In Virtual Reality 46 ☆ Elevator Safety Instructions (5/12)

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Xu Jin Yi was flummoxed by the inexplicable situation.
She had performed the standard exit for the PC game, but the VR adaptation proved far more complex than she had foreseen.

The darkness enveloped her, disorienting her, but she persisted.
With her sharp instincts, she roamed around aimlessly until she finally identified the exit's white border label.
But her happiness was short-lived as she noticed the exit sign flicker as if obscured by something for a moment.

A sense of foreboding crept up her spine, and she knew something in the darkness was approaching her with alarming speed.
She didn't hesitate and instinctively leaned back, only to collide with the bed's iron pole, emitting a loud “thud!” The impact sent a jolt of pain through her, and she cried out in discomfort.

The sound echoed, alerting her three companions, absorbed in their respective activities.

The closest one asked in a cautious tone, “Jin Yi, what was that noise? Are you alright?”

“It's nothing,” Xu Jin Yi replied, pausing her game and rubbing the sore spot on her head.
“Just a fatal injury.”

Her roommates were perplexed by her response, and one inquired, “What do you mean? We heard a loud sound that sounded like you hit something.”

Xu Jin Yi smiled wryly and answered, “It's nothing to worry about.
I was just playing a game.”

Her roommate remained silent for a prolonged moment before finally saying, “Just be careful then.”

The dormitory fell silent again, and everyone donned their headphones, lost in their worlds.

Xu Jin Yi lay on the soft bed, the throbbing pain at the back of her head buried in the centre of the pillow.
She knew from the sound that the blow just now was not light, almost knocking her brain out of her skull, leaving her with only an empty shell of a body.

After lying down for a while, the back of her head still throbbed painfully.
Xu Jin Yi muttered a few words and took off her virtual reality (VR) glasses, setting them aside.
She turned over and rested her sore head on the pillow, falling asleep groggily.
Putting herself to sleep by hitting her head was not something Xu Jin Yi ever anticipated.

Perhaps due to sleeping too early, Xu Jin Yi woke up again at half past three.
After a night's rest, the pain at the back of her head was not as severe as the previous night, but she could still feel it with a little effort.

She propped herself up and got off the bed.
In dorm room 603, except for Yang An An's glowing tent, the other two roommates had already fallen asleep.
Xu Jin Yi tidied up a bit before heading to the sink to splash some water on her face to wake up.
As she raised her head, she saw a pale face appear behind her in the rectangular mirror in front of her.

Xu Jin Yi questioned, “Having fun?”

“Ah~”

Xu Jin Yi sneered, “With your level, I doubt you can scare me.”

Yang An An shrugged and leaned her chin on Xu Jin Yi's shoulder.
“I can't scare you, but you almost scared me to death just now,” Yang An An recounted, recalling the incident from earlier.
“Who knows what I was doing at half-past three in the morning, fully engrossed, when I heard rustling sounds in the dormitory.
As I stuck my head out, a female ghost floated into the bathroom.
I barely had time to swallow my saliva before nearly choking to death,” Yang An An continued, still shaken.
“You did the same thing last semester,” Yang An An chided as she watched her wash her hands.
“I got up to use the bathroom and saw you sitting at your computer typing away with your hair all over the place and that bright light.” She poked Xu Jin Yi's round face in frustration and said, “You were only pressing one letter to type! I thought you were possessed!”

As Yang An An spoke, Xu Jin Yi scrambled to concoct an excuse, “I thought you were all asleep.”

Yang An An sneered, “Thankfully, it's me.
If it were Tan Bao, she'd have turned the dorm upside down.
Why do you stay up all night when you typically sleep on time? The moment you start gaming, you stay up late!”

Xu Jin Yi offered no reply.

“Go to bed early and don't stay up late,” Yang An An urged, darting away before Xu Jin Yi could shoot her a withering glare and settling in for the night.

As she reached her desk, Xu Jin Yi paused, deliberating before extracting an alternate virtual game controller from her backpack.
She knew there was no escape, no matter how fast she pedalled on her bed or how many sparks flew.

She skillfully swapped out the current controller for a more ergonomic and comfortable one, procured a pair of VR glasses from beneath her pillow, and momentarily blinded herself with the excessive brightness of her phone.

Her nearby roommate stirred in her sleep, mistaking the light for the early dawn.
Xu Jin Yi quickly adjusted the illumination and checked the time, realizing it was a mere 3:48 AM, and dawn was still far off.

Despite the late hour, Xu Jin Yi found herself unable to sleep.
Instead, she resolved to play “Elevator Safety Instructions” until daybreak.
With sunlight creeping through the windows, she anticipated completing the game.
Settling back into bed, she adjusted herself and pressed the “forward” button to advance through the game.

**

Zeng Zhi's finger danced on the “close door” button, his heart pounding with fear as he watched the hooded figure hurtling towards him with relentless force.
He couldn't tear his gaze away from the pink blur, transfixed by the moment's horror.

The pink creature slithered into the elevator compartment like an eel, but its companion's towering height prevented it from entering.

For a moment, the two people in the elevator breathed a sigh of relief, but Xu Jin Yi knew they had to let the monster in.
Who would want to be the sacrifice to the barefoot ghost's pressed floors?

Her eyes flickered towards the “open door” button, hesitating.
Zeng Zhi noticed her subtle expression and instantly understood her intentions.

“Huang Yang! Grab its throat!” Zeng Zhi shouted at the delivery boy who was sitting on the ground.
Then he turned around and shielded the floor buttons behind the pink hoodie, his mind racing.

Huang Yang gritted his teeth, knowing he couldn't actually grab the creature's throat, and threw the spicy hotpot bag behind him, rushing towards the pink monster's legs and embracing them.

Zeng Zhi breathed a sigh of relief as they managed to stop the creature from resisting.
But his relief was short-lived as a withered hand clawed its way through the gap in the still-unlocked elevator door and grabbed onto the right wall.

He saw the decaying hand, its strong scent of decay filling the elevator.
The hand lacked any muscular structure, with only a thin layer of skin tightly adhering to the exposed bones.
Yet, this enfeebled appendage forcefully pried open the elevator door.

As Zeng Zhi stood frozen at the floor button, a towering and slender figure crawled inside the elevator, its oval-shaped head devoid of a face.
Suddenly, the head tore apart, revealing a deep flesh-coloured crack.
Zeng Zhi held his breath, uncertain of what to do next.
The figure lowered its head and leaned towards him, then twisted its head and continued walking into the elevator.

With a resounding click, the previously jammed elevator door suddenly closed, clamping down on the figure's right leg that had not yet entered.
Emitting an inexplicable and eerie rumbling sound, the figure reached back with its hand clutching the elevator wall.
Zeng Zhi's legs nearly gave out as he recoiled from the grotesque sight.

The figure struggled to pull its right leg back inside but could not do so due to the elevator door's unyielding grip.
The slender figure's hands frantically clawed at the elevator door, producing sparks as its sharp nails collided with the hardened wall, creating a harsh, ear-piercing noise.

As the tall ghost struggled with the elevator doors, Xu Jin Yi seized the dazed delivery man by his collar and hoisted him to the side.
She hurried over to Zeng Zhi, and, passing him, she re-illuminated the floors that had previously gone dark.

One couldn't leave any floor accessible to the ghosts, or they might press a random button and vanish at that floor, leaving the elevator with several hapless souls.

Xu Jin Yi didn't hold much opinion about the newly added NPCs, Zeng Zhi and Huang Yang, but a phrase from the official statement made her ponder.
She decided to attempt to escape with these two teammates first.

What sort of horror game could confound Xu Jin Yi? None! It was non-existent! Impossible!

Just get it done!

The elevator doors ultimately prevailed in their struggle with the tall, thin figure.
With a loud groan, the two-door panels shut completely, and the figure emitted a harrowing scream.
However, that wasn't the end of it.
The elevator began to ascend again, and the silhouette within, whose right leg was trapped, continued to descend with each floor until it reached the bottom of the elevator doors.
Then, with a heavy thud, a massive black liquid burst between the monster's leg and the elevator door crack!

The elevator cabin shook for a moment before smoothly continuing its ascent.

Silence hung in the elevator cabin like death.

Only one person stood in the entire elevator now: Xu Jin Yi.
Zeng Zhi sat in front of the floor buttons, his face blank.
His handsome profile was stained with a few drops of an unknown black liquid.
He stared blankly for a long time before tremblingly touching his face.
As he looked at the black smudge on his fingers and the persistent stench at the tip of his nose…
His eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Meanwhile, in the corner behind Xu Jin Yi, Huang Yang was lucky enough to avoid a series of grotesque scenes.
He still didn't dare to raise his head, holding his bowl of spicy hot pot and desperately inhaling the scent to counteract the stench.

But what about the tall ghost? It lay prostrate on the ground, its right leg completely missing.
Its original height of two meters had been sheared down by seventy centimetres.
It was nothing more than a waste of shadow now.

The sound of the elevator rising did not stop, and it was uncertain which floor it would stop at next.

After a dozen seconds, the thin, tall figure finally propped itself up on its long arms and slowly crawled to the lower right corner of the elevator.

The now crippled ghost huddled in a corner, clutching its remaining long leg like Huang Yang and Zeng Zhi before it, and began to face the wall.

Xu Jin Yi watched this series of events in silence.
Was it just her imagination, or did she feel a twinge of pity for the creature?

Now, three NPCs crouched in the three corners of the elevator.

And as the only actual human, Xu Jin Yi stood tall and rigid in the centre.

Glancing left and right, she noticed that one of the NPCs had fainted – Zeng Zhi, who had inexplicably tried to close the elevator doors.

Of course, she had never entirely understood the official logic of the NPCs, let alone their neural pathways.

The elevator moved steadily upwards, this time taking a while before reaching the 31st floor.

What a pity.

Xu Jin Yi couldn't help but feel regretful that Huang Yang was supposed to be on the 32nd floor.
Although 31 and 32 were adjacent floors, the chances of the elevator ascending to the next floor were not high.

But now that she thought about it, could Huang Yang find the exit alone even if they stopped on the 32nd floor?

Even Xu Jin Yi, who had just left the 1st floor, had almost been attacked by the thin, tall figure.
How could Huang Yang manage to make it to the exit?

They needed to come up with a plan to ensure that both she and her teammate could safely reach the exit.

Then, she could proudly present the perfect clearance screenshot to the official and slap it in their smug faces!

The official “Elevator Safety Instructions: ?

What nonsense was she talking about? Where they at fault that she accidently knocked herself at back of her head?