The woman hesitated between the eerily quiet storage room and the open lawn. She turned and charged directly at Zhang Che.
"Crack. Crack." The dry grass on the ground was crushed, making a crushing sound.
Zhang Che tried to escape, but it was too late.
He watched helplessly as the woman chanted an incantation, approaching him. Zhang Che's pupils dilated in horror. He tried to move his legs, but his body felt as if a thousand-pound weight had pressed down on him, rendering him immobile!
***
A chilling coldness ran down his back—the dread of being watched by countless eyes.
Xie He turned around warily.
The white cloth covering the shelf was lifted slightly by the cold wind from the window, revealing glimpses of countless plastic heads.
Then, the cloth was blown off completely—
The white cloth fell to the ground, revealing the crookedly folded dolls on the shelves on either side.
Unlike the exhibits in the blind box room, the dolls here were severely damaged, some missing arms or legs, others heads, all covered in dust. The weariness and abandonment even amplified the resentment in the storeroom, like an invisible hand gripping Xie He's heart.
Xie He stood motionless, shifting his gaze.
On the shelf to his left, a plastic doll's face looked exactly like the little boy in this house.
Its eyes were closed, as if resting, but its body was a frightening, scarlet red, as if its skin had been peeled off. It exuded the strongest resentment, and the surrounding dolls kept their distance.
The system notification arrived as expected:
[Congratulations player Xie He, buff automatically activated.]
[Buff Name: Doll's Protection once.]
[Description: 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.]
[Since that's the case—]
Xie He raised an eyebrow, skillfully picking up the doll that resembled a little boy and placing it in his pocket.
The doll could only not attack on the first meeting.
Taking it away would allow this encounter to continue…
Continue without attacking, continue without attacking…
Perfect.
Just as Xie He was thinking this, he prepared to leave the room.
Suddenly, a cold, sharp pain shot through his hand.
“!”
Xie He pulled his hand out of his pocket. The boy doll had woken up, tightly clutching Xie He's fingers, greedily sucking at the wound on his palm, drinking the blood from it, its fine teeth grinding painfully against Xie He's hand.
Xie He: “…”
The system, as if sensing something, promptly explained:
[Doll's Protective Function Introduction: During this time, you will also experience the dolls' sweet love.]
The dolls' sweet love?
This is twisted love, isn't it? The doll wanted to suck his blood dry, dragging him down with it.
Xie He grabbed the boy doll by the scruff of his neck, forcefully pulling it off and placing it on his phone.
His tone was lazy, his smile insincere: "Okay, you can have the chance to feed the child now."
System: "..."
The boy doll rubbed his cheek against the phone; the buff was clearly working. He bit the phone with his fine teeth, mumbling in a childish voice, "Mummy, Mummy..."
Mummy what?
System: "..."
Xie He almost choked. His dark eyebrows grew even darker. He leaned lazily against the shelf, smiling, and said, "Mummy, my foot. That's the little rascal system that deleted your dad. It's amazing this little system is so temperamental; it's not easy that it hasn't been killed yet."
System: "..."
System: [Congratulations to player Xie He for obtaining a solo-level dungeon difficulty increase. The chance of the evil ghost drawing you each night has increased by 80%. Please keep up the good work.]
The chance of being drawn by the evil ghost each day has increased by 80%.
Wow.
Xie He: "..."
The comments section was filled with anticipation:
[Hahahaha, let's get this going! Let's fight!]
[Hahaha, how dare he provoke the system? This can't be tolerated! Well done, system! Hopefully, next time the system will throw this guy into a high-difficulty dungeon.]
[Support the comment above.]
[Support the comment above +1.]
Xie He realized that this little system was not only cold and aloof but also quite interesting; it even used "please" when speaking. It was incredibly polite, and Xie He was almost moved, silently saying thank you in his heart.
However, he couldn't linger in the storeroom.
After putting the doll away, Xie He glanced out the window. The woman was facing away from the window, chanting some kind of spell to Zhang Che.
Taking advantage of Zhang Che being distracted, Xie He quickly climbed back onto the second-floor balcony.
Standing on the balcony, Xie He looked down. The confrontation between the woman and Zhang Che came into his view.
But looking further away—
Xie He spotted a dark figure around the corner. Someone was secretly watching everything. From the person's all-black attire meticulously slicked-back hair… it wasn't hard to tell it was the veteran player, Liao Mingze.
Unlike his righteous leader persona in front of the players during the day, he now looked utterly terrified.
***
Hot, so hot…
Zhang Che was completely paralyzed, forced to watch helplessly as Xie He casually vaulted onto the second-floor balcony.
Why?
Both were exposed, yet the woman killed him, not Xie He!
So hateful.
Greasy beads of sweat, resembling candle wax, dripped from his forehead, and his entire body felt like it was on fire.
From the woman's perspective, however, she thought Zhang Che was staring at her, and she grew even angrier, yelling, “Look again, try glaring again! I'll gouge your eyes out!”
Zhang Che: “…”
He was about to cry; he had never suffered such humiliation and wanted to go home.
Xie He, hearing the woman's fierce voice, didn't stop but quickly entered the woman's house.
To prevent the mistress from returning midway, he quickly locked the windows and drew the curtains—
Xie He glanced at the clock on the wall; he could only stay for two minutes at most. He had to find a clue as soon as possible.
"Tick-tock. Tick-tock—" The second hand spun rapidly.
His gaze swept around the room.
The room was quite empty; even during the day, the curtains were drawn and the lights were on, casting a pale yellow hue, like an old, silent film.
But the air was filled with a sweet, cloying fragrance. So sweet it was almost greasy.
Following the scent, Xie He arrived at the altar where the mistress had placed offerings. Burning candles and fresh offerings were currently laid out.
He had already deduced that the mistress was using this altar, along with the necklace, to suppress evil ghosts.
And in front of the altar, there was a pair of children's silver bracelets—
Xie He understood. When he discovered the little boy's death, he deduced from the woman tightly clutching her amulet necklace that the boy was most likely an evil ghost.
Because compared to the man, the woman was clearly more wary and afraid of the little boy. And what frightened her most must be an evil ghost.
His deduction was confirmed.
The woman was offering a pair of children's silver bracelets.
The little boy was the real evil ghost.
But why did the little boy become an evil ghost?
That remained unknown.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock—"
Time was of the essence. Xie He decided to skip the difficult questions and solve the easier ones first, to open his mind before returning to the more challenging ones…
Xie He continued to examine the offerings on the table.
The offerings were unremarkable, just ordinary food. But the candles…?
The candles looked strange, seemingly stickier than usual, and their color wasn't pure white, but a warm pinkish hue close to skin tone.
Xie He steadied the candle, blew out the flame, and fanned himself before sniffing it.
A faint, baby-scented fragrance wafted towards him…
It was very sweet; the cloying sweetness came from the candle!
Xie He looked at his palm; a layer of sticky grease had formed on the fingertips where he had touched the candle.
His expression changed, and he suddenly realized.
This was a corpse oil candle made from the body of an infant!
Xie He continued searching the mistress's bedroom, looking for the most common hiding places: under the clothes at the bottom of the closet, under the bed, under the mattress…
Sure enough, when he opened the wardrobe door, an even stronger fragrance wafted out—
The closet was piled high with white candles of varying lengths, resembling a magnificent mountain of corpses. Under the incandescent light, they gleamed with a cold, eerie light, chillingly so!
Some of the candles weren't even solid-colored; a few strands of slightly curled, damp baby hair were mixed in with the grease.
At the same moment, Xie He heard the cries of thousands of babies around him, like the most tragic wails from hell. Those sounds, like a dream, gradually faded away…
But they were enough to show the horrific state of those babies' deaths!
Under the candle were several old newspapers, the headlines of which read—
[Over a thousand babies have gone missing in Baihua Town in the past five years.]
[Tragedy Strikes Again! A young couple's child has gone missing in Baihua Town, and the child's blood-stained clothes are…]
Xie He understood.
The woman might be using the hundreds of infant corpses in the town to make oil candles, offerings to and suppressing the evil little boy…
Xie He looked at the candles and couldn't help but smile.
His expression was languid, and his pupils darkened in the dim candlelight.
So, between the seemingly weak woman and the cannibalistic ghost who enjoys opening blind boxes, who is the real evil ghost?
“Tick-tock. Tick-tock—”
The clock on the wall ticked away, and he heard a piercing scream from outside.
***
Outside, the woman was chanting a curse viciously at Zhang Che.
Rain began to fall from the sky. Zhang Che felt as if a thousand pounds weighed down on him, making it impossible for him to move, and his breathing became increasingly difficult.
Then, a sudden burning sensation surged through his internal organs, as if quicklime was being poured into them, burning intensely.
He felt as if he were in a furnace, and hot, tense sweat dripped from his forehead.
As the drop of sweat fell, wisps of smoke suddenly billowed from his body. Zhang Che felt as if he were imprisoned, only his eyes able to roll, helplessly and desperately looking in Liao Mingze's direction.
His eyes were bloodshot.
The moment their eyes met.
Liao Mingze panicked, covering his mouth and hiding in the shadows, barely daring to breathe.
He watched Zhang Che, his skin melting under the scorching flames, flowing down like molten gel, becoming like a lump of molten cement.
Only, this "cement" was the color of skin, and as it melted, it grew smaller and smaller. Finally, with a "whoosh," it flowed away in all directions.
The comment section was also quite shocked:
[Second blood harvested.]
[Holy crap, this is too scary QAQ, in the end, all that's left is a lump of minced meat, right?? My hands are shaking as I click on 'Good Luck'.]
[It seems this Zhang Che never even realized why the mistress was targeting him. She was probably too busy dealing with the eerie atmosphere of the storeroom to even go in, let alone going to find him, you idiot.]
[Trash Zhang Che, if you don't harm others, you won't get yourself into trouble!]
Finally, the "cement" coalesced and condensed, transforming Zhang Che into something complete.
The mistress bent down and picked it up.
Just a moment ago, he was a living, talking, and running person. But now, Liao Mingze, watching from afar, vaguely recognized it as…
The moment he saw it clearly, Liao Mingze almost vomited!
The mistress indifferently glanced at the newly crafted corpse oil candle in her hand. The candle was white with black streaks, mixed with coarse hair—its appearance was terrible.
She frowned in disgust and casually tossed it into the trash can beside the lawn.
"Thump." She got up and went inside.
***
Xie He found newspapers in the cupboard detailing the town's missing infants from the past five years.
Considering the baby-scented smell on the candle, he deduced that the missing children were likely related to the woman's suppression of evil ghosts; they had been made into corpse oil candles to suppress the demons.
The system sent a new message: [Congratulations player Xie He, you have unlocked the secret behind the corpse oil candles. Game side quest triggered: Help the baby ghosts return home.]
[Side quest value: 100 points]
[Side quest status: Pending completion (0/3)]
As Xie He was thinking, the screams outside suddenly stopped!
The woman was about to return.
He had to hurry.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock—" The clock on the wall ticked incessantly, relentlessly counting down.
Xie He's expression grew increasingly calm.
To help the baby ghosts return home, he first had to resolve their resentment.
Xie He's gaze was fixed on the candles and offerings. These offerings were sacrifices to the evil ghost. If he took them away, wouldn't that mean the sacrifice would stop, freeing the evil ghost from the mistress's control?
Then, using the evil ghost's hand, he could kill the mistress, resolving the infant ghost's grievances…
That would complete the side quest!
Xie He's fingers had already touched the candles.
The live chat exploded with comments, eager for a good show:
[Oh wow! He's going to take the candles? Is that right? Is that right????]
[Well done! That's how players died in this dungeon last time. Someone took the candles, and the evil ghost wiped out the entire team. I'm so excited!]
Some comments were also kindly reminding Xie He:
[Don't take them!!!!!!!!!]
[Don't touch them, little brother! If you take the candles and offerings, the evil ghost will go out of control and the whole team will be wiped out.]
[Hehe, I finally followed a handsome guy, and now I have to give him away?]
However, Xie He, as a player, couldn't see these dissuading comments.
Just as he picked up a candle...
Xie He felt a cool hand brush against the back of his neck, sending a chill down his spine.
Author's Note:
Doll: Male mummy... Male mummy... Hehe
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