"I just applied a certain fear pressure on him, how did it turn out ?"
Although Luo Di wanted to take the body to a place for detailed investigation, it was still better to adhere to the fundamentals of the event for now.
If he were to randomly move the body, it would certainly attract the police, seriously disrupting the progress of the investigation and might even lead to a narrative imbalance.
"It doesn’t matter, since this kind of situation happens to just anyone, other people in this city should be similar, there’s no need to deliberately investigate, there will be plenty of opportunities for investigation later.
Let’s follow the story’s arrangement first."
Luo Di was driving his small car, taking Katayama first to the apartment where he lived alone during this event.
Katayama, after bathing alone inside, began using a hair dryer to dry his body.
Luo Di had waited for a full half an hour, yet the hair dryer showed no signs of stopping. Growing impatient, he went up to knock on the door.
"Katayama, how much longer roughly?"
"Um... Probably need about six more hours, I’ve only just dried half of my arm. If you can’t wait, Luo classmate, you can go ahead first."
"That long? Would drying you off with the hair dryer be enough?"
"Yes, as long as I’m in a dry state, mucus is unlikely to secrete."
"Then can I come in and help you?"
"Uh... Wait until I put on some shorts! Okay, you can come in now."
As the bathroom door opened, a foul smell wafted out.
However, Katayama’s body looked quite deformed,
his body remained as greasy as usual, Read complete versıon only at NoveI-Fire.ɴet
but the right arm that had been treated with the hair dryer was shriveled and emaciated, even thinner than that of a normal person, yellowed and wrinkled, with no more secretion of mucus.
"Can you withstand high temperatures?"
Luo Di placed a hand on his shoulder, activating hell, a scream echoing from the bathroom.
Luo Di was regenerating the right hand he had just severed as he walked out of the bathroom,
followed by a skeletal youth, like someone severely malnourished, with black hair draping randomly, partly covering his eyes and ears, still looking a bit delicate.
He looked completely different from the previous Katayama.
even the structure of the snail shell on his back had completely subsided, leaving only a whirling vortex outline, easily concealed by clothing.
The completely shriveled Katayama also appeared very weak, occasionally needing to lean against the wall to move forward.
"In this dry state, will your abilities be affected?"
Katayama nodded, "Yes... Without mucus, the disease is confined within my body. Of course, as long as I touch even a little water, I can return to normal."
"If we encounter danger, I will hydrate you first. Also, since this transformation is related to fish, water is something we won’t lack.
By the way, have you watched ’The Grudge’?"
Katayama nodded repeatedly, "I’ve seen it... It’s a very famous horror movie, haven’t you watched it?"
"No, I’m not fond of that genre. Speaking of which, are our current roles and activities connected to the movie?"
"Sort of, ’The Grudge’ began with a volunteer at a welfare center being called to check on a house because the volunteer previously assigned went missing.
And it seems like you, Luo Di, have been tasked with assessing whether the other party meets welfare standards, not too different, maybe it’s the equivalent house in ’The Grudge’."
Luo Di, however, held a different view, "A bit different, let’s check it out first."
Based on the pre-investigated map, Luo Di soon took Katayama to the destination.
In front was a multi-unit apartment building, and Katayama immediately pointed out the issue: "No~ the houses in the movie are standalone ones, not this kind of apartment building."
Luo Di slightly rubbed his fingers, "Sure enough, the plot has changed.
The normal dungeon I participated in previously started directly interfacing with the main storyline, now it’s completely different.
Has the influence of the transformation altered the movie’s storyline too? Or is it deliberately preventing us from accessing the main storyline? Let’s check this place out first."
"Uh... Can I wait in the car?"
Katayama, in a standard sedentary posture, was already curled up in the seat, "Feels like we have to walk a lot, and climb stairs, so tired..."
"Hurry out of the car, if you really can’t walk, I can help."
As soon as they got out of the car, a strong fishy smell hit.
Under the apartment building, there were many vendors selling fish, so many it was beyond normal limits.
Almost all the residents of the apartment were downstairs buying fish, and they bought large quantities as if this was their only food.
Luo Di also vaguely sensed that these residents had become abnormal due to long-term consumption of this marine fish, with their eyes gleaming with excitement about the fish.
"There’s not much time to handle this incident, delaying it might cause an all-out transformation. Then it would really be troublesome, hurry and come with me."
The two bypassed the vendors and crowds, entering the apartment building.
Just as they were about to walk up the stairs, suddenly, a figure flashed before them, blocking their way. Luo Di hadn’t even noticed when the person got so close.
In the scorching summer,
yet the person was covered entirely in a black cloak, with a white mask over their face.
Gathering various doubts all at once, Luo Di immediately prepared to act.
Unexpectedly, the person suddenly took out a bag of fish jerky from their pocket, with no manufacturer, no ingredient package, just wrapped in some opaque plastic.
"This is homemade fish jerky, offered free now, I hope you can try, and give some feedback on the taste."
Just as the words fell, an unprecedented situation occurred.
Time seemed to freeze,
and Luo Di’s actions completely halted, his vision gradually blurred, while two anomalous dialogue boxes appeared in his retina, occupying his sight.
It was peculiar; it seemed time had stopped, yet Luo Di’s thoughts were unaffected, allowing normal analysis and thinking, but all abilities were unusable.
The dialogue box before him became clearer and clearer.
1. "Accept the fish jerky"
Additionally, a string of twisted text appeared at the top of his retina as an initial reminder.
*You are experiencing a special event, please complete the selection through eye contact.
*Your personal attributes will influence the outcomes of the selection, possibly bringing benefits, or possibly inviting danger, or maybe nothing will happen.
*Please make a choice within ten seconds.
Luo Di was extremely puzzled; he had never encountered such a situation.
’How did mandatory options appear? This is something absent in regular dungeons.
Since it can freeze time, forcing me into this completely passive selection, it also shows that this unknown power can fully kill me.
The impact of the transformation is deeper than I imagined, so I can only follow their requirements.
If I choose [Refuse], I might anger the person in front of me.’
’Choosing to take the fish jerky, I just won’t eat it, since these option requirements didn’t specify consumption... Let’s go with this.’
Luo Di made a decision, focusing his gaze, he accepted the fish jerky.
The dialogue box disappeared, yet time remained frozen.
Strangely, Luo Di saw himself unintentionally reaching out, taking the bag of snacks from the person.
He also noticed the hand extending from the person’s robe was actually covered in fish scales.
a dialogue box reappeared on his retina, but this time it was to inform Luo Di of the corresponding [result]
"Agility check failed!
When receiving the snack bag, the contents suddenly burst out, infiltrating your skin before you could react, increasing the transformation value."
Everything returned to normal, the masked person disappeared.
The snack bag had fallen to the ground, torn at the bottom, empty inside.
Luo Di quickly looked at his palm, seeing a distinct opening on the back of his hand, something had already entered his body.
When he released the Hell Iron Wire and grey tentacles for a full-body check, nothing was found, seemingly completely fused into the soul.
Yet Luo Di faintly smelled a stench, a scent emanating from within himself.