In the cold, dark night air, unfamiliar red letters began to appear slowly, written as if etched into the sky.

“Main Quest – Murder has begun.”

A main quest I hadn’t even known existed now appeared above Adrian’s status window, glowing in ominous red text: [Main Quest] Murder. Seeing that stark reminder made it all too real that I was trapped inside a horror game.

The fact that I hadn’t even been aware of the main quest until now showed just how difficult this game was. If I hadn’t made up my mind to kill, the main quest might have stayed hidden forever, leaving me to grow old and die inside this world without ever knowing about it. There was no explanation of how many main quests there were or what conditions were needed to complete them, but it seemed inevitable that they were tied to the game’s ending.

Adrian’s condition was dire, the main quest had appeared, and I already had a sacrifice lined up. Everything had fallen into place perfectly. All I had to do now was steel my resolve. It was the dead of night, pitch black, and there wasn’t a soul around to witness anything—an ideal time for murder. I rose from my crouched position, tightly rolling up the blanket I had carried and setting it down in an inconspicuous spot.

But now that I’d decided to go through with it, I was at a complete loss about how to proceed. Did I actually have to kill someone myself, or would the system recognize an assist kill like it did with Adrian’s rules? After some thought, I decided to assume the latter since Adrian’s survival was the priority.

I wouldn’t kill the target outright, just weaken them enough for Adrian to land the final blow. But how was I supposed to bring someone to the brink of death? My mind went blank. Damn it—wasn’t the system supposed to give me something like a knife or another item capable of inflicting lethal wounds for a main quest like this?