Underworld Player

The pitter-patter of tiny running feet had passed, leaving only the distinctive smacking sound that got gradually louder as it approached the door.

The sound that was almost like someone slowly dribbling a basketball.

"Would you listen to that? Some kid in here's got a basketball!"

Traveler forced a strained smile and tried to lighten the tense mood.

"Is that so? In my case, it reminded me of a funny story," said Bai Zhi with a smirk as he leaned by the door.

"Let's see... Once upon a time, there was a man and a woman who got into an argument. In a fit of anger, the woman jumped off the building to her death. Over the next few days, the man found himself plagued by incident after bizarre incident, caused by the spirit of the dead woman clamoring for vengeance. Knowing this, the man sought the help of a great exorcist..."

Bai Zhi paused as the sound of another door opening came from beyond the door, followed by the smacking sounds from before, which gradually faded in volume. The Players quickly inferred that whoever was dribbling the "ball" must have walked into another room.

"...Anyway, the exorcist conducted a ritual at the man's home, then informed the man that, as long as he could stay hidden from the woman's spirit on the seventh day* after her death, he could rest easy ever after. Knowing that the dead could not bend at the waist**, the man decided, after some thought, to hide under the bed."

Bai Zhi narrowed his eyes at the door—the smacking sound was gradually getting louder again, as if the thing had come back out of the room.

"Oh, I think I've heard this one before," Traveler chimed in with a wry smile.

Bai Zhi continued, "Soon, the Seventh Day rolled around, and the man found himself alone in his apartment. He hid under the bed as planned, and soon heard a strange sound coming from the living room. Smack, smack, smack... Suddenly, he realized what the sound was, but it was too late..."

He shrugged and spread his arms.

"In the end, when the clock struck midnight, the man still missed the latest episode of his favorite show."

"In other words, don't hide under the bed like I did..." said Viridescent as she propped herself up on one hand with some difficulty, Bane resolutely gripped in her other hand.

"So, what do you guys think? Do we hide, or do we rush the entity this time?"

"I think it's best to hide," said Traveler. As he listened to the smacking sound pass from room to room, seemingly coming closer and closer to theirs in the process, Traveler sighed and looked toward the closets.

"It's a demonic bedlam outside right now. If we're not careful, that horrific thing that crawled up the window will sense our presence and once it comes for us, we're doomed... Look, there are four closets here, one for each of us."

As they approached the closets, a bewildered Temperance turned to Bai Zhi. "Wait a—did the man in the story survive in the end? The spirits of the dead can't bend at the waist, and he was under the bed, so he should have been fine, right? Why did Viridescent say we shouldn't hide under the bed?"

Traveler and Viridescent looked at her in exasperated silence.

"You'll find out soon enough—I strongly suggest looking through the gap in the door while you're hiding in there."

Bai Zhi rolled his eyes and pressed a finger to the young girl's forehead, pushing her into the closet behind her before shutting the door.

After a few minutes, the door to the room swung open, and the dreaded smacking sound filled the space... as an upside-down zombie, balancing on its head with its feet pointing straight up, "hopped" in***.

With each jump, it landed with a wet squelch as bright-red blood and ghostly white brain matter spilled out, leaving gruesome streaks and stains in its wake.

Viridescent held her breath as she peeked through the slit between the closed closet doors. When the inverted hopping zombie came into view, a chill went racing down her spine as she recognized the person it used to be—it was none other than herself!

A few minutes later, the zombie, having failed to detect the Players, went hopping out of the room again, and the door to the room swung silently shut by some mysterious force. Still, the Players waited until the smacking sounds had faded considerably before venturing out of their respective closets.

"More proof that those of us who died last reload are turned into supernatural entities in this one."

Traveler sighed heavily as he glanced at the crestfallen Viridescent.

"...unless they were completely eaten, bones and all," mumbled Temperance Gentleheart as she recalled the pair of shoes in the Man-Eating Room, the only trace she had found of herself.

Bai Zhi narrowed his eyes at the red and white stains on the ground. "Clearly, the orphanage in sunlight and in darkness are completely different in nature. When the sun is out, the orphanage is at its least dangerous, but as soon as the sun stops shining, the true horrors start showing up... Under these conditions, I personally doubt that there could be any survivors, other than us Players, left inside the building."

"That as may be, but we haven't seen any sign that we failed the objective, meaning there must be some survivors somewhere in the building," said Traveler with a nudge of his glasses. "There are two possible explanations. The first: there exists a sanctuary somewhere in the building, where safety is guaranteed, which is where we shall find the survivor or survivors. The second: the survivors we are looking for are not within the main building, but some other location in the orphanage compound... which means the buildings that we carefully searched before entering the main building. We did not find them there, as you recall.

Traveler brought up the quest details again and frowned in concentration as he reviewed the wording used by the system.

"On top of that, it says here to guide them 'safely out of the rooms', so in my opinion, the first option is more likely, and we should be looking for a sanctuary of some sort. We should wait out the period of darkness, and once the sun comes out again, redouble our search efforts. Once we find the sanctuary, we'll be pretty much done with the quest."

"So far, we've barely searched two floors between us. Even if we include Iron Blood's squad, that's just one more floor, for a total of three."

Viridescent had calmed herself, and now shook her head.

"We mustn't forget, when the sun is out, there are still plenty of supernatural entities roaming around, even if their numbers are not as extreme as they are now. If we don't change our approach, at our current strength, we're only going to end up dying and triggering another reload. Not only would our hard work go down the drain, but we'd be kicking the difficulty up another notch."

"...We have to split into groups!" Traveler set his jaw. "If we could just find that sanctuary as quickly as possible..."

"No need, I know where the survivors are now."

Bai Zhi walked to the window and threw open the curtains, and light from the now-unobstructed sun flooded the room once more.

"Make your preparations, 'cause we're joining up with Iron Blood and them."