Chapter 35

"Pupil model, thigh model, hand model, lip model... This perverted killer took the most beautiful parts from the victims' bodies and pieced them together to form the eighth corpse. Is this what the killer meant by 'transforming from a cocoon into a butterfly?'"

In the human puzzle case, there was an eighth victim, but the key parts of the face and body of this victim were from the other victims. The police conducted various tests, but found that there was no information about the eighth victim in the citizen database.

Without a name, without a past, and without leaving any trace in this highly developed technological and networked world, the victim was killed, which was both perplexing and unsettling.

"Information about the other seven victims can be found online, but there is no information about the eighth victim, and the police have not released any information related to the eighth victim..." What Han Fei found even more incomprehensible was that when he was watching TV as part of his task, a monster appeared behind him, and the monster's body contained the faces of the seven victims.

"Could the eighth victim be the monster itself?"

Han Fei wanted to uncover the truth. Living in the haunted house with the victims, he could clearly feel their pain and despair.

Whether to avenge the dead or to survive better in the game, he was determined to catch the killer.

The situation in the haunted house was very strange. As the only living person, Han Fei huddled under the blanket in the bedroom. In the living room, several figures with their backs to him were watching a TV with no image. All the "people" seemed to be waiting for something to appear.

The cold light from the TV illuminated the pale faces, and as the second hand moved, the temperature in the room gradually dropped.

"What are they waiting for?"

The night had grown very dark, and the entire apartment building, along with the outside world, seemed to become even more abnormal.

The sound of nails scraping against the walls, the sudden activation of the motion-sensor lights in the hallway, and the slow cracking of the wooden boards on the windows suggested that insects were crawling outside the old apartment building.

No matter what happened outside, those figures continued to face away from Han Fei until 3 a.m.

The image on the TV gradually became clearer. In the pitch-black living room, five people who had died tragically sat on the sofa, facing the TV as if they were looking for something through it.

What were they looking for?

Han Fei peeked out from the gap in the blanket. The image on the TV became clearer, and the five figures were the five victims from the human puzzle case. The TV showed their tragic deaths.

Each of their bodies was incomplete, and their faces were devoid of color, with pale eyes flickering in their sockets.

"What are they looking for?" Han Fei felt extremely uneasy and looked at the TV.

Upon closer inspection, he saw the half-open door of the bedroom and the faint outline of his own eyes in the gap of the blanket in the corner of the screen.

"Am I in the TV too?"

The ghosts in the TV screen showed their tragic deaths, and the current scene seemed to be the true appearance of the haunted house.

Looking at those tragic faces and those terrifying eyes, Han Fei lost the courage to look any further.

"Are they looking for me?"

Just as Han Fei saw himself in the TV, the child sitting at the end of the sofa stood up and slowly walked towards the TV, as if he had noticed something unusual.

"Am I destined to be cursed by children?"

It was already 3 a.m., and Han Fei's task would be completed in five minutes. He was determined to make it through this time.

To avoid being discovered, he didn't even dare to look out again, huddling entirely under the blanket and waiting for the system prompt.

"No matter what, I have to last five more minutes. Come on! Even if you all stand outside and try to kill me, I will delay for five minutes!"

The temperature in the haunted house continued to drop, and Han Fei's heart pounded. He didn't know if the ghosts had entered, and he was even prepared for them to be standing by his bed.

The phrase "a day feels like a year" was an understatement for Han Fei; he felt that every second was being stretched infinitely.

Opening the attribute panel, Han Fei focused on the exit button in the corner. Just then, he heard the sound of a door opening, and this time, the person seemed to have entered his room.

"Once I leave alive, I will definitely help you find the killer! Living under the same roof, I will chat with you at night to keep you company, and I will burn paper money for you during the day. Give me a chance, family members."

Han Fei was so nervous that he started babbling, as he had no prior experience with such situations.

"Player 0000, please note! The beginner task 'Sleep' is complete! You have gained one free skill point and received the task reward: the landlord's key."

"Player 0000, please note! Due to the increased difficulty of the beginner task, an additional reward has been added: the landlord's three cigarettes."

"Landlord's Key (G-grade blood item): After the landlord's death, the spare keys in the building disappeared, either stolen by someone or borrowed by a ghost."

"Landlord's Three Cigarettes (G-grade blood item): After the landlord's death, his three children offered three cigarettes at his altar."

Hearing the voice in his head, Han Fei let out a long sigh of relief. When he saw the exit button light up, he instantly felt reinvigorated.

"Life is full of ups and downs. My nerves are now as tough as steel, and nothing in reality can knock me down."

Han Fei subconsciously looked at his item inventory, where all task rewards were stored.

"All the rewards from the beginner tasks are related to the landlord, seemingly part of his legacy. Is this game preparing me to become the new landlord?"

"It seems that persisting in completing all the beginner tasks was meaningful. The landlord's key alone could be very useful in the future. The system's initial prompt was indeed correct; completing all the beginner tasks helps me better understand this world."

Han Fei was glad he didn't give up on the beginner tasks, and the generous reward for the sleep task made him determined to complete the shower task.

"The three beginner tasks should correspond to three rewards related to the landlord. The ring can sense ghosts, and the key can open other room doors. I wonder what the reward for the shower task will be?"

People are greedy. Once Han Fei confirmed he could exit the game at any time, he decided to take a big risk: "The shower task can be done before 4 a.m. I will strive to complete all the beginner tasks and get all the rewards!"

Slowly lifting the corner of the blanket, Han Fei saw Wei Youfu standing at the bedroom door, blocking the view of the other ghosts.

"When did he appear?" Recalling Wei Youfu's time of death, Han Fei wasn't too surprised.

Looking at Wei Youfu's back, he suddenly felt that Youfu was different from the other ghosts in the house.

The other ghosts had incomplete bodies, but Wei Youfu's body was intact, at least on the surface.

"Youfu seems to have no ill will towards me from the beginning, which is different from the other ghosts. Could he still retain some memory and humanity?"