"What kind of entity is that?'
Seeing the silhouette of the unknown entity vanishing toward the depths of the mansion, Clark immediately heaves a sigh of relief.
Instinctively touching his chest only to sense that his heart unknowingly began to beat with great intensity...
To the point that he can hear its loud beat just by touching his chest.
Although he knew that he was only playing a horror game and everything it contained was simply fictional, the game's almost realistic graphics still gave him the illusion that he was experiencing the event himself.
Unfortunately, Clark had no idea that the fear he had just experienced lay from his expectations... Or to be exact, originated from his psychology.
Fear usually originates from two factors: first, from the unknown, a thing beyond one's imagination and understanding, and second, from knowing yet being unable to change anything.
Hence, when Clark saw that the unknown entity earlier began to aggressively sniff the scent present within the atmosphere, he already concluded that the other party was going to become aware of his character existence—making him believe that the unknown entity would go crazily and dash toward his direction at any moment, hence generating fear within his mind...
Unfortunately, the event that he had expected didn't occur, making his fear turn into nothingness but still shrouding his mind in doubt and uncertainty.
Considering that the game's difficulty was at the extreme, the action of the unknown entity earlier gave an indescribable unease to Clark's mind.
...
"I will recommend this game to my friends tomorrow; it would be good to see their expression upon playing this game.'
As Clark was harboring thoughts within his mind, the familiar notification again popped up on the dim screen, immediately causing him to focus on the game.
[ Do you want to consume one matchstick in order to light up the candle? (Current matchstick left 25) ]
"Accept."
Upon clicking the accept button, the character within began to shakily take out a matchstick from the box—pointing the match head of the matchstick to the igniter before scratching it toward its surface, instantly causing it to ignite.
Crackle~
Soon, after a second, a flutter of unstable flame appeared on the tip of the thick candle, creating a weak glow that illuminated the short distance.
Following that, the sight, 1.5 meters away from the character, began to become discernible under his apprehensive gaze.
The overturned furniture and the tearing paint within the walls, in addition to the old pictures covered in dust that were pasted on the high walls, met Clark's gaze, making him pause for a while in order to glean more information.
Even though looking at the image poses a problem due to the weak illumination of the candle—unable to raise it further in fear that the wind might snuff off the sparks of flame within—Clark still manages to see the faint silhouettes within the old picture.
A family of five, leaning on the long wooden bench in the mansion's garden, unfolding a varying smile on their face, greeted Clark's gaze...
Their eyes, covered by a faint layer of dust, show varying signs of emotions, from initial happiness, indifference, and emptiness.
A sight that looked normal at first glance, yet, the longer one stared at them, the deeper one felt that something was amiss.
Despite the fact that the picture looks disturbing to a certain degree, the thing that caught Clark's attention was the child hiding beyond the mansion window in the distance, gazing at the family with unprecedented envy, to the point that Clark could feel the intense emotion it was evoking by just looking at its silhouette.
"An adoptive son? Or a middle child that was cast aside??"
Pondering for a while, creating random conjectures within his mind, Clark quietly advanced, gazing at the second picture that was hanging on the wall.
Surprisingly, compared to the first image, the second picture on the wall only showed a little girl at the age of 4 or 5 playing with a ball—passing it to the distance, clearly playing with someone...
Unfortunately, the camera angle didn't catch the other party's image, making Clark's mind quite chaotic from random guessing... Akin to overthinking without any clues.
Feeling that he was slowly unveiling the storyline of the game, Clark, feeling a faint sense of excitement, continued to advance—almost halfway to the second floor—as the third and last picture frame, pasted on the thick, old wall, presented in front of the character's eyes.
However, much to his disappointment, instead of an old picture, the thing that greeted Clark's eyes was a painting that was seemingly created by a child.
Other than the 6 stickmen drawn to the old paper using crayons, 5 depicting the family members of the child while the other one was painted chaotically using a red crayon, Clark hadn't managed to glean more information, creating unsatisfactory in his mind.
...
Tap- Tap-
As Clark fell into deep thought, gazing at the three images on the side of the staircase silently, the familiar sound of the uneven footsteps, giving him a rare sensation of coldness, eerily echoed within the mansion, causing him to instantly awaken from his thoughts before instinctively glancing toward the dim first floor with gloom.
"I could no longer stay on the first floor."
Although he still wanted to inspect the image within the wall for a while, afraid that he would miss something crucial, the existence of the suspected "Malice" forced him to immediately abandon his plan...
Causing him to regretfully glance at the pictures pasted on the walls before he decided to directly ascend to the second floor.
Hence, without further ado, fearing that the unknown entity would catch his insignificant existence, Clark immediately followed his plan—slowly controlling the character to ascend the staircase to the right side while protecting the lit-up candle with care, afraid that the unstable flame within would immediately snuff out with simple movement.
Unfortunately, despite his cautiousness, protecting the little flame within the candle poses great difficulties.
Just as his feet touched the second floor, a cold breeze that was carrying dampness, originating from the balcony on the right side and entering through the huge gaps of the broken glass wall, viciously swept inside the room—making the character shiver severely as the flame within the candle it was holding instantly vanished.
However, before the flame completely snuffed out, the scene in the short distance still reflects in the dim screen, causing Clark to feel horrified...