However, the experience Zhao Heng had accumulated from clearing other Dungeons still proved useful, keeping him from falling into a panic.
Something occurred to him, and he immediately opened his System Inventory and pulled out a Flashlight.
Click.
The beam of the Flashlight dispelled the darkness.
Only then did Zhao Heng feel slightly more at ease, though he still couldn't help cursing, "Fuck! What the Hell is this!"
Holding the Flashlight, he searched what appeared to be a small entryway and finally found the entrance he had come through. He twisted the doorknob hard, only to discover that it was locked. He couldn't get out...
"..."
Refusing to give up, Zhao Heng kicked the door several times, but it didn't budge an inch.
It seemed players weren't allowed to go back the way they came.
With that thought in mind,
Zhao Heng could only turn around and push open another door leading deeper into the house. Once his eyes had adjusted slightly to the light, the scene beyond came into view. It was a short hallway, illuminated by light filtering through the cracks in the boarded-up windows at the far end. At least it was no longer pitch-black.
This was clearly a house that had been abandoned for a long time. Wooden panels were peeling away from both sides of the hallway, cracks covered the walls, and the paintings hanging there were too faded to make out clearly. Debris that had fallen from the walls littered the floor, and at the end of the hallway stood a battered cabinet, its doors secured with a chain.
If Lu Xiu had been the one entering the Dungeon right now, she definitely wouldn't have bothered examining the hallway, much less checking the cabinet at the end.
But Zhao Heng was not Lu Xiu. He inspected every corner, even taking a look at the paintings on the walls... As a result, his progress was extremely slow, and every creak his footsteps made against the rotting wooden floorboards seemed magnified countless times in his ears.
The eerie surroundings, the hints scattered everywhere, the uncertainty of what might happen inside the house...
Suddenly.
The sound of something falling came from somewhere deep inside the house.
Zhao Heng jumped and immediately turned his head, listening intently.
But the sound didn't come again.
Holding the Flashlight, Zhao Heng felt somewhat uneasy. After standing still for a moment, he continued down the hallway. Once he confirmed that the cabinet at the end couldn't be opened, he turned his attention to the right. Was that a kitchen?
"..."
He hesitated for a moment before walking over.
The instant he stepped inside, a stench hit him like a physical blow.
If the woods outside had been dominated by the smell of rotting leaves, then this kitchen was filled with the overpowering stench of something like heavily fermented corpse rot mixed with swill! No matter how composed Zhao Heng was, he couldn't help covering his nose and mouth again.
What kind of psycho is this Dungeon Architect! Why make it so realistic!
Covering his nose, Zhao Heng scanned the dining table in the middle of the room.
Several plates were strewn messily across it, piled with spoiled leftovers covered in thick patches of green mold. Cockroaches crawled all over the table, and an iron pot sat among them with its lid closed, its contents unknown.
Suppressing his disgust, Zhao Heng stepped forward and lifted the lid. A dense rustling sound instantly erupted as countless thumb-sized cockroaches were startled, pouring out of the pot like a tide and scattering into the cracks around the table and floor. Some even crawled onto his hand.
"Holy shit!"
Zhao Heng felt his scalp prickle. He jerked backward and shook his hand violently.
What kind of psycho is this Dungeon Architect!!
He finally managed to shake the cockroaches off.
His scalp still tingling, Zhao Heng hurried forward, eager to get away from the dining table.
After all, humans seemed to have an instinctive aversion to creatures like cockroaches carved into their DNA.
Once he calmed himself down, he realized he was standing beside the refrigerator.
Although he knew deep down that he probably shouldn't open it, Zhao Heng still couldn't suppress his curiosity.
He reached out and slowly pulled the refrigerator door open. No cold air came out. Instead, a pool of thick, black sludge-like liquid seeped from the gap at the bottom and flowed over his shoes.
He had no idea what was stuffed inside the refrigerator, but it was filled with viscous liquid that stretched into sticky strands as the door opened.
"What the fuck is this..."
Zhao Heng backed away in disgust once again and quickly left the kitchen, which seemed to radiate the stench of Hell itself.
Finally out of the kitchen,
Zhao Heng spotted the stairs leading to the second floor, but he didn't immediately go up. Instead, he leaned against the wall and panted heavily. Although the air here was still thick with the smell of mold, it was far better than the fermented stench of decay from before.
Despite being a top-tier player, none of the Dungeons he had encountered in the past had ever been this disgusting! This kind of environment, which relied purely on atmosphere and twisted details to torment a person's nerves, gave him genuine physical discomfort.
Come to think of it.
Zhao Heng looked around the eerie mansion. The plot of the Dungeon... was for him to play as Ethan and find his wife.
But the plot hadn't mentioned where his wife was at all! Nor had it told him what exactly he was supposed to do!
He didn't know where to search, nor did he have any idea what might be waiting inside this house.
"..."
As Zhao Heng thought about it, he belatedly realized that the hints in this Dungeon were pitifully sparse, completely unlike any existing Dungeon produced by the System...
His expression darkened.
He stepped forward and pulled open a drawer in a nearby cabinet. It contained nothing but some unidentifiable junk.
But that alone proved there were countless places in this house where something could be hidden.
"No! How the hell am I supposed to find her!"
Zhao Heng swept his gaze across the mansion, which was eerie and saturated with Yin energy, his face growing darker.
He was finally certain now; this was an original Dungeon.
Only one question remained—how exactly had this Dungeon's Dungeon Architect managed to clear it after having his memories stripped away?
He knew nothing.
All he knew was that he had come here to find his wife.
And while searching, he had somehow ended up inside this house.
Meanwhile, not a single enemy had appeared so far—only disgusting things!
Who the Hell makes a Dungeon like this?!
At this point, Zhao Heng was beginning to regret recklessly entering the Dungeon without gathering any information first.
***
Although he regretted it somewhat, there was no way Zhao Heng could simply quit.
After all, he had his pride. So far, this Dungeon merely seemed disgusting and eerie, and he lacked any clear direction, but he still couldn't see any real difficulty. How could he quit now?
However.
Even though Zhao Heng had mentally prepared himself, he truly hadn't expected this 【Resident Evil】 Dungeon to dare go through its entire early section without placing a single enemy.
He had been wandering around the house for half an hour and hadn't encountered so much as one.
Normally, that should have been a good thing.
But the longer Zhao Heng played, the more frustrated he became.
Because everything in this godforsaken place felt wrong. Most of the time, the only sound was his own footsteps, yet every so often, some noise made by God-knew-what would suddenly come from somewhere.
If one place wasn't locked, another was.
And every room was stuffed with random junk—blurry photographs, newspapers, a television flickering with static, switches that wouldn't move, and even a piano whose lid suddenly slammed shut on its own...
Everything seemed to be hinting at something.
But nothing was ever explained clearly.
No enemies.
A horrifying atmosphere.
Combined with an ever-growing sense of anxiety.
It was actually more torturous this way.
Zhao Heng became increasingly irritated.
What was even more ridiculous was that he had been forced to watch a film inside the Dungeon.
Piercing static echoed through the empty living room.
Click.
Zhao Heng removed the Videotape. Recalling what he had just watched, he couldn't help rubbing the goosebumps on his arms. The contents were simple: an unlucky Film Crew had gone to investigate a haunted house... and the haunted house they had entered was none other than the one Zhao Heng was standing in right now. In the end, every one of them had died.
That matched the information he'd found in the Van when he first entered the Dungeon.
This was the first time Zhao Heng had played a custom-made Dungeon like this... not to mention how all the clues connected with one another.
And then there was this atmosphere...
Zhao Heng stared at the television for several seconds, feeling a suffocating sense of pressure. Clearly, no monsters had appeared yet, and it wasn't as though he had never seen corpses or death before.
Yet he still felt oppressed.
If he had known the entire progression of the game, he probably would have understood that everything he had encountered on the road, along with all the frustrating details inside the house, was actually foreshadowing.
It was precisely this slow buildup that was gradually increasing the psychological pressure on him.
Unfortunately, he didn't know that.
And his experience clearing System Dungeons was useless here.
"..."
Zhao Heng remained silent for several seconds. Although he was growing increasingly uneasy, he still stood up and slowly turned his head toward the nearby Fireplace.
He walked over to the Fireplace and felt around the location shown in the video, quickly finding the hidden mechanism.
This was the clue provided by the Videotape.
He pulled it.
Click.
A mechanical sound rang out.
A hidden compartment nearby opened.
Zhao Heng bent down and crawled inside, where he found a staircase leading down into the Dungeon. He cautiously gripped the steps, intending to descend into the Dungeon.
But after only a few steps, crack... one of the steps suddenly snapped. Reacting quickly, he grabbed another step, but that one broke instantly as well.
Thud.
Zhao Heng crashed heavily to the ground. He cried out in pain as the Flashlight flew from his hand, rolled twice across the floor, and went out.
The surroundings were instantly plunged into darkness.
At once.
Zhao Heng forgot about the pain. He lay prone on the ground, not even daring to breathe.
In the darkness, he could hear his own heart pounding, beating frighteningly fast.
For the first time, he realized just how terrifying darkness could be.
Because of all the earlier foreshadowing, the Videotape, and the psychological pressure that had been building, he almost instantly imagined someone holding a knife in the darkness, slowly approaching him.
The moment that thought appeared,
He frantically reached out and began feeling around the ground, touching cold soil, stones, and some unknown slime.
Finally, his hand found the Flashlight.
He pressed the switch.
Click.
The darkness vanished.
Zhao Heng let out a long breath and slowly pushed himself to his feet. Then he looked around at the damp Dungeon surrounding him... and felt as though his entire body had gone wrong.
Because in that brief instant just now,
He had felt as though he had returned to four years ago, back when he was still green and inexperienced.
That overwhelming sense of fear had been completely uncontrollable.
He hadn't experienced anything like it in a very long time.
Zhao Heng couldn't help cursing, "Enemy! Give me a fucking enemy! What's with all this hiding!"
At this moment,
He desperately wanted an enemy he could actually see and hit, something he could use to vent all this pressure.
Because this was simply too oppressive.
Unfortunately, the game's progression wasn't going to listen to him.
Zhao Heng stood there for a long while. When nothing happened, he could only take a deep breath and follow the faint light as he continued exploring the Basement.
And the Basement was even colder and gloomier than he had imagined.
Moisture seemed to constantly seep from the rough walls, and the ground was muddy beneath his feet.
Holding the Flashlight, Zhao Heng walked forward. When its beam swept across the ground, he realized the passage ahead was already flooded.
The water was deep, and its color looked very wrong.
It was murky and almost black, with a greasy film floating over the surface. When the Flashlight shone across it, he could vaguely make out unidentifiable debris slowly drifting beneath the water.
"..."
Zhao Heng stood silently at the edge for a second.
"Fine."
"You win!"
He took a deep breath and stepped directly into the water.
It was freezing cold.
And slimy. He had no idea what lay at the bottom, but every step felt like sinking into a pool of thick mud. As the water was disturbed, a rancid stench immediately rose into the air.
Zhao Heng's face twisted as he pushed forward through the water while cursing under his breath. The beam of the Flashlight wobbled across the surface. The farther he went, the narrower the passage became, and the ceiling ahead gradually lowered; the water grew deeper, forcing him to stoop in order to pass through.
The water rippled.
Soaked in the disgusting water, Zhao Heng barely kept his head above the surface as he struggled forward.
Everything around him was pitch-black, with only the unsteady beam of the Flashlight cutting through the darkness.
After rounding a corner,
He finally saw light ahead.
Zhao Heng's eyes lit up. Suppressing his disgust, he immediately began swimming faster.
Closer, closer.
Almost there.
Desperate to get back onto dry land, Zhao Heng swam faster and faster. But just as he was about to reach it, a bubble suddenly rose from the previously still water with a gurgle.
Immediately afterward.
The next second.
Splash—
A pale, bloated, scarred face suddenly surfaced from the water. Its eyes were open and hollow, its entire face swollen and bleached white from being submerged, staring fixedly at Zhao Heng.
In an instant.
Zhao Heng's mind went completely blank. His entire body jerked violently, and he fell backward into the water, swallowing several mouthfuls.
Gurgle...
Splash—
"HOLY SHIT!!!!!"
Zhao Heng burst back out of the water in a miserable state. Looking at the corpse in front of him, his scalp prickled from a mixture of disgust and lingering fear.
"Fuck you!!!"
"Could you fucking warn me first!!!"
"Making a Dungeon like this!!!"
"Scaring people like this!!!"
"FUCK!!!"
He cursed as he desperately swam forward.
The corpse, gently carried by the movement of the water, bobbed behind him.
Zhao Heng didn't dare look back again.
He swam forward as though fleeing for his life.
By the time he finally climbed onto dry ground, he was nearly exhausted.
Zhao Heng stood there clutching his knees and gasping for breath. He glanced back and completely lost it:
"Psychotic Dungeon!"
"Psychotic Dungeon Architect!"
"Why the Hell did you put a corpse there!!"
"FUCK!!!"
He screamed every curse with all the strength he had.
At this moment, he genuinely wanted to kill the Dungeon Architect who had created this Dungeon!
Seriously.
For the first time while clearing a Dungeon, he felt such intense killing intent toward someone who wasn't even inside it!!
What a complete son of a bitch!
Messing with people like this!
It took Zhao Heng a long time to recover. He wiped the cold sweat and water from his face, raised his Flashlight, and continued forward.
The entire Basement was quite large.
It was basically the same size as the house above.
But it was gloomy and damp, with countless corners. Zhao Heng was genuinely afraid that something might jump out from one of them again, so he walked extremely slowly.
And the frequency of his cursing only increased.
Until.
He saw the small cell at the far end, saw the warm yellow light glowing inside it, and saw the woman lying on the bed.
Zhao Heng stared at the woman inside the cell for several seconds before finally letting out a long breath. "Fuck... I finally found her!"
Finally!
I can leave this godforsaken place! I can get out of this shitty house!!!"