Volume 2. Game Update in Progress
I gently jumped backward, intending to test whether these monsters were like I had guessed, that they would not allow me to leave, and once I moved away from the doorway, they would leave their seats to catch me.
My hand was placed on the Substitute Doll, also as a precaution, in case I could not return to my original position in time and needed to save my life at any moment.
However, something I had never expected happened.
With just this small jump of less than thirty centimeters backward, those classmates who I had previously created afterimages of by slowly moving my left and right feet suddenly began to have their faces melt and deform.
Each of their faces twisted slowly as if an invisible giant hand was distorting them.
Their arms started to swell.
Their legs and feet stretched out.
And although their bodies still maintained the rough shape of limbs, head, and torso, their entire figures became eerily bent.
The facial features on their faces, if not observed carefully, could no longer even be recognized as human.
Including "Teacher Zhang" sitting at the podium, "her" body twisted even more severely.
Her entire face showed several whirlpools.
That face could hardly be called human anymore but had become something completely indescribable.
At the instant I saw the changes happening to the "people" in the classroom, I immediately knew my guess was correct.
This sudden mission likely had a rule that I was not allowed to leave.
However, there was one crucial point about the game.
It would never issue a death mission.
Since it was a game, there must be a way to clear it.
Furthermore, having experienced two games and having seen Fang Zheng’s memories, I was very sure that this game was not strictly limited to only one way of clearing.
In fact, apart from the rules, other aspects of the game's design were not very rigorous.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
Now, I faced two choices.
One was to take out the Substitute Doll from my neck and throw it into the classroom, then turn and run.
The other was to use the Evil Spirit Form to forcibly pull my body back to its original position to stop their movements.
Originally, I leaned toward escaping.
After all, heading deeper inside would be too much of a test for my nerves.
However, when I was still midair, my feet not yet touching the ground, I suddenly felt a faint vibration from my left wrist.
At the same time, the previously bright and sunny scene outside the window abruptly dimmed.
This made me instinctively lower my head and glance at the watch on my left wrist.
The original World Watch usually looked just like an ordinary watch.
Besides the hands, there were two small boxes on the dial, one showing the day of the week and the other displaying "Interdimensional Space."
However, at this moment, the entire watch dial, including the hands, seemed forcibly flipped upwards, just like turning a page of paper.
At this moment, the dial had already been half flipped open.
The surrounding world suddenly became noisy.
But this noise was not perceived through normal senses.
It was not a sound entering the ears.
Instead, it was a feeling directly transmitted into the soul.
That noise sounded like countless screams, cries, wails, and roars.
Countless negative emotions that made my entire body cold in an instant, pouring straight into my soul.
Outside the window, it had completely darkened.
The darkness on both sides of the corridor began to swallow everything and rapidly approached me.
This darkness moved inward as the distance between my body and my original position widened, quickly closing in.
The view outside the window, in front of me and behind me, all darkened.
Not even a single trace of light could be seen anymore.
My vision was gradually swallowed up by the darkness.
The countless sounds filled with negative emotions struck straight into the depths of my soul.
In that instant, I almost lost control of my body.
The Evil Spirit Form inside me suddenly produced an intense devouring emotion.
It actually began to slip from my control, attempting to flee from my body.
This was truly a novel feeling.
Who had ever experienced their own soul trying to betray their consciousness?
Fortunately, my body was still under the control of my will.
Although the Evil Spirit Form wanted to escape, overall, it was still within my grasp.
However, I already knew.
It seemed completely impossible to leave the classroom this time.
The only way to survive was to walk into the classroom.
Because now, the world that had swallowed all the light had already been clearly indicated on the watch.
【Inner World】
Even though only the upper half of these three characters was revealed, I instantly understood the meaning.
By now, strange phenomena had already started appearing around me.
Those phenomena were beyond my ability to describe in words.
It felt like certain beings hidden within the darkness were locking onto me.
The madness of their malice made my entire body erupt in goosebumps, and my scalp felt like it was going to explode.
All of this happened before my feet could even land on the ground.
I dared not imagine what would happen once my feet touched down.
But there was one thing I was sure of.
If my feet landed, my life would probably be over.
I still remember.
In the permanent mission involving the Goat-headed Monster, there was a very clear rule written.
"Second: The player must escape the hospital before 1 a.m. Once past 1 a.m., the Surface and Inner Worlds will switch, and monsters will instantly lock onto the player's location."
With the enhancement from the Evil Spirit Form, my memory had become extraordinarily sharp.
I could even recall the fear and helplessness I felt when I first saw that rule.
During the course of the game, the World Watch displayed that we were always in the Interdimensional Space.
While in the Interdimensional Space, the Goat-headed Monster could not lock onto a player’s location and could only blindly search.
However, that rule was very clear.
Once the Surface and Inner Worlds switched, the monster could instantly lock onto a player’s position.
Was it really that important to lock onto the location?
I did not know.
Could locking onto a location allow instant movement?
I did not know either, because the rule did not say.
But I knew one thing, once I entered the Inner World, the situation might become unimaginably bad.
Without any hesitation, falling into the Inner World... what a joke.
Just the noise alone was enough to cause my Evil Spirit Form to go berserk.
If I really fell into the Inner World, my Evil Spirit Form would probably rush out of my body instantly, and at that time, my body would definitely be eaten by other monsters.
Maybe even the Evil Spirit Forms themselves would attack.
The distance I jumped backward was not far.
This was something I had controlled deliberately, jumping high but not far, so that I could return to my original position at any time.
Now, everything around me proved my wisdom.
Ahem.
I was proud.
But now was not the time to be proud, saving my life was more important.
I suddenly stretched out both hands.
At the same time, my right hand had already pulled the Substitute Doll from my neck.
The moment I threw it into the classroom, I also grabbed both sides of the doorframe with my left hand, then pulled myself directly into the classroom.
At the moment my feet landed, a faint vibration suddenly came from the watch on my left wrist.
At the same time, all the soul-piercing noises filled with negative emotions suddenly turned into a single miserable scream.
"Ga~~！！！！"
Within that scream, I felt a strong sense of unwillingness.
No, it was not just one, but countless emotions filled with unwillingness and resentment.
Then in the next second, the world began to change.
The darkness on both sides of the corridor quickly retreated.
Sunlight returned and shone in again.
The darkness in the distance was also fading rapidly.
The blue sky once again appeared.
And at the moment I landed, the scene before my eyes made my scalp tingle.
A group of twisted and ferocious classmates were surrounding a cloth doll that was only slightly bigger than a finger, frantically... ravaging it.
For a time, the entire classroom was filled with ghostly wails and wolf-like howls.
Even "Teacher Zhang," who had been sitting at the podium, joined in.
A large group of monsters were acting like lunatics, crazily gnawing, fighting, and tearing at a cloth doll less than five centimeters tall.
Several classmates even started fighting over one of the doll's legs.
At the same time that my feet landed, the movements of these classmates suddenly stopped.
If I had a camera, I would definitely have taken a picture.
Oh right... I had a phone.
I hurriedly pulled out my phone, unlocked it, and took a picture in one smooth motion.
Only then did I realize that they seemed to be forcibly stopped by some kind of power.
Each malicious and greedy face stared unwillingly at the shredded cloth doll on the ground, but no one continued to fight for it.
I recorded the following scene with my phone.
After being frozen for about three seconds, the classmates, each with twisted and unwilling faces, stared at the cloth doll on the ground.
Then, they slowly stood up straight.
I was very sure that the effect of the Substitute Doll had not yet disappeared.
But these "classmates" did not continue to fight.
Instead, after standing upright, they began to walk back to their original seats one by one.
Those ferocious, terrifying, twisted faces still looked reluctantly at the mutilated cloth doll on the ground.
Then, under some irresistible force, they obediently returned to their seats.
Throughout the process, the "classmates" never once took their eyes off the tattered doll on the ground.
Some classmates, due to the angle, even twisted their necks two full turns.
And when they sat back in their seats, their faces returned to expressionless normal human faces.
However, their necks remained twisted with two turns, looking extremely bizarre.
After recording all this, I looked at the torn cloth doll on the ground.
I looked at "Teacher Zhang" sitting at the podium, whose eyes could not help but glance downward.
Suddenly, inspiration flashed in my mind.
I raised my hand with a very innocent and childish voice.
"Teacher, there is something on the ground, I will pick it up for you~"
Then, I watched as the face of "Teacher Zhang" sitting at the podium continued to twist and deform.
It became ferocious and terrifying.
Those malicious eyes stared at me fiercely, but she did not move.
"Really can't move?"
I tried taking a step into the room.
The "classmates" all turned their eyes toward me in unison.
However, none of them moved.
Sure enough, although I did not know the exact rules of this sudden mission, I could confirm that the death trap this time was leaving the classroom.