“Are you a player?”
Ning Su looked at the ghost in a black robe in front of him. “Ah, should I say, were you once a player?”
The ghost stood quietly facing the window, seemingly recalling something with great effort, as if it were challenging to remember.
After a long time, he still couldn’t answer Ning Su.
Ning Su thought of the old man and the young man wearing a backpack.
They both didn’t know they were dead.
If the one in front of him was also a player and could remember, he would realize his own death.
Ning Su didn’t let him dwell on this question anymore. He said to the other, “I don’t know how you ended up wearing that black robe, but you or someone on this ship seems able to communicate with him.”
“If you have the chance, please tell him that it wasn’t me who killed him. It was Lin Liang, the one he trusted, the villagers, and the system.”
“I took that step forward, not out of guilt, but out of regret.”
After hearing this, the ghost left.
Ning Su looked at the struggles of several people on the beds in the dark night, thinking that not only corpses were walking this gloomy path, players were walking it too.
The dead became aware of their death.
Players coming to terms with a specific death in their hearts.
He just didn’t know how many people could truly find reconciliation.
Ning Su got into bed, rubbing the Gui Sheng’s stiff hair. “Did you pull me back?”
Gui Sheng nodded, “Hmm!”
Ning Su said, “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Gui Sheng responded with a sound, “Hmm.”
Ning Su told the two children, “Go to sleep.”
The three of them fell asleep immediately.
When Ning Su woke up the next day, Pang Yang immediately told him, “Four players died last night!”
He and Fang Qi had serious expressions. The number of players who died this night was only slightly less than the first night.
The most despairing thing was that just when they thought they had overcome the most difficult time and saw hope, they were dragged back to the darkest moment.
It’s too disheartening.
Both of them appeared serious with a hint of fatigue, like eggplants that had been beaten to a pulp but were putting on a show of strength.
Pang Yang: “How is this possible? At this point, how could four players die overnight? What exactly happened?”
While Ning Su was thinking about how to explain last night’s events, Xue Wei gathered a few more players on her side, and someone called them over.
Xue Wei’s face looked quite unpleasant.
Originally, they had a total of sixteen players gathered here, but four died last night, leaving only twelve now.
Apart from Ning Su and the other three, there were Xue Wei and Gu Xinghua, Wan Bo and Yun Xiangning, and four other players distributed in two different locations.
“I heard him call the ghost’s name before he died. He knew that ghost,” one of the players said.
Gu Xinghua: “Could it be another dead player turned into one of them?”
“No, it shouldn’t be. That person didn’t die in this instance. He kept mentioning another instance, constantly apologizing to that ghost.”
They were all stunned.
Ning Su said: “It must be the ghost of the player he felt guilty about.”
They were stunned again.
Xue Wei asked him, “How do you know?”
Ning Su: “A ghost came to me last night.”
Xue Wei: “And you’re fine?”
Ning Su looked up at her. “How could I not be fine?”
“...”
Fang Qi looked even more serious. “So, not only those of us who just entered this instance might turn into their kind, but players who died in other instances before might also?”
Pang Yang said, “Players who died before were probably already dead and turned into ghosts, not transformed into their kind.”
Wan Bo: “So, you mean, among these corpses, some were originally players who died in different instances before?”
Pang Yang: “No wonder they had no problem introducing themselves, knowing the instance, knowing the base properties. It turns out they were players!”
“So, they’re terrifying, and we can’t escape from them,” Yun Xiangning said, trembling.
Ning Su added, “To be precise, what was shown to the players is the image of the deceased player they felt guilty about.”
“What do you mean?”
Ning Su replied, “The one I met last night was a ghost pretending to be someone I know.”
“...”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Ning Su explained, “But I did indeed see the moment in the instance where the player the ghost was pretending to be died.”
“...”
“I can’t guarantee if the other four players who died last night saw something similar.”
“...”
Pang Yang ran his hand through his curls. “This is too difficult.”
In this horror game, especially in this Level Four instance, a significant portion of players were people who must have felt guilty about something. If given the chance to go back to that moment, who wouldn’t want to extend a helping hand?
After a brief exchange, the players dispersed, each lost in their own thoughts.
When Ning Su returned, he found Manman drawing between two beds on a small table.
Manman hadn’t been born yet, but her twisted biological father was already prepared to turn her into the most formidable Gu Man Tong in the world.
Her nursery was filled with hair, skulls, and horrifying drawings. Her toys were Gu Man Tong dolls, and she drank blood.
But her biological father was indeed wealthy and influential. Beyond these horrors, he provided her with a princess-like material life.
She could play the piano and paint.
And she painted quite well.
Ning Su stood there watching for a while.
It was Manman’s unique style, combining horror and innocence.
He could tell she was painting for the old man.
The painting depicted the old man, his daughter, and his young grandson. Beneath a bloody moon, the family appeared joyous, while a decapitated chicken danced in the courtyard, blood spraying every corner.
The little girl looked up and asked softly, “Mommy, is my painting good?”
Ning Su replied, “...Yes, it’s good.”
Gui Sheng praised, “Fantastic, super cute!”
Ning Su: “...”
The little girl lifted her chin. “Give it to Grandpa as a memento.”
Ning Su: “Ah Fei, it’s like this. Now Grandpa has a more normal aesthetic sense.”
He might not get your ‘ghost master’ like aesthetics.
The little girl looked at him in confusion.
Ning Su: “I mean, the headless rooster can be replaced with a fluffy little chick.”
Under Ning Su’s guidance, Manman re-drew the painting.
Gui Sheng also participated in this painting.
When Gui Sheng was in Huaiyang Village, not to mention drawing, he couldn’t even walk like a human.
Manman held his hand and drew a yellow smiling face sun in the upper right corner of the painting.
Gui Sheng stared for a long time, his eyes seemed to be dyed with the radiance of the sun in the painting, his eyes sparkling, “Wow~”
He turned to look at Manman, pounced and hugged her, bending his eyes to rub her face. “Sister!”
The proud and willful little girl: “What’s this? I’ll teach you to count and play the harmonica in the future.”
“Last time at that dark restaurant, washing a hundred plates for a lamb leg, you washed 182, always at a loss.”
Then she also happily smiled with narrowed eyes.
Ning Su: “…”
Washing dishes for a lamb leg and such, it’s really unnecessary.
Thinking about it, he smiled too.
Since bringing Gui Sheng out, he had been thinking about adopting another ghost child.
Gui Sheng had no friends since birth, hiding alone in a small warehouse. Those little beasts didn’t play with him.
When he learned of Manman’s background, he decided to adopt Manman.
Two ghost children, providing each other with companionship.
Even if he’s not around, they wouldn’t be alone and bullied.
It was a rare thing that their personalities complement each other so well.
“Are you a player?”
Ning Su looked at the ghost in a black robe in front of him. “Ah, should I say, were you once a player?”
The ghost stood quietly facing the window, seemingly recalling something with great effort, as if it were challenging to remember.
After a long time, he still couldn’t answer Ning Su.
Ning Su thought of the old man and the young man wearing a backpack.
They both didn’t know they were dead.
If the one in front of him was also a player and could remember, he would realize his own death.
Ning Su didn’t let him dwell on this question anymore. He said to the other, “I don’t know how you ended up wearing that black robe, but you or someone on this ship seems able to communicate with him.”
“If you have the chance, please tell him that it wasn’t me who killed him. It was Lin Liang, the one he trusted, the villagers, and the system.”
“I took that step forward, not out of guilt, but out of regret.”
After hearing this, the ghost left.
Ning Su looked at the struggles of several people on the beds in the dark night, thinking that not only corpses were walking this gloomy path, players were walking it too.
The dead became aware of their death.
Players coming to terms with a specific death in their hearts.
He just didn’t know how many people could truly find reconciliation.
Ning Su got into bed, rubbing the Gui Sheng’s stiff hair. “Did you pull me back?”
Gui Sheng nodded, “Hmm!”
Ning Su said, “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Gui Sheng responded with a sound, “Hmm.”
Ning Su told the two children, “Go to sleep.”
The three of them fell asleep immediately.
When Ning Su woke up the next day, Pang Yang immediately told him, “Four players died last night!”
He and Fang Qi had serious expressions. The number of players who died this night was only slightly less than the first night.
The most despairing thing was that just when they thought they had overcome the most difficult time and saw hope, they were dragged back to the darkest moment.
It’s too disheartening.
Both of them appeared serious with a hint of fatigue, like eggplants that had been beaten to a pulp but were putting on a show of strength.
Pang Yang: “How is this possible? At this point, how could four players die overnight? What exactly happened?”
While Ning Su was thinking about how to explain last night’s events, Xue Wei gathered a few more players on her side, and someone called them over.
Xue Wei’s face looked quite unpleasant.
Originally, they had a total of sixteen players gathered here, but four died last night, leaving only twelve now.
Apart from Ning Su and the other three, there were Xue Wei and Gu Xinghua, Wan Bo and Yun Xiangning, and four other players distributed in two different locations.
“I heard him call the ghost’s name before he died. He knew that ghost,” one of the players said.
Gu Xinghua: “Could it be another dead player turned into one of them?”
“No, it shouldn’t be. That person didn’t die in this instance. He kept mentioning another instance, constantly apologizing to that ghost.”
They were all stunned.
Ning Su said: “It must be the ghost of the player he felt guilty about.”
They were stunned again.
Xue Wei asked him, “How do you know?”
Ning Su: “A ghost came to me last night.”
Xue Wei: “And you’re fine?”
Ning Su looked up at her. “How could I not be fine?”
“...”
Fang Qi looked even more serious. “So, not only those of us who just entered this instance might turn into their kind, but players who died in other instances before might also?”
Pang Yang said, “Players who died before were probably already dead and turned into ghosts, not transformed into their kind.”
Wan Bo: “So, you mean, among these corpses, some were originally players who died in different instances before?”
Pang Yang: “No wonder they had no problem introducing themselves, knowing the instance, knowing the base properties. It turns out they were players!”
“So, they’re terrifying, and we can’t escape from them,” Yun Xiangning said, trembling.
Ning Su added, “To be precise, what was shown to the players is the image of the deceased player they felt guilty about.”
“What do you mean?”
Ning Su replied, “The one I met last night was a ghost pretending to be someone I know.”
“...”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Ning Su explained, “But I did indeed see the moment in the instance where the player the ghost was pretending to be died.”
“...”
“I can’t guarantee if the other four players who died last night saw something similar.”
“...”
Pang Yang ran his hand through his curls. “This is too difficult.”
In this horror game, especially in this Level Four instance, a significant portion of players were people who must have felt guilty about something. If given the chance to go back to that moment, who wouldn’t want to extend a helping hand?
After a brief exchange, the players dispersed, each lost in their own thoughts.
When Ning Su returned, he found Manman drawing between two beds on a small table.
Manman hadn’t been born yet, but her twisted biological father was already prepared to turn her into the most formidable Gu Man Tong in the world.
Her nursery was filled with hair, skulls, and horrifying drawings. Her toys were Gu Man Tong dolls, and she drank blood.
But her biological father was indeed wealthy and influential. Beyond these horrors, he provided her with a princess-like material life.
She could play the piano and paint.
And she painted quite well.
Ning Su stood there watching for a while.
It was Manman’s unique style, combining horror and innocence.
He could tell she was painting for the old man.
The painting depicted the old man, his daughter, and his young grandson. Beneath a bloody moon, the family appeared joyous, while a decapitated chicken danced in the courtyard, blood spraying every corner.
The little girl looked up and asked softly, “Mommy, is my painting good?”
Ning Su replied, “...Yes, it’s good.”
Gui Sheng praised, “Fantastic, super cute!”
Ning Su: “...”
The little girl lifted her chin. “Give it to Grandpa as a memento.”
Ning Su: “Ah Fei, it’s like this. Now Grandpa has a more normal aesthetic sense.”
He might not get your ‘ghost master’ like aesthetics.
The little girl looked at him in confusion.
Ning Su: “I mean, the headless rooster can be replaced with a fluffy little chick.”
Under Ning Su’s guidance, Manman re-drew the painting.
Gui Sheng also participated in this painting.
When Gui Sheng was in Huaiyang Village, not to mention drawing, he couldn’t even walk like a human.
Manman held his hand and drew a yellow smiling face sun in the upper right corner of the painting.
Gui Sheng stared for a long time, his eyes seemed to be dyed with the radiance of the sun in the painting, his eyes sparkling, “Wow~”
He turned to look at Manman, pounced and hugged her, bending his eyes to rub her face. “Sister!”
The proud and willful little girl: “What’s this? I’ll teach you to count and play the harmonica in the future.”
“Last time at that dark restaurant, washing a hundred plates for a lamb leg, you washed 182, always at a loss.”
Then she also happily smiled with narrowed eyes.
Ning Su: “…”
Washing dishes for a lamb leg and such, it’s really unnecessary.
Thinking about it, he smiled too.
Since bringing Gui Sheng out, he had been thinking about adopting another ghost child.
Gui Sheng had no friends since birth, hiding alone in a small warehouse. Those little beasts didn’t play with him.
When he learned of Manman’s background, he decided to adopt Manman.
Two ghost children, providing each other with companionship.
Even if he’s not around, they wouldn’t be alone and bullied.
It was a rare thing that their personalities complement each other so well.
