Wang Fei, the college student, had wandered around the first floor but found nothing unusual. Still bitter about being overshadowed by Fu Changxun earlier, he spat on the ground with a sneer.
“Tch. Aside from his face, what’s he even good for?” he muttered, viciously kicking the base of a wall. “With a face like that, he should just… should just…”
He entertained himself with the image of Fu Changxun sobbing helplessly. The thought made him feel immensely satisfied.
He was right in the middle of his fantasy when a sound behind him made him jump. He whipped around—and saw Lu Qi.
“What the hell, man! You scared me!” Annoyed, he added, “You want to team up or something? Fine. That Dr. Fu—your ex? He’s super suspicious. Let’s just accuse him today and get it over with.”
Lu Qi grinned, his expression strange. “Didn’t you say you’ve read tons of survival novels? I trust your judgment. Sure—I’ll vote for him.”
The two of them huddled together for a while, whispering and scheming, eventually grinning in twisted satisfaction.
For some people, watching a flower get crushed into the mud… was the ultimate thrill.
***
Fu Changxun’s sudden collapse had startled Dong Zi so badly that he rushed to catch him just in time.
Xu Zhengyi hurried over, panicked. “What happened to Dr. Fu?!”
“It looks like he’s just asleep.” Dong Zi carried him over to the sofa, cushioned him with his own coat, and lowered him gently. “Ah-Xun? Can you hear me?”
The only response was the other man’s ragged breathing.
Dong Zi had no choice but to crouch beside him, gripping his hand tightly. “Don’t be afraid. I’m right here with you.”
As midnight approached, the others—mentally strained and utterly exhausted—returned to the main hall one after another, gathering together and dozing off in a haze.
It was at this moment that the game’s malice truly revealed itself. Even though surviving three days was enough to clear the game, there was no food here, no water source. Enduring three days like this was far from easy.
“Everyone conserve your strength,” Xu Zhengyi sighed. “Try to talk less and move around as little as possible.”
Fu Changxun was still unconscious. In sleep, the sharp edge of his beauty softened, leaving him looking exquisitely fragile.
When the girl from the young couple happened to notice him, she couldn’t help sucking in a sharp breath.
A sleeping beauty…
Her boyfriend was just as stunned. It took him a long moment to come back to himself, after which he awkwardly diverted his gaze. “Aren’t we missing someone? That college student?”
At that exact moment, an inhuman scream suddenly rang out from the second floor.
“Don’t come over—get away! Aah!!”
Fu Changxun jolted awake, sitting bolt upright, drenched in cold sweat. “Hurry—go up there! Something’s going to happen!”
Everyone rushed to the second floor at top speed, bursting into the room where the sound had come from.
But they were too late.
The missing male college student lay in a pool of blood. His face had been slashed with countless bloody cuts, his body sprawled lifelessly on the floor. His eyes were wide with terror, nearly torn at the corners, and after that scream, he had died with his eyes still open.
The young couple who had charged in first went deathly pale at the same time, immediately retching uncontrollably.
The remaining people were no better off. Faced with such a horrific sight, they were on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Less than a day—and someone was already dead.
The shadow of the game pressed heavily on everyone’s hearts. Every single person was thinking the same thing:
Could we… really hold out for three days?
“I just dreamed of some scenes,” Fu Changxun said, leaning against Dong Zi’s chest, his face white as paper. “There are many ghostly figures in this villa. The [Ghost] hiding among us has a blood feud with them, so they’ll kill everyone until that [Ghost] is found.”
Dong Zi frowned. “A dream warning? Did those ghostly figures do anything bad to you?”
Fu Changxun shook his head. “No. But this is clearly a warning to us. Either we stay together and don’t split up, endure for three days—or we identify the [Ghost].”
The girl from the couple had already started sobbing. “How are we supposed to choose? There are still seven people, and only three chances…”
Aside from the most suspicious female high school student, they all knew each other. They had no idea who had been replaced by the [Ghost].
Xu Zhengyi slammed his fist down and made the call. “We’ll pick her today. If we’re wrong, we choose again tomorrow.”
Once everyone calmed down, they all agreed.
[Congratulations—identification failed.]
The game’s voice dripped with malicious glee, dealing a cruel blow to their fragile hope.
Something stirred in Fu Changxun’s mind. He quietly rose onto his toes and whispered a few words into Dong Zi’s ear, tugging lightly at his sleeve as he nodded.
Only then did Dong Zi speak. “[The Ghost] and those ghostly figures are both tied to this villa. Everyone, take out what you found during the ten minutes in the safe room. Don’t hold anything back.”
He led by example, pulling out several scraps of paper and a bottle of glue.
Fu Changxun took out some paper fragments and a small knife.
Dong Zi added, “If anyone obtained a special item, you don’t need to show that. But everything else—try to contribute.”
With that reassurance, the others followed suit, producing slips of paper, ropes, pliers, candles, and similar items. As they compared them, everyone’s expressions darkened.
Put together, these things looked disturbingly like instruments of torture.
Had those ghostly figures been abused to death by the [Ghost], and now come seeking revenge? And now—they were the targets of that revenge.
The scraps of paper had been torn to shreds, but with their lives on the line, everyone somehow forced out their hidden potential, piecing them together in order into several pages.
[Today was fucking awful.]
[Heh, feels great after beating someone up. Way cheaper than paying to kick a punching bag.]
[Dare to grab me? You little bastard, you’re asking to die!]
[…There’s something at my bedside. It’s two in the morning—he has come back!]
[Don’t come looking for me, don’t come looking for me. If you have to blame someone, blame your bad luck. It’s not my fault!]
The last page had nothing written on it at all—only a bloody handprint, sending chills crawling up everyone’s spine.
Fu Changxun nearly developed a fear toward diaries on the spot.
He let out a breath. “Looks like this is the [Ghost]’s diary. He abused and killed someone—maybe more than one person. They came back for revenge, and he mixed in with us, trying to use this chance to escape the ghostly figures’ retribution.”
As he spoke, he maintained his ‘useless beauty’ persona, pressing close to Dong Zi and whispering to him again.
Xu Zhengyi snapped angrily, “How can someone be that insane? Feeling bad and taking it out on other people?”
The livestreaming young man and his girlfriend were equally furious. “That’s disgusting. He deserves to be punished!”
The high school girl and Lu Qi remained silent.
Dong Zi swept his gaze across the group and repeated what Fu Changxun had told him. “We still need to investigate. Those people most likely died here. If we find more clues, we’ll have a better chance of dragging out the [Ghost].”
Tall and dependable, he inspired trust, and the players followed his lead, splitting into groups to search for information. After seeing a real corpse, no one dared to wander off alone.
The first floor was manageable. On the second floor, however, many of the rooms were locked, the doors without keys and impossible to open.
Everyone pulled out their own items—cups, wallets, phones, and so on. The most outrageous was Dong Zi’s steering wheel, but none of it was of any use for picking locks.
“Then… how about letting me try?”
Everyone turned their heads, only to see the beautiful doctor who had stuck close to the tall man from beginning to end slowly pull something out of his pocket—
A doorknob.
The moment the doorknob touched the door, it melted seamlessly into the original handle. With a gentle twist, the door opened.
The players stared, dumbfounded, marveling at the sight.
Even the beauty himself looked delighted. “Wow! So it really works like that—how lucky.”
