Chapter 20: The Eyes in the Crack of the Door

Jon looked towards the sound and waited for a few seconds. The door of the cabin then echoed with a rhythmic knocking.

"Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock!"

It seemed he hadn't misheard. He glanced at the bag of minced meat he had just packed, ensuring he hadn't been affected by any cognitive distortions.

The minced meat was still the same as before and hadn't turned into dog food as seen under cognitive distortion.

Jon furrowed his brows and put away the bag of minced meat.

He quickly recalled all the rules in his mind. There were three rules concerning knocking sounds.

Specifically Rule 2, Rule 3, and Rule 8.

Rule 2 stated that before the snow season ended, there couldn't be any living person outside.

No matter if there was knocking or someone calling, the door should not be opened.

Rule 3 stated that if there was knocking at night, one must hide under the bed or in the attic.

It had already been confirmed that the attic was where "it" was confined. When he moved around the cabin at night, he could hear "it" following him from the attic.

So, Jon judged that hiding in the attic in this rule was likely a misleading hint.

After careful observation and discovering the hidden rule of not being able to close doors, Jon had concluded that he shouldn't go to the attic.

If there was knocking at night, Jon would choose to hide under the bed and observe the subsequent situation.

But now it was daytime, so there was no need to hide under the bed for the time being.

Actually, it would be better if Hanson could pass on some information, helping him observe players from other classes and using them as guinea pigs to verify things for him.

But Jon quickly dismissed this thought. To survive, he couldn't rely on others.

"Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock!"

The knocking at the entrance grew louder.

The thing outside seemed to have lost its patience, the knocking became more urgent.

Jon left the living room and quietly moved to the entrance.

He definitely wasn't going to open the door.

But he was indeed curious about who might be knocking at this time.

According to the eighth rule left by grandma, it mentioned the ranger.

The exact words were—The ranger is a hairy middle-aged man. He won't voluntarily ask to come into the cabin. If he wants to enter, let the dog bite him and then hide in the attic.

This rule also mentioned "hiding in the attic."

Jon wasn't sure if this rule was incorrect.

Moreover, there was something strange about this rule as it seemed to contradict Rule 2.

Rule 2 said that before the snow season ended, there couldn't be any living person outside.

But Rule 8 mentioned that the ranger might come to the cabin.

Judging from the sound of the wind outside and the temperature inside the cabin... the blizzard was still ongoing, indicating that the snow season hadn't ended.

Could it be... that the ranger wasn't human?

Jon reached this conclusion immediately and had some basis for it.

He thought it was necessary to understand the situation outside.

At this point, Jon already knew how to survive in this cabin for the next seven days.

But Grandma's thirteenth rule seemed to be the way to clear this eerie game. "The blizzard will weaken on the seventh day, and that's your only chance to leave here. Head north."

In this rule, the only possible mistakes Grandma could have made under cognitive distortion would be the direction of escape and the specific time to leave.

These details needed to be judged by the players themselves.

But there was one thing that wouldn't change—

That was, for the players to clear the game and leave here, they must leave the cabin and head into the more dangerous forest at that time.

So, understanding the situation outside in advance, familiarizing oneself with potential enemies, and establishing a method to deal with threats would be key to surviving outside.

Unfortunately, the door didn't have a peephole, making it impossible to observe the situation outside.

However... there was a gap under the wooden door.

Jon held his breath and took off his shoes to reduce the noise of the soles touching the wooden floor.

He slowly moved closer to the door and then bent down.

He wanted to lie on the ground to see if the thing outside was wearing shoes or had non-human paws.

Jon lay down on the ground but still couldn't see the situation outside clearly.

He needed to get a bit closer...

He moved his body forward slowly. At this moment, the knocking seemed to have stopped for a while, and he didn't know if the person outside had left.

Jon focused intently on the gap under the door.

Through the gap, he saw a large black nose.

It was a bear's nose, sniffing hard at the cabin's scent from under the door.

It seemed to have sensed Jon's presence. In the next second, a huge eyeball was pressed against the gap.

Jon made eye contact with the creature outside.

There came a low growl from the beast outside and the sound of the door being forcefully pounded.

"Bang! Bang, bang—"

Immediately, the entire heavy wooden door began to tremble.

But Jon wasn't worried because he knew this thing couldn't get in, which was one of the reasons he dared to come and check.

He was "its" prey, and the cabin was considered "its" lair.

Otherwise, the ranger or the "shadow." as well as this unknown beast outside, could easily break a first-floor window to get in.

But given the danger outside, Grandma hadn't reinforced the windows.

This implied that "it" should be blocking intruders from entering.

Perhaps this was why Grandma chose to live under the same roof as "it."

Of course, it might also be because of the puppy.

After all, in a high psychic energy state, the puppy was a powerful Werwolf.

Even if there were grizzly bears or tigers in this forest, they might not be a match for a Werwolf... After all, a Werwolf was a legendary monster.

Just then, the puppy, having finished its meal, ran over and unexpectedly started barking furiously at the door.

"Woof, woof, woof! Woof, woo—"

A hurried sound of footsteps came from outside, as if something was quickly retreating.

Jon took a deep breath and got up from the ground.

He muttered softly, "No, something seems a bit off..."

Jon reviewed the memories in his mind and quickly identified the strange feeling he had—

That was from the moment the knocking started, it knocked a total of four times. At least the first three knocks definitely sounded like they were made by human knuckles.

A bear's paw would have a hard time making such a sound.

What if it suddenly changed from a human to a bear?

Another point of doubt was that large predators like bears, when food is scarce in winter, would eat a lot in advance to store enough fat and choose to hibernate when winter arrives.

Jon unzipped his jacket, took out a small cloth bag from the inner pocket, and untied the string to check the items inside.

After seeing the contents of the bag, he couldn't help but shake his head, chuckling to himself, "Well, this homemade cognitive distortion detector is still effective..."

Three minutes ago, the contents of the bag were still pieces of minced meat.

But now, they had turned into blackish-brown, oily, bone-shaped dog food.

Jon put the bag away again, rubbing his chin as he began to think, "So when was I affected by cognitive distortion again? Could it have been when I was peered at by the creature outside through the gap?"

What concerned him was that when the puppy was previously controlled by "it" and stole his psychic energy by staring, Jon had a noticeable sensation.

It was like the feeling you get when you know someone is staring at you from behind, making your skin crawl.

But just now, he didn't have that sensation at all.

This puzzled Jon because he didn't know how his psychic energy had been drained...

From morning until now, he hadn't had any physical contact with the puppy.

So the loss of psychic energy was very strange and completely illogical.

With doubts in his mind, Jon went directly into the kitchen.

He casually opened the cabinet, took out his utensils, and then turned back to the living room.

Sure enough, the materialized form of "it" appeared in the mirror once again.

Jon now had another puzzle.

That was— in his low psychic energy or high psychic energy state, which one showed things as they really were?