Chapter 9: The Dragon's Advent

Almost the instant she shifted her gaze, the thick darkness rapidly receded.

Immediately after, a speck of blood-red appeared in the handheld mirror, followed by the bloodshot white of an eye. Finally, they formed into a strange eyeball.

The eyeball was embedded in a woman’s bloody face.

It was an extremely horrifying face. The positions of the mouth and eyes were reversed, and beneath the nose, where the philtrum should have been, were two deep gashes that connected to the eyeball below. Just one glance was enough to make a person’s SAN value plummet.

So, while Jiang Jinyue had been looking outside earlier, this woman had also been silently lying against the door, trying to observe the situation inside.

And the instant Jiang Jinyue saw the anomaly’s full appearance, the dead silence around her was completely shattered.

“Creak…”

“Bang, bang, bang!”

“Help! Ahhhhh!”

“I don’t want to die! Monster! Get away!”

…

Shrill screams, frantic pounding against doors, eerie roars, and the piercing sound of something sharp scraping against metal.

All of it surged in from every direction of the corridor like a tide, bit by bit invading the players’ sanity, trying to drag them into the abyss of despair.

“Clang! Creak…”

The iron door in front of her suddenly shook violently.

The red-clothed anomaly outside seemed to have begun attacking.

At the same time, the broom turret beside the iron door, which had been quiet until now, trembled slightly.

Immediately after, the broom head at its top shot out with a “whoosh,” accurately smashing into the red-clothed anomaly’s shoulder. The blow made the anomaly’s body sway, and it let out a sharp screech.

Jiang Jinyue looked at the iron door trembling continuously in front of her, and her heart could not help pounding wildly along with its rhythm.

But she did not retreat. Instead, she forced herself to calm down, took two steps forward, and once again observed the situation outside through the small handheld mirror.

The anomaly outside the door was dressed entirely in red. Its hands were terrifying white bones, and thick black mist coiled around them, giving off an ominous aura.

At this moment, those hands were scratching again and again at the rusty iron door. With every attack, the iron door trembled slightly and lost about 1–2 points of HP.

Meanwhile, every time the broom turret hit the anomaly, the anomaly lost 2–3 HP.

At this point, both of their original 100-point HP bars had already dropped below 95.

After gaining a rough understanding of both sides’ attack power and defense, Jiang Jinyue let out a breath of relief in her heart.

But she still did not leave the doorway. Instead, she silently opened the game panel and began calculating the battle situation with precision.

A dozen minutes later, the red-clothed anomaly’s HP had dropped to 45, while the iron door’s HP had fallen to 66.

Just then, the anomaly suddenly stopped attacking.

It raised its bloody, mangled head and stared at Jiang Jinyue from across the iron door. Then the corners of its mouth split into a wide smile, and it turned around and left without hesitation.

Jiang Jinyue clenched her fists and stared fixedly at its departing back, her mind pondering the rule behind why the anomaly had given up.

Was it because the anomaly’s HP had fallen below half?

Or because the iron door’s HP had fallen below two-thirds?

Or did both conditions need to be met before the anomaly would leave?

Silently making note of this, she turned her gaze outside again.

The handheld mirror’s field of view was limited, and she could only see half of the corridor she was in. But even from this distance, she could still observe quite a bit.

On the not particularly long stretch of corridor, two red figures swayed.

One of them was frantically attacking an iron door diagonally across from her. That door was already on the verge of collapse, but the anomaly’s HP bar was still at 100.

The player inside the room was crying and cursing, but there was no sign of any method of attack. It seemed he had not obtained an offensive item.

The other red figure, however, was not attacking any dormitory. Instead, it was wandering aimlessly through the corridor.

For some reason, Jiang Jinyue was certain that this was the same anomaly that had just left her door.

Suddenly, Jiang Jinyue noticed that the anomaly’s HP bar, which had originally only had 45 points left, was slowly rising. It had already recovered to 47.

Anomalies automatically regenerated HP after leaving combat!

Jiang Jinyue’s eyes sharpened, and she silently recorded this important discovery in her heart.

After all, this meant that if players could not completely destroy an anomaly within a short period of time, or find a way to stop its recovery, then merely repelling it would only delay the inevitable.

A whole night was very long. The anomalies could not possibly attack only once. That meant repairing her damaged iron door was now an urgent priority.

Jiang Jinyue narrowed her eyes slightly and was considering whether to check the chat lobby for repair items.

“Clang!!!”

The loud crash of an iron door breaking suddenly rang in her ears. She immediately pulled back her thoughts and looked up.

The dormitory diagonally across from her had been breached. The anomaly was now walking step by step inside.

The next moment—

“Ah!”

The player’s shrill scream echoed through the corridor.

Then came the chilling sound of chewing.

The two dormitories were clearly not that close together, and there was even a thick iron door between them. Yet that faint chewing sound seemed to be right beside her ear, drilling clearly into the players’ minds.

Jiang Jinyue slowly closed her eyes, gaining a much more concrete understanding of the cruelty of this game.

Five minutes later, only after hearing the footsteps gradually recede did she look outside again.

Just now, afraid that the anomaly might sense her gaze and come attack her dormitory again, she had left the iron door first.

Now, she had to seize the chance to observe the situation outside.

What would happen to a dormitory after the player disappeared?

Time ticked by, second by second.

Fifteen minutes later, under Jiang Jinyue’s gaze, the open door of the dormitory diagonally across from her gradually solidified, until it finally turned completely into a white wall.

Now that she had her answer, she withdrew her gaze and did not move elsewhere.

Instead, she sat cross-legged directly by the door, opened the game panel, and selected the chat lobby.

A light screen unfolded, and countless messages flashed past at high speed.

【Aggressively Kissing the Cripple’s Good Leg】:

“Damn it! That golden treasure chest I fought for earlier only gave me a few extra gold coins. The stuff it opened was basically the same as the ordinary chest I found in a corner!

If I’d known, I wouldn’t have fought so hard. I almost lost my life over it!”

【The Internet’s Number One Male Model】:

“Water, who has water? I’m dying of thirst!

I’m willing to trade three pieces of ordinary iron ore for one bottle of water! Seriously, please, save this child!”

【Mages Never Fight in Melee】:

“Tsk, tsk. I opened a Nerve Fruit. After taking it, you permanently gain 1 point of Mental Power~

Trading it for a purple-quality item or higher. Offensive items preferred. Serious offers only.”

【I Love Pooping】:

“Help! I opened a pet from a treasure chest. I can’t take it anymore!”

【Poop Boy】:

“Heh. Stop showing off, dude. Opening a pet is definitely enviable, but there’s no need to humblebrag this hard. So disgusting.”

【I Love Pooping】:

“I’m seriously done. Do you want this pet? If you do, I’ll send it to you right now!”

【Poop Boy】:

“For real? Bro, you’re really giving it to me? I won’t let you take a loss then. I’ll trade you two bottles of mineral water for it.”

【I Love Pooping】:

“Fine. Add me as a friend. I’ll send it immediately.”

【Aggressively Kissing the Cripple’s Good Leg】:

“Whoa, bro, bro, bro, is the event still going? I want in too!”

【Round-Faced Bearded Man】:

“Help! An anomaly is scratching at my door! I’m willing to trade my purple support-type item, Refrigerator, for an offensive item!”

The moment this message was sent, quite a few people instantly became interested.

【Surviving Is Victory】:

“Beard, don’t panic. There’s no need to rush into trading for an offensive item.

My door was almost scratched through just now, but when its HP only had 10 points left, a prompt suddenly triggered saying the door could be upgraded.

You only need 5 gold coins and 4 pieces of ordinary iron ore to upgrade a Rusty Iron Door into an Ordinary Iron Door.

And once the upgrade starts, the anomaly attacking outside will immediately leave. Tested it myself. It works!”

Almost unable to believe that someone had shared such important information so easily, the chat lobby instantly exploded.