Lu Jin stood and patted the female ghost on the shoulder.
“Work hard.”
Then, carrying the broken mop handle, he turned and pushed open the bedroom door without hesitation.
The moment Lu Jin entered the bedroom, the sweet smile on the female ghost’s face vanished. Fresh blood seeped from her eye sockets, and she let out a sinister cackling laugh so hard the corners of her mouth twitched.
She was only a weak E-rank ghost. The one inside that room, however, was a genuine D-rank powerful ghost! Hahaha! That arrogant little student was dead for sure!
Should she eat his thigh first, or gnaw on an arm?
While the female ghost was planning her meal, a series of bangs and crashes erupted from the bedroom. Even without seeing what was happening, the sound alone was enough to imagine how badly the D-rank ghost was beating the student!
Less than a minute later, the noise stopped.
Mm! Powerful ghosts really did work quickly!
She had heard the powerful ghost had been the director of a major tertiary hospital while alive. Fast, accurate, steady—his reputation was clearly deserved!
Excited, the female ghost scrambled up, pulled a pair of chopsticks and a small bowl from their hiding place in the corner, and hummed as she pushed open the bedroom door, ready to claim her share.
The moment the door opened, she saw Lu Jin standing straight in the center of the room, one hand clamped around the doctor ghost’s throat, holding him with both feet off the ground.
The doctor ghost was struggling desperately, his face already dark purple from the pressure, his lead-gray tongue hanging far out of his mouth.
The female ghost slammed the door shut with a bang.
She must have gotten up too fast. Low blood sugar. Her vision was a little blurry.
She rubbed her eyes hard.
Not sure. Better look again.
The female ghost slowly pushed the bedroom door open once more…
…
Five minutes later, the female ghost had a new coworker cleaning the windows.
With two ghosts working together, efficiency improved considerably. Whenever the female ghost shed hair, the doctor ghost even picked it up behind her. Their teamwork was surprisingly good.
The two ghosts met each other’s eyes. Neither spoke a word, yet silence communicated more than words ever could. Both had tears in their eyes.
Lu Jin was obviously not satisfied.
He stretched, loosened his muscles, and asked, “You two can’t be the only ones in this suite, can you?”
It was phrased as a question, but his tone carried absolute certainty.
And so, several minutes later, the evil-ghost labor force expanded magnificently: the little ghost hiding in the ceiling cavity, the old ghost buried deep inside the wardrobe, the alcoholic ghost who stole the guesthouse wine every day… Lu Jin “invited” all of them out.
Many ghosts make light work. Under Lu Jin’s collective management, the executive-suite cleaning progressed at astonishing speed!
Not only that, NPCs from other areas were drawn over by the commotion.
The cook from the downstairs kitchen cautiously pushed open the executive-suite door and stuck his head inside. “I heard… there’s something delicious here?”
“I’m not greedy. I just want one finger. Last time you moved too quickly and divided the player up before dinnertime, so I didn’t get anything… We all work in the same instance. You have to be fair to your coworkers…”
The moment the door opened, every “worker” who had been laboring with lowered heads turned to stare at him in perfect unison.
Cook: “?”
He awkwardly pulled his head back and muttered, “Fine, don’t share. Why are you all so vigilant… stingy…”
Before he could turn and escape, a powerful hand grabbed the back of his collar and dragged him into the living room like a chick.
Lu Jin’s tone was cheerful. He was clearly in a very good mood.
“A cook?”
Perfect. He was hungry.
…
After eating and drinking his fill, Lu Jin found a bedroom that had already been cleaned, dropped onto the bed, and took a nap.
He had studied until well past midnight the previous night, sat an exam on Marxist theory at eight that morning, taken advanced mathematics in the afternoon, and still attended design class that evening. After all that, he had climbed onto an elevated highway to capture a ghost.
And after entering this game, he had even fought with that mysterious bastard Jiang Sui.
Even Reapers got tired.
Lu Jin lay on the bed, his breathing becoming slow and even as he quickly fell asleep.
Once he was deeply asleep, several strange heads quietly appeared through the crack in the door and began whispering:
“He’s asleep, right?”
“Can’t you hear his breathing? He’s definitely out cold!”
“While he’s asleep, let’s attack together and take him down in one strike!”
“Good idea! Doctor, you go first!”
“? Have some shame! Old Ghost, why don’t you go? You’ve been here longer than me!”
“Respect your elders and care for the young, understand? You should respect an old man!”
“We’re all dead! Why are you still talking about respecting elders?”
“Then the female ghost should go first! She’s clearly the oldest!”
Female ghost: “???”
In the end, everyone unanimously kicked the old ghost out. He was the leader among them, after all, and whenever players entered the executive suite, he always ate the largest share.
The old ghost shuffled toward the bed, trembling with fear. His heart was in turmoil, but hearing Lu Jin’s steady breathing gave him a little courage.
Wasn’t this just an ordinary player? Once inside his territory, the brat should be completely at his mercy.
The old ghost instantly recovered his usual arrogance. Without making a sound, he approached the bedside and, taking advantage of Lu Jin’s sleep, suddenly reached for his throat!
Everything changed in the blink of an eye.
Before the old ghost’s fingers touched Lu Jin, the world spun around him. The man who had been lying in bed was already sitting up. His fingers were icy, several degrees colder than an ordinary person’s, and they closed mercilessly around the old ghost’s neck!
The old ghost had been thoroughly dead for years, yet at that moment he experienced the rare sensation of approaching death all over again. He struggled frantically, limbs flailing as he tried to escape.
It was useless.
Lu Jin’s strength was terrifying. His grip held the ghost completely immobile.
Lu Jin slowly opened his eyes. Sleep still clouded his gaze, but his voice was cold as ice. “You smell like someone I knew. Did you kill Yu Nan?”
The old ghost’s breathing was completely cut off. He did not actually need to breathe, yet the violent pain where Lu Jin gripped his throat created an overwhelming sense of suffocation.
His eyes opened wider and wider as he desperately shook his head.
“Ghosts aren’t allowed to harm humans, yet you killed someone.” Mockery touched the corner of Lu Jin’s mouth. “So, goodbye.”
“BANG—!”
Lu Jin’s five fingers tightened sharply, and the old ghost who had been baring his fangs moments earlier was crushed apart in his hand!
All ghosts: “!!!”
In that illusory instant, the ghosts saw Lu Jin standing there in a black suit, a long saber at his waist, his expression icy.
“That uniform… this player is a Reaper?” The well-informed female ghost was the first to recognize him.
No wonder the student could not be beaten to death. He was a Reaper! No wonder he had been so arrogant!
Once the other ghosts learned Lu Jin’s identity, they were terrified out of their souls. The “Ghost Revenge Alliance” they had secretly formed collapsed instantly as everyone scattered in different directions.
But before they could escape the room, Lu Jin blocked their path. He even sealed every exit from the executive suite.
The evil ghosts stared at him in terror, trembling violently. Forget them—even if the Boss came, he would not be able to defeat this terrifying man!
Lu Jin walked toward them one step at a time.
The female ghost reacted fastest. She dropped to her knees with a thud and cried out, “My lord, spare me! I-I have a clue for your mission!”
“A clue?”
Lu Jin tilted his head. “What’s that?”
Huang Youquan inside the phone exploded first, jumping around his prison and yelling, “Did you forget?! You still have a mission to complete! I can tell from your expression! You definitely forgot! You absolutely forgot!”
Lu Jin: “…”
He lowered his gaze to the phone screen.
“Mm. I forgot. Do you have a problem with that?”
Huang Youquan swallowed silently.
“…No.”
The female ghost hurriedly offered up the clue. Its true owner had been the doctor. Years earlier, he had been invited to the guesthouse and brought a DNA test report with him. The tested individuals were Huang Youquan and his three-year-old son.
The DNA results showed that the two were not biologically related. That was the reason Huang Youquan had recently become distressed and unstable.
[Ding—]
[Congratulations! A player has found the key clue and completed Mission One: Discover what is troubling Boss Huang~]
[Boss Huang is extremely happy and has specially awarded you a reward of 1,000 Points…]
[Bzzzt…]
[A System bug has occurred. Emergency adjustments are in progress…]
[Bzzzt…]
[After inspection, Boss Huang’s current status is “unhappy.” He refuses to issue your reward.]
Lu Jin: “?”
He lowered his head and looked at Huang Youquan inside his phone.
Huang Youquan was still spitting furiously as he cursed the spineless NPCs for handing over the clue so quickly.
Suddenly, he felt an icy gaze from above.
Several minutes later.
[Ding—]
[Congratulations! A player has found the key clue and completed Mission One: Discover what is troubling Boss Huang~]
[Boss Huang is super, super, super… (another N “supers” omitted here) happy and has specially awarded you 2,000 Points!]
…
Lu Jin remembered Xie Zhi and Jiang Heng saying that Points were rewards earned after clearing an instance and could later be exchanged for prizes in the shop.
But they could only be exchanged after the game was cleared.
He could deal with that later.
Lu Jin immediately threw the matter of Points to the back of his mind.
The evil ghosts surrounded him with flattery, desperate for him to complete the mission and leave the instance as quickly as possible.
Suddenly, with a sharp clang, the long saber flew from Lu Jin’s hand and struck a metal sphere on the balcony with perfect accuracy!
The sphere staggered through the air, then retreated like a startled rabbit. It curved around the edge of the balcony and fled the executive suite in a panic.
“Tch.”
Lu Jin clicked his tongue.
That man clung to him more persistently than a ghost.
*
The metal sphere traveled around half the guesthouse like a child fleeing after being caught misbehaving. Finally, it slipped back along a guest-room balcony and returned to Jiang Sui.
It rubbed against Jiang Sui’s shoulder, looking deeply aggrieved.
Jiang Sui poked the sphere.
“Pretty vigilant.”
“Brother Sui, what did you say?”
Fang Yuan heard Jiang Sui and turned around. Since the two were together, he assumed Jiang Sui had been speaking to him.
“Nothing.”
“Oh…”
Fang Yuan scratched his head and returned to wiping the table. He had no idea why Jiang Sui was so efficient. Fang Yuan had only finished one guest room, while Jiang Sui had already completed two.
Yet every time Fang Yuan looked at him, Jiang Sui seemed to be slacking off.
“Fang Yuan,” Jiang Sui suddenly called from behind him, “I’ll lend you a little gadget.”
Something silver flashed through the air. Fang Yuan was holding a cleaning cloth and hurriedly freed one hand to catch it.
When he looked closely, it was a metal sphere about the size of a quail egg. Its surface was smooth as a mirror and reflected the surrounding light with perfect clarity. There was not even a seam anywhere on it.
“Brother Sui, what’s this?”
“If something goes wrong, kowtow to it three times and shout, ‘Balala the Fairies, transform!’ It’ll save your life.”
Fang Yuan: “?”
Fang Yuan: “!!!”
“Brother! Is this one of those legendary game items?!”
