After some further exploration, the number of doubts hadn't decreased much; on the contrary, they had significantly increased.

The fifty-year-old ordinary man, now the vessel for four players; the house with its doors and windows kept tightly shut despite the sweltering heat; the mysterious custom-made soundproof windows; and the family that had vanished without a trace...

All these converging points of suspicion made Xing Hechou's head begin to throb faintly.

Li Ang's voice came through, "Considering that when we entered the mansion for the second time, the scene on the first floor hadn't changed much, the floors weren't dusty, and the shoes were in the same place. We can tentatively assume that the time between the first and second entries isn't very long. Or, the world we entered the first time and the second time isn't the same one."

Xing Hechou raised an eyebrow. "A dream? An illusion? A memory? Or simply an anomaly that can't be deduced by logic?"

Li Ang answered, "All are possible. We still don't have enough information. Let's continue exploring and try to find something useful."

"Okay."

Xing Hechou nodded, looked around the living room to ensure nothing had been missed, and then headed for the stairs to the second floor. Standing at the foot of the stairs, he told his companions about the unknown male voice he had heard earlier.

"The voice whispered in your ear in Japanese, 'Fushen, can you hear me? Fushen?!' and then the anomaly occurred. You took control of Fushen Pingyuan's body, while we entered your mind... Damn, things are getting stranger."

Li Ang pondered for a moment and said, "When I stepped onto the stairs, I clearly remember not hearing that voice."

Wanli Fengdao chimed in, "Neither did I."

Liu Wu Dai said, "Same for me."

Xing Hechou exhaled heavily. "So, I was the only one who heard it... Whose voice was it then?"

"Fushen Pingyuan himself? A deity? A monster? Aliens?" Li Ang said casually. "Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity. The current information is insufficient to make a reliable inference; there are simply too many possibilities. Overthinking it is pointless."

"Yes."

Xing Hechou nodded and looked up at the wooden staircase.

Fortunately, the Fushen residence was quite spacious, so the stairs were much wider, unlike the cramped, narrow staircases in the film *Ju-On*, which always felt as if someone might come crawling down them at any moment.

Incidentally, when Xing Hechou first became a player and was required by the organization to watch cultural works from various regions and genres to build his knowledge, he had specifically attended a lecture by the Special Affairs Bureau's think tank analyzing the *Ju-On* and *The Ring* film series.

Back then, the spacious auditorium's back rows were filled with players. At the lectern in front, a group of balding, elderly experts and scholars sat bolt upright, wielding infrared pointers. They would pause the movie projector every few seconds, point at the screen, and analyze the film's messages from aesthetic, psychological, sociological, semiotic, folkloric, and film studies perspectives, instructing the trainees on how to maximize their chances of survival in supernatural events.

Below, the trainees scribbled notes furiously, just like in their student days...

Well, the Special Affairs Bureau still often held lectures where its think tank analyzed and discussed cultural works. Topics included, but were not limited to, movies, television series, novels, video games, and anime. They kept up with contemporary trends and followed current hot topics.

The Bureau also offered such online courses for internal download:

"*A Report on the Development of Philosophy and Social Sciences in Naruto and Research on International Issues*,"

"*Multilateralism and Geopolitics in Warhammer 40K*,"

"*The Ecological Niche Patterns of Monsters in Monster Hunter*,"

"*We Invited Dozens of Domestic and Foreign Horror Film Directors and Screenwriters to Discuss Their Sources of Inspiration During the Creative Process*,"

"*The Origin, Formation, and Development of Galgame Culture, and Strategic Actions Players Should Take When Facing Romance-Themed Script Tasks*,"

The list went on and on.

Having official backing was a huge advantage. With the think tank involved, leading figures in various fields churned out tens of thousands of academic papers from different disciplines, directions, and perspectives within just a few months.

They analyzed the vast majority of cultural works so thoroughly, leaving no stone unturned, stripping them completely bare.

What was most remarkable was that, due to its official backing, the Special Affairs Bureau could even directly invite the creators of these cultural works to discuss their creative process and discarded ideas. If players actually entered the world of a cultural work's script, this information could be the legendary 'coded backdoor' or 'author's passage.'

Of course, apart from a very few individuals, not many players in the Special Affairs Bureau had read even a tenth of those papers. Players' time in the real world was mostly filled with endless skill training, physical conditioning, and combat drills. Many players had been ordinary people before their promotion; they would probably sooner die than retake their college entrance exams, let alone relearn even more specialized knowledge.

Thinking of this, Xing Hechou couldn't help but sigh softly.

Regrettably, the real world's understanding of irrational anomalies wasn't very deep, so it couldn't provide him with enough reliable theoretical support. He could only take things one step at a time and hope that Li Rising and Liu Wu Dai, his two quick-witted teammates, could offer some guidance.

THUD.

Xing Hechou's rain boots landed softly on the wooden step. His left hand held the railing, while his right clutched an Alloy Steel Santoku Knife taken from the Fushen Family's kitchen. It was a versatile blade made in the Japan Islands, modeled after Western chef's knives, with a thick spine suitable for chopping vegetables and deboning meat—and, of course, for self-defense.

Deprived of his extraordinary player abilities, Xing Hechou had to rely on a common knife for self-defense.

He stepped down, but his foot triggered no explosions or pitfall traps. Xing Hechou didn't hear that male voice again either.

"All clear."

He breathed a sigh of relief and continued upward, keeping a tight grip on the Santoku Knife, ready to thrust at an enemy at a moment's notice.

Xing Hechou ascended the short flight of stairs very slowly, treading with extreme caution. Only when he set foot on the second-floor landing did the heavy weight in his chest finally lift. "I'm up."

"Good." Li Ang's voice also held a hint of relief. "Hmm... the washitsu in the corner on the first floor didn't seem to be for sleeping; it was likely used for entertaining guests. The second floor, however, contained the Fushen Family's living quarters. Anyway, let's search them one by one."

Xing Hechou nodded, pushing open the doors to each washitsu with the knife in hand: Fushen Miyoshi's room, Mr. and Mrs. Fushen Pingyuan's room, Fushen Boji's room, and a vacant washitsu prepared for their daughter and son-in-law, Fushen Pingyuan's study, and the bathroom.

After searching all six rooms on the second floor, Xing Hechou pulled out a ladder, climbed to the attic, and rummaged through boxes and cabinets. Yet, he found no trace of any family members besides Fushen Pingyuan himself, including Weimen Xingzi and Weimen Ziyuan, whom Li Ang had speculated about.

No sign of them, living or dead.

Having gone in circles, Xing Hechou returned to Mr. and Mrs. Fushen Pingyuan's room and sat on the tatami mat to rest for a bit. Using Fushen Pingyuan's fifty-year-old body, he was genuinely exhausted from the search.

"The only clue on hand is this diary, found locked in a drawer in the study, belonging to Fushen Pingyuan himself."

Xing Hechou placed an old leather-bound notebook before him, reached for its string tie, and undid it. "Let's hope this diary can give us the answers," he said softly.

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