Chapter 2: The Landlady

Zhou You jolted awake.

He was no longer in that stairwell, but back in the strange space where the page floated in midair.

However, he paid no attention to that. The first thing he did after regaining his senses was reach frantically for his neck.

It was intact and uninjured. His head was still firmly attached to his body.

He was still alive.

The moment he realized this, Zhou You’s body suddenly relaxed.

His back had already been soaked with cold sweat. Even after realizing he had not truly died, his heart still pounded like a drum, to the point that it felt difficult to breathe.

Was that all just an illusion?

The thought had only just surfaced when Zhou You immediately rejected it.

No.

That was not an illusion.

He really had died.

Something had severed his head from his body. He had died thoroughly and completely.

So the reason he was standing here unharmed now was because of that so-called revival?

Only then did Zhou You raise his head and look at the yellow page floating in midair.

At the same time, the mechanical female voice sounded beside his ear once more.

“You have died.”

“Your death held no value.”

“You discovered no Erosion Points and contributed nothing to the progression of the scenario. Therefore, this death grants no rewards.”

“As the player is still in the beginner period, ten Soulstones may be spent to replay the ten seconds before and after death. The first use is free. Would you like to replay?”

Erosion Points, scenario progression, Soulstones... what did any of that mean?

His mind was still muddled from having died moments ago. Zhou You frowned and pondered for quite some time, yet he still could not extract any useful information from those fewer than one hundred words.

In the end, he selected the death replay.

The only clue available now was the moment of his death.

At the very least, he needed to know who the killer was and how he had died.

Soon, a recording-like scene unfolded before his eyes.

The viewpoint was from above.

The timing was approximately when he had just stepped toward the building entrance.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly.

Zhou You’s expression was normal.

Nothing seemed wrong.

Yet in the very next second, just as he was about to step outside.

A line of blood suddenly appeared across his neck.

Then came the instantaneous separation of head and neck.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

Zhou You’s head rolled across the ground and eventually tumbled into a pile of trash in the corner of the stairwell, ending up among a heap of black garbage bags.

There was no killer.

No monster.

Not even the slightest sign of an attack.

It was as though his head had never truly been attached to his body in the first place.

The moment he took that step, everything simply collapsed like building blocks.

No discoveries at all?

No.

Zhou You ignored the sight of his own death and replayed the ten seconds after it instead.

His head fell.

Blood erupted.

It rolled backward.

Then it ended up in the trash pile...

...Something was definitely wrong.

Zhou You frowned.

Under normal circumstances, when a person walks forward, their center of gravity naturally leans ahead.

Therefore, when the head fell, it should have rolled directly out the entrance.

It should never have rolled back behind the doorway.

So Zhou You rewound the footage.

Slowed it down.

Paused it.

Repeated the process over and over.

Finally, during the second before his head detached, he caught a glimpse of something through the gap in the entrance door.

Less than ten frames of footage.

A ripple of wavering light.

And hidden beneath it, a pale, twisted, utterly bizarre face that flashed by for an instant.

Moreover, it was smiling.

“...You have discovered an Erosion Point.”

“You have received a reward of 10 Soulstones.”

“You have obtained the temporary white-grade talent: Keen Observation.”

“Through careful observation, you may occasionally notice traces that are easily overlooked.”

“You may spend 50 Soulstones to permanently retain this talent. Would you like to retain it?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Zhou You chose no.

After all, he was currently dirt poor and had no resources to preserve it.

Still, he had learned quite a few things from these messages.

At least now he knew that talents and other enhancements could be acquired within the game.

He also learned how Soulstones could be spent.

Most importantly, that Erosion Point appeared to be one of the core mechanics of this scenario.

But the problem returned once more.

What exactly was this thing?

Some hidden trap?

A malicious ghost?

Or an abnormal phenomenon that simply did not exist in the normal world?

After a long while, Zhou You shook his head.

There was still too little information.

If he wanted to uncover the truth behind this game, he would have to return to that bizarre stairwell.

Only...

Zhou You touched his neck.

If he made another mistake, he would have to experience genuine death all over again.

Yet a moment later, he suddenly laughed.

Compared to the death sentence delivered by the doctors, compared to the despair of spending his entire fortune only to achieve nothing, what was a mere beheading?

Looking at the floating yellow page, Zhou You unhesitatingly selected confirm once more.

The scenery shifted again.

In the blink of an eye, he returned to the stairwell.

The same dilapidated sight greeted him.

This time, however, Zhou You did not rush forward.

Instead, he cleared his throat.

Then, as though changing masks, his face instantly became one of utter terror.

At the top of his lungs, he screamed toward the outside.

“Help! There’s a ghost! Somebody save me!”

The cry was shrill and desperate, exactly like a dying man’s plea for help.

Yet the people in the distance acted as though they heard nothing at all.

Those who were playing continued playing.

Those who were chatting continued chatting.

No one seemed aware that a trapped and desperate man was standing inside the stairwell.

I knew it wouldn’t work.

The screams stopped abruptly.

Zhou You curled his lips.

There was no disappointment on his face.

Instead, he looked around, picked up a suitably sized garbage bag from a corner, weighed it briefly in his hand, and hurled it outside.

The next instant, the black plastic bag was instantly split into two halves.

Yet just as before, there was no sign whatsoever of what had attacked it.

Not a single piece of trash landed outside.

Not even a drop of the rotten soup inside spilled beyond the threshold.

It was as though an invisible barrier stood before the entrance, dividing inside and outside into two worlds that could never cross into one another.

It seemed this route was completely blocked.

Tilting his head upward, Zhou You looked toward the other path.

Worn stairs connected the upper and lower floors.

The old building’s lighting appeared terrible.

Though it was broad daylight outside, the stairwell remained dark and gloomy.

At first glance, it resembled the gaping mouth of some invisible monster waiting for victims to walk willingly inside.

Zhou You hesitated briefly.

Then he climbed upward.

The second floor was somewhat cleaner than the first, though not by much.

There were only four apartment doors on this level.

The narrow corridor was cluttered with all kinds of miscellaneous junk.

Dust covered everything.

A strange odor drifted through the air from somewhere unknown.

Zhou You frowned and knocked on each door in turn.

There was no response from Doors One through Three.

The silence was so complete that it seemed as though nobody lived there.

But when he knocked on Door Four, an extremely panicked male voice immediately sounded from within.

“Landlady? I... I really don’t have any money left! Please, give me a few more days for the rent! Look, I’ve always been polite! I’ve never broken any of your rules! I’ve never disturbed the other tenants! I’ve never gone to the fourth floor without permission! I never touched the storage room on the fifth floor! Please, give me a little more time! I’ll get the money soon! Really! I’ll get it very soon! Really! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

What followed was nothing but a series of utterly despairing screams.

The man seemed to have completely broken down mentally.

After that, only irregular shrieks and hysterical howls remained.

When the sounds finally quieted somewhat, Zhou You was about to knock again and ask for more specific information.

Suddenly, however, a hand tapped his shoulder.

Zhou You turned around.

Standing behind him was an elderly woman.

She was thin and shriveled.

Her body was withered.

Her face was covered in wrinkles.

Half of her nose had rotted away.

She resembled a dead locust tree.

Before Zhou You could say anything, the old woman suddenly opened her mouth.

The next second, he instantly lost control of his body.

All he could do was stand there and watch.

The old woman’s mouth opened wider and wider.

Very quickly, it exceeded any limit a normal human could achieve.

Yet it did not stop.

It continued expanding.

Pale fangs and the interior of her mouth protruded outward.

Eventually, her mouth became a pitch-black hole.

That hole swallowed him whole.

Then it abruptly snapped shut.

After that, only the sound of chewing remained.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

“You have died.”

“You died at the hands of the Landlady.”