"So these are the so-called 'special items'?"
Yu Jing's gaze lingered on the seven items laid out on the square table. In this grim, oppressive atmosphere, each item exuded a chilling aura that made one's skin crawl.
The first item: A clump of black hair bound by a rubber band. The hair still had visible roots, as if it had been violently torn from someone's scalp.
The second item: An old music box, its surface stained with dried blood. Whatever lurked within remained unknown.
The third item: A potted carnivorous plant. What set it apart wasn't its size, but its color—the thick, fleshy roots weren't green, but a disturbing shade of dusky purple.
The fourth item: A glass jar filled with numerous plump eyeballs. Among all the items, this one provoked the most immediate sense of dread.
The fifth item: A bloodstained hatchet, its wooden handle still bearing a dark, dried handprint—evidence of a previous grip soaked in gore.
The sixth item: An oval mirror with a cracked surface. Though fractured, it remained intact. Compared to the rest, it seemed almost normal.
The seventh item: A golden ring set with a massive, blood-red crystal. A faint metallic scent of blood wafted from it.
The seven special items were now fully revealed before the group. Nearly every one of them stirred an instinctive sense of unease in the hearts of those present.
At the same time, the instructions accompanying this round of testing brought three particular points to everyone's attention.
First, the upcoming trial would involve what was referred to as a "dangerous item." From the name alone, it was easy to infer that the test might involve real peril—injury, or worse, could occur.
Second, the notice mentioned an "interactive zone." But given that only one person would receive the prize money, cooperation among the participants was practically impossible. After all, each person here had come for the same reason: the money.
Third, while there were seven items corresponding to the seven participants, there were only six people in the decaying wooden cabin. The overweight man from the group hadn't shown up. Whether he'd failed to escape the previous room or something else had happened was unclear.
Still, the absence of the fat man brought a sense of relief to some—one less rival to compete with.
Following the established rules, the order of selection would be determined by the sequence in which they had arrived at the wooden cabin. The first to arrive had been Yu Xiaoxiao.
No one dared defy the rules set by the institute. Violating them could mean forfeiting the 3.5 million prize.
Yu Xiaoxiao had clearly made up her mind beforehand. Without hesitation, she reached out and grabbed the purple carnivorous plant from the center of the table.
"Is it my turn now?"
Yu Jing stared at the six remaining items. His gaze momentarily locked onto the cracked oval mirror. In that instant, something stirred within him—a strange compulsion to reach out and claim it.
Suddenly, a small stone struck the back of his head, snapping him out of the trance.
"Don't choose that one…" a faint voice echoed inside Yu Jing's mind.
The voice was cold and delicate—clearly from Yu Xiaoxiao. The mirror's unnatural allure had been almost overwhelming.
Glancing briefly at her, Yu Jing finally made his decision. He picked up the bloodstained hatchet.
To him, it was the only item with clear offensive capability. If the "dangerous item" hinted at by the researchers was some kind of living creature, then at least the axe could serve as a means of self-defense.
As Yu Jing made his choice, the man in the suit beside him showed a flicker of dissatisfaction. He had clearly been eyeing the axe himself and now shot Yu Jing a sharp glare.
Next was the turn of the white-collar man. As he considered the five remaining items, something similar to what Yu Jing had experienced seemed to happen. The man's eyes lingered briefly on the cracked mirror—but with sheer willpower, he tore his gaze away and instead picked up the most viscerally disturbing object: the jar of eyeballs.
The fourth person was the alluring Jiang Tian. She eyed the four remaining items, each one more unsettling than the last.
The clump of black hair? Absolutely out of the question. The blood-splattered music box? God knows what might be hidden inside. And the cracked mirror? It gave her an inexplicable sense of dread. In the end, she chose what seemed like the least threatening option—the golden ring with the blood-red crystal.
The fifth participant, a middle-aged woman, glared venomously at the others. She believed that the best items had already been snatched up, leaving only the worst for her.
"What should I take? That damned clump of hair? Such an unlucky thing. Maybe the music box is a bit more normal…"
Just as the middle-aged woman reached for the music box, a sudden glint of reflected light flashed across her pupils from the glass mirror.
In that instant, her gaze snapped toward the mirror. Whatever she saw within it struck her as something deeply significant—so much so that her eyes reddened with intensity. Without hesitation, she lunged forward and snatched the mirror into her arms, clutching it tightly as if afraid someone else might steal it away.
The others had witnessed her strange behavior and felt a chill run down their spines. There was something deeply unsettling about her reaction.
Now it was the final person's turn—a wiry old man in his sixties. He was, in truth, nothing more than an ordinary construction worker from a low-tier county town. Despite his age, he labored harder than many younger men, taking jobs wherever the pay was highest just to support his family.
Without much hesitation, the old man made his choice. Disliking anything tainted with blood, he opted for the clump of black hair. With no sign of hesitation or discomfort, he casually slipped the rubber-banded lock of hair into his coat pocket.
With that, all six test participants had completed their selections. At that moment, a voice crackled through the loudspeaker:
"Well done, everyone. You now have 3 minutes and 29 seconds remaining until the end of the rest period. Please proceed to the test zone corresponding to the special item you selected. Failure to enter the correct zone in time will result in elimination. The official test duration is four hours. Keep track of your time."
As the announcement concluded, the seven-sided, decaying wooden cabin rumbled softly, and seven doors creaked open. Each door bore a glowing emblem that matched one of the chosen items.
Yu Jing easily spotted the door marked with the image of a glowing red axe—his designated path. Yu Xiaoxiao, too, approached the door marked with a glowing green plant symbol.
But just as she reached for the door to enter her assigned zone, a firm hand clamped down on her shoulder from behind.
"You're strange," a man's voice said coldly. "From the start, you've kept your distance from us. Your body's small and fragile, yet you were the first to escape the locked room and arrive here. And when faced with those eerie items on the table… you didn't even blink before choosing."
He narrowed his eyes.
"I think you know something about how this place works, don't you?"
It was the white-collar man. His grip tightened slightly.
"Trade with me. Give me that potted plant in your hands."
His suspicion had finally boiled over. He was convinced Yu Xiaoxiao was hiding something—and in this tense moment, distrust began to ripple through the group, an invisible pressure spreading like a stain among the six remaining participants…