Chapter 81: "The Second Day" of the Deceased
The two of them arrived at the Kala Asylum; it was already late at night.
The place was desolate and dilapidated, a complete ruin.
Burn marks were visible everywhere.
The asylum had seven floors in total, quite large, and on the top floor, there was a rundown little chapel. The statue of the deity it housed was still intact but on the verge of collapse.
In the first-floor lobby, dozens of players had gathered, forming groups of two or three, keeping some distance from each other.
Clearly, in this Tide of Demon Spirits where mutual killing grants experience bonuses, no one dared to trust each other easily!
After Zhao Yi and his companion entered the asylum, an air wall rose up.
Evidently, their "Second Day" would be spent within this air wall.
As the time passed midnight, an eerie bell began to toll inside the ruined chapel.
...
[Dungeon: Kala Asylum]
[Main Quest: Find the real culprit before being killed!]
[Side Quest: Kill the real culprit!]
[Main Quest Reward: 100 experience points, air wall removal]
[Side Quest Reward: Killer's Eye (different rewards for different players)]
[Difficulty: ——]
[Note: Each of you has only one chance to identify the culprit face-to-face. If you fail, you will automatically incur the culprit's wrath, and your location will be shared with them throughout...]
...
As the system's task messages updated, everyone's consciousness began to blur—
When they regained clarity, they found themselves in different rooms.
The once-ruined asylum had become refined and lively.
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Outside, the starry sky was brilliant and serene.
But inside the asylum, it was filled with the harmonious sounds of patients conversing with each other.
"Hey... Old Three, why did you ditch us for cards again last night?"
"Tch, Old Nine, all you think about is cards! I was busy slaying gods last night!"
With that, a bald, pot-bellied middle-aged patient swung his plastic spoon, hitting a female player on the forehead, shouting:
"Kala ahead, gods forbidden!"
The female player, not fully conscious, cried out in pain and looked at Old Three in confusion.
This was the lobby.
It held about a hundred patients, including some players.
Of course, most players weren't in the lobby; they were in their own rooms.
The rooms weren't big.
Just a bed, a TV, a toilet, and a table.
Not even the most basic surveillance cameras.
The lighting was pale, the iron bed cold.
Zhao Yi sat up from the bed, closed the foul-smelling toilet lid, opened the system panel, and checked his teammate's location.
He was in room 307, Luo Qili in 315.
The room right across from him.
"Clatter!"
The sound of a toilet lid closing came from next door, followed by the sound of flushing.
Zhao Yi glanced sideways but said nothing.
The TV in the room was on, filled with static noise.
After the snow, there seemed to be a signal again.
It showed a priest leading a prayer:
[Light purifies the spirit of the good]
[Fire burns the flesh of the wicked]
[The great Father once said]
[Only those carrying goodness purified by light and evil burned by fire can reach the blissful Eden...]
...
Mysterious and cryptic.
It seemed Western churches always concocted such cryptic words to attract more followers.
Bored, the players began leaving their rooms to explore outside.
They weren't here for a vacation.
They were here to catch the culprit.
But so far, there seemed to be no... victim?
In Zhao Yi's room.
He opened a bag of chips, watching the endlessly repeating programs on TV.
No new channels, no new content.
The asylum was very perfunctory with the patients, the TV only playing repetitive recordings.
Just then, a scream from downstairs pierced through, shaking the entire asylum!
The players, hearing the scream, seemed invigorated, rushing towards the first floor.
Zhao Yi turned off the TV and followed out the door.
On the way, Luo Qili reported her findings to Zhao Yi.
"The TV programs are all repeats; could there be some hidden clue in them?"
Zhao Yi didn't answer, handed her the remaining chips, and squeezed into the crowd heading towards the corridor where the incident occurred.
In the long, pale corridor, the young lady administrator sat shivering on the cold floor, her eyes fixed on the room behind the door, unmoving!
Before anyone could see what was inside, the scent of blood had already wafted out.
It was strong.
Clearly, more than one person had died inside.
Zhao Yi struggled to the doorway and looked inside.
There were 11 corpses in total.
Throats slit, hearts gouged, brains sliced...
The victims had died in eleven different ways.
Their expressions were terrified and twisted, clearly having faced extreme fear before death!
Some lunatics and players couldn't help but retch, instinctively distancing themselves!
Among them, a cold-looking man with glasses walked into the room to examine the bodies.
He was a player.
His name was Chen Long, a forensic medicine student at Kazakhstan Medical College.
He was familiar with corpses and confident he could extract some key information from them.
After a simple inspection, he adjusted his glasses with a grave expression and said to his teammates outside:
"These people died within the last hour!"
Everyone remained silent.
Zhao Yi also went in to take a look.
Then he came out again, glancing down both sides of the corridor.
One side was a wall with closed blinds.
The other side led to the lobby.
Noticing this, Zhao Yi asked the crowd:
"Did anyone see someone walking down this corridor just now?"
The bald Old Three raised his hand.
"Old Nine and I were near the corridor entrance just now; no one walked down this corridor in the past hour... except the administrator sister."
As he finished speaking, other lunatics chimed in:
"Yeah, I was facing that way the whole time, didn't see anyone go by."
"Me neither!"
"…"
A faint smile crossed Zhao Yi's lips.
"Administrator sister, should we call the police?"
The administrator, terrified, nodded quickly.
"Call the police!"
"Yes!"
"Call them immediately!"
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