Free Web NovelChapter 4: Room 404
The scratching behind the door continued.
Slow.
Uneven.
Like fingernails dragging across rotten wood.
Shen Yu stared at the door number quietly.
The numbers were stained black, as though someone had tried to burn them off repeatedly.
Behind him, the ghost bride floated motionlessly in the hallway. Her crimson sleeves swayed slightly in the freezing air.
"Don’t open it," she repeated.
This time, her voice lacked anger.
It sounded... wary.
Shen Yu glanced sideways at her.
"That’s interesting."
The bride frowned.
"What is?"
"You’re a Silver-rank horror entity."
He pointed at the door.
"But whatever’s inside there makes even you nervous."
The bride’s expression darkened immediately.
"You talk too much."
"And you avoid questions."
Shen Yu walked closer to the door.
The closer he got, the colder the room became.
Frost slowly spread across the floor beneath his feet.
The Crimson Bride Shoes protected him from making noise, but they didn’t block the unnatural chill crawling into his bones.
A faint metallic smell drifted from beneath the door.
Blood.
Old blood.
Shen Yu crouched slightly and examined the lock.
Broken from the inside.
Not outside.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
That meant whoever had been inside this apartment once tried desperately to keep something OUT.
Or prevent something from escaping.
The scratching suddenly stopped.
Complete silence swallowed the hallway.
The ghost bride immediately stiffened.
"Back away."
Her voice came sharper this time.
Shen Yu didn’t move.
Instead, he activated Basic Observation.
A faint silver glow flickered across his eyes.
The world shifted slightly.
Thin black mist leaked from beneath the apartment door.
The mist wasn’t random.
It moved.
Like breathing lungs.
Then—
He noticed fingerprints.
Dozens of them.
Tiny bloody handprints covered the lower half of the door.
Children’s handprints.
Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed.
A family tragedy?
No.
The emotional residue felt wrong.
Too chaotic.
Too violent.
Suddenly—
THUD.
Something slammed against the other side of the door.
The entire apartment shook.
The ghost bride instantly retreated several meters.
Shen Yu blinked.
"You’re really scared."
"I said move away."
"And I said that’s interesting."
Another THUD echoed.
This time, a crack appeared in the center of the door.
Dark liquid slowly dripped out.
The smell intensified immediately.
Rotting flesh.
Wet soil.
Burned incense.
Shen Yu’s expression became serious.
This wasn’t ordinary horror activity.
The pressure leaking from inside apartment 404 felt completely different from the bride.
More unstable.
More feral.
The bride was dangerous.
But this thing...
This thing felt hungry.
Then a new notification appeared before Shen Yu.
[Hidden Investigation Progress: 12%]
His eyes widened slightly.
Just approaching the room triggered progression?
Then Room 404 exist was definitely tied to the hidden route.
Shen Yu slowly reached for the doorknob.
The ghost bride moved instantly.
Her pale hand grabbed his wrist.
"Don’t."
The moment she touched him, Shen Yu noticed something surprising.
Her hand was trembling.
Ghosts weren’t supposed to tremble.
"You know what’s inside."
The bride avoided his gaze.
"...It wasn’t here before."
"What does that mean?"
Silence.
Then she spoke quietly.
"This floor changes sometimes."
Shen Yu frowned.
"Changes?"
"The Horror Realm feeds on fear, resentment, and memory."
The bride stared toward the cracked door.
"Sometimes new things appear."
A long pause followed.
Then she whispered:
"And sometimes old things wake up."
THUD!!
The apartment door bulged outward violently.
Something inside rammed against it repeatedly now.
Wood splintered.
The bloody child handprints began moving.
Crawling.
Shen Yu watched calmly despite the horrifying scene.
Actually—
He was excited.
This dungeon had layers.
Most players likely hid inside the coffin until midnight.
But the real dungeon clearly extended beyond that. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Which meant—
The rewards for clearing the hidden route would be enormous.
The bride suddenly looked at him sharply.
"You’re smiling again."
"Can you blame me?"
"YES!"
The hallway lights flickered violently.
"You’re supposed to fear these things!"
Shen Yu looked at her thoughtfully.
"Honestly?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"I’m starting to think death isn’t the scary part anymore."
The bride fell silent.
Because she understood exactly what he meant.
For Shen Yu, death had become information.
Currency.
Growth.
Every painful death made him stronger.
That kind of power...
Was terrifying.
Then—
CRACK.
A long split tore across the apartment door.
Black hair burst through the opening like tangled worms.
But unlike the bride’s silky black hair—
This hair was wet.
Dirty.
Filled with clumps of rotting flesh.
The smell instantly became unbearable.
The bride’s expression changed drastically.
"No..."
The hair pushed harder through the crack.
Then—
A child’s voice whispered from inside.
"...hungry..."
Shen Yu’s scalp tingled.
Not fear.
Instinct.
Something deep inside him screamed that whatever lived outside Room 404 was fundamentally wrong.
The ghost bride slowly backed away.
"We should leave."
Shen Yu looked at her.
"You can leave?"
The bride hesitated.
"...No."
"Then why run?"
The bride’s eyes darkened.
"Because if it fully comes out..."
She paused.
"...this floor dies."
The words made Shen Yu’s heartbeat quicken.
A Silver-rank dungeon entity talking about another existence with fear?
That was bad.
Very bad.
Then the system suddenly spoke again.
[Warning.]
[Unstable Horror Entity Detected.]
[Current Threat Level Reassessment in Progress...]
The blue screen flickered violently.
Then—
The difficulty rating changed.
[Dungeon Difficulty Updated.]
Silver → Dark Silver
Shen Yu’s pupils contracted.
The dungeon difficulty itself increased.
That meant the entity outside wasn’t originally part of Coffin Calamity.
It was an intruder.
Or corruption.
The bride whispered quietly:
"It found us."
The next second—
BOOM!!
The apartment door exploded outward.
Shen Yu immediately activated the Crimson Bride Shoes.
Blink.
His body vanished in a flash of red light just as a massive pile of black hair smashed into the wall where he’d stood.
The hallway collapsed.
Concrete cracked.
Dust filled the air.
Shen Yu reappeared several meters away beside the bride.
His eyes widened.
The thing emerging from Room 404 barely resembled a human anymore.
A woman’s body crawled along the ceiling unnaturally.
Her limbs bent backward.
Her flesh was swollen and waterlogged.
Wet black hair covered her entire face.
And dozens of tiny pale arms protruded from her stomach, writhing constantly.
The child handprints.
Shen Yu immediately understood.
Multiple victims.
Merged together.
The creature’s head twisted toward him slowly.
"...alive..."
Its voice sounded like dozens of overlapping whispers.
Then every tiny arm pointed directly at Shen Yu.
"...hungry..."
The creature lunged.
FAST.
Far faster than the bride.
Shen Yu barely reacted in time.
Blink.
He vanished again.
The creature slammed into the wall so hard the entire hallway shook.
Concrete exploded everywhere.
The bride stared at Shen Yu in disbelief.
"You mastered the shoes already?"
"Near-death learning bonus, maybe."
"Monster..."
"Thank you."
"That wasn’t a compliment!"
The creature suddenly stopped moving.
Its head slowly turned toward the ghost bride.
"...bride..."
The hallway temperature dropped instantly.
The bride’s face paled slightly.
"...It recognizes me?"
Then Shen Yu noticed something strange.
The creature wasn’t attacking immediately anymore.
Instead—
It kept staring at the bride.
Like it remembered her.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
The bride whispered quietly:
"This thing... wasn’t part of the original floor residents."
Shen Yu looked at her.
"Meaning?"
She hesitated.
Then:
"It came later."
Before Shen Yu could ask further—
The creature suddenly shrieked.
The sound shattered every hallway light instantly.
Glass exploded.
Darkness swallowed the corridor.
At the same time—
Shen Yu felt intense pain rip through his skull.
The scream directly attacked the mind.
He collapsed to one knee immediately.
Blood dripped from his ears.
The tiny arms on the creature’s stomach all pointed toward him together.
"...die..."
Then the hallway ceiling collapsed.
Shen Yu’s eyes widened.
Too fast—
He couldn’t blink in time.
The creature crashed into him violently.
Bones shattered instantly.
Cold hair wrapped around his throat.
His chest caved inward under impossible pressure.
The last thing he saw before death was the bride rushing toward him with panic in her eyes.
Then darkness swallowed everything.
[Death Confirmed.]
[Pain Rating: High]
[Entertainment Rating: Exceptional]
[Bonus Draw Triggered.]
Shen Yu revived several meters away down the hallway.
His body regenerated rapidly.
Meanwhile, the corrupted creature was now fighting the ghost bride directly.
Black hair collided against crimson sleeves.
The hallway exploded repeatedly from the impact.
The bride looked furious.
"Noisy thing!"
The corrupted woman shrieked back violently.
"...BRIDE..."
Shen Yu immediately noticed it.
The creature was obsessed with the bride specifically.
Not him.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Then the system notification appeared again.
[Card Draw Available x3]
Shen Yu grinned.
"Oh, now we’re talking."
Three cards materialized before him.
The first flipped over.
[Obtained: Mental Resistance Lv.1]
The second glowed blue.
[Obtained: Skill — Fear Detection]
The third card radiated silver light.
Far brighter than the others.
Shen Yu’s eyes sharpened.
"Silver rank?"
The card slowly revealed itself.
[Obtained: Silver Skill — Death Echo]
Death Echo
After dying, briefly retain enemy attack patterns and emotional residue.
Shen Yu inhaled sharply.
This skill...
Was insane.
It meant every death permanently improved his combat understanding.
The more he died—
The harder he became to kill.
The corrupted creature suddenly turned toward him again.
"...alive..."
Its voice trembled now.
As if confused.
Because he had already died.
Yet returned.
Again.
The bride looked between Shen Yu and the creature.
Then slowly...
For the first time since meeting him—
The ghost bride took a small step away from Shen Yu.
Not from hostility.
From instinctive caution.
Because she was beginning to realize something horrifying.
The real monster on this floor...
Might not be the ghosts anymore.
