A sensation of touching the ground came from beneath his feet, and Qin Nuo appeared in a void space.

Qin Nuo looked around; this time, he was the only one in the space.

Or rather, the other players had been placed in different spaces.

"Welcome back to the Horror Game. This time's game instance is—Bloodstained Apartment."

"Number of players: 7."

"Players will check into the apartment as tenants. The length of your stay will directly affect your exit rating."

"Instance task: As a tenant, politeness is important. Build good relationships with your neighbors to gain favorability and earn extra points!"

"Note: There is a serial killer hidden in the apartment who has claimed 23 lives. Find the killer before the game ends to receive the highest reward!"

"Note: Since you're renting, rent must be paid. If your wallet is empty, you can earn tips by fulfilling other tenants' needs!"

"Of course, if you mess up, tenants might take something from you, like a limb, heart, eyeball, etc..."

"Protection Mechanism: Each player receives an extra life token in the game. Die once, and you will be revived. Die a second time, and you'll really lose your life."

"Note: After dying once, players can choose to continue or exit the game. Once chosen, the decision cannot be changed."

"Game duration: 10 days."

"Note: The game time to real-world time ratio is 10:1."

"This instance seems much more complex," Qin Nuo murmured.

However, the protection mechanism is quite nice, essentially giving each person two lives, greatly enhancing the game's safety.

But Qin Nuo thought carefully and remembered that he was also rewarded with two substitute scarecrows after completing the last instance.

He wondered if they could stack with the protection mechanism's life token. If they could...

Damn, he'd have four lives to play with!

Tsk, it feels like pay-to-win.

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"The perfect score task is to find the serial killer in the apartment. The time is 10 days. Even if you don't find the killer, you can still exit the instance."

"However, there's no guarantee the killer won't target them..."

As Qin Nuo pondered the instance rules, a panel appeared before him.

"Preparation time is over. The player has not set a game name. Please set it and confirm to enter the instance."

"Game name..." Qin Nuo thought for a moment and typed two characters.

"Let's call it 'Phantom.'"

"Player Phantom registered successfully, about to enter the game!"

As soon as the words fell, a strong pull enveloped his body, and the scene before him quickly blurred.

The next second, Qin Nuo found himself in a dimly lit hall.

Boom!

Outside, thunder roared, and rain poured down!

The atmosphere inside the hall felt chilly and eerie.

Besides him, six other players were also transported in one by one.

Four men and three women.

Some wore glasses and looked scholarly, while others wore vests and appeared muscular, each with distinctive features.

Qin Nuo noticed that their faces had a kind of anime-like blur.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Qin Nuo saw that his face had also changed.

Identity anonymized.

Appearance blurred.

"Perhaps it's also a kind of protection mechanism to increase player privacy," Qin Nuo thought.

After all, if conflicts arose between players in the game, there would inevitably be trouble in the real world.

The other players were clearly not newbies. After getting familiar with the surroundings, the man with glasses, anonymously named "Cobra," said, "You all probably aren't newbies. I don't need to explain the game information and rules."

"Good luck to everyone. Let's hope there are no conflicts between us players."

"Of course, if interests clash, it's up to each one's skills!"

"You're wrong. There's actually a newbie among us."

The burly man anonymously named "Black Bear" spoke, then looked at Qin Nuo in the corner.

Qin Nuo suddenly noticed that above their heads was a level information bar.

Among the six, the highest was level 6, and the lowest was level 2.

And Qin Nuo was a level 1 newbie.

In the horror game under the protection mechanism, player information is recorded by the national system. Completing an instance increases your level, but forced entries don't count.

So, Qin Nuo was classified as an inexperienced newbie!

In an instant, six pairs of eyes focused on Qin Nuo.

Some were disdainful, others sympathetic.

The female player anonymously named "Black Rose" glanced at Qin Nuo, "Courageous."

The twin-tailed female player anonymously named "Princess Yao Yao" gave a sympathetic look and kindly advised, "If you die once, choose to exit the game, or you'll really be gone!"

Qin Nuo smiled slightly, "That won't do. That would be too boring."

"You can never dissuade an idiot courting death," Black Bear snorted.

"You guys keep chatting; I'm going in first." Cobra didn't want to waste time on a level 1 guy and withdrew his gaze, heading towards the light inside.

The other players followed suit.

The light bulb seemed poorly maintained, flickering on and off.

Cobra approached the front desk and asked the apartment boss, "Boss, are there any rooms left?"

The boss at the front desk was an old man, crouched under the drawer doing something.

Hearing the voice, he sat upright, and in the light, half of his face's decayed flesh was clearly visible.

It was like a pockmarked tofu skin, extremely unsettling!

The players present all had some experience with horror games, and only Princess Yao Yao shivered slightly, while the others were unfazed.

"How do you seven want to stay?"

The apartment boss glanced at the seven, expressionless.

"All single rooms, seven of them."

"You're in luck; there are exactly seven rooms left."

"Rent is 20 Ghost Currency per day, with a 30 Ghost Currency deposit. Water and electricity may cut off occasionally. The apartment has no servers, so manage your own rooms. Apply at the front desk to replace living supplies."

"At eleven o'clock at night, the apartment will lose power. Solve toilet clogs and bathroom hygiene issues yourself."

Qin Nuo and the others twitched their mouths.

Goodness.

With these conditions, it still charges 20 Ghost Currency a day.

It's a miracle it hasn't gone bankrupt!

And yet, business is so good there are only seven rooms left!

Cobra didn't think much and paid the rent and deposit proactively, and the others followed suit.

Then, each person received a key.

Whether by coincidence or not.

Qin Nuo's key was for room number 404!

What an unlucky number.

Qin Nuo smiled wryly.

Soon, the seven of them went upstairs one after another.

The apartment boss at the front desk added, "Also, some tenants in the apartment have bad tempers. Don't wander around randomly. If something happens, we're not responsible."

Qin Nuo heard this and shook his head slightly.

A familiar feeling...