Chapter 491: I've Seen Through the Fog! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

After a moment, the game screen reappeared.

And it was even clearer than before.

Meanwhile, the old man who was in the wheelchair earlier had vanished.

Song Ren wanted to examine his surroundings, but found his vision restricted to the left, where a large pool of blood lay on the ground. It was as if it were a portal; the blood on the ground connected to another Parallel World. From within the blood, a blood-stained claw emerged, followed by a terrifying werewolf that crawled out, its fur dripping with gore as it slowly approached Song Ren.

At this moment, Song Ren still couldn't control his character.

“What the heck is this?! Where’s the Souls series game I was promised?!”

Song Ren swallowed hard, feeling a little panicked.

In the immersive VR mode experience, he could clearly see the werewolf’s ferocious face, its teeth, its blood-matted fur, and its sharp claws.

But just as the werewolf’s claws were about to touch him, a ball of fire suddenly ignited on its paw, then quickly spread across its body.

Accompanied by a tragic howl, the burning werewolf turned to ash.

But before Song Ren could even sigh in relief, he saw what looked like a dwarf's corpse appear beside him. These pale-skinned, emaciated little monsters let out unintelligible hisses. Their eyes were mere hollows, and their noses and mouths had become a single, vertical, grotesque slit. They looked like specters, and these creatures climbed onto Song Ren's legs, hands, and clothes, getting right up to his face.

“What the hell, don’t come any closer!”

Song Ren finally couldn't help but speak; the visual impact was simply too strong. Was he playing a Souls-like game, or a horror game?!

‘Ah! So you've discovered you're a Hunter...’

As Song Ren screamed, a woman's surprised voice suddenly echoed in his ear.

When the screen turned black and then lit up again, Song Ren found that he could move.

In the game, his freshly customized character sat up in a sickbed.

At the same time, the name of the location appeared in the bottom right corner: Iosefka's Clinic.

From the surrounding bookshelves and the transfusion equipment on the sickbed, it was clear this was the same scene as before.

However, the blood on the floor, the werewolf turned to ash, and those pale, skeleton-like little monsters all seemed to have been a dream, leaving no trace in the room.

“This damn thing doesn’t feel like a Souls game at all, why is it so terrifying!?” Song Ren quietly swallowed.

Instead of rushing out, he connected with Zhang Yi through the voice channel.

“Old Zhang, this game seems a bit off! It’s way too scary!” Song Ren couldn’t help but complain.

“It’s definitely a bit too dark, and full of malice! I just started and was killed by that werewolf at the door. I saw Mr. Chen’s previous interview demo and thought the werewolf would be easy, but it turned out to be a trap!” Zhang Yi had already respawned in the Hunter’s Dream, looking at the small gifts on the steps, he couldn’t help but complain while also wanting to tell Song Ren about his discovery.

But before he could finish, he heard Song Ren’s voice in the voice channel: “Alright, enough talk. I’m going to explore the game. I get it, don’t spoil it for me!”

Meanwhile, Zhang Yi, looking at the three starting weapons in front of him, froze on the spot.

His mind was full of question marks. What did Old Song understand?

………………

Having hung up the call, Song Ren wore a triumphant expression.

He was already five minutes ahead in the game; Old Zhang had already died once, and he had even gained a crucial piece of intelligence.

With this good news, Song Ren didn’t rush forward but carefully examined the room’s environment.

Chairs lay overturned, and the surrounding bookshelves held many books, all covered in thick dust.

Some books were scattered on the floor, and various broken surgical tools were haphazardly placed on cabinets.

And there were shattered blood transfusion bottles on the floor.

Everything around was dim and dilapidated, and the floor creaked underfoot.

The entire environment gave Song Ren a grim, hellish feeling.

Combined with the previous werewolf and the small white specters, if he hadn't known in advance that this was a Souls-like game...

Song Ren probably would have quit the game right then.

Because no matter how he looked at it, it felt exactly like a horror game.

The feeling it gave him was truly a bit oppressive.

Inside the room, Song Ren tried moving around.

Although no button tutorials had appeared yet.

But after all, Song Ren had played Dark Souls.

After a brief attempt, Song Ren found that most of the actions essentially used the same control modules as Dark Souls.

This meant the combat system likely hadn't changed much, which pleasantly surprised Song Ren.

“This feels much better. With the foundation of Dark Souls, I think suffering in this game should be a bit more bearable.”

“But honestly, the protagonist’s design in Bloodborne is indeed much cooler than in Dark Souls.” The hooded, cloaked protagonist, combined with a shirt and slender physique, made Song Ren sigh in admiration.

However, after his admiration, Song Ren quickly noticed a problem: where was his weapon?

Even the Deprived in Dark Souls started with a small club.

He then went back to destroying everything in the room, leaving nothing intact.

Song Ren confirmed there were no weapons in the room; the only thing he found was a note placed on a chair.

It read: “Seek paleblood to transcend the hunt.”

The meaning was unfathomable.

However, this was characteristic of Souls series games; the entire plot and worldview were hidden in scattered clues for players to piece together themselves.

“This kind of atmosphere, this is the feeling of a Souls-like game!” Song Ren, placing the small note he’d found on the chair back where it was, sighed with emotion.

The slightly eerie scenes before, combined with this gloomy atmosphere, made him a little nervous.

But now, it was somewhat captivating, especially the content on that cryptic note, which felt like a hook, making him eager to know the story behind Bloodborne.

There was only one path leading out of the entire clinic, so there wasn’t much choice.

Song Ren cautiously explored forward, entering a large, enclosed room. Along the way, there were some prompts on the ground.

If he approached, the small, white, skeleton-like monsters from the previous cutscene would appear, holding a scroll with various operation buttons written on it.

Just like the in-game messages in Dark Souls, this was clearly Bloodborne’s unique messaging system.

He experimented with various actions.

After performing actions like attacking and dodging, Song Ren had basically figured out the game’s fundamental controls.

He then continued exploring forward.

Passing through the room’s door, Song Ren arrived in a large hall.

The light was dim, the floor was in ruins, and countless sickbeds were haphazardly arranged in the hall.

From the surgical tools next to some beds and the congealed blood on the floor, it could be deduced that this had once been a blood transfusion operating room.

On the first floor of the clinic, Song Ren suddenly heard a crunch-crunch sound. Walking a few steps forward, he saw a huge werewolf in front, gnawing on a blood-soaked corpse.

The crunch-crunch sounds were unnerving, but Song Ren smiled.

“Just as I expected! No weapons early on. This must be the Stray Demon from the Dark Souls prequel. Old Zhang probably died at its hands. And that half-health status gives players a false sense of being able to attack it, but it’s all Mr. Chen’s scheme! The weapon must be hidden further down the path!”

As Song Ren was musing, the werewolf stopped its actions and lunged at him.

Not realizing the werewolf was so swift, Song Ren was directly clawed, losing about a third of his health.

At this point, Song Ren noticed that a third of his health bar in the top-left corner showed a Rally status, clearly indicating the Rally mechanism mentioned earlier.

Song Ren chose not to Rally, instead performing a nimble side-step to evade the werewolf's second attack, then turned and ran outside.

“Brother Werewolf, farewell!”

Then, facing the werewolf, Song Ren dodged and ran past it.

“Mr. Chen truly underestimates people. Does he really think we Firelinkers linked the fire for nothing?”

“Young and naive!”

Song Ren smirked triumphantly, everything was under his control!

“Souls series games never intentionally make things impossible.”

“Although from Mr. Chen’s previous demo, this wolf isn’t impossible to kill – just get behind it, inflict stun lock, and then land a Visceral Attack for massive damage. But that’s definitely not the correct way to clear it.”

“After all, it requires a lot of skill. It might not be difficult for a veteran player like me, but new players need to be considered. So, the answer is simple: just bypass this wolf.”

Song Ren was brimming with confidence, believing he had completely seen through the fog.

Passing through the corridor, on the floor of the room behind the werewolf, he saw something glowing. Picking it up, he found three Blood Vials.

The werewolf was hot on his heels. Seeing this, Song Ren quickly ran forward and pushed open the clinic's main door.

Although the werewolf was still attacking from behind, opening switches and doors in Souls-like games always grants invincibility frames.

After pushing open the main door, Song Ren executed an invincible side-step, evading the werewolf’s attack and entering the courtyard.

Turning his head, he saw the huge werewolf was stuck right in the doorway.

Big body, weak to doors; hairy, weak to fire – this truly is the golden rule of Souls-like games!

(End of Chapter) <>