[ Chapter 0, page 289; The Silent Crawler... ]
[ As a new influencer aspiring to become famous, you decided to tread alone in an exciting exploration—finding an abandoned house and mansion deep within the forest or dilapidated place in order to make content that people would surely love.
[ As time passed by, when you started to gain considerable fame, someone from the comment section suddenly requested a place for you to explore. An abandoned mansion deep within the forest where a family of five mysteriously met their demise...
[ You, seeing a new opportunity to increase your fame, decided to explore the place, although its distance was quite far away from civilization. ]
[ ... ]
...
[ Main Mission: Survive Till Morning!
Side Mission: Explore 50% of the Mansion!
Note: Your evaluation will be based on your actions and skills! ]
...
"The mission seems easy; should I hide in a room for the whole night and ignore the side mission?"
As Clark was strategizing within his mind, a small joystick, glowing with an eerie glow of misty white, suddenly appeared within the corner of the screen, followed by a crimson red and green bar materializing above —signifying the health and stamina of the character.
Seeing this, Clark began to control the character within the screen, slowly manipulating it to encircle the huge mansion, which took him a couple of minutes just to complete.
Surprisingly, while he was controlling the character, he didn't meet a dead end or obstruction that other games had, making him admire the capabilities of the creators of the game.
"I wonder what would happen if I decided to let the character hide in the forest?"
Unable to contain his curiosity, Clark, with anticipation written in his eyes, was about to manipulate the character to transverse the dark forest when suddenly, a text, glowing in crimson red, popped up on the screen, causing his plan to explore the forest to get extinguished in an instant.
[ Upon being drenched in rain and exposed to cold wind for a couple of minutes, your character's temperature dropped to 32 degrees Celsius... Causing it to experience mild hypothermia.
Health -1% per minute.
Note: Advisable to take shelter and dry yourself. ]
"Now it feels too weird; not only does the game's image look realistic, but it also included reasonable events."
Shifting his gaze from the screen toward the window beside his bed, glancing at the worsening churning sky and the unceasing water droplets that continuously hit the windowpane—lightly obstructing the scenery outside…
Clark lightly shakes his head before manipulating his character to approach the mansion's door....
Rustling~
Tap- Tap- Tap- (Sounds of water droplets hitting the ground.)
Slowly, the character began to approach the thick wooden door, touching its cold yet rough surface filled with moss as the screen in front of him showed two options—either open the door or freeze outside, leading to the character's death.
"This is simply forcing me to choose the first option."
Clark, seeing this, immediately pressed the first option, causing his shivering character—a clear indication that the character's hypothermia began to worsen— to approach the solid, brown wooden door filled with fading yet intricate carvings.
Touching it before putting force on those two shivering hands, making the wooden door start moving.
CREAKK~
As the character was pushing the thick door, a disturbing sound of creaking, originating from the rust that accumulated from the door's gear, suddenly echoed throughout the expanse of the mansion...
Startling Clark greatly, causing him to instinctively glance at the dormitory's door only to notice that the sound actually came from the old phone within his grasp.
Huff~
"Even the game's audio feels realistic."
Soon, upon completely opening the door, the grand foyer, shrouded in pure darkness, reflected on the dim screen. Followed by the scene of the unused furniture covered in thick dust and mold in the near distance.
Unfortunately, due to the dimness of the place, he could only discern the items in the short distance obscurely.
"This mansion looks grand; I hope I could also buy one in this lifetime."
As he was pondering deep within himself, the character began to instinctively approach the table near the entrance of the door.
There, Clark instantly saw four items laid within the table surface: a cheap flashlight, a lamp run by gasoline, and a long, thick candle with a match beside it.
Hmm?
Surprisingly, Clark noticed that only the four items on the table had no speck of dust on them as if someone had just laid the items before he entered the place.
[ Please choose 1 item from the table…
Note: Any item from the table signifies the difficulty of the game page. Choose wisely. ]
"I see, so that's the case."
After gazing at the four items on the table for a couple of seconds, a sudden notification, containing their description, popped up on the screen, describing the advantages and disadvantages of the items with great clarity, causing him to fall silent.
[ Old Flashlight; An item equipped with old batteries. It's unknown if the batteries or the flashlight were still working; it might suddenly lose its power at any critical moment. ]
[ Inferior Lamp; A lamp with half-filled gasoline. Although it couldn't be easily extinguished by wind due to the glass covering its cloth tips, the light it could give was quite limited. ]
[ A thick candle and a match; The glow it could give was worse than the lamp. Not only could its flame be extinguished by a simple breeze, but it might also be extinguished by extensive movement and breathing.
Fortunately, even if the flame within the candle got snuffed out, you still had full matches. ]...
Reading their description carefully, Clark unfolds a smirk on his face, momentarily glancing at the window beside him before clicking the 3rd option.
"Hehe. Of course, I will choose the extreme difficulty. As a man, it's reasonable to choose the most extreme!"
Boom!
In an instant, after choosing the 3rd option, a deafening, thunderous sound of lightning echoed within the old phone and above the dormitory at the same time, followed by the bright light that momentarily flickered from the window and the dim screen.
Still not done, before the sounds of lightning faded, the lights within the dormitory and the nearby building simultaneously disappeared, being replaced by pure darkness and the deafening sounds of silence.
"This. A power outage?"