Let's give space a touch of Chinese horror!

Chapter 19 First Blood

Tian Baiwei still had some sense.

Even though she had completely ignored the village chief's warning not to go out at night, she still knew that it was best to carry a weapon for self-defense before going out.

After all, based on her past gaming experience, the night in the game world is generally more dangerous than the day.

However, a game without a quest log can't be expected to have a weapon slot or inventory space, so Tian Baiwei could only look for something handy in the room.

Tian Baiwei figured out the layout of the room the moment she entered, so when she thought of "weapons," she walked to the corner without hesitation and with no other choice.

—In this room, only the farm tools covered in thick dust in the corner can be used as weapons.

Using the dim light from the window, Tian Baiwei squatted in the corner and began to "select".

"Squeak..."

"Squeak..."

A very light, very slow sound, yet exceptionally clear in the deathly still night, rang out in the room.

Tian Baiwei, who was still "choosing the tallest among the short (weapon)," suddenly stiffened, feeling a chill creep up from her tailbone to her scalp.

What is that sound?

She was quite certain that she was alone in the room. After all, there didn't seem to be any place in the room where someone could hide.

But the tooth-grinding sound, like fingernails scraping against a wooden board, continued to rustle and whisper.

Tian Baiwei took a deep breath and suddenly turned her head.

The scraping sound stopped.

There was nothing behind her...

Whether it's the table, the wooden box placed against the wall on the table, or the oil lamp that she had casually placed there before, everything remained quietly in its original place.

There was no change whatsoever.

It was as if all the noises she had heard before were just her hallucinations.

But Tian Baiwei didn't relax. She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but she felt that the air in the room... seemed to have become thicker, and there was even a sense of... being watched.

But she couldn't pinpoint the source of her voyeuristic feeling.

Tian Baiwei rubbed the goosebumps that had appeared on her body without her noticing.

I have a strange feeling about this room... I'd better hurry up and choose a weapon so we can get out of here!

She abandoned her previous "careful selection" route, quickly rummaged through the farm tools, and finally, a sickle "escaped the encirclement"—

Although the blade is rusty and the edge is bent, it still feels quite heavy and substantial in the hand.

Tian Baiwei swung the sickle, the sound of the wind was faint but sharp, and she nodded in satisfaction, knowing it could still cut through the monster's flesh in case of danger.

"Squeak..."

"Squeak..."

The previously silenced voices were heard again.

Tian Baiwei felt a chill run down her spine! Because this time, she clearly realized that the voice... seemed to be a little closer to her.

She gripped the sickle she had just received, swallowed hard, and then, as she twisted her body and turned around sharply, she gathered strength in her right arm, and with a whooshing sound, swung the sickle in the direction from which the sound came.

The sickle sliced ​​through the air without resistance, behind Tian Baiwei—

It was still completely empty.

There was nothing there.

That sickeningly sweet voice vanished completely once again as she turned around.

Behind me, the scene was exactly the same as before—

The table, the wooden box in the middle of it, and the oil lamp she had casually placed there—everything remained quietly in its original spot, without the slightest change… Wait a minute?!

Tian Baiwei quickly shifted her gaze back to the table.

After staring wide-eyed, making sure she wasn't seeing things, her heart began to race—

When did this strange wooden box get moved to the middle of the table?

Is it...

She suddenly had a bold guess: the sounds she had just heard actually came from this box?

So, what's actually inside this box... is a living creature?

After figuring this out, the chill surrounding Tian Baiwei dissipated somewhat. She carefully approached the table and circled the wooden box.

The box stood motionless in the center of the table.

Quietly.

If Tian Baiwei hadn't personally confirmed that it had moved its position right under her nose, she really wouldn't have suspected that the source of the previous sound was this box.

She looked at the two small doors on the front of the box and stared at the rusty locks hanging on them for a while.

It looks... like it's pretty easy to open.

Should she... open it and take a look?

Rationally, Tian Baiwei knew she should leave this strange house that made her feel uncomfortable as quickly as possible, but emotionally—

She was really curious about what was inside the box...

Anyway, it's just a game... just a game... Tian Baiwei comforted herself like this as she picked up the sickle in her hand and chopped down hard on the rusty lock.

"clang--"

After the metallic clanging sound, the brass lock, carrying a few wood chips, fell onto the table and rolled twice.

After thinking for a moment, Tian Baiwei cautiously refrained from using her hands. Instead, she used the tip of her sickle to hook the crack in the door and carefully pried open the two closed doors.

"Squeak—"

Tian Baiwei's throat was dry, and her palms, which were gripping the sickle handle, were slightly sweaty.

The small door finally opened completely, revealing what lay inside—

Ok?

Tian Baiwei's eyes widened suddenly.

Inside the box...

Why is it empty?!

The box was empty except for a thin layer of fine dust at the bottom.

In the center of that layer of gray, a square outline is clearly imprinted, with neat edges, as if something was originally placed there but has now been taken away.

Tian Baiwei's knuckles turned white as she gripped the sickle handle.

She could feel her heart pounding.

She wasn't actually afraid of anything inside the box; she had even guessed several things that might be inside based on its size. But she never expected—

There was nothing in the box!

—This is even scarier than a monster suddenly jumping out of a box!

The sound that appeared earlier...

How did this box move to the center of the table by itself...?

……

These questions appeared one after another in Tian Baiwei's somewhat confused mind.

This was the first time she had ever encountered such a terrifying game—

There were no terrifying monsters, she wasn't threatened in any way, and she didn't even see a single living creature. It was just a simple empty room and an empty wooden box, yet it gave Tian Baiwei the creeps.

Although she didn't have the concept of "haunted" in her mind, Tian Baiwei's sixth sense was frantically alarming, telling her that something was wrong with this house!

Run! Run now!

She'd better get out of this house right now!

Tian Baiwei even forgot that she was still in the game and that she could log off at any time. Holding the scythe in her hand, she turned around and rushed out.

She slammed open the already crooked and broken door and plunged headfirst into the thick darkness outside.

The sky had become completely dark at some point, and only a few pale stars twinkled faintly on the pitch-black canvas.

The entire village was shrouded in darkness, like thick blobs of ink.

The cold wind lashed against her face, but Tian Baiwei ran forward desperately without looking back.

She had only intended to stop once she was away from the house and out of danger, but to her surprise, the creaking sound she had heard inside the house would reappear behind her as soon as she stopped.

He approached her slowly and deliberately.

In the sound, one could also faintly hear a sticky, very dragging footstep, like the wet sound of feet stepping on thick, damp moss.

It also sounded like something was dragging its heavy body, slowly crawling on the ground... and the dragging sound was making a sound.

Whether it was because the night was too dark or because there were too many obstructions around, Tian Baiwei could not see the location of the thing that was following her.

Running like this is definitely not a solution...

Tian Baiwei originally thought that she would be out of danger as long as she ran out of the house. But clearly, the thing inside the house was relentlessly following her.

There's no point in continuing to run away.

Tian Baiwei looked around and immediately made a decision—

She found an open space and ran over there.

She gripped the sickle in her hand, deciding to deal with this thing first.

At least with the shadows of the surrounding area gone and the faint light of daylight, she should be able to see the shadow of that unseen thing on the ground and deal with the invisible monster.

Yes, she has confirmed that there is an unseen monster here, in this game.

This made Tian Baiwei feel both nervous and curious.

This was the first time she had ever encountered this type of monster!

Isn't this more exciting and interesting than those monsters in holographic games that only have the same generic characteristics like being huge, hard, and ugly, such as insectoids and alien creatures?!

For this reason alone, after she finishes this game, she'll go out and leave a good review for the game's creator!

Although this game has many bugs, the creativity... is still worth encouraging!

"sand……"

A faint, almost imperceptible scraping sound rang out. Tian Baiwei's ears twitched slightly, she gripped the sickle tightly, held her breath, and faced the direction from which the sound came.

So what if she can't see the monster? Her reflexes, honed through years of training, are more than enough for her to take it down.

The wind howled as it swept across the broken earthen wall, accompanied by a high-frequency scraping sound, similar to the sluggish feeling of crawling along the ground, which suddenly assaulted Tian Baiwei.

coming!

Tian Baiwei suddenly swung her arm, the sickle slashing down fiercely towards the source of the sound, and then—

It didn't work out.

After the sharp sound of the blade tearing through the air, there was no dull "thud" of metal entering flesh, nor any feeling of hitting a solid object. There was only the muffled sound of the sickle cutting deeply into the soil in front of her, which made Tian Baiwei's hands go numb.

At the same time, she also experienced a sharp pain in her right shoulder.

Tian Baiwei turned her head to look.

The skin on his shoulder was forcibly ripped open, leaving a wound about three inches long; the skin of the wound turned slightly to the sides, but strangely, the edges of the wound were not bright red as usual, but rather a bluish-gray like frostbite.

Furthermore, after feeling the burning pain of her skin being torn open, she seemed to feel a strange chill seeping into her body through the wound.

"strangeness……"

Tian Baiwei straightened up and looked at the sickle in her hand. She was absolutely certain that she had slashed in the direction from which the voice had come.

But why didn't she hit it?

The chilling feeling of being watched and locked on still lingered around her, indicating that the unseen monster was still there and had not left.

Tian Baiwei gritted her teeth and forced herself to calm down.

The scraping sound returned quickly, and Tian Baiwei focused her attention and attacked again. But each time, her scythe missed its mark.

A growing chill accumulated within her, starting from the wound, and her muscles began to stiffen. Tian Baiwei's movements became increasingly sluggish, and the sickle in her hand seemed to grow heavier and heavier. Turning around, swinging the blade... all felt like they were being done through a thick quilt, a severe lag between her thoughts and her body.

Only the wounds on her body kept increasing.

She couldn't go on any longer... Her vision began to darken at the edges, and Tian Baiwei could clearly feel the blood loss and excruciating pain draining her strength.

This game is absolutely awful!

Tian Baiwei has completely forgotten that she was supposed to give the game developer a good review to encourage them; all she wants to do now is give them a bad review!

Bad review!

What a piece of trash game!!!

She was certain that there were several times when she clearly hit the invisible monster, but she didn't receive any feedback about hitting it.

Tian Baiwei wasn't sure if this was a bug in the game or if the game had intentionally designed this monster to be unattackable, but either way, the gaming experience was extremely poor!

The latter, in particular, is not meant for players to enjoy playing games! Not only does she not get the usual fun of fighting monsters in games, she becomes more and more frustrated as she plays!

So after confirming that she really couldn't attack the monster, Tian Baiwei started running away again.

The cold wind rushed into her throat, her lungs felt like broken bellows, and she couldn't see the road beneath her feet. She could only run forward, one step at a time, on the dirt road full of gravel and overgrown grass. The sound of her heart pounding in her chest was alarmingly clear in the dead of night, pounding against her eardrums like a drum.

But strangely, the entire village was so quiet it seemed to have been forgotten by the world. Apart from her footsteps and panting, there was no other sound.

Every household had its doors tightly shut, and there was not a ray of light or a trace of human presence.

It seemed like she was the only one left in the entire village.

Tian Baiwei deeply regretted not having observed the village more closely during the day. Now, looking at the almost identical houses in the darkness, she didn't know where to go.

Finally, after running for an unknown amount of time, Tian Baiwei suddenly saw a glimmer of light.

At first, Tian Baiwei even thought she was hallucinating, until she saw the light getting brighter and brighter as she got closer, and the familiar figure standing in the light.

"village head!"

Tian Baiwei excitedly rushed towards the village chief who was standing at the door of the house, "Village chief, I just... inside the house, I met..."

She recounted incoherently what had happened in the house. Throughout this, the village chief remained expressionless but did not interrupt her, patiently listening to her rambling tale.

"...and then I ran away."

Tian Baiwei licked her lips, which were dry from talking all night, and then asked the question that had been bothering her all night: "Village Chief, what exactly is that thing?"

But instead of answering the question, he suddenly grinned and smiled.

Tian Baiwei sensed something was wrong and instinctively tried to back away.

But the next second, she felt a pain in the back of her head.

Before she completely lost consciousness, she heard the village chief's rough voice say, "Didn't I already tell you this before—"

"Aren't you going out at night?"