Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 680: Numb to Death

Chapter 680: Chapter 680: Numb to Death

Normal people don’t suddenly go insane, and since arriving here, players have been very careful with their food, either eating what they brought themselves or thoroughly testing any food bought from outside, so there’s no possibility of poisoning.

But the unclear state of mind of the player in front of them was a bit chilling; even avoiding the currently known triggers for disappearance, they couldn’t fully escape the influence of the instance, and they didn’t even know where this influence was coming from.

"It’s the decorative patterns in the hotel," Liu Shiyen said with a grave expression. "Those patterns have a psychological suggestive effect."

Many players knew this. Even if they didn’t understand when they first arrived, after living there for a couple of days, they had figured it out.

"Could it be that the longer you stay, the more susceptible you are to influence?" the player with an artistic flair shrugged. "If that’s the case, why not move out to a boarding house earlier?"

"The boarding houses aren’t much better," Cao Dong, who wasn’t feeling well, said. "Do you think no one has stayed there?"

Since they knew there was a problem with the statues being worshipped, most players wouldn’t stay in rooms provided by locals. Whether by paying or by force, staying away from the statues was a basic tactic, but still, people disappeared every day.

"Half the hotel has burned down; where else can we go if not to a boarding house?" the artistically inclined player said, tossing her long hair and walking away with two female players, one on each arm.

The baby-faced female player who came with them also picked up her bag and left, but she chose a different direction.

With the hotel mostly burned and clearly dangerous, they had no other choice but to move to boarding houses.

"By doing this, won’t the players become even more scattered?" Wei Xian said hesitantly.

"If you want to live with others, go and find a house yourself," Fu Danhong said. "I’m living alone."

Tian Kunwen apparently had the same idea, and upon seeing this, Wei Xian dropped the subject.

"I think it’s better for everyone to stay close to each other, so we can look out for one another," Fang Penghui suggested.

"Who are you to tell us what to do?" one of the injured players who had arrived the day before glared at him discontentedly. "You get to call the shots just because you arrived a few days earlier? Show us some real skills then."

Fang Penghui had already rallied several players to his side, who now clearly stood by him. The injured player’s momentum weakened slightly upon seeing this but didn’t show weakness. "What, you’re trying to coerce other players? Pretending to look out for each other, but you just want someone to take the fall for you, right?"

There were also a good number of players knocking on doors in the hotel.

As the standoff continued, Fang Penghui spoke up again: "I’m a mystery writer. On the first day I arrived, I knew there was something wrong with the hotel’s peepholes, mirrors, and wall carvings. At night, you mustn’t open the peepholes, and if there are flickering lights behind a mirror after the lights go out, you absolutely must not look. If you observe the patterns on the wall for a long time, you will start seeing hallucinations of eyes."

"This instance is called ’Shared Vision.’ Everyone is clear about what the trigger conditions are related to, right?"

"Eyes, including anything to do with eyes, are very dangerous. People here won’t even look in mirrors; the first thing to avoid is eyes."

"There are also stone carvings with eyes in the forest, but those who have seen the stone carvings are fine," said the player in black who had arrived in the same car as Xu Huo.

"The stone carvings have all been damaged, and even if you put them together, the eye parts are not complete," Fang Penghui said. "It must be done intentionally by the people here."

"Isn’t that a contradiction?" Yi Pei joined the conversation. "The people here are very afraid of the gods they worship. Just one look at the statue and you break the rules. These people would still be alive after desecrating the statues?"

Fang Penghui turned his gaze to the delirious player still being held down by others, "Then we’ll have to see if he can make it to tomorrow alive."

"There’s no need for such trouble," Liu Shiyen said. "Using the locals to test will yield immediate results."

The people living here surely knew the situation best. Since interrogating them led nowhere, watching their reactions might reveal something.

"Might as well set this cursed place on fire," someone else snorted. "If the houses collapse, wouldn’t all the risks vanish?"

"That’s absolutely not an option!" Tian Kunwen immediately countered. "Without the houses, where would we stay at night? It’s definitely not safe out there after dark."

"Besides, arson and murder could trigger a chain reaction," Yi Pei also frowned. "Angering the locals would only make us targets sooner."

It was not certain that those who checked into the guesthouses weren’t killed by their hosts.

"Hey, those people over there keep staring at us. They shouldn’t be able to hear us from this distance, right?" Cao Dong pointed to a residential building not far away.

Everyone turned around and saw several elderly people at the edge of a courtyard. Their old bodies were oddly rigid, and their lifeless eyes stared straight over, as if seeing them and yet not.

"I’m getting goosebumps..." A female player rubbed her arms. "Are these people really alive?"

As she spoke, the group she referred to seemed to come back to life, hunching over to point and gossip about the burned-down hotel.

"I don’t buy this superstition." Two players stepped out from the crowd and walked straight up to the elders. Unaware of what was happening, they seized one of the old men by the throat and lifted him up.

The old man’s eyes rapidly filled with blood and turned red. His eyes bulged with rage as he stared at the player, but he couldn’t make a sound. He only scratched the back of the player’s hand twice before he stopped breathing.

In less than a minute, several elders fell one after another. One of the players looked provocatively at the people in the surrounding houses, "Taking care of these old geezers was a chore, you’re welcome."

Observing the residents, their expressions were less than lively, with more numbness than hatred in their eyes. Soon, a few teenagers came with stretchers, took the bodies back into the courtyard, and after completing the task, everyone else resumed their activities, no longer paying any attention to the two players.

"Pah!" The player who had spoken provocatively spit.

Even the slowest to catch on would notice something off about the locals, and their expressions grew even graver.

"I think it’s best if we stay together," Cao Dong said. "There are vacant houses here too. It won’t be an issue to squeeze in."

The nearby houses where the elders who had just died lived were now empty.

Most players present agreed with the suggestion, only a few left on their own.

Xu Huo nodded at Fang Penghui and returned to his own place.

Fang Penghui frowned as he watched Xu Huo’s retreating figure, then gestured towards the forest to the players beside him. The two who had been tracking earlier had not returned.

Another two players hurried towards the direction of the forest.

Xu Huo and Yi Pei watched the video from last night. Since the manager had blocked the peephole, it was impossible to see clearly what was in it—only a red glimmer passing by. After the light, the struggling manager calmed down immediately, turned around, and silently moved toward the window. Even opening the window and leaving made no sound.

"A red glimmer?" Xu Huo thought of the elderly’s overly congested eyes just before death—red, eyes. Were these the necessary conditions?