"What do you guys think?"

Xing Hechou looked at his companions and asked, "The sunset and clouds in the sky here are constantly changing. It looks like it will be dark in about forty minutes. If we're going, we should go as soon as possible."

Li Ang nodded. "We can split up. I'll go investigate the shrine, and you guys can gather information at the police station."

"Split up?"

Xing Hechou frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea. In horror movies, splitting up usually leads to actually getting 'split up.'"

"Old Xing, don't worry about him. He's much stronger than you and me. It's not so much that ghouls and monsters in horror movies hunt him, but that he's the final boss in horror movies."

Wan Li Fengdao squinted and complained, "I think we should be more concerned about our own safety..."

Before he could finish speaking, an unexpected change occurred.

The splendid purplish-red sunset quickly vanished, and the surrounding sky instantly darkened. The pitch-black night closed in rapidly, like a pair of invisible hands, centered on the residential area where they were.

Before anyone could react, the buildings around the residential area were swallowed by the night.

Li Ang also directly lost contact with all the bee drones flying outside.

"Not good,"

Xing Hechou's expression changed, and he said urgently, "The area is shrinking so quickly."

Based on past experience, being swallowed by the darkness meant there was no escape.

The night closed in from all directions, devouring both sides of the alley.

The van parked outside the alley fell into darkness and disappeared silently.

The only way out for everyone was the ordinary residential house in front of them, which had not yet been swallowed by the darkness.

"You guys teleport away quickly!"

Xing Hechou said in a low voice. He pushed open the wooden fence of the house, stepped on the gravel path, kicked open the door, and rushed inside.

When encountering special situations with unknown fortune, he naturally wanted these player teammates he had implicated to escape as soon as possible.

As a member of the Special Affairs Bureau, he was responsible for capturing Sheng Nanwang and couldn't give up until the last moment.

He rushed into the house quickly, didn't see anyone, and roughly scanned the structure of the house.

The residential house could be said to be small but complete.

After opening the door, you first enter the entrance hall. To the left of the entrance hall is the foyer and shoe cabinet. There are several pairs of shoes under the foyer steps: flat shoes worn by the elderly inside, boots worn by men, high heels worn by women outside, and yellow children's shoes worn by children.

In front of the foyer is the hallway. To the right of the hallway is the living room and dining room.

The living room floor is covered with a carpet, on which are placed a round table and two rectangular sofas. At the other end of the living room is an LCD TV.

The dining room has a long dining table with six chairs placed around it.

To the right of the dining room is a semi-enclosed kitchen.

To the right of the kitchen is a washitsu (a room unique to the Japanese islands, with tatami mats that can be stepped on with socks only, no separate bathroom but with an alcove for bedding. The washitsu is separated from the hallway by two wooden sliding doors).

To the right of the washitsu is a bathroom.

Although the exterior of the house is old, the interior design is very warm. The floor is very clean, with no excess dust.

Xing Hechou stood in the living room and glanced around. He heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see several of his companions had followed. "You..."

"Why didn't you leave?"

Wan Li Fengdao helped Xing Hechou finish the sentence, shrugged, and grasped the hilt of the Dragon Slaying Sword tied around his waist, saying, "It wouldn't be good to abandon teammates before even encountering a ghoul."

Liu Wudai nodded silently and said softly, "It's not too late to teleport away after seeing the ghoul."

Li Ang rubbed his palms with a smile and said, "I just came to see. If things look bad, I'll retreat automatically without being told."

"Understood."

Xing Hechou's expression was solemn, and he nodded, sighing inwardly.

Li Ang glanced out the glass window. "It seems that the entire city, except for this house, has been swallowed by darkness. It seems that this is indeed the core of this area.

By the way, what does the pointer on the pocket watch say?"

"The pointer..."

Xing Hechou looked down, only to see the pocket watch pointer spinning wildly, no matter how he pressed the button, it wouldn't stop. "It seems to be malfunctioning."

"Can't find the specific location? Or are we already inside the passage?"

Li Ang frowned and asked, "Did the department that developed the pocket watch say why this would happen?"

"No."

Xing Hechou said helplessly, "The Alien Society put a lot of effort into making this pocket watch. Much of their knowledge is knowing how it works but not why.

They only know that this thing can work, but they don't know the specific principles and countermeasures."

"So unreliable?"

Li Ang complained and sighed, "Okay, since the way out is blocked, we can only look for clues in this house.

Let's figure out the identity of this family first.

Let's search together."

The house had electricity, and the lights in the living room, foyer, and hallway had been on and not turned off.

To avoid being separated, the group searched the first floor together, rummaging through cabinets and finding family photos, personal photos, and other materials that could prove the identity of the homeowner,

Such as driver's licenses, National Health Insurance cards, resident cards, Basic Resident Register cards, and Individual Number cards.

The "Fukugami" family had four generations.

The oldest member, nearly eighty-year-old Fukugami Miyoko, was the great-grandmother of the family, born in Kifoku Village, a rural village not far from Wakayama City (the city where the players are now).

Her husband passed away many years ago.

Her eldest son, the head of the Fukugami family, was fifty-year-old Fukugami Hirahara, a company employee nearing retirement.

Fukugami Hirahara's wife was named Fukugami Rie, born in a neighboring city. The two had a son and a daughter.

The younger son was named Fukugami Hiroki, twenty-five years old, a nursing assistant at a sanatorium.

The eldest daughter was named Fukugami Kyoko, twenty-nine years old, married a doctor, later changed her name to Weimon Kyoko, and had a daughter with her husband, who was the great-granddaughter in the family, Fukugami Shion, currently eight years old.

It is worth noting that the only people who regularly live in this house are Fukugami Miyoko, Fukugami Hirahara and his wife, and the younger son Fukugami Hiroki.

The eldest daughter's family does not live here but lives on the other side of the city.

The above is the family member information of this family that the players have collected so far.

"Everything seems normal. Just an ordinary four-generation family,"

Li Ang put down the family photo placed on the living room TV stand and said to his teammates, "Let's go upstairs and take a look."

"Okay."

Xing Hechou nodded, walked at the front of the group, and led several teammates toward the stairs leading to the second floor.

The players were still wearing shoes, and when they stepped on the wooden stairs, they could clearly hear the creaking sound of the wooden boards.

Xing Hechou walked at the front. In a daze, he seemed to hear a man's voice calling something in Japanese in his ear.

"Fukugami, can you hear me? Fukugami?!"

He was just about to turn his head to warn his teammates when he was shocked to find that he had lost control of his body.

He only saw the scene in front of him change rapidly. When he focused again, he had already left the house and was standing in the courtyard of the residential house.

The player panel fell into gray silence. He couldn't use any equipment or props, and he couldn't mobilize the extraordinary power that belonged to the player. He seemed to have completely regressed into a mortal.

"What's going on?"

Xing Hechou gritted his teeth, looked around, and saw that the courtyard was still shrouded in darkness.

He lowered his head to look at himself and found that his body was bloated, wearing a black apron and rain boots.

The backs of his hands were old and full of wrinkles, not his own hands at all.

Li Ang's voice came faintly from somewhere, "Hello? Hello? Old Xing, can you hear me?"

Xing Hechou took a deep breath. "Brother Li? Where are you?"

"We seem to be... in your brain..."

(Recently, I have been writing without passion.

After much deliberation, I decided to start over and return to the original style.

Don't forget the original intention, and you will always get it.)

(??_?)?