In Virtual Reality 55 ☆ Red Stairwell (2/10)

Xu Jin Yi strode confidently down the stairs, counting her skipped steps. 'Three steps, then two'. In less than five seconds, she spotted a man who had just yelled, "Help!" Xu Jin Yi could hear the ominous presence following closely behind her without slowing down or looking back.

The man at the front door instinctively turned his head and showed a look of terror, unsurprisingly. He fumbled as he continued down the stairs, but his speed couldn't match Xu Jin Yi's. His broad back blocked the narrow staircase, and the hallway of the old residential building was cluttered with too much rubbish, making the escape more difficult with stumbling and bumbling along the way.

As she was about to collide with the man, Xu Jin Yi clicked her tongue and grabbed the black-painted handrail. She leapt over the railing with all her might and landed on the next flight of stairs below. As she steadied herself, she heard a blood-curdling scream from above, followed by a strange tearing sound and, finally, a series of chewing.

Red liquid dripped from the cracks in the railing, splashing onto the stairs below. If everything went as she predicted, the man was dead.

The sound of chewing still echoed in Xu Jin Yi's ears as she hesitated before peering through the gaps between the floors in search of clues above.

Without warning, vivid red eyes appeared in the gap, locking onto Xu Jin Yi's gaze! However, the eyes swiftly vanished, and the unnerving sound of chewing ceased.

Xu Jin Yi hesitated momentarily before turning her head and running down again.

The silence was even more dangerous!

The stairs connected one floor after another, and Xu Jin Yi counted the number of steps, ensuring not to step on air and fall down. But as she leaned, she realized something was amiss.

'...Why haven't I reached the end yet?'

As Xu Jin Yi turned one corner after another, she took a moment to glance down. The spiral staircase layers were stacked and densely packed, with no visible end – evidently more than five storeys high!

Looking up, Xu Jin Yi tried to locate traces of floor plaques on the blank walls. Eventually, she spotted a small piece of snow-white on a grey-white wall.

"Third floor..." she muttered.

But why the third floor?

In her ears, there was no sound. At that moment, Xu Jin Yi felt like the sole occupant of the building. Her legs, which had been mechanically descending, came to a stop.

On the third floor, Xu Jin Yi stood before two unresponsive doors and then examined the stairs leading up to the fourth floor and the stairs leading down to the second floor.

On the slightly wider third-floor platform, Xu Jin Yi could discern the corner passage leading to the second floor, with several pieces of wood stacked. The beige boards were arranged either horizontally or vertically. With her exceptional vision and the game's high-quality graphics, Xu Jin Yi could effortlessly spot the few rusty nails still remaining on the boards. They were likely waste wood salvaged from somewhere. Xu Jin Yi subconsciously took note of it. Suddenly, a familiar ghostly howl echoed overhead. A series of panicked footsteps ensued, but within half a minute, she witnessed a man fleeing downstairs.

Xu Jin Yi looked around, confused. Had she entered a time loop? The man who was frantically running away from something had noticed her too. Instead of yelling for help, he looked at her with a terrified expression and asked, "You are alive??"

Not a time loop?

A shiver ran down her spine as she saw the creature chasing the man. She had seen it before but observed its appearance in more detail this time. The female monster had patchwork marks all over its limbs and moved like a ghost on all fours, with its chest pointing to the sky and its head turning to Xu Jin Yi. Its slightly childish face bore a diagonal scar from right to left, giving it an eerie look.

As the creature wrapped its arms around the man from behind, Xu Jin Yi winced at the sight of the pale arm joints bending in an unnatural direction. The man stumbled and fell, with the monster falling behind him. Xu Jin Yi knew she would be in danger if they rolled down together, so she raised her foot to run. But the monster's target had changed - it was now focused on her.

The ghost jumped from the man's rolling body onto Xu Jin Yi's back, pinning her down with all its weight.

Despite the intense vibrations of the controller, Xu Jin Yi remained calm. The view she was controlling in the game was falling uncontrollably forward. She desperately waved the controller, attempting to free herself from the ghost's grip, but she could only watch in despair as the wooden boards in the hallway piled up in the corner, and the long nails on them grew nearer.

With a "pu chi" sound, the world inside the VR goggles became increasingly blurry, and Xu Jin Yi stood still, helplessly waiting for the end-of-game screen.

Suddenly, a clap of thunder shattered the darkness in front of her, and the world inside the VR goggles lit up again.

Xu Jin Yi blinked. Was she back in that fifth-floor apartment?

As her vision cleared, Xu Jin Yi looked around the room. The small coffee table in the middle of the living room was still steaming with cup noodles, confirming that she had returned to the starting point.

'Does 'no save point' mean you just revive at the starting point?' Xu Jin Yi pondered, looking towards the iron anti-theft door with its round doorknob.

She could leave now, but she decided to investigate the house first. In the game of RPG Horror, any seemingly insignificant trinket could hide a small secret that nobody knew about.

She walked to the junction between the living room and the dining room and surveyed the structure of the not-too-large dwelling.

The kitchen and bathroom were to her left, and to her right were the dining room and bedroom. The iron anti-theft door was straight ahead, with an arch-shaped passage connecting the dining and living rooms.

The primary layout of the house was as described:

[Kitchen][Bathroom]

[Dining Room][Living Room]

[Arch-Shaped Passage with Anti-Theft Door Connecting Dining Room and Living Room]——[Master Bedroom]

[Balcony]

With just a few glances, Xu Jin Yi was most drawn to the open kitchen, where there were no barriers between it and the dining room. She walked smoothly into the kitchen.

On the small kitchen countertop, the chopping board was left out with the knife still on top of it, reflecting the light. Xu Jin Yi approached it and turned on the kitchen light, revealing a dark brown chopping board with a slightly sunken centre, stained with a reddish-brown mark.

She extended her hand and touched it, and a brief notification appeared in front of her.

【The chopping board is covered in mottled scratches, suggesting it has been used for a long time.】

Xu Jin Yi pulled back her hand and surveyed the surroundings.

Seasonings like oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar were all arranged neatly in a corner. Pots and pans were placed elsewhere, unmarked. Chopsticks, spoons, and spatulas were set on the opposite side of the pots and pans, to Xu Jin Yi's right, near the sink.

Xu Jin Yi absentmindedly fiddled with them, but suddenly her hand froze.

Amidst the array of lengthy chopsticks, a pair stood out, stained with a blend of red and pale yellow liquid. She extended her hand to touch them.

【A viscous liquid with some spots of red and pale yellow.】

Could it be blood? Xu Jin Yi couldn't be entirely confident without any additional info. However, she discerned something else - the sink that was utilized for washing vegetables drained into the ground through the sewer. Yet, when Xu Jin Yi twisted the tap, the sink rapidly filled up with water.

Something obstructed the drain.

Xu Jin Yi was on the verge of using her bare hands to remove the blockade when she halted, her fingertips skimming the surface of the murky water. Eventually, she picked a relatively clean pair of chopsticks, grasping them by their tips, and agitated the murky water. It yielded nothing.

After a moment of reflection, Xu Jin Yi turned off the tap and resumed using the chopsticks, probing deeper this time. A loud crack echoed, likely the chopsticks hitting the sink's drain. The two chopsticks gyrated several times, and with a tug, Xu Jin Yi extracted a large tangle of hair from the drain.

Xu Jin Yi: "..."

Her countenance twisted into an unpleasant grimace, and she held a vague suspicion in her heart.

At that moment, a sudden, violent pounding resounded at the door. Without bothering about the hair, Xu Jin Yi hastened back to the living room, scanning the area before snatching up a small white rice cooker and quietly advancing towards the door.

The knocking continued unabated, and Xu Jin Yi listened intently through the door.

"Bitch! Why won't the door open! Let me in!!"

The man's enraged voice reverberated outside the door. Xu Jin Yi could imagine him pounding on the anti-theft door with his fists. She placed her hand on the round doorknob.

"Ah-ah-ah-ah!!!" There was a heavy thud, followed by the man's deafening scream, as he seemed to slump against the anti-theft door.

Xu Jin Yi's hand tensed up, but she was still not turning the knob. After some hesitation, she leaned over to the peephole with her right eye.

The man was sitting with his back against the anti-theft door. The ghost's noticeably pieced-together hand clutched his left ankle, and he writhed in terror while kicking his leg.

"Get off me! Get the hell off!!" The man cried and cursed, flailing his arms to fend off the ghostly creature that was about to pounce on him.

Xu Jin Yi remained transfixed, her left hand finding the doorknob again while her right hand gripped the electric rice cooker, ready to strike.

Suddenly, the ghost, looking down at the man, lifted its head and stared directly at the peephole on the door with crimson eyes.

Xu Jin Yi widened her eyes and forced herself to stand firm. She quickly observed that the creature's bright red eyes lacked pupils.

The edges of her eye sockets were tinged with a dark red liquid, and the female ghost lowered her head and took a bite out of the man's head!

The moment had arrived! Xu Jin Yi twisted the lock on the anti-theft door, lifted her right hand, clutched the electric rice cooker, and brought it down with all her might!

... There was nothing on the other side of the door.

It was empty.