Next day
In the morning, he and his brother arranged everything and reached the conclusion that everyone would depart for the exploration of the abandoned ruins. As planned, they reached their destination and stood before the eerie remains.
"Big Brother, don't you think it feels creepy?" one of the members remarked.
"Hmm, it does feel creepy," he said, glancing toward his brother. Then, he lightly knocked his head with his finger and added, "Weren't all of you guys curious? What, feeling fear now?"
"Fear? Me?" He glanced toward the youngest member and added, "He's the one who's afraid."
"Hey brother, I may be the youngest, but I'm braver than you guys."
"Okay, okay, calm down," he said, glancing toward his brother, who shared sweat and blood. "Now isn't the time, okay?"
"Okay," everyone agreed, and they stepped into the abandoned ruins.
Suddenly, one of the members shuddered and asked, "Why do I feel so chilly?"
"Me too."
"I thought it was just me."
"Big Brother, do you feel it too?"
"I'm human, so it's natural, but I don't understand the reason."
"Yeah, the weather also seems normal."
"Anyway, let's explore these ruins. I can't wait," ignoring their uneasy feelings as they ventured deeper into the abandoned ruins.
As they venture deeper into the ruins, their heart races with anticipation. They had been listening to the tales of abandoned ruins for a long time, but no one ever came to know the reason for the screams, shrill cries, and agonizing voices that resounded within these ruins. Even the highly intelligent monsters stopped invading these ruins, as they could feel the ominous aura and the smell of death that boasted the notoriety of this place.
Once upon a time, there was a high-ranking cultivation player who organized a team to especially clear these ruins, but they failed miserably. Only the howling, screaming, shrill cries, and agonizing sounds returned from the ruins. This event turned these ruins into a taboo, though many players still ventured in, driven by greed for money or curiosity.
Today, fate has taken a turn, and destiny has placed them in this abandoned ruin.
Suddenly, one of the members gasped, "It's incredible," his little voice echoing in the walls. "The level of detail, the sheer scale, this ruin is sure something."
"Shh, keep quiet, we've entered too deep."
"Oh... okay, big brother."
Soon they entered a room, and a chill ran down their spines. Before them lay a grotesque spectacle, a testament to the cruelty that they guessed might explain why monsters stopped coming.
A zombie, its head drilled from the lower jaw and coming out of the skull, was screwed in place with rusty nuts, its lips stretched from ear to ear in a perpetual, gruesome grin.
There was also another zombie whose situation wasn't any less gruesome: its body still clutching a welding torch, its face a mask of terror.
Another zombie, its body a mass of tangled wires and machinery, seemed to be trying to speak, its mouth frozen in a silent scream.
A fourth zombie, its body a grotesque parody of a ballerina, twirled and pirouetted through the group, its eyes empty and unseeing.
But before they could take a deep breath to calm their nerves, their gaze fell on a human which made them unconsciously shrink and take a step back in fear, meanwhile, all their bodies were trembling uncontrollably.
A human body was nailed to the wall, its face contorted in agony, its eyes frozen in a permanent scream. One of them was still alive, his eyes pleading for mercy as he tried to speak, his voice barely a whisper, "Please... make it stop... make it stop..."
These scenes shook them to the core, and they understood they had fallen into a bigger trap. They needed to get out of here, or the pain they would suffer, they couldn't bear.
As they understood the horror, their footsteps echoed through the chamber, and accidentally stumbled upon an old lamp, half buried in the dust. Unconsciously, they picked it up, and a loud, piercing sound filled the air.
"We are finished."
"Big brother, I don't want to die."
"Shh, we need to get out of here asap."
Suddenly, the zombies' heads swiveled, their eyes fixed on them. But they didn't move; they didn't attack because they had been turned into living paintings, frozen in time.
The human nailed to the walls looked at them with a mixture of despair and warning, his eyes screaming, "Run!"
They understood clearly that the sound of the lamp had alerted him and the culprits who made them suffer were coming because they heard a faint, echoing maniacal laughter which was growing louder with each passing moment.
All of their minds were thrown into a mess, and mistake by mistake was done unconsciously. "We were wrong to come here."
"I... I don't want to die."
Except for the middle-aged man, all of their minds went into a trance and stopped working, and they couldn't even force themselves to run after hearing that maniacal laughter which was growing per passing moment.
The middle-aged man finally couldn't hold himself and slapped fiercely at their cheeks.
Slap*
"Big brother..."
"Big brother..."
One by one, everyone woke up from their trance and whispered while they were drenched with sweat and trembling, "Mind control! They have the ability to intensify emotion."
"Don't think too much and run," and like that, the middle-aged man started to evacuate them one by one, and finally, his turn came to exit, but suddenly his footsteps were halted, and his pupils dilated, and his facial muscles tensed, showing extreme horror. Something out of control was happening to him, and he couldn't even utter a word.
"Big brother, why did you... No, something is wrong."
"Something is wrong with big brother."
"What?"
"You guys run. I will come with big brother."
"No, we will survive together and die together."
All of their faces were etched with a plethora of intense and varied emotions, leading them to make mistakes.
But suddenly, a clear and creepy voice resounded in the chamber, which made them shudder, "Oh my, oh my, why are you in a rush? Don't you want to enjoy my art?" and unconsciously, their gaze fell in the voice direction, which made them take a step back. "You are...