Chapter 16: Is This Female Ghost Here to Save Me?
Xia Han’s identity was already figured out by Bai Yu. That skull tattoo on the back of her neck was so eye-catching that Bai Yu had only seen it on one person before.
This guy’s name was Jason, and he was a madman, ranking twenty-third on the list. He had taken at least hundreds of lives, but his peculiar hobby was removing the faces of his victims as collectibles, sewing them onto his human-skin trench coat.
This trench coat was famous among game participants, not just because of its horrifying appearance, but also because it had some twisted properties. It could launch psychic attacks, letting the vengeful spirits of those faces attack the enemy.
With a hole pierced through her chest, Xia Han struggled to turn her head and gasped, “You, who are you?”
Bai Yu felt strangely familiar to her, but she couldn’t place the name.
With so many enemies, she thought of several, but it seemed none of them used chain attacks.
“I would like to know, what grievances do we have?” Xia Han said, reaching into her pocket with one hand, trying to grab something. Unfortunately, Bai Yu wasn’t giving her that chance. She pressed against her, and countless bl**d threads poured from her body, stabbing out in the blink of an eye.
Xia Han’s body arched violently, as if enduring enormous pain, her mouth opening wide. One bl**d thread after another clung to her delicate yet heavily made-up face, like countless tiny tentacles trying to crawl into her mouth.
She couldn’t even make a sound of pain, the scene extremely eerie; Xia Han’s mouth was agape, her body twisting violently yet making no noise whatsoever.
The whites of her eyes were gradually replaced by red, and her struggles became weaker.
By now, her hand had made it into her pocket, but with no strength left, she dragged out a small black wooden box, dropping it on the ground.
“I’ll tell you, I am…” Bai Yu’s voice whispered in her ear, but Xia Han, using the last of her strength, turned her eyes towards her. However, Bai Yu’s voice suddenly cut off, leaving her identity unspoken.
Xia Han’s eyes widened; she never imagined she would d*e this way, and worse, she wouldn’t even know who her assailant was until the end.
As the bl**d threads released, Xia Han’s lifeless body slumped to the ground without a single wound on her. The hole that had just pierced her had mysteriously vanished.
Bai Yu curled her finger, using a bl**d thread to hook the box off the ground.
The box was small, not even the size of a palm. Bai Yu furrowed her brows; this had been something Jason used to save his own skin at the last moment, so it surely wouldn’t be simple. The material of the box didn’t matter; what was inside was crucial.
After securing the box, Bai Yu headed back the way she came.
Xia Han was taken care of, but there was still one more guy to eliminate.
Lu Liangting!
Lu Liangting was the male protagonist of this world, while Zhao Mingyue was the female lead. Unless external forces interfered, the male and female leads were destined to end up together.
Bai Yu couldn’t allow that to happen, as Zhao Mingyue was key to her mission.
To ensure the female lead wouldn’t be pursued by the male lead, the solution was simple: just make the male lead vanish from this world, and naturally, the female lead wouldn’t be pursued anymore.
Back on the fourth floor, Bai Yu made sure to sneak a glance at Zhao Mingyue.
Zhao Mingyue wasn’t in great shape; the stench wafting from that man’s room was unbearable, and the environment was dreadful. The worst part? For reasons unknown, spiritual flames had begun to ignite in that room.
Zhao Mingyue would either have to give up or find the key before she burned to a crisp.
This flame was strange; it was spreading from inside the room, and in half an hour, the entire fourth floor would be engulfed.
One more thing to note: this fire was started by the female ghost on the fifth floor, torturing the man in the fourth-floor room day and night, making him relive his fiery demise over and over again, suffering through the pain each night before he died.
Why the fire had spread today was likely related to Mingyue’s mission.
Bai Yu now faced two choices: stay near Zhao Mingyue just in case, guarding against the spirit fire and the headless ghost on the third floor along with that madman, or rush to the fifth floor to deal with Lu Liangting.
Just then, a figure suddenly burst out from the stairwell.
Tall and clad in a black raincoat, he looked like he had just stepped out of a pool, completely drenched. His hair was sticking to his scalp, water dripping down his face, and even his rain boots were filled with water, each step echoing with a wet, heavy sound.
The man was carrying the bloated, white corpse of a woman on his back, her white bones faintly visible. He approached room 401, pounding on the iron door. “Hey! Is anyone there? Have you seen my wife? I lost her in this building!”
Whether the man had a mental issue or was possessed by a ghost, Bai Yu had no idea.
The moment she laid eyes on him, an idea sparked in her mind.
The spiritual fire was already spreading from the room, starting to burn through the ceiling.
The once-white walls had turned black again, and it seemed something was trying to stop the flames from spreading.
Without hesitating, Bai Yu dashed to the stairs, racing to the fifth floor.
The situation on the fifth floor was no better than the fourth; flames were spreading, and in eight rooms, six had things banging on the doors, even violently slamming against them.
The doors up there were wooden, and under the assault, they trembled, seemingly on the verge of bursting open, letting whatever was behind them escape.
Lu Liangting was still being chased by that man. He was clever enough to realize the key to his task was finding the woman’s room key; once he got the door open, the spiritual fire could be dealt with, along with the other ghostly creatures. The corpse behind the door, the woman who died in the fire, was the core of this haunted building.
But the problem was, even though he knew where the key was, he had no chance to grab it. That man was hot on his heels, and in this situation, forget about the key—just surviving the apparition was a success.
“I can’t keep doing this; I need a plan. Otherwise, whether I get caught or not, I’m going to get torched! And to make matters worse, these ghosts behind the doors will break free!” Lu Liangting thought, taking another roundabout route as he neared the stairwell.
He was still somewhat calm, but the next moment, a door slammed open in front of him, and an apparition with its head drooping toward its chest charged out. This ghost hadn’t died in the fire; it had hanged itself. Because it was found too late, its head was almost fully choked off by the rope.
“Whoosh!”
In the nick of time, a red chain pierced through the hanging ghost’s body, sending it flying backward.
Lu Liangting’s pupils constricted as he came face to face with Bai Yu.
“You, you are…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Bai Yu suddenly lunged forward. He instinctively raised an arm to defend himself, but instead of an expected attack, a loud shout rang out from behind him.
Turning back, he saw the man being violently thrown away by a chain.
“Is she saving me?”
“Thank you for saving me! Just wait for me; I’ll be back to help you soon!” Lu Liangting, quick on his feet, memorized Bai Yu’s silhouette and hurried downstairs.
But as soon as he hit the fourth floor, he bumped right into that man carrying the corpse of his wife.
Bai Yu had just been thinking—since Lu Liangting was the male lead, could she really take him out so easily?
Seeing him earlier had confirmed her suspicion. There seemed to be something about him that could counter her. Perfect! She might as well let him play with that madman on the fourth floor, which might take care of Lu Liangting while buying Zhao Mingyue some time.
What Bai Yu didn’t know was that her act of saving him had left a deep impression on Lu Liangting.
