Chapter 85: In and Out

To prove his human identity, Taylor pulled out his employee badge, then showed the back of his neck to indicate no chip was implanted, and cautiously asked with a flickering gaze: “By the way, who exactly are you all?”

Since this wasn’t a scripted mission, he could see the players’ true appearances and had noticed Li Cheng’s earlier action of summoning a shotgun out of thin air.

“You can think of us as some kind of rescue personnel.”

Li Cheng said: “We need to reach the bunker’s main control room and open the main gate. Do you know how to get there?”

“Main control room? The door and gate buttons there require the bunker supervisor’s personal key.”

Taylor said: “When the disaster first struck, the PA system here still worked. We heard the supervisor’s own voice—telling everyone to find shelter and wait for rescue.”

“The PA system is in the command center, same as the main control room, both on the west side. I’ll lead you there.”

As a survivor who had barely escaped the monsters, Taylor’s enthusiasm was excessive. The driver tilted his head and asked: “You’re so eager to guide us—do your wife and kids also lie in that direction?”

“Uh, yes.”

Caught off guard, Taylor looked uneasy and hurriedly added: “My wife is a senior staff member here with high clearance—she can open many doors. And she’s hiding along the route to the command center—it won’t delay us.”

The driver merely smirked and gestured for Taylor to keep leading.

He didn’t treat other humans from other worlds as mere NPC characters like some players did, nor did he kill them without remorse for amusement—but he wasn’t particularly merciful either.

If he saw someone, he’d help—nothing more.

To prove his worth, Taylor racked his brain and kept spouting information along the way: “The entire theme park is roughly divided into four zones: Ocean Terror, Realm of the Dead, Dark Cemetery, and End World—each housing different monster types for tourist viewing.”

“But now the park’s security system is down, monsters are roaming freely, so zones don’t matter anymore. On my way here, I even saw werewolves fighting vampires.”

“Wait—do monsters attack each other?” Su Jie asked in confusion. “We saw zombies and Shibianti feeding on corpses together just earlier.”

“The more similar a monster’s attributes, the more likely it is to attack others. That’s the theory, at least.”

Taylor said: “Zombies and Shibianti might coexist because zombies see no value in eating Shibianti ? Or maybe their levels are just too low.”

Could a Shibianti that can’t be killed even after decapitation really be low-level? Then what counts as high-level?

Su Jie’s question was answered immediately.

Just around the corner, a square metal box lay quietly in the middle of the corridor.

“Holy shit!”

All three players shouted in unison and froze in place.

The box was about fifteen centimeters on each side, black and gold, its surface engraved with intricate, ornate patterns that resembled both script and symbols.

Li Cheng clicked his tongue and said to his companions: “I’ll offer two hundred game coins—anyone brave enough to touch that box?”

“I’ll offer four hundred gold bars,” the driver said, sounding pained.

“I’ll offer six hundred bitcoins,” Su Jie said grimly.

The box ahead was called the Lemarchand’s Box, also known as the Cube, the Puzzle Box, or the Box of Mourning—originating from the classic horror film series Hellraiser.

If opened correctly, it summons a demon emissary from Hell to hunt down the opener, tearing them limb from limb and dragging their soul back to Hell for endless torment.

The emissary, represented by Pinhead, possesses supernatural abilities including but not limited to: immortality, pain immunity, teleportation, invisibility, wall-piercing, summoning chains and hooks, gravity control, and spatial distortion.

Even among all horror movie monsters, the Hell emissary ranks among the most deranged.

Its only two weaknesses: it can only be summoned by opening the box, and it is banished back to Hell when the box is restored to its original state.

“Don’t touch the puzzle box and you’re safe,” Li Cheng said seriously. “Let’s stick to the walls.”

The three players and one native moved in a comically awkward fashion, all pressing against the wall, backs flat, slowly sidestepping the box.

Then they bolted, running until the next corner, where they finally exhaled.

“That was close,” Li Cheng murmured. “Last time I was this close to death was during the Curse of the Spirit mission—I got hit by seven waves of curses in a row.”

? Hey, wait—that’s from Infinite Terror! Do you even remember your Chu Xuan persona?

Su Jie couldn’t hold it anymore: “I thought you weren’t afraid of anything.”

“Danger is an objective description of reality; fear is a subjective emotion. Don’t confuse the two.”

Li Cheng glanced at him. “Xiao Honglü, you need to be more rigorous—if you want to replace me as the first strategist of Zhongzhou Team, you’ll do five hundred Olympiad math problems. No calculators.”

You’re done.

Su Jie rubbed his temples and looked ahead.

Ahead appeared to be the Ocean Terror zone Taylor mentioned—the terrain suddenly opened up, filled with water park slides, wave machines, and a lazy river.

But due to broken pipes and a failed filtration system, the once-clear water was now murky, obscuring the bottom.

Li Cheng scanned the map at the water park entrance—just as Taylor said, they had to pass through here to reach the main control room.

He rolled up his sleeves, removed the [Holographic Bone Corridor] shaped like an arm guard, restored it to a doorway shape, stepped inside, and pulled out an inflatable rubber raft.

Even this? The driver and Su Jie exchanged glances and wisely stayed silent.

They’d apparently grown used to this “Chu Xuan’s” bizarre habits—seemed like he could pull out any absurd thing imaginable.

They boarded the raft and followed Taylor’s directions toward where his wife and daughter were hiding.

Vrrrr—

The raft’s engine echoed through the vast, silent space.

The calm surface was broken as over a dozen mangled human corpses and several massive shark carcasses slowly rose from the murky water.

Classic great whites, double-headed sharks from Jaws: The Revenge, triple-headed sharks from Jaws 3-D, five-headed sharks from Jaws: The Revenge 2—

Basically, a bunch of B-movie sea monsters.

The common trait among all these sea monster corpses: their skin and flesh had been stripped away, revealing grim, pale bones.

Since the underwater visibility was poor, for safety, Su Jie put on the [Ten Thousand Eyes Communication Earpiece]. Amid suffocating silence, the kayak safely crossed the water and came to shore.

Taylor leapt off first, rushing to a storage room door and whispering urgently: “Rejana, Carol—are you in there?”

“Dad?”

A girl’s tearful voice came from inside. As the door swung open, a blonde, blue-eyed little girl flung herself into Taylor’s arms.

Taylor held his daughter tightly and asked in a low voice: “Rejana, where’s your mother?”

The girl sobbed, wiped her tears, and pointed to the corner of the storage room—beneath a pile of debris lay the corpse of a woman, long drained of color.

Clearly, she’d been injured while trying to find shelter with her daughter. Though she’d crudely stitched the wound with needle and thread, she’d bled out anyway.

No time for grief. Li Cheng narrowed his eyes, staring upward—the ceiling seemed to be moving.

Clatter-clatter—

A sound of movement came from the ventilation duct, growing louder, then—CRASH—the grating panel was blown off.

A gray, fleshy tentacle, thick as a giant serpent, writhed in—its tip split into two, lined with vicious barbs and suction cups.

It was an Autovar species, from the film The Abyss—a colossal vampire octopus dwelling in the deep ocean’s ten-thousand-meter depths, with countless tentacles, each possessing sensory organs and independent thought. It could devour thousands of passengers from a cruise ship in a single night.

“Get out of here!”

Before Su Jie could shout, Taylor bolted from the storage room with his daughter. But outside, in the corridor, every ventilation grating had been ripped off—dozens of blood-sucking tentacles slithered toward them.

At this life-or-death moment, the players stopped holding back. The motorcyclist threw three Poké Balls on the ground. Alongside the monkey monster that had appeared earlier, a Pichu and a Torchic emerged.

Su Jie activated a summoning skill, conjuring seven crystal guardians that fired laser beams at the tentacles.

Li Cheng wielded dual machine guns; the three players alternated suppressing fire, blasting apart countless tentacles—but more kept pouring endlessly from the vents.

Just as they fought their way backward, all tentacles suddenly froze mid-air, as if sensing something.

A strong sense of dread washed over them. The three players turned—and saw, in the corridor behind them, a pale-haired, barefoot little girl in a red dress.

Many horror characters fit this image—but only one was iconic: Alma Wade, from the video game series F.E.A.R.

The game’s plot is complex, but simply put: Alma is a powerful psychic, subjected to extreme physical and psychological torment, filled with boundless hatred for the world. Even after her body died, her soul persisted as a vengeful ghost.

Before them: a deep-sea leviathan. Behind them: a psychic wraith. Trapped between both, Alma made the choice for them.

She took one step forward—and CRASH—the tentacles nearest to her exploded.

The motorcyclist, standing too close, had his arm blown off at the shoulder—flesh and bone shredded.

Li Cheng didn’t hesitate—he pulled a single-man rocket launcher from his inventory, its surface covered in talismans, and fired at the red-dressed girl.

Shhh—

The rocket accelerated, reaching five meters before Alma in an instant, its tail spewing flame—but no matter how hard it pushed, it couldn’t move forward another inch.

Li Cheng raised his machine gun and fired precise shots at the rocket’s warhead, suspended in midair.

BOOM!

The warhead detonated manually—the explosion was deafening. But before Alma, an invisible, unbreakable barrier blocked the fire, shockwave, and even the exorcism spiritual energy clinging to the blast.

“Sorry to disturb you. Goodbye.”

Li Cheng chuckled dryly, stowed the rocket launcher, and turned on his heel, sprinting in the opposite direction while yelling: “Run!”

(End of Chapter)