[1. Demand answers from Wang Mei]
[2. Leave the temple]
[3. Threaten the girls]
Lin Xiao hesitated, wondering what the system was trying to lead him toward.
Lin Xiao's character stood in the dim light of the temple, his eyes fierce and unyielding as he glared at the terrified girls. His voice, cold and threatening, cut through the tense air. "If you don't tell me the truth, I will kill these boys," he said, each word dripping with menace.
The girls recoiled, their faces pale with fear. They exchanged panicked glances, unsure of what to do.
Their breaths came in short, shaky bursts, and tears welled up in their eyes.
One of the girls, her voice trembling, tried to stammer out a response, but she was too terrified to form coherent words.
The others clung to each other, desperately trying to find some courage, but the overwhelming fear kept them silent.
Wang Mei, who had been standing to the side, suddenly stepped forward, her face a mask of defiance mixed with confusion. "What truth?" she demanded, her voice sharp and desperate. "What are you talking about?"
Lin Xiao was just as baffled as Wang Mei.
He had no idea what his character was referring to, but the words had come out with such conviction that it left him unsettled.
What truth was his character demanding? Was there something hidden in the game that he had missed, or was this just another layer of the game's twisted narrative?
His character repeated the demand, his voice unwavering. "Tell me the truth."
Wang Mei's eyes narrowed, and Lin Xiao could feel the tension rising within her. She was clearly struggling to understand what was happening.
Her mind raced, trying to make sense of the situation.
The same questions echoed in Lin Xiao's mind as well. What truth? What could his character possibly be trying to uncover?
The silence in the temple grew heavier, with every heartbeat adding to the oppressive atmosphere.
Wang Mei, still grappling with her own confusion and fear, seemed to be at a loss for words.
The girls, too, were frozen in place, too scared to speak, their minds racing as they tried to figure out what they were supposed to reveal.
Lin Xiao's confusion deepened as he realized he was just as much in the dark as the characters in the game.
It was as if his own character was leading him toward something he didn't yet understand.
This game, with its eerie twists and turns, was playing with his mind, pushing him to unravel secrets that even he wasn't aware of.
The tension in the temple was thick enough to cut with a knife. Everyone was on edge, waiting for something, anything, to break the silence.
Then, just as expected, time froze again, presenting Lin Xiao with his set of options:
[1. Demand the truth again]
[2. Kill them]
[3. Leave the temple]
He glanced at them, rolled his eyes at the absurdity of it all, and, without hesitation, chose the first option.
Time resumed, and his character, with the same intense glare, repeated in a booming voice, "Tell me the truth!"
The scene was so serious that it almost seemed ridiculous, especially when you considered that neither Lin Xiao nor Wang Mei had any idea what "the truth" was supposed to be.
Wang Mei and the rest of the group exchanged bewildered glances. "What truth?!" someone finally blurted out.
Wang Mei's eyes widened as she began to question the sanity of this old man who had just stormed in and started beating people up. "Is this guy actually crazy?" she wondered aloud, her voice tinged with disbelief.
The absurdity of the situation wasn't lost on Lin Xiao either. He could practically feel the confusion radiating from the screen as his character stood there, demanding answers to questions even he didn't understand.
The whole thing was so bizarre, it was almost funny.
Wang Mei, half-expecting another sudden outburst, kept her distance, trying to figure out how to handle this increasingly unpredictable situation.
The others, meanwhile, were beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, they'd be better off without trying to understand what was happening.
Once again the time stopped and options came again, Lin Xiao was speechless once again as he was presented with the usual set of options.
[1. Demand the truth again]
[2. Kill them]
[3. Leave the temple].
"What the heck are these options?" Lin Xiao rolled his eyes so hard they almost came out of his skull.
Lin Xiao, feeling a mix of frustration and curiosity, decided to go with the second option. "Fine, let's see what happens," he muttered as he selected it.
Time resumed, and his character sprang into action with unnerving precision. Without hesitation, Lin Xiao's character moved with the speed and skill of a trained assassin.
The first victim didn't even see it coming; a swift blow to the neck dropped him instantly.
Lin Xiao watched, wide-eyed, as his character turned to the next target, dodging a desperate swing and delivering a crushing strike to the temple, dropping another.
Each movement was fluid, calculated, and lethal. No weapons were needed—just pure hand-to-hand combat.
His character grabbed a chair, smashing it across someone's back before delivering a bone-crunching kick to another's chest, sending them flying across the room.
Lin Xiao's character dispatched each person with cold efficiency, moving from one to the next like it was a choreographed dance of death.
Lin Xiao's shock grew with every life his character took, especially since he never intended for things to escalate this far.
The screen flashed with each kill, the tension in the air growing thicker with every fallen body.
Just as Lin Xiao's character landed the final blow, ending the last of the group which was Wang Mei, a shrill scream pierced the air, echoing through the village.
The sound was so sudden, so chilling, that Lin Xiao nearly jumped out of his seat. The scream was distant, yet it carried a weight of terror that sent shivers down his spine.
Lin Xiao's character froze, the blood on his hands dripping as the echo of the scream lingered in the night air.
The atmosphere shifted dramatically, the once tense and bizarre situation now twisted into something far more sinister.
The air grew heavy, oppressive, as if the village itself was alive and reacting to the carnage that had just taken place.
Suddenly, Lin Xiao's entire screen was splattered with blood, as if a massive artery had burst, sending crimson liquid splashing across the virtual world.
The sound of drums began to play, deep and rhythmic, but there was something off about them.
The drums didn't sound like they were just being played—they sounded as if someone was crying, their sorrowful wails somehow transformed into the rhythmic beating.
The crying drums reverberated through Lin Xiao's headphones, creating a haunting, almost unbearable atmosphere.
The pounding of the drums was relentless, each beat echoing with the weight of despair, as if the village was mourning the deaths Lin Xiao's character had just caused.
Lin Xiao stared at the screen in shock, his heart racing.
The blood continued to spread, slowly covering every inch of the display, turning the once dark and eerie village into a sea of red.
He tried to move his character, to do anything, but it was as if the game had seized control. His character stood frozen, bathed in blood, unable to escape the horror unfolding around him.
Then, without warning, there was a deafening "Boom!"—a sickening sound of cracking bones and rupturing flesh.
Lin Xiao's character's head exploded in a grotesque shower of blood and gore, the screen instantly cutting to black.
The screen faded back in, displaying two words in bold, white letters: [You Died].
Beneath it, the completion percentage ticked up slightly, stopping at [Completion Percentage: 40/100].
Lin Xiao was speechless, staring at the screen in disbelief. "What the heck was that?" he muttered to himself, completely taken aback by the brutal turn of events.