"Damn it!!"
Zhou Yue's face instantly turned ashen.
This was the exact spot where someone had died in the previous round!
Moreover, the basement environment—dark, damp—naturally carried an eerie sense of oppression.
"Wait... it hasn't even been five minutes. The ghost shouldn’t be able to act yet!"
Zhou Yue quickly snapped back to his senses and mustered his courage to climb the stairs and push the door.
Yet, it didn’t budge an inch.
"Old Zhong, is that you blocking the door from the outside? Trying to keep me in?"
Zhou Yue’s first thought was that Zhong Yi was retaliating for what he’d done in the last round.
"Come on, we’re both Nascent Soul cultivators now. Be magnanimous, don’t be so petty..."
He knocked for a long time, but there was no response from outside.
Zhou Yue was utterly frustrated.
The iron door seemed welded shut.
Who the hell did this...
At the same time,
Zhou Yue keenly sensed that the temperature around him had dropped even further.
"Damn it... I swear the ghost is right next to me..."
......
Master Bedroom.
Zhou Qiaoling stared curiously at the bone slip engraved with [Heavenly Net] in her hand, unable to figure out its effect.
"Heavenly Net? Maybe it traps ghosts for a while?"
Zhong Yi, who had rushed over after hearing the news, analyzed the divination result.
"Then why isn’t it marked as [Auspicious], but just a neutral [Moderate]?"
Zhou Qiaoling was still puzzled.
"Ah, whatever! Let’s just draw another one!"
With that, she eagerly pulled another bone slip from the cylinder.
This time, the engraving depicted a graveyard—countless coffins with withered hands clawing out from within.
Beneath it read:
[Minor Misfortune: Fate’s Stranglehold]
"Minor Misfortune!"
Zhou Qiaoling’s expression instantly paled.
This was her first time drawing an ominous slip, and she immediately grew tense, hiding behind Zhong Yi.
The two of them stayed on high alert for a long time, yet nothing happened.
"Strange... is this slip broken?"
......
Basement.
"Damn it, is this door broken or what?"
Zhou Yue kicked the iron door twice more, but it remained unmoved. He had no choice but to retreat.
He glanced at his sanity points.
With the protection of the lanterns—both the hallway and basement ones lit—his sanity was still at a high 91.
Just then,
the basement lantern’s flame began flickering erratically.
Zhou Yue’s heart leaped into his throat.
In the wavering light,
a figure with a wrinkled, blood-streaked face suddenly appeared before him.
Zhou Yue’s sanity points plummeted instantly!
"Holy shit!! You... you!!!"
His heart pounded violently as he stumbled back two steps.
The next moment,
the lantern’s flame snuffed out completely.
The damp, oppressive basement plunged into absolute darkness.
Zhou Yue didn’t dare breathe. He scrambled backward, fumbling desperately through his inventory.
Despite having only four item slots, he kept grabbing the wrong things,
his hands shaking like he had Parkinson’s.
When his back finally hit something solid—the wall—he felt a sliver of relief.
But just as he pulled out the Spirit Cage, Zhou Yue suddenly realized...
the "wall" behind him was moving.
His heart seized again as he slowly turned his head.
It wasn’t a wall at all—
it was the same ghostly old woman again!
"I..."
Zhou Yue sucked in a sharp breath, fighting the urge to scream.
He was live-streaming this, after all. There were tons of viewers watching!
He couldn’t afford to embarrass himself!
But the next second—
"Haaah...!"
An otherworldly, icy breath exploded right by his ear.
Zhou Yue couldn’t hold back anymore.
"HOLY SHIT!!! GHOST!!!!"
......
Meanwhile.
Bedroom.
Zhou Qiaoling, Zhong Yi, and Mu Yawen were enthusiastically analyzing the effects of the [Yin-Yang Bone Divination].
[Purple Mist from the East] restored 100 sanity, while [Lunar Soul Snatcher] deducted 100.
The ambiguous [Sun and Moon as One]—white restored 25, black deducted 25.
Occasionally, [Illusory Mirage] would nullify the divination entirely.
The more they experimented, the more engrossed they became, completely forgetting their original purpose.
"Again, again!!"
Zhou Qiaoling was the most eager.
After so many draws, the worst they’d gotten was the black [Sun and Moon as One], which only deducted 25 sanity.
"These bone slips don’t really pose any threat to us!"
Zhong Yi remarked confidently.
Then, Zhou Qiaoling felt a bone-chilling cold seep into her fingertips.
The slip displayed a grotesquely twisted face, as if attacked by a malevolent entity.
Beneath it read:
[Great Misfortune: Vengeful Ghost’s Hunt]
Instantly, the air around them turned frigid!
"W-what do we do...?"
Zhou Qiaoling’s voice trembled with fear, regret flooding her for drawing this slip.
"It’s fine, it’s fine..."
Zhong Yi forced a laugh, trying to reassure everyone.
"It hasn’t even been five minutes yet, right? We should be safe..."
"Besides, none of the previous slips did anything. Maybe this is just a scare tactic..."
Hearing this, Zhou Qiaoling relaxed slightly.
"So... [Vengeful Ghost’s Hunt] is also a dud?"
Seeing no immediate movement around them, Zhong Yi exhaled in relief.
"Speaking of which, where’s Old Zhou...?"
......
Basement.
"Y-you... you’re just trying to scare me!"
Zhou Yue struggled to keep his lips from trembling, but his body refused to cooperate.
Trapped with the ghost, his sanity was draining rapidly.
Fear, thick as the surrounding darkness, enveloped him like rising floodwaters.
"It’s... it’s not time yet... y-you can’t kill..."
Before he could finish,
the ghostly old woman’s lips stretched into a grin—so wide it seemed to split her withered face apart.
"Thud... thud..."
A heavy, rhythmic pounding echoed—
the same sound that preceded every ghostly kill in the last round.
According to Zhong Yi’s analysis, this was the ghost’s hunting signal!
"You! You—!"
Zhou Yue panicked.
Assuming the ghost wouldn’t attack so soon, he hadn’t brought the Evil-Warding Coin or the Incense of Exorcism.
Now, he was defenseless—just an ordinary man!
In this moment, he understood one thing with absolute clarity—
All fear stems from a lack of firepower!
"You promised a grace period! Y-you... you’re breaking ghostly ethics!"
"Don’t..."
"Don’t come any closer!!"
"AHHH—!!!"
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
ial death, also known as "shè sǐ" in Chinese, generally refers to... well, never mind, it's not important. My name is Ye Cheng, and I'm about to experience social death firsthand. ... 【Host, your mission is to confess your love to the young lady of the Dongfang family, the current student council president, in a way that will be unforgettable for everyone at the freshman ceremony!】 【Host, assist the girl with a sprained ankle in front of you to reach the infirmary, and fulfill the wicked thoughts in your heart!】 【Host, act on your desires and punish the arrogant young lady before you mercilessly!】 【Host, follow your instincts—abandon shameful surrender, begging, or groveling, and ruthlessly criticize the domineering, ill-mannered young lady in front of you!】 【Host...】 Ye Cheng: "Here, here, you take this host role—I quit!" Wait, why is the girl with a sprained ankle the daughter of a mafia boss? And what kind of punishment method is this for the arrogant young lady? Also, who the heck said anything about wicked thoughts in my heart? Come out here, let’s settle this one-on-one!!! ... The haughty student council president, the scheming mafia princess, the fragile yandere young lady, the airheaded maid-in-waiting, the mixed-blood loli/...
reezy rom-com) Good news: Jiang Liu is quite the ladies' man. Bad news: He’s lost his memory. Lying in a hospital bed, Jiang Liu listens to a parade of goddesses spouting "absurd claims," feeling like the world is one giant game of Werewolf. "Jiang Liu, I’m your first love." "Jiang Liu, you’re my boyfriend—she’s your ex." "Jiang Liu, we’re close friends who’ve shared a bed, remember?" "Jiang Liu, I want to have your baby." The now-lucid Jiang Liu is convinced this must be some elaborate scam... until someone drops the bombshell: "The day before you lost your memory, you confessed your feelings—and got into a relationship." Jiang Liu is utterly baffled. So... who the hell is his actual girlfriend?! ... Before recovering his memories, Jiang Liu must navigate this minefield of lies and sincerity, fighting to protect himself from these women’s schemes. But things spiral even further out of control as more people show up at his doorstep—each with increasingly unhinged antics. On the bright side, the memories he lost due to overwhelming trauma seem to be resurfacing. Great news, right? So why are they all panicking now?
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
