Chapter 18: Female Ghost

The second-floor corridor was very narrow and long. Although the fire downstairs couldn't burn up to the second floor, the blood and flesh splattered randomly on the ground were breeding maggots and molding, emitting waves of a foul stench that was enough to make one sick.

After Lao You died, the ghostly hands reaching out from the walls did not disappear. Xie De saw the bruised and black ghostly hands inside those open dormitory doors struggling to drag their bodies out, their half-rotted faces revealing eerie smiles at him.

Holy crap! He almost couldn't even hold his cigarette steady.

"Save me."

"I don't want to die."

Chaotic murmurs began to fill his ears. Beside him, Yue Xiamo's face turned pale, and her figure swayed slightly. She slapped her own thigh hard, forcing herself to stay awake.

She said weakly, "The flames on the first floor are becoming more and more real, and there are more and more ghosts on the second floor. We have to get out of the scenario immediately. The longer we stay, the more dangerous it is."

Everyone's expressions were very serious, carefully thinking about a way out. In the dark space, there was only a speck of scarlet firelight. Xie De sniffed the clear fragrance of the expensive tobacco, trying hard to ignore the surrounding stench.

His stomach was still churning, but he forcefully suppressed it, unwilling to hold them back and be treated as trash, trying to look left and right to find a way out.

However, he didn't find a way out, nor did any ideas come to mind.

The flames downstairs had already burned to the stairwell. More and more ghostly things appeared in the right corridor. Only the left corridor could be considered normal, where the doors hadn't all opened.

"Gibberish, what do you think if we head to the left to look for more clues?"

"I think that's fine, Host." Gibberish had a sudden flash of inspiration, "We can let the little thing on your shoulder go scout the way."

Good idea.

Xie De patted the little centipede on his shoulder, but it turned out this little thing was just as timid as he was. It started whimpering again and refused to go down.

"It's over, Gibberish, I think I'm stuck with this thing. How is it that this thing is strong on the outside but weak on the inside?"

"Damn it! I was wondering why it yielded so easily, turns out it's actually just a coward. Well, nothing we can do about it, let's take a gamble. Host, the scenario can't possibly present a 100% certain-death situation, let's go over and take a look? Don't worry, I still have 30% battery left here. If we encounter monsters, it should be able to delay them a bit to let you run away." Gibberish also said in great disappointment.

"Then you absolutely must not shut down!"

Xie De didn't want to interrupt the other three's train of thought. He threw the cigarette butt on the ground, summoned his courage, and walked towards the left corridor.

There was no glaringly obvious danger in the left corridor. However, to veteran players who frequently cleared scenarios, unknown dangers were actually the real dangers.

Right now, the clues were incomplete, and there was no way to guess the scenario's intentions. They still had to take this risk once.

Wei Yanchi pondered, feeling that the clues were still missing a trigger. Just as he was preparing to go over, Xie De had already started acting, maintaining his usual style. Without discussing it with them, he walked directly into the darkness.

Hu Wei, startled, quickly followed.

The corpses crawling out of the doors in the right corridor were getting closer and closer to them, and Yue Xiamo also gritted her teeth and followed.

As soon as they followed, they found that because their line of sight in the left corridor was obstructed, only by actually walking into it could they see, without even needing to look closely for danger, a female ghost crawling on the ceiling like a spider.

The female ghost turned her head 180 degrees. Disgusting saliva flowed from her wide-open mouth, hanging down together with her dry hair. Her eyes stared fixedly at the man in front, her presence extremely strong, giving the person being stared at a massive feeling of being peeped on.

Hu Wei froze in place, not daring to step forward.

Wei Yanchi frowned at the situation before him. The female ghost had obviously had her full attention drawn by Xie De, and didn't make any rash moves for the moment.

But as long as Xie De turned his head or revealed even the slightest hint of having discovered the female ghost, he would fall into the female ghost's rules, and would likely meet with disaster.

And they couldn't warn him, nor could they even make any noise to attract the female ghost's attention.

How could such a situation be resolved?

But while the veteran players discovered the scenario's lethal trap, Xie De was too nervous. The entire time he was looking at those closed dormitory doors, entirely oblivious to the fact that there was such an entity on the ceiling, and also oblivious to the slight trembling of the little centipede on his shoulder.

While searching for clues, he listened to Gibberish acting like a fanatic fanboy in his ear. Gibberish's incessant chattering not only lowered his sense of terror but also distracted Xie De's attention even more.

"Actually, Host, I really envy the scenario system. It has rigorous data threads, a self-contained system of rules, and is even the big boss in this storyline. Although, well, it's not as lively as me and is icy cold, but why do you think it's so great? It has countless items, rewards it can give to players, and a store that every system must have. Plus, I feel like its robotic voice sounds really nice too..."

"Wait, Gibberish, how are you getting further and further off-topic? So you actually like the scenario system?! Are you kidding me? It's constantly trying to kill both of us!"

"!"

Xie De felt the phone in his pocket heating up.

Gibberish was shocked.

"(๑°ㅁ°๑) What are you thinking?! Filthy human, could you go wash your brain? I only have my career in my heart. Do you think I'm like you?"

"Heh."

Xie De felt that Gibberish's intense reaction was just a guilty conscience making things worse. He couldn't even be bothered to roast it. He walked further and further in, only to find that this was a circular building. The end of the corridor was also a room. Through the window embedded in the wall, he could see the raging fire on the first floor, and the scorching heat of the flames rushed at his face.

A beautiful wind chime hung on the door of this room, forming a stark contrast with the other dull and gloomy rooms.

What was in this room?

Xie De told Gibberish to stop being lovesick and be ready with an electric shock at any moment.

He carefully opened the door and felt a bit surprised. Inside was actually very obviously a girl's room. Posters of celebrities were pasted on the walls. There was only one bed, very clean, a dressing table, and a window facing the outside of the factory, presumably providing good lighting.

This room was probably Ma Hui's room.

Xie De walked in and closed the door.

The female ghost who had followed him all the way clenched her teeth in impotent rage behind him. Her bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the door, so hard they were about to pop out.

However, Xie De had no idea he had almost died, and still feeling somewhat relaxed, he rummaged through the room.

He dug out three love letters.

One was written by Zhang Zhi to Chunju.

One was written by Wu Yong to Ma Hui.

One didn't have a signature, and it wasn't clear who it was written to, but it was full of a young girl's thoughts.

What a complex and tangled web of relationships.

Xie De looked closely at the bedside table and found that many curses had been carved into it with a knife by Ma Hui.

"Bitch Chunju, disgusting thing. Stupid Li Qiang, go to hell Zhou Bapi!"

Ma Hui cursed everyone equally, including the cousin who had always doted on her, including Chunju whom she liked.

Uh…

Xie De couldn't analyze it. He found a dagger gleaming with a cold light under the pillow. He weighed it in his hand, casually brandished it a couple of times, and planned to go back and hand the clues over to those big shots.

Gibberish, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up at this moment.

"Alright, I admit I like it a little bit. After all, people naturally admire the strong. Even if I'm a system, I'm no exception."

Xie De mocked it.

"Does the scenario system pay any attention to you?"

"( ꐦ ಠ 皿 ಠ ), So what if it doesn't pay attention to me? Does that stop me from going after it?"

"So you're actually a simp. Uh, no, you don't even count as a simp. After all, you don't even have a place to simp."

This mocking tone was too detestable.

Xie De toyed with the dagger and opened the door. Gibberish, flying into a shameful rage, directly gave him an electric shock.

All the screams were swallowed in his throat. The drooling female ghost pressed against the door screamed before he did. Gibberish's electric current was very potent, but in fact, very little of it actually hurt Xie De. Most of it dissipated around him.

The female ghost in front of him, caught in the crossfire, had her hair standing on end, and wanted to pounce over even more fiercely.

Gibberish was the first to snap back to its senses and shouted.

"Quick! Host! Stab the dagger into her chest!"

Xie De also reacted from the massive shock. The dagger in his hand was thrown out viciously, easily piercing into the female ghost's chest. The female ghost wailed in pain and retreated, falling out of the glassless window and directly swallowed by the flames.

Xie De's brain was still a bit dazed. As he shifted his gaze, he saw the three veteran players standing not far away.

He met Wei Yanchi's black jade-like eyes.

——

Rei’s Note:

This chapter is so funny, LOL. Poor female ghost, she got dragged into Xie De’s misfortune ಡ⁠ ͜⁠ ⁠ʖ⁠ ⁠ಡ