010 By the time Darius Kane woke naturally, it was already afternoon.
Still lying comfortably in bed at House 666, he picked up the tablet provided by Horror Town and opened the residents-only forum.
The place was surprisingly active, filled with casual discussions, complaints, jokes, survival stories, and professional guides written by experienced players.
Some threads were useful, while others looked exactly like the nonsense people posted on ordinary internet forums back in the real world.
“Am I seriously going to be stuck at Iron forever?” “Why did Horror Town choose someone who never watches scary movies?
Couldn’t I have been sent into a dating simulator instead?” “I was Bronze in League back home, and now I’m Iron here too.
Did I cross dimensions just to stay bad at games?” “Successfully cleared Wrong Turn.
Sharing survival advice for newcomers.” “Used this guide and cleared Sleepy Hollow without taking a single hit.” “Paying good Exchange Points for a complete guide to The Conjuring!” Ordinary discussion threads could be read for free, but genuinely valuable guides required payment.
The cheapest useful posts cost four or five hundred Exchange Points, while detailed information about dangerous worlds could reach several thousand or even tens of thousands.
Darius looked at his remaining balance and immediately lost interest in buying anything.
He had risked too much for those points to throw them away on information he might never need.
While scrolling, he noticed one extremely popular thread with thousands of replies.
“SHOCKING!
THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT HORROR TOWN HAS FINALLY BEEN EXPOSED!” Curious, Darius opened it.
The first line read, “I’m not going to waste your time, so let’s get straight to the truth.” The poster continued with several dramatic paragraphs claiming to possess secret information about Horror Town, only to eventually reveal that the shocking truth was that Horror Town was, in fact, a town connected to horror.
The writer then thanked everyone for reading and invited them to share their opinions.
Darius stared at the screen.
“What the hell?” He genuinely thought he’d misread it.
Even after crossing dimensions and entering supernatural death games, clickbait creators had somehow survived.
That explained why the post was so popular.
Almost every reply consisted of people insulting the author, mocking the thread, or wishing terrible luck on the poster’s next trial.
The highest-rated comment read, “Every like reduces the original poster’s survival rate by ten percent.” Darius calmly added another upvote.
He backed out and continued scrolling until another trending thread caught his attention.
“Does everyone understand what happened?” Darius opened it.
The entire post was somehow even worse.
“Those who understand already understand.
Those who don’t understand won’t understand even if I explain it.
Don’t ask too much because the forces involved are beyond what ordinary residents can handle.
The information was deleted by Horror Town itself, and knowing more would only put you in danger.
If you still don’t understand after reading this, then there’s nothing I can do.” Darius slowly lowered the tablet.
“Unbelievable.” So not only had clickbait survived dimensional travel, vague know-it-all posters had made it here too.
Apparently, no matter what universe humanity entered, the internet would find a way to remain annoying.
Darius briefly wondered whether whoever controlled Horror Town ever bothered moderating its own forums.
After browsing for a while longer, he decided to make a post of his own.
“Missing Person — Please Read.” “I’m looking for someone named Liam H.
from Ohio.
We grew up together and were close friends before losing contact after high school.
He’s a huge basketball fan and spent half his life talking about the Lakers.
If you’re Liam or know someone matching that description, please contact me.” The friend had been one of the few people Darius genuinely cared about in his previous life.
They had been almost inseparable as kids, but after graduating high school, different schools and different lives gradually pulled them apart.
Darius had no idea what eventually happened to him.
Since Horror Town appeared to recruit people from all kinds of backgrounds, there was at least a small chance his old friend might somehow be here too.
Half an hour passed.
Several replies appeared, but none were useful.
Floor 1: “Why does Horror Town have so many trolls?” Floor 2: “I’m looking for the two residents from my placement team too.” Floor 3: “What trial did you just clear?
Please send me a guide.” Darius sighed and closed the forum.
Next, he opened the official Horror Town Shop.
Resident-to-resident trading was only one part of the economy; Horror Town itself was easily the largest merchant and offered far more powerful equipment, enhancements, services, and facilities.
Naturally, the prices were equally ridiculous.
One particular option immediately caught Darius’s attention.
[Training Room] The facility could simulate the attack patterns and abilities of countless killers, monsters, ghosts, and other supernatural entities.
Residents could repeatedly practice surviving against them without facing the same consequences as a real trial, greatly increasing their chances of staying alive later.
It sounded incredibly useful.
Then Darius saw the requirements.
[Price: 50,000 Exchange Points] [Minimum Rank: Gold] He closed the description.
“Maybe in another lifetime.” By the time Darius finished exploring the shop, evening had arrived and his stomach was growling.
He suddenly realized he’d barely eaten since everything began.
Fortunately, Horror Town provided ordinary living necessities extremely cheaply, with basic food service costing only a few Exchange Points each month.
Darius opened the meal menu and ordered a cheeseburger, fries, and a bottle of Coke.
The moment he confirmed the order, steaming food appeared directly on the dining table.
Darius stared at it for a second before sitting down.
He took one bite.
His eyebrows rose immediately.
“Okay, that’s ridiculously good.” He had eaten plenty of burgers before dying, including some expensive ones, but none tasted quite like this.
Even the fries were perfectly crisp, and the Coke seemed colder than anything he’d ever pulled from a refrigerator.
Darius finished everything comfortably, rested for a while, then decided to go outside and see what Horror Town looked like after dark.
The answer was surprisingly disappointing.
Almost nothing changed.
The streets remained clean and peaceful, though there were fewer residents outside than during the day.
A handful of stubborn fishermen were still sitting beside the lake as though supernatural death trials couldn’t interfere with their evening routine.
After wandering around for a while, Darius became bored and decided he’d rather return home and browse the forum again.
On the way back, he accidentally bumped shoulders with someone approaching from the opposite direction.
The stranger stood around six feet tall with a balanced, athletic build, short black hair, and a dark face mask covering the lower half of his features.
Even with most of his face hidden, his sharp eyes and well-defined features made him look annoyingly handsome.
Darius privately concluded the guy was probably only slightly less attractive than himself.
“Sorry,” Darius said.
“I wasn’t watching where I was going.” The man said nothing.
He simply nodded once and continued walking.
Darius was about to do the same when he noticed that the stranger hadn’t completely hidden his profile.
[Homeowner: Hidden] [Street: Hidden] [Rank: Silver — 6000/10000] Darius stopped for a moment.
Silver.
After spending most of the day wandering around Horror Town, this was the first Silver-rank resident he’d personally encountered.
Considering how many people seemed to die before advancing very far, reaching that level probably meant the masked man had survived a substantial number of dangerous trials.
Darius watched him disappear into the night before turning back toward House 666.
“Definitely a veteran.” The following day, shortly after lunch, Darius decided to check reality again.
The transition happened instantly, and his awareness returned to the hospital room.
This time, however, the room was much more crowded than before.
Eight people surrounded his bed.
Men and women of different ages stood nearby, all wearing white coats and studying charts, monitors, or Darius himself.
The oldest was a bald physician in his sixties wearing reading glasses.
He leaned closer, examined Darius carefully, then straightened with an expression of genuine disbelief.
“I’ve practiced medicine for decades, and I’ve never encountered anything like this.” Another doctor nodded.
“Neither have I.
His neurological recovery shouldn’t even be possible based on his previous condition.” “It’s extraordinary.” “Almost unbelievable.” The group continued discussing Darius as though he’d become some once-in-a-generation medical mystery.
Judging from their conversation, several of them had probably come from other hospitals specifically to examine his case.
That made sense; someone declared effectively dead before suddenly showing signs of neurological recovery would attract professional attention quickly.
A middle-aged female doctor eventually shook her head in amazement.
“Maybe there’s something to the old saying that good people eventually receive good things.” Several others smiled without seriously agreeing or disagreeing.
Darius immediately focused on those words.
Good person?
That was interesting.
He still knew almost nothing about the original owner of this body, but the doctor’s comment suggested that Darius Kane hadn’t been some criminal or terrible human being.
If anything, people apparently remembered him positively.
Considering all the possibilities that came with transmigrating into a stranger’s life, that was at least one piece of good news.
All right.
Maybe I didn’t inherit such a bad identity after all.
(End of Chapter) [Reader Support Milestones]