Chapter 3 Finding the Path

The Wisdom Book's powerful blow sent her flying, crashing into the dressing table filled with cosmetics and toiletries. They all tumbled to the ground.

At that moment, the terrifying man with half a body leaped up from the ground like a toad, reaching for the Wisdom Book spinning in the air.

The Wisdom Book spiraled upwards, and the broken, half-man corpse missed its target completely.

Just then, Shen Wei, arriving late, finally reached the room.

"Boss, why is there another you on the bed?"

The Wisdom Book hovered over Ao Wu's head, asking with confusion.

"Don't ask about things in the world..."

"Oh!"

The terrifying woman, her face slashed, let out a horrifying roar. Then, wielding her knife, she charged at Shen Wei once more. The bizarre, half-bodied man also used a toad-like ability to attack Shen Wei from above and below with his wife.

It had to be said, these two terrifying figures were quite formidable, with extremely strong physical defenses. Shen Wei's knife could only leave shallow wounds on them. The man and two ghosts engaged in a chaotic brawl inside the room, turning it into a complete mess.

After a fierce battle, Shen Wei finally seized an opportunity. He held up the Yin-Yang Umbrella, blocking the terrifying woman's blade, and then retaliated, delivering an upward slash that split her open.

The terrifying woman with the slashed face was sent flying by the powerful blow.

The half-bodied man practicing toad kung fu was smacked in the face by the Wisdom Book, sending him crashing into the wall.

Seeing that they couldn't gain an advantage, the terrifying woman with the slashed face and the bizarre man with the severed body immediately retreated.

At this moment, Shen Wei also noticed signs of the other self on the bed awakening.

He hurried out as well, to avoid unnecessary trouble. Shen Wei first went up to the third floor, found Tape 1 in the projection room, inserted it into the VCR, and sent that version of himself back to the previous world.

Then, Shen Wei hid in another room on the second floor, watching the other version of himself continue the plot as he had experienced it.

He didn't interfere, simply watching quietly, because it was all a cycle of time, and recklessly changing things could cause a devastating butterfly effect.

"From now on, it's my plot. This videotape absolutely cannot be watched any further. Once the last tape is watched, who knows what terrifying things will happen, who knows what terrifying things will be waiting for me..."

"What is the path to survival?"

Thinking of this, Shen Wei frowned.

Rule 4: The videotapes contain a method to leave this place. Find it and leave as soon as possible, or suffer the consequences.

"The method to leave should still be in these damn videotapes. These videotapes are like an evil medium, each time you watch them, you fall another layer deeper into the inner world. When you fall to the very bottom, you may never escape."

"Moreover, the flow of time here seems to be problematic, because I feel like my own lifespan is being consumed very quickly, especially as the videotapes continue to play normally. This is definitely not a place to stay for long, otherwise I might die of exhaustion..."

"So, to escape here, I must constantly ascend, or rather, constantly move upwards from the depths of the inner world, layer by layer, until I return to the real world. Therefore, the videotapes must be played in reverse order, such as Tape 3, Tape 2, Tape 1. Maybe after playing Tape 1, I can return to the real world..."

Thinking of this, Shen Wei's eyes lit up.

"Your reasoning is obviously incorrect; even I can see that. You've already played Tape 1, but you haven't returned to the real world. If you don't believe me, look outside. Those terrifying things are still there. We're still in this terrifying inner world..."

The Evil God Right Hand pointed to the giant, rotting corpse soaking in the swimming pool outside the window.

Hearing the Evil God Right Hand's reasoning, Shen Wei also realized where his deduction had gone wrong. In the Tape 1 space, that is, after Tape 1 had finished playing, Shen Wei came to the outside of the villa and encountered the neighbor, Fat Aunt, the blonde Little Sister, and the four-person Divine Assembly group. They entered the neighbor Fat Aunt's room together, forming another cycle, and Shen Wei failed to break out of this cycle, so he couldn't leave.

"Strange! What clues am I missing?"

Shen Wei kept thinking about the content of Tape 1. Finally, he thought of a very crucial question.

"Right, have you noticed that these are movie-style segmented videotapes, and the story they tell isn't complete? We didn't see the ending of the story, and a part in the middle is also missing. But even the beginning of the videotape is missing. Why are the male and female hosts possessed? What possessed them to kill each other? And how did they move here, and what interludes happened in between aren't mentioned at all..."

Shen Wei paced back and forth on the ground, thought for a while, and then said again:

"Remember the story that the neighbor, Fat Aunt, told before? A lot of strange things happened to this couple after they moved in, such as strange shadows, objects moving for no reason, and so on!"

"But this isn't mentioned in Tape 1, which means that Tape 1 is just a smokescreen. It's not the real Tape 1 in the true sense, or rather, not the real beginning of the story, but the second part of the story..."

The Evil God Right Hand was greatly shocked after hearing this: "Are you saying there's another videotape?"

"Right, your clever intelligence has finally taken the high ground. I do suspect there's another videotape, that's the beginning of the story, and also the first inner world. I'd like to call it Tape 0..."

"This previous space-time shift, the Tape 1 in the VCR made me mistakenly believe that we were in the first inner world, but in fact, we're in the second inner world. The ruler of this Rule Anomaly is also misleading us. He directly transported us to the second inner world in order to mislead our judgment. How insidious..."

Shen Wei complained slyly.

"You brat, don't jump to conclusions. This might not be the fault of the Rule Anomaly; it's very likely the fault of the being imprisoned in this last inner world. I can sense him, and he's very powerful..."

The Evil God Right Hand's voice became extremely serious.

"Damn, wouldn't that mean the Divine Assembly guys are doomed when they go down?"

Shen Wei said with a look of horror.

"You brat, you're really meddling in other people's business. What does their life or death have to do with you?"

The Evil God Right Hand's tone revealed a hint of mockery.

"No, Right, if those guys were to die at the hands of that terrifying being, that would be fine, but I'm afraid they'll be controlled by that terrifying being, and then do some terrible things, like escaping, like eating you to increase their strength, or even descending into the real world..."

After hearing this, the Evil God Right Hand's arrogant appearance suddenly disappeared, and the entire hand began to tremble slightly.