Crows circled above the Military Factory.
"We've searched everywhere, there are no clues at all." Ricky used the crow's perspective to overlook the Military Factory. After several rounds, he found nothing.
"The difficulty of the trial mission is indeed not to be underestimated." His 'Dark Persona' trial mission had a time limit; he had to complete the Corpse Puppet ritual before twelve o'clock. Although there were no time-indicating instruments in the scene, the game had been going on for so long that it was now not far from twelve o'clock.
"You brat, where did you hide the materials?" Ricky was burning with anxiety.
After circling once more, he arrived at the north side of the large factory.
"Huh? It's you, fellow." He noticed the silver-haired survivor standing alone on the ground, looking up at him. "Are you alone?" Even though he knew that acting alone carried the risk of encountering The Overseer, he still dared to stand here by himself?
To Ricky, this behavior was full of provocation.
"If I can't scare the piss out of you this time, I lose!" Ricky felt that the other party was courting death.
He immediately withdrew his spiritual sense from the crow. The crow landed near the white-haired survivor, marking the location for Ricky. Then, relying on the acceleration of his spirit form and the characteristic of ignoring terrain, Ricky quickly arrived beside Caleb.
"I must think of a good trick." The 'turn-around scare' tactic he used before absolutely couldn't be pulled out again. Considering that the opponent was already prepared, Ricky believed that playing 'build-up' and various psychological hints in front of him now would not have any effect. It would be better to adopt the most direct, primitive, and forceful method of frightening — rushing directly towards the opponent, using the sudden appearance + the urgency of being chased head-on to create a scary effect. Just like when he scared Sweet Candy Sky before.
However, the distance of this sprint should not be too long. Otherwise, by the time he rushed in front of the opponent, they would have already dodged away. Of course, the distance couldn't be too short either; if the opponent reacted slowly, they might not understand what happened even when it was over.
"Got it!" Ricky noticed a low wall not far to the right of the survivor. If he launched an attack from behind that low wall, bursting through it and directly assaulting their face, the distance would be just right.
"Let's do that."
Having made this decision, Ricky circled around to the back of the low wall and rushed towards it at the fastest speed in his spirit form. His ethereal body made the solid low wall no longer an obstacle. After passing through the wall, the target stood less than five meters away.
Waaah!!! Ricky let out a terrifying shriek, extending his arms, and launched a surprise attack on Caleb in a choking posture.
'Die of fright! Scream! Tremble!'
The survivor was startled and quickly turned his head to look towards the low wall. Ricky immediately made what he considered to be the most hideous ghost face, trying his best to increase the level of fear in this scare.
But... the other party met his scare head-on, with a calm expression mixed with a hint of surprise.
Yes, it was merely surprise.
'Is that all?' Ricky howled as he passed through the target, but the system's scare notification did not come.
'Darn it! Give me some reaction, will you?! Are you a rock or something?!' He really couldn't hold back this complaint.
"How can I say, I'm trying very hard to scare people, give me some face, alright? Can we still play happily or not?"
"..." Caleb said expressionlessly, "What's there to be scared of?"
"Darn it!" Ricky swore angrily, turned around, and disappeared again, full of fury. The crow also flapped its wings and flew high...
As mentioned before, Ricky was a persistent player. He would not give up easily because of two failures. Thus, Caleb was subjected to Ricky's incessant, 360-degree harassment. All sorts of door scares, turn-around scares, suddenly jumping out from corners, half-body emerging from walls, and so on—he spared no effort and was very relentless.
But the more he repeatedly tormented, the worse the scare effect became. So much so that later, Caleb was so bored by his harassment that he yawned.
"I advise you to give up; these scare tactics are really too unsophisticated." Caleb's words were not intended to deliberately discourage the other party. Initially, he had held some expectations for Ricky, thinking that if he could be scared by the other party, it might help alleviate his bradycardia. However, the other party was truly ineffective and completely failed to create a satisfactory scare effect for him.
"Clang!" Caleb's words were like sharp arrows piercing Ricky's fragile self-confidence, almost making him vomit three liters of blood. For a moment, Ricky felt like he was that kind of weakling who stubbornly charged at a BOSS, thinking he had a huge advantage and going in with a basic attack, only to quickly call out GG.
"Darn it! Don't underestimate me too much, I haven't gotten serious yet!" Ricky also understood that frequent harassment would only make the opponent more accustomed to scares, greatly reducing the sense of fear. Moreover, the surrounding environment was too clear, completely unable to create any atmosphere. You see, in those horror movies, don't they always focus on portraying the scene's atmosphere before the scare point appears? Ricky believed that acting here was a wrong choice.
'Calm down, he must have a weakness. No one is naturally immune to scares. Not being afraid is just because the timing isn't right yet.' 'I'll leave here for now and create a false sense of security for him.' Ricky believed that the other party wasn't scared because he remained in a state of high alert.
"Let him relax for a bit; it won't be too late to scare him when I find the right moment."
So, Ricky once again let Caleb off the hook and left.
Caleb noticed that The Overseer's crow had flown away and also breathed a sigh of relief: "I thought this guy was going to cling to me." "Now I can finally start deciphering the 'hidden treasure.'"
...He quickly arrived at the entrance of the factory basement.
Inserting the [Basement Key] into the keyhole and turning it, a soft click was heard, and a gap appeared in the basement door, from which a chilling mist slowly flowed out.
—You have found a shortcut for your escape journey. Reward: 5 points, 100 escape points.
"I didn't expect this step to have point rewards?!" From this perspective, the so-called 'scene treasure' should belong to the category of hidden side quests.
Caleb switched to 'Active Stance' and slowly pushed open the basement door. Inside, it was pitch black, filled with a strong smell of blood. He turned on [Cliché's Flashlight], and immediately a column of white light illuminated the dark basement. The space inside was not large, with a cold white mist settling near the ground.
Caleb shone his flashlight around. The first thing that caught his eye were four tall iron chairs, arranged side by side to the right upon entering. Wires connected to each chair back snaked towards a box marked with a power symbol at the far end of the basement.
"That should be the factory's main power switch." As long as the factory's power was restored, Ginger and the others would be able to decipher the escape door's password via the telegraph machine.
Caleb immediately walked towards the power switch. But just as he passed through the middle area of the basement, he suddenly stepped on something soft.
"Huh?" He shone the flashlight on his feet and found that he had stepped on an ugly-looking rag doll. He bent down and picked up the doll:
—Item discovered...—You have obtained the [Evil Voodoo Puppet]
[Evil Voodoo Puppet]
[Type: Rare Prop]
[Effect: Puppet Manipulation. When the puppet is activated and placed on the ground, you can swap positions with the activated puppet from any location in the factory. After a successful swap, you also gain a 20% movement speed burst, lasting 2 seconds. ]
[Weight: 10]
[Can it be taken out of the scene: No]
[Description: A rag doll tainted with evil aura. Someone seems to want to use it to complete a certain transformation ritual. ]
[Usage Condition: This item can only be used by a Corpse Puppet of the Voodoo Sect (The Overseer). ]
This is definitely a powerful displacement type item! Judging by the item name alone, it clearly matches the [Evil Voodoo Mask] that Caleb obtained from the 'Cabinet Boy.'
However, this item was restricted to be used only by 'Voodoo Sect Corpse Puppets.'
While picking up the rag doll, Caleb also noticed that it was placed in a small recess at the edge of a strange circular magic array. Caleb stood up and looked down at the circular magic array on the ground from above. He discovered that the magic array had a total of 4 recesses, occupying the east, south, west, and north positions respectively. Three of these recesses contained an item, with only the leftmost recess being empty.
Caleb walked over to examine the recess on the right. Inside that recess was a single-handed scythe, which looked larger than a typical scythe and had a slightly exaggerated design. Mysterious runes were also carved onto the scythe.
—Item discovered...—You have obtained the [Evil Voodoo Scythe]
[Evil Voodoo Scythe]
[Type: Rare Weapon]
[Effect: Non-lethal Damage. This weapon cannot execute survivors. When it hits a survivor for the first time, it reduces half of their health. When it hits the same survivor a second time, the survivor will retain 1% health and fall into a dying state. ]
[Weight: 50]
[Can it be taken out of the scene: No]
[Note: A scythe tainted with evil aura. Someone seems to want to use it to complete a certain transformation ritual. ]
[Usage Condition: This item can only be used by a Corpse Puppet of the Voodoo Sect (The Overseer). ]
"Looking at this situation, the survivors won't be able to decipher the password peacefully next."
Caleb then went to check the next recess. That recess also contained a rag doll, indicating that these displacement-type items come in pairs. "This means that this Voodoo Sect Corpse Puppet can activate and use two dolls at the same time." This kind of cross-terrain displacement ability, just thinking about it, is incredibly powerful.
Then there was the empty recess. This recess was undoubtedly prepared for the [Evil Voodoo Mask] in Caleb's hand. However, when Caleb placed the mask in the recess, the magic array showed no reaction.
A system prompt appeared in his vision:
—You must first collect 4 Fear Springs for the Corpse Puppet Transformation Ritual...