Chapter 759: Why Are You Yelling So Loudly?

Of course, not everyone was like A'Shu, who vanished in just a few minutes.

But the number wasn't small either. Many who were initially brimming with enthusiasm thought the ten-thousand-person quota had nothing to do with them, but surely getting a reward in the game wouldn't be a problem?

However, upon entering the game, they realized they had overthought it. Unlike the Infinite Corridor from before, this was different.

The narrow corridors, combined with the slowly changing surroundings and dim lighting, offered players an endless stream of psychological suggestion, a sense of urgent persecution.

But in Silent Hill, it was replaced by a dead silence, a profound loneliness.

Aside from the protagonist's breathing and footsteps, you couldn't hear a single sound. Coupled with the extremely low visibility due to the thick fog, there wasn't much difference between day and night.

Because players' sense of security in the game came from what they could see. But when their vision was filled with white fog, that sense of security would be continuously compressed. In such circumstances, day and night made little difference to the players.

More importantly, the psychological suggestion brought by the dead silence made players feel like every day spent in the game was like a year.

Especially as the game content gradually advanced, the players' psychological defenses were slowly broken down and destroyed.

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Zhang Yi walked cautiously on the fog-shrouded road. As an old player who considered himself quite brave but in reality wasn't, the belief that sustained him through this game wasn't to prove anything.

Instead, it was to give Old Song a CDKEY he had personally earned for his birthday, two days from now.

Although he saw Old Song also playing in his friends list, he didn't mind. After all, a purchased game and a reward he earned himself were two entirely different concepts.

On his birthday, what could be a better gift than a good brother giving him a reward earned through his own efforts? It wasn't about the value, but the meaning.

"What the heck? How has it only been a few minutes?" Zhang Yi glanced at the time, his mouth twitching involuntarily.

He felt like he had been on that journey for over ten minutes, stopping and starting with every step. But when he checked the system time, he found that even with all his dawdling, that segment of the journey had only taken less than four minutes.

After walking a short distance, Zhang Yi arrived at a place that resembled a graveyard.

Two rusty iron gates stood before him. Zhang Yi controlled James in the game to push them open.

The iron gate groaned with a grating, teeth-aching screech. It opened just enough for one person to squeeze through before getting stuck.

He entered through the gap, the white fog still pervasive. Inside the garden, numerous gravestones stood. The ground was covered with withered yellow leaves, and his footsteps sounded completely different from before.

After walking a few steps forward, Zhang Yi suddenly noticed the fog receding slightly, whether it was an illusion or not.

At a gravestone ahead, a woman seemed to be searching for something, moving from one gravestone to another. Finally, she crouched before a certain gravestone, her back to James, motionless.

"Is this where the jump scare is coming?" Zhang Yi muttered under his breath, as if it could dispel some of his fear.

This thick white fog, the dead silent environment, combined with the surrounding gravestones, and the woman's back facing him—it was all too obvious, just like Sima Zhao's ambition, known to all.

He imagined walking up to her to ask for directions, then she'd turn around, eyes bleeding, or revealing a hideous face—a female ghost. Zhang Yi had already pictured it all in his mind.

He controlled James to approach slowly, then spoke.

However, unexpectedly, the woman crouching before the gravestone suddenly let out a scream.

The scream startled Zhang Yi as well.

"Why are you yelling so loudly? In a horror game, the ones who should be scared are the protagonist and me! Why are you screaming?" Zhang Yi cursed, startled, but also a little surprised. Because the woman before him seemed… quite normal?

After he calmed her down and spoke to her, she explained that she was there looking for her mother. In her memory, her brother and father should also be there, but for some reason, they weren't. She also warned James not to go to Silent Hill, as it was a very strange and dangerous place.

However, James expressed that none of that mattered to him. He had an unavoidable reason to go: he was looking for someone very important to him – his wife, Mary.

Following the direction the black-haired woman pointed, he headed towards the graveyard's exit.

The rest of the journey was just walking. The mist that had briefly dispersed in the graveyard gathered once again. And the surroundings remained as before, deadly silent.

Aside from the character's footsteps, heavy breathing, and the rustling of leaves, there was no other sound to be heard. If this were Outlast, Resident Evil, or other horror games, there would be at least some scary monsters and terrifying scenes.

But Silent Hill, so far, had none.

Yet, this didn't make Zhang Yi feel at ease at all. Instead, his nerves were constantly taut, fearing that something would jump out and scare him when he least expected it. He even began to miss the crude scare tactics of jump scares. They might make you jump, but at least they were better than this constant apprehension.

He walked through an abandoned farm, followed the road, and passed through another derelict building. On the map, a small cursor indicated he had entered Silent Hill.

Upon entering the town, Zhang Yi saw a long-abandoned flower market ahead. The main gate was tightly shut, and the surrounding glass was stained. Eerily, the thick fog persisted, and the entire town was deserted, still utterly silent.

Continuing forward, he saw an abandoned workbench to the side, cluttered with various items. Amidst kettles and various small shovels, there was a small first aid kit and a piece of a fragment.

But before Zhang Yi could even examine the items, he suddenly heard hurried footsteps and a low growl from deep within Silent Hill's streets.

The sudden sound in the previously dead silent environment startled Zhang Yi.

He quickly reacted.

"There's always a resupply before a big battle, so I'm probably going to encounter monsters soon!"

"And this is Mr. Chen Xu's scheme! Following the process, I inexplicably got a fragment, making me think I'm lucky and have a chance to collect all the cards?"

As a loyal veteran player of Nebula Games, having played Mr. Chen Xu's games for so many years and been tricked countless times, Zhang Yi couldn't help but chuckle. (End of Chapter) <>