North America.
At a school in Clam Town.
"Horror movies, I'm back with my bros. Today we're continuing the classic American horror series…"
A few days ago, John was still on the second floor, charging his phone and watching horror movie explanations. He was sent away by the Great Luck on that very day, and that TV was on the second floor!
Even if he hit the jackpot,
John also had a phantom card in his mind. He didn't even need to think to know it was the culprit that brought him here. A message would always appear on one of the cards.
『No containment detected.』
Initially, he didn't understand what 'containment' meant, until one day he came into contact with a priest from the Vatican, and then a prompt popped up on the card.
『Traces of containable object · Ghost Nun detected.』
Ghost Nun, John had only heard of her in the classic American horror Conjuring series.
It was then that John realized the people of North America were in a much deeper mess than he had imagined.
Gunfights were minor issues; encountering evil spirits, ghosts, various serial killers, and Deformed People was truly deadly.
The most serious problem was that the ghosts and evil spirits here were very unfriendly. Instead of seeking revenge, they liked to kill innocent people indiscriminately. If he had known this, why would he watch horror movie explanations? Wouldn't it be better to just watch romance and "films"?
As for whether to contain the Ghost Nun.
Are you kidding? That's a demon sealed in the Hell Gate of the monastery. Is this something a normal person like him could contain?
Of course, even so, it was still acceptable; at least he could live.
He was just afraid of things involving clover files, Lighthouse, The Mist, Call of Cthulhu... That wouldn't be simple horror; it would be even more hellish than hell itself.
John now has 54 black phantom cards. The cards have four categories: Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, and Clubs.
This is easy to understand, just like playing Landlord with a deck of poker cards.
『Note: It's not that only 55 phantom cards can only contain that number of horrors.』
The biggest phantom cards are King K, Queen Q, and Jack J, as well as the Big Joker and Small Joker, which are independent of the categories. They can also be called Big Ghost and Small Ghost.
A belongs to the special cards.
The rest are number cards, from two to ten.
Kings and Queens can have their own territories and spaces.
The surface of each phantom card is blank.
All kinds of horrors successfully contained will become his most loyal subordinates and fusions. This is the basic game rule of the phantom card.
There are a total of 54 phantom cards.
『Categories: Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, Clubs』
The cards he can use now are the Two series. Even all the Twos combined couldn't contain the Ghost Nun.
Her true identity is a demon god from hell. A single Two to contain a demon god, wouldn't it really get overfilled and burst?
The moment he made contact with the priest, John might have been targeted by the Ghost Nun. The possibility is very high.
For an existence of the Ghost Nun's caliber, dealing with John would probably be a casual matter.
John didn't want the Ghost Nun to come knocking on his door one day, so containing other ghosts through the phantom card became a necessary task.
After all, he didn't believe in God; he only believed that horror could fight horror.
It's just that this first step is too difficult.
His thoughts didn't drift too long, because today was the day John had agreed with a few friends from outside school to go for a relaxing trip in North Carolina.
It's just that the name of this state sounds a bit familiar, like it's a place with a high incidence of certain accidents... He couldn't remember it for a moment... Noon.
On a winding road within North Carolina, a jeep sped down the highway, flanked by secluded forests.
There were three men and three women in the car.
Among them were two couples; Scott and Carly were one couple, and John wasn't very familiar with the other.
The remaining woman was named Jessie. She wore a short crop top and standard jeans. She was a white beauty, but her skin was tanned a deliberate wheat color.
A considerable portion of Americans like to tan.
John was invited by her to travel, but even when traveling, he didn't forget to bring a pistol, which could still give him a sense of security.
Blue skies and white clouds, even the scenery on the detour due to traffic was pleasant.
Everything looked beautiful.
Until the car had a flat tire, and then was rear-ended by another car.
Scott got out of the car to argue with the person. At this time, Jessie looked at her phone in distress and complained to John.
"This broken place doesn't even have any signal, John, do you have signal on your phone?"
The words "no signal" were like a switch for John, making him instantly tense.
Classic American horror: no signal.
After learning that the person who crashed into them was named Chris, and his purpose for being here, it became even more certain.
A classic American horror gore film, "wrong turn," tells the story of Deformed Cannibals, a group born from chemical reagent infection and inbreeding, hunting passing tourists.
At this moment, the phantom card he was idly playing with also gave a timely prompt.
『Traces of containable object · Deformed Cannibal detected.』
John glanced at the surrounding jungle.
Deformed Cannibals, not only far surpassed ordinary people in strength, endurance, and damage resistance, making it almost impossible for ordinary people to inflict fatal damage with punches, kicks, or ordinary sticks in a head-on attack, but they were also proficient in various weapons.
The most important thing is that there isn't just one Deformed Cannibal; the three brothers are all present and will cooperate with each other.
Difficult to deal with, but this might also be an opportunity.
Jessie got out to understand the situation, then turned back and asked John.
"John, do you want to come with us to call for vehicle rescue, or wait for rescue here with Evan and them?"
John listened to Chris and said,
"It's better if we don't split up. It's not safe to stay here. I heard there are cannibals in this area."
Originally, John didn't want to get involved, but having more people could increase the chances of survival. At that time, he wouldn't need to outrun those Deformed People... "Cannibals? Dude, are you trying to make us laugh?" Evan couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Undoubtedly, the others also didn't believe there were any cannibals.
Classic disbelief... John had no choice but to follow Jessie, Chris, plus Scott and Carly, preparing to walk back and forth along the road to see if they could find a place with signal to call for rescue.
Although John knew about wrong turn, he had clearly forgotten most of the plot, only remembering a general outline.
Moreover, there's also a series.
Can't kill them all, simply can't kill them all.
Chris saw this and laughed: "Relax, buddy, this is America, how can there be such a thing as cannibals?"
John's vigilance was just because he didn't want to end up like the American police at the end, getting a golden headshot from a hidden arrow, that would be too unfair a death.
Everyone searched along the road.
At a short fork in the road, they saw an old shack, with white smoke still coming from its chimney.
Several rusty, long-abandoned cars were parked around it.
Chris suggested they go take a look, and the group walked towards the dilapidated wooden house at the end of the fork.
John observed the surroundings; these cars must have been left by passing tourists who unfortunately encountered Deformed Cannibals and became their dinner.
Sometimes he really wanted to curse, what exactly were the police here doing?
And that broken phone never had signal.
"Hey, maybe we should leave here." Jessie looked at her surroundings and stopped at the entrance.
Chris, however, felt that there was nothing to fear with so many people, and besides, they didn't know how far the next intersection was, and it might be dark by then.
"Hello, is anyone home?"
Chris knocked on the door and shouted, while the woman from the couple picked up an iron rod and curiously tapped the wire, making a clinking sound.
John silently watched this suicidal behavior.
Seeing no one, Chris pushed the door open and entered the shack directly. Jessie initially thought this was very impolite, but seeing John follow closely behind, she said nothing more.
As soon as they entered the door,
Everyone smelled a foul odor.
On the table, there were not only leftover "people" but also recently dried, blackened blood, as well as various cluttered items piled in every corner and a pot of delicious stew simmering on the stove.
It didn't look like a house; it looked more like a cluttered storage room for garbage.
Ignoring the others' chatter, John began to look for a suitable weapon.
Unfortunately, there were no pistols in the house.
Only a few cold weapons.
John casually picked up a tetanus machete.
Chris, Scott, and Carly didn't touch anything in the room; they thought John was making a big deal out of nothing.
Jessie, seeing John with the machete, advised him, "Jhon, these are other people's things, we shouldn't just take them."
"Take it for self-defense."
Jessie looked at John's serious gaze, shrugged, and said helplessly, "Alright."
Jessie's attitude towards John was different from others. Although John was an international student, he was unlike the short Asians she usually saw. He was tall and handsome, with naturally pale skin, and most importantly, he was rich.
As soon as they finished looking around the room, a woman's scream came from inside.
Going into the innermost room, they saw a dismembered female corpse soaking in the bathtub...