Seeing about twenty of them hanging from the ceiling, Annan remained expressionless.
Even a little want to laugh.
"… That's it?"
Annan was a little disappointed.
It's really not that he is brave, nor is it that he has no fear...
From an objective point of view, Annan knew how scary this point was—in principle, what Annan entered was someone's nightmare. In other words, in the dungeon, he was playing the role of the suspected painter who was stabbed.
But these hanging corpses have the face of Annan outside the copy.
For real native NCs, this trick may make their hair stand on end, creating a sense of confusion as to whether I am in a nightmare. But it doesn't make sense to the player.
It's even harmonious.
Because whether it is the players or Annan. Their bodies outside the copy are not their own bodies.
If these hanging people are Annan before crossing, or the main body of the players, maybe they can scare the players into cardiac arrest.
But the characters they created are scraped here like bacon. Players who may react slowly and have poor comprehension ability will be shocked when they first see the corpse. I may not be able to get to where the horror of this scene is, I have to wait for someone to explain it to me after exiting the dungeon...
It can be said that a horror game that needs other people's explanation to understand where it is scary is quite harmonious.
Before Annan could see clearly, another bolt of lightning fell outside the window.
Then with a flash of light, Annan saw that the corpses had turned back into bound portraits, as if it was just an illusion before.
Annan waited for a while, and then there was no more lightning.
So he asked earnestly and politely: "Is there anything else
"Going without me?"
Watched by more than twenty dangling portraits, Annan briskly passed the gallery.
And the L-shaped corridor has become the dim look before.
The only difference was that there was a crack in the wall—it was the place where a hammer suddenly appeared and smashed the wall open.
Although the gap is not big, it is enough to allow one person to pass through.
After Annan walked over, he took a look inside.
To his surprise, there was a narrow passage here. It only allows one person to pass, and it will be very crowded if two people walk side by side.
And at the end of the narrow passage is a wooden door... exactly the same as the door I saw in the last room during the first two cycles.
—[All fork in the road, go to the side with the painting]
"Is this...a fork in the road?"
Annan murmured.
He looked to the left, and there was still a dim yellow light at the end there, almost exactly the same as before.
The only difference is that there are no weird portraits on the sides of the L-shaped corridor this time.
And at the end of that narrow passage, there is only one painting. On the left side of the gate leading to the next cycle, there is still a picture frame that Annan can't see clearly for the time being.
—Probably going this way.
Annan thought, trying his best to squeeze in through the gap.
He heard "myself" let out a low cry of pain, gulping and breathing heavily. The abdominal wounds all seemed to have been torn open by it.
His body seemed out of control.
Or... As if he had entered a cutscene, his body moved by itself.
Going to pass the level
Or... is this just the beginning
Although he was stabbed in the abdomen, Annan had never cried out in pain before, let alone made such an embarrassing sound. The frequency of walking was also very close. Forward gesture.
Like a machine, precise and elegant.
But his current pace is getting slower and slower, and because of the pain, he has made some meaningless movements, and even staggered a little-this will undoubtedly make the wound worse.
"Buckle... please..."
He muttered in a low voice, suddenly his throat rolled up, he coughed violently, and the wound on his abdomen was further torn. So he also staggered and fell to his knees on the ground.
He felt a strong suffocation.
Finally, with great difficulty, he coughed up a mouthful of phlegm mixed with blood from his throat.
"Ah... ah..."
He made a sound of extreme fear, gurgling in his throat.
Because he saw clearly that it was not phlegm.
It's an eyeball.
A very complete eyeball with beautiful emerald green pupils—
"Please...don't..."
He whispered again, staggering to his feet. But because the corridor was too narrow and smooth, he had nowhere to relay, and his abdomen was in severe pain, it was very difficult just to get up.
So after he tried a couple of times, he simply crawled on the ground with difficulty.
But Annan heard the footsteps very keenly.
Very light footsteps.
He was crawling on the ground, crawling forward like a dog—where did the footsteps come from
is behind.
Annan reacted quickly.
There was a person quietly and tiptoeing behind him...
But "he" still seemed to be distracted, crawling forward with difficulty on the ground, gulping and wearing rough clothes, and making painful low humming sounds from time to time.
He climbed for half a day for a short distance of a dozen or so steps.
Until he touched the door, he was almost ecstatic.
"Ah...haha...heh..."
He raised his upper body half-crying and half-smiling, trying to push open the door and return to the wide gallery where at least people could stand up and walk.
But his smile froze quickly.
Because the door is locked.
Can't open it.
Can't open at all.
He vigorously and frantically moved the handle, but found that it couldn't be moved at all.
The door was locked at the other end.
But at this moment, his gaze gathered and his pupils dilated.
Because he suddenly realized—the shadow cast on the door seemed to be more than a circle larger than the upper body he was supporting.
Someone is behind!
And the top of the shadow gradually bulges.
Like a person slowly raising a huge hammer above his head—
The moment he realized this, Annan suddenly regained control of his body.
It's like... wanting him to follow the inertia of his thinking and turn around.
But Annan still remembers.
Whether it was the warning from Priest Louis, or the voice of the old man who had just entered the nightmare.
"... don't look back, do you?"
Annan ignored the hammer that seemed to be about to drop in the next moment, but raised his head decisively, and looked at the painting on his left.
He saw it.
It was a teenage girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was sitting on the bed, wearing a white dress with lace-trimmed lantern sleeves on her arms, and the dress covered half of her thighs, revealing her smooth knees.
She smiles cutely and looks out of the portrait.
Only a little weirdness.
The left eye of the girl's portrait is burning with a circle of fresh scorching marks, destroying the overall warm beauty. At first it was the size of a cigarette butt, then gradually spread...
After meeting her eyes for more than a second, Annan suddenly felt a trance.
"...don't move, Ellie."
He suddenly heard a somewhat familiar voice.
It seemed to be... the painter's voice.
And in his own mouth, there was a crisp and lovely response: "Okay, Dad."
At this time, the world in front of him gradually became clear.
He found himself looking down a bit, sitting on a soft bed—at least a lot softer than the one in Salvatore's room.
And he felt that the cuffs had a touch similar to lace, and he roughly guessed that he might have entered the body of the girl in the painting.
Opposite him should be the painter who was stabbed in the stomach.
He is about thirty years old at the moment, with brown hair and blue eyes, and some stubble, which seems to be a beard that has not been shaved clean. But he still looked very handsome and personable, and he was in very good spirits.
... wait, brown hair and blue eyes
Annan was silent for a while, and looked at the painter with compassionate eyes.
"Laugh, Ellie."
The male artist raised his voice somewhat dissatisfied.
at this time.
A system prompt finally appeared in Annan's eyes.
Only then did he finally receive the belated mainline quest:
[Entered the gallery: Alley Morrison (third floor)]
[Main task: Play as Alley Morrison until tomorrow morning]
Immediately, a large piece of small characters quickly appeared below this line of words:
[Complete portrait]
[Explore the secret of Amos Morrison]
[survive]
Seeing the main mission prompt, Annan suddenly understood everything:
God damn...
Priest Louis doesn't have a system, so the strategy is not reliable at all...
—That gallery is a place where you choose a level! Every time you pass through a door, it means you have entered the next level... And looking at the portraits is the key to unlocking the deep nightmare!
He finally knew how he died in the last two weeks.
He might not have survived from the gallery to the end and entered the last few floors. In theory, it is the most difficult dungeon that needs to be [below the gold rank] to clear.
Priest Louis is probably the typical player who "after clearing the game, he still doesn't know what the plot is"...
Under Amos Morrison's increasingly disaffected gaze, Annan flashed a sweet business smile before he urged a third time.
"Okay, Dad."
He imitated the tone of Alley Morrison before, and said exactly the same words, so similar that they were almost creepy.
It's a pity that Mr. Amos, who was opposite Annan, didn't realize anything, he just felt a chill down his back.