The dialog box on the retina is entwined with black hair,
and occasionally, bloodshot eyeballs float out between the text backgrounds.
Luo Di has completely lost control of his body, leaving decisions to be made by choices.
"What’s going on here? You have to make choices just to enter the house? Does this mean the exploration of the Curse House is all done through choices and not free exploration?
Has the anomaly especially affected this place, turning it into such a form?
What was initially a simple matter has become troublesome now."
While Luo Di is puzzled, Katayama’s voice comes through, "Luo, how should we choose?"
This time, they don’t make choices separately, sharing thoughts, with information on the retina being completely consistent.
"Make a joint choice? Let’s first look at the nearest entrance door."
[Inspect the entrance door]
the black hair forming the dialog border begins to squirm and unravel.
Both are in a black and white vision, and their bodies are beyond their control. Instead, they’re guided by an invisible force, moving forward like marionettes.
It’s akin to playing a first-person ghost house exploration game.
Arriving at the entrance, they reach out to twist the handle but can’t open it. At this point, twisted fonts appear again, along with the previously unchosen three dialog boxes.
≮The door is locked, please choose another option≯
This time, Luo Di chooses to go to the backyard, and his body immediately starts moving.
The backyard is piled with various household garbage, and next to a window with grilles hang two arms that, judging by their length, likely belong to a child.
≮You’ve arrived in the backyard. The foul-smelling garbage dump has caught your attention, but you’ve also noticed the arms by the window. What you need to do is...≯
[Inspect the garbage pile]
[Return to the starting position]
"Katayama, what do you think?"
"I... I’m not smart at this~ It’s the first time I’ve encountered such a thing. But I remember that these arms in the movie correspond to a child~ This should be part of the Curse."
"Alright, directly inspect the arms."
≮You are walking slowly towards the arms dangling outside the window.
But inside the window, there’s nothing, only two severed arms hanging there, with veins extending from the severed wounds bound to the window grille.
What you need to do next is...≯
[Attempt to remove the arms]
[Gently touch the palm]
This scene is different from Katayama’s description, "Huh? What’s going on? I clearly remember in the movie a little boy hung his arms here... Has it changed?"
"Since the anomaly has completely altered the event’s essence, it’s normal for the plot to change. Let me think..."
Luo Di originally wanted to remove the arms but after careful consideration chose to touch them.
≮You reach out to try to touch, but as you get close, the severed arm suddenly moves and grabs hold of you! It doesn’t harm you, but instead transmits a faint message through the arm.
The arm disappears, and at the same time, you hear the sound of a lock opening, as the entrance door seems to be unlocked.
You decide to enter the house.≯
The dialog box disappears, returning to a first-person black and white view.
Both officially enter the house covered in resentment through the entrance door.
a zigzag staircase is set across from the shoe-changing area, directly reaching the second floor,
The narrow corridor on the right can only allow one person to pass through at a time, with faded washi paper on both side walls, leading to the first-floor living room area.
And the most peculiar point of all.
There are numerous thin strings hanging from the ceiling,
dead fish are hung all over the house in this manner. Compared to the haphazardly scattered dead fish in residential areas, this suspended form is more orderly and stranger.
Corresponding options also appear in the retina.
Katayama’s voice comes through: "Luo, according to the movie’s description, the central figure of the Curse, which is the lady of this house, is on the second floor.
But the plot has changed, I don’t know what’s happening here... And the original movie never had these dead fish."
"Hmm~ These fish being hung in such an orderly manner look like a sort of ritual, or perhaps a seal. It’s highly likely it’s suppressing the essence of the Curse.
If we assume the arm at the window earlier is the arm of the Curse’s child, conveying the message of ’Help.’
It’s very likely that the family is trapped here, as was the noodle shop earlier. That woman was clearly cursed but could dispel it by eating fish.
Judging by all conditions, the essence of the Curse is likely suppressed by the fish.
If we go up to the second floor according to the original movie’s plot, we might find nothing; it’d be a waste of time and could lead to trouble.
Let’s explore the first floor first."
The first-person perspective passes the stairway entrance, delving deeper down the cramped corridor. The hanging dead fish is level with the head, allowing a clear view of the varying degrees of rot—some rotting fish even reveal structures similar to human internal organs.
The corridor ends at the living room separated by a sliding paper door,
The surface of the paper door is covered with fish scales, or rather "grown" scales, standing upright, looking exceptionally sharp, leaving no place to hold.
Moreover, the sliding track at the bottom of the paper door is stuffed with fragments of fish meat, clearly blocked off.
≮The door to the living room is covered with fish scales, completely sealed, your choice is...≯
[Force open the door]
[Return to the entrance, head to the second floor]
"This door basically indicates there’s something wrong inside, heading to the second floor might waste time, but it might also offer a way to clear the scales.
Let’s force it open, my body should be fine."
At this moment, Katayama steps forward:
Teacher Guo said I’m the hardest monster to kill he’s ever seen, I’m not very good in combat, and might not be much of a help later, but let me handle this."
With Katayama gazing at the option, his hand uncontrollably reaches for the door.
As soon as his fingers touch the door frame,
The fish scales seemingly come alive, cutting off his fingers. Forget about opening the door, even touching the frame was impossible.
Something strange occurs,
The vortex-like blood spurts from Katayama’s severed fingers. When the blood touches the scales on the door frame, vortex outlines appear on the scales, starting to calcify and proliferate, turning into structures similar to snail shells, losing their original effect.
≮Superpower identified successfully!
Your blood has infected the scales, and the seal set on the paper door has now been lifted, allowing free opening. But because your fingers were preemptively cut, your anomaly value increases as well.≯ Updates are released by N()velFire.net
The paper door opens.
The scene before Luo Di wrinkles his eyebrows, leaving him uncertain of where to step.
The entire living room and even the kitchen area are packed with [dead fish], exuding a yellowish odor formed by long-term fermentation of corpses.
The sliding door connecting the living room and front yard is also sealed with fish scales,
meaning that the interior has always been sealed before they opened the door. The strong smell threatens to overwhelm Luo Di’s stomach.
Moreover, being piled in this house of resentment for a long time, the dead fish themselves seem to have absorbed some of the resentment, undergoing mutation,
some even growing hair from between the fish scales, others sprouting fingers from the belly.
Information appears on the retina again, but this time it’s not options, but an alternative prompt.
≮You have now entered the free movement state, can control your body to search this area. Note that the area is affected by Fish Plague, the longer you move, the higher your accumulated anomaly value.≯
Perspective returns to the first-person black and white state.
Luo Di is free to move, but unable to use any abilities, it’s like controlling a puppet, only performing ordinary human actions.
However, from Katayama’s door-opening situation earlier, some passive abilities should still be effective.
With his sharp eyes, Luo Di quickly notices something unusual, it seems like there’s a larger organizational structure inside the fish mound in the dining room direction, not caused by fish overgrowth.
He decisively steps on the dead fish and heads toward it.
During the movement, he can noticeably feel the dead fish sticking to the skin, the discomfort of the body continuously increasing.
Luo Di doesn’t pause but reaches the target location,
Bending down, he swiftly rummages through the pile of dead fish on the ground.
≮Congratulations, you’ve found a "leg."≯
A woman’s thigh is excavated by Luo Di, exuding a thick scent of resentment.