Chapter 128: What To Believe?
There was only a busy tone on the phone.
Shen Yu stared at the screen in disbelief.
"This must be a dream."
He looked around at the endless white mist.
"My house is only a few minutes from the high-speed train station..."
His breathing became heavier.
"I’ve been running for almost twenty minutes."
"Why can’t I find any sign of my neighborhood?"
He slapped his cheeks repeatedly.
"Wake up."
"Super Universe Man, wake up."
"It’s me, Shen Yu."
Pinch.
Pinch.
Pinch.
The sharp pain was unmistakable.
Shen Yu’s expression slowly changed.
He wasn’t dreaming.
Then, a charming voice suddenly rang beside his ear.
"Yo, little brother."
"Do you like watching Ultraman more, or do you like watching me more?"
Puff.
Puff.
Puff.
The flesh between Shen Yu’s earlobe and neck began to wriggle.
A huge lump of flesh slowly bulged outward.
Shen Yu froze.
This time, a Japanese woman’s face gradually formed beneath his earlobe.
Slurp.
The woman stretched out her crimson tongue and slowly licked Shen Yu’s jaw.
His right eyelid twitched violently.
His head involuntarily drooped.
And the moment he looked down—
Two heads were staring directly at him.
"Damn it!"
"Damn it!"
"Get away!"
"Get away from me!"
Shen Yu frantically grabbed the flesh tumor on his neck and pulled with all his strength.
But the Indian woman and the Japanese woman only laughed harder.
"Shen Yu..."
"Come down and join us."
"Come down and be with us."
"I’ll join you in hell."
"Damn!"
"Damn it!"
Shen Yu desperately stabilized his tilted head.
He wanted to run toward home.
When a person encountered danger, their instinct was always to return to a familiar place.
Home.
That psychological instinct was deeply rooted in human nature.
But after taking two steps, Shen Yu suddenly stopped.
"No."
"Wait."
He frowned.
Looking at his current situation, he finally realized something was wrong.
Was he really still in his own city?
With these head balloons surrounding him, could there be some kind of ghost wall preventing him from reaching home?
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
Suddenly—
A shadow floated above him again.
Two round shadows drifted through the white mist.
Two enormous head balloons appeared overhead.
One belonged to the Indian man.
The other belonged to the Japanese woman.
Both heads were as large as hydrogen balloons.
Their mouths stretched into exaggerated, twisted grins as they slowly circled above Shen Yu.
"Soon..."
"Very soon..."
"You will come to join us."
"Hehehe..."
The eerie laughter echoed through the fog.
Then—
Crack!
The two head balloons suddenly split open down the center.
A line of blood appeared.
From inside the bloody opening, a wriggling mass of flesh slowly emerged.
Another human head was pushing its way out.
"Shen Yu..."
"I’m coming."
This time, the face belonged to a greasy-looking Korean man.
The moment the new head appeared in the sky, Shen Yu’s neck sank again.
Puff!
Another lump of flesh appeared at the back of his neck.
It twisted.
It stretched.
And slowly transformed into the same Korean face.
"Ugh..."
Shen Yu felt an unbearable heaviness at the back of his head.
His body leaned backward.
Walking had already become difficult.
"Damn it."
"Damn it!"
"What the hell are you?"
He couldn’t understand what had attracted these things to him.
He held his head with both hands and slowly stepped backward.
The head balloons above him didn’t attack directly.
Instead, the heads growing from his neck continued whispering.
"Shen Yu..."
"Come down and be with us."
"Come down and be with us."
"Damn it!"
"Why can this thing follow me no matter where I run?"
His eyes narrowed.
"And every time a corresponding head appears in the sky, another head grows from my body."
He looked upward.
"There are three now."
"How many can there be?"
"What happens when they reach the limit?"
A strange chill crept into his heart.
Shen Yu took several deep breaths.
Then he glanced back toward the road he had just traveled.
Suddenly—
His eyes sharpened.
"The station."
"I met these things at the station."
"If they appeared after I left the station..."
"Then the clue should be there."
Without further hesitation, Shen Yu turned and sprinted toward the station.
Pat!
Pat!
Pat!
He had barely run a few meters when the head balloon hovering above him suddenly stopped laughing.
Its twisted expression stiffened.
"You’re doomed."
"You’re doomed."
The three heads hanging from Shen Yu’s neck suddenly opened their mouths.
Their teeth sank into his back and chest.
"What the hell?!"
Rip!
Rip!
The sound of flesh tearing echoed through the fog.
Pain exploded through Shen Yu’s body like an electric shock.
He stumbled and crashed heavily onto the ground.
"Hehehe..."
Just as Shen Yu fell, another head balloon began twitching in the sky.
The gap between the existing heads widened.
Another balloon began forming.
This time, the face that emerged belonged to a beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes.
"Shen Yu..."
"You little pig."
"Come clean my shoes."
"Clean my shoes."
Puff!
Puff!
Puff!
Another mass of flesh emerged beside Shen Yu’s ear.
He struggled to push himself off the ground.
But he couldn’t even lift his head.
Now there were heads hanging from both sides of his neck.
It felt as though four enormous boulders had been tied around his body.
His neck was swollen and painfully strained.
His entire spine was under tremendous pressure.
If more heads continued to grow—
His neck might snap completely.
"Damn it."
"Are you some kind of French gambling god?"
"Want to check the cards?"
"Shen Yu..."
"Come down and be with us."
"Come down and be with us."
The heads bit into his shoulders, chest, and back.
Rip!
A large cloud of blood exploded.
Chunks of flesh were torn from Shen Yu’s upper body.
He rolled across the ground in agony.
"Fuck!"
"Fuck!"
"I can’t escape!"
Above him, the head balloons continued grinning.
Another head was already beginning to emerge.
Yet Shen Yu suddenly pushed himself up.
He dropped onto all fours.
Then he started crawling.
Like an injured animal, he desperately ran back toward the station.
"What?"
The head balloons seemed stunned for several seconds.
Their expressions gradually tightened.
Then they began chasing him.
Shen Yu gritted his teeth.
"I knew it."
"The moment I headed toward the station..."
"You stopped laughing."
"The more you don’t want me to go there..."
"The more I want to go."
"If you want my life..."
"You won’t get it that easily!"
Rip!
Rip!
His flesh continued tearing apart.
A long trail of blood followed behind him.
His arms trembled violently.
His head could barely be lifted.
The weight of the heads hanging from his neck was becoming unbearable.
He had no choice but to crawl forward like a four-legged animal.
"You think you can escape?"
"There’s no time."
"There’s no time!"
Poof!
The mist suddenly parted.
The outline of the station entrance finally appeared.
Shen Yu’s eyes widened.
Above the station entrance floated the enormous head balloon.
Four heads were now clearly visible.
And between the cracks—
Another head balloon was emerging.
"Shen Yu..."
"Come torment me."
"Come on."
This time, a foreign woman with deep-set eyes and gray lips appeared.
The moment she emerged, her eyes locked onto Shen Yu.
Another lump of flesh immediately swelled from his neck.
The new woman’s head emerged, dragging a section of flesh behind it.
It slithered over the other masses of flesh like a lazy snake.
Eventually, the deformed woman’s face pressed directly in front of Shen Yu.
She stretched out her tongue.
Then she began licking his face.
"Stay."
"Stay and keep me company."
"Stay..."
"Damn it!"
Thud!
The weight of the new head slammed into him.
Shen Yu’s body finally gave out.
He crashed directly at the entrance of the station.
His eyes became blank.
The foreign woman’s head continued kissing his forehead, nose, and lips.
Blood poured from his chest.
With his fall, Shen Yu lost nearly all his strength.
Then—
He felt another lump of flesh moving on his neck.
The sixth head was about to emerge.
"Run!"
"Hahaha!"
"Why aren’t you running, little weakling?"
The beautiful man’s face on the head balloon mocked him.
Shen Yu slowly closed his eyes.
A helpless sigh escaped his lips.
"I’ve given up."
"I actually didn’t die at a woman’s hands..."
"But at the hands of a monster."
The live-stream comments exploded.
Dragon Country Sheep:
"Damn, amazing."
"Even after losing his self-awareness, Shen Yu is still thinking about picking up girls."
"Is that really his primal instinct?"
Evil Spirit Knight Ning Kaichen:
"Good. Good."
"As expected of a master-level figure."
"Even as an ordinary person, he managed to hold on for this long."
"He even seemed to predict what was happening."
Wild Boar Peppa:
"What a pity."
"Even if he figured something out, it’s too late."
"At Shen Yu’s current state, there’s no way he can make it back to the station."
"It’s a shame."
"I actually liked this guy."
In an instant, the live-stream screen froze.
Countless comments flooded across the screen.
As observers watching from above, the audience could clearly see what was happening to the contestants.
But the contestants themselves had no idea.
They didn’t know they were challengers trapped inside a horror instance.
They didn’t know their memories had been altered.
They didn’t even know who they truly were.
Shen Yu was dying.
And most of the viewers had already accepted it.
After all, the evacuation plan had already been completed.
The only thing left was regret.
Such an interesting contestant was about to disappear.
But just as despair filled the comments—
And just as Shen Yu lay helplessly beneath the foreign woman’s head—
A clear voice suddenly rang inside his ear.
"Shen Yu."
"I’m your colleague from the State Pool City’s Defense Bureau."
"My time is limited."
"Listen carefully."
"Everything happening around you right now is not an illusion."
"You are inside a horror instance."
"You must survive."
"If you die here, the real world will also be affected."
"And you will truly die."
Shen Yu’s eyes suddenly shot open.
"What?"
"What are you talking about?"
The voice continued.
"Don’t believe me?"
"If you don’t believe me, open your palm and look."
Shen Yu hesitated.
Then, almost instinctively, he opened his palm.
His pupils contracted.
There was a line of writing on his palm.
Believe that voice.
His expression froze.
"What the hell?"
"Is this my writing?"
"When did I write this?"
"Why don’t I remember?"
Shen Yu stared blankly at his palm.
His mind was in complete chaos.
"What is going on?"
But the voice in his ear immediately interrupted his thoughts.
"Shen Yu."
"You grew up with your parent nhtil you were twelve."
"At thirteen, you entered a primary and secondary school that provided free meals and accommodation. a"
"When you were sixteen, you wrote a love letter to your high school English teacher."
"But you didn’t dare send it."
"When you were eighteen, your college life was spent indulging in nonsense. then your parent were involved in a sum and left you with debts and your blind little sister"
"After graduating from college, you found a mediocre job."
"You loved slacking off at work."
"After work, you played games."
"Oh, right."
"Your online shopping records also show that you once bought—"
"Stop!"
"Stop!"
"Stop!"
Shen Yu shouted.
"I said stop!"
He didn’t believe it.
He absolutely didn’t want to believe it.
But when the mysterious voice began mentioning details from his private life—
He could no longer dismiss it.
"Did you install surveillance in my home?"
The voice remained calm.
"No."
"I know because I’m monitoring the information connected to you from outside the instance."
Shen Yu’s breathing became heavier.
The other person knew too much.
No ordinary stranger could know these things.
And when the voice mentioned the embarrassing details of his life one after another, Shen Yu had no choice but to believe that something far stranger was happening.
No one could understand a person that deeply without knowing their life.
Even if the other person was trying to deceive him—
They would have to deceive him perfectly.
And this voice had already done exactly that.
Shen Yu slowly clenched his fist.
For the first time since entering the fog, a trace of clarity returned to his eyes.
The heads around his neck continued whispering.
The monster above continued grinning.
But Shen Yu’s expression was gradually changing.
If this really was a horror instance...
Then there had to be a way out.
And if the voice was telling the truth—
He had not yet lost.