by <unknown>
Everyone was shocked. They looked at the wet crucifix in Zhang Wei's hand and his wet crotch. Some girls who had been hiding behind Zhang Wei trustingly suddenly turned blank and looked at them both in bewilderment.
The rest of the people wore a baffled look on their faces and suddenly felt that the lanky young man in front of them seemed a little unreliable…
However, just as the situation gradually became awkward, there was another spine-tingling scream from the depths of the corridor. At the same time, a rustling sound could be heard, like the sound of something crawling.
After hearing this sound, the crowd suddenly screamed again and everyone kept rushing toward the stairs and elevator entrance at the end of the corridor.
At this time, Chen Chen's eyes had taken on a serious gaze. He turned his head abruptly and the surrounding Field tightly enveloped him.
The flashlight in Zhang Wei's hand instinctively pointed behind Chen Chen but he happened to see that on the ceiling of the corridor, a red figure was darting past!
In the gloom, he could even make out that it was a woman with long hair…
"Ahh!"
The group erupted into another screech. This time, everyone was fully convinced that ghosts were real.
"Heh heh, it's just trying to scare us to lower our sanity level. Don't fall for it…"
Zhang Wei twitched his mouth stiffly and said with a forced smile.
"You say that, but why are you trembling?"
A young man on the side asked shakily because everyone could see that Zhang Wei was shaking more than everyone at this point. Even the beam of the flashlight in his hand was quaking rapidly…
Chen Chen had been paying close attention to the scream deep in the corridor, but because of his fusion with the T-virus, his eyesight was much better than that of ordinary people. Even in such a dark corridor, he could see the figure.
That figure was a woman with four arms crawling on the wall like a spider!
Laura!
Chen Chen felt a violent jolt in his heart and he immediately called out the monster's name.
The reason Chen Chen could call out its name was that this was a monster from a game, but how could a monster in a game appear in reality?
Thinking of this, Chen Chen immediately turned his head and looked at the crowd with a solemn expression. "Which of you have played The Evil Within?"
"Me… Me!"
After hearing this, a short boy immediately stammered out a reply. "So, you've seen it too. That monster just now, is it The Evil Within's La, Lau, Ra, Laura?"
Hearing these words, Chen Chen's eyes suddenly lit up. He walked quickly toward the boy, who constantly retreated in alarm.
"You, what are you trying to do?"
"Did you talk about this game just now?"
Chen Chen stared steadily at the boy, giving him a huge amount of pressure. "Tell me, did you just talk about this game with someone?"
"I didn't. It's just that I've been playing through this old game recently, so I was thinking about the strategy in my mind…"
The boy swiftly said in fear.
"As I thought!"
Chen Chen raised his eyebrows and he looked down the corridor again. The red figure of Laura had long disappeared. Chen Chen said immediately, "In this case, Wang Liang, take everyone away and climb out of here!"
Chen Chen pointed to the head of the Publicity Department of the student council who had remained silent all this time and said in an unquestionable tone, "Climb out of the elevator shaft. I have been here before and I know that it's the exit!"
"Really?"
Wang Liang was shocked. He was half-skeptical at first, but when he saw Chen Chen's eyes, he felt his body shudder and all his doubts disappeared. Then, he gritted his teeth and said to the group, "Everyone, come with me!"
With that said, he leaned out himself and looked into the elevator shaft.
After the elevator had dropped down, there was only a black abyss left in the elevator shaft. Even just glancing at it would make people feel weak in the knees. Nonetheless, at this time, the group did not care about this anymore. They suddenly discovered that, on the outer wall of the elevator shaft, there was a stairway for people to climb through!
This staircase was embedded in the elevator space. Although its appearance was astonishing, everyone understood that this was probably the only way out…
Many people instantly began to scramble and one by one they went frantically to the elevator shaft and prepared to climb up the stairs inside.
At this time, there was another piercing scream from the depths of the corridor. This time, Chen Chen did not hesitate anymore. His Field energy stretched out directly, heading toward the depths of the corridor.
It covered five meters, ten meters, fifteen meters…
Chen Chen's Field energy stretched ahead for 20 meters. This level was close to the strength of Chen Chen's Field in the dream world!
This immense power gave Chen Chen a flicker of confidence and he peered into the darkness, trying to spot Laura's shadow.
If his guess was not wrong, the dimension he had been drawn into now was the meme of the old movie Silent Hill, a memetic effect called the "Otherworld"…
Chen Chen thought silently. After all, the withered, decayed floors and walls, and the space that was isolated from the outside world — these characteristics were very close to the old movie Silent Hill, from nearly 20 years ago.
As for the Otherworld in that movie, it was created by the huge hatred in the heart of a little girl, Alessa, who was brutally bullied, burned by the townspeople, but was later rescued…
In the movie, Alessa was cast aside by everyone because of the influence of the local church. She was furthermore bullied and humiliated. In the end, she was even immolated by the church as a sacrifice to God. Although she was eventually rescued, the seeds of hatred were planted in the young girl's heart.
Her hatred turned into a demon, trapping all the residents in that small town in the Otherworld she had created.
Not only that but her hatred had turned into a group of extremely terrifying monsters, who continued to slaughter the villagers. It seemed that only by killing them all could the hatred in her heart be vented.
The reason Chen Chen did not think of this at first was just that this was not science fiction but a horror film.
Chen Chen had never expected that such a horror film that involved religion would be recognized by the USB flash drive.
Indeed, it could only manifest in the real world if it was recognized by the USB drive.
If this was the case, Laura's appearance could also be explained…
The Otherworld's memetic ability was to create an alternate dimension. At the same time, all the dark sides of one's heart would turn into monsters and attack everyone.
In other words, this memetic effect must have an anchor point. Just as the Otherworld in Silent Hill was conceived of by Alessa, now, the Otherworld Chen Chen was in must also have a human being as the carrier.
This carrier had a high probability of being random. It could be anyone, so the short boy just now had become the anchor of the Otherworld this time.
Therefore, Chen Chen had asked the question "Which of you have played The Evil Within?" after seeing Laura.
Moreover, since that guy was the anchor point, if he wanted to leave, it should be achievable with just one thought. That was why Chen Chen said to them that there was an exit in the elevator shaft.
When the guy thought there was an exit in the elevator shaft, then it was very likely that there was an exit there…
All these thoughts flashed through Chen Chen's mind. At this time, he only had one purpose and that was to block Laura who was about to attack everyone and allow the boy who was the anchor point to escape from this place. This was the only way for the Otherworld meme to collapse of its own volition.
Chapter 438: An Unexpected Turn of Events |
Chen Chen's Field energy was like a searchlight w
ith an invisible beam, extending in the depths of the corridor. The moment Laura entered his Field's detection range, he would immediately detect her.
However, the reality was beyond Chen Chen's expectations.
In the elevator shaft where everyone had fled, there was a piercing horrible howl. This howl went from far to near, then from near to far, filled with unspeakable despair, whizzing past behind Chen Chen.
Soon, the drawn-out sound became fainter and finally disappeared completely because of the distance.
Then, a second sound and a third sound…
Chen Chen knew that these three cries meant that three people had fallen from the elevator shaft into the invisible abyss.
"Cr*p!"
Chen Chen was powerless. He only heard the crowd behind him screaming as they crawled out of the elevator shaft, looking stunned and confused.
"There's another one inside!"
The boy who had become the anchor finally climbed out crying and he scampered directly to Chen Chen's side and wailed. "There's another one at the exit of the elevator shaft. Wang Liang and Zheng Kai and the rest have fallen and died!"
The screams of the crowd made Chen Chen frown but he was still staring at the corridor in front of him. Even though the guy said that there was one behind them, Chen Chen did not look back. After all, even if the monster in the elevator shaft was about to attack, this group of students would act as a physical shield.
As for Chen Chen himself, he did not have a strong enough Field to take care of both monsters.
"Have you heard it!"
The short boy saw that Chen Chen was ignoring him, so he simply grabbed Chen Chen's clothes and shouted, "Wang Liang and the rest have fallen!"
"Get off!"
Chen Chen's eyes flashed ferociously. He suddenly turned around and slapped the other guy in the right cheek. In an instant, the short boy had no time to react and was blown backward by the largest force he had experienced in this lifetime!
"Clang!"
His body slammed into the wall next to the elevator and he coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood!
"Ahh —!"
Everyone screamed repeatedly. They were trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. They could only huddle in place, not knowing where to flee.
"If you hadn't become an anchor, I'd just kill you with that slap just now!"
Chen Chen said in a low voice. All this while, he did not even glance at the short boy.
However, the monster seemed to have noticed that Chen Chen was distracted. It had been lurking in the darkness and finally rushed out. It let out an ear-splitting shriek and climbed across the ceiling suddenly, so fast that it was impossible to keep track of it by sight!
It was a shame that the creature was up against a new human being who had been optimized by the T-virus. In the instant that everyone else barely had time to turn and look, Chen Chen had already detected it. At once a dim light flickered before Chen Chen and shot toward the monster's face!
"Agh!"
Before the blood-red monster had time to rush at Chen Chen, its body burst out in a fountain of blood and it fell directly to the ground and rolled over several times. At an unknown time, three of its four arms had been severed at the shoulder!
At this point, Laura was going to become a limbless Laura.
By now, everyone could see that the monster in front of them was a woman with disheveled hair, but this woman was covered in bloodstains. No one knew if this was her own blood or the traces left after she had murdered her victims.
Three of its arms were severed at this time and only one bony arm was left constantly clawing the ground as if it wanted to get up.
However, this was not the end. Just when this handicapped yet determined Laura was about to stand up again, there was another "whoosh". In the darkness, it was impossible to see what had lashed out. Everyone only saw that the monster's legs were broken in the same instant!
At once, a large volume of blood spurted out again!
"Argh —!!!"
The monster collapsed completely on the cold floor, but even so, it raised its head and snarled at Chen Chen a few meters away.
"Pftt!"
However, the monster's roar was ultimately halted in the throat. In the next second, its head flew back in a splatter of blood, rolled more than ten meters away, and did not move anymore…
Now, the monster was completely silent.
"That's it?"
Looking at the monster that died instantly in front of him, Chen Chen tilted his head impassively. Then, in one gesture, a graphene poker card that had been greatly damaged spun back toward him.
Seeing that the card had been damaged, Chen Chen flicked it slightly and slammed it into the wall.
With a sharp "crack", the nearly transparent card was smashed into smithereens.
Still, throughout this scene, Chen Chen looked like a god in the eyes of the rest. He did not even take a step at all, yet the monster that rushed toward him was dismembered!
"Cool cool cool!"
Standing in the crowd, Zhang Wei could not help shouting, "I've never admired many people in my life. My roommate is one and you're the second! O Great God, you're not human! You're not a mere human being!"
Chen Chen did not bother responding to such weird praise. He stepped forward, squatted, and started to examine the monster, but at this moment, a bloody hand suddenly stretched out from the black hole in the elevator shaft behind Zhang Wei!
This bloody hand seized Zhang Wei by his shoulder while he was speaking. It seemed that in the next second, Zhang Wei would be dragged backward!
Zhang Wei's eyes flashed blankly and he subconsciously threw the crucifix in his hand behind him. The moment the crucifix touched the bloody hand, the bloody hand seemed to have touched a lump of soldering iron and suddenly retracted!
"Arghh!"
Until then, Zhang Wei finally realized what had happened just now. He jumped in shock and at the same time, he did not forget to pick up the crucifix that had fallen on the ground while he was screaming and retreating quickly.
Everyone also saw the scene of Zhang Wei being attacked. They all followed suit, crying out and running behind Chen Chen as they stared at the blackness of the elevator shaft in dazed alarm.
Chen Chen was astounded. His Field power carefully examined Zhang Wei's crucifix all over, but no matter how he looked at it, it was just a crucifix made of pure silver.
The workmanship was not even meticulous but was rather crude.
Could the crucifix restrain the ghosts in this meme?
This occurred to Chen Chen before he shot down the idea.
What kind of joke was this? If the crucifix could restrain the ghosts in memes, why bother to study meme technology?
It was not so much that the crucifix could restrain the meme. Chen Chen would rather believe that the urine on the crucifix just now was the main factor. Perhaps the ghost hand felt that the urine was too disgusting, it shrank back in response.
"What are you trying to do?"
At this time, it was not only Chen Chen, but even the group of students could not help but frequently glance at the crucifix in Zhang Wei's hand. This immediately caused Zhang Wei to retreat warily.
Still, since Chen Chen was still here, everyone just stared at Zhang Wei greedily, but no one moved to snatch it.
"You want to snatch what's mine?"
Seeing everyone's gaze, Zhang Wei did not even think about it and immediately backed into the darkness. "You teammates aren't reliable. I won't team up with you, I want to go solo!"
After that, Zhang Wei turned around and ran toward the depths of the corridor.
Chen Chen did not stop him, merely watched him as he fled from Chen Chen's field of vision. After that Chen Chen retracted his gaze.
He was not trying to rescue everyone now but to find a way out of this Otherworld. It was sufficient to ensure the anchor was not dead. Naturally, he would save the others if possible, but if that could not be don
e, Chen Chen would not actively play the part of a hero.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen looked at the short boy who had been slapped in the face again. At this time, half of his cheek was already swollen like a steamed bun and even his eye was sealed shut.
"Everyone, come with me."
Chen Chen commanded the group and then walked in the direction of the elevator shaft.
His Field extended to the elevator shaft first, trying to find the monster hiding in the dark, but when he came to the elevator shaft and looked up into the space, he found that there was nothing in there now.
Not only that, but around 40 to 50 meters above the elevator shaft, a white light shone in as if there was an exit.
Still, Chen Chen knew that if the anchor did not go in, even if it was an exit, he would not be able to get out.
Therefore, he simply took the lead and climbed up the stairs in the elevator shaft first.
Seeing that Chen Chen had taken the lead, everyone had the guts to follow behind.
Originally, there were 16 or 17 people pulled into the Otherworld on the third floor underground, but because half of them died in the elevator, only eight people were left. Later on, three people fell into the elevator shaft, and Zhang Wei left the team. At this time, apart from Chen Chen, there were only four people left. Of the four, there were two men and two women. In addition to the short boy who became the anchor of the Otherworld, there was also the beautiful girl that Chen Chen had previously bumped into in the elevator.
Presently, the four of them followed Chen Chen, desperately crawling toward the place where the white light was shining above their heads.
"That ghostly hand… Will it be waiting for us up there…"
As he was crawling, the little boy looked panicked and uncertain. He kept looking up, but he was also anxious about what was below, so he kept looking down. It seemed that the abyss-like world of the black hole below was more terrifying than the unknown above.
However, as he crawled and looked down, suddenly, a gray shadow flitted across the darkness below.
"Gah!"
The short guy yelled loudly and at the same time, he climbed up swiftly while jostling the other man above him. "There's something below, there's something below! Hurry up!"
