In Virtual Reality 62☆ Red Stairwell (9/10)

The Game Website may have been the subject of rumours overseas, but there was little news in China. Xu Jin Yi rarely encountered players like herself in her daily life, as everyone nowadays was more inclined towards electronic sports multiplayer games. Although the Game Website initially produced multiplayer games created by enthusiasts, it was not well-received by the niche audience, and eventually, the website only made single-player games.

The niche game audience may have been small, but the Game Website was particularly focused on creating a satisfying player experience on the forum. Players worldwide congregated on the platform, and the website's built-in translation allowed for seamless discussion without language barriers.

For Xu Jin Yi, the Game Website was like an accidentally discovered treasure. From the beginning until now, she has witnessed the growth of the Game Website alongside players from all over the forum.

However, Xu Jin Yi never anticipated the current situation of rampant and vitriolic posts.

After refreshing the forum page several times, the final result was a black and red "【ERROR】," Xu Jin Yi finally realized that the situation had exceeded her expectations.

The Game Website had crashed.

The game page could not be accessed, let alone the forum. On her phone, the Game Website app icon had become a small black square, and no matter how much she tapped it after exiting the app, she could not access it again. The same applied to her computer. The Game Website app could not be accessed on her phone, and the website on her computer displayed a 404 error. Xu Jin Yi had no way of understanding what had happened for a while.

Should she use a "ladder" to bypass the Great Firewall and access the overseas official website to see what was happening?

As she pondered, the game controller on the table shook violently, causing the smooth surface to emit a crisp, bell-like sound.

Xu Jin Yi hesitated briefly before picking up the constantly vibrating controller. After a moment's thought, she donned her VR headset.

But this time, the scene inside the headset had changed. Instead of the old room or the initial starting interface, she saw the same blood-red 【ERROR】, with 【404】 interspersed among the digits. The two were scattered throughout her entire field of vision, causing slight dizziness.

The impact was too strong, and she furrowed her brow tightly, exhaling heavily before slowly calming down.

What's happening? Has the device malfunctioned?

She hesitated, then raised her right hand while wearing the VR headset and lightly tapped it.

The screen froze for a moment, and then the series of large and small 【ERROR】 and 【404】 gathered from their original scattered state, transforming into a blood-red eye in just a few seconds.

The digitized eye blinked slowly like a real person, and then Xu Jin Yi heard a burst of extremely clear and eerie laughter in her ear.

"Boom--!!"

The screen went black, thunder flashed, and 《Red Stairwell》 began again.

...Is this also part of the game?

However, the screen was different this time, with timer numbers appearing in the upper left and right corners.

【00：00：19】

【00：00：20】

As Xu Jin Yi watched, the numbers on both sides of the screen fluctuated. Suddenly, the VR simulation returned her to the decrepit, old house again.

The addition of the new countdown timer instilled a sense of unease in the game, coupled with the virtual network's collapse in reality. Xu Jin Yi's intuition suggested that the release of 《Red Stairwell》 held far greater significance than she had previously believed.

Returning her focus to the room, a pair of high heels, tiger-head socks, and several men's shoes were within the shoe cabinet. These items indicated that a family of three had resided here before. However, there was no sign of children in the room other than the tiger-head socks, such as milk bottles or toys. Moreover, the tiger-head socks rested inside the high heels, leading Xu Jin Yi to speculate that the child was stillborn.

This conjecture was affirmed by the previous diary she had found.

A closer examination of the room's daily necessities revealed that all the furniture was covered with a thin layer of grey dust except for the kitchen and bathroom. The rice cooker, in particular, had a slight tinge of dark grey. According to the diary, Li Dong had never cooked for himself, and after he murdered his wife, no one in the family used the household items.

Thus, if Li Dong had only killed two people, his wife was the first to die, followed by the student who had mistakenly entered this apartment building.

The sink drain in the kitchen still contained a clump of hair, and two teeth were wedged between the floor and the refrigerator. The white grout on the bathroom floor had been stained with a stubborn, dark red. The ceramic water pipe bore some dents, and as Xu Jin Yi traced its texture upwards, she pulled a soft, limp eyeball from the washbasin's drain.

Xu Jin Yi: "..."

Xu Jin Yi stood in the room, surrounded by an eerie silence, the only remaining obstacle being the door that refused to yield. Despite her diligent search, the key remained elusive, leaving her in contemplation.

Suddenly, the flickering ceiling light caught her attention, drawing her gaze upward. Once counting up, the timer had now turned a ghastly crimson hue and was ticking away in reverse.

【00:14:59】

Fifteen minutes left.

As she peered into the adjacent bedroom, her eyes fixed on the blood-streaked bride in the wedding portrait, she lifted her hand and turned her head, her fingers curling around the helpless groom, Li Dong, who could not move in the photo.

The bride's ghost would kill Li Dong in the wedding photo before pursuing Xu Jin Yi, still trapped in the house.

Fifteen minutes left... would she be able to evade the vengeful spirit for that long?

Maniacal laughter and tearing nails filled the air as Xu Jin Yi averted her gaze.

Leave the room?

Determined, she balled her fists and shifted her weight, bracing herself —

"Bang!"

Why bother leaving and searching for the key when she could simply break in?

With a forceful kick, Xu Jin Yi attempted to open the door, but to no avail. After several unsuccessful attempts, she conceded defeat. The noises emanating from the neighbouring room eventually subsided, indicating that the ghost bride had vanished from the wedding photo.

Could she try using that thing?

Without hesitation, Xu Jin Yi returned to the kitchen and focused on the sharp blade. She grabbed it firmly and turned around--

Suddenly, the ghost bride appeared before her with her eerie, broken limbs crawling on the ground, blocking the locked door.

Xu Jin Yi froze.

The ghost bride's head tilted towards the right in response to Xu Jin Yi's tentative movement.

Perfect.

If the enemy remained still, so would she.

The narrow hallway adjacent to the ghost bride was too cramped to navigate, especially with a large dining table obstructing the path. There was barely any room to manoeuvre.

"Dada, dada, pata..."

The sticky blood dripped from the ghost bride's raised arm, splashing onto the ground and producing a jarring sound in the eerie silence. The red bloodstains remained, and the ghost bride's pieced-together body squirmed forward.

Without making a sound, Xu Jin Yi slowly retreated. 'What am I supposed to do?'

To her right stood a refrigerator, to her left were dishes, and behind her was a stove. In front of her was a large dining table, beneath which a female ghost was crawling towards her.

【00:08:04】

The blood-red countdown timer in the top right corner continued ticking down. As the numbers dwindled, the second hand reached zero.

In a split second, the bride ghost screeched and grabbed onto the floor, hurtling towards Xu Jin Yi at lightning speed.

Her twisted fingers were mere inches away from her...!

However, Xu Jin Yi flew over her head, landing firmly on the dining table. She held a kitchen knife in one hand while the other steadied herself. Her expression was calm and composed.

It was all a joke; she had received full marks for the standing long jump back in the day!

With a few crisp sounds, Xu Jin Yi turned around to face the empty-handed bride ghost.

The bride ghost's head and body contorted at a ninety-degree angle, an impossible feat for any human. After watching Xu Jin Yi's standing long jump with a puzzled expression, the bride's ghost became enraged.

Stretching out its hands, the ghost's twisted fingers flailed in the air, unable to even touch the dining table due to its newly attached legs that couldn't support it.

Xu Jin Yi breathed a sigh of relief before focusing on the tightly closed door. She wondered if she could open the door by chopping off the handle...

Glancing at the sharp knife in her hand, Xu Jin Yi pondered momentarily, considering the angles she could take to complete the task in a single stroke.

After a moment of contemplation, Xu Jin Yi realized there was no sound behind her. Pausing briefly, she turned her head to look behind her.

The new bride ghost stood tall, her head held high, as she stubbornly propped one hand on the dining table, attempting to prop up the other claw.

Xu Jin Yi fell silent momentarily, then squatted down and gently inserted the pointed knife into the gap between the female ghost's hand and the table, prying it apart.

The new bride's ghost remained silent, a pair of blood-red eyes showing a mix of anger, despair, and disbelief. She slid off the table with resentment, leaving behind two blood-red marks.

Xu Jin Yi stood up and looked at the tightly closed door.

【00:05:49】

As time ticked by, the countdown numbers were about to reach zero.

She stood on the dining table and stared at the room door, less than two meters away. Should she wait for the countdown to reach zero on the dining table or take a chance and break through the locked door?

The pointed knife in her hand was neither too big nor too small, but it seemed impossible to use it to break through the door in one strike like a hatchet.

Lowering her gaze, Xu Jin Yi peered at the reflection of her face on the shiny and sharp blade.

Wait!

A breaking wind sound behind her interrupted her thoughts, and she instinctively turned her head to dodge a head covered in blood clots. Catching a glimpse of the smug smirk on the face before it disappeared.

Xu Jin Yi stood firmly on the ground, still in disbelief, when suddenly, another severed arm was thrown out from under the dining table! This time, it landed with a thud on the table, and the hand was still grasping at the air as if trying to seize something.

Xu Jin Yi shuddered as goosebumps rose all over her body.

Without hesitation, she kicked the severed arm away and then, after a moment of composure, she realized that the dining table was not a secure place. She turned her focus to the door.

Gripping the sharp knife tightly, she leapt forward and narrowly dodged another severed hand thrown at her from behind. With a fierce plunge, Xu Jin Yi drove the blade into the top of the bedroom door!

A sharp wail pierced through her ears, but she showed no mercy and continued to let the blade fall along the force of gravity, cutting through the solid edge of the bedroom door like slicing through soft tofu.

A long and narrow knife mark was left on the door. As Xu Jin Yi reached the end of the handle, she made a sharp turn to the right, creating a completely different angle knife mark from the previous one.

—"If I can't kick it open, then I'll cut it open!"

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