The two entered the room.
The furnishings were old-fashioned, and the air carried the scent of aged wood. A pearwood dressing table stood by the window, its mirror coated in a thin layer of dust that blurred every reflection.
Granny Huang was not inside.
Jiang Sui ran a hand across the dressing table. Several droplets of water still clung to the rim of the saucer beneath the teacup.
"She was here recently."
Lu Jin ignored the tables, chairs, and bed. He walked straight toward the wardrobe and other storage spaces, as though searching for something specific.
Jiang Sui asked, "What are you looking for?"
"A rope, or something similar." Lu Jin did not raise his head.
Jiang Sui quickly understood. "Who was strangled?"
"The doctor. The same doctor who gave Boss Huang the DNA report."
There had been strangulation marks around his neck. In truth, he was the key NPC in the executive suite and closely connected to Task One. The other evil ghosts were little more than distractions added to increase the task's difficulty.
What Lu Jin did not understand was why the doctor who delivered the DNA report had died.
"At first, I thought the boss's wife killed him. I assumed she was afraid the truth would come out, so she silenced him."
"But that happened while she was alive. Now that she's already a ghost, why would she still refuse to admit she cheated?"
Reputation mattered to the living. What use was it to the dead?
Ghosts did not compete over who had been the better person in life. They only wished their resentment were stronger and their appearance fiercer, because that was how they avoided being bullied or devoured by other evil ghosts.
"So she wasn't the killer."
Then who hated the doctor enough to murder him?
It had to be someone who knew the truth and did not want the results of the DNA test exposed.
Jiang Sui searched the room together with Lu Jin. Eventually, he felt something rough inside a small compartment in the dressing table. It was a ball of yarn.
"This?" Jiang Sui lifted it.
Lu Jin said, "Yes."
The instant they found the yarn, a subtle change passed through the room. The door, which had been standing open, moved as though someone had pushed it from outside and slowly swung shut on its own.
Before either man could react, countless strands of yarn suddenly burst from the darkness and lashed toward them like living tentacles!
Jiang Sui reacted almost instantly. The metal spheres around him transformed into sheets and sliced every approaching strand into pieces!
When the yarn failed to attack Jiang Sui, it turned toward Lu Jin instead. Lu Jin moved even faster. As one strand stabbed toward him, he caught its end and yanked hard!
Granny Huang was dragged straight out of the shadows!
All the surrounding yarn froze for an instant. Lu Jin seized several more strands and, in a few quick movements, wrapped Granny Huang up like a tightly tied bundle.
Granny Huang struggled furiously. "You're bullying an old woman! And you left the dormitory in the middle of the night! You're not good children!"
Jiang Sui crouched in front of her and enunciated each word. "Murdering someone doesn't make you a good grandmother either."
Granny Huang instantly went rigid.
Lu Jin pulled the yarn tighter and tied a dead knot. The cord dug into Granny Huang's wrinkled skin.
"Why did you kill the doctor?" Lu Jin asked.
A flash of surprise passed through Granny Huang's cloudy eyes before she turned her face away. "I don't understand what you're talking about."
"Then I'll ask something else." Lu Jin's voice was cold. "If you knew the child wasn't your biological grandson, why were you still so good to him?"
The words seemed to strike a nerve. Granny Huang abruptly became even more frenzied, her glare vicious enough to devour someone alive.
Lu Jin gave a quiet scoff.
Why was every NPC more stubborn than the last?
Jiang Sui stood and brushed dust from his trouser leg. "We've caught her anyway. We can interrogate her slowly."
As soon as he finished speaking, noise erupted outside. It sounded like someone was pounding continuously on the door with fists or another hard object, making the entire panel tremble.
Jiang Sui walked over and pulled the door open, intending to catch whoever was causing trouble outside as well.
The moment it opened, both men sucked in a breath.
The living room of the three-story building was packed with severed hands. Lu Jin made a rough estimate and almost laughed in disbelief. There were even more than there had been on the back mountain.
He casually tossed Jiang Sui the yarn binding Granny Huang.
Lu Jin said, "Here. You can interrogate her slowly."
Jiang Sui: "…"
*
The story began half an hour earlier.
When Lu Jin disappeared and the System announced that the instance had been upgraded, Xie Zhi and Jiang Heng were still frozen in shock. Xu Moyang, however, had already stood up and rushed toward the dormitory door without hesitation.
Jiang Sui reacted quickly and grabbed him.
Xie Zhi cried out, "Are you insane? This is a C-rank instance! Going outside is suicide!"
"So what if it's C-rank?" Xu Moyang stubbornly raised his chin. "Brother Lu only disappeared. The System never announced that he died, which means he's definitely still alive! I'm going to find him!"
Xie Zhi snapped, "You're trying to get yourself killed!"
Xu Moyang did not want to argue with him. He knew Xie Zhi had always believed danger-zone players were doomed, and there was no point debating someone like that. He simply struggled harder, trying to make Jiang Sui release him so he could search for Lu Jin.
Jiang Sui sighed helplessly and glanced at Fang Yuan. "Hold him."
Fang Yuan was sturdier than Xu Moyang and had more brute strength. He reached out and caught him.
He asked Jiang Sui, "Brother Sui, do you have any idea where he is?"
Jiang Sui answered, "He should be in the small three-story building."
Jiang Sui left the dormitory area to search for Lu Jin, while the remaining four stayed behind.
Fang Yuan patted Xu Moyang's shoulder. "Brother Sui is really strong. The item he lent me earlier worked great. He'll definitely find Brother Lu."
But Xu Moyang remained anxious, his brows still tightly drawn together.
What if something had happened? This game had forcibly dragged Lu Jin into an instance and made him disappear without warning. What if…?
Xie Zhi sneered. "Hopelessly stubborn."
Xu Moyang ignored him and turned to Fang Yuan. "Brother Yuan, I still have to go out. It's not only about finding Brother Lu. Are we just going to abandon Task Two? We can't leave everything to Jiang Sui alone!"
Fang Yuan looked up, studying Xu Moyang's face for half a second. They truly could not afford to delay Task Two. Waiting for Jiang Sui was not a solution.
After a moment, Fang Yuan nodded. "Fine. I'll go with you."
*
The two left the dormitory and headed toward the three-story building. Unfortunately, the journey was anything but smooth.
The manager had not lied: leaving the dormitory at night really was dangerous. Before midnight things had been manageable, but after twelve, the sleepwalking NPCs all emerged and wandered through the guesthouse.
It was a true parade of ghosts. Along the way, the two encountered NPC after NPC, stumbling and detouring around them. Half-awake and half-asleep, each NPC had reverted to the appearance they had at the time of death, every one of them drenched in blood.
There were too many NPCs, so Xu Moyang and Fang Yuan could only keep taking detours and hiding. Several times, they nearly collided with one head-on.
Eventually, they still ran into a few familiar faces.
The manager, who had looked human during the day, had somehow lost both eyeballs. Two empty holes remained in his face, and whenever he encountered anyone, he kept asking, "Am I not scary? Am I not scary? Why aren't you afraid of me? Why aren't you afraid of me?"
Then there was the chef. Even while sleepwalking, he carried his cleaver and spatula. Squatting beside a tree stump, he hacked at it wildly with the cleaver while muttering, "Do it again… You want me to redo it again! I'm a chef! Why do you always make me redo it?!"
Fang Yuan & Xu Moyang: "…"
Fang Yuan said, "Why do I feel like Brother Lu traumatized them into developing PTSD?"
Xu Moyang nodded. "Exactly!"
In the end, the manager was the first to "see" them. He rushed over excitedly, yelling, "Am I scary? Am I not scary? Tell me, am I scary or not?!"
Neither of them wanted to answer. Xu Moyang, perhaps remembering that he technically counted as a ghost too, threw caution aside and directly pulled the chef in front of the manager.
"Ask him!"
Fang Yuan gave him a thumbs-up. "Brother, that was impressive!"
The two NPCs grabbed each other. One kept asking, "Am I scary?" while the other demanded, "Why do you keep making me redo it?" While they tangled together, Fang Yuan and Xu Moyang slipped into the small three-story building.
Employee NPCs were easy to fool. Family-member NPCs were another matter.
The moment the two entered, they ran straight into the boss's wife.
Her detached head chased Fang Yuan and Xu Moyang relentlessly. Xu Moyang did not know the building well, but Fang Yuan was more familiar with it, so he dragged him into a guest room on the second floor.
They crawled under the bed. The hanging sheet blocked the NPCs' view, finally giving them a brief moment of peace.
But because the ghosts could smell souls, they continued lingering nearby.
Xu Moyang kept silently repeating, "Don't lift it… don't lift it… don't lift it…"
Lu Jin had once told him that every evil ghost had a trigger, or a dangerous boundary, involving "fear."
Once you became afraid of them, you had already lost.
So he absolutely could not be afraid!
Dragging footsteps sounded outside as an NPC passed. Xu Moyang held his breath and peered through the gap beneath the bed. A corner of a blue skirt came into view——the boss's wife.
The footsteps had barely faded when another sound approached.
The manager's black leather shoes…
Then the chef's rubber clogs…
Then the little boy's cotton slippers…
Why couldn't any of these NPCs stay still?!
Fortunately, the two kept their breathing tightly controlled and tried to keep their emotions calm. The NPCs could not smell the scent of a living human from them, and without sensing fear, they failed to discover the hiding place.
Xu Moyang swallowed and whispered to Fang Yuan, "You know, you really didn't have to come out with me."
Even if they failed the second round of Task Two, the punished person would be a danger-zone player, which meant him. Fang Yuan should have been safe.
Fang Yuan pressed close to the bed leg and lowered his voice. "If Brother Lu hadn't been there tonight, I would've had to eat the chef's cooking. Brother Lu helped me. I'm not so ungrateful that I'd abandon him now."
He paused before adding, "Don't worry. I have the item Brother Sui gave me! I won't die!"
"? Then why aren't you using it?"
"It makes too much noise." Fang Yuan glanced outside the bed. "It's not something I should use unless I'm really desperate."
Fang Yuan understood that he and Jiang Sui were only strangers who had happened to meet. Receiving his help was good luck. If Fang Yuan entered an instance alone in the future, he might not be so fortunate.
He needed to train himself rather than constantly depending on others.
Xu Moyang was about to say something else when his voice abruptly died, as though someone had severed his vocal cords.
Fang Yuan thought he was simply too nervous and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Relax. There still hasn't been any announcement. Brother Lu must still be alive!"
"No… no…"
Fang Yuan continued comforting him. "Calm down! Brother Sui's there too! They'll definitely be fine!"
Xu Moyang looked ready to cry. "You… look behind you…"
Fang Yuan froze, then slowly followed Xu Moyang's gaze.
One corner of the bedsheet had been lifted. The little boy was grinning at them.