You made all the streamers on the internet kneel before you when you were asked to make a game.

Lu Zhixing was half-conscious at this moment. His reason was suppressed, which instead aroused a crazy obsession.

He gripped the judge's pen and, with all his might, slashed fiercely at the solid, dark wooden wall in front of him.

The pen tip was dry, but it left a trail of burning black flames wherever it went.

The flames seemed capable of scorching the "rules" themselves.

The ancient runes on the wall turned to ashes the moment they came into contact with the black fire, emitting a mournful shriek.

Ignoring everything else, Lu Zhixing used his pen as a knife to quickly sketch the outline of a door on the wall.

When the last stroke was made, the entire Zhenhai Tower trembled violently.

The area outlined by the black flames actually began to cave inward and twist, eventually forming a bottomless black vortex.

He forcibly drew a door leading to an unknown hell.

Because he had exhausted his spiritual power, Lu Zhixing's vision went black, and he fell straight backward.

"Master!"

Brother Long reacted quickly and caught him.

The door opened.

A surge of resentment, ten times stronger than that outside, mixed with the smell of corpse oil and decay, gushed out from inside the door.

The world behind the door was pitch black, a deep and dark abyss.

"Master, how are you?" Brother Long asked anxiously, supporting the unconscious Lu Zhixing.

Lu Zhixing shook his head, forcing himself to wake up.

That last blow almost drained him of all his energy.

The power of the Judge's Pen seems to be related to his sanity and mental state.

The more insane and closer to collapse it gets, the more bizarre the power this pen can unleash becomes.

"I'm fine." Lu Zhixing pushed Brother Long aside, steadied himself, and said, "Go inside."

Professor Chen, carrying the fading lantern, was the first to enter.

The light illuminated a small area behind the door.

The first floor of Zhenhai Tower was unexpectedly spacious.

There was no furniture or decorations here; it resembled a giant circular altar.

The floor and walls were made of dark red sandalwood, covered with fine, blood-red patterns.

Around the hall, thousands of lamps were neatly arranged and kept burning.

Each lamp emitted a dim, yellowish flame, casting an eerie and oppressive glow over the entire space.

[So many lights? What are they for?]

Something feels off; the oil in these lamps is a strange color, yellowish-black...

[The lamp wick... the lamp wick looks like hair?!]

Viewers in the live stream noticed the details.

Professor Chen walked to the nearest lamp and examined it closely.

The lamp was made of rough pottery, and the oil inside was thick and cloudy, emitting a nauseating burnt smell.

It was corpse oil.

And what served as the wick was none other than strands of long, black hair, woven together and still covered in scalp.

"A thousand people resent it, ten thousand people are furious..." Professor Chen's voice was extremely hoarse.

"This might be an ever-burning lamp made from the corpses and resentment of those who died unjustly in the tsunami."

"Each lamp represents a restless soul."

This discovery made everyone swallow hard.

They could almost see, in the dim firelight, the distorted, pained faces reflected in the water.

In the very center of the hall, there was a huge leather drum with a diameter of over three meters.

The drumhead has an eerie fleshy yellow color, and it still retains some faint patterns and pores.

The drum stand was constructed from rows of pale human bones.

[A human skin drum...it's definitely a human skin drum!]

[Has the art director of this game gone mad? How could they dare to make something like this?]

Just as everyone was stunned by this terrifying sight.

The system notification sounded unexpectedly in everyone's minds.

[Rules: When you enter the Drum Tower, your soul will move with the drums.]

First, don't look back.

2. Do not make a sound.

[III. The drumbeats cease, and the soul trembles in fear.]

The moment the rule appears.

"Thump!"

A dull drumbeat sounded without warning.

It was as if an invisible hand was striking the human skin drum.

Lu Zhixing, Brother Long, Professor Chen, and the last two surviving players who happened to be following behind them all shuddered violently.

My heart, involuntarily, contracted violently in rhythm with the drumbeats.

"Thump!"

The second drumbeat sounded.

My heart was struck again.

Everyone's faces turned pale instantly, and their breathing stopped.

The sound of the drums can directly affect their heartbeats!

The staircase leading to the second floor was at the other end of the hall, about fifty meters away from them.

They had to traverse this death zone, characterized by ever-burning lamps and the sound of drums.

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

The drumbeats began to become rhythmic, striking approximately once every three seconds.

No one dared to make a sound, and they even breathed very softly.

They started walking, moving cautiously towards the stairs.

Each step must be taken in the intervals between the drumbeats.

If the rhythm is disrupted, the consequences will be unimaginable.

In the darkness, only thousands of oil lamps flickered and the death knell sounded.

After walking more than ten meters, a young survivor finally made it to this point, extremely nervous, when he tripped over a protruding wooden plank.

"what!"

A short, startled cry escaped his lips uncontrollably.

The previously steady drumbeats suddenly became rapid and violent.

"Thump—thump thump thump thump thump!!!"

Like a torrential downpour of pear blossoms, it relentlessly pounded on everyone's hearts.

"puff!"

The young player was hit first; he didn't even have time to react, and he was like an overinflated balloon.

It exploded in the chest cavity with a "bang".

Blood and entrails, mixed with bone fragments, gushed out, splattering all over the surrounding walls and the ever-burning lamps.

The eternal lamps that were splattered with blood suddenly turned from a dim yellow to an eerie blood red.

This bloody scene terrified the remaining people.

The other surviving player's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Don't stop!"

Lu Zhixing lowered his voice and squeezed out three words through gritted teeth.

He grabbed Brother Long, who was trying to help the player, his eyes resolute.

Now, no one can save anyone else.

The frenzied drumming, after lasting for about ten seconds, returned to a steady rhythm.

It was as if nothing had happened.

There was only a pool of blurry flesh and blood on the ground.

The player who collapsed to the ground was so terrified that his breathing had become completely disordered.

"Thump!"

The drums sounded.

His heart skipped a beat during a pause in the drumbeats.

That was it.

"Well……"

He let out a painful groan, clutching his chest tightly with both hands, his eyes bulging, his heart being forcibly torn apart by that invisible rhythm.

The drumbeats stopped, and the soul trembled.

Or perhaps it's that the soul was startled, and the drumbeats stopped.

Another one has died.

Now, only Lu Zhixing, Professor Chen, and Brother Long remained. They endured the pain of their hearts being struck hard, gritted their teeth, and moved towards the stairs step by step, precisely to the rhythm of the drumbeats.

Fifty meters felt like an eternity to them.

By the time they finally reached the top of the stairs leading to the second floor, everyone was drenched in cold sweat.

The death knell continued to beat slowly and deliberately behind them.

thump.

thump.

thump.