Chapter 1 The Heir
Dark clouds rolled in and the wind and rain were strong.
The water drops hit the glass rapidly, making an annoying sound.
Xu Zhiyan coughed twice and turned over in bed. Today was the first day he moved in after inheriting the old house.
This is clearly a haunted house that is well-known far and wide.
But he waited from morning till night, and from night till late at night, and nothing happened.
The waiting time is undoubtedly difficult.
Unable to sleep, he simply reached out to the bedside, knocked over a few medicine bottles, and fumbled for his cell phone.
There is still no signal and only a few songs can be played.
The pendulum clock on the table was driven by time and rang again and again.
“Dang—dang—dang—”
I don’t know how long it was before a new notification popped up on my phone.
[Connectable signal source found: Line 1]
【You have been automatically connected! 】
Xu Zhiyan, who was listening to monotonous music, hadn't reacted yet when a shrill scream came from the phone!
"ah--"
"Help—help me, ah ah—"
Startled by the sudden sound, he frowned and stared at the pop-up interface.
In the center of the palm-sized screen, a man covered in blood and with half an arm missing was howling and running at full speed. Behind him was a monster with sharp teeth. There were a few words hanging at the top of the screen.
【Death Parade-03-Li Ming】
At the bottom is the chat box with a few scattered comments in it.
[This person is no good, he will definitely die. ]
[Fortunately I didn't buy his live broadcast, so I'm gone! Let's change the live broadcast room. ]
[Speechless. He shouted so loudly, afraid that the monsters couldn't find him?]
"Live broadcast room? This can be broadcast?" After a brief moment of surprise, Xu Zhiyan came back to his senses, his tone full of disappointment.
The special effects are realistic enough, with blood plasma all over the ground.
The monster looked hideous and grotesque, and it was obvious that a huge amount of money had been spent on its creation.
For a moment, I didn't know whether to praise the host for his hard work or to scold him for releasing the video without any censorship and making it scary.
He wanted to exit the live broadcast room to check the connected signal source, but his phone seemed to be broken and he couldn't close the current interface.
After clicking for a long time, I was still stuck on the [Visitor Area] interface.
There are more than a hundred live broadcast rooms here. He clicked into a few of them and saw that they were all bloody live broadcasts, which was very consistent with the atmosphere of a haunted house.
After watching for a while, Xu Zhiyan felt a little bored.
This was not what he was looking for.
The content is similar, basically it's all one-sided crushing by monsters.
Except for a few people with guns, fire breath and dog owners who occasionally have some skills, most of the rest of the main perspective is that humans are forced to hide and run, looking extremely embarrassed.
"Is today's theme about eating humans?"
He scoffed and tried to turn off the live broadcast, but to no avail.
The live broadcast introduction pops up.
【Welcome to the Infinite Escape Game Live Room! Please enjoy the wonderful performances brought by the anchors! There are surprises you can't imagine here! 】
[You only have visitor privileges for now, please log in to the game as soon as possible! ]
"What virus software?" Xu Zhiyan poked at the screen without interest. He didn't remember installing this live broadcast platform. It seemed that downloading the anti-fraud APP was urgent.
The next second, a brand new interface appeared on the screen.
【Would you like to become a player? 】
[Yes][No (death)]
There is no close button, just left and right buttons.
The phone malfunction made Xu Zhiyan a little impatient, but now there are all kinds of mobile phone viruses.
With a cautious attitude, he didn't press either button. After trying the side buttons of the phone and finding no response, he turned down the volume of the phone and threw it on the table.
Restarting can solve 95% of the problems. You should be able to restart your phone after it runs out of battery and turns off.
Ignoring his phone no longer, he decided to go back to sleep.
Lying on the bed, he stared at the dim ceiling, his sleepless brain full of random thoughts, recalling the structure of the old house: a two-story villa with a yard, with a chaotic architectural style, gray walls and black tiles, simple and heavy.
The hall was arranged in a strange way. Apart from the long table in the middle and the empty shrine on it, there were no other furniture or rooms. Except for the bedrooms, all the rooms on the second floor could not be opened.
Thinking of this, Xu Zhiyan suddenly muttered to himself.
"Did I lock the door?"
Is it unlocked? It seems to be locked?
Ten minutes later, he resigned himself to his fate, got out of bed, fished out a flashlight from the drawer, fumbled to turn on the corridor light, and prepared to check the door lock.
The air was a little damp, and the smell of decay kept drilling into my nostrils.
As soon as he reached the corridor, he stopped in his tracks, turned his head and looked at the long table in the lobby on the first floor.
"Is it finally here?"
There was originally nothing in front of the shrine, but now a few bowls and plates appeared inexplicably. The smooth and delicate bone china plates were spotless, reflecting a moving halo under the not-so-bright light in the room.
One, two, three…there are six in total.
“Beep-beep-beep-beep”
The mobile phone that was upside down on the table just now appeared at my feet. The call was automatically connected, and a strange mechanical sound came from it.
"Ding! Welcome to the Infinite Game Safe House System!"
"Congratulations! You have been automatically upgraded to a player, no need to thank me!"
"The safe house will be open to players soon. Heirs, please be prepared..."
A few minutes later, Xu Zhiyan stood in front of the shrine, tapping the tabletop with his fingertips in a rhythmic manner, and said in a calm tone: "...Game?"
A mysterious phone call told him that he had become an escape game player.
It is filled with monsters, death, blood, and puzzles.
The live broadcasts we just saw were all about gaming content. If you die in the game, you will also die in real life. However, correspondingly, the players who survive can get sufficiently generous rewards.
Xu Zhiyan lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes cast an arc-shaped shadow under the light. Looking at the phone that was automatically talking, he thought for a moment and asked.
"Can I refuse?"
The reply came quickly from the other end of the phone.
"You can refuse to become an heir and enter the game as a player, but this is dangerous."
"The second option is to be blessed by the gods, but in exchange you must stay here at night, otherwise you will be pulled into the game. Of course, you can enter the game in this state if you want."
"It's hard to be an heir, I hope players will consider it carefully..."
The mechanical voice chattered on and on, constantly explaining the benefits of being an heir.
Xu Zhiyan suddenly chuckled and interrupted the other party with a firm tone.
"You're afraid I'll say no."
Refuse to be the heir.
“…”
There was a busy tone on the phone.
After a while, the call was hung up, leaving Xu Zhiyan no chance to speak again.
Without the abrupt mechanical sound, the old house returned to tranquility.
Xu Zhiyan leaned against the long table.
I kept thinking about the information I had just received and the information I had found before coming here.
If anyone who enters the house is automatically dragged into the death game, then it makes sense that there were numerous rumors of haunted houses where people had gone missing.
Unlike other players.
He can inherit the copy safe house and be blessed by ghosts and gods, but the other party seems to be worried that he will not become the heir.
Thinking of the system's words, he couldn't help but reach out and brush away the dust on the shrine.
Is he afraid of death?
Of course he is afraid of death.
Last week, a family hereditary genetic disease broke out and the doctor determined that he would not live more than half a month.
Anemia, high fever, weakness...
The feeling of having the vitality slowly stripped from the body is too painful.
Finally, the day before, when he was looking through the information, he learned that the only two people in his family who had fallen ill and recovered had both inherited this old house.
The cause and effect chain becomes clear.
But now...
Does the change in supply and demand mean that he can gain more from it?
Xu Zhiyan looked around and said with a faint smile:
"Mr. Ghost, can we have a good talk?"
"Just sending me off with a phone call is not in line with my trading principles. I really want to know what this so-called horror copy is."
Is it really like the scenes in the live broadcast?
However, after waiting for a few minutes, there was still no further movement.
Xu Zhiyan turned and walked towards the door, stood under the eaves and stretched out his hand to touch a few drops of rain.
The rain gathered in his palms, and the biting cold made him clear his mind. When he spoke again, his tone was a little disappointed.
"Go back to bed."
"Sure enough, all these ghosts and gods are fake."
The moment he turned around, a layer of red suddenly covered his eyes, as if bloody raindrops were falling on his body, and a strong smell of blood hit him in the face.
The 'rain water' became sticky and warm, and the feeling under my feet was no longer solid concrete, but instead a disgusting, sticky and soft feeling, as if I was stepping on some rotten meat.
Is he still at the old house?
Xu Zhiyan held his breath and did not move.
Although his heart was already in turmoil, his habit of hiding his emotions for many years made him just bite his lips and remain motionless.
The surrounding temperature suddenly rose, soon exceeding the optimal temperature of the human body, and continued to rise.
He forced himself to calm down and think of a way to escape.
But the reality did not give him the chance to fight back. The blood rained down and turned into countless hands that entangled him and were about to pull him into the flesh under his feet. Sharp sounds seemed to come from the palms of these hands.
"Welcome to ..."
"In the game..."
Confirming that he was helpless, Xu Zhiyan did not wait for the strange voice to finish speaking. He raised his neck, turned his back to the shrine and shouted with all his might.
"Mr. Ghost, is this how you protect your successor?"
As the words fell, time seemed to stand still for an instant.
The blood rain that had not yet landed on the ground was suspended in mid-air, losing its color and turning into a monotonous grayish white.
The smell of the air changed.
A faint smell of blood mixed with ashes emanated from behind him.
"Are you here..."
Xu Zhiyan felt the things that were binding him loosen up.
When he came to his senses and opened his eyes again, he saw the courtyard on a rainy night again. All the strange scenes had disappeared, but the smell of rotten ashes in the air was still there.
Very good, there were red marks on his arm left by the bloody hands, which confirmed that what happened just now was not his hallucination.
After calming down, Xu Zhiyan turned around and faced the shrine again.
Even though he had prepared himself mentally, he was still so shocked by the scene before him that he was speechless.
The hall was clearly pitch black, but a lot of 'things' could be seen.
Many doors appeared in the originally empty hall.
The doors stood neatly around, one after another, each door was wrapped with iron chains and covered with dust. It seemed that like the doors on the second floor, none of them could be opened.
Many swollen monsters were hiding around the door, but they all tacitly avoided the long table.
The monsters' bodies were half-hidden, making it difficult to see clearly. The one closest to the door had a translucent skin, and one could see the internal organs leaping under the skin. The stomach was particularly prominent, bulging, and the bulging part looked like a human face.
Xu Zhiyan looked towards the center of the long table.
Behind the shrine stood a strange figure.
He was a guy wrapped in chains, his body hidden under a black robe covered with silver ornaments. On both sides of his forehead there were horns with black background and red lines. Papers with complicated spells printed on them hung from the ornaments on the horns, just covering half of his face.
There was no introduction, but he could tell at first sight that it was a ghost.
His eyes followed the other person's high nose bridge down, followed by thin lips and jawline...
A disrespectful and bold move.
Xu Zhiyan knew that if what the system said was true, he could probably become a partner with the ghosts and gods on the other side.
In the frozen silence, the oppressive feeling coming from behind the shrine grew stronger and stronger.
Although this Mr. Ghost looks really good, this safe house is...well, more like a monster house!
Suddenly the scene changed.
The surrounding environment also changes.
The next second, Xu Zhiyan found himself standing in front of the shrine.
There was a rustling sound by my ears, and the monsters' prying eyes were like sharp blades.
Before he looked up, he heard strange voices around him, and people were talking about him in a low voice.
"It's the heir... the heir."
"Human, human, human..."
"He's different..."
"He can't speak? Can't speak?"
"Dumb! Dumb!"
Xu Zhiyan, who had been silent just now, turned around and explained to the fat, squirming ball of flesh: "I can speak, thank you for your concern."
“…”
“…”
The hall fell silent. The monsters probably didn't expect that the human in front of them was not only not trembling with fear, but answered boldly instead.
After the suffocating silence, the ghost's low and hoarse questioning without a trace of emotion came from above his head.
"What did you want to talk about?"
Just a slight leak of aura was so powerful that it made the monsters in the hall curl up, fearing that something terrible would happen next.
Xu Zhiyan didn't seem to care. He raised his head and faced the ghost in front of him. He put on a standard warm smile and said, "Mr. Ghost, I think integrity is also part of our transaction."
The fact that the heir can become a player and enter the dungeon at the same time is something worth pondering.
The system on the phone seemed to give two options, but in fact there were three.
1. Leave the safe house and become an ordinary player.
Second, he was blessed by ghosts and gods and hid in the old house.
3. Enter the game as the heir of the safe house.
Instead of stepping back, he took two steps forward and spoke after careful consideration.
"Ordinary players cannot bring any help to the safe house." So the system will try to talk about the benefits of the safe house as much as possible.
"I know the two heirs who were treated well before. They are not adventurous people and will definitely choose to hide in the dark."
After saying this, Xu Zhiyan restrained his smile and his expression became much more serious.
"So even though they recovered, they didn't live too long." Even if they couldn't live too long, it was much better than dying on the spot within half a month.
He looked up at the quaint old house. It was so dilapidated as a BUG-level safe house. Although the ghost in front of him was powerful, he was trapped by chains and unable to move. It was likely that he could only move around in the safe house.
Xu Zhiyan boldly expressed his guess:
"You need a successor who can enter the dungeon and do things for you."
Although he didn't understand, the ghost in front of him was obviously very powerful, but he didn't directly use his power to threaten the heir. Not only did he not threaten, but he also hid this option?
But as long as the other party has demand, then the deal can be negotiated.
"I have just shown my sincerity in entering the game, Mr. Ghost." As soon as he finished speaking, feeling his body weakened by illness slowly filling with strength, Xu Zhiyan knew that he had received Ghost's sincerity.
He climbed onto the long table and stood up straight, level with the ghost behind the shrine, his beautiful eyes full of confidence.
"Let's make a deal, Mr. Ghost."
"You provide protection, and I do the work for you."
Xu Zhiyan's weak health since childhood made him not as active as his peers. He often hid in his room playing games alone. If he had not planned to become a "more successful businessman than his parents", he felt that he might have become a professional game player.
After realizing that winning the infinite game could bring huge profits, his crazy desire to win began to stir.
"I am confident that I will give you a surprise," said Xu Zhiyan.
The rain stopped, the hall was lit up with a dim light, and the figures of ghosts became clearer.
The ghost looked at the living human in front of him, tightened his palms, and the chains collided with a harsh sound.
He didn't expect that there would really be a successor.
I have clearly decided to disappear in a daze, otherwise the system would not have given me those two choices.
After a suffocating silence, a low voice came from behind the shrine.
"make a deal."
In a trance, countless props floated in the air, some of which were obviously high-level props, emitting golden light.
"According to the rules, I can provide you with a prop."
"But the better the props, the higher the requirements for the user."
The ghost god finished speaking, but the heir in front of him didn't even look at him, but just stared at him.
The successful solution to the problem gave Xu Zhiyan a great boost of confidence. He vaguely remembered that the system seemed to have said that players were coming, so he had to speed up.
"Mr. Ghost, since our interests are the same."
"Is it not too much for you to come and protect me in person at this critical moment?"
After reaching a cooperative relationship, Xu Zhiyan was no longer so cautious. He exerted the subjective initiative of his businessman character and began to push for more in a straightforward manner that was shocking.
The ghost showed his first expression in a long time and looked at the thin human standing at the long table in surprise. Even through the talisman, he could still feel the doubt conveyed.
"Um?"
…
At the same time, in the game copy.
The player broadcast suddenly sounded.
[【Hungry Mountain】Safe House Refresh]
[The number of places to enter is limited, players in need please hurry up! ]
The players in Hungry Mountain were stunned at first, and then became excited.
Halfway through the dungeon, the dangers are increasing, the players' conditions are declining, and the death rate remains high. If you can grab a spot in the safe house, your chances of survival will be greatly increased.
"A safe house?"
"I always heard people say it before, but I never thought it was true!"
"It is said that as long as you pay a certain amount of money to the ghosts and gods, you can safely get through the danger!"
"Very good……"
The surviving players changed their previous behavior and started looking for the dungeon safe house.
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