Free Web NovelChapter 18: Room 101
The moment Shen Yu accepted the hidden quest, the livestream exploded.
Not with laughter.
Not with mockery.
With outrage.
Thousands of ghosts flooded the comments at once.
"This human made Tangly Goddess cry!"
"Kill him!"
"All freaks unite!"
"Enter every horror game!"
"Find this human and tear him apart!"
The comments scrolled so quickly that even ghost eyes struggled to keep up.
Lily stared at the screen in confusion.
"Why are they angry about that?"
A ghost moderator immediately answered.
"Room 404 is one of the saddest dungeon stories."
Another added:
"Nobody ever completes her route."
A third wrote:
"You made her cry."
The Waiting Mother had indeed shed tears after Shen Yu accepted her request.
For ghosts, that was apparently a big deal.
Lily looked toward Shen Yu.
"...you made a dungeon boss cry."
Shen Yu blinked.
"I just accepted a quest."
"That’s somehow worse."
Meanwhile, deeper within the ghost livestream network...
A new notification spread.
HORROR REALM NOTICE
Joint Kill Order Proposed
Target:
Shen Yu
Reason:
Excessive system abuse
Emotional damage to dungeon entities
Repeated resurrection violations
Theft of ghost property
Lily immediately pointed at the last charge.
"That one is valid."
"My wedding shoes."
Shen Yu pretended not to hear.
The comments became increasingly violent.
"So what if he revives forever?"
"We have ways."
"Torment him."
"Make him wish for death."
"Make him unable to die."
"Break his mind."
For the first time...
Even Shen Yu looked slightly concerned.
Only slightly.
Then his eyes landed on another system notification.
Contract Candidate Progress
Candidate:
Lily
Shared Dungeons Remaining:
3
Shen Yu rubbed his chin.
"Hm."
Lily immediately became suspicious.
"...don’t."
"Interesting."
"Don’t say it."
Shen Yu continued thinking aloud.
"To complete the contract, I need you to clear the next three dungeons too."
Lily froze.
A terrible feeling appeared.
"In other words..."
Shen Yu smiled.
"I can’t let you die."
Lily’s eye twitched.
"And I probably can’t let you kill me too much either."
"What?"
"So I’ll need to protect you."
"What?!"
The livestream exploded.
"PROTECT HER?!"
"HE’S GETTING WORSE."
"THIS IS KIDNAPPING."
"HELP."
Lily looked genuinely horrified.
"Please stop."
"Hm?"
"Please stop dying."
Shen Yu blinked.
"Why?"
Lily pointed violently.
"Because every time you die, you come back stronger!"
The room became silent.
Then she continued.
"You unkillable monster!"
"Just vanish already!"
Shen Yu considered her argument.
Then nodded.
"Reasonable."
Lily sighed in relief.
Then he added:
"Rejected."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The livestream nearly crashed.
Meanwhile...
Inside Room 101...
The hidden route continued.
The Waiting Mother guided Shen Yu toward a locked closet hidden behind a false wall.
Inside was an old toy rabbit.
A small child’s backpack.
And a photograph.
Clue Acquired
Daughter Last Seen:
Apartment Roof
The room darkened.
The dungeon progressed.
Then—
The hair suddenly attacked.
Without warning.
Without signal.
Without buildup.
The Tangly Ghost had finally lost her patience.
SHHHHHKKKKK!
Thousands of black strands burst through every wall.
The apartment exploded into motion.
The livestream screamed.
"YOU ANGERED HER."
"RUN."
"OH NO."
The Tangly Ghost emerged from the ceiling.
Her entire body composed of black hair.
Eyes burning with fury.
"YOU."
She pointed directly at Shen Yu.
"STOP BREAKING MY DUNGEON."
Shen Yu waved.
"Hello."
The hair erupted forward.
BOOM.
Shen Yu died instantly.
The livestream nodded collectively.
"Normal."
Five seconds later—
He returned.
"Round two."
The Tangly Ghost shrieked.
"You died!"
"Correct."
"You’re supposed to stay dead!"
"I disagree."
The Tangly Ghost almost fainted.
Then a flood of notifications appeared.
DEATH CRIT ACTIVATED
SSR COMBO ACHIEVED
Reward Generated
Golden light appeared.
Shen Yu grinned.
"Ooh."
Item Obtained
Pocket Patch of Gold
Effect: fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Stores hidden equipment
Another notification followed.
EXP CARD ×3
Acquired
Shen Yu happily pocketed everything.
The Tangly Ghost stared.
Then screamed.
"WHERE’S MY DRY CLOWN?"
Shen Yu looked up.
"Oh."
He pulled a cursed doll from his inventory.
"Sorry."
"I took it."
The Tangly Ghost nearly exploded.
"THAT’S MY MINION!"
"Not anymore."
The doll waved.
The Tangly Ghost looked betrayed.
Even Lily looked disturbed.
"...how do you keep stealing dungeon assets?"
"Finders keepers."
"That’s not how dungeon ownership works."
Suddenly—
The stolen clown pointed behind Shen Yu.
"Watch out."
Hair exploded from the floor.
The Tangly Ghost launched another killing strike.
SHHHHKKKK!
But this time—
Shen Yu moved.
Blink.
His body vanished.
The hair missed.
The livestream froze.
"...what?"
Blink.
Another dodge.
Blink.
A third.
The Tangly Ghost unleashed dozens of attacks.
Then hundreds.
Then more.
Shen Yu dodged all of them.
The comments began counting.
"12."
"17."
"23."
"28."
"32."
A stunned ghost finally wrote:
"He dodged thirty-two attacks straight."
Another replied:
"Not touched once."
A third typed slowly:
"...not scripted."
The chat became quiet.
Very quiet.
The Tangly Ghost’s hair was completely out of control now.
Walls shattered.
Furniture exploded.
Ceilings collapsed.
Yet Shen Yu continued moving.
Blink.
Step.
Blink.
Sidestep.
Blink.
Every death he’d suffered had strengthened him.
Every reward had stacked.
Every skill had evolved.
The Tangly Ghost suddenly felt something she had never experienced before.
Fear.
"Impossible..."
Shen Yu smiled.
"Warm-up’s done."
His new equipment materialized.
A silver dagger appeared in one hand.
A dark raider cloak wrapped around his shoulders.
Silver Gear Equipped
Raider Cloak
Snake Fang Dagger
His stats surged.
Not enough to match Black Wolf.
Not yet.
But close.
Closer than before.
Shen Yu looked at the Tangly Ghost.
Then at the hidden quest marker leading toward the roof.
Then at the growing pile of rewards.
"Good."
His eyes narrowed.
"One more level."
The Tangly Ghost suddenly understood.
The horrifying truth.
This human wasn’t trapped inside her dungeon.
He was farming it.
The livestream fell silent.
Then one ghost finally typed:
"...he might actually clear it."
And for the first time since the Hair Apartment appeared on the server—
The possibility sounded terrifyingly real.
The staircase creaked beneath Shen Yu’s feet.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Every floor above seemed darker than the last.
The apartment building itself felt wrong.
Not haunted.
Hungry.
The walls pulsed occasionally as if something alive moved behind them.
Long strands of black hair slithered through cracks in the wallpaper.
The livestream audience watched nervously.
Gone were the jokes from earlier.
Most of them had already seen Shen Yu die enough times to understand a terrifying truth.
The dungeon wasn’t the dangerous thing anymore.
Shen Yu was.
Lily floated beside him with her arms crossed.
"I still don’t understand why you’re smiling."
Shen Yu pointed upward.
"Hidden route."
"So?"
"Hidden routes equal hidden rewards."
Lily stared at him.
"Most players hear ’dead woman waiting upstairs’ and think danger."
Shen Yu nodded.
"Correct."
"And you hear treasure."
"Also correct."
The ghost bride rubbed her temples.
"One day your brain is going to break."
"It already did."
"Fair."
The livestream chat exploded.
"He admitted it."
"Self-awareness unlocked."
"Still bugged."
"Report him anyway."
The fourth floor hallway stretched endlessly before them.
Dim yellow lights flickered overhead.
Apartment doors lined both sides.
Every single door had a number.
But one door was missing.
No number.
No handle.
Only a giant stain of tangled black hair covering the wall.
Like something had erased the apartment entirely.
At the end of the hallway stood a single red door.
The moment Shen Yu looked at it—
A system notification appeared.
[WARNING]
Hidden Route Boss Detected.
Investigation Completion Required.
Recommended Survival Rate:
0.7%
Shen Yu smiled.
"That’s higher than usual."
Lily looked horrified.
"Higher than usual?!"
The red door slowly creaked open by itself.
Nobody touched it.
Nobody needed to.
Something inside wanted them to enter.
The livestream chat became quiet.
A veteran ghost finally typed:
"Wait..."
Another responded.
"No way."
A third wrote:
"Is that HER room?"
Suddenly dozens of comments appeared.
"Impossible."
"Why would Hair Apartment use her route?"
"New players aren’t supposed to trigger that."
Even Lily noticed.
"You know something."
The ghosts collectively pretended they didn’t.
Shen Yu stepped inside.
The room was surprisingly normal. freewebnoveℓ.com
A small apartment.
Living room.
Kitchen.
Bedroom.
Everything neat.
Everything clean.
No blood.
No corpses.
No monsters.
Just silence.
"That’s suspicious."
Shen Yu immediately opened a cabinet.
Lily stared.
"You’re searching already?"
"Investigation."
"You’re robbing the dungeon."
"Investigation."
Nothing inside.
Just old dishes.
Dust.
Unused cups.
Then Shen Yu noticed a framed photograph.
A smiling young woman stood beside a man wearing glasses.
Both looked happy.
Newly married perhaps.
The photo frame was cracked directly across the man’s face.
Clue Acquired
The Husband
A soft ding echoed.
Investigation progress increased.
The livestream chat became uneasy.
One ghost typed:
"...don’t finish this route."
Another immediately replied:
"Too late."
Shen Yu continued searching.
Bedroom.
Closet.
Desk.
Drawers.
Every discovery produced another clue.
Clue Acquired
Unpaid Medical Bills
Clue Acquired
Missing Child Records
Clue Acquired
Insurance Contract
Lily slowly stopped joking.
The clues were beginning to form a pattern.
A bad one.
"Medical debt."
Shen Yu examined the documents.
"Missing child."
He looked at the insurance papers.
Then his eyes narrowed.
"Husband receives payment upon spouse death."
The room suddenly became colder.
The lights flickered.
Lily looked around.
"...I don’t think she likes where this is going."
The bedroom mirror cracked.
Slowly.
Without being touched.
CRACK.
A woman’s voice echoed from somewhere inside the apartment.
Soft.
Broken.
Trembling.
"Did you find my daughter?"
The livestream froze.
Thousands of ghosts went silent.
A wet footprint appeared in the hallway.
Then another.
Then another.
Walking toward them.
