Chapter 1 The Closer, the More Terrifying

The closer they got to the Soul-Seizing Array, the more terrifying the environment surrounding the six became.

This was no longer some subtle atmospheric rendering, but direct sensory stimulation. In the swaying shadows of the mountain forest, corpses of various shapes and sizes repeatedly appeared around the players. Most of them were emaciated, or with missing limbs, each death uniquely tragic, but all revolving around the same theme of misery.

The place was practically putting on some kind of "miserable death exhibition." Hanging from trees, faces half-melted away, entire bodies burned into charred, rotten flesh, skulls exposed… basically, every imaginable way to die was represented. Combined with the strong and realistic stench of decay, it was arguably the most terrifying and disgusting scene Feng Bujue had experienced in Thriller Paradise to date.

Eyes seeing decaying corpses, nose smelling foul odors, ears occasionally picking up faint whispers of ghosts… Apart from Feng Bujue, who felt no fear, the other five experienced some change in their scare values.

"Even though we know they're illusions, this kind of scene still poses a potential threat," Ye Zhi said. "If a monster with a physical body approaches, we..."

"We might not be able to tell the difference?" Feng Bujue finished, smiling. "No need to worry. I think our two Investigation Specialization experts can distinguish between monsters and illusions." He glanced at Galileo ahead with ill intent. "Right?"

"Uh… yes." Galileo was also feeling uneasy. He had the feeling this player called "Mad Detective" was trying to trick them.

Ye Zhi looked at Feng Bujue and the two game moderators and felt increasingly strange. She quietly said to Meng Jingchan, who was walking at the back, "Captain… don't you think these three are a bit… unusual?"

Meng Jingchan took a swig of beer and replied, "Burp…"

Ye Zhi glared at him, shook her head, and sighed. She thought, *I have to apply for a transfer…*

Actually, Meng Jingchan seemed like he didn't have a serious bone in his body, but his mind was very clear. He couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong with the three players outside of the guild. If he had to say something was off, it was that Feng Bujue's reasoning ability and the other two's "investigation skills" were all a bit too strong, even giving the impression that they were cheating. However, this was just a hunch with no basis to support it, so Meng Jingchan wasn't ready to voice his opinion yet.

"Something's coming," Copernicus suddenly said in a deep voice. He stared ahead, a long saber already in his hand. Even though the lighting equipment couldn't illuminate a very large area, he knew very well that two mini-boss-level monsters had spawned and were approaching rapidly.

Galileo also drew his weapon almost simultaneously, ready to fight. Seeing this, Feng Bujue naturally followed suit, drawing his steel blade and preparing to meet the enemy.

Before the Soul-Seizing Array outside the mountain, Feng Bujue had directly used Death Poker because he judged from the plot synopsis that the enemies in this script were mostly ghosts, and cold weapons might not be effective. But now, judging from the way these illusions were generated and the monster that had appeared before, he felt that these arrays were closer to the realm of Western "magic," so ordinary weapons should suffice.

Here, it was a good opportunity to elaborate on Feng Bujue's personal views on ghosts and monsters, mainly their classification and strength…

As a man who had watched countless films… note that the "films" here specifically referred to horror films… he believed that Eastern ghosts and monsters were more dangerous and terrifying than Western ones.

According to the general horror movie settings, Eastern ghosts and monsters were clearly more troublesome for ordinary people. Those without spiritual power couldn't even touch the ghosts, even if they were strangled to death by them. Moreover, ghosts in ghost movies often used tools to kill people, such as rapidly falling elevators, steel bars falling from high altitudes, bathtubs that could suck people in, etc… These vengeful spirits were simply omnipotent, capable of teleportation, possession, creating illusions, telekinesis… The protagonists in ghost movies were often just pawns to be played to death.

Sadako, Kayako, Chu Renmei… even the ghost couple in *He Lives by Night* could bring a strong sense of terror and despair.

The terror of Western ghost and monster settings, on the other hand, tended to be more tangible. Vampires and werewolves were too common to even mention; their various characteristics were known to everyone. In the twenty-first century, they had become closely associated with terms like rich, handsome, and powerful, fair-skinned, wealthy, and beautiful, lolita complex, and love triangles. In order to satisfy the romantic fantasies of many young men and women for cross-species love, they shed blood (or beast blood) and successfully transformed into two enduring targets of ridicule.

Leaving aside these two types of monsters, let's talk about ghosts, ogres, mummies, and demons, which are also relatively common settings. When it came to Western ghosts, the first thing that popped into Feng Bujue's mind was Casper from *Casper the Friendly Ghost* and the line that was repeated countless times, "I want to be your friend." It was really hard to associate this guy with danger and terror. Of course, there were also more formidable ghosts like Freddy Krueger from *A Nightmare on Elm Street*, but after watching the third movie in the series, viewers probably understood that this guy could be defeated in both the real world and the dream world, and it wasn't that difficult… That's why the victims in the series were all underage, brain-dead kids; only the protagonist had a normal IQ and some combat ability. If the movie had cast an action movie tough guy, Freddy the pedophile would probably have suffered the same treatment as dropping soap in prison…

Ogres made Feng Bujue think of a unit in *Heroes of Might and Magic*, an elegant, cold-blooded, and highly intelligent killer, as well as a bunch of ugly monsters that appeared alongside many shoddy human-flesh props in B-movies.

A mummy could be a dry corpse covered in trembling bandages displayed in a museum, or a handsome, bald guy who used sand magic…

Demons seemed to be a relatively powerful race, and from a setting perspective, they were the closest to Eastern ghosts and monsters because they could use non-physical forces to inflict harm. However, their methods and motives for killing people were very different from those of vengeful spirits. Demons with a little status either transformed into middle-aged handsome men or beautiful women, messed up people's lives, made "deals," and ultimately forced people to their deaths. As for the bottom-tier demons, their killings seemed no different from serial killers, except that they weren't afraid of legal sanctions.

In short, Feng Bujue had a strong prejudice against Western ghosts and monsters. Even before he lost his sense of fear, he felt that encountering Western ghosts and monsters was nothing more than two scenarios: first, he couldn't beat them and got killed; second, he could kill them with a chainsaw. He never imagined being scared to the point of desperation or even death by Western ghosts and monsters.

"I'll deal with the one on the left," Copernicus said, already charging forward like a phantom.

Galileo didn't say a word. He took a step forward, already five or six meters away, and lightly stepped on a few tree trunks. His figure flashed continuously, dazzling to the eye.

The three members of Order were shocked by what they saw. It wasn't terror, but surprise. The two men's skills were definitely not below those of Order's top experts. To have such speed and agility at level eighteen, were they really "Investigation Specialization" players? It would be more believable if they were star players with super-strong combat skills who had created alt accounts to pretend to be weak.