Starting Again

Ten minutes later.

At the base of the ghost-hunting team, inside the cozy little hut of the players.

Zhou Yue, Zhou Qiaoling, and Mu Yawen sat on stools with their heads lowered like children who had done something wrong, their expressions full of embarrassment.

Beside them, Zhong Yi glared at the trio with a mix of frustration and disappointment.

"Look at you, just look at you!!!"

Zhong Yi was seething inside.

He could have escaped, but the three of them had locked him in the basement, leaving him at the mercy of the female ghost, who drained him of his life.

When Zhou Yue and the others reopened the basement door to fetch matches for the lantern and saw Zhong Yi’s corpse lying on the stairs, their expressions were… indescribable.

"Each of you is a prodigy from your respective peaks—future representatives of the Lingxiao Sect’s reputation! How could you be scared witless by a mere ghost in an illusion?!"

Zhong Yi lectured them with a stern glare.

Hearing this, the live-stream chat erupted in amusement.

[Hahahaha, the streamer really has the nerve to say that!]

[LMAO, I won’t name names, but someone was so scared they headbutted the door.]

[Talk about confidence after changing your pants.]

[Who knew disciples of the Lingxiao Sect would be afraid of ghosts…]

[Don’t even start, the elite disciple from Tianxuan Sect was terrified too.]

[This illusion is genuinely horrifying! Try it yourself if you don’t believe me!]

[No way! I’ve seen all kinds of horrors—how could a ghost in an illusion scare me?]

[Go live and show us, let’s see what you’ve got.]

……

After Zhong Yi was killed by the female ghost, the remaining three, having stayed in the dark for too long, saw their sanity points plummet rapidly.

Even after relighting the lantern, they still triggered the ghost’s hunting phase.

Within less than ten minutes, all three had met gruesome ends at the hands of the female ghost.

"Even though we lost… we still gathered a lot of valuable intel."

Zhong Yi sighed, trying to console the group.

He had died first.

After death, he became a spectating spirit, observing the map from a detached perspective.

Freed from sanity constraints, Zhong Yi could analyze the illusion’s mechanics more clearly.

He had noticed many intriguing details.

For instance,

the female ghost wore embroidered shoes, could douse matches, and even muttered, "The guilty must pay for their sins…"

Zhong Yi privately assumed she was either a drowned ghost or a vengeful spirit.

Yet, when the final results were tallied, the entity’s classification turned out to be "wandering ghost."

From this, Zhong Yi drew a conclusion:

Superficial traits—like a ghost’s appearance or certain behaviors—could be deceptive.

The only reliable way to determine a spirit’s true nature was through evidence recorded in ancient texts.

Zhong Yi glanced at the spectral dossier in his hand.

Wandering ghosts, nightmares, wraiths, drowned ghosts, vengeful spirits, ghost infants…

A total of 24 types!

Each ghost had three distinct traits, requiring identification artifacts to verify and document.

"If even a wandering ghost is this terrifying… Old Demon Lu is truly a monster!!!"

Recalling the ordeal, Zhou Qiaoling shuddered and hugged her shoulders.

Even though the fear-inducing formation was gone, the lingering dread remained.

The thing that had reduced the four of them to screaming wrecks was just a wandering ghost?

Then what about the even more horrifying vengeful spirits, malevolent ghosts…

Or worse—ghost immortals?

The thought sent another chill down her spine.

"I—I’m done! I swear the cabinet next to me just moved!!"

Zhou Qiaoling waved her hands frantically, ready to log off.

But Zhou Yue grabbed her before she could.

"Zhou! Qiao! Ling!!"

Zhou Yue glared at her fiercely.

"Look at yourself—scared out of your wits by one ghost! As cultivators, how can we focus only on refining our bodies and neglect our minds? You’re staying, no excuses!"

After a stern lecture from Zhou Yue and Zhong Yi, Zhou Qiaoling reluctantly stayed.

The four of them selected their equipment and once again arrived at a familiar place—

the haunted house.