"Then..." Megumi Kato walked to the apartment door, took a deep breath, and spoke while trying to maintain a calm tone. "I'll open the door now?"
"Yes, open it."
"Okay..." Hearing Asagiri Utsunomiya's reply, Megumi Kato first answered briefly, then opened the door slowly.
With a soft click, the apartment's security door slowly opened outwards.
Megumi Kato had never thought that one day, she would feel so nervous and uneasy about something as simple as opening a door and walking out.
But even so, Megumi Kato still mustered her courage and walked through the door.
The reason Megumi Kato joined the team was actually very simple: She didn't want to die, and even less did she want to die inside the dungeon. If she died inside the dungeon, her body probably wouldn't return to the real world, would it?
If something like that happened, her parents would definitely be very sad, but because they wouldn't find their daughter's body, they would hold onto a slim hope, believing that their daughter was just missing and still alive somewhere, and they would be troubled by this matter for the rest of their lives. So she had already made up her mind that no matter how dangerous or terrifying the dungeon she faced, she would absolutely not give up.
"Grrr..."
When Megumi Kato stepped out of the apartment, she immediately saw a zombie in the corridor, less than ten meters away from her, ragged and covered in bloodstains, missing half its neck, pacing there and emitting an unintelligible, beast-like growl.
At that moment, her heart couldn't help but skip a beat, but in the next second, Megumi Kato raised her right hand to her side, signaling Asagiri Utsunomiya and the others inside not to act yet, and then activated her exclusive talent, Low Presence.
Soon after, she began to walk, actively approaching the zombie.
"Grrr... Rawr..."
Five meters, three meters, one meter...
Finally, Megumi Kato was standing within touching distance of the zombie, but its lifeless eyes didn't even pause for a moment when they scanned over her, as if it hadn't seen her at all, and it didn't make any aggressive moves.
'My talent... Is it really this powerful? I'm this close and still haven't been discovered? Or is it that zombies' perception is inherently weak, and they can't detect me even at this close range when my talent is active?'
Megumi Kato thought to herself as she silently backed away until she returned to the apartment and was back beside Asagiri Utsunomiya and the others, only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
To avoid attracting the attention of the zombie in the corridor, she deliberately lowered her voice as she reported to Asagiri Utsunomiya and the others: "It seems there's only one zombie outside. I just tested it. Even at a very close distance, as long as I activate my talent, it can't detect my presence."
Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but exclaim: "Phantom's talent is really amazing..."
Megumi Kato's exclusive Talent, Low Presence, when activated while she was moving, would continuously consume stamina and mental energy. With Megumi Kato's current physical fitness, one minute was the absolute limit.
However, if this Talent was used while remaining still, not only was there no consumption, but the effect of reducing presence was also enhanced.
That meant, even if Megumi Kato entered this dungeon alone, as long as she found a safe place to hide and activated her exclusive Talent, she would likely be able to survive the ten-hour time limit and achieve the first mission objective of surviving until the time limit ended, just like in her last dungeon.
However, clearing dungeons that way would result in a very low rating, and the rewards would be minimal. If she relied solely on her exclusive Talent to survive, she would eventually encounter specters or monsters with extremely high perception, and she wouldn't even be able to fight back, leading to an immediate Game Over.
After hearing Megumi Kato's report, Asagiri Utsunomiya smiled with satisfaction and said something that Megumi Kato couldn't quite understand for a moment: "They placed a zombie right outside the Player's spawning point? As expected, it's an early-stage dungeon; the difficulty is too low."
Soon after, Asagiri Utsunomiya walked to the sofa in the living room, picked up a cushion from it, and threw it to Asuna Yuuki. The latter understood instantly, without needing any verbal communication, caught the cushion with her left hand and then walked straight through the door.
"Roar!!!"
As expected, when Asuna Yuuki walked out, the zombie wandering in the corridor, less than ten meters away, immediately noticed her. Accompanied by a beast-like roar, it went towards Asuna Yuuki with its mouth wide open, moving at a speed similar to a normal person walking.
But before the zombie could reach her, Asuna Yuuki had rushed over to it. Accompanied by a flash of metallic glint, she cleanly severed the zombie's limbs with the Exorcist Longsword in her right hand and then used the sofa cushion in her left hand to cover its mouth almost at the same time.
"*Mumble, mumble, mumble!*"
Because its mouth was completely covered, the zombie's intended roar turned into a muffled whimper that escaped its throat, like a small animal that had been mistreated.
"Done."
Hearing Asuna Yuuki's words and seeing Asagiri Utsunomiya and Kotoko Iwanaga, who had already stepped out and were standing beside her, both looking calm and unsurprised, Megumi Kato was dumbfounded.
At this moment, she had only this thought: 'Why... are you guys so skilled?'
She was also amazed by their tacit understanding where they reached consensus simply by exchanging glances, without the need for verbal communication.
While Megumi Kato was still in a state of shock, Asagiri Utsunomiya had already walked over to Asuna Yuuki's side.
"Okay, next..." Asagiri Utsunomiya said and then squatted down on one leg in front of the zombie, which had been turned into a human stick and had its mouth blocked by the sofa cushion.
Looking at it still struggling even after losing its limbs, he shook his head and said, "Ah, how pitiful. Don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery soon."
Hearing his words, Megumi Kato thought that although Asagiri Utsunomiya was a bit eccentric, he was still very empathetic and kind...
Wait a minute...
What was Utsunomiya holding? It seemed to be that weapon called Vampiric Chain Dagger, a combination of a sharp dagger and a metal chain.
Huh? Why was he putting the pointed end towards the zombie's wide-open eye?
Seeing what was happening before her eyes, Megumi Kato was so confused that she doubted her life.
Meanwhile, Asagiri Utsunomiya had slowly inserted the tip of the Vampiric Chain Dagger into the zombie's left eyeball.
Looking at the overflowing foul blood, he showed no sign of disgust or discomfort, but instead muttered to himself: "When a sharp object approached, its pupils didn't change at all, and it didn't blink. It seems this thing doesn't have the instinctive reaction to danger that normal creatures do, nor does it know what fear is. It's the most common type of zombie, and as the diary said, it's slow and can't even run."
"This difficulty... isn't it a bit too low?" Asuna Yuuki looked at the struggling zombie and couldn't help but mutter while furrowing her brows. Then she gave a long explanation, "When the apartment door was opened just now, this guy didn't sense our presence either, which means its sense of smell isn't as sharp as a real beast's. And at such a close distance, if we speak softly, it doesn't seem to hear.
"Judging from how it felt when I just cut it, its physical strength is on par with normal humans, or even a bit weaker, and it can't run. Even if bitten or scratched, you won't get infected with the zombie virus."
"As long as it's a normal person who can move freely, having something like a baseball bat, solving this thing isn't too difficult. Just be careful not to get surrounded.
"Even though it's an early-stage dungeon, it shouldn't be this simple. Compared to the Haunted Hotel Dungeon we entered before, it's simply too easy, even abnormally easy."
Hearing Asuna Yuuki's words, Asagiri Utsunomiya pulled the Vampiric Chain Dagger out of the zombie's eye socket, and then spoke.
"Thinking about the dungeon in this Survival Game from a certain perspective, they are actually similar to exams. They are all testing whether the students, or rather the Players, meet the passing line requirements for a certain ability. For example, the first novice dungeon tested courage and the ability to think calmly under high pressure, while the second dungeon tested caution and keen observation.
"And passing means clearing the dungeon. If you can get an excellent score, you'll receive generous rewards. Since that's the case, why don't we think about it in reverse, similar to predicting exam questions? That is, first analyze the existing information to deduce which aspect of the Player's abilities this dungeon wants to test, and based on that, infer the potential dangers that might appear in the dungeon."
Kotoko Iwanaga walked over, looked at the zombie with only one eye left, and said softly, "The danger of this dungeon... could it be the so-called Special Infected?"
"There are indeed Special Infected, but it's unlikely they are the main challenge this dungeon sets for the Players." Asagiri Utsunomiya first replied while shaking his head, then he explained with a flat tone, "From the information we already have, the dungeon... at least the first stage of the Game, generally won't set challenges that Players must overcome with force. Forceful breakthrough is a special route prepared for top Players like us. Correspondingly, there must be a normal route where even ordinary people can achieve a high rating. After all, this Game isn't simply torturing Players; it's more like filtering and cultivating Players through successive dungeons."
"Hmm... there's too little information right now; it's hard to draw a convincing conclusion." Kotoko Iwanaga said, then stared straight into the zombie's eyes, activating her Gaze of Curses.
The moment she activated his skill, the pupil of the zombie's only remaining eye suddenly dilated. Its body first twitched violently a couple of times, then became motionless.
"My skill worked. It seems these zombies have no resistance to mental skills. It might even be negative."
Kotoko Iwanaga paused, showed a thin smile, and said softly, "So, my skill and Phantom's Talent can both function normally."