After finishing his first inspection of House 666, Darius Kane opened his status panel and selected the Reality option near the bottom.
As Horror Town had explained earlier, residents could choose between remaining in town or temporarily returning to the real world after completing a trial.
Darius had nothing urgent to do here, and he was still intensely curious about the body he’d awakened in after transmigrating.
More than anything, he wanted to know who Darius Kane had been before he took over this life.
Without hesitation, he activated the return function.
The transition lasted less than a blink.
Darius opened his eyes—or rather, regained awareness of his surroundings—and found himself back inside the private hospital room where everything had started.
He was still lying motionless on the bed beneath clean white sheets, with medical equipment standing nearby and an IV line attached to him.
His first instinct was to get up, find a mirror, and see what this body actually looked like.
It would be depressing if transmigration had somehow turned him ugly.
Unfortunately, his body still refused to cooperate.
Darius tried moving his arms, legs, fingers, and head, yet nothing responded no matter how hard he concentrated.
He couldn’t speak either, leaving him fully conscious while trapped inside an almost completely unresponsive body.
The situation was basically the same as before entering Horror Town.
His frustration rose immediately.
Seriously?
Darius had assumed surviving the placement trial might somehow restore him completely.
Instead, he had returned to reality only to discover that his physical condition remained almost unchanged.
He tried again several times, pushing so hard that his heart rate increased, but his limbs stayed still.
At this rate, he had no idea how long he would remain trapped in bed.
The door opened after a while, and a nurse entered carrying a clipboard.
She approached the bed, checked the monitors, examined the IV line, and briefly inspected his condition before writing something down.
Darius desperately shifted his eyes toward her, hoping she would notice that he was awake and consciously tracking her movements.
Unfortunately, she never caught the signal.
“Everything looks stable.” The nurse adjusted the IV bag and left.
Darius stared at the ceiling.
Wonderful.
He spent another stretch of time lying there with absolutely nothing to do.
He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t reach a phone, and couldn’t even properly communicate with the hospital staff.
Remaining in reality served no purpose until his body recovered further.
Eventually, Darius gave up and activated the return function again.
A moment later, he was back inside House 666.
At least here he could move.
Darius cleaned himself up, changed into fresh clothes, and decided to explore Horror Town properly.
Part of the reason was simple curiosity, but he also wanted to observe the other residents and gather information about their ranks, equipment, and general strength.
Knowing what an average survivor looked like could become extremely useful once his first official trial began.
Walking around blindly without understanding the environment would be foolish.
The town remained almost absurdly peaceful.
Birds moved through the trees, flowers lined parts of the road, and the air carried none of the oppressive atmosphere Darius expected from a place built around deadly horror trials.
The bright sky, clean paths, and quiet homes made Horror Town resemble an expensive vacation community.
If someone hadn’t told him what happened beyond those peaceful streets, they would never guess residents were being sent into worlds where death could come at any moment.
Darius soon reached the large lake he’d noticed earlier.
Several residents were sitting along the shore with fishing rods, apparently treating the place like an ordinary weekend retreat.
Most of their profiles were partially or completely hidden, which confirmed that Darius wasn’t the only person cautious about exposing personal information.
He couldn’t help finding the fishing scene slightly amusing.
No matter how strange the world became, someone would always find a quiet spot and cast a line.
Thinking about it, though, the behavior made sense.
Horror Town didn’t appear to offer endless entertainment, and new trials could arrive without warning.
Everyone here understood that their next mission might be their last, so relaxing while they still had the opportunity was probably healthier than constantly worrying about death.
Darius himself had spent the entire previous night fighting Art the Clown without sleep.
If anyone had earned a break, it was him.
After following several directional signs, he eventually reached the resident trading district.
The area resembled a mixture of a small shopping plaza and open marketplace, with items obtained from different trial worlds displayed for sale.
Residents had two basic options: personally operate a stall or list their goods through automated vending terminals that allowed them to remain anonymous.
Roughly eighty percent seemed to prefer the second choice, leaving surprisingly few actual sellers standing around.
That made the market quieter than Darius had expected.
He walked between the stalls and checked several listings.
Almost immediately, he discovered that his five hundred Exchange Points weren’t nearly as impressive as they had sounded.
Even relatively ordinary supernatural equipment cost hundreds or thousands of points.
A basic handgun with unlimited ammunition was listed for 288 Exchange Points, while a serum designed to push an ordinary human body toward its natural physical limits cost 5,888.
Other items were even more ridiculous.
One listing offered two high-level anti-spirit talismans for 18,888 Exchange Points, claiming they could destroy supernatural entities beneath a certain strength level.
There were weapons, enhancements, protective items, strange abilities, and countless things Darius didn’t fully understand yet.
Most were completely outside his budget.
Browsing the market felt like joining an online game years after launch and discovering that every veteran was rich while new players could barely afford starter equipment.
Darius eventually passed a stall operated by a man in his thirties.
“Hey, man,” the vendor called.
“Looking for anything?” Darius originally intended to keep walking, but then changed his mind.
He wasn’t planning to buy anything, yet this was a good opportunity to gather information from someone more experienced.
He stopped and smiled politely.
“I’d like to, but I’m new.
Five hundred points doesn’t exactly make me wealthy around here.” The vendor laughed.
“Newbie, huh?
Welcome to hell.” “Thanks.
Very comforting.” Darius glanced over the merchandise before continuing, “Do you know what kind of trial comes after the placement match?” The vendor immediately shook his head.
“Nobody knows.
Could be a serial-killer world, ghosts, demons, monsters, cursed objects—anything.
If people could predict trials ahead of time, I’d be running this town instead of standing behind a stall.” Darius chuckled.
“Fair point.” Since the conversation had started smoothly, he continued asking questions.
“What’s the highest rank you’ve seen around here?
And how many people are actually that strong?” The vendor thought for a moment.
“Personally?
Emerald.
I’ve only seen one resident at that level.” That answer immediately caught Darius’s attention.
Horror Town divided residents into eight ranks: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Emerald, Diamond, Gold, King, and God of War.
The order was slightly strange because Diamond appeared below Gold, but apparently whoever created the system liked it that way.
Darius had only just reached Iron, meaning there were still seven major levels above him.
Yet the strongest resident this man had ever personally encountered was only Emerald.
That said a lot about how brutal Horror Town really was.
Darius nodded thoughtfully before asking another question.
“What do people do here when they’re not on missions?
I haven’t seen much besides fishing and trading.” The vendor raised an eyebrow.
“I’ve answered quite a few questions already.
Information isn’t free, brother.” He tapped a payment symbol displayed beside his stall.
Darius understood immediately.
Horror Town included a resident-to-resident payment system connected directly to Exchange Points, allowing people to buy, sell, or simply transfer points as gifts.
Darius focused on the symbol, opened the payment interface, entered 10 Exchange Points, and confirmed the transfer.
It wasn’t much, but the vendor seemed satisfied enough.
“Fair enough.” The man smiled.
“Every house comes with a computer.
You can watch movies, check news, play games, that kind of thing.
But it’s isolated from the real world, so don’t expect to message anyone outside or post anything online.” “So basically a closed network.” “Exactly.” That was useful information.
Horror Town apparently maintained its own media system while preventing residents from contacting normal society through it.
Darius could still use the computer to kill time, research entertainment, or perhaps study movies between trials, but he couldn’t communicate directly with the outside world.
Considering how dangerous the trials were, that restriction was probably intentional.
Darius nodded.
“Thanks.
When I’ve got more points, I’ll come back and actually buy something.” The vendor gave him the kind of smile reserved for promises he’d heard a hundred times before.
“Sure.
If we both see each other again next week, we’ll talk.” Darius paused.
Then he understood.
The man wasn’t insulting him or wishing him dead.
Survival rates were simply terrible enough that making plans one week ahead sounded optimistic.
Darius’s own leaderboard rank had already risen by more than a hundred places in less than an hour without him doing anything, which meant residents were constantly disappearing.
Most beginners probably never survived long enough to become regular customers.
That reality also explained why nobody took casual promises too seriously.
A resident could say, “See you tomorrow,” and be dead before sunset.
Darius left the trading district and eventually returned to House 666.
Once inside, he drank several glasses of water and headed straight for the bedroom.
Between dying in his original world, waking inside an unresponsive body, entering Horror Town, surviving an entire night against Art the Clown, and spending hours in constant high alert, exhaustion had finally caught up with him.
Now that he was somewhere safe, the adrenaline keeping him awake disappeared almost instantly.
He lay down, pulled the blanket over himself, and closed his eyes.
There would be plenty of time to gather more information later.
For now, Darius Kane needed sleep.
(End of Chapter) [Community Goals Ongoing]