Ning Su was momentarily lost in thought, recalling the sensation of being held in the other’s arms and grabbing onto his sleeves in that instance inside the dungeon.
He blinked, pressed down his ear on the other’s chest, and listened carefully.
Inside the bus, amidst various murmurs, shuffles, and turning sounds, amid the chaos, he heard a heavy and slow heartbeat.
It didn’t come from the chest beneath his ear, but from his own chest.
Ling Xiao’s chest truly had no heart.
His heart was beating within his own chest.
The little zombie stuck to Ling Xiao’s chest. Hearing the heartbeat that should have been there beating in his own chest, he experienced the wonder of life for the first time, along with something unclear and incomprehensible.
He listened like this for a long time.
In an incongruous way, it felt like watching the stars.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally lifted his head.
Just as he raised his head, he met a pair of chaotic and dark eyes.
“...”
Not knowing how long he had been observed, Ning Su’s heart skipped a beat, and he greeted him, “Did you go to work part-time in other dungeon instances?”
Many instances had Lingxiao flowers, and new ghost masters were born at any time. It seemed unlikely for him to stay in one instance all the time.
Ling Xiao: “...”
Ning Su touched his nose and said, “You really don’t have a heart, ah, a heartbeat.”
Ning Su leaned down a bit. He was very thin, could lie on a bed with two children, or squeeze onto a bed with the other.
His voice was as soft as other players trying not to make too much noise. “Without a heart, what will you become?”
On Ling Xiao’s face, there was a process from silence to animation, as if he had transformed from a statue to a person. His voice carried a hoarseness, as if just waking up. “Many abilities will significantly decline; my energy needs the heart to function.”
Ning Su made a sound, it seemed like the other might still dig out his heart.
Ning Su said, “But if you dig out my heart now, I might die.”
At the top bunk at the back of the bus, far from the yellow light in the middle, it fell into silence within the dimness.
Manman from the lower bunk held Gui Sheng’s shoulders from behind, covering his mouth.
Gui Sheng’s two eyes swirled, landing in another direction.
Two different eyes met in the darkness, and eyes peeked out from the corner of the coffin.
Pang Yang threw a crumpled piece of paper to Fang Qi. [What are they saying?]
Fang Qi quickly responded, [Do you have a heart, digging it up or something?]
Pang Yang: “???”
What kind of melodramatic dialogue was this?
They actually?
Ling Xiao half-closed his eyes, looking at the young man with an unclear expression.
The young man’s arms were propped between his arms and waist, his clean and beautiful peach blossom eyes focused on him with a bit of pleasure.
When he said this sentence, he seemed a bit proud.
If digging the heart would lead to death, it’s up to him to make a decision about how to handle it.
What he should do... Was it like what the system said, just kill him?
Ling Xiao lifted his eyelids. In his eyes, which were chaotic and silent, something else appeared. “No heart means no ability. I can’t even leave the instance on my own volition. I can only cling to the strong.”
Ning Su: “...”
Ning Su sneakily came down.
Lying down and clinging to the strong was his dream. Serving as someone else’s strong support was against his nature and dreams.
After Ning Su came back, he folded his hands on his chest, really closing his eyes to sleep this time.
Throughout last night, many players didn’t sleep much. At this moment, they were all extremely tired, but they endured, afraid of falling asleep and encountering some unexpected situation.
In case they wake up, and there’s a corpse face in front of them, screaming in fear would be the end.
Seeing Ning Su sleeping so peacefully, they all gritted their teeth.
Really, they really wanted to sleep.
Just like this salted fish, fragrant, sweet, sleeping without worrying about anything.
Xue Wei also fell asleep.
Gu Xinghua knew that it meant he had to stay up all night.
He became even more vigilant, suppressing a yawn while paying close attention to the surroundings.
At night, the corpses were more active. The corpses in this bus spoke in cryptic language, perform strange actions, creating a creepy and terrifying atmosphere under the dim lights.
Around three or four in the morning, these corpses finally quiet down.
Most of them lay down on the beds, preparing for their slumber at dawn.
At this moment, the inside of the bus was exceptionally quiet, making even the slightest movement noticeable.
Gu Xinghua, contemplating whether to take advantage of this opportunity and sleep, suddenly perked up his ears.
He heard a deep scraping sound.
Gu Xinghua, who had memorized the layout of the bunks inside the bus, identified the source of the sound and immediately recognized it as the noise of the coffin lid being moved.
Someone, or something, was crawling out of the coffin and approaching him.
Gu Xinghua’s drowsiness vanished instantly.
His entire body tensed, reaching under his pillow to grasp his makeshift weapon.
Despite corpses being a common sight in the bus and losing some of their initial fright, there’s an inherent fear associated with coffins. ‘Individuals’ lying inside coffins were subconsciously perceived as more frightening.
When Gu Xinghua saw corpses approaching other players before, he appeared nonchalant, enjoying the spectacle without feeling nervous. However, facing a terrifying corpse that sought his own life, he realized the intensity of the fear and oppression.
Gu Xinghua positioned himself against the bed where Xue Wei lay, sitting at the corner with his back against the bus wall. His head rested against the wall, avoiding direct eye contact with the corpse, and he breathed quietly against the bus wall to avoid detection.
This was the safety position he had figured out.
Yet, he felt no sense of security. When he sensed the corpse stopping at the edge of his bed, his body was already trembling uncontrollably.
In moments of fear, the more one knew what could expose or endanger them, the more they try to control it. However, the attempt to control intensified the nervousness, creating a cycle that exacerbated the fear.
“Gu Xinghua,” the “person” softly called his name.
Gu Xinghua trembled suddenly.
It’s here!
Based on his understanding, when a corpse secretly observed and began to suspect someone as an anomaly, they usually called out the person’s name when approaching to test them.
Then, the corpse would say something else, typically related to players, most commonly mentioning guilds they belonged to.
“I know you’re Gu Xinghua from Yongming Guild.”
As expected.
Gu Xinghua’s whole body trembled, and his breathing became rapid.
Next, the corpse would make physical contact with the player to confirm that they were different.
The ‘person’ sat on his bed, slowly approaching him. “Gu Xinghua, I need to talk to you.”
Gu Xinghua trembled even more violently. He sensed keenly that the ‘person’ was reaching out to him.
At this moment, no one would help him create a disturbance to divert the attention of the corpse.
If the corpse touched him, confirmed he was a living person, he would die just like those seven players.
He couldn’t die, and he couldn’t passively await death like them.
He had to find another way, find a way to survive.
Thinking of what Xue Wei had said to him before getting on the bus, Gu Xinghua suddenly opened his bloodshot eyes, gripped the knife under the pillow, viciously turned his head, and with the force capable of severing a head, fiercely slashed at the ‘person’s’ neck.
Warm blood splattered across his face.
Two pairs of eyes widened simultaneously.
Ning Su was momentarily lost in thought, recalling the sensation of being held in the other’s arms and grabbing onto his sleeves in that instance inside the dungeon.
He blinked, pressed down his ear on the other’s chest, and listened carefully.
Inside the bus, amidst various murmurs, shuffles, and turning sounds, amid the chaos, he heard a heavy and slow heartbeat.
It didn’t come from the chest beneath his ear, but from his own chest.
Ling Xiao’s chest truly had no heart.
His heart was beating within his own chest.
The little zombie stuck to Ling Xiao’s chest. Hearing the heartbeat that should have been there beating in his own chest, he experienced the wonder of life for the first time, along with something unclear and incomprehensible.
He listened like this for a long time.
In an incongruous way, it felt like watching the stars.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally lifted his head.
Just as he raised his head, he met a pair of chaotic and dark eyes.
“...”
Not knowing how long he had been observed, Ning Su’s heart skipped a beat, and he greeted him, “Did you go to work part-time in other dungeon instances?”
Many instances had Lingxiao flowers, and new ghost masters were born at any time. It seemed unlikely for him to stay in one instance all the time.
Ling Xiao: “...”
Ning Su touched his nose and said, “You really don’t have a heart, ah, a heartbeat.”
Ning Su leaned down a bit. He was very thin, could lie on a bed with two children, or squeeze onto a bed with the other.
His voice was as soft as other players trying not to make too much noise. “Without a heart, what will you become?”
On Ling Xiao’s face, there was a process from silence to animation, as if he had transformed from a statue to a person. His voice carried a hoarseness, as if just waking up. “Many abilities will significantly decline; my energy needs the heart to function.”
Ning Su made a sound, it seemed like the other might still dig out his heart.
Ning Su said, “But if you dig out my heart now, I might die.”
At the top bunk at the back of the bus, far from the yellow light in the middle, it fell into silence within the dimness.
Manman from the lower bunk held Gui Sheng’s shoulders from behind, covering his mouth.
Gui Sheng’s two eyes swirled, landing in another direction.
Two different eyes met in the darkness, and eyes peeked out from the corner of the coffin.
Pang Yang threw a crumpled piece of paper to Fang Qi. [What are they saying?]
Fang Qi quickly responded, [Do you have a heart, digging it up or something?]
Pang Yang: “???”
What kind of melodramatic dialogue was this?
They actually?
Ling Xiao half-closed his eyes, looking at the young man with an unclear expression.
The young man’s arms were propped between his arms and waist, his clean and beautiful peach blossom eyes focused on him with a bit of pleasure.
When he said this sentence, he seemed a bit proud.
If digging the heart would lead to death, it’s up to him to make a decision about how to handle it.
What he should do... Was it like what the system said, just kill him?
Ling Xiao lifted his eyelids. In his eyes, which were chaotic and silent, something else appeared. “No heart means no ability. I can’t even leave the instance on my own volition. I can only cling to the strong.”
Ning Su: “...”
Ning Su sneakily came down.
Lying down and clinging to the strong was his dream. Serving as someone else’s strong support was against his nature and dreams.
After Ning Su came back, he folded his hands on his chest, really closing his eyes to sleep this time.
Throughout last night, many players didn’t sleep much. At this moment, they were all extremely tired, but they endured, afraid of falling asleep and encountering some unexpected situation.
In case they wake up, and there’s a corpse face in front of them, screaming in fear would be the end.
Seeing Ning Su sleeping so peacefully, they all gritted their teeth.
Really, they really wanted to sleep.
Just like this salted fish, fragrant, sweet, sleeping without worrying about anything.
Xue Wei also fell asleep.
Gu Xinghua knew that it meant he had to stay up all night.
He became even more vigilant, suppressing a yawn while paying close attention to the surroundings.
At night, the corpses were more active. The corpses in this bus spoke in cryptic language, perform strange actions, creating a creepy and terrifying atmosphere under the dim lights.
Around three or four in the morning, these corpses finally quiet down.
Most of them lay down on the beds, preparing for their slumber at dawn.
At this moment, the inside of the bus was exceptionally quiet, making even the slightest movement noticeable.
Gu Xinghua, contemplating whether to take advantage of this opportunity and sleep, suddenly perked up his ears.
He heard a deep scraping sound.
Gu Xinghua, who had memorized the layout of the bunks inside the bus, identified the source of the sound and immediately recognized it as the noise of the coffin lid being moved.
Someone, or something, was crawling out of the coffin and approaching him.
Gu Xinghua’s drowsiness vanished instantly.
His entire body tensed, reaching under his pillow to grasp his makeshift weapon.
Despite corpses being a common sight in the bus and losing some of their initial fright, there’s an inherent fear associated with coffins. ‘Individuals’ lying inside coffins were subconsciously perceived as more frightening.
When Gu Xinghua saw corpses approaching other players before, he appeared nonchalant, enjoying the spectacle without feeling nervous. However, facing a terrifying corpse that sought his own life, he realized the intensity of the fear and oppression.
Gu Xinghua positioned himself against the bed where Xue Wei lay, sitting at the corner with his back against the bus wall. His head rested against the wall, avoiding direct eye contact with the corpse, and he breathed quietly against the bus wall to avoid detection.
This was the safety position he had figured out.
Yet, he felt no sense of security. When he sensed the corpse stopping at the edge of his bed, his body was already trembling uncontrollably.
In moments of fear, the more one knew what could expose or endanger them, the more they try to control it. However, the attempt to control intensified the nervousness, creating a cycle that exacerbated the fear.
“Gu Xinghua,” the “person” softly called his name.
Gu Xinghua trembled suddenly.
It’s here!
Based on his understanding, when a corpse secretly observed and began to suspect someone as an anomaly, they usually called out the person’s name when approaching to test them.
Then, the corpse would say something else, typically related to players, most commonly mentioning guilds they belonged to.
“I know you’re Gu Xinghua from Yongming Guild.”
As expected.
Gu Xinghua’s whole body trembled, and his breathing became rapid.
Next, the corpse would make physical contact with the player to confirm that they were different.
The ‘person’ sat on his bed, slowly approaching him. “Gu Xinghua, I need to talk to you.”
Gu Xinghua trembled even more violently. He sensed keenly that the ‘person’ was reaching out to him.
At this moment, no one would help him create a disturbance to divert the attention of the corpse.
If the corpse touched him, confirmed he was a living person, he would die just like those seven players.
He couldn’t die, and he couldn’t passively await death like them.
He had to find another way, find a way to survive.
Thinking of what Xue Wei had said to him before getting on the bus, Gu Xinghua suddenly opened his bloodshot eyes, gripped the knife under the pillow, viciously turned his head, and with the force capable of severing a head, fiercely slashed at the ‘person’s’ neck.
Warm blood splattered across his face.
Two pairs of eyes widened simultaneously.
