It is often said that all fear stems from the unknown.
But if everything is known, would one still feel fear?
Lu Xiu couldn't speak for anything else, but at that moment, she was indeed feeling a little afraid... Even though she knew what Mia was about to do, and knew exactly what she herself needed to do, she was still afraid.
It wasn't fear of Mia's transformation, but fear of fighting.
Ever since her Transmigration, from the very first moment she saw her appearance in the mirror, Lu Xiu had instinctively resisted the idea of fighting. Even though she was in a game-like world, that resistance remained.
Because it really didn't suit her... Looking at the clear-eyed, breathtakingly beautiful young girl in the mirror, Lu Xiu even worried that if she threw a punch with all her strength, it would end up looking like nothing more than a weak, ticklish tap.
It was admittedly a preconceived notion, but she couldn't really be blamed for it. After all, she hadn't looked like this in her previous life. That was also why she had never ventured into the System dungeons.
But now, fighting was unavoidable...
Lu Xiu actually regretted bringing all those intense battles from the game into the dungeon. After all, Ethan Winters was truly miserable. Across both games, aside from the beginning of the second one, the man hadn't had a single good day.
Thinking about what was about to happen, Lu Xiu almost wanted to turn around and leave, but unless she triggered the combat sequence, there was absolutely no other way to progress through the dungeon. When she created it, she had blocked off every alternative route herself.
So, as the saying went, being depressed and running away solved nothing.
Lu Xiu took a deep breath. After mentally preparing herself, she slowly reached out and unlocked the door leading down into the basement.
Click—the lock turned.
Lu Xiu slowly pushed the door open. The staircase stretched downward, but she could barely make out four or five steps. Beyond that was nothing but pitch-black darkness, as though a vast abyss were waiting below to devour its prey.
Lu Xiu steeled herself once more, gathered her courage, and took a few steps forward.
Disturbing noises kept drifting up from below.
She had only descended a few steps when she heard the sound of something alive crawling through the darkness.
Then Mia appeared.
Moving like an animal, she slowly crawled up the stairs and emerged before Lu Xiu.
Lu Xiu's eyes widened.
With a roar, Mia suddenly accelerated, sprang upright, and thrust her twisted, terrifying face almost directly against Lu Xiu's.
She grabbed Lu Xiu by the collar and violently hurled her backward.
Before Lu Xiu could react, an enormous force struck her, sending her flying. Wind howled past her ears, and the first thought that flashed through her mind was that this must be what getting hit by a truck felt like.
Bang—Lu Xiu slammed hard into the floor. Agonizing pain spread through her entire body, as if every bone had shattered.
But she hadn't lost her wits. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she hurriedly scrambled back to her feet.
Sure enough, Mia had already rushed up to her, a knife clutched in her right hand.
Lu Xiu had only just gotten up when Mia seized her collar with one hand, raised the knife with the other, and, roaring, forced her back onto the floor before stabbing downward. She didn't give Lu Xiu even a second to breathe.
Lu Xiu's heart nearly stopped.
Without thinking, she immediately raised both hands to defend herself, bracing Mia's wrist with her arms to stop the knife from coming down. She succeeded, but the descending blade still grazed her palm and sliced it open.
Lu Xiu hissed in pain. For a brief moment, she lost her composure and began struggling wildly. Mia immediately took advantage of it, knocking her hand aside and raising the knife to stab again.
Seeing this, Lu Xiu no longer had time to think about the sequence of events. Her eyes widened as she raised her left hand.
Slash—the descending blade pierced straight through her palm.
"Ugh!"
Agonizing pain flooded through her. Lu Xiu's beautiful face twisted in anguish, while Mia continued pressing downward, forcing the tip of the knife closer and closer to her face.
It hurts...
Warm blood dripped onto her face. The smell of blood filled her nose, and as she stared at the blade sticking through her palm, adrenaline surged through her body. Clenching her teeth, she instinctively raised her leg and kicked Mia hard in the stomach, then hurriedly scrambled back to her feet.
But she had barely stood up, without even having time to catch her breath, when Mia rose again and lunged at her with the knife.
Lu Xiu quickly backed away several steps. As Mia closed in, her memory of the sequence finally caught up with her.
Seizing the opportunity, Lu Xiu endured the pain and grabbed Mia's knife-wielding right hand with one hand while pressing the other against her face to keep her from getting any closer.
Then she pushed with all her strength.
Mia stumbled back two steps.
But in the very next instant, Mia rushed forward again, slashing toward Lu Xiu's face.
Watching the blade suddenly sweep toward her...
Lu Xiu raised her hands almost instinctively.
"!!!!"
At the critical moment, Lu Xiu caught the blade with her bare hands.
The pain made her cry out, tears immediately welling in the corners of her eyes.
The razor-sharp blade cut deeply into her palms, tearing through skin and flesh. Warm blood poured out once again, trickling from her palms down to her wrists.
The pain was excruciating.
And Mia was still forcing the knife forward, trying to drive it into Lu Xiu's face.
Pain. Fear.
Lu Xiu had never experienced anything like this before.
Even when she had played through this sequence, it had always been Ethan Winters who grabbed the knife.
Only now, after gripping the blade with her own bare hands, did she finally understand.
So this was how much it hurt.
But the survival instinct that erupted when one's life was truly threatened could not be underestimated.
Even though the pain was so intense she felt like dying, Lu Xiu still clung tightly to the blade, her eyes fixed on Mia.
The two remained locked in a stalemate for a while.
Mia's expression slowly changed.
The ferocity faded into confusion, and then, as though suddenly awakening from a dream, she abruptly let go of the knife.
She clutched her head in disbelief, as though someone were commanding her against her will.
"I can hear her... I feel her crawling back into my body."
"Get out! Don't come near me!"
She screamed and repeatedly slammed her head against the wall.
Then, after giving Lu Xiu one final look, she fell backward, seemingly losing consciousness.
Lu Xiu panted heavily. Without even looking at Mia, she stared at her trembling, blood-soaked hands before turning right and entering the bathroom.
Sure enough, beside the sink was a bottle of first-aid medicine—the item players jokingly called First Aid Med.
Lu Xiu endured the pain and poured the medicine over her hands one after the other.
"Ugh..."
Her beautiful eyes were bloodshot, and she bit down on her lip so hard that it began to bleed. By the time she finally finished applying the medicine, the pain had nearly made her collapse.
Lu Xiu's breathing grew increasingly ragged.
She stood there, barely managing to steady it.
She had made it through this part.
But Mia would be coming after her again soon.
And...
Lu Xiu raised her head and looked into the mirror.
Although she was playing the role of Ethan Winters, the mirror reflected the player's actual appearance.
Lu Xiu stared at the beautiful, charming oval face in the mirror.
Perhaps because of the adrenaline still coursing through her veins, her breathing gradually began to calm.
After Transmigrating into Lu Xiu, she had almost forgotten...
She wasn't actually that weak.
Grit—
That was something she had never lacked.
So what if she had become like this?
Why should she allow herself to be bound by preconceived notions?
Lu Xiu stared into the mirror for a long time.
Finally, she lowered her gaze to her blood-covered hands, then turned and walked out of the bathroom.
Mia was still unconscious in the hallway, blocking the only path forward.
The moment the player approached to check on her, she would wake up again.
Lu Xiu walked straight toward her.
Sure enough, the instant she drew near, Mia suddenly sprang up from the floor as though she had no bones at all.
She grabbed Lu Xiu's left hand with one hand and seized her clothes with the other, then roared and hurled her to the side.
Bang—
The wooden planks shattered.
Lu Xiu's feet left the ground, and she was sent flying once again, her back crashing into the corridor's wooden wall.
The rotten boards couldn't withstand the impact.
They burst apart instantly, and Lu Xiu crashed straight through the wall, tumbling into the adjoining room amid a shower of broken wood.
Meanwhile, Mia, looking more like a monster than a human, pulled the knife out of the wall and began walking toward Lu Xiu again.
An axe.
Still dazed, Lu Xiu caught sight of it and instinctively reached to the side.
Her fingers closed around the rough wooden handle of an axe.
Lu Xiu picked it up and slowly rose to her feet, panting heavily.
"Hoo—hoo—"
Lu Xiu stared at the savage-looking Mia.
The hand holding the axe hung naturally at her side.
Her breathing, which she had only just managed to calm, grew erratic once again.
However, compared with the fear she had felt at the beginning, what filled her now was anger.
Why had she Transmigrated into such an inexplicable world?
Why did she have to become like this?
All the emotions Lu Xiu had suppressed until now mixed with the adrenaline surging through her body.
Under the stimulation of the grit buried deep inside her...
Miraculously, her body stopped trembling.
"Ah—!"
Mia let out an inhuman roar and lunged at Lu Xiu with the knife once more.
Lu Xiu stumbled sideways and barely managed to avoid the blade.
Then, seeing Mia leaning forward and slightly off-balance, she abruptly raised the axe and swung it down with all her strength at Mia's shoulder!
Splat—
The blade sank into flesh.
Lu Xiu had put so much force into the swing that the axe head buried itself deep in Mia's body.
It was far bloodier than it had been in the game.
Lu Xiu gripped the axe handle with her other hand and yanked it free.
Then, the instant Mia turned around, Lu Xiu raised the axe with both hands and swung it hard into her chest.
Mia staggered from the impact and fell backward onto the floor.
Seeing Mia sitting there, Lu Xiu walked forward expressionlessly.
Then she raised the axe high, aimed at Mia's neck, and brought it down with all her strength.
Splat—
The sensation of the axe blade breaking through skin and flesh and sinking into her neck was even more revolting than Lu Xiu had imagined.
It felt like chopping into a thick piece of waterlogged wood—sticky, resistant, elastic, accompanied by the faint crunch of breaking bone that made her scalp crawl.
Blood erupted like a fountain.
The axe blade became lodged in her neck.
Mia's body stiffened.
The savage expression on her face gradually faded, and the madness in her eyes slowly lost its focus.
She opened her mouth.
A wet gurgling sound escaped her throat, like air leaking from a broken bellows, while dark red blood continued seeping from the gap between the axe blade and her flesh, quickly soaking through her collar.
She reached out, as though trying to grab Lu Xiu.
But in the end, her hand never reached her.
Mia swayed backward.
Then, with a heavy thud, she collapsed to the floor.