Deep in the Living

Chapter 554 Forced Incident
"I only put some kind of fear pressure on him, how did it turn out like this?"

Although Roddy wanted to take the body to a place for a thorough investigation, it was better to stick to the basics of the incident for now.

Disturbing the body would inevitably attract the attention of the police, severely disrupt the investigation, and even lead to a distorted narrative.

"It doesn't matter. Since anyone can have this situation, other people in this city should be in the same boat. There's no need to investigate deliberately. There will be plenty of opportunities to investigate later."

Let's just follow the story's progression.

Roddy drove his car and took Katayama to his rented apartment where he lived alone during the incident.

After taking a shower alone, Katayama began to use a hairdryer to dry his body.

Roddy waited for a full half hour, but the hairdryer still showed no sign of stopping. Unable to wait any longer, he went up and knocked on the door.

"Katayama, how much longer?"

"Um... it will probably take another six hours. I've only blew on half of my arm so far. If you can't wait, Luo, you can go ahead and do your work."

"So long? Is it enough to let your body air dry?"

"Yes, it's difficult for me to secrete mucus when I'm dry."

"Can I come in and help you?"

"Ah... let me put on some shorts! Okay, you can come in now."

As soon as the bathroom door opened, a foul odor wafted out.

However, Katayama's body appears quite deformed.

The main body of the body remained as obese as ever.
But the right arm that had been exposed to the hairdryer had become shriveled and withered, even thinner than a normal person's, yellowish and wrinkled, and no longer secreted any mucus.

Can you withstand the high temperatures?

"Yes, it's possible..."

"Row."

Roddy put his hand on the other person's shoulder, Hell was activated, and a scream came from the bathroom.

five minutes later.

Roddy walked out of the bathroom while his newly severed right hand was regenerating.

A thin, bony young man followed behind, looking severely malnourished. His black hair hung down casually, slightly obscuring his eyes and ears, and he still looked somewhat handsome.

He was completely different from the Katayama he had been before.

Not only that,

Even the snail shell structure on its back has completely disappeared, leaving only the outline of concentric swirls, which can be concealed simply by wearing clothes.

The completely withered Katayama also appeared very weak, and occasionally he needed to lean against the wall to move forward.

"Wouldn't your abilities be affected in this dry state?"

Katayama nodded. "Yes... Without the mucus, the disease is contained within the body. Of course, it will return to normal as soon as it comes into contact with a little water."

"If you encounter any danger, I will give you water immediately. Besides, this mutation is related to fish, so water won't be a problem."

By the way, have you seen "Ju-on"?

Katayama nodded repeatedly, "I've seen it... It's a very famous horror movie, haven't you seen it?"

"No, I don't really like this type of movie. By the way, are our current identities and what we're doing related to movies?"

"Pretty much. Ju-on also started as a volunteer at a welfare center. He was temporarily called to a house to check on the situation because the volunteer who had been assigned to that house had gone missing."

"And Roddy, it seems you were assigned to check if the other party meets the welfare standards. The differences don't seem too significant; perhaps it's the house corresponding to the Ju-on story."

Roddy, however, held a different view: "It's a bit different. Let's go take a look."

Based on the map location that had been surveyed in advance, Roddy quickly arrived at the destination with Katayama in his car.

Before them was a cluster of apartment buildings, and Katayama immediately pointed out the problem: "No, the houses in the movies are individual houses, not this kind of apartment building."

Luo Di rubbed his fingers together slightly. "Sure enough, the plot has changed."

In the normal dungeons I participated in before, I was immediately involved in the main storyline, but now it's completely different.

Did the alienation alter the movie's plot? Or was it intentionally designed to keep us from getting to the main storyline? Let's check this place out first.

"Um...can I wait for you in the car?"

"what?"

Katayama, on the other hand, was a typical couch potato, currently curled up in his seat, saying, "It feels like I have to walk a long way and climb stairs, so tiring..."

"Get off the bus quickly. If you really can't walk, I can help you."

"Oh." As soon as I got off the bus, a fishy smell hit me.

There are so many fish vendors downstairs in the apartment building that it's beyond what's normal.

Moreover, almost all the residents of the apartment building buy fish downstairs, and they buy a lot at a time, as if this is the only food they have.

Roddy also vaguely sensed that these residents had become somewhat abnormal due to their long-term consumption of this type of sea fish, and the gleam in their eyes was full of excitement about the fish.

"We don't have much time to deal with this incident. If we delay, it could lead to a complete mutation of everyone. That would be a real problem. Come with me quickly."

The two bypassed the vendors and crowds and entered the apartment building.

Just as he was about to walk up the stairs, suddenly a figure flashed in front of him and blocked his way. Roddy didn't even notice when the other person had approached.

In the sweltering summer,

The other party was completely shrouded in a black cloak, and wore a white mask on his face.

With multiple suspicions surrounding him, Roddy immediately prepared to take action.

To everyone's surprise, the other person suddenly pulled out a bag of dried fish snacks from their pocket. There was no manufacturer or ingredient packet; it was just wrapped in an opaque plastic package.

"This is homemade dried fish, and I'm giving it away for free. I hope you can try it and give me some feedback on the taste."

No sooner had he finished speaking than something that had never happened before occurred.

Time seemed to stand still.

Roddy's movements stopped completely, his vision gradually blurred, and at the same time, two unusual dialogue boxes appeared in his retina, occupying his field of vision.

What's going on?

Strangely, although time seemed to stand still, Roddy's thinking was unaffected, and he could perform normal analysis and thought, but he couldn't use any of his abilities.

The pop-up dialog box became increasingly clear.

1. "Accept the dried fish"

2. "Refusal"

At the same time, a string of distorted text appears at the top of the retina as an initial reminder.

*You are experiencing a special event. Please make your choices by making eye contact.

Your personal attributes will affect the outcome of your choices; they may bring you benefits, danger, or nothing may happen.

Please make your choice within ten seconds.

……

Roddy was extremely puzzled; he had never encountered such a situation before.

"Why are there forced options? This isn't something you see in a normal dungeon."

Since it can freeze time and put me in this completely passive state of choice, it means that this unknown power is capable of killing me.

The impact of alienation is deeper than I imagined; I have no choice but to do as the other party demands.

Choosing to refuse might anger the person in front of you.

I can simply accept the dried fish without eating it; the options don't explicitly state that it must be consumed... Oh well.

Roddy made his decision, focused his gaze, and accepted the dried fish.

The dialog box disappeared, but time remained frozen.

Strangely, Roddy could see himself uncontrollably reaching forward to take the snack bag from the other person's hand.

At the same time, it can be seen that the other party's hand, which extends from under his sleeve, is covered with fish scales.

follow closely,

Another dialog box appeared on his retina, this time not for making a choice, but to inform Roddy of the corresponding [result].

"Agility check failed!"
When you take the snack bag, the contents suddenly burst out of the bag and, before you can react, burrow into your skin, increasing your mutation value.

hum!
Everything returned to normal, and the masked man disappeared.

The snack bag had fallen to the ground, its bottom torn open, and it was empty.

Roddy quickly looked at his palm; there was a clear opening on the back of his hand, indicating that something had burrowed into his body.

When he released the hell wires and gray tentacles to examine his entire body, there was nothing left; they seemed to have completely seeped into his soul.

But Roddy seemed to smell a fishy odor, a fishy odor emanating from his own body.

(End of this chapter)