I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

He went back to his bedroom and glanced at the helmet.

"Is it because of what I just experienced that I'm hallucinating?"

At this moment, Old Eggplant suddenly realized that he could also snap his fingers to start a fire in the game, so how did the game know that?

Is that really a game?

Despite having experienced the "cage," Old Eggplant still couldn't help but ask himself this question about the sense of realism.

He decided to put on the helmet and experience it again.

……

[Task Requirements: Magic Network Influence: 152/10000000]

As Lu Ban watched the numbers in his field of vision slowly increase, he felt that he had probably grasped the essence of the mission.

"It seems that the influence of the Magic Network can indeed be increased through these players who have awakened certain extraordinary abilities, and not in terms of the number of players."

Lu Ban only granted 35 players access to the [Silent Land], allowing them to explore it in Lu Ban's own first mission. So far, no one has been able to complete it, yet Lu Ban has already accumulated hundreds of influence points.

"It seems that exploring these missions and increasing the exploration progress can also significantly increase influence."

Lu Ban also noticed some clues.

His initial missions had a low level of exploration and were only one of three options. He didn't know the details of the other two missions, so he had to make up his own based on what he knew.

However, the things players explore in "Friends Under the Bed" are something Lu Ban should pay close attention to.

He discovered that the things under the bed would change depending on the player, but most of them were things that the player was afraid of, and some were things that were generally considered frightening.

"So, that doll from back then..."

Thinking of this, Lu Ban lowered his head and looked under the bed.

Chapter 756 The Monster in the Wardrobe

The area under Lu Ban's bed was very clean.

There was no clutter, no trash, not even dust. Normally, anyone who could do that would probably have some kind of mental problem, like the guy who listens to Ode to Joy while killing someone.

There were no spiders or toys under the bed.

He opened the wardrobe, and the clothes inside were very simple, you could see them all at a glance. Good-looking people don't really need fancy clothes to adorn themselves; a simple t-shirt can be worn like a trendy brand.

Among the clothes, Lu Ban saw a doll, which he took out.

The doll had clown-like heavy makeup, and a comical yet eerie smile was upturned at the corners of its mouth.

Nowadays, such a doll would certainly not be as lovable as Psyduck, but more than a decade ago, it was quite popular with children. Lu Ban couldn't quite put his finger on what had changed their aesthetic preferences.

Why were you under my bed?

Lu Ban asked the other party.

But the doll didn't answer; it just lay there quietly.

Lu Ban recalled that his initial mission exploration progress was only 30%, which was mediocre at best, and he simply completed the mission in an ordinary way.

In the Silent Lands mission, an exploration rate of around 70-80% will allow you to glimpse the ins and outs of things. A rate of 90% or higher will basically allow you to get close to the truth. And if you reach 100% or higher, then you've glimpsed the traces of some indescribable great being behind the events, or that it has had a decisive impact on the development of the alien realm.

So, what will you get if you can achieve a higher exploration level in this initial task?

Although the mission cannot be restarted now, Lu Ban can still play this supernatural little game.

Of course, before trying, Lu Ban also thought about what he would get.

First of all, Lu Ban at the time did not know that strange things like the late-night movie theater existed in this world. These twisted rules exist in every corner of human civilization, and obviously, this heartbeat counting game is one of them.

The alleyway from which there is no turning back and the fellow travelers are clearly also personifications of similar eerie things.

If Lu Ban's exploration level were a little higher, he would probably be able to understand this level. He conservatively estimated that his exploration level would already be around 70%.

Further investigation might reveal the doll's true form, as well as the cause, rules, and countermeasures for this strange object.

This is the area that Lu Ban needs to explore.

As it stands, this game does not cause death. Even if the toys fail their mission, they will only wake up halfway through and be startled for a while.

One possibility is that this is a game world constructed by Lu Ban, and its realism is based on Lu Ban's understanding. Since Lu Ban himself did not die while playing this game, the players will not die either.

On the other hand, this supernatural game might not be very dangerous to begin with, since it's a game of "mortal" difficulty. Even if you fail, you might just be possessed by evil spirits and your sanity would be lowered.

Therefore, Lu Ban decided to give it a try himself.

night.

Lu Ban didn't prepare garlic and salt this time. He watched a new horror movie as bedtime entertainment. Unfortunately, perhaps because Lu Ban had such a huge impact on the film industry, recent horror movies were somewhat lacking in flavor, overemphasizing special effects while neglecting atmosphere. Lu Ban didn't get his fill.

As midnight approached, he turned off the light and lay down on the bed.

When the bell rang, Lu Ban closed his eyes and began counting his heartbeats.

Having already experienced it once, Lu Ban was quite adept at it and quickly entered that ethereal state.

However, Lu Ban was now able to detach himself from his consciousness. He could see that along with the act of counting his heartbeats, he was covered by something. That thing, like flowing water, seeped into Lu Ban's body and seemed to be absorbing the memories in Lu Ban's consciousness.

In this state, Lu Ban's perception of the outside world became much weaker. The noise from the neighborhood at night was barely perceptible to him, and he was unable to control his body. The connection between his consciousness and body was blocked by these things.

At this moment, Lu Ban's separated consciousness saw that his wardrobe had quietly opened.

A dark-colored creature slowly crawled out of the wardrobe.

It was a bit taller than a normal person, but its body was slender, as if it were just skin and bones. Lu Ban looked at its head, which was just two dark, hollow depressions. It was a skeleton, but it didn't look like a human. It looked more like some kind of humanoid creature.

It came to Lu Ban's bedside and leaned down to look at him.

With its head down, the monster drew closer and closer, its upper body almost forming a right angle.

The monster's hand reached out towards Lu Ban, gently brushing against the invisible substance enveloping Lu Ban. Immediately, Lu Ban saw the space distort, as if the monster was devouring the invisible substance into the two large holes.

Lu Ban saw his breathing become calmer and his expression stabilize slightly. The thing straightened up and was about to quietly return to the wardrobe.

At this moment, Lu Ban suddenly raised his hand and grabbed the other person.

"Wait a moment."

Lu Ban opened his eyes and saw the strange creature make a suffocating sound as it deflated, then quickly shrivel up. There seemed to be an invisible force swirling in the space before it burrowed into the wardrobe.

Snapped--

The wardrobe door made a loud noise. Lu Ban glanced at the skin bag in his hand that was turning into smoke and disappearing, and decisively opened the wardrobe door.

But there was nothing in the wardrobe except for Lu Ban's original clothes.

He searched for a while but didn't find any dolls, spiders, or other scary things.

"Gone?"

Lu Ban frowned slightly.

He roughly understood that this thing was probably the strange entity triggered by the heartbeat counting, as for what it had just done...

Lu Ban recalled that when he was being drained by the monster, fear and anxiety would surface in his mind. Due to the ambiguity of external stimuli, he would have a stronger stress response, like the panicked consciousness when experiencing sleep paralysis, or the worry of hearing sounds that shouldn't be heard.

These negative emotions were extracted by the invisible force covering Lu Ban and transformed into food, which was then devoured by the creature.

"So, this is a creature that feeds on human fear?"

Lu Ban speculated.

"As long as you play this game, it will be summoned. Then, this creature will instill fear, feast on its fill, and then leave?"

"So, is what the gamers see an illusion?"

At this moment, he realized that one of the key points of the game was to look under the bed, but the monster had obviously not crawled under the bed. What was the connection between these two things?

Lu Ban looked under the bed and found that, lying quietly under the spotless bed was a Lanlanlu doll with a comical smile.

Clearly, these are signs that a monster has been here.

Or perhaps, this was the monster's excrement left behind after it devoured Lu Ban's fear?

Lu Ban looked at the doll in his hand and immediately threw it to the ground.

Chapter 757 Virtual Strange Objects

After thinking for a moment, Lu Ban picked up the Blue Road doll that had fallen to the ground.

From the monster's perspective, this was its excrement, but from Lu Ban's perspective, it was just an ordinary, comical doll.

Lu Ban sniffed it and found no strange smell.

"Would you like to try some?"

He ultimately did not take this action.

The conclusion has already been reached based on smell, so there is no need for further experimentation.

"If this thing is what the monster left behind after absorbing fear, then in the very beginning..."

Lu Ban recalled that when he first carried out his mission, he checked under the bed beforehand and found such a doll.

He carefully disposed of it in the sorted trash can, but in the middle of the night, after the game of counting heartbeats, the thing reappeared under the bed, and it looked like it had crawled around.

Lu Ban initially thought that this mysterious thing might have crawled back from the trash can to find him, but now it seems that the monster had absorbed his fear, which is why it dragged another one down with it.

And the excrement seems to vary depending on the type of fear of eating. Some people might excrete spiders or crawling insects, others might excrete a zero-score test paper, and maybe even a credit card bill or their mother's feather duster.

"These are the monsters you'll encounter on the [Mortal] difficulty level?"

Lu Ban thought that such creatures create and devour fear, but they depend on humans and will not kill them. So the same principle applies to "Fellow Travelers" and "The Alley Where You Can't Turn Back".

Having figured this out, Lu Ban estimated that the exploration level of this mission was probably around 80 or 90%.

As for what this creature actually is, he felt there was no need to dwell on it too much; it was most likely a distorted set of rules created by some kind of pollution by chance.

Thinking about this, Lu Ban realized a problem.

This creature can extract fear even from Lu Ban, who has already experienced adventures in other lands. At the same time, in [Morning Star], it can also extract fear from players, even though players may never have encountered it in reality.

This shows that the rules of strange things can still apply even if they are not in the real world.

Just like Lu Ban bringing a horror movie theater into the game, players will also be subject to the same constraints and may be killed by this eerie thing an endless number of times. However, because they are in a virtual world and are protected by Lu Ban, these players will not die. Instead, they can try to figure out the rules.