Rustle, rustle, rustle...
A slight friction sound came continuously from one side of the ventilation duct.
Even though Kyou Fujibayashi knew the person approaching was most likely her university classmate, she still couldn't avoid a burst of nervousness.
She tensed her body, her eyes staring in the direction of the channel where the sound originated. She was mentally prepared to leave the ventilation duct and flee at any moment.
Drip...
Her heart beat faster, and her inner tension rose; this was the fear of unknown death.
Rustle, rustle, rustle...
Finally,
A woman wearing a blue patient uniform appeared at the corner of the vent.
After seeing the visitor's face clearly, Kyou Fujibayashi slowly let out a breath.
"Phew..."
"Kyou, you... are too sensitive."
The arriving red-haired woman said helplessly to Kyou Fujibayashi, "Although vigilance is a good thing, maintaining this state of seeing enemies behind every bush for four hours is too tiring. It's easy to make mistakes in the end. Relax when you should relax, and rest when you should rest. You really can't keep your nerves taut all the time."
"Mm, I know. I just want to go back alive to see my sister."
Upon hearing this, the red-haired girl smiled faintly.
"You will definitely go back alive. You are the most vigilant and adaptable newcomer I have ever seen. Out of more than twenty newcomers, you will absolutely survive to the end. Believe me."
The red-haired girl's eyes flickered with sincerity.
One had to know that when she left her single room in the experiment center and stood in a corner far from the crowd to observe, she discovered Kyou Fujibayashi hiding in her single room observing as well.
At first glance, she didn't even recognize her.
At that time, Kyou Fujibayashi's long purple hair was tied up, and her originally fair and exquisite cheeks were smeared with a layer of gray dirt, concealing her true appearance. Accompanied by the blue patient uniform, she appeared like a country bumpkin from who knows where.
This level of vigilance absolutely surpassed all other newcomers.
She even thought Kyou Fujibayashi was an old player. But thinking that the girl hadn't even adjusted her true face, she understood that this beautiful university classmate of hers was a newcomer, entering the Strange Game for the first time. Otherwise, it was impossible not to even adjust one's appearance.
This vigilance made her admire her.
At least when she entered the 'Strange Game' as a newcomer for the first time, she didn't possess this degree of vigilance like Kyou.
Kyou Fujibayashi was much stronger than she was back then.
Sawada Yoriko gazed at the girl's face. In fact, she could completely accept Kyou Fujibayashi's performance.
Unlike an ordinary, unnoticed girl like herself, the beautiful Kyou Fujibayashi could always attract more gazes and affection from the opposite sex, and might have even encountered some perverts and molesters.
In a strange environment, it was only normal to be a bit more vigilant for one's own safety.
"Thank you. We can all survive. Yi-chan is an old player; you've even cleared the Strange Game before."
Kyou Fujibayashi had a look of admiration.
To be able to clear the Strange Game alive was absolutely a display of strength. Even if it involved luck, that was still a part of strength.
"I am only a Level 1 player and have only experienced the Strange Game twice. I can't compare to those old players. I am very happy that you can trust me, Kyou."
"Yi-chan is my friend. Moreover, Yi-chan, you said that 'Holy Knight' among the old players..."
At that time, she was hiding far away, but she was also paying attention to other players. Old players possessed strength and experience; the survival rate of acting together with old players would increase greatly.
But who would have thought that the blond old player 'Holy Knight', who stepped forward to call upon the new players, was a beast with a human face?
He clearly looked so upright, calling on players to survive together, but in reality, he was a complete villain.
Kyou Fujibayashi hadn't expected it at all and was secretly afraid in hindsight.
"In the last game, he violated a newcomer and even plotted against me. I don't look that good in reality, but now..."
Through the face-sculpting technology provided by the 'Strange Game', she possessed the beautiful face she had always dreamed of.
Even if she only possessed this beauty during the Strange Game instance mission time.
"Actually, I think being a bit more ordinary is better."
"Kyou,"
Sawada Yoriko was somewhat unhappy, "We are different."
"Sorry, Yi-chan."
Kyou Fujibayashi was slightly apologetic. She also knew she shouldn't say this to her classmate.
As a classmate, she actually knew of Sawada Yoriko's appearance anxiety; Yoriko had always envied girls like her who possessed good looks.
During university, she heard Sawada Yoriko say enviously more than once, 'If only I were as pretty as Kyou.'
Her saying 'ordinary is better' seemed to carry a mocking meaning in Sawada Yoriko's eyes.
Sawada Yoriko, Kyou Fujibayashi's university classmate, nickname [Yi-chan · LV1].
"It's fine, I know Kyou means well for me. In this world, being a bit more ordinary and less conspicuous would be safer, but..."
She touched her own cheek.
The character sculpted by the Strange Game had no difference from the real person. Whether it was visual, tactile, or the feedback sensation when moving, it had no difference from a real body.
This was her body in this world.
"Even if it's only for this short time, I want to possess it."
"Mhm, mhm,"
Kyou Fujibayashi responded.
"As long as you pay attention to safety and protect yourself well, there actually isn't too big of a problem. Moreover, Yi-chan is already a lv1 official player now, much more amazing than us newcomers. In the future, when you become a higher-level player, you won't need to worry about the danger brought by other players."
The Strange was terrifying,
But the human heart was even more terrifying.
Thinking that her friend was almost violated in the last Strange Game, Kyou Fujibayashi held increasingly vigilant psychology toward those strangers.
And old players—among them were those who used newcomers as test subjects to test the Strange's danger, or as bait for their own escape.
These bloody facts heard from her good friend Sawada Yoriko made her tremble with fear.
There were purely good old players, but the number was very small. The higher the level of the old player, the more selfish they were. Only players who were extremely self-serving and self-centered could clear Strange missions time and again, living until now to become high-level players.
Kyou Fujibayashi was now hiding together with Sawada Yoriko, waiting for the Strange's first round of attack and slaughter.
According to what Sawada Yoriko said,
The time of the Strange's attack was limited; it wouldn't slaughter endlessly.
After reaching a certain time or a certain number of player deaths, the Strange Experiment Subject's offensive would drop drastically.
By observing the Strange Experiment Subject's movement patterns and slaughter methods, reasonably using this safe gap, and finding flaws, one could survive to the end.
And during this period, they could also observe the reactions and performance of the old players.
If the old players sincerely helped the newcomers, they could look for an opportunity to join them.
If they were old players who treated newcomers as meat shield bait, they could stay far away and avoid contact.
Kyou Fujibayashi approved of Sawada Yoriko's proposal.
The number of players in the Experiment Center exceeded thirty.
If the Strange body sought them out right from the start, then... Kyou Fujibayashi would have nothing to say and could only accept this cruel reality.
Soon, the two stopped communicating and kept quiet.
Ten minutes had passed since the Strange Experiment Subject was released from its cage.
And up to now,
Neither of them had sensed any movement.
Thump...
Thump...
There was only the sound of heartbeats and slightly rapid breathing.
No footsteps, no friction sounds, and the imagined screams for help were also absent, as if everything had fallen into silence.
Kyou Fujibayashi rejoiced at first; no sound meant no danger was approaching.
But the duration of this silence was so long that it once made her wonder if all the other surrounding players had already died.
If not for her good friend Sawada Yoriko being by her side giving her a sense of peace of mind, she would definitely be in a state of extreme anxiety.
Tap tap tap...
Suddenly, a burst of hurried footsteps rang out.
The messy footsteps immediately made Kyou Fujibayashi nervous, and she held her breath unconsciously.
Tap tap tap...
It was close,
Getting closer.
Kyou Fujibayashi's hand trembled slightly. Soon, a hand grasped her wrist, and the warm heat relieved her taut nerves.
Sawada Yoriko raised a smile, signaling Kyou Fujibayashi to be at ease.
The purple-haired girl nodded.
"Help..."
"Quick, save me..."
"I don't want to die, someone come save me!"
After a brief cry for help, heavy footsteps rang out thud thud thud, the vibration transmitting through the floor in all directions.
Monster,
This was absolutely a monster, the Strange Experiment Subject from the broadcast.
"No..."
With a Boom, a human body heavily hit the solid concrete wall like a kite with a broken string.
"Pfft..."
"Save..."
Crack... With the sound of bones breaking, the man who had issued the cry for help lost all vitality, his eyes bulging as black-red liquid flowed out.
Kyou Fujibayashi saw nothing, and knew even more that the location where the man died was still quite far from her, separated by at least one wall.
But,
But,
A fresh life was gone just like that.
The scene of the man's death couldn't help but emerge in her mind.
She felt endlessly chilled, her body trembling involuntarily. The despair of that moment when she failed against the little boy and was taken away by him constantly emerged.
Gulp...
Kyou Fujibayashi bit her lip tightly, enduring the fear in her heart and staying motionless.
One minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
There was no longer any sound outside.
Kyou Fujibayashi was just about to speak when she was stopped by a signal from Sawada Yoriko's eyes.
Boom...
Suddenly,
A violent impact sound rang out.
Not here where they were, but at a room door not far ahead after turning left from the room exit.
Boom...
Another loud sound.
"Don't kill me,"
"Monster!"
An adult's scream.
The adult man hiding in the room opened his eyes wide in terror facing the intruding Strange body. He tried to run out the back door, but it was completely too late. He ran less than three steps before being knocked to the ground with one blow.
"Beg... Ahhh!"
Another scream rang out.
Another person died.
Kyou Fujibayashi widened her eyes.
She thought of a possibility.
After killing the first player, the Strange body didn't leave but was waiting for nearby players to actively expose themselves.
So... treacherous!
Tap tap...
A slight footstep sound, different from a human's, rang out.
That was the special sound of flesh pads stained with liquid stepping on floor tiles.
Every shred of it made the human heart tremble.
Soon, this footstep sound disappeared.
Kyou Fujibayashi remained motionless, not even daring to breathe too forcefully, deeply afraid of attracting the Strange Experiment Subject.
Finally, after a faint cry for help from escaping came from afar, Kyou Fujibayashi looked toward her friend Sawada Yoriko.
"It's fine for the time being,"
Sawada Yoriko spoke in a lowered voice.
"Yi-chan, that second player just now..."
"Mm, he probably planned to change locations and then... was discovered."
She continued, "The Strange Experiment Subject cannot sense the direction of our existence. It can only rely on normal methods like vision and hearing to find players. If the sound is very small, it shouldn't be able to hear it either."
Judging by the sound caused by the Strange body killing the players just now, their distance from the Strange body exceeded 20 meters.
"Just the sound of normal breathing and heartbeats, separated by a distance of twenty meters through a wall, it cannot sense."
The most fearful thing was if the Strange body could sense their location.
If that were the case,
No matter where they hid, they could be found.
But that would be truly too unfair for these players.
Hiding for four hours, standing fast until the support personnel arrived, would be a completely impossible matter.
"Shall we continue hiding here?"
Kyou Fujibayashi inquired.
"Go look at the corpse. See if we can discover more useful clues."
"..."
"Kyou, I'll go. I am an old player. Even if I'm discovered by the Strange body, I can still make it in time to run. Don't feel guilty; there isn't much difference between two people going and one person going."
"Yi-chan..."
"Don't thank me. If you really want to thank me, introduce a young and handsome male teacher from your school to me. I haven't even had a boyfriend up to now!"
"Yi-chan..."
Under Kyou Fujibayashi's moved gaze,
The red-haired girl moved, removed the barrier of the vent, and landed carefully.
"I'll wait for you to come back, Yi-chan."
"Mm."
She left, walking out of the room, and looked carefully left and right. At a glance, she saw the corpse flowing with blood about twenty meters ahead on the left.
She walked over step by step.
"Truly miserable."
The chest was pierced through, covered in red liquid, and the smell of blood permeated the air.
There were 3 hours and 41 minutes left until the time ended.
Lin Ye and Ai Hoshino had already left their original holdout point and were walking step by step toward the assembly point agreed upon with the other old players. They were on the way back.
Because of Invisibility,
The figures of the two did not appear. Only the occasional footsteps echoed on the floor, bringing a few abnormal sounds to this deathly silent Experiment Center.
Ai Hoshino lamented that she had held hands with Lin Ye the most today, only the environment wasn't very good.
Screams rang out, very far away.
This made Lin Ye and Ai Hoshino not rush their journey.
Who knows if it was good luck or bad luck, but neither of them had seen the figure of the Strange body.
"It's just ahead."
"Mm."
Lin Ye looked around once and deactivated Invisibility.
Hide abilities if necessary.
Currently, he used the Invisibility ability by actively choosing to maintain it for five minutes, then stopping to rest for at least one minute. If there was abnormal movement, he would extend the Invisibility time.
The burden of superpowers on the body was unknown, but Lin Ye also avoided using them continuously.
Ten seconds later,
Lin Ye and Ai Hoshino walked out of the intersection and looked toward the high platform of the agreed location.
There,
At this time, two people were waiting. It was the blond loli Lilith and the female newcomer she was responsible for.
Soon,
Lin Ye rendezvoused with her.
"Wah! Big Brother looks to be in good condition! You probably didn't encounter the Strange body, right!"
"No, I actually wanted to encounter it."
"Haha, Big Brother is really funny."
The blond loli laughed hehe.
The female newcomer at the side maintained silence, but when meeting Lin Ye's eyes, she smiled actively.
Establishing a good relationship with old players was beneficial for survival; this was something she was very clear about.
"Wonder if any old players died. Although I didn't encounter the Strange body, I heard quite a few screams."
"Shouldn't have. Even if they can't beat it, they can still run away."
"Big Brother is very confident in his escape skills! If Lilith encounters danger, can Big Brother take Lilith along!"
The blond loli leaned in front of Lin Ye, her big cute eyes releasing a look of expectation.
"Cannot."
"Sigh!"
"I want to take Rina-chan."
"Tsk tsk tsk... So Big Brother likes this type!"
Lilith looked at Ai Hoshino hehe, and from the position of the two standing now, she realized that Lin Ye and Ai Hoshino were getting along quite harmoniously and had already established a basic relationship.
Not long after, a burst of footsteps rang out.
It was Jack.
Coming with him was the newcomer he brought.
The two had normal expressions and were in good condition.
"Zero."
"Mm, did you encounter the Strange body?"
Jack shook his head. "One minute left."
There was one minute left until the rendezvous time.
But now, of the six old players, only three had arrived. In other directions, it seemed something had happened.
"Sorry, sorry."
Soon, a man with dazzling blond hair appeared full of apologies.
It was Holy Knight.
He was alone.
"Where are the others!"
"I let them hide. Since 'Kuroko' was there—I ran into 'Kuroko' during the follow-up exploration—the two of us exchanged intelligence, and I came here to bring the intelligence to communicate with everyone. This is also to reduce the possibility of being discovered by the Strange body."
"Even if I encounter the Strange Experiment Subject, it is easy to escape."
'Holy Knight' smiled and gave an explanation.
"Then only that middle-aged player 'Youtiao' is left."
"Mm, time is up. Let's exchange intelligence first. I'll speak first about the intelligence 'Kuroko' and I obtained."
Holy Knight spoke actively to inform them, and took out a piece of chalk, drawing a rough map situation of the direction he was responsible for exploring on the ground.
Subsequently, it was Jack, Lilith,
And finally Lin Ye.
However, just when Lin Ye had spoken halfway, a burst of obvious abnormal noise appeared.
In an instant,
All players shut their mouths and maintained silence, without even a single movement.
Tap...
Tap...
Slight footsteps appeared exceptionally distinct in the empty hall.
Under Lin Ye's signal, the few newcomers who were still standing slowly squatted down to avoid being discovered.
A while later,
A figure fell into everyone's field of vision.
The Strange Experiment Subject finally appeared in their field of vision.
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