Because of the tension just now, Caleb felt that his heartbeat was almost reaching the normal person's resting heartbeat. This is undoubtedly a good sign for him...
Taking a deep breath, Caleb stepped over the corpse and walked smoothly to the gate. But when he reached out to grab the door handle and was about to open the door and escape, he suddenly heard some light footsteps very close to the door, and... a sound of sniffing.
'Oh no! Sounds like there is a dog squatting outside the door.'
If I go out through the gate now, I will definitely alarm the dog. When the dog barks, the owner of the house who is sleeping in the bed will definitely be woken up.
According to the game settings, the escapee played by the player should not be able to defeat the owner of this cabin head-on, or at least he does not have the courage to fight. Otherwise, when he saw the skinned corpse and heard the dog barking, he would not have fled into the house in panic to hide, but would have turned around and fought hard.
Caleb estimated that as long as the owner of the house was awakened, he would have failed this novice tutorial level.
'It seems you'll have to find another way out.'
—Game Assistant: Please enter a focused posture.
As the prompt appeared, an icon of a thinker with his hand on his chin appeared in the lower left corner of Caleb's vision, and the icon was also flashing in a highlighted manner.
[Concentration Stance: Hush... Quiet! Concentrate and don't be distracted!]
[Posture Effect Level 0: 10% chance of finding clues, 5% chance of finding items (+2% chance of taking items off the scene), increased brain excitement. +55% chance of attracting movement and stillness, +50% chance of falling into 'real fear' when startled.] (Motion and stillness attraction state: When the player notices movement, the game system will perform moderate hypnosis and psychological suggestion on them, making the player curious about the movement and subconsciously wanting to get closer to the location where the movement occurs.) (Real fear state: When a player is frightened in the game, the game system will give him appropriate hypnosis and psychological suggestion, making him temporarily forget that he is playing a virtual game, thereby stimulating his deep fear.)
Caleb switched to a focused posture.
Following the ding sound, he felt that his tiptoeing state disappeared immediately, and his vision became much dimmer. But correspondingly, he felt that his mind became clearer instantly. If he had to describe this feeling, it was a bit like drinking two cups of strong coffee in a row when he was sleepy.
The green arrow appeared again, pointing to a room next to the 'utility room'.
After Caleb walked into the room, he found that the layout inside looked a bit like a kitchen. A pile of rotten meat on the stove was the source of the stench in the room. The kitchen had no door and the windows were boarded up.
In the middle of the kitchen floor, a square outline of light appeared when he looked over there—this was obviously the escape clue that the 'clue discovery' function of the concentration posture helped him find directly. When I got closer, I found that there was a trap door at the location outlined by the square light. There was an iron pull ring on the door. When opened, it should lead to a place like a cellar or basement.
At this moment, Caleb suddenly had a bold idea.
He chose to switch back to a cautious stance, and after the prompt sound, the light outline of the trapdoor in front of him immediately disappeared. Caleb's hands and feet became lighter again, and his eyes became much brighter.
He noticed a kitchen knife lying next to the pile of minced meat, so he went over and took it in his hand to examine it. The blade was a little dirty, but it still looked sharp.
—Item Discovery... —Item discovery failed!
Uh... the level of the concentration posture is too low, so the items picked up in the scene cannot display the specific information panel, and cannot be brought back to the preparation space.
Then he turned around and walked towards the sleeping owner of the house.
But just when he was approaching his target to within three meters, the snoring on the bed weakened a little, and the owner of the house who was sleeping inside suddenly turned over in bed, as if he was about to wake up.
''Do you know what you are doing? The price of overestimating your own abilities is death!''
A warning message appeared immediately afterwards. Caleb subconsciously stopped and the tension intensified. His heartbeat had reached the lower limit of a normal person's heart rate.
—Unknown factors are being imported... Data error...
A strange message suddenly appeared in front of me.
'???'
What is going on?
Could it be that my physical condition has affected the system's detection and analysis of my body?
Because this message only appeared for a moment and then disappeared without any other reaction, Caleb didn't take it to heart. As the adrenaline surged through his body, his senses sharpened and his mind cleared, feeling much the same as when he had just entered the state of concentration.
However, the cautious posture will greatly reduce the player's movement speed. Although Caleb's senses and reflexes have been improved, his body has an additional forced oppression, and his hands and feet are like sandbags.
'I don't think it's possible to kill him by sneak attack. He might even kill me in return.'
Caleb shook his head slightly and had to give up the idea of assassination. It seems that the game system has obviously considered that some brave and fearless players may resort to this kind of assassination to pass the level, and has already added a setting for the sleeping owner of the house in advance.
Caleb only approached three meters away when the owner of the house showed signs of waking up. If he dared to take another step forward, the other party might be startled awake.
So he turned around and went back to the kitchen, reached out and grabbed the trapdoor pull ring, and pulled it up with force. The trapdoor creaked slightly and opened, revealing the dark entrance to the cellar below.
A strong stench of decay rushed up, almost making Caleb faint.
He was now in a cautious posture, his senses were heightened, and because of the secretion of adrenaline, his senses were further enhanced, and his sense of smell was more sensitive than that of a normal person. He quickly switched to a focused posture, weakening the sensory enhancement, and the stench faded a little.
Pinching my nose, I walked down the ladder. It was dark below and I couldn't see anything. Fortunately, a green arrow appeared again in front of him, and Caleb just had to follow the arrow forward.
In the dark basement, I could hear the chirping sounds of mice moving around. It seemed like there were quite a few of them, and they were less than half a meter away from me.
He walked about ten meters, and a ladder with a light outline appeared in front of him. After climbing up the ladder and pushing open the trapdoor on top, Caleb saw the dark night sky above his head, and the foul smell of the cellar was finally replaced by fresh air.
'I am out.'
He climbed out of the trapdoor and turned around to see the house he was in less than five meters behind him. In the darkness and the cover of trees, it looked dark and lifeless.
After turning around and taking two steps, Caleb couldn't see the road clearly in the dark and tripped over a raised mound of earth on the ground. When he carefully got up, he immediately saw a big black pit next to the pile of earth. He almost stepped into the pit trap just now.
"Gurgle…"
At this moment, because of the noise made when Caleb tripped, a strange sound came from the direction of the house door, and a hairy head quickly raised up, and the blood-red eyes were particularly eye-catching in the darkness.
...
Woo...Roar!
The owner of the blood-red eyes uttered a low, guttural sound and bared his sharp white fangs in the darkness. It stood up, and judging from its figure, it was about the height of a person. After roaring twice at Caleb not far away, it immediately pounced on him.
But before it had rushed out less than two meters, the rope tied around its neck straightened and the person pulling it stood up.
The huge noise outside the house immediately woke up the sleeping owner. The wooden-board windows of the cottage soon lit up with firelight, and a tall figure was swaying inside.
—Game Assistant: Please enter active posture immediately!
A third icon of a dancing person popped up in the lower left corner of the sight as a prompt, also flashing in a highlighted form.
[Active posture: Remember to warm up before taking action.]
[Stance Effect Level 0: Basic Damage 5%-10% (60%-90% of Vital Damage) Max Health per attack, Full Speed +10%, Strength +10%, Resistance to 'True Fear' +5%. While in this stance, you cannot detect any clues or items.]
Caleb switched to an active stance.
After the prompt sound, he felt his body slightly warm, his heartbeat slightly accelerated, and his hands and feet seemed to be injected with more strength. He was in a state of warming up and ready to sprint at any time.
At the same time, two energy bars, one white and one red, appeared in the middle of the field of vision:
HP: 100%. PHY: 100%.
The green arrow appeared again in front of me, pointing to a forest path not far ahead. The sound of a door opening and incomprehensible scolding could be heard from behind. Caleb did not stop and immediately ran in the direction indicated by the arrow.