ICTEUWMN Chapter 145.2

The second world has just begun, and a death point has already been triggered?

[But seriously, what do they mean by ‘world rules’? This small world actually has rules? Why didn’t that damned light brain warn our Si Yao in advance?!]

What shocked everyone even more than the matchmaker’s face-to-face kill was that this world dungeon seemed to have a new setting…world rules could not be triggered.

[No way, this is absolutely impossible. How can a protagonist get into trouble right at the start? I’m crying!]

But just as most readers had guessed, Si Yao had not completely died.

[[When Si Yao opened his eyes again, everything had returned to the starting point.

The glaring red before his eyes, the swaying sedan chair, and the eerily loud sound of suona in the dead of night.

The reset mechanism that was triggered by death in the previous world dungeon had actually carried over into this small world!

However, this time, Si Yao didn’t immediately lift the veil. Instead, with his heart pounding, he quickly tried to calm down and think.

What exactly were the world rules? How many of these rules existed? Would breaking any of them lead to immediate death?

[Hehe, I forgot to tell you earlier that this world has new eerie elements.]

Sure enough, new text appeared on the light brain around Si Yao’s neck, as if it were deliberately toying with him.

“Then what is this reset?”

[Hmph, it’s just an innate ability you awakened.]

The light brain only gave this brief explanation and refused to say more no matter what.

But Si Yao did recall something that a player had mentioned to him in the previous world.

That was, every player had a certain chance of awakening a specific innate ability, usually related to their initial identity.

For example, players who entered the world as mercenaries had a chance to trigger a strength-enhancing ability.

Or like that pair of players from the ancient-era before, their awakened ability was basic photographic memory.

So after gaining self-awareness, the ability he awakened was… unlimited resets?

No, it couldn’t be completely unlimited.

After all, Si Yao still vividly remembered that in the last round of the game, he had only three resets left at the end. The number of times he could revive was clearly tied to his mental state.

The more times he died, the more severe the mental damage would be.

Until he eventually reached the breaking point.

But even so, Si Yao realized that this innate ability of his was extremely rare.

With just a certain price to pay, he could obtain the clues that other ordinary players could only get by dying.

Perhaps this was also why the light brain was unwilling to explain further.

After all, if his awakened ability had been mediocre, with its usual attitude, the light brain would have mocked him mercilessly.

Now, the only thing left to do was to explore what exactly these so-called world rules were.

However, even Si Yao couldn’t help feeling a little nauseous when he subconsciously recalled the matchmaker’s face.

Since he already knew that reaching the destination meant entering a dangerous place like the Nest from which he would have to escape, should he attempt to flee halfway?

But after preparing himself mentally and testing several extreme escape methods, Si Yao discovered something terrifying…the sedan chair itself was essentially a transport cage!

Everyone in the mountain village would immediately let out a sharp scream and try to stop the “bride” when they saw “her” attempting to escape.

Even when Si Yao managed to crawl out from the bottom of the sedan chair and run all the way to a butcher cleaning his shop at dawn, pretending to be a kidnapped bride in need of rescue, the butcher still screamed and pinned him down, drawing the attention of the ghosts.

Especially that elderly matchmaker, her thick, muscular arms were strong enough to crush his wrist in an instant.

The searing pain made Si Yao groan in cold sweat, and in the moment their eyes met, he died again.

After using up about three resets, Si Yao finally confirmed a crucial clue.

The entire village must know something about this wedding, which was why they worked together to prevent the bride’s escape.

But if even an adult man like him couldn’t resist, then how terrified must the protagonist’s younger sister have been when she was married off?]]

“This… This doesn’t feel like a wedding at all! It’s more like human trafficking!”

It was only when Bai Lande blurted out this thought while reading that the viewers in the live broadcast room suddenly realized the unsettling truth that had been bothering them all along.

This was a wedding where the bride had absolutely no say in it! QAQ

[Fuck, that makes so much sense! Following this logic, doesn’t that mean the entire village is complicit in human trafficking? Si Yao ran so far, yet that butcher still pinned him down and summoned the ghosts!]

[And Si Yao was sent into the sedan chair while cross-dressing as a woman. That means he must have infiltrated the village to uncover the truth behind his sister’s disappearance. Is she still alive?]

[But if Si Yao gets discovered as a man in disguise, won’t that trigger the world rules and kill him again? If he can’t hide it, I feel like he’s walking straight into an endless death trap once the ‘wedding night’ begins.]

Seeing the barrage of frantic comments on his screen, Bai Lande tensed up, suddenly too afraid to continue reading. The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became:

“Not only that, but I think this world is even scarier than the Nest dungeon. Both are inescapable death traps, but this second dungeon is inexplicably more horrifying…”

“Because this isn’t like the Nest…a remote, isolated laboratory with no outside contact. Here, there are people everywhere. Any one of them could have easily helped this poor ‘girl’ trying to escape.”

“And yet, every single one of them is working together to maintain this human trafficking scheme, as if it were the natural order of things!”

[Fuck, that’s exactly it!!]

When Bai Lande pointed at the light screen and analyzed this point, all the viewers were shocked and suddenly enlightened.

No wonder this dungeon didn’t have as many hardcore escape room elements as the first one, yet the more they thought about it, the more their blood ran cold.

[I simply can’t imagine, if I were Si Yao, trapped inside this wedding sedan with no way to escape, screaming for help in vain, I would completely break down. (Terrified, biting my hand)]

[Wuuu, Dad, Mom, save me! I refuse to believe my family would abandon me like this. They would definitely come find me and take me home!]

But if Yu Mian, the author, were to explain it, he would say that Chinese horror inherently follows an entirely different underlying logic.

It’s like the difference between physical attacks and psychological attacks.

One achieves fear through direct, intuitive elements like blood, wounds, and monsters. The other, however, carries a deeper sense of ritual, metaphor, and the unsettling horror born from societal collective unconsciousness.

And just as Si Yao officially stepped into the grand, brightly decorated mansion deep in the mountains, he quickly grasped the rules and refrained from making any rash moves. Instead, he tried to perceive everything around him through sound.

When the red silk ribbon in his hand was suddenly tugged, Si Yao, still wearing the red bridal veil, felt an eerie, bone-chilling draft.

But he also realized that as long as he followed the ceremony, the terrifying matchmaker’s expression would shift into one of kindness and flattery…though it remained just as unsettling.

However, what truly sent countless interstellar readers into terrified screams in the middle of the night was:

Si Yao was escorted all the way to the bridal chamber. But when the matchmaker used a steelyard balance to lift his veil, he finally saw…

The so-called “bridegroom” was actually a corpse lying inside a coffin!

And he, the bride, was expected to stay with this corpse for the entire night and then serve tea the next midnight!

[Fuck! I swear, I’m going to smash this haunted house to pieces!]

[What kind of insane, absurd ritual is this!? Marrying a dead person…what!?]

After the matchmaker and the others left, Si Yao cautiously approached the coffin and placed his palm on it, testing the boundaries.

Sure enough, as the bride, touching the coffin did not trigger any rule penalties.

However, the sheer disgust he felt toward the “bridegroom” inside was overwhelming. After all, in this twisted wedding, the only one benefiting was undoubtedly the corpse in that coffin.

Then, as the clock’s hands pointed to midnight, the true horror, one that haunted countless readers’ nightmares from them on, finally made its entrance and cut off Si Yao’s attempt to open the coffin.

A low, eerie laughter echoed inside the room.

As the saying goes, “Red-clad ghosts are vicious, grinning corpses are ominous, hearing a ghost laugh is worse than hearing it cry.”

In Chinese horror stories, hearing laughter is always a hundred times more dangerous than crying!

However, interstellar readers had no idea about this. So when they saw the story describe someone laughing, they got excited instead:

[Fuck, someone is laughing!? Is this finally a normal human coming to save our Si Yao?!]

After all, every ghost along the way had been either expressionless or grotesquely twisted, and even the villagers were all brutish and hostile.

Finally, they heard a crisp, clear laugh…wasn’t that something to celebrate?

Si Yao also tried to locate the source of the laughter. Once he confirmed it was coming from the attic above, he raised the red candle and cautiously moved toward that hidden space in the massive old mansion.

[[A gust of dust blew into his face. Si Yao covered his mouth and nose, coughing lightly as he lifted the candle to illuminate the area above.

And the moment the light touched it…

His hands trembled uncontrollably, and the candle slipped from his grasp, clattering onto the wooden floor.

Because hanging from the ceiling beam was a female corpse dressed in a wedding dress identical to his own.

She was swaying slightly.

And she was smiling at him.

The next second, flames erupted.

A pair of cold hands wrapped around Si Yao’s neck, and sharp, elongated nails sank into his flesh.

Before Si Yao could react, his vision went black.

Everything reset again!

Did this mean he still hadn’t obtained the necessary props to enter the attic?

Could his sister’s disappearance be related to this ghost girl in red?

Back inside the bridal sedan, Si Yao once again fell into deep thought.]]

The moment the first three chapters of the new dungeon were completed, both the comment section of the Huanyu Reading Platform and and the live broadcast barrage exploded.

[Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I saw it was at 95%, so I thought the first three chapters wouldn’t have any major horror moments left, but Teacher Fish Soup Noodles just hit us with a final ambush!?]

[I really want to punch that ghost girl! Hanging from the beam in that terrifying outfit…are you trying to scare me to death on purpose!?]

[Comment section, protect me! Si Yao, my beautiful angel, protect me! I’m not scared, not scared at all! I’ll just… save “I Picked Up A Traveling Light Brain” for the next dungeon. This one’s too creepy. Wuuuu, goodbye, Teacher Fish Soup Noodles!]

Many young readers frightened to the point of screaming abandoned their rooms and run directly to their parents, crying for a hug.

Meanwhile, Bai Lande, who had finished reading, sat frozen in the live broadcast room. He was completely dazed, as if his soul had left his body.

Fish Soup Noodles’ writing was so detailed that it made readers feel as if they were right there, holding up a candle, only to suddenly see a corpse hanging from the ceiling! The scalp was so numb it was unbearable!

And at that very moment, Yu Mian, the culprit behind all this, was calmly organizing the next batch of chapters and uploading them to the draft box one by one.

“But,” he murmured to himself, “I think that although everyone will be terrified of our ghost girl at first, they will eventually grow to love her.”

[Crispy Shark: Are you seriously joking!? Love her???]

As the only person in the entire network who had gotten an early glimpse of the upcoming chapters, Shaxs was trembling, his teeth chattering as he stared at the script where Si Yao was entangled to death with a female ghost in red, triggering various BE.

As a result, when he looked up, he saw Yu Mian saying this!

Who in the universe would love such an completely horrifying thing. Impossible! Absolutely impossible!!

[Fish: Of course. I swear, it’s truer than pearls. OvO]

[Crispy Shark: But this second world is seriously too creepy! Some readers will love it, sure, but what about the ones who are too scared? Some are already saying they want to wait until it’s complete before reading, or even skip this arc entirely.]

‘So can you consider toning down the horror elements a bit in the next plots so it wouldn’t be such a heart attack-inducing experience?’

But before Shaxs could finish his subtle suggestion, Yu Mian had already begun pondering.

[Fish: Really? I was actually planning to resume live broadcasting for the new book. But unlike the cooking live broadcast for “God of Cooking”, this time, I’ll just read the latest updates to everyone.]

[Editor, what do you think? I think everyone would love to listen.]

[Crispy Shark: …?]

Shaxs was completely dumbfounded.

Teacher Fish Soup Noodles, personally reading out the latest novel updates?

It was already a universally acknowledged fact that Fish Soup Noodles’ voice was ridiculously pleasant to listen to, people had been amazed by it ever since his first live broadcast.

And ever since he stopped live broadcasting “God of Cooking”, countless fans had been wailing and begging for his return, saying they’d watch anything he broadcast.

Was this about whether people would be love to listen or not?

No, this was about whether the live broadcast platform would even survive the traffic overload!

But to actually use such a nice voice… to read bedtime horror stories?!