[January 10. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe what this child could do. The spoon was hovering, and he could bend it as he pleased.
January 13. He said that someone was watching him… Many… many of them. He was terrified.
January 16. He seemed not to feel fear anymore. Sometimes he smiled, sometimes he kept quiet…
January 17. All tests showed that he was normal. None of us, a group of six, could explain what was happening to this child…
January 19. He started to draw. His parents told us that he had never shown his talents in arts before, however, he was able to draw realistic portraits.
January 22. He kept asking for papers and pencils. He just drew and drew, not stopping to eat or sleep. He only sketched portraits. Normal faces now turned into freakish and weird ones…
January 25. Bloody faces appeared on the walls. We found a carcass of a sparrow on his bed, but his hands were all clean. This got me worried and I recalled the spoon…
January 26. All the windows on the wall had disappeared, leaving a windproof blank wall. Last night, the security camera recorded a shadow. I don’t know whom I should ask to help us. Police? They will think that I’m crazy and arrest me soon…
January 30. Richard went missing. The five of us are worried. More portraits appeared on the walls. This time, we couldn’t find… I don’t know… Richard’s corpse?
January 31. I have to leave this place! I should apply to leave! Until this child passes away due to his sickness… no… I’d better resign!
February 1. I don’t think I could escape. I can’t find the way out of this building… if anyone read this notebook, remember my words. He’s wary of… (this line was covered with bloodstain)! If you have a chance, kill him! Don’t hesitate! If not, the dead one will be you!
…]
Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi made a turn at the corner. The corridor ahead of them was spacious, but there was no door this time, just snow-white wall on both sides. After they walking for dozens of meters, there appeared a crossroad.
They were cautiously walking forward. After thinking about the contents of the notebook, Feng Bujue told the story again. He had tried to make it less scary, but Little Tan’s face was still pale, and he had goosebumps all over him.
“What we are about to face is not a ghost. It’s just a child, who has suffered from psychic pollution, and the super powers which he has acquired after a bout of serious illness,” Feng Bujue concluded, “at least it’s the plot of this scenario.”
“What is useful from this information?” Wang Tanzhi’s voice showed that he was bearing massive pressure.
“First, psychologically, I think your fear would be reduced when you know the mob is a human,” Feng Bujue answered, “second, the true meaning is we know that it has a physical body and we can salvage it.”
“Hey, did you think that the guy who wrote the diary and the other victims in this scenario haven’t tried that?” Wang Tanzhi panicked. “They were more than two people, right?”
“Did they know the Exploding God Fist?” Feng Bujue snapped.
“Brother Jue, I’m still confused… If we couldn’t find this skill or if our Fighting Specialty hadn’t been unlocked, and we didn’t choose to answer the puzzle, what would it be like?”
“Then we have to make a choice when we meet it, ” Feng Bujue asked himself, “should we run or fight against it recklessly?”
He had mused for a few seconds then continued, “If we hadn’t solved the puzzle, we would base on the actual situation when we meet it. For example, how much life we would lose. When we are threatened by fear or death, the difficulty will increase. However, when we got the plot, we won’t need to make contact with it to know that we have to run away since our fighting abilities are trash. It would probably screw us over big time. Then, I think among the options to finish this scenario, there should be a running away one.”
“However, considering our dangerous situation right now, isn’t it the same with the option that we can’t solve the puzzle!” said Wang Tanzhi.
“Nope. It’s different. At least, you got a skill in the second room.”
“In the third room, we also know its weakness. Then, no matter if we choose to kill it now or to run away to complete the scenario, the chance of success is much improved.”
“First, not to mention my skill, which is 20% successful, didn’t you said that the line related to its weakness was covered with bloodstains?”
“Well, the system has planned a simple chain of logic. With the notes from the diary and the analysis of that child’s behaviors, except the other bullsh!t details which are to mess up your mind, the contents of the notebook are as clear as the Lost Tapes (1).”
While they were discussing, they made another turn.
A spacious lobby appeared in front of them. The ceiling there was much higher than that of the corridor. The lighting system was good, but its walls also didn’t have doors or windows.
“January 16, telekinesis, using thoughts to move objects. January 19, innate super power awakened. January 25, able to use his thoughts to affect living objects. January 30, able to deal with bigger objects, humans. February 1, slaughter like a Demon.” Feng Bujue analyzed in an extremely calm manner that was almost icy-cold. “Related to his weakness, it is in the paragraph of January 26. Same with what we have here.” He paused for a moment then continued, “He is afraid of sunlight.”
“But it’s very…”
Feng Bujue interrupted him even before he was able to say the word “bright”.
“It’s the sunlight, not the artificial light,” Feng Bujue explained, “when we have entered the first room, which looks like a patient room, I could feel something was abnormal. Besides the scent of fresh blood, the patient room and the corridor don’t have windows. It doesn’t suit the basic architecture rules. At that time, I doubted that this building was underground. Then, I found that the second and the third rooms also doesn’t have any window. Why is that?”
Feng Bujue paused for a while. “I can understand the strange layout of these rooms, because, as in the plot, this is a hospital. Maybe it’s because of the twisted space that we could see such scenes after we opened the doors. However, after reading the notebook, I understood that this is a hint.”
He pointed to the light above his head. “In fact, those lights are also a hint. He’s afraid of sunlight, but why does he need light? There’s nothing besides two reasons. First, he needs light to move because he is blind in the dark, just like us. Second, he is wary of the sunlight and the darkness. Because, in the dark, there’s something staring at him…”
All of a sudden, the little boy’s laughter echoed again, not far from them this time.
Now, they knew that the source of the laughter was a little boy. Not a ghost, but a child who liked to draw with blood.
Even though his mind had been changed and he was well prepared, Wang Tanzhi’s heartbeat had increased as his breath got heavier. The hand, which he used to clutch the fruit knife, was soaked with sweat.
“Put the knife away. We can’t use it,” said Feng Bujue.
“Brother J-J-Jue, you… you… you… have…”
“Yes, I have a plan.” Feng Bujue pointed towards the lobby. “Use your skill to break the central wall there.”
Before he could finish speaking, the little boy, the BOSS of this scenario, suddenly appeared.
He was standing two or three meters away from them, wearing the patient uniform. Although he was standing under the light, his face and body were still covered with a blurry shadow. Right when he appeared, the ceiling, the wall, and even the ground had been instantly filled with bloody faces. Even the light had turned into a red color.
This scene could make a man scream, but Feng Bujue didn’t hesitate when he saw it. He stormed to the little boy, who was just four foot tall, standing in front of him.
“Break the wall!”
Wang Tanzhi jumped and run towards the direction that Feng Bujue had just pointed to. Actually, he had jumped because of fear. After running several steps, he started to feel as if his feet were made of jelly.
He turned around to look out while running for half the way. Feng Bujue hadn’t touched the boy, yet he was blown away, hit the wall by an invisible force, and spurted out a mouthful of blood. It was like a car had struck him along the way.
It looked fierce, but it was just a game, and players didn’t have to bear the real pain. In Thriller Paradise, no matter how severe the players got hit with, even if the train had rolled over them, the highest pain level that they received was just like hitting one’s fingernail with a hammer.
When Wang Tanzhi saw this, he exerted more efforts to run towards wall.
Apparently, the boy knew what he wanted to do, however, he didn’t know how to use teleportation; he could only run after him.
That child couldn’t reach the speed of teleportation. Also, his running form was weird; it looked he was a marionette, and someone was manipulating him through some strings.
A hand snatched the boy at his ankle.
Our BOSS cocked its head to see Feng Bujue had gotten up and caught him. Feng Bujue had the advantage on his build; even if the four-foot boy was able to run faster, he could still reach him in a short distance.
At that moment, Wang Tanzhi used the skill. His right fist was covered in an orange halo as he punched the wall.
Although the success rate was just 20 percent, the wall was a large target that was hard to miss. Also, his fortune was good enough. This attack was successful.
The wall actually exploded with some effects, leaving a hole, roughly one meter in diameter there. The excessively blazing sunlight, which was strange anyway, shone directly to the lobby through the hall.
At this moment, all bloody faces in the lobby disappeared. The boy kept backing off with extreme fear on his face in an attempt to stay away from the sunlight.
However, he couldn’t do that because Feng Bujue was gripping his ankle…
“Just one hit and I’ve lost eighty-four percent of my Survival Value! It’s my turn now.” Feng Bujue got up and deliberately pulled the boy to the ground. Now, that little boy wasn’t able to resist.
Feng Bujue used his free hand to wipe the trickle of blood on his mouth, while his other hand was grabbing the boy’s leg, dragging him to the source of sunlight. “This BOSS is strong. Even if you use your skills and hit it, I’m afraid that you still couldn’t kill it.”
Finally, Wang Tanzhi felt relieved. “If I couldn’t break the wall, or if there would be another wall outside, what should we do next?”
“If it was dark out there, you could hide in the darkness. If there was another corridor, just go in that corridor and run away then. If we couldn’t break the wall, just find a way to escape.”
Feng Bujue spoke to him while walking, “I’m quite certain with that; thus, I asked you to use the skill. This kind of hospital’s lobby, you just need to observe the general layout and the location of the main doors to guess the direction. Look, there are corridors on both sides, and the wall behind us is sealed, but we can still see the old outline of the windows…”
He lifted the BOSS and exposed him under the sunlight which was shining through the hole.
“Brother Jue… isn’t this a little bit cruel?” Wang Tanzhi looked at the pair of eyes which were filled with pain and the balled body of the child.
“You’re right, it’s too much,” Feng Bujue answered him, but he had no intention to stop.
This was his working attitude since his childhood until now: humbly admit his faults but unlikely to change.
“Now I can put it down, let it be hospitalized again, and we will go through this hole to escape. We could finish the scenario then.” Feng Bujue said, “I told you, this is a strong BOSS. Although we got the plot thoroughly when facing it, it will be pretty tough to defeat it. I think if we could kill it to complete the scenario, we would receive more EXP than that of running away.”
“What? Since when have you paid attention to EXP?” Wang Tanzhi asked.
Feng Bujue rose his mouth’s corner as he lifted the BOSS higher under the light. “Now I have at least three reasons to play Thriller Paradise in a proper manner.
“First, sheep fur grows on sheep. I want to play to earn back the money I’ve invested in this game cabin.
“Second, those random scenarios are good. From what I’ve read on the website, the system has a massive data source. It could combine numerous pieces of memories from players to generate the plots. In the future, the Multiplayer Survival Mode would have more complicated scenarios. Then, I can collect materials for my novels from the game.
“Third, so I can continue to find my ‘Fear’!”
After finishing his words, Feng Bujue clasped his hands, then he waved at Wang Tanzhi.
Wang Tanzhi understood his move, so he moved forward and gave him the fruit knife.
“Let’s see, after I killed this BOSS, how much EXP we will receive.”
Feng Bujue took the knife then started stabbing…