Chapter 2281: Best Director
As the light shone in, the eerie atmosphere in the residential area was swept away. The corpses that had been hidden in different residents' homes disappeared, and the old men and women who had looked like they weren't alive returned to their previous "kindness." The bodies that had been dragged out and looked exactly like Zhu Xiaojin and the others also evaporated completely, as if everything that had happened before was an illusion.
"Let me go!" The captured female player wanted to move but didn't dare. Her hands and feet had already been locked with items, and with space teleportation items rendered ineffective, there was no possibility of escape. Like a trapped beast, she could only let out futile roars.
"This is your item, quite interesting." Xu Huo removed a miniature seal hanging from her wrist, smaller than a finger, engraved with the words "Best Director."
"Best Director?" He chuckled softly, crouching in front of the female player. "Tell me, how does this item work?"
The female player looked at him with suspicion and hesitation, then after a pause said, "Why should I tell you?"
"That works too." Xu Huo nodded. "Killing you will do the same."
With that, the materialized object tightened around the female player's neck. She tried to resist, but unfortunately Zhu Xiaojin had already snapped two of her fingers first. Hearing her pained grunt, Zhu Xiaojin said with a smile, "Do what you're told, behave yourself, or you'll die!"
The female player barely managed to speak, "If I tell you, will you let me go?"
"We can consider it." Xu Huo glanced at her. "Why not give yourself a chance to live?"
The female player glared at him hatefully for a few seconds, but ultimately decided to trade the item for her life.
"This is a special item. As you can see, 'Best Director' directs a horror film. When the horror film starts, the area covered by the item automatically forms a sealed space that only unlocks when the horror film ends."
"That's not right, it's unlocked now, isn't it?" Zhu Xiaojin interjected quickly.
The female player gritted her teeth before saying, "That's because I'm also playing a role in this horror film. Since I've been captured, the horror film ends early."
"Seems like a very flexible item." Xu Huo weighed the seal in his hand. "The most common endings for horror films are only two: either the person defeats the ghost, or the person survives the ghost. The horror film you directed should last more than one night. What do those corpses eventually become?"
"They're like substitute existences." The female player said, "The more human-like the corpse, the stronger it is. Once they can move, they actively hunt down the person they're imitating to replace them. The pain transfer when they're injured is just a side effect."
Zhu Xiaojin sucked in a cold breath. "This time we almost capsized in a ditch. If those corpses had started moving, wouldn't it have been only them cutting me and not me cutting them?"
The female player didn't respond, looking at Xu Huo with anger, hatred, and confusion. "How did you find me? No one has ever found me in this item's venue before."
Xu Huo stared at her face for a second, realizing she truly didn't understand the item's operating principle, before saying, "You don't need to worry about that. Abandon the item."
The female player was naturally reluctant, so she said coldly, "It's such a good item, are there enough of you to share it?"
Zhu Xiaojin immediately slapped her on the back of the head. "Enough chatter, hurry up!"
Seeing no hope of sowing discord, the female player could only choose to abandon the item.
The item quickly transferred to Xu Huo's hands. He opened his personal panel to check its effects.
[Best Director: A special item jointly created by horror film enthusiasts. It fully satisfies the psychological needs of enthusiasts for "adding horror elements," "more desperate situations," and "no reason for dawn to resolve the predicament," making it a true horror nightmare. Players entering the item's venue will have complete substitutes replicated within seven days. Apart from being unable to use items, they can not only continuously resurrect but also transfer pain, causing both psychological and physical damage to the players.]
[To better direct the entire film, the holder will enter the venue as a participant, adjusting the film's items and layout according to the specific environment.]
[Note: Mental Evolvers use it more effectively.]
The item's description was quite simple, but the holder "can adjust the film," which should be why the female player could repeatedly hide in different time powers to avoid players. Because she could adjust the film, the holder should be detached outside the horror film's plot, yet unable to be discovered by the participants inside, hence the two different time powers.
The female player didn't understand the reason, but Xu Huo saw it clearly. It was likely similar to the situation in Pumpkin City before, where different time powers were fixedly introduced to a certain location, creating a coexistence of multiple time powers.
Back when he left Pumpkin City, he was very curious about how Dr. Wu managed to continuously connect curved time into the city. Unfortunately, Pumpkin City quickly disappeared. He wondered if this item could give him some inspiration.
"Why not try the effect of this item? I happen to be a Mental Super Evolver." Xu Huo looked at Old Cai, Zhu Xiaojin, and the others, and of course, the young man with a backpack standing nearby looking confused.
"I don't need to, right?" The young man probably understood the situation and quickly said, "Can I leave first?"
He was just a young man living here who coincidentally overheard someone talking, merely a part of the film.
Xu Huo let him leave the residential area, then turned back to Old Cai and the others. "Sorry for the trouble."
"Bring it on." Zhu Xiaojin indicated no problem.
The remaining few didn't seem to have any room for objection.
So the next second, the sky over this residential area darkened again.
Old Cai and the others first went to check the gate. As before, outside the gate was still the same residential area, but this time, the residential area they were in was calm as usual, while the mirror-image residential area outside the gate was holding a funeral.
Anyone looking at that wouldn't walk in.
So they were quickly led by the old lady into the residential building.
From here, the "plot" changed. First, the food and drink—in the eyes of Painting Woman and Old Cai, they looked normal, but Tang Yu and Zhu Xiaojin saw them eating some indescribably disgusting things. Afterward, the old lady actively revealed the talisman paper on the ceiling, saying her family was holding a funeral, and since they had eaten, they should at least burn some incense before leaving.
Painting Woman and Old Cai burned incense, while Tang Yu and Zhu Xiaojin were so disgusted they slammed the door and left. When the four of them came out to find a place to settle, Tang Yu and Zhu Xiaojin began frequently seeing hallucinations. They tried to use items to catch or block them, but to no avail. Zhu Xiaojin even saw Tang Yu's face turn into the female ghost from before, and the two nearly fought. (Chapter End)