The amusement park.
Upon entering the haunted house, 【Peony】 discovered that the interior was much larger than it appeared from the outside.
She had been walking for nearly ten minutes and still hadn't reached the end.
The floor tiles beneath her feet were damp, and the wallpaper was peeling, revealing crude graffiti underneath. The crooked, simple sketches looked like something a primary school student might scrawl, but in this environment, they only added to the sense of dread.
【Peony】 had started out full of excitement. This was her first quest—helping a handsome NPC find a lost pet.
She had expected it to be a lighthearted exploration: take a quick stroll through the haunted house, find the snow leopard cub, carry it out, and claim her reward.
For the first few minutes, her pace had been brisk, the sound of her solitary footsteps echoing through the attraction.
However, the further in she went, the darker and more oppressive the atmosphere became. 【Peony】 unconsciously slowed her pace, her heart beginning to race.
She repeatedly told herself: "It's just a game, it's just a game, it's just a game."
But her body refused to listen to reason, and she couldn't shake the feeling of fear.
“The realism in this game is just too high,” she whispered. Her voice echoed through the empty corridor, sounding as if several versions of her were speaking at once.
She hunched her shoulders and quickened her pace.
Splat.
Something fell onto her neck. It was soft and slimy, and she felt it squirm against her skin.
In an instant, 【Peony】 practically jumped out of her skin. Her arms flailed wildly, her mouth hanging open in a silent scream like a performer in a pantomime.
She reached behind her neck, pinched the object, and pulled it away. Bringing it closer to her eyes, she saw it was a large worm!
It was dark brown, as thick as a pencil and about two fingers long. Covered in a layer of mucus, it writhed between her fingers, expanding and contracting with surprising strength.
Disgusted, 【Peony】 flung the worm to the ground and stomped it into a pulp, grinding her foot over it repeatedly.
She wasn't afraid of bugs; she had seen much larger centipedes and spiders at her grandmother's house in the countryside when she was a child.
But she didn't want worms dropping on her. It was revolting.
Wiping her hand on her skirt, a surge of annoyance rose within her. No wonder this haunted house was so deserted—the hygiene was terrible! There were bugs everywhere, and they kept it way too dark!
She glanced upward and could just barely make out cracks and water stains on the ceiling. The worm must have dropped from one of those gaps.
Shaking off the goosebumps, she hurried forward.
After another five minutes, the corridor suddenly widened. 【Peony】 spotted a warm yellow light glowing from an open hall ahead.
As she stepped into the hall, she saw several people standing there. Names hovered above their heads; they were clearly players.
The chandelier at the top of the hall was massive and covered in a thick layer of dust, but it was still lit. The yellow light cast a waxy sheen on the players' faces.
As 【Peony】 approached, the group turned to look at her in unison. One of them was holding a photo of a snow leopard—the exact same one she had seen on Yue Shi's phone.
“Are you also here to find a pet for that NPC?” a female player with a high ponytail asked.
【Peony】 blinked, then realized what was happening. “You all took that NPC's quest too?”
The girl with the high ponytail nodded. “A few of us ran into that long-haired NPC nearby and picked it up.”
【Peony】 frowned slightly. Could the quest be issued to so many people at once?
She had almost thought this was her own exclusive mission.
She recalled most of the MMOs she had played in the past; some NPC quests could indeed be taken by multiple people simultaneously, with rewards being settled independently.
It was just that the realism of this game was so high that she had subconsciously treated it like reality, failing to consider basic game mechanics.
With so many people looking for the pet, she wondered how the rewards would be handled.
“Doesn't that mean we're competitors now?” 【Peony】 joked.
After all, it was just a game. Even if everyone present was vying for the same quest, there was no need for actual hostility or life-and-death drama.
The girl with the high ponytail smiled. “Perhaps.”
A male player wearing a baseball cap chimed in, “This haunted house is too big. Finding a single pet will be difficult. Why don't we look for it together? If there's only one reward, we can split it after we finish.”
The players exchanged looks. The girl with the ponytail was the first to nod. “Sure, there's strength in numbers.”
A player in a plaid shirt also agreed.
【Peony】 had no choice but to nod along; she didn't want to seem unsociable.
Friendly smiles were plastered on everyone's faces, but what they were actually thinking was anyone's guess.
Split it? Not a chance!
If they actually found the snow leopard, who would want to share?
The plan would be to slip away from the haunted house immediately, find that long-haired NPC, hand over the cub, and hog the reward for themselves.
The players began to move together. The deeper they went, the stranger the haunted house became. The corridors fluctuated between wide and narrow, and the ceilings rose and fell at odd intervals.
“This place looked small from the outside. I didn't expect the interior to be this vast,” the ponytail girl remarked, a hint of disbelief in her tone.
“It's virtual reality. Spatial perception can be easily simulated,” the baseball cap guy replied.
The player in the plaid shirt didn't join the discussion. Compared to the others, he had already managed to obtain a phone in the two days since starting the game!
It didn't matter how he got it; he had it, and he was currently using it as a flashlight to lead the way.
Suddenly, he stopped and raised his other hand, signaling the group to halt.
“Shh. Listen.”
Everyone went silent. 【Peony】 held her breath and strained her ears.
She heard a peculiar sound—very faint, like many people whispering in unison.
The sound drifted from deep within the corridor, weakened to a mere sliver by the time it reached them.
“That way,” the plaid shirt player said, pointing toward the source.
They followed the sound, any sense of fear replaced by the excitement of exploring a new map.
After a couple of turns, the voices became clearer. It sounded like chanting, though they couldn't understand the language.
At the end of the corridor was another hall, even larger than the previous one. The main lights were off, leaving only a few emergency lights on the walls to cast a ghastly green glow over the room.
In the center of the hall, a group of people had gathered. They stood in a circle, holding hands, their heads bowed as they muttered incomprehensible words.
【Peony】's first thought was that these were haunted house staff members putting on a spooky act.
“What are they doing?” the ponytail girl whispered.
“Probably some in-game plot. An evil ritual or something. We stumble in, get labeled as sacrifices, and trigger an escape sequence,” the baseball cap guy suggested, his tone relaxed.
Rate on N.U.
