NFM Chapter 100

Intertwined threads of blood surged from the ground, swiftly sealing off all possible exits. As Lin Huai left, Lu Xiaotian, Fatty, and Zhao Jingtian exchanged glances and wisely exited the venue.

After their departure, the studio, which had been plunged into a terrifying silence by the demonic presence on stage, finally erupted into chaos.

“What… does he mean?”

Someone asked with a trembling voice.

The person’s voice was melodious and precise, leaving no room for misunderstanding. Yet, they still clung to a sliver of hope, questioning each other.

When power reached an overwhelming level, all schemes and calculations became utterly useless. And this person himself seemed to embody an unfathomable madness that defied any conspiracy.

—He intended to kill everyone in the studio, leaving only sixteen people alive!

This thought reverberated in the minds of all the audience members. No one believed Number 81 was joking—the dozens of severed bodies and the security guard whose head had been pierced by high-speed metal shards were proof enough.

“God…” someone murmured, “please forgive me…”

—What kind of monster was Number 81? What exactly was he?

—To conceive such a cruel and insane plan for revenge, what kind of malice had condensed into this monster?

Whether they admitted it or not, it was certain that deep regret welled up in the hearts of everyone present.

However, their regret was not born of conscience but rather lamentation for their unfortunate fate. They regretted not staying home, regretted coming to this studio, regretted why it had to be them… why it had to be Number 81?

Why had Number 81 been brought to this stage?

The source of their regret was not reverence but fear. And for a long time to come, Number 81 would embody fear itself.

They didn’t even dare to curse or resist. Faced with fear itself, these self-proclaimed noble citizens could only submit.

“Listen to me, everyone, listen!” a voice rang out in the studio, silencing the commotion. “What just happened was an accident—”

“An accident? You call this an accident?”

Someone shouted, but the voice’s owner remained unfazed. He stood up, straightened his impeccable suit as he had done in the past, and took the microphone Lin Huai had left behind. “We’ve already contacted the outside world, and rescue will arrive soon! You must believe in us, believe in the museum!”

Under his reassurance, the chaotic studio gradually calmed down. Cries, comforting words, and pleas filled the air as the group once again donned the veil of civility. Without witnessing the true brutality of the consequences, they could comfortably remain civilized.

Yet, even as they comforted each other, they didn’t think about the consequences an hour later. Meanwhile, on the other side, Dr. Lucille stood up.

“Doctor, where are you going?” his assistant asked.

“Come with me,” the doctor whispered.

The assistant, unsuspecting, followed Lucille to an inconspicuous corner where a ventilation fan was sealed with a few blood threads. The doctor pointed to the fan and asked, “Do you think a person could crawl through this ventilation fan?”

“Wha…”

As the assistant looked up, he suddenly felt a tremendous push at his waist. He inevitably slid toward a blood thread aimed at his throat, his eyes wide with shock as he looked at the hands that had pushed him.

And in the next moment, his head separated from his body.

Blood spurted high into the air, and he didn’t even have time to scream. The last thing he saw was the doctor’s benevolent face and heard his voice.

“I’ll live on for you,” the doctor said.

Ten minutes later, a headless corpse resembling Dr. Lucille, dressed in his clothes, lay in that spot. The clothes that had once belonged to him were now worn by someone else.

As farce after farce unfolded in the studio, a series of chases were also taking place within the museum.

Though a single potential criminal was difficult to deal with due to physical weakness, nearly a hundred potential criminals were nearly impossible to apprehend. In other words, even if they weren’t potential criminals but a hundred wild boars, the guards would still need a long time to catch them.

Moreover, the museum’s management system had completely collapsed under a hacker’s attack. The museum, which had boasted the best anti-riot measures in the entire greenhouse, was now in disarray. Thousands of cameras that could automatically recognize faces had once formed a comprehensive surveillance system, but now the small windows on the main screen displayed various videos—SpongeBob, Peppa Pig, and Calabash Brothers…

Meanwhile, there were also many players taking advantage of the chaos. From the moment they were released from behind the glass cabinets, the system had notified them: “Due to the voting system being compromised, the audition has automatically ended. All participants have tied and debuted.” Their mission now was to fill their reputation value.

—That is, to become great villains.

Thus, they spared no effort in opposing the guards, resorting to violence, arson, and every means possible…

The museum’s facilities also seemed to have gone haywire, eliciting both laughter and tears. Several guards, about to catch a fleeing potential criminal, were suddenly drenched by the fire extinguishing system above. Sometimes, the crisis came from the loudspeakers beside them, which would unexpectedly blast the sound of “Lost River” as they searched for the missing criminals with flashlights…

The mastermind behind all this was now sitting at a computer, chatting with Lin Huai in the tunnel via cameras and broadcast systems. However, it all traced back to Lin Huai’s casual remark, “Since you’re so free, why not help out?”

In a short span of time, the mastermind had already muttered about changing the background music in the tunnel from “The Monkey King” to “Superstar of the Troubled Times” and invited Lin Huai to march to the beat of the BGM.

Lin Huai, dragging two people with his left hand and two with his right, walked through the dim tunnel. As he kept time with the music, he asked, “Don’t you have anything to ask me?”

The other replied, “Isn’t your hand tired from dragging four people?”

Lin Huai: “…Alright.”

Since the other didn’t pry, Lin Huai didn’t bother to explain further and instead asked, “You can control all the machinery here? Is that some kind of skill?”

“I, Robot,” the other said casually while typing on the keyboard. “It’s an upgradable honorary skill I obtained before. It enhances my control over all networks and machinery. As long as it’s connected to the internet, I can control it. In the Intermediate and Advanced Zones, players have many opportunities to obtain such skills. As long as their rating exceeds S, they’ll receive special skills related to the game world’s theme. If they’re lucky, they might even get a growable skill… By the time you reach the Advanced Zone, you might even get honorary titles that can be stacked, like Cold○ Explosion○ Maniac, Lord of○ Secrets…”

“…Hey, hey, some weird stuff is slipping in again,” Lin Huai squinted. “By the way, do these skills change based on the world and your actions? In what kind of world did you get this skill?”

“Hmm… let me think. It was a world where AI rebelled. There was an anti-human AI core that controlled all machines to attack humans. You could be walking down the street and suddenly get your head chopped off by a flying chainsaw, or enter a room and get blown up by a microwave that suddenly started spinning. Something like that, I can’t quite remember.”

“Sounds like a terrifying world… So, did you hack into the core?” Lin Huai asked curiously.

“Why would we programmers do something so laborious?” I, Robot replied. “Of course, we just barged into the control room and…”

Lin Huai perked up his ears.

“…cut the power supply.”

Lin Huai: …

No wonder it’s called I, Robot. Cutting the power is every programmer and robot’s nightmare!

Lin Huai couldn’t help but fantasize about what kind of skill he might obtain after this round. The content of the skill was secondary; he mainly wanted to see the system’s evaluation of him, such as a charm skill that automatically reduced all NPCs’ favorability by ten upon their first meeting…

“Check the roads for me,” Lin Huai said.

“You’re planning to run?” the other asked. “These four deadweights won’t be easy to carry.”

“No,” Lin Huai narrowed his eyes. “I want to take the path with the most people.”

An hour later, the red-haired girl, who had been unconscious, slowly opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was the dim corridor, then the silhouette of a person. He leaned against the wall, idly playing with a lighter in his hand, its intricate patterns reminiscent of Baroque art. He wasn’t using it to light a cigarette; he seemed to just enjoy striking the flint, watching the flame flicker.

So she remained silent, quietly observing him. After a while, she heard his voice: “Awake?”

Simultaneously, the other three also woke up. They exchanged glances, their eyes filled with fear and confusion.

The timid Number 13 had already closed her eyes, trembling as she huddled beneath a statue, as if the Number 81 before her was more terrifying than the seemingly righteous people from before. Perhaps she was right—the man with the lighter was indeed more dangerous than all of them combined.

He seemed to have no reason, no morals, no restraints. He did whatever he wanted and killed without needing a justification. The relatively calm Eva asked, “Where are we now?”

“Modern Art Corridor,” Lin Huai replied.

“Why did you bring us here?” Adam asked. “What’s happening outside?”

Amid the flurry of questions, Lin Huai merely smirked and remained silent. The red-haired girl struggled to sit up from the ground and said, “Thank you for saving us.”

What she received in return was laughter.

The red-haired girl stared in astonishment at the young man who had suddenly burst into laughter. He seemed to have heard something particularly amusing, his face twisting into a grin, his slender body curling like a shrimp.

Then, he pulled out a gun.

—And aimed it directly at her forehead.