Li Mo's arrival meant that Yin Xiu was safe; as long as he stayed with him until dawn, he would have escaped this calamity.
But even after escaping that unseen being and spending another night with another mysterious and eerie being, Yin Xiu still couldn't calm down.
"Looking for me?" Li Mo pushed open the door and stood smiling in the doorway. His figure blended into the darkness of the living room, and even though Yin Xiu couldn't see him clearly, he could guess the smile on his face.
Yin Xiu slowly exhaled, sat up, and briefly explained what had just happened, as well as the obligations that his roommate needed to fulfill.
"I would be more than happy to stay in this room and watch you all night." Li Mo's voice sounded very pleasant, without the slightest hint of refusal.
"There are no other beds in the room, and I won't let you sleep in mine." Yin Xiu was very alert; he was prepared to spend the night curled up in a chair.
But after Li Mo entered the house and closed the door, he walked to the chair inside, sat down properly, and smiled as always. "It's okay, I'll sit here."
Yin Xiu stared silently at his figure. The room was dark, and his figure was also dark, quiet and silent, as if he did not exist in the room. However, his gaze was bright and clear on him, without any restraint.
Consider it punishment for accidentally triggering the rules. Although I didn't die, enduring Li Mo's gaze all night is a punishment in itself.
Yin Xiu rolled over and lay back down on the bed. To block Li Mo's gaze, he wrapped himself up tightly in the blanket, but he could still feel Li Mo's gaze wandering over him without any cover.
It was late at night, and most people in the live stream had gone to sleep. Only a few people were still staying up, hoping to see what would happen that night. Occasionally, a few messages would drift by in the chat.
"Yin Xiu's roommate is acting really strange. Why is he just sitting there staring at Yin Xiu without moving?"
"It's really strange... He's been sitting here for an hour now, and he hasn't moved an inch. I was starting to wonder if there was a statue sitting on the chair."
Doesn't he ever sleep?
"Not only does he not sleep... he doesn't move or speak, he just sits there staring at Yin Xiu with a smile on his face. My uncanny valley effect is kicking in, it's a bit scary..."
"Yin Xiu's roommate is indeed no ordinary person, he's too strange."
"Something has appeared in the living room..."
As soon as the message notification appeared, the players who were still waiting immediately moved closer to the screen and saw a huge black shadow slowly appearing on the living room screen of each player, wandering and patrolling in the living room.
"What is this thing? I couldn't see the things that were in the living room before, so how come I can see them now?"
"No, no, no... something feels really wrong, guys. This doesn't seem to be the same one as the previous one!"
"Could this be the one mentioned in the dungeon rules?"
"That can't be... What was that before? That person was clearly following the rules, like sneaking into players' rooms."
"But this one has a more eerie, dungeon-like feel to it, and it follows the dungeon rules by staying in the living room and patrolling, which is perfect for the rule of not going to the living room at night."
"But the one before..."
After a few seconds of thought, someone suddenly realized something.
"I think I might know the truth, guys!"
"Could it be that the monster from before wasn't actually a monster within the rules, but rather it was imitating a monster within the rules?"
Why do you say that?
"Because I felt something was strange before. It could follow the player into the room, which clearly meant it had discovered the player. But discovering the player and not attacking is against the rules."
"The other side is clearly pretending not to see the players who haven't moved in order to follow them into the room in order to comply with the development of the seventh rule."
"What you said makes some sense, but there's no evidence."
But the moment that question was posed, the screen immediately provided evidence.
After wandering around the living room for a long time, the eerie creature slowly moved its dark figure to the player's door and knocked.
"Who is it?" The player inside the room was woken up by the knocking. He was still a little groggy from just waking up when he heard his roommate's familiar voice coming from outside the door.
"It's me, open the door."
"What's wrong in the middle of the night?" Upon hearing his roommate's voice, the player lowered his guard and hurriedly got up to open the door.
But the moment the door opened, the dark figure darted into the player's room and stood motionless behind the player.
Upon opening the door to an empty living room, the dazed player shivered and instantly snapped back to reality. Trembling, he dared not turn around to look at the people behind him, and immediately began calling for his roommate according to the rules.
After calling for several minutes and standing frozen at the door for just as long, his roommate finally opened his door and came out.
The roommate appeared, and the shadowy figure behind the player vanished instantly, leaving only the player with tears in their eyes. They ran over to hug their roommate and immediately dragged them into the room.
The player inside the instance was lucky enough to avoid death, but the players watching from outside the screen broke out in a cold sweat.
"Brother in front... you're a true prophet! Holy crap, this is the monster that's written in the rules! Its behavior pattern is perfectly logical."
"But what exactly is that... that invisible thing that appeared up ahead? Why is it mimicking the strange creatures in the rules?"
"Since it appeared in the living room and pretended to be a rule-breaking monster, perhaps it was to take over this identity."
"No way... wouldn't the players realize the first one was fake once they discover there's a second Rule-based Monster in the living room?"
"I haven't figured it out yet either. I feel like it doesn't want to kill a specific player, but has some other purpose. If it wanted to kill a player, it could do so in the living room. There's no need to sneak into the room. It probably sneaked into the room to comply with the rules."
"As for the appearance of the second rule-based anomaly you mentioned..."
The players in front of the screen were puzzled for a while, unable to guess how the one who wanted to take over the identity would handle the problem.
Then, something new appeared on the screen.
Unsurprisingly, a real copy of the monster appeared in the living room outside Yin Xiu's room. After wandering around for a while, it politely knocked on Yin Xiu's door.
But the other party only knocked once, and Li Mo, who had been sitting in the chair without moving for an hour, suddenly stood up, strode to the door, opened it, and smiled as he reminded her, "Keep your voice down."
His actions stunned a large group of people watching the screen.
"What is he doing?! Why did he just open the door?! He's my roommate, this is breaking the rules!"
"Wait a minute... he's my roommate, he's already in Yin Xiu's room, so... can the monster still get in?"
"Wait! We have the answer in the next room! The monster dragged its roommate into the living room and killed him! This is the player who was tricked by the fake monster earlier! His roommate was also in the room!"
"That roommate of Yin Xiu..."
Everyone gasped as they watched in disbelief as the dark figure standing at the doorway twisted and reached out, grabbing Li Mo's shoulder and dragging him into the darkness of the living room.
In the murky scene, liquid seemed to splatter out, followed by a chilling chewing sound from the darkness, as if something was being devoured.
"He's dead... Yin Xiu's roommate is definitely a newbie, he died on his first night..."
"Sigh, Yin Xiu is going to solo this game. I wonder what his reaction will be when he wakes up and finds his roommate dead in the living room."
"He's indifferent, definitely indifferent. He's a very indifferent person."
"It's hard to say. Someone who can be accepted as Yin Xiu's roommate must be someone he really likes, right?"
Amidst the chatter of comments, the tearing and biting that had been going on in the living room for several minutes gradually stopped, as if they had finished eating.
As everyone sighed with emotion, a black figure calmly emerged from the darkness of the living room, returned to Yin Xiu's room, and closed the door.
"?!"
"Yin Xiu's roommate... is he still alive?"
"He...he's covered in blood, no, no...why is he still alive? I just heard the sound of eating, wasn't it a monster eating him?"
"What we're saying is... is it possible that he ate a monster?"