Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 8, Fifth Floor
Back inside, he picked up a candle and stepped out of the room for the third time.

The cleaver, meat grinder, and soldering iron were right in front of him, but he still didn't think about touching them—since he hadn't been to the fifth floor yet, he planned to explore it first.

After all, no one in this world would willingly cut open their own body unless absolutely necessary.

After fumbling around in his pocket for a while, Zhou You found a box of matches in his shirt pocket, relit the candle, and then headed up the stairs.

One step, two steps, three steps, four steps until he reached the fourth floor, the candle remained unchanged. But just as he stepped onto the steps leading to the fifth floor, the sluggish candlelight suddenly flickered, and then, as if accelerants had been added, it began to burn fiercely!

Zhou You didn't rush to run, but instead turned around and glanced behind him.

The deformed hands and face had emerged from the couplet, but unlike last time, they seemed completely oblivious to Zhou You, drifting aimlessly back and forth.

"It seems this thing works instantly and can completely block the perception of the couplet on the fourth floor. I just don't know if it will work on the landlady. Let's think about that later. Right now, the most important thing is..."

Zhou You looked at that empty face, took a deep breath, filled his lungs with dusty air, and then, contrary to his previous calmness, ran as fast as he could towards the fifth floor!

The less than ten-meter staircase was covered in an instant. The fifth floor was the attic of this residential building, with only one door and a heavy old-fashioned padlock hanging on it.

Zhou You took the key he had swiped from the landlady—no, I mean, picked it up—and inserted it into the lock. After several attempts, he finally managed to open the almost rusted spring clip.

The lock slammed to the ground with a dull thud. Zhou You didn't care whether the noise would attract the landlord—by the time the landlord arrived, the candle would be almost burned out anyway, so it wouldn't make much difference whether he was killed by the fourth floor or by the landlord—and then he pushed open the old wooden door with all his might.

With a piercing creaking sound, the escape route finally unfolded before him!

But then, Zhou You suddenly froze.

No, it wasn't that he saw anything hopeless, like there was no way out—in fact, if it really were a dead end, given his personality, he would just spit out a curse, give the book a middle finger, and then look for another way. He was stunned for another reason.

He saw the body.

Moreover, it wasn't just one.

There were so many corpses.

Right before Zhou You's eyes, layers upon layers of human corpses hung from the roof of the attic. At first glance, there must have been at least nearly a hundred bodies—and the chest cavity of each corpse had been completely ripped open, with all the internal organs gone, leaving only shriveled chunks of flesh and bones like withered wood.

And somehow, after some kind of treatment, very few of the corpses were decomposed; almost everyone's face was frozen in the instant of death: fear, pleading, despair, anger, and collapse.
Even with Zhou You's strong mental fortitude, the sight of so many dead eyes made his hair stand on end.

Without a doubt, these were all tenants—tenants who were dissected, dismantled, and sold off by that 'landlady' because they couldn't pay their rent.

Among the corpses, Zhou You even spotted several figures who were noticeably shorter than the others and had youthful faces.

How wonderful!
Zhou You closed his eyes and silently bit his lower lip.

But he quickly suppressed his extraneous thoughts and continued with his actions.

—The candle is almost burned out, and he needs to hurry.

Zhou You then entered the attic, but the moment he stepped inside, his expression suddenly changed again.

A strange smell filled my nostrils, like a rotten egg left out in the scorching sun for three days, accompanied by a slight dizziness and a feeling of oxygen deprivation.

Zhou You, who grew up in the countryside, quickly recognized what it was.

Biogas, and at a relatively high concentration.
—It appeared to be the result of accumulated decay from several corpses, but it was still within a tolerable range. Noting this, Zhou You looked around, using the dim light filtering through the roof.

The corpses occupied most of the space, but some debris could still be seen piled up in the corners. In the far distance was the exit that Zhou You had been waiting for—a broken skylight in the attic roof. Unfortunately, there was no ladder or anything like that below. The only way to get there was to slowly pile up the debris and corpses, eventually creating an escape route.

Based on Zhou You's estimation, this project would take about 8 minutes. Although it seems short, if we add the conditions of "only having one arm" and "needing to come out for air from time to time", then the time would be extended to more than 20 minutes.

It was exactly the time it took him to run over at full speed and burn out all three candles.

Suddenly, Zhou You laughed.

"I have to say, it truly lives up to its name as a 'beginner's dungeon.' The way to clear it is incredibly simple and straightforward, and it's exactly what I predicted before."

He didn't say anything more after that, but glanced at the candle that was almost completely burned out, and instead of letting it burn out completely, he blew it out.

The next moment, a piercing roar came from the fourth floor.

In just a few seconds, those deformed hands had climbed up to the attic, and then, as if enraged, grabbed the calm-faced Zhou You and dragged him down.

"boom!"

Flesh and blood splattered.
-
"you are dead."

"His death was somewhat worthwhile."

"The path to escape has been revealed to you. Leave this haunted building constructed by the landlord, and you will receive a reward."

"Since the player is still in the beginner stage, you can use 10 points."

However, before the woman could finish speaking, Zhou You waved his hand, telling her to shut up.

Then, without saying another word, he chose to enter the instance again.

However, whether by coincidence or not, when he teleported to the save point this time, the first thing he saw was the self-harming three-piece set.

Now that we've explored most of the story, it seems there's only one way to beat the game: cut off your own arm, use a branding iron to stop the bleeding, endure the excruciating pain to make two candles, and then escape through the skylight.
Generally speaking, that's how games work. No matter how you play or how you try to outsmart them, the ending will ultimately follow the script written by the game creator.

But.

When playing games, Zhou You never likes to follow the rules.

Moreover, he actually preferred the simple and brutal approach of a goal-scoring team to meticulously planned schemes and plots.

Then he suddenly looked up at the empty space and asked, "Excuse me, I'd like to ask, if I cut off my arm here and then complete the game, will my injury be carried over into reality?"

A few seconds later, the woman's voice rang in his ear.

"Dear player, all the damage and losses you suffer in the game will be restored when you finish the game. Please do not worry about your injuries and disabilities and play as you wish."

The answer and hint were obvious, but Zhou You did not use the self-harming trio as the other party wanted. Instead, he picked up the candle and suddenly smiled and said.

"Is that so? Then so be it. I'll start to follow my own ideas to my heart's content."

(End of this chapter)