Everyone was going crazy: "..."
Do you even know what you ate???
You actually finished it???
Xie He nonchalantly chewed on the remaining half of the finger.
A strong plastic taste filled his mouth.
He could clearly feel spasms in his upper abdomen, as if a nimble finger was churning inside. The plastic fingernail was sharply digging into his stomach lining.
"Ugh—"
A person next to Xie He bent over and vomited violently, spewing out fragments of his internal organs.
His entire body slumped down.
Only then did Xie He realize that there was another person present who had also eaten the plastic doll's finger.
It was a bespectacled boy whose name he didn't know.
The man was clearly terrified, his bloodshot eyes wide, cold sweat beading on his pale forehead, his whole body trembling.
Xie He, however, calmly wiped his lips with a tissue. The tissue quickly became soaked with bright red blood, making his lips appear even more vivid against his pale skin.
His every move was effortless, as if he had merely stained his lips.
Those around them stared in stunned silence; the scene was utterly horrifying.
The contrast was stark, especially when the two were placed side by side. One was on the verge of a mental breakdown, frantically scratching his body, muttering incessantly like a mantra. The other, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease, as if on vacation, utterly unconcerned about the blood on his lips—it was utterly terrifying!
***
Liao Mingze shifted his gaze, glancing at the blond-haired young man beside him, his eyes darkening.
The blond-haired young man was holding a spherical metal object.
It was a lock shaped like a copper ball, with keyholes on all 360 degrees. All the locks needed to be pried open to open the ball.
Sensing the gaze, the blond-haired boy, who had been stunned by the severed finger, trembled slightly but immediately continued working.
"Hey, hey, Brother Liao, I'll continue now." The blond-haired boy skillfully manipulated the copper ball with wire clips, making it clink and jingle.
Last night—
After the maid left, Liao Mingze used the clue card once.
Seeing the card's light flash, Liao Mingze said without hesitation, "The clue on the card points to the blind box room… Let's go! Let's go back!"
They returned to the blind box room.
But unexpectedly, only a dozen minutes later. When they returned to the blind box room, the body and bloodstains at the crime scene had vanished without a trace!
The room was chillingly cold, with only the blind box dolls on the shelves staring at them eerily.
The clue card indicated that this time the glowing clue was between two dolls, and the clue was a strangely shaped bronze ball.
Upon encountering the dolls, everyone felt goosebumps rise all over their bodies, and they only dared to cautiously approach the bronze ball.
Although they were still quite a distance away, the room suddenly went dark, the light bulbs on the ceiling flickering, and the room constantly changing between light and shadow.
Sizzle—
Sizzle—
The room was eerie, and with each time the light bulb went completely out, it seemed as if a vengeful ghost appeared.
Sizzle—
A strange and shrill laugh echoed from the closed room, chilling everyone to the bone!
Snap!
The lights went out instantly.
Terrified screams erupted from the crowd, and everyone covered their heads, fleeing in panic and disarray into the darkness.
The room was bone-chillingly cold, and the terrifying screams continued in their ears; the dolls attacked them again.
Clang, clang...
The entire room was shrouded in a ghostly black mist!
Liao Mingze swiftly drew his snake-bone whip!
His muscles were strong, his strength gathering wind; with a flick of the whip, he instantly shattered the heads of a bunch of dolls. Several seconds of silence filled the air before the remaining dolls settled down, obediently returning to their shelves, too afraid to move.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
The light bulb finally stopped flickering, and the room brightened. Under the dim light, the clock on the wall ticked as usual.
But everyone present had suffered some injuries, and gasped in shock. The little blondie had been bitten on the back of his hand by a doll, leaving a deep tooth mark; he winced in pain.
Fortunately.
They had finally obtained the clue—the copper ball.
"Hey, little blondie, try to pick these locks." The copper ball was surrounded by layers upon layers of locks; you'd have to pry them all open to find what was inside.
In his original world, blondie was a petty thug. He'd been to jail for theft before, so lock picking was a piece of cake for him. He got some wire clips from a female player. But just as blondie was frantically trying to pick a lock, and had only managed to open about half of it, the system suddenly sent a message.
[Game needs bug fixing; dungeon progress has been accelerated.]
[Time fast-forwarding >>>>>>>]
"What's going on?!"
"Holy crap—"
"Brother Liao, what's happening…"
Suddenly, a strong suction force came, and the world spun around. When they opened their eyes again, they were at the dinner table the next day.
The wall clock ticked, and the mutton soup on the table simmered. The strange mistress sat before them, smiling as usual, her eyes crinkling with laughter.
"Sister Cui, bring two glasses of water."
The mistress's gaze shifted to the two men clearly affected by the severed finger—
One was vomiting violently.
The other appeared calm and unconcerned, but the tissue in his hand was stained with dark red blood; his internal organs must have been shredded by the severed finger.
The mistress shook her head, her eyes revealing a mixture of contempt and pity for the dying.
She called to the plump maid twice, but Sister Cui seemed not to hear, so the mistress went to the kitchen.
Xie He swallowed the metallic taste in his throat and continued serving his soup and eating.
A short while later, the mistress returned with warm water and handed a glass to the half-dead, bespectacled man.
The bespectacled man was pale, his lips trembling, his eyes wide with terror. His hands shook violently as he took the cup, utterly terrified; the moment his fingertips touched the cup, he flinched…
Crack!
The cup shattered on the floor, splintering into pieces, steaming water spilling everywhere.
The woman couldn't help but laugh, which only made the man tremble more violently.
The woman turned around, holding the cup of water, intending to hand it to Xie He, but then froze.
The young man was enjoying his soup and rice, steam rising from his bowl.
Beside his bowl and chopsticks, a small pile of bones had already accumulated, indicating a very good appetite.
Mistress: "???"
Mistress: "..."
Feeling watched, Xie He looked up and commented earnestly, "Thank you for your hospitality, this mutton soup is delicious."
Mistress: "..."
Xie He: "The flavor is very good, the meat is tender but not greasy, quite nice. I think it could be better with a little more egg and some scallions and garlic."
The mistress's expression stiffened: "…………"
With a smile on her face, she gritted her teeth and said, "If you think it's good, then that's good."
Perhaps because of the close proximity, Xie He smelled a strong medicinal scent emanating from the mistress, as if it were coming from the kitchen.
Xie He narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly.
***
After the meal, the mistress left.
Liao Mingze left first with his men.
Yu You looked worriedly at Xie He, whose face was pale but who seemed completely unconcerned.
If it weren't for the fact that Xie He was coughing softly, unconsciously pressing his abdomen a few times, and his lips growing paler, Yu You would have truly thought this man had no pain receptors.
But this man always seemed oblivious to fear.
It was as if the more dangerous the situation, the happier he became…
Even if he were facing certain death, he would still row his little rickety oar without hesitation.
Yu You asked frantically, “What do we do now? I feel completely lost. We can't expect to have to go to the blind box room again, can we?”
“Go to the kitchen,” Xie He said casually, picking up his phone.
Recalling everything that had just happened, he deeply felt that he was being valued by the system.
The little system had actually given him a special increase in the difficulty of the dungeon, giving him more participation in the game.
This feeling was like when Xie He played Werewolf; he always hoped to be the werewolf, even if it was the villain—it was the most fun part of participating every night.
He'd be even happier if he were the only one to eat the finger, but this feeling was alright too.
He really wanted to thank the little system.
Xie He took out his phone, staring at the temporary chat window on the screen.
He couldn't send a message; how could he contact the other person?
Aha!
He remembered a good way to get the other person to add him.
Xie He skillfully tapped the system's avatar, clicked the upper right corner—User [Card Draw S]—Report.
The screen displayed the following reasons for the report:
1. Game notification not sent in a timely manner
2. Game notification not sent correctly
3. Other
Xie He thought for a moment and selected reason 3.
[Other]
[Please fill in the reason for the complaint:]
Light streamed in through the side window of the corridor, casting a faint shadow beneath stray hairs onto the beauty mark at the corner of his eye.
Xie He, understanding immediately, moved his finger and randomly filled in: [Does not conform to the core socialist values].
The page's loading signal flickered.
Then, the page excitedly announced: [Report successful.]
[Your complaint has been received. We will process it for you as soon as possible. Please pay attention to incoming calls. Employee ID [Card Draw S] will call you within 72 hours. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.]
The other party will call within 72 hours.
Xie He chuckled softly: Yay!
It's just so strange, why does the little system seem to be governed by the game world?
Yu You and Xia Gu, walking behind, didn't understand why Xie He was walking so slowly with his phone in hand? And why did he seem so cheerful?
They still followed Xie He to the kitchen.
In the kitchen.
A middle-aged, overweight woman was bending over, simmering a dark, murky soup. Because of her bent-over posture, layers of fat were piled up on her sides—she was a plump maid.
It was unclear what she was cooking; billowing smoke rose from the kitchen, carrying a strong smell of Chinese medicine.
Upon seeing her, Yu You's face paled several shades. He instinctively nudged Xia Gu with his elbow, pointing tremblingly to the maid's feet.
Both of them looked down at the maid's feet. Under the fluorescent light, a dark shadow appeared beneath the plump maid's skirt. But upon closer inspection, it became clear that she had no feet; she seemed to float there, unsteady.
They instinctively took a step back, cold sweat dripping from their foreheads.
—Help! We're trying to run!
But a young man firmly blocked their path. Tall and slender, he silently observed everything, his gaze carrying a deep, condescending air.
Xie He had clearly noticed the maid's unusual nature, but he pretended not to, merely leaning casually against the doorframe and glancing up nonchalantly: "Is this Chinese medicine? Is the mistress unwell?"
He had noticed the mistress smelling of Chinese medicine on her after she came out of the kitchen, exactly like the herbal soup the plump maid was brewing.
“Ah, yes.” The plump maid mechanically turned her head, forcing a kind smile upon seeing the newcomers. She sighed softly, “Ah. Our mistress is so kind, but her life isn't so good. She's all alone and her health isn't good either; she needs to take medicine every week to regulate her body.”
Xie He seemed thoughtful, chuckling softly, and said cooperatively, “She's kind-hearted; she'll definitely get better. But there's something I don't understand, and I'd like to ask you.”
The maid was silent for a moment, then looked curious. “I don't know much either. Tell me, and I'll tell you what I can.”
Xie He: “Do you know when the master of the house and the family’s child passed away? We've just arrived as guests and are a little worried about saying anything inappropriate.”
“Ah?” The plump maid smiled bitterly. “Is that so? The master of the house died in a car accident five years ago. But a child? Where did you hear that? Our mistress has never had any children.”
The mistress, never had any children!
Yu You and Xia Gu were completely dumbfounded, their bodies stiffening.
The mistress clearly had a five-year-old son who died, so how come she... has no children now?
Xie He thought to himself, "I knew it."
He replied naturally, his tone slightly lazy, "Ah, then I must have remembered wrong. You're quite good to your mistress, you must have been here for quite a while, right?"
His gaze subtly fell on the maid.
"Yes, five years ago," the plump maid nodded, "I came here shortly after that car accident. But I knew the mistress before, and I've never heard of her having any children."
Xie He pondered for a moment, then everything became clear.
The plump maid said the mistress had no children, the doll that looked like a boy and was covered in red, the photo of the husband cheating, the evil ghost that only opened one blind box a day but ate two players yesterday...
When all the clues connected, he now knew the background of the main storyline.
The main quest still required defeating the evil ghost and finding its corpse.
Before that, he had one side quest to complete—helping the baby ghosts return home.
"Have you figured it out?" Coming out of the kitchen, Yu You eagerly chased after Xie He, asking, "Where are we going now?"
"To kill ghosts, of course," Xie He chuckled softly, his dark pupils resolute.
Kill ghosts?
Yu You: "???" It sounded exciting, but also terrifying.
Just as the three of them came out of the kitchen, preparing to go to the blind box room again, they bumped into Liao Mingze and his group at the door.
They didn't know where they came from, but the whole team had gloomy faces and a dark, imposing aura.
Behind Liao Mingze, a player suddenly raised his voice, his tone mocking, "Oh, you followed us? You want to join us too? Are you regretting it now and want to follow our Brother Liao?"
He laughed exaggeratedly as he spoke.
Yu You muttered under his breath, "...Who's trying to steal clues from you guys? I don't know what you were doing last night, you're all bruised and battered."
"You—!"
"Don't be like that." Liao Ming reached out to stop him, still wearing that fake smile. "Little brother, I'd be happy to welcome you to join us. We're players in the same instance anyway, our common enemy is the evil ghost."
Click—
As they were talking, the blond-haired guy unlocked the copper ball lock in his hand.
The copper ball rattled a few times, then cracked open in the middle.
Inside the crack, a small note lay quietly.
Everyone looked at the blond-haired guy.
Liao Mingze quickly asked him, "How's it going?"
"Okay, Brother Liao, let me check." The blond-haired guy picked up the note, and after reading the words, instinctively asked, "—Can I read it, Brother Liao?"
"Read it."
Upon receiving the instruction, the blond-haired guy proudly read aloud,
"Game progress notification: Current surviving players: 7, Dead players: 5."
The blond-haired guy couldn't help but laugh: "This system is messing with us, everyone knows that."
As he read, he suddenly realized something was wrong.
While he was reading the clues, the other 7 players were all staring at him, their gazes all fixed on him…
Instantly, the blond-haired guy's face turned pale, a chill ran down his spine, he swallowed hard, and his legs began to tremble.
The game said there were only 7 players still alive.
But including him…
There were a total of… 8 players present!!!
Author's Note:
One day, (the protagonist) found his phone ringing incessantly. He took it out: Congratulations, you've received a report +1 +1 +1 +1
(The protagonist): ...
——
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