hotmtlnovel Chapter 150: Calmness Fails, Possession Agreement Activated
Chapter 150: Calmness Fails, Possession Agreement Activated
A cold, lifeless metal door stood before me.
The door panel was as smooth as ice, with no other decorations except for a slot that shimmered with a faint red light.
Tom's hands trembled so much he could barely hold the thin access card as he struggled to align it with the slot.
"Beep—"
With a soft click, the red light switched to green, and the door lock clicked open.
With the last of his strength, he pushed forward, slowly opening the door that was as heavy as a tombstone.
The sight inside the door made his heart tighten.
The room wasn't big, about ten square meters.
There is no decoration whatsoever.
The walls, ceiling, and floor are all a dark gray that absorbs light, making the space feel particularly cramped.
The only light source came from a row of fluorescent tubes embedded in the ceiling, which emitted a pale, uniform light at this moment.
On the wall directly opposite the door hangs a huge LCD screen, which is currently dark.
Below the screen is a brown leather sofa.
In each corner of the room, there was an inconspicuous black mesh speaker.
As soon as he stepped into the room, the door behind him slammed shut with a bang.
Just as the door closed, the heavy weight on Tom's shoulders miraculously disappeared.
But he seemed oblivious, overwhelmed by a fear of being utterly abandoned in a desperate situation.
He turned around frantically, gripped the cold doorknob tightly with both hands, and pulled backward with all his might!
The doorknob didn't budge!
He pounded on the door with his shoulder like a madman. The heavy metal door made a dull thud, but not even a crack appeared!
"Open the door! Let me out! Please!"
He cried out and pounded his fist in despair, but only deathly silence and his own distorted shadow under the pale light of the room answered him.
Just then, a cold, synthesized voice rang out:
"Cooling-down procedure initiated. Please read and follow the rules."
The screen lit up instantly, and glaring blood-red text filled the entire screen:
[Rules: Please reduce your heart rate to below 70 beats per minute before the countdown ends, and maintain this level for at least 3 minutes. Timing starts: 29:59]
At the bottom of the screen, a large, constantly changing number appeared: [Heart Rate: 107]
The cold, hard numbers directly reflected his frantic heartbeat.
Tom felt as if he had been electrocuted. He scrambled to the brown leather sofa, sat down, closed his eyes, and began to breathe deeply, trying to fight his heart pounding in his chest.
"Inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale...it's okay...it's okay..." He tried to hypnotize himself.
However, just as his heart rate was slowly dropping to 90, and he seemed to see a glimmer of hope—
"Whoa—!!!"
A distorted, piercing scream, as if from the depths of hell, exploded out without warning!
At the same time, the pale white light on the ceiling began to flicker wildly, its brightness fluctuating wildly!
In the instant the lights suddenly switched on, the flashing light projected a crystal-clear, grinning skull onto the gray wall!
"Ah—!!!" Tom was so frightened that he jumped up from the recliner, then slumped back down in a sorry state, curling up into a ball.
My heart felt like it was being gripped tightly by an icy hand, then pounding wildly like a drum!
The number representing heart rate on the screen jumped wildly, instantly soaring to 135!
Eerie laughter, mournful weeping, and the incessant scratching of fingernails...
A variety of chilling sound effects surged in from all directions, mixed with the constantly flashing lights and the intermittently appearing skull projections, weaving together a net of terror.
He curled up on the sofa, his hands tightly covering his ears, but the sounds seemed to resonate directly inside his skull.
The numbers on the heart rate monitor were pounding desperately between 125 and 140, remaining stubbornly high.
........................
Meanwhile, the comments in the live stream were scrolling wildly:
"Holy crap! How do we fix this? There's no way to solve it!"
"How could your heart rate possibly drop to 70 in this situation? It's a death sentence!"
"Actually, there's a way: make yourself dizzy, and your heart rate will definitely be at the target level."
"My resting heart rate is 75. Going in there would be like waiting to die!"
"It's over, Tom's really done for this time."
"Look! His heart rate has spiked again!"
"Is there anyone knowledgeable who can analyze the possible escape routes?"
........................
Almost simultaneously, strategy teams from multiple countries, after confirming the rules of the cooling-off room, immediately attempted to send notification messages to their chosen ones.
However, without exception, all of them failed to send.
A cold, impersonal system notification pops up simultaneously on all user interfaces:
[Warning: Intent to leak "cooling-off room rules" detected.]
Such spoilers will severely diminish the suspense and entertainment value of the "Strange Tales Challenge" reality show.
This message has been blocked to ensure an immersive experience for all viewers.
........................
The countdown in the calming room finally reached zero.
[Calm down attempt failed; heart rate remains dangerously high; possession protocol activated.]
Blood-red, rule-like characters appeared on the wall, and the entire room was instantly immersed in a suffocating dark red light.
"No...no!!"
Tom roared and sprang up from the sofa, rushing towards the door like a madman, pulling and pounding it with all his might.
Just then, a pool of viscous liquid silently dripped from the ceiling, gathering and rising behind him, coalescing into a blurry human shape.
The slimy arms wrapped around Tom from behind.
The next second, the mucus seemed to come alive and began to rapidly seep into his body.
Tom's limbs began to twitch violently, his eyes rolled back, and he made incoherent hoarse sounds in his throat.
A few seconds later, the convulsions stopped.
Tom's movements appeared somewhat stiff, like an unskilled marionette.
He slowly raised his hand and touched his face.
On that face, the corners of the eyes seemed to be slightly elongated by an invisible hand, making them appear even more slender.
Even when he wasn't smiling, a tiny, unnatural upward curve appeared at the corners of his mouth, creating a frozen, chilling fake smile.
The overall contours of the face seemed largely unchanged, but all the subtle alterations combined to create an unfamiliar, cold quality, as if wearing a meticulously crafted human skin mask.
........................
Meanwhile, inside dormitory 107.
Lin Feng gripped the half-full bottle of murky liquid tightly in his hand. The water inside the bottle was shaking violently, producing fine bubbles, and was even slightly hot.
He closed his eyes tightly, cold sweat beading on his forehead. Fragmented and terrifying images, resonating through this strange "water medium," forcefully flooded into his mind—
The dim red light, the writhing floor, the seeping slime, the shadowy humanoid figure, and finally... that face that had been subtly altered after merging!
He abruptly opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and whispered a warning to Vassim and Ryuichi Kamishiro as quickly as possible:
"Listen carefully! When 'Tom' comes back, no matter what he says or does, absolutely do not respond! Just pretend he doesn't exist!"