Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 701 - 699 Safety

BOOM!

Bai Haozheng felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, an inexplicable chill running from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, as if he had plunged into an ice cave.

The ability to read memories and record them in the form of dynamic comics was not actually a skill but rather one of the special effects of his Nen ability.

As an Intelligence Analyst for the Special Affairs Bureau, Bai Haozheng had used this ability countless times. He employed it for interrogating criminals to collect intelligence, treating psychological trauma among his colleagues at the Special Affairs Bureau, or studying the psychological activities of anomalous beings.

But he had never encountered a situation as bizarre as this.

Dynamic comics should be just dynamic comics; they should not, and could not, become a vessel for transmitting anomalous effects.

CLICK.

The woman in the drawing's left eye dropped out again, landing between her knees, which were clad in a simple long skirt. She extended her slender fingers and picked up the left eyeball, still attached to thread-like nerves. As if eating an ordinary lychee, she deftly put the eyeball into her mouth and slowly chewed it, letting blood spatter out and trickle down her neck. All the while, she maintained her smiling gaze at Bai Haozheng, who was outside the drawing.

The next second, all the papers vanished. Bai Haozheng slowly lowered his outstretched arm, letting out a long sigh of relief.

The papers were successfully retrieved into his inventory, not forced to remain in the real world. It seemed they hadn't become an uncontrolled anomalous item; otherwise, they couldn't have been stored in his inventory.

"...Mister Bai, how do you feel?" Yuyi Xinzhong asked softly, still maintaining a vigilant pose, ready to draw her sword at any moment.

The others were also watching Bai Haozheng with guarded eyes. The incident just now was too weird. It was daytime, the curfew had long ended, and the hotel's interior was supposed to be safe. But what about that dynamic comic that had turned its head to look directly at Bai Haozheng?

Had the hotel rules failed? Or did the woman in the dynamic comic, the one combing her hair, possess a higher Mysterious Degree than the hotel?

"...I should be fine." Bai Haozheng shook his head. He cast several detection skills on himself to check if he had been affected physically or mentally and then displayed his player nickname, signaling to the other players that he had not been replaced or controlled.

"Being able to store it in your inventory means the situation isn't too serious," the Mule frowned and said. "But for now, it's better not to take it out. That thing gives me a very bad feeling. Shouldn't we first go check Danfei's room, collect evidence, and then study these pictures?"

"...Alright." Bai Haozheng fell silent for a moment, then slowly nodded. He steadied his nerves and let the solemn expression drop from his face. We'll deal with whatever comes our way, he thought. Besides, being targeted by an anomaly of unknown origin isn't necessarily a bad thing...

The group ascended the steps, with the Black Holy Son and others intentionally lagging behind, keeping their distance from Bai Haozheng.

They walked in silence, the atmosphere growing even more oppressive than before. Fortunately, they soon reached the eleventh floor. The players proceeded to the right side of the corridor. The door of Room 1172 was covered with a wire mesh festooned with Talismans, apparently to defend against and isolate supernatural entities.

Bai Haozheng stepped forward, removed the wire mesh, and took out a large ring holding hundreds of keys. He selected one, inserted it into the lock, and opened the door.

"Every player has keys to their floor. However, we didn't find Danfei's set in his room previously. He might have placed his keys in his inventory, and they disappeared when he died. This set I'm holding is the spare from the hotel front desk," Bai Haozheng explained as he pushed open the door.

As soon as the door swung open, everyone was struck by a strong stench of blood.

The room was a mess, with debris scattered everywhere. Copious amounts of blood, in various shapes and patterns, were splashed on the carpet, floor, ceiling, and walls.

"After 07:07 this morning, I opened my own door, went downstairs to find the Ghost of Hidden Eye and the Black Holy Son, and around 07:10, arrived at Room 1172 on the eleventh floor, knocking on Danfei's door," Bai Haozheng explained. "After waiting for 15 seconds with no response, I used the spare key to open the door. I saw the room full of bloodstains, as well as an arm and a thigh lying by the doorstep."

He stepped over the threshold, walked a few steps forward, and squatted down at a spot in the living room. Using his tangible white Nen ability, he created illusory images of a left arm and a right leg on the carpet.

"Next to the arm and thigh were a sticky note coated with Danfei's saliva and blood, as well as some paper and a pen."

Bai Haozheng also crafted phantom images of the sticky note and other items, showing their positions to the other players.

"The Black Holy Son stayed in the corridor, while the Ghost of Hidden Eye and I entered. We called out Danfei's name while searching the room but didn't find him.

"After briefly reading the sticky note, we tentatively concluded that Danfei had received it the previous night and had met with misfortune. So, we left the room at 07:13, sealed off 1172, and went to inform the others.

"That is my experience."

Bai Haozheng paused for a moment, then added, "Normally, if I used memory sketching, I could have shown the scenes from my memory more clearly. But given the special circumstances, I won't use it now."

"Mm." Li Ang nodded in understanding. "Can I take a look at the sticky note and paper?"

"Certainly." Bai Haozheng took out the sticky note and paper and handed them to Li Ang. Li Ang wrapped his palms in a layer of vine gloves before taking the two items and reading them carefully.

The sticky note read: "Answer the phone. Don't answer the phone." It was written in sloppy English, on two separate lines.

The content on the paper was much more detailed. Danfei had described his experiences, adding the time from the room clock at the beginning or end of each entry.

Shortly after curfew began, he had felt a discomfort in his throat. After a coughing fit, he pulled a sticky note stained with his own saliva from deep within his throat. It bore the instruction: "Answer the phone. Don't answer the phone." After a period of fear and hesitation, Danfei began to analyze the situation. He took a pair of hearing-enhancing earphones from his inventory and started to wait in the room.

Between 00:30 and 03:15, nothing happened.

At 03:16, the telephone in the hallway on the right side of the eleventh floor rang. The incoming number displayed as 101#. Danfei was suspicious and didn't answer. The call disconnected after three rings.

At 03:30, Danfei heard the telephone ring again, this time from the neighboring room. He didn't answer.

At 03:31, the telephone in Danfei's room rang. Danfei decided to answer it. Then, the writing stopped abruptly. What happened in between, no one knew.

About five lines down, more writing appeared, much messier than the text above:

"She's here. I can hear her footsteps."

"I'm preparing to fight her to the death. If I use that item, I might be able to kill her."

"Wish me luck."

"The room isn't absolutely safe! They can open the doors! Don't—"

After the word "Don't—" there was no more content.

These were the experiences Danfei recorded before his unfortunate end.