Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 12 No Survivors
The middle-aged man, who had a stern voice but was actually weak inside, hurried away from the room as if fleeing.

Zhou You originally wanted to stop him and ask for more details, but the system prompted him that doing so would result in a game failure—so he could only shake his head and first do a simple search of his surroundings.

At first glance, it's just an ordinary security guard's room, small and somewhat shabby. Security equipment is scattered haphazardly around the room, and a list of municipal department locations, along with a patrol map and guidelines for his position, hangs on the door.
However, unlike security guards who are usually only responsible for one small neighborhood, the area they need to patrol here is the entire block. There are no computers or other work-related items in the house, only a rather old television—Zhou You tried it and found that it had been broken for a long time and could not be turned on at all.

There were several newspapers piled on the table, but unfortunately, probably due to the limitations of the game, most of the text was blurred as if soaked in water, making it very difficult to read. Only a few words could be pieced together from certain places.

"Frequent accidents"

"The richest man is critically ill and undergoing emergency treatment."

"Seeking qualified candidates. Excellent compensation package available."

"A street vendor died from overwork; it was his own family member."

"Corruption. Investigative Journalism. About to..."

"Acquisition of slaughterhouses."

Zhou You examined the area carefully for a long time, but still couldn't find any useful clues.

After all, most of the words were fragmented and impossible to guess their meaning. The only clue was that the job posting might be related to his current task, based on the words "sincere recruitment" and "urgently needed"—but the question was, what about the generous compensation?
He didn't forget that he had said in his opening introduction that this job was just enough to keep him from starving.

After realizing he couldn't get anything from this place, Zhou You turned to look in the other direction.

There was a sign-in book sitting there.

The paper was four inches square and not particularly old, but it was covered with mud and grease, probably because it hadn't been handled carefully. The first page was the day shift patrol list and duty roster, which looked fine, but when he turned to the second page, the night shift duty roster, his expression darkened slightly.

The page still displays various names, but unlike the almost entirely fixed personnel on the first page, the patrol personnel on this page have different names every other day, and none of the names are repeated.

Of course, the most important thing is...
None of them had completed their duty shifts.

On the sign-in sheet, only the "on duty" column had a checkmark, while the "off duty" column was completely blank.

So, what exactly happened to those employees that prevented them from returning home?
Thinking about this, looking at that security guard uniform that appeared to be stained with blood only sends chills down one's spine.

As he was deep in thought, a clear chime suddenly rang out. Zhou You looked up at the clock and realized that in just a short while, the hour hand had unknowingly pointed to 11 o'clock.

It's time for the night patrol.

Although the game didn't stipulate any penalties for being late, he didn't want to deliberately test the consequences. So Zhou You simply tightened his coat, looked around the security room again to make sure he hadn't missed anything, picked up his flashlight, and walked out.
-
Outside the security guard's room.

The streets were deathly silent at night.

Zhou You just learned from the patrol guidelines that this neighborhood was originally planned to be redeveloped into a new urban area, so most of the residents have already moved away, leaving only a few stubborn ones who are still refusing to move.

A seemingly reasonable answer.

But the problem is
He suddenly raised his head and looked around.

No lights were on in those old buildings, and there was no sign of human activity. Occasionally, some rustling sounds could be heard through the locked doors, but as soon as you listened carefully, the sounds would immediately fall silent, as if everything you had just heard was just some kind of illusion.

—This isn't right.

Something's not right. Normally, even if it's 11 o'clock now and more than half the people have moved out, this huge neighborhood shouldn't be completely deserted, and there shouldn't be a single lit window to be seen.

unless.
Zhou You didn't dwell on the exaggerated assumption in his mind. Instead, he walked to a door under the dim light of the streetlamp, hesitated for a moment, and then gently knocked.

No one responded.

Then he tugged at it slightly.

The lock wasn't tight. Let alone a grown man like myself, even a fat nerd could probably pry it open easily with a little effort.

"So, if any unexpected incidents occur during patrols, can these residential buildings be used as an emergency shelter?"

Thinking this, Zhou You peeked through the crack in the door again.

then
He then saw a human face.

A grayish-blue face, floating in mid-air, devoid of flesh and bone, strange, distorted, and staring intently at him.

In an instant, Zhou You shuddered and jumped away.

"—You have been corrupted, your sanity has been damaged, and your current sanity is 85/100."

Seeing such a sudden, deadly face startled even him, despite his composure. Fortunately, the ghostly face seemed to exist only inside the building and didn't chase after him after he moved away, leaving only a rustling sound.

Zhou You took a few deep breaths to calm himself down a bit—but then he seemed to remember something, suddenly held his breath, and tilted his ear to listen carefully.

After it became completely quiet, the other noises became more and more noticeable.

So the sound of hissing echoed throughout the entire neighborhood, but because there were so many of them, Zhou You could no longer discern the exact number.

One, ten, hundred, thousand, or has it reached tens of thousands?
How many buildings are there here? And how many ghost faces are there?
"Gan"

After a long pause, Zhou You finally uttered a heartfelt sigh.

"I know you don't want me to take shortcuts, but is it really necessary to make such a big fuss?"

But since the other party had already gone this far, he had no choice but to give up the shortcut and turn around to continue walking towards the main road.

Time passed slowly, but apart from the fright they had just encountered, they didn't encounter any other monsters along the way. In fact, they completed this part of the mission quite smoothly.

According to the map in the security room, his patrol area was roughly divided into four zones.

The first section is from the security room to the Yuanshun Road intersection. The second section is from the Yuanshun Road intersection to Shanhuai Hutong. The third section is from Shanhuai Hutong to Changsongpo. Then, walk around the bottom of Changsongpo to finish the job.

Although he has now easily completed a quarter of the task, Zhou You is not at ease; on the contrary, he always feels uneasy.

—This is at least a low to medium erosion scenario; its difficulty can't possibly be lower than Building 4, which is a beginner's scenario, right? Besides, it just gave us that sudden scare, warning us not to try and take shortcuts. How could it possibly let us finish the rest of the way so easily?
However, just as Zhou You was beginning to have doubts, a ray of light suddenly entered his pupils not far from his line of sight.

Moreover, the light was different from the dim streetlights; it was the bright glow of an incandescent bulb.

Similarly, it was the only bright light in this dim city.

(End of this chapter)