Chapter 81: Cursed Space
So, Roy had been through some weird stuff before at Silver Birch Manor, so he wasn't totally freaked out by the sudden change in scenery this time around.
"The basement of this place is a freakin' 'cursed space.'"
Roy's brow furrowed.
Finding himself in some strange new place after being in the basement of 88 Ginkgo Street, he quickly figured out why the last tenant, the blind guy, had vanished.
He probably got sucked into this weird space.
"Cursed space" is usually some kind of special area formed over time by the energy from ancient cursed objects. There are exceptions, and no one really knows all the details.
It's like a secondary space, kinda like a storage ring's folded space, or an air bubble with special rules. Think of it like a "game instance" with a storyline, monsters, and real death if you go in physically.
The scenes in these spaces are mostly fragments of memories or obsessions of the cursed object, like a nightmare or a life-and-death experience. They're usually creepy and dangerous.
Once you're in, the only way out alive is to find the right way to clear the level; otherwise, you're stuck forever.
Of course, if you manage to break through, you might find the "powerful cursed object" that created the space.
"A cursed space triggered by just a thought? That's pretty messed up."
Even though he got pulled into a cursed space out of nowhere, Roy quickly realized something.
The entrances to typical "cursed spaces" are usually easy to spot, often looking like a mass of dark, twisted light or a mirage. You only get sucked in if you get close.
But this one was different.
It was triggered by thought.
If Roy hadn't thought about the house's weirdness and just acted like a regular tenant, there probably wouldn't have been any issues.
It was because he thought about it that the special entry condition was triggered.
As the Omniscient Eye's explanation said: "It only exists when you realize it exists."
But Roy's personality let him chill out instantly.
If this space meant certain death, freaking out would be pointless.
If there was a way to break through, staying calm would up his chances of survival.
Like in all those horror games he'd played before, Roy instantly went into thinking mode. He calmly recalled all useful clues and checked out everything in front of him.
Last time, in the cursed space at the stormy Silver Birch Manor, the final boss was the "ghost type" Pestoya. Since it could talk, he managed to clear the level and got out.
With that experience, Roy felt he could always find a way to break through.
Either with smarts or with a gun.
This place looked like a hospital, with white-painted walls and iron chairs at the clinic doors. There were no windows, and rooms lined both sides. The light flickered, and the night wind howled like ghosts, just like a horror movie scene.
Roy felt for the gun at his waist, which was still there, and his storage ring had also come with him. That was good news.
He used the "Omniscient Eye" to look around, and it could still identify things normally, just like in the real world.
Items like: [Damaged Wall Tile], [Hexagonal Gas Lamp], [Rusty Iron Chair], [Moldy Dog Poop].
After checking things out for a while, Roy didn't find any useful info.
But from every angle, the corridor was eerily quiet.
Roy didn't move around recklessly.
Suddenly, he thought of something and mused, "If I'm in a special space now, the Omniscient Eye should be able to reveal something."
With this in mind, Roy dilated his pupils and identified everything in his field of vision as a single "item."
The next second, he saw a different identification result.
[A special scene formed by a concentrated obsession]
Description: This is a scene from the inpatient department of the Javier Hospital in Old Linton a thousand years ago.
Breakthrough method: Find the owner of this obsession and say their full name to escape.
"Well, looks like I found the way out."
Roy's eyebrows shot up as he read the prompt.
The Omniscient Eye came through, giving him the escape plan from this cursed space.
But then, something felt off.
"Saying the 'full name' of the obsession's owner is the key."
Roy quickly picked up on the problem.
The identification showed the way out, but since he hadn't seen the owner, the Omniscient Eye didn't know their name.
Sure, he could gamble and try to ID the big boss when he saw it. See if he could say the name before it killed him.
But if the ID just said [Human] or [Obsession] instead of a name, he might be toast.
"I remember seeing something about 'Harvey's Obsession Morgue.' The big boss should be in the morgue now."
Roy thought for a bit, stood still for twenty seconds, and then had a rough idea of what to do next.
He knew this setup well.
Now that he had the escape plan, the best move was to find clues elsewhere in the hospital to learn the "full name" of the obsession's owner, then say it to get out.
Worst case, he'd have to go to the morgue and face the big boss.
Even worse, the big boss might be wandering around, and they could bump into each other.
"If the owner of this space's obsession is as smart as Pestoya, clearing the level might not be too bad. If it's just a killing machine, it's all about luck."
Roy knew he couldn't slack off.
The morgue was a key term, usually in the basement of the hospital.
Roy didn't plan to go there right away.
His goal was clear: find the archives or a duty room. Even though this hospital was from a thousand years ago, it was big, so it probably had a lot of staff and some kind of schedule. Finding today's duty roster might tell him who was in the hospital, and he could find info about the "owner of the obsession."
The long corridor was empty, the gas lamps flickered, and his vision was hazy.
Roy drew his gun, slowed his breathing, and tried to stay quiet.
He crept to a ward door and peeked through the small glass window. The ward had seven or eight beds with white sheets, but no one was there.
A small card on the door read: Duty Nurse Janice George.
The hospital was eerily quiet.
"Something's off, why is there no one here?"
Roy glanced at the ward and then at the nearby nurse's station, seeing no one. "Even in a horror scene, there should be some ghostly figures."
Just as this thought crossed his mind, Roy's eyes sharpened, sensing something.
Without hesitation, Roy spun around and fired.
Two quick, muffled gunshots broke the eerie silence.
Thanks to the [Blue Ghost] suppressor, the sound wasn't loud and didn't travel far in the enclosed corridor.
After firing, Roy focused and saw two bullets embedded in the wall, surprise on his face: "I missed!"
The situation got even creepier.
His pupils contracted, and he leaned against the wall, scanning the empty corridor with a sharp gaze.
Roy clearly remembered seeing a reflection of a figure in the ward door glass, a female nurse with a blue face, black eyes, and covered in blood, holding a knife and standing behind him.
He fired instinctively but missed.
Not only did he miss, but the knife-wielding nurse also vanished!
"Could it be a 'ghost type'?"
Roy's expression turned grim.