Chapter 41: The Blood-Red Apartment 1
Page 1 of 3
After turning off the video, one player silently posted:
[Actually, her face... counts as a kind of strength too, right...?]
[I agree. I think she’s beautiful enough to be a force to be reckoned with. (smirking dog)]
The new girl was nothing like the vicious, burly man they had imagined, the sort who picked his toes for fun. She was astonishingly beautiful—beautiful beyond imagination. Even players who walked along the edge of a knife every moment of every day found themselves drawn to her.
No wonder a horror scenario had somehow turned into a romantic game of competing for someone’s affection.
After reading through the forum, Zhou Zhou found the whole thing both absurd and embarrassing.
The absurdity lay in the things the players had posted.
Things like “the world’s most peerless hunk” and “a super badass elite player.”
None of those descriptions had anything to do with her. Zhou Zhou knew herself well enough. She was merely someone who got carried through scenarios. How could she possibly be that impressive?
The embarrassment was because... this video had been spread around so openly, and her face had been seen.
Her disguise had been exposed. That was certainly not a good development.
If those people followed the Escape Game network and found her... or if the players from her previous scenario caught up with her...
Zhou Zhou shuddered inwardly.
[Big brother, could you help me with something?]
Clutching the stuffed toy, Zhou Zhou was terribly nervous. Knowing that Escape Game never helped anyone for free, she quickly added:
[I’ll pay with points.]
The system seemed able to sense what she was thinking.
[You want me to block that video?]
[Actually, you don’t need to worry. I have already blurred the players’ memories. Once the video is closed, they will not remember you.]
The players would remember only that the newcomer was very beautiful. As for the exact features of her face, they would be utterly incapable of describing them.
The system continued:
[For the sake of safety, I will block the video as well.]
Zhou Zhou relaxed and said softly, [Thank you.]
But then...
[You don’t want any points?]
She remembered Number 022 saying that Escape Game had no free meals.
The soft, snow-white fairy cat in her arms meowed, the sound coinciding perfectly with the system’s pleasant voice:
[No. I am your system.]
Huh?
The girl froze.
That sounded a little like—
Meow~ I am your system.
[Wow, big brother, you’re so cute.]
Holding the cat, Zhou Zhou rolled onto the bed and could not help laughing. She found it rather amusing.
The system, which had not yet realized what had happened, paused.
It... had not misheard her, had it?
She had called it cute?
Number 022 felt strangely conflicted.
It did not want to contradict the girl. It merely thought—
[You are the cutest.]
[What?] Zhou Zhou covered her ears. [Number 022, don’t tease me.]
Page 1 of 3
Page 2 of 3
The system replied:
[I am not teasing you.]
The unspoken words remained unsaid.
Truly, you are the cutest.
...
After Number 022’s interference, the person who had uploaded the video suddenly stared in bewilderment.
[...Huh? Where did my video go...?]
They watched helplessly as the video vanished and were left completely dumbfounded.
The other players paid no attention. Perhaps Escape Game had detected that it was a high-level completion video and locked it.
That was perfectly normal. Completion videos from highly rated players were often worth collecting, and Escape Game would lock them after inspection.
Afterward, purchasing access would cost at least one hundred points.
That was why they had thought the twenty points they had just spent were such a bargain.
The girl’s charm had reached a terrifying level within the scenario, but setting that aside, one had to admit that it was ultimately her words that had given the players their answer.
She had even continued pretending to be a cannon-fodder NPC.
In the recording, she had looked so weak and pitiful... Yet even while maintaining the persona of an idiot, she had been beautiful enough to dim the radiance of the entire world.
But still...
What would her own livestream be like?
Driven by a motive they themselves could not identify, the players wanted to search online for information about the newcomer. Yet for some reason, they could not remember the girl’s features or appearance at all. They knew only that she was beautiful.
Exactly how she was beautiful, however, was very difficult to describe.
The players were stunned.
...What was going on?
Could watching a video really make them forget what someone looked like entirely?
Their memories were not that bad, were they?!
...
Zhou Zhou closed the forum and spent a while petting the cat on the bed.
The soft, warm bed, carrying the girl’s sweet fragrance, was unbelievably comfortable. Her pale, delicate eyelids drooped, her head bobbed once and then again, and she soon fell asleep.
No one knew how much time passed.
She slept deeply and was eventually awakened by Number 022.
[Zhou Zhou... wake up. It’s time to go to the next scenario.]
After calling her several times, the system finally got Zhou Zhou to open her hazy, still-confused eyes. They were misty with sleep.
“All right. What kind of scenario is this?”
The system replied:
[This scenario is a little unusual.]
Unusual?
The word made Zhou Zhou uneasy. Even her voice began to waver.
“Th-this scenario has ghosts, doesn’t it?”
Its voice remained calm.
[No.]
[It is merely that your identity is somewhat unusual.]
“That’s good.”
Page 2 of 3
Page 3 of 3
Zhou Zhou did not even consider what might be unusual about her identity. Once she heard the system say there were no ghosts, half of the worry in her heart disappeared.
After all, no matter how unusual a cannon-fodder identity could be, how unusual could it really be?
The system seemed to let out a quiet laugh.
[Zhou Zhou, are you ready?]
[Scenario transmission in progress. Player Zhou Zhou, please prepare yourself.]
[Three—]
[Two—]
[One—]
[Player deployment in progress. Class B scenario activated.]
[Several new residents have moved into Apartment Building Seven.]
[The building is sharply divided by social class, and the relationships between neighbors are extremely cold.]
[Every night at midnight, those living in the building can hear a strange knocking at their doors.]
[The following morning, everyone who heard the knocking will be dead.]
[Residents of the entire building are constantly disappearing, and the people in the apartments have fallen into a state of panic.]
[This scenario has no time limit. Escape from the apartment building or survive until the scenario ends to clear it.]
Zhou Zhou received the scenario information after waking in a narrow, untidy room.
The moment she opened her eyes, she was dumbfounded.
“Hmm...?”
There were several pieces of photographic equipment in the room, along with revealing clothes strewn everywhere. She herself was wearing a pale-pink camisole dress that barely reached her hips.
Could that even be called clothing? It was nothing more than a few scraps of fabric.
At that moment, her entire appearance was utterly bewitching.
She looked like temptation personified.
An ominous feeling began to stir in Zhou Zhou’s heart.
Sure enough, when she saw the furry cat tail behind her, her pupils contracted and she was completely stunned.
Looking into the mirror directly ahead, she could also see that she was wearing a pair of pink cat ears.
Zhou Zhou: ...?
“Big brother,” she said in a faint, helpless voice, remembering what Number 022 had said in the player space. “So what exactly is unusual about my identity?”
The system was silent for a long while before answering:
[You are a vain, malicious streamer living in the apartment building.]
[You like hiding in the shadows, crazily envying and resenting the wealthy.]
[To make money, you are willing to do anything.]
Page 3 of 3