Chapter Eleven: The Strange Elements Have All Been Cut Out—Is It Still Necessary to Follow the Procedure to Complete the Level?

Page (1/3)

This is absurd.

But just then, a message flashed through Bai Wan’s mind.

[Passive ability triggered: Door Disappearance Bug. According to the active skill Bug Dominator, it transforms into a temporary active ability.]

[Congratulations! You have acquired the Door Disappearance Technique (Temporary).]

[Door Disappearance Technique
Level: 4 (Represents the inherent level of the bug itself; cannot be upgraded.)
Description: By touching the door with your hand, sliding lightly, and silently chanting “door disappear,” the door before your eyes vanishes. Chant “appear,” and the door reappears.]

Bai Wan paused for a moment, then recalled that his innate world talent was “World Bug,” which also granted him a passive talent called Bug Dominator.

[World Bug:
Description: A world bug caused by unknown reasons. The bearer passively emits bugs every moment.
Attached Talent: Bug Dominator
Effect: Any passively triggered bug in the dungeon has a chance to convert into an active skill for free use. However, the skill disappears after the dungeon ends... (Afterward, the skill can be retained by spending Trick Coins.)]

Previously, the passively triggered door disappearance bug had now, under the effect of his Bug Dominator, temporarily transformed into an active skill.

A bug powerful enough to make doors vanish—no wonder it was a level 4 bug.

With this ability, he would be much safer and could even leave, as long as he could turn the wall back into a door.

He even entertained the idea of hiding inside this doorless room until the game ended.

Although it was a bit of a cowardly move, it was certainly safe.

Yet considering possible other restrictions on clearing the dungeon and his lack of understanding of the game mechanics, hiding in one place indefinitely didn’t seem wise.

He decided to wait until the next morning to venture out.

So Bai Wan stayed hidden for a while, and the eerie footsteps outside eventually left.

Then, just like the previous night, soft footsteps returned and slowly ascended to the second floor.

Bai Wan guessed that someone else had been mysteriously chosen and entered the secret wooden door upstairs.

This time, Bai Wan did not go out because he wasn’t sure where Zhang Wen was—whether inside a room or standing just outside his wall—it was impossible to tell.

So Bai Wan chose to stay put.

Lying on his bed with eyes closed but not fully asleep, he remained alert.

At dawn, sunlight streamed in. Bai Wan gripped the life-saving pendant tightly, cautiously approached the wall, and gently drew his hand along it. The wall transformed back into a door.

Then he stepped outside.

He had come out half an hour earlier than usual, so everyone else was still in their rooms; Bai Wan was alone in the hall.

“Bai Wan, is that you? Our door suddenly won’t open. It seems broken. Can you help me?” Chen Weiyu from the next room called out through the door.

There was fear in her voice.

She had apparently been trying to open the door for a long time without success and only called out when she heard Bai Wan’s door opening.

In this eerie game, a broken, unopenable door was a terrifying thing.

“I’ll take a look,” Bai Wan said, walking to Chen Weiyu’s room. He grasped the doorknob and was about to turn it but suddenly stopped.

He instinctively glanced at the sticky note he had placed on the door the previous night; his heart skipped a beat.

The sticky note was now torn.

This meant that the door had been opened last night.

Whew...

Bai Wan held his breath.

Last night had been dangerous; no normal person would dare to go out. The only one who could have gone out was the eerie presence...

“Bai Wan, please help me check what’s wrong with this door. Why won’t it open?” Chen Weiyu’s voice came from inside, unchanged from her usual tone.

“Don’t panic, little sister. Big brother will get you out,” Bai Wan said sincerely, then flipped his hand and drew along the door.

Instantly, the door vanished and turned into a wall.

Page (2/3)

After finishing, he stepped back and exclaimed, “My goodness! Little sister, how did your door suddenly turn into a wall? How is this possible? Oh no, the eerie is here! What’s going on? Even your big brother is powerless now!”

Inside, it became quiet. Perhaps Chen Weiyu was stunned by her big brother’s sudden disappearance of the door or was baffled by his exaggerated performance.

In any case, silence settled inside for a while.

Seeing that nothing had happened, Bai Wan sat at the dining table, preparing to eat.

Soon, everyone emerged from their rooms.

Liu Tong and even Zhang Wen came out.

But Lin Xi was nowhere to be seen.

No one mentioned it.

Everyone had heard the screams from last night; Lin Xi’s fate was evident.

After stepping outside, Liu Tong stared blankly at the wall where Chen Weiyu’s door used to be.

“What... what happened here?”

Damn!

Where’s the door??

Why did the door to the next room disappear?

Bai Wan also looked confused. “I don’t know. It was gone when I came out.”

Liu Tong and Zhang Wen stared blankly at the wall.

“Is this... a bug?” Liu Tong asked uncertainly.

“Can an eerie game have bugs...” Zhang Wen looked puzzled.

“Since it’s a game, bugs are possible... right?”

Liu Tong’s mind felt scrambled.

But when Zhang Wen spoke, he focused his attention on him, as did Bai Wan.

Noticing both of them watching him closely, Zhang Wen realized something was wrong and said:

“Brother Liu, I think something’s wrong with my memory. I can’t recall what happened yesterday... Is today really the 16th?”

That morning, Zhang Wen had woken up and checked the date, shocked.

He remembered entering this eerie game on the 14th, but now, after one night’s sleep, it was already the 16th.

What happened to the 15th?

His mind was foggy; he remembered nothing.

Liu Tong glanced at Zhang Wen, hesitated, and said nothing.

He was contemplating whether the Zhang Wen before him was the real Zhang Wen or an eerie impersonation.

However, based on past experience, the Zhang Wen in front of him was probably genuine.

Because the eerie game wouldn’t throw players into a deadly situation right from the start.

The selection of the person entering the wooden door on the first night seemed random.

Meaning, anyone present might be chosen.

If entering the wooden door meant certain death, that would be unreasonable.

It was only the first night.

More likely, the person taken inside was replaced by the eerie and then released the next day.

The strongest evidence was Zhang Wen’s clothes.

Liu Tong looked at Zhang Wen’s sleeve.

Previously, Liu Tong had pretended to lose his footing and spilled soup in front of Chen Weiyu.

But his real target had been Zhang Wen; Chen Weiyu was just a distraction.

Since first seeing Zhang Wen, Liu Tong had been pondering one question.

Page (3/3)

If Zhang Wen really hadn’t died, and the one before them was an eerie, how would they tell if Zhang Wen was genuine next time?

Therefore, Liu Tong deliberately marked Zhang Wen’s clothes to verify later.

Bai Wan also noticed Zhang Wen’s neat clothes.

At the time, he hadn’t understood Liu Tong’s intentions; now he realized the official was quite cunning.

Zhang Wen’s clothes proved that the Zhang Wen from yesterday and today were not the same person.

“You seemed to have sleepwalked last night,” Liu Tong finally chose to tell Zhang Wen the truth about what had happened, hoping to glean clues from him.

“What... someone eerie disguised as me?” Zhang Wen felt a chill down his spine.

Had he done those terrible things while sleepwalking?

Afraid yet somewhat relieved, Zhang Wen thought: the eerie impersonated me, but at least I survived.

Then suddenly, Zhang Wen stiffened.

According to Liu Tong, every night someone enters the wooden house and is replaced by the eerie.

So who was the eerie today?

Liu Tong pondered the same question.

He glanced at Bai Wan, then at Zhang Wen.

Who had the eerie disguised as today?

Wait, what about Chen Weiyu...

Liu Tong froze and had a wild thought: could Chen Weiyu be trapped inside her room?

After all, there seemed to be a bug in the game—the door was gone.

At that moment, pounding sounds came from Chen Weiyu’s room.

Bang! Bang!

Was Chen Weiyu really trapped inside?

No, the force didn’t seem human.

So, the eerie today was Chen Weiyu, and due to the game bug, the door disappeared, trapping the eerie inside.

After some thought, Liu Tong reached a conclusion even he found hard to believe.

Is this even possible?

Liu Tong shared his conclusion.

Zhang Wen was dumbfounded, and Bai Wan feigned shock.

“Little brother, did anything really happen before we came out?” Liu Tong looked at Bai Wan and asked.

Bai Wan shook his head, voice full of confusion and disbelief.

“I don’t know. I just came out and didn’t do anything. This just happened. I’m wondering too—how did a perfectly good door just disappear?”

Whether it was a trick of the mind or not, Liu Tong and Zhang Wen felt the pounding on the wall grow more intense after Bai Wan spoke.

“Ahem, let’s leave it at that for now. It’s getting late. Eat well, and then we’ll look for the blueprint,” Liu Tong said.

Zhang Wen weakly replied, “Brother, the eerie is already trapped inside the game... do we... still need to look for the blueprint?”

“Well... we still need to, right? After all... finding the blueprint is... part of the game’s progression, isn’t it...?”

Hearing this, Liu Tong also hesitated, staring at the wall imprisoning Chen Weiyu, lost in thought.

Yes, the eerie was trapped, but did they still need to find the blueprint?

If not, what else was there to do?

Even these seasoned official players were baffled.