Chapter 1 The Inception

The mansion's main door was a common, outward-swinging design, a single panel, but wider than usual. Feng Bujue walked up, grasped the handle, and pushed with a little force; the thick wooden door moved.

In Japanese houses, there's usually a genkan (entrance area) behind the door, and a hallway a few steps further in, so guests can't see the living room right away. But European houses often let guests see a very open foyer as soon as they step inside.

This mansion, with its external structure and garden design, showed a strong European style. So Feng Bujue naturally assumed he'd find a very spacious area behind the door.

But what awaited him was a wall.

The flashlight beam shone inside, the width of the door allowing everyone to see the situation inside... just five meters from the door was a wall, with dark corridors extending to the left and right, leading to unknown destinations.

The entrance to this mansion was a "Hui (回)" shape (referring to the Chinese character for 'return' or 'circle'), which was neither Japanese nor European, but simply an illogical design.

After pushing open the door, Feng Bujue didn't move forward. He seemed stunned, standing there with the flashlight, not saying a word or moving.

Brave Invincible looked over his shoulder and saw that the flashlight beam in Feng Bujue's hand was fixed on the wall facing the door, and hadn't moved for a long time.

"What's wrong?" Ye Zhi looked at Feng Bujue's face from the side and noticed that he seemed to be frowning in thought.

"I've seen this before..." Feng Bujue said softly, his attention still on the wall.

Brave Invincible looked closely at the illuminated area of the wall, and could vaguely make out a pattern that might be a magic circle.

"Bro... don't tell me... you're a magician in real life..." Brave Invincible said.

"You have quite the imagination," Feng Bujue replied casually. "Compared to 'magician,' the idea of 'a member of some weird cult' is more plausible, right?" He paused, his expression changed, and then he smiled. "That's right... I remember now, I saw it there!" He turned to look at Brave Invincible. "Do you remember that script where we first met?"

Brave Invincible thought for a few seconds and asked, "The haunted house built next to the mountain pond?"

"Exactly," Feng Bujue said, his tone rather strange as he chuckled. "On the attic floor of that haunted house, there was also a magic circle, exactly the same as the one on the wall in front of us. Heh... and in that script, the source of the entire mansion's illusionary power was that very magic circle."

Before everyone could react to his words, a gray ghost suddenly appeared in the narrow area behind the door. At the same time, a piercing shriek entered the players' ears. A grim and terrifying face instantly lunged forward, its right arm reaching out, aiming directly for Feng Bujue's throat.

Feng Bujue, who was standing at the front, was fine, but the five people behind him were all startled.

Classics never go out of style. This kind of sudden shock tactic is an indispensable core scare in horror movies and games, tried and tested, and always effective.

Plot, lengthy buildup, time and space for the audience to imagine, psychological cues, etc... ultimately, they are all for a moment of explosive fear.

Sudden, startling tactics, appearing at random times without warning, can also have a certain effect.

At that moment, the five people besides Feng Bujue experienced a surge in their fear levels like a roller coaster. The feeling of a sudden acceleration in heart rate, followed by a slow return to normal, was something Feng Bujue hadn't felt in a long time...

The next second, Feng Bujue steadily grabbed the attacking ghost claw with one hand. With the bonus from [Casey Jones' Mask], his Fighting specialization was at least D-grade. Even if his technique was lacking in sword-and-knife fights, he could still handle this level of attack.

The monster's ferocious ghost face was now just inches away from Feng Bujue. It had no eyebrows, its eyes had no distinction between white and black, and even the eye sockets were blurred. Its eyes were two perfectly round, glowing white ghost pupils. Its arm was caught, but it didn't show any panic, instead revealing a sinister sneer.

In the blink of an eye, the monster's other hand struck like lightning, its five withered fingers stabbing straight for Feng Bujue's eye socket. The speed of this strike was unbelievable, impossible to avoid.

Brave Invincible, who was closest, had already reacted and wanted to help. But for some reason, as soon as he raised his hand, he saw an invisible, dark aura enveloping him, making it difficult to move. Trying to concentrate and force himself to act only brought a stronger sense of heavy oppression, creating a dizzying and debilitating effect.

The others couldn't help either, they were obviously affected in the same way.

The monster in front of them, the other monsters hiding in the shadows, the mansion itself, or the magic circle on the wall could all be the source of this effect. In short, this attack on the person who opened the door was indeed an "instant death flag." If a player without the [Protagonist's Halo] had to bear this, everyone could only watch helplessly as their teammate was instantly killed.

And at this moment, the players experienced the power of the Protagonist's Halo for the first time.

Feng Bujue actually missed the block, and the strike went wide...

The monster didn't seem to understand what had happened. From its perspective, it had clearly aimed and struck, but in reality, it had hit empty air.

"This works too..." Feng Bujue glanced sideways at the hand knife that brushed past his cheek, feeling a cold gust of Yin wind pass over his skin, but still showed no fear.

The next second, he calmly put away the flashlight and spent 2% of his Spirit Value to summon the [Death Poker], muttering to himself, "Hmm... this guy seems pretty strong, let's try a Four of a Kind..." The cards didn't fly out, but were held in Feng Bujue's hand in a fan shape.

The moment the monster saw the Death Poker, it immediately knew things were going bad. It tried to escape, but Feng Bujue held its previously attacking arm tightly, preventing it from breaking free.

A flash of card light swept across, Feng Bujue wielding the poker horizontally, leaving a trail of light in the air, as if he was using a blade instead of cards. The monster's body where the Death Poker hit was indeed cut open like by a sharp blade, opening a gash. The wound didn't bleed, only a stream of black smoke flowed out.

Although this smoke was gaseous, it flowed downwards like water, without rising or spreading...