Xie He decided to look for clues first.
He pulled his hoodie up, his bangs casting a small shadow on his fair face, making his hair appear even darker and more inky. He looked listless, making people hesitant to approach. Seeing him walk aside, the crowd dispersed, making way for him.
“Brother Liao, what do we do now?” Zhang Che, the round-faced man, asked hesitantly, watching Xie He's retreating figure.
“The system wouldn’t have arranged for her to bring us here for no reason. There must be something she wants to remind us of. Let’s look around,” Liao Mingze said calmly.
He wasn’t worried at all. Both of their cards were top-tier SSR cards, practically a winning combination in the dungeon; no one could beat them.
Seeing the veteran player say he wanted to look for clues, the other players hesitated for a moment before staying behind. Some cautiously poked around looking for clues, while others, too afraid to touch anything, secretly slacked off… Everyone was on edge, their hearts in their throats.
Liao Mingze led Zhang Che to the deserted blind box shelf.
He glanced at Zhang Che's pocket and cautiously said, "I remember your card is a X-ray vision card. Let's check if there's any danger."
Zhang Che nodded in agreement and obediently took out his card.
[Card: SSR-level - X-ray Vision Card]
[Function: Can see through walls and detect traces of ghosts hiding]
Seeing the arc of light flash from the X-ray Vision Card, Liao Mingze narrowed his eyes and asked, "Did you see anything?"
"Not yet..." Zhang Che was feeling disappointed, the word "no" not even escaping his lips, when his gaze suddenly changed, revealing a look of surprise.
Because of the X-ray Vision Card, all the blind boxes in front of him were completely transparent.
Except, one blind box contained a quiet doll, with cards and similar items stacked at its feet!
A glint of light flashed in Zhang Che's eyes, and he excitedly raised his voice, "Brother Liao! Brother Liao! There's a blind box over there, and the doll inside seems to have something under its feet. I wonder if it's a clue—I'll go get that blind box and take a look!"
Liao Mingze frowned almost imperceptibly, quickly looking around. Luckily, no one else had noticed.
He thought to himself, "Why does this young man get so worked up over the smallest things? He'll never amount to anything."
Liao Mingze leaned down and whispered a few words to Zhang Che. Zhang Che immediately seemed to have a flash of inspiration, a look of sudden understanding on his face: "...Brother Liao is so thoughtful."
***
Half a minute later, Yu You was led to the shelf.
"There's a clue in that box, take it," Zhang Che said.
A clue?
Yu You didn't understand why such a good thing as getting a clue would fall to him. He suspiciously picked up the clue blind box.
The blind box felt very light, and it seemed... there really was nothing wrong with it.
Zhang Che stared at the untouched blind box, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes. He said somewhat woodenly, "Not bad."
Yu You breathed a sigh of relief, a small surge of joy welling up inside him. Had he finally gained the attention of a veteran player?
His courage swelled, and he habitually started rambling on, his thoughts wandering: "Hopefully it's a crucial clue. If only I could get home soon, then..."
He chuckled as he was about to hand the clue blind box to Zhang Che.
However, the next second...
The door to the room slammed shut with a bang, whipping Yu You's hair back and forcing him to squint.
A thin layer of bluish-gray dust settled on the floor. The light bulb flickered dimly, the room growing increasingly dark and eerie, a chill seeping from the corners.
In an instant, Yu You felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
An indescribable stench filled the air, and an uneasy premonition crept into his heart.
Thump.
Thump.
The blind box in his hand suddenly began to shake!
Yu You's mind went completely blank, and his face paled several shades.
What...is...this?!
Everyone also sensed something was wrong and looked warily towards the source of the sound—
Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump!!!
The thumping sounds from inside the blind box grew more rapid.
Sizzle—
Before Yu You could react, a hole had appeared in the blind box, and a plastic doll emerged.
Under the flickering incandescent light, the doll's body gleamed with a cold, oily sheen, its cheeks smeared with two exaggerated blobs of scarlet paint.
Its eyes bulged menacingly, two rotting spheres, the pupils just peeling off, revealing a lifeless, murky gray-white.
In an instant, the doll had swiftly crawled from his fingers to Yu You's vulnerable neck.
A chill crept up his veins, sharp nails digging deep into his flesh!
Drip. Drip.
The doll grinned, its mouth wide open. Sticky, slippery, icy saliva dripped down Yu You's neck—
It's the doll again! Help! Help! Help me!!!
"Aaaaaaahh"
...
The onlookers' comments were chilling:
[Goodness, everyone's running for their lives. I'm quitting after they're all dead. Too many newbies this round, no fun at all, really disappointing. I'm going to try a harder game.]
[Ah, this is complete chaos! This doll seems much stronger than the last one??]
[Haha, lol, use your brain, okay? The clue doll isn't just for show, is it??]
Just as the doll opened its bloody mouth, about to bite through Yu You's carotid artery, at the critical moment, "Whoosh!!" A sharp whooshing sound rang out in the room.
A thin card spun rapidly, launched with unstoppable force, piercing through the clouds and heading straight for the doll!
The doll barely saw what was coming at it before opening its mouth and catching the card.
At the same moment, another whip swept towards the doll.
They were incredibly fast; the crowd barely had time to see how the cards and whips worked.
The doll's throat bobbed, and the card Xie He had thrown was...eaten by it!
[??? The card is gone.]
[Hahaha, lol, throwing the card was pretty cool, but then it got eaten.]
"Hehe...hehehe..." The doll grinned mischievously, as if to say, "Your props aren't all that great."
Xie He's clothes fluttered in the ghostly aura, but his expression remained nonchalant: "Little Meal Card, turn into a durian."
Doll: "???"
The crowd, hearing this: "???"
Suddenly, the Meal Card inside the doll arced through the air and transformed into a giant durian!
Durian?
The doll's expression froze for a second.
It was only 20cm tall; its small body couldn't possibly support something so large.
Bang...bang...bang!!
It exploded like a bursting balloon in an instant, scattering plastic fragments all over the floor!
Everyone: "!!!"
The whip that followed nearly struck the durian!
The next second, the durian had transformed into a thin, undamaged Meal Card, obediently spinning back towards Xie He.
The boy stood, his hoodie up, his jet-black hair lightly brushing against the beauty mark at the corner of his eye.
He sheathed the card with the swift, satisfying motion of sheathing a sword.
In an instant, the eerie atmosphere in the room dissipated like the sun breaking through the clouds, and the room returned to brightness.
Everyone, still shaken, sat slumped on the floor, their expressions towards Xie He a mixture of surprise and complexity.
The rapidly scrolling comments almost blocked the screen:
[WTF!!! Cards can be played like this?! Hahahaha, what the hell is this, turning into a durian?!]
[Ahhhhhhh, the gestures, movements, and looks of throwing cards here are amazing!!! This guy is awesome! (Voice cracks)]
[Is the person upstairs crazy? The doll is just a small fry, trying to cheat. I want to see how he'll face the evil ghost tonight!]
[Thanks for the reminder, I also think he only knows small tricks, he's doomed tonight.]
Xie He pulled out his vibrating phone. The system message arrived as expected.
However, he and the system are now...
In temporary chat mode... Huh???
Xie He suddenly laughed. Is the little system being forced to work??
System: [Congratulations to player Xie He for killing the clue doll once, reward 10 points.]
[Current Total Points: 80]
[Followers: 426]
[100 points can upgrade your card, keep up the good work!]
[Reward Buff: Doll's Protection once.]
[Explanation: Player Xie He, you have killed two dolls. The dolls are extremely afraid of you. They will attack you one less time when you meet again.]
Xie He looked at the screen.
So there was an extra reward buff.
He wasn't a busybody; other people's lives and deaths were none of his concern.
—He only intervened because he saw that this doll could release ghostly energy and create chaos; it looked powerful and worth some points.
He gambled correctly.
The long whip, which had been withdrawn, returned to the hand of the dark-skinned veteran player, Liao Mingze.
The middle-aged man was tall and straight, the snake bone whip in his hand hanging menacingly at the ground, each segment of the black snake bone gleaming with a chilling light, looking powerful and vigorous.
He glanced at Xie He impassively, his face grim—he had been about to use his whip on the doll, but the kid had been a step too fast, letting him collect the points!
If it weren't for the game rules prohibiting players from killing each other, he really wanted to…
Liao Mingze clenched his whip tightly.
Oh well, the evil ghost will deal with him.
Liao Mingze tried his best to maintain his composure, forcing a smile back, and walked with the other players towards the clue that had fallen from beneath the doll. Xie He put away his phone and followed.
The clue wasn't a card, but a crumpled photograph—
The background was a sun-drenched park lawn, and in the foreground was a young couple sitting on the grass.
They leaned forward slightly, their faces turned to kiss, their movements shy and restrained, yet full of ambiguity. The sweet, bright orange sunlight bathed the couple, casting a soft, beautiful glow on their faces.
But their faces were viciously smeared over with black marker, completely obscuring their features.
Liao Mingze stared at the photo for a while, stroking his chin thoughtfully: "The man's wedding ring on his ring finger is the same as the woman's; this must be the man of the house."
"The woman in the photo has an oval face, but the woman in this house has a square face. Their clothing styles and body types are also clearly different."
In other words, the man was having an affair.
He cheated.
However, one day, the woman of the house discovered the photos of their infidelity.
The woman was shocked, enraged, and in a fit of rage, smeared their faces like this, then crumpled the photo.
"Ha. That woman was just pretending to be loving; she's lied to us a lot."
In the room, the dim incandescent light shone, and Liao Mingze calmly analyzed, "Judging from the woman's hasty departure upon seeing the mark, she's afraid of evil ghosts—I judge that the deceased man is the evil ghost—the car accident death is only the woman's side of the story; the man may have died a much more gruesome death. It's even highly possible that the seemingly weak woman…killed him with her own hands!"
The man is the evil ghost.
He loved making blind box dolls in life. So, his love for blind boxes after death makes sense.
The crowd listened thoughtfully, digesting the information for a moment before starting to discuss it amongst themselves.
"I almost got fooled by that woman! I knew she was acting weird, all that 'loving' nonsense, it was all an act!"
"So, do we need to find the male homeowner's body now and deal with his ghost? Damn, are we really going to fight a ghost...?"
As they talked, the group started chattering again, trying to flatter each other: "By the way, Brother Liao, was that your prop just now?"
"The black mist was even broken when the whip swung, that was amazing!"
“It’s an item. After this dungeon, we’ll be sent to a rest station where we can buy items with points,” Liao Mingze explained politely with a smile. “But you can only bring a maximum of two cards and one item into a dungeon…”
The players bombarded him with questions.
Although Xie He seemed quite skilled, compared to the reckless, unpredictable, and frequently targeted Xie He, this player was a veteran and much more approachable.
They needed to find a strong player to carry them. Following Xie He was too risky; Liao Mingze had items, experience, and the ability to analyze situations, making him the best choice at this moment.
***
Xie He casually glanced up, his eyes reflecting the faint orange glow of a light bulb.
Liao Mingze's analysis sounded logically sound, but the system's background was: every night, an evil ghost comes and takes away one blind box doll; it only wants to draw the most beautiful hidden doll…
If the male homeowner is the evil ghost, and the couple is estranged, the one it most wants to draw and kill is the female homeowner.
But the male homeowner is cheating; in his eyes, the "most beautiful" doll is someone else, no longer the female homeowner. This doesn't align with his desire to draw and kill the female homeowner.
Where did things go wrong?
Furthermore, Xie He remembered there was another group of ghosts among the blind box dolls. Who were they?
He recalled the clue he found—[a baby's hair.]
Where did the baby come from? Is it related to the blind box dolls or the evil ghost?
And why would the evil ghost draw the most beautiful blind box doll?
He didn't think the male homeowner was the evil ghost.
They had too few clues.
While the group was talking, two people walked towards Xie He; they were Xie He's roommates.
Yu You's forehead was covered in a cold sweat from the fright, his face slightly oily, yet he forced a sincere smile: "I really don't know how to thank you enough, thank you so much for earlier. If there's anything I can help you with later, even though I'm not very good... I'll definitely do my best to assist you, after all, we're still in the same dorm."
Xia Gu, standing beside him, a little reserved, also said, "Thank you."
"Whatever." Xie He looked up at the sound of their voices, his eyes dark and unfathomable, like a careless black river. "I wasn't planning on saving anyone, I was just aiming for points."
Hearing this, Yu You's expression stiffened, and he scratched his head, stammering, "I... I still want to thank you."
On the other side, Liao Mingze was still summarizing his conclusions and analysis with the players when a sudden commotion arose in the crowd.
"Liao... Brother Liao..." Zhang Che tugged at his clothes, his face not looking good, "Over there..."
Liao Mingze looked over—
At the spot where the clue doll had been, a new doll had appeared again. It smirked, a sinister grin spreading across its face, sending chills down the spine.
Fortunately, an opaque cardboard blind box quickly enveloped the doll, completely isolating it.
The players, still shaken, instinctively avoided the doll, their hearts filled with unease.
The clock in the room ticked incessantly.
Time ticked by, the meaning of eating the doll's severed finger still unknown. This house was fraught with danger, and every night, the evil ghost would still come to steal the doll… their lives hung by a thread.
"Looks like we can't kill all the dolls; it's because their resentment hasn't been dispelled. The game's difficulty increases over time, so be careful not to touch anything," Liao Mingze said, standing in the crowd. "Don't worry too much, everyone. Let's look for the male owner's body, mainly to see if there's a hidden compartment where the body was concealed. Also, keep an eye out for other clues, like notes or scraps of paper. Everyone, avoid the dolls and split up."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
At that moment, they seemed to have found their leader and scattered throughout the blind box room, searching everywhere.
Scattered items were piled up in various corners of the blind box room.
They pulled out things that didn't seem quite right in the blind box room: a pink plush women's handkerchief, a dirty, faded dark blue scarf, a blind box doll making manual…
Xie He watched from afar as everyone rummaged through the items; nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"!"
Something's wrong.
Looking at the items on the ground, Xie He suddenly noticed.
...Something's missing!
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