We are about to die, why are you acting all coy for?

"I want to get out!" Eric said, determined. Right, the protagonist should establish his goal early on and make an ally.

This teen had the potential.

"So we should work together!"

The determination in Eric stunned the teen, probably because who knew how long he was stuck in here, he gave up already and submitted to his fate, constantly living in fear about dying any second.

Eric's goal and obviously this teen's was to get out of this building alive. Eric had to make sure this teen would become loyal and not suddenly backstab him. This whole setting seemed like a sick murder game.

"C-Can we really get out?" the timid teen gained a bit of fire in his eyes, hearing Eric's words.

"Yes," Eric nodded like a true protagonist exuding confidence and unbelievable plot armour. Of course, after all, a protagonist could never die, right? Right? This wasn't one of the stories where the readers would get uno reversed, right? Right?

"We have to be wary of the other residents," Eric started but was interrupted by the youth, "N-Not all are bad, we should rally them."

"I like your idea!" Eric continued to play the charismatic and bright protagonist.

The teen didn't even question how Eric went from confused and shy to suddenly heroic, he was just reeled in by Eric's poopy protagonist charm.

The teen was right, if there were normal residents, it was best to get them all together and fight against the murderes here. Eric alone couldn't do that. Spurred on by the praise, the teen eagerly wanted to be of more help.

"T-There are two towers which are connected, each tower or building has 10 floors with 5 rooms. Each room has only one resident."

"Oh, is that so?" Eric felt like he was becoming more and more of a character instead of Eric himself. Was this novel trying to change him into one? If so, Eric was afraid he didn't have much time left but the system said once he successfully edited the plot he could get out.

But what if Timmy's soul managed to overtake Eric, Eric would be stuck here forever right? It'd be the system's nature to leave that out.

"How do you know all that?"

"A-Actually there was another resident who had the same idea as you, he told me this all."

"What happened to him?"

"Dead..."

Could it have been Timmy? Eric didn't know how far in the story he was, he just assumed at the beginning.

Either way, Eric's first goal was to seal one of the towers to prevent crazy murderers from one tower coming to the other. Dealing with 100 was too much but Timmy, assuming, must've probably died countless times. So there were fewer residents.

"How many residents do you think there are now?"

"I- I don't know, most older residents who've been here for a long while now hide, especially the murderers."

Could it be that the residents were all sealed here for Timmy to possess after death? But why murderers? To make Timmy be able to fight against Slasherman or to have Timmy also be killed by the murderers? What a perverted and twisted thing this was.

So, Eric was determined to seal Slasherman and lure the murderers to this tower, while he and the normal ones stayed in the other and find a way to escape.

Eric also needed to find Lyna.

"How long have you been here? How many people do you know here?"

"I- I don't know because you lose track of time but probably a month. I don't really know many..."

A month...

At least 50 people must've died, so half were still left, which wasn't good because definitely most innocent ones have died and only these clever and crazy murderers remain.

This teen, how did he survive? Knew how to hide?

"How do you hide? You mentioned it previously?"

"Y-Yes, stay inside the room and no murderers will come if one is lucky but most murderers don't dare to go out because of Slasherman. No one knows who this monster is."

This was vital information. Slasherman couldn't enter the rooms but Eric couldn't afford to stay inside the room forever. This wasn't a story readers would want to read. Too boring!

Eric had to check the towers for Lyna and residents. The best way to deal with murderers was to think like a murderer, make them kill each other.

Eric's eyes swept around the apartment and his view fell on the window again.

"Have you tried to escape from the window?"

"It's impossible, most things, anything that could be used as a weapon has been taken away, so any form of resistance and escape is shut, except brute force. O-Only Slasherman has a weapon."

"I see," Eric thought hard. It was unlike him to think so hard and make all of these deductions. Was it Timmy? For Eric, this usually superficial and fake guy, to be able to make such precise conclusions was... but Eric was the best editor and plot holes and everything came easy and natural to him.

Maybe it was just his talent haha. Eric gulped his arrogance down and looked at the teen who shook a bit but seemed more relaxed, "What's your name?"

"H-Huh? I- It's Tom," for some reason Tom's cheeks turned a bit red. What the fuck? What the hell are you blushing for?

Was this such an intimate question? Eric sighed and gave a bright smile, "I'm Timmy."

Yes, Timmy was the protagonist of the story so obviously, Eric had to use Timmy's name.

What a mess, Timmy and Tom. Why not just Tommy then?

"Tom, you might have done that already but look for something useful in your place. I'll go back and see in my room."

"Y-You're going?"

"Once I find something, I'll come back and we start our plan of course."

"Yes..." Tom nodded and blushed again.

What the fuck?