Thriller Paradise

At the west of crystalline maze, on a rock that overlooked the sea. There was a very narrow beach here, at the point where the beach was connected to the sea, there were many black rocks. The most conspicuous among them was a rock that was about 5 metres tall, it had the shape of a human skip and it stood there ‘facing’ the sea. And this skull-shaped rock was named ‘Sea-viewing rock’ and the name was extended to apply to this whole area.

Outside of the crystalline maze, one could see the ‘real side’ so the person who was currently at the sea-viewing rock could see a red sun that was falling down the horizon.

The metallic axle rang out, announcing the arrival of a small tricycle.

“Long time no see…” Billy soon parked his vehicle on the side of the rock and said. A singular figure stood on the top of the skull-shaped rock, admiring the last rays of the setting sun. He did not turn around but did answer lightly. “This is such a rare company… Have you come to save your younger brother?”

“I have already done so.” Billy answered and raised his little arm to point at the direction that he came from. “There, he’s waiting over there for me.”

The man on the rock turned around and glanced at Bill who stood hundred metres away. Bill had a @?emoji on his face at the moment and was looking around him with boredom…

“Hah… what is that beside him? A dumpling wrapped with the Leaf of Terror?” The man asked with a light laugh.

“Yes, and the content is the meat of the Silkworm Mother.” Billy answered.

“Whatever…” The man shrugged like it was no business to him, and the he added, “You better tell me why you are here.”

“Aiz… Nothing warms the heart like a visit of an old friend…” Billy lamented. “I am just here to visit an old friend, do I need more reason that that?” He paused for a moment before continuing, “Executioner, after all, we once studied under the same teacher, so in a way we are brother disciples… so why are you treating me like this….”

…

“Don’t you go there.” Executioner cut off Billy angrily and turned around to glare at Billy. “Whenever I see you, the anger just pulses out of me…” Executioner said coldly. “I will forever remember what that ‘old coot’ said before he chased me away…’you are just a sadist while Billy is an artist. You can only bring people pain while he can provide people with salvation’… Hmph… that is such a huge insult.” He said as he lifted his leg and leaped down from the sea-viewing rock and landed before the tricycle.

Looked at a close distance, this god of the Xin clan had the appearance of human. He was about 1.9 metres tall, had medium build, slightly fair skin and had a grey hair that reached his shoulder; he had a serious countenance, wide forehead and face, stern brows and icy gaze, a small nose, thick lips, and powerful jaw… But the most standing out feature was two curly beards on the top of his lips that gave him the appearance of a Mexican mariachi band member.

“How would that old man ever have thought that…” Executioner continued the earlier topic, “Several thousand years later, I would become one of the deities of the multiverse and the best aid to the Master of Time and the grand designer of the Island of the Devil’s Maw; and you… are nothing but a speck within chaos, a criminal on the run. Even before you became a criminal, you were merely a jury on the Court of Truth.” He scoffed. “Hmph… How ironic is that?”

“I am… really here just to pay you a visit…” Billy sighed. “Why would you bring these things up?”

“Ha!” Executioner interrupted. “Is that so… I really did not imagine that we are close enough to visit each other…” He twirled his bushy beard and looked down on Billy. He jeered. “Even though we came from the same teacher, we were neither on the same path, did we? Even… an idiot like your little brother could understand that.”

“Watch your words of choice.” Billy’s tone suddenly chilled.

“Ah… sorry.” Executioner leaned down and edged his face before Billy’s. “Your little brother is not an idiot, he is a big idiot…”

“Hundred years since our last meeting and your ability to annoy others has improved greatly it seems…” Billy said darkly. A strange glow flickered in his eyes like he had intended to kill but… he resisted it.

“Hmph… never mind.” Suddenly, Billy pulled back his murderous presence and continued calmly. “After all, you are not long for this world anyway…”

“Ha?” Executioner stood up straight and said with curiosity, “What are you talking about?”

“Ha ha…” Billy laughed. “You will know soon enough…” Then he turned his tricycle around and rode towards Bill.

“What was that all about…” Executioner mumbled to himself before raising his voice to shout at Billy. “You came here just to tell me these nonsense? What is this? What are you trying to say?”

Billy still did not answer the man’s question clearly, he merely replied without turning around. “It’s your choice whether to take my advice or not… but since we’re ultimately from the same teacher, I’ll still give you two… one, do not believe everything you see; and two, do not underestimate that kid who is better at annoying others than you are…”

…

And now we shall move back to the players’ side. After leaving their resting spot, Brother Jue’s group continued on an even pace for an hour. During this period, the light of the crystals around them really did get dimmer and dimmer before…finally going out completely. And the ‘reflection’ of the Island of Devil’s Maw above them turned into a slate of blackness. Of course, this did not mean anything. For Brother Jue who was always prepared for the worst, this was something to be expected.

But the problem was… After ‘night fall’, something else even stranger happened…

Since who knew when… in that dark sky, an eye appeared. Yes, an eye, only one, not a pair…

It was white giant eye, the eye socket and the white of the eye appeared to be flickering like a burning white flame and the pupil was a straight vertical line the color of amber. All the creatures inside the crystalline maze (including the players) would feel like the eye was staring at them no matter the time and no matter the angle they were in relation to the eye in the sky…

When they first noticed this thing, the four players were on guard for a while, worried that perhaps it might start shooting lazer at them… but after several minutes of observation, they realized there was nothing wrong with this eye, perhaps it was just another strange entity placed there by the system to apply mental pressure on the players…

“I say… Isn’t it a bit too quiet around us?” Pegasus who was in the middle of the group commented.

“Actually, it is just as quiet in the morning.” Ambitionist who was at the roar answered. “But when there was enough light, most people would rely on their sight so you would not have noticed the lack of sounds.”

“Speaking of sight…” Atobe at the front said, “Do you think… that eye in the sky could be the Gazing Eye or not?” (One of the four names of the guardians that Feng Bujue got from Lotus Soul, naturally he had shared that information with his teammates).

“Not necessarily.” Brother Jue who led the group said half-jokingly. “Perhaps that is Sauron who got cataract, or… just a décor that happens to have the shape of an eyeball.”

“What is this… you’ve run out gags from Journey to the Best so now you turn to Lord of the Rings, is it?” Atobe narrowed his eyes and chided. “Many gay insinuations between Frodo and Samwise are already itching on your lips, isn’t it?”

“I was just trying to ease the mood with some jokes.” Feng Bujue responded. “We have been wandering about aimlessly for an hour already and we have found no progress; combine that with this oppressive atmosphere, it’s very easy to get our attention distracted.”

“If anything, the nonsense that you were talking about is the real reason behind our attention getting distracted…” Atobe shot back.

“Hah…” Feng Bujue scoffed and turned back to scan the rest of his teammates. “Didn’t you realize that you guys were already talking nonsense before I opened my mouth?” He paused for a moment as if wanting for his teammates to reflect on what he had said, “Perhaps you did not realize this… but the environment has already started its influence on you. When the surrounding started to darken, the longest silence we had only lasted for 3 minutes. Try to think about it… every time, in less than 3 minutes, you guys could not stop yourself from giving some meaningless comments as a method to lighten the nervousness within you. This is because… if the silence is continued to be maintained, the darkness and the quietness will start to disrupt your thought and slowly heighten the sense of fear within you.”

“Based on what you said… are you trying to say the darkness and quietness have no effect on you?” Atobe asked.

“Well, about that… hue hue hue…” Feng Bujue used the hue hue hue spell to cunningly evade this question.

“That’s enough, I get your meaning now.” Ambitionist interrupted. “To put it simply… not saying anything will cause our imagination to run wild and speaking randomly and too much will cause our attention to get distracted, but an appropriate amount of conversation… will help maintain our mental status at the optimum state.”

“Correct.” Feng Bujue nodded. “Therefore, we better decide between every two minutes…” Suddenly his words halted and his footsteps did as well.

“Hey!” Brother Jue’s tone changed, that was a sign that he had noticed something. “There appears to something… before us…”

Hearing that, his teammates all darted forward. The group followed the light from the anti-gravity gun and looked ahead and saw… a black shadow that fluttered along the wind. The shadow floated in the air and a noose was dangled around its neck. Due to the far distance, the players could only make out the shape of a human but they had no idea what the thing would look like upon closer inspection, but… they all knew that based on the habit of this horrible game, once they got closer, it would trigger some kind of jumpscare.

“This is probably not a suicide, right…” Pegasus lowered his voice to ask.

“How would you know that?” Atobe asked back softly.

“There is no chair next to the leg.” Pegasus replied.

“it is normal for the lack of any platform.” Feng Bujue thought his chin and said darkly. “His feet is about two metres off the ground, what are you telling me he stood on the top of a lifeguard’s chair and then hang himself? Plus… look at that rope around his neck, the other end is directly tied to the top of that crystal and the knot is not made around the tip of that crystal… So, based on my observation, there are two possibilities, the first is suicide and this was how he did it… he first climbed on top of the crystal column, put the noose around his neck and tied the other end around the body of the crystal and then jumped down from that high point. The second will be homicide… if that’s the case, there would be many ways to go about that…”

“That is enough out of you guys!” Ambitionist growled angrily to stop their rambling, “Is it the time to play clue? What suicide and homicide? What does that to do with what we’re doing?! This is obviously some kind of event we have triggered! Be a bit more serious!”

“Yes, you have a point.” Feng Bujue turned serious and nodded. “How about this… I will go ahead to check for traps and you guys wait for me here.”

“Wow… you volunteer to take the risk… facing this kind of scary scene?” Atobe gasped.

“Hah, what is so scary about this?” Feng Bujue laughed casually. “It is just a hanging body, how scary can it be?”

“Very good, that’s very heroic of you!” Pegasus turned his bushy-eyed around and patted Brother Jue on his shoulder.

“Eh? Did you just say the word ‘heroic’~?” Feng Bujue turned around and used a wicked eye to glance at Pegasus.

“Never mind, forget I ever said anything…” Pegasus instinctually smelt the scent of conspiracy against him. But naturally Brother Jue would not let him go so easily…

Feng Bujue used his arm to press back on Pegasus’ shoulder and pushed the man forward. Then he lamented in a dramatic voice, “How could I forget there’s already a hero among us, I swear I did not mean to steal your thunder. This kind of heroic things should be left for a hero! So… go ahead. You might as well grab something and charge ahead, the rest of us will stay behind and cover your back.”

“That sounds so familiar… and by the way how did it become me who was to go… Ah…” before Pegasus could finish, he was shoved forward. Without even knowing why, after that few exchanges that did not feel that out of place, he was chosen as the scout…

The dangling figure was swaying in the air and made some noise. It sounded like wind fluttering through the clothes or the sound of the rope being pulled taut…

The closer he got to the dead body, the more obvious the sound became. After he walked for about 20 steps, Pegasus could not hear the breathing and whispering of his teammates anymore, all he could hear was the strange sound coming from the dead body and his own breathing.

“Phew… it will be fine, it is just a dead body.” Pegasus’ gait gradually slowed down and he muttered to himself, “I have more than hundreds of dead people in Thriller Paradise already and this kind of hanging scene I’ve seen hundreds of times in movies already… how scary can it…” The more he spoke, the more he sounded like he was convincing himself. “As a hero, how could I back down at this moment…”

After taking another 20 steps, Pegasus was already less than 5 metres away from his destination.

Even though the dead person’s face was covered by the hair and thus sheltered from view, as Pegasus got close to it, he kept his flashlight raised to shine the light at the body’s head because Pegasus had a strange instinct that he felt like… the moment he moved the light away from the head, the dead body would sneak a glance at him.