Under these circumstances, Lu Yuan naturally Investigate the Item again.
He saw that the notes above had already undergone some Change.
【Burning Paper Strip】
【Type: Consumable】
【Only usable in this Instance】
【Postscript: As you can see, this paper strip is burning. You do not know why it is burning, nor do you know how long it can persist, but in this faint light, you feel a trace of warmth.】
Lu Yuan looked up at the fellow villager not far away, then raised his hand and handed the paper strip toward the other party.
"Giggle, giggle~"
The Voice in the fellow villager's Throat rose in pitch, and she immediately retreated.
"Hmm, it seems you don't like this Thing very much," he muttered to himself.
However, dislike or not, it was impossible for Lu Yuan to put it away. He knew very well that the fellow villager currently had her heart set on killing him. Although it is said that one would be happy to die under a peony flower, if such a thing were to actually happen, it would be too awkward.
Thus, Lu Yuan walked straight toward the fellow villager, using the faint light from the burning paper strip.
Don't get the wrong idea; he wasn't trying to use the other party's fear of this paper strip to do anything unspeakable to the Beautiful Fellow Villager. His Target was the door behind the fellow villager. The Quest had already made it very clear: the Player must leave. So, no matter what, he had to go to the door and take a look.
"Excuse me, let me pass," he said to the fellow villager while holding the paper strip. In fact, before he could even finish speaking, the fellow villager had already been forced to float to the side by the faint light.
Lu Yuan easily arrived in front of the apartment's Security Door. It was a common type of Security Door, and like the entire apartment, it was filled with a sense of age. Lu Yuan grabbed the door handle.
"Doo~~~"
"Huh?" Lu Yuan heard that strange Voice again. However, just like the previous few times, this Voice had no effect on anything other than being heard by him.
Lu Yuan shrugged helplessly, ignored the Voice, and pressed the door handle down.
The door handle did not budge.
Lu Yuan flickered back and forth for a while, but the result was naturally of no use.
After doing this, Lu Yuan stopped wasting time on this door. He didn't think he could open a Security Door if he couldn't even turn the handle. There was clearly a keyhole on the handle, so it seemed the key to leaving here was to find the Key.
Thinking of this, Lu Yuan glanced at the paper strip in his hand. At this moment, the paper strip had already burned about a third of the way, and the fellow villager was still suspended in the corner at a 45-degree angle above the Room, staring at him fixedly through her long hair under the pale light. It was not hard to imagine that if this paper strip burned out and the Player had not yet escaped, he would be dead for sure.
Having determined this, Lu Yuan did not hesitate any longer and quickly began to Inspect his surroundings more carefully.
Although the Room was a bit messy, it was not very large in the end. Apart from the Security Door leading outside and the restroom he had just come out of, there was only one other closed room door. It was clearly a standard one-bedroom, one-living-room layout. On the wall directly opposite the Security Door, there was a window. Outside the glass were thick iron bars; although they were for security, they also made the Room look more like a prison.
Lu Yuan walked to the window and tried to open it. To his surprise, he succeeded. However, because of the iron bars, he still couldn't get out. Outside the window was a suffocating pitch black; there was not a single bit of light, nor was there any sound, and he couldn't even feel any wind blowing in from outside. The entire Room seemed to have been swallowed by something, completely isolated from the world.
Lu Yuan turned around. He didn't rush to open the remaining room door but continued rummaging through drawers and cabinets in the living room. As for the fellow villager who kept circling around him, he ignored her completely.
Soon, Lu Yuan found a photo in a drawer.
It was a family portrait of three—a man and a woman who were clearly a Couple, with the woman holding an Infant. However, on this photo, the man's face had been scratched into a mess by someone's fingernails, making it impossible to tell what he looked like.
Immediately after, Lu Yuan found a medical record at the bottom of the drawer.
Judging by the pages of the medical record, it had been in the drawer for a long time, and it had also been scribbled over with a black pen, making it possible to piece together only a few fragments of text.
【Name: ███】
【Gender: Female】
【Symptoms: Cough, chest tightness, ██████】
【Inspect ████】
【Doctor's Orders: Recommend hospitalization】
Lu Yuan looked at this medical record, seemingly having a vague realization.
But suddenly!
'Thump! Thump!'
A few Muffled Sounds interrupted his train of thought. Lu Yuan looked toward the sound and discovered it came from the unopened door behind him.
In this narrow and oppressive environment, with a floating female corpse constantly staring at you and the burning paper strip in your hand acting like a death warrant, telling you that death is approaching step by step—under this atmosphere, a sudden Muffled Sound coming from the closed room door would likely make most Players jump in fright.
But Lu Yuan was not afraid at all; instead, he proactively moved toward the door.
Judging by the structure, behind this door should be the bedroom of this apartment. And this door looked even older than the rest of the apartment, as the wood on the door had already developed cracks that were nearly shattering. It looked as if something inside the door had been ramming the door for a long time without stopping.
Lu Yuan leaned down and brought his eyes close to the crack to look inside.
Because the crack in the door was not small, and combined with the creepy pale light of the living room, there was a certain degree of visibility even though the bedroom behind the door was pitch black.
Just like that, with the faint light leaking through the crack.
Lu Yuan suddenly saw—on the other side, a huge, bloodshot eyeball was also pressed against the Door crack, looking at him.
Holy crap!
At this moment, if it were anyone else, their hair would probably stand on end. That wasn't all, because at this hair-raising instant, the lingering female corpse suddenly let out an incredibly creepy scream. The scream was like a physical entity, shaking the living room lights until they flickered in Madness.
Let's just say, if all this were happening in a Game called 'Thriller Paradise', the Player would definitely have been scared into disconnecting.
As for Lu Yuan!
He was naturally startled as well.
But it wasn't fear; it was a pleasant surprise.
"Fellow villager! Is that a fellow villager inside?"
He shouted, immediately stood up, and grabbed the door handle with all his might, twisting it wildly.
But the door was clearly locked, so Lu Yuan didn't manage to open it. However, he didn't lose heart. This door was just a wooden door, not a Security Door, so he could still manage it with some effort.
Without further ado, Lu Yuan took the Broken Baseball Bat out of his Backpack, gathered all his strength, and hammered the door handle with a "Clang! Bang!"
The baseball bat was already unstable, and after a few hits, the broken section snapped off, flying high into the air while spinning. With that, this Weapon was completely unusable. Fortunately, the Door Lock was finally hammered off after those few heavy blows.
Afterward, Lu Yuan didn't even think twice. Under the light that was flickering so painfully that it made one's eyes ache, he pulled open the bedroom door.
✦✦✦