Chapter 94: This is Qin Feng, your younger brother

In the dark, cramped settlement chamber, Ji Linmo suddenly opened his eyes.

[Remaining settlement time: 30:17:23]

Watching the flickering prompt bar before him, Ji Linmo slowly sat up.

He had slept for a full fourteen hours.

If not for the hunger gnawing at his stomach, he might never have woken at all.

"..."

Ji Linmo rubbed his temples, a trace of irritation rising in him.

He understood perfectly well that this hunger could not be satisfied by food.

He was yearning for flesh and blood.

That was the price of becoming a monster again. If he failed to eat while in that form, then when he returned to human shape, his stomach would howl like a bottomless abyss, and even his cells would seem to shriek for slaughter and flesh.

Though the feeling would gradually fade with time, the tug-of-war between reason and appetite was truly hard to endure.

"Continue settlement..."

Ji Linmo silently selected continue settlement.

A stream of numbers flashed across the prompt bar, and then a huge screen lit up.

[Settlement successful!]

[Remaining game days in the instance: 5]

[+5,000 points]

[You successfully avoided death: 3 times]

[+3,000 points]

[You successfully completed the side quest "Where Is the Rabbit"]

[+100,000 points]

[Congratulations. Your behavior rating in this instance: A+]

[You may obtain one of the following three items. View now?]

Ji Linmo clicked to view again.

The three items appeared before him in lifelike detail, almost as if he could reach out and touch them.

[Bunny Cross-Dress Cap]

[Item quality: Medium (A-rank)]

[Item description: Ah~ Sometimes, I just feel like dressing up like a girl~]

[Effect: After equipping, transforms the wearer into a female according to their own appearance, Charm +40% (no time limit; charm increase cannot exceed the user's own cap)]

Ji Linmo felt his temple twitch.

This A-rank item... somehow felt a little perverse.

He hurriedly selected the next one.

A magnetic card, neither too large nor too small, floated in the air.

[Universal Magnetic Card]

[Item quality: Medium (B-rank)]

[Item description: Kid, it's time to witness your luck!]

[Effect: Randomly has a 25% to 85% chance of opening a locked door for you]

After a moment of silence, Ji Linmo pressed a hand to his forehead.

He moved his gaze to the last item, hoping to see something good.

[Bagged Instant Bunny Meat x5]

[Item quality: Medium (B-rank)]

[Item description: Fresh and delicious little snack is here! Rest assured, it is one hundred percent pure domestic rabbit meat!]

[Effect: After consumption, reduces mental contamination by 40% and restores satiety]

Seeing the beautifully packaged red chunks of meat floating in the air, Ji Linmo immediately felt a stab of pain in his abdomen.

Rabbit meat again. He really was going to develop a psychological condition over this...

"My luck is terrible. The second item is useless to me..."

Ji Linmo rubbed his temples, somewhat helpless.

Although the side rewards of this A-rank instance each had their strengths, and some were even quite practical in certain situations, none of them were very friendly to him.

So after hesitating for a moment, he chose the first A-rank item.

[This A-rank item (75% chance)]

[Drawing in progress]

[Congratulations! You have successfully obtained the high-grade item "Bunny Cross-Dress Cap." The reward has been delivered to your item bar. Please check and collect it]

Ji Linmo raised an eyebrow, not expecting his luck to be unusually good for once. He had actually drawn it.

"System, I still have one side-quest item I haven't drawn yet."

As soon as he spoke, the huge screen began to flicker.

[Rewards for the side quest "Who Am I" are being distributed]

[You may choose among the remaining two items in the current instance rewards]

Looking at the remaining two items floating in the air, Ji Linmo frowned and chose the rabbit meat.

[You have successfully obtained the medium-grade item "Rabbit Meat." The reward has been delivered to your item bar. Please check and collect it]

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

A deafening mechanical roar erupted. Ji Linmo lowered his head, and the darkness around him, thick as sludge, slowly swallowed him and dragged him into the abyss.

[Alert! The Horror Game has officially begun!]

[This time, the player will participate in the instance — Happy Town (Carnival of Slaughter)]

As the scene before his eyes changed abruptly, Ji Linmo's eyes flew wide open.

He was actually in the bedroom of his own home!

A spacious double bed, a table, and a television set.

The room, stripped down to the barest essentials, was unmistakably the bedroom he lived in back in the real world.

[S-rank instance: Happy Town (Carnival of Slaughter)]

[Game background: After a long and exhausting journey, you have finally left university and returned home. But something about the town's atmosphere seems off. Maybe it's just your imagination, but you keep catching the smell of blood at home...]

[Game objective 1: Play the role of the "son" without exposing any flaws]

[Game objective 2: Survive for 5 days and clear the instance within the time limit]

[Number of players in this instance: 30]

"This is... a coincidence?"

Ji Linmo frowned deeply, scanning the all-too-familiar surroundings.

Suddenly, the phone beside the bed began to vibrate.

Ji Linmo instinctively picked it up and found that the black phone in his hand was exactly the same as the one he used in the real world.

[You have unread message notifications]

After a moment's thought, Ji Linmo quietly opened them.

A chat image labeled "Younger Sister" appeared.

[Younger Sister]

[Brother, I know you're almost home, but while you were away, something happened at home. If you don't want to start a fight with the family, please follow these rules:]

[1. Father has suddenly become extremely irritable. Do not disobey him.]

[2. When Mother smiles, she is lying. When she cries, she is telling the truth.]

[3. No fruit is purple.]

[4. Little Brother has changed into a completely different person recently. Be careful of him! Absolutely do not enter his room!]

Ji Linmo memorized the messages as soon as he saw them.

This instance was different from the previous ones. It was a role-playing type.

There were four other people in this house right now, serving as the parents and younger siblings of his current identity.

But Ji Linmo still felt that the layout of the room, as well as the phone in his hand, were far too similar to his own home.

Sizzle!

The television in the bedroom suddenly turned on.

A news broadcast was playing.

"Mysterious Meteorite Descends on Happy Town"

"Good evening, everyone. This is reporter Xiao Zhuang, bringing you the latest on-site report!"

"The mysterious meteorite emitting a purple glow came crashing down one day ago and struck the town's gymnasium. Fortunately, there were no casualties..."

The television screen showed an enormous purple meteorite, completely smashed into the gymnasium and collapsing it inward.

Ji Linmo tried changing the channel, but as expected, there was only the current one, and it kept repeating this news as though malfunctioning.

"Son! Son, what are you doing in there? Come out to the living room right now!"

Outside the door, a thunderous, irritable voice suddenly rang out, deep and rough, sounding like a man's.

So this was the father role he had to play?

Ji Linmo did not dare hesitate. He left the room and went to the living room.

If he guessed right, the message sent by his younger sister was the rule set for this instance.

So right now, he absolutely could not disobey his "father."

When he arrived in the familiar living room, Ji Linmo saw a man wrapped in bandages, holding a hunting rifle, glaring at him with a ferocious expression.

[Father - Old Ji]

[Character introduction: This is your father. He always seems to be in a bad mood.]

Faced with this completely unfamiliar man, Ji Linmo stood before him with an expressionless face.

The man with the hunting rifle studied Ji Linmo carefully, then lifted his chin.

"Son, go to the backyard and pick me a bowl of cherry tomatoes. I only like purple ones."

After saying that, the man picked up a rag from the side and began wiping the hunting rifle in his hands.

Purple tomatoes?

Ji Linmo said nothing and silently walked toward the backyard.

In the backyard stood a lush row of potted cherry tomato plants, looking plump and inviting.

Among them, however, were several clearly different ones, glowing with a purple light.

Picking up a small bowl from the balcony, Ji Linmo plucked those purple tomatoes.

Only three in all. They lay shallowly across the bottom of the bowl.

[3. No fruit is purple.]

Lowering his head to look at the faintly glowing tomatoes, Ji Linmo frowned, hesitating for a moment.

Something was off. Not only were these purple tomatoes suspicious, but even their number would not satisfy "Dad."

Ji Linmo looked around and spotted two buckets of paint in the corner, one blue and one red.

After a little thought, he realized something and lifted a hand to put on the Guardian Ring.

[Guardian Ring]

[Remaining uses today: 1]

Slowly mixing the red and blue paint into purple, Ji Linmo picked up a brush and painted the color onto the remaining bright red cherry tomatoes.

Then he picked those tomatoes as well, filling the bowl before carrying it into the living room.

"Dad, the tomatoes are picked."

"Father" examined the tomatoes closely, then nodded.

"Sit down. Your mother is cooking in the kitchen already. When the food is served, eat up quickly."

No sooner had he spoken than an elegantly dressed woman came over with two dishes, smiling.

"Oh, my precious son is back. Hurry and eat more tomatoes. They're sweet right now."

With that, Mother widened her eyes and set the dishes on the table.

It was a plate of tomato scrambled eggs and a plate of stir-fried greens.

Seeing that Ji Linmo still had not moved, Father immediately flashed a murderous look and shouted at him in an irritable voice.

"EAT! Didn't you hear your mother telling you to eat?"

Seeing the smile on the woman's face, Ji Linmo immediately picked up his chopsticks. Avoiding the tomatoes and the tomato scrambled eggs, he took a bite of the hot greens from the other dish.

If nothing unexpected happened, eating those two tomato-based dishes would almost certainly mean death.

Seeing that neither of them seemed interested in making things difficult for him, Ji Linmo frowned in confusion.

Was that all?

As an S-rank instance game, had everything from the beginning until now been a little too easy?

"Mom, why aren't you telling me to eat?"

A clear voice, distinctly youthful, came from not far away.

Hearing the somewhat familiar voice, Ji Linmo's heart instantly turned cold. He lifted his head and looked toward the source.

"Ah, my little son is out of his room. Come here, your brother is home."

The woman raised her head and made room for the boy.

"Brother~ you're home."

After speaking, the handsome young man smiled at Ji Linmo, his beautiful peach-blossom eyes narrowing into crescents.

In an instant, Ji Linmo's eyes flew wide open.

Now he understood why the game was rated S-rank.

"Qin Feng... little brother, I'm home..."