tricks that could help me make it through.
Some of it I already knew, and some of it I didn’t.
But I could more or less tell that he was telling the truth.
The things Cố Mặc Trì had once said to scare me as a joke...
...were all true.
From Vương’s account, I finally understood just how terrifying and ruthless Cố Mặc Trì was as the horror game’s big boss.
I quickly typed, “Can a player go straight from the real world into a horror-game instance?”
“No.” He replied at once.
“The game lobby is like a transfer station. You have to enter the lobby before you can be sent to a horror-game instance. You have to go through the lobby both to enter and to leave an instance.”
I pressed my lips together.
Before, I’d gone straight from home into an instance every time.
So why had I ended up in the lobby this time?
After thinking for a moment, I asked, “Can the monsters in the horror game come into the real world?”
This time, he was silent for a while.
Him: “You’re the first person to ask me that.”
“If they came here, it would be a disaster for our world.”
Then how had Cố Mặc Trì come to the real world?
My gaze fell on the photo of the two of us on the living-room TV stand.
The handsome man held me in his arms, his gaze tender and full of affection.
If I hadn’t entered the horror game myself...
...who could have guessed he was the ruthless, powerful big boss of the horror game?
“Still, it’s not impossible for them to enter the real world.” He sent another message. “I’ve heard a little rumor.”
“They say the horror world is growing stronger, and the real world is starting to be affected. The top-ranked players are currently discussing how to destroy the big boss of the horror-game world once and for all.”
What!
They wanted to destroy Cố Mặc Trì?
A storm rose inside me. I’d never felt this uneasy, not even when I entered the horror game.
Him: “The top players suspect the horror-game bosses have been growing more violent lately, killing players at will to build up their strength. The big boss may break through the barrier one day and enter the real world.”
I held my breath.
Him: “But the big boss is incredibly hard to kill. There are countless clones in the instances. To truly destroy it, they’d have to find its real body and its weakness. Those are things the top players will have to figure out.”
“People like us just need to figure out how to survive the horror-game instances. If you ever want to know anything, you can ask me. Regular customers get a discount.”
3
Something was wrong.
Ever since I returned from the game lobby, Cố Mặc Trì’s image had gradually grown hazy in my mind.
I could only remember him clearly by repeatedly looking at the photos we’d taken together.
That afternoon, a cold electronic voice rang in my ear.
Seven days had passed.
I had to enter another horror-game instance.
…
“Welcome, player, to the ‘Dollhouse’ instance.”
“Mission: Avoid the monsters’ attacks, search for clues to the exit, and escape the instance.”
“Mission difficulty: SS rank.”
“The instance is about to begin. Please prepare yourself, player—”
Another SS-rank instance.
When I opened my eyes, all I saw was thick darkness.
I even wondered if I’d opened my eyes at all.
I cautiously felt my way one step forward.
Suddenly, I tripped over something and fell to the floor.
Luckily, the floor was covered in soft carpet. My face pressed against it, and all I could hear around me was my own breathing.
Feeling around, I realized the thing I’d tripped over seemed to be… a doll?
Considering the instance was called Dollhouse,
it was very likely a clue.
I calmed myself down.
Carefully feeling the doll’s shape, I could tell it was a human-shaped doll.
It was about twenty inches long.
It was exquisitely made. Its skin wasn’t lifelike, but it was very smooth.
After a while, I had a rough sense of my situation.
I was locked in a room.
No windows, no lights.
The door was locked, too.
I couldn’t see anything in the dark, and it was hard to find anything suitable for opening the door.
The only thing I had was the doll in my hands.
People often couldn’t help coming up with strange ideas in the dark.
I didn’t know if it was my imagination,
but I kept feeling like the doll was watching me.
It was all Cố Mặc Trì’s fault. He’d made me watch too many horror movies about dolls coming to life.
Stay calm!
When an instance first began, players were given time to get used to it.
It wouldn’t start with a horror scene right in my face.
I reassured myself, relaxing a little.
After feeling around for a while, I finally found a matchbox in some corner.
A feeble flame flared to life, finally illuminating the pitch-black space around me.
I was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when I met a pair of black eyes.
They belonged to the doll in the room.
Its pupils were jet-black, and in the firelight, it looked as if it were about to come to life.
The doll stared at me.
It didn’t move.
But I kept feeling like the corners of its mouth were twitching.
Startled, I backed away a few steps.
The match went out.
My vision sank back into darkness, and everything was quiet.
As if nothing had happened.