Although the ghosts and monsters retreated on their own, the eye outside the window did not disappear. A chilling sense of intense surveillance lingered, sending shivers down their spines.
Gu Jiu frowned, staring at the eye outside. Unsurprisingly, she noticed the smugness in its gaze.
It seemed to be gloating, as if proud that they were powerless against it.
Gu Jiu said, “Although I can’t gouge you out right now, I can still give you a taste of suffering.”
With that, she reached toward the eye outside again. Her blood-red nails glinted like a she-demon under the moonlit night.
The smugness in the eye turned to venom, and it swiftly retreated from the window, putting a little more distance between itself and them.
As it moved away, the players keenly sensed that oppressive sense of surveillance easing slightly, and the hair-raising chill lessened somewhat.
Suddenly, Qi Yuheng looked toward the door and said, “It’s coming.”
What was coming?
The newcomers huddled together, their eyes wide with terror, looking toward the broken door, shattered by the previous onslaught of ghosts and monsters.
Ge Guang and the twin sisters’ faces paled. They hurried over to close the door again, but the door now felt as flimsy as paper. Soon, it was crushed into splinters by an unseen force, scattering wood chips around the room, some even landing on the players closest to the door.
The newcomers screamed in fear.
A shadow appeared in the doorway.
The shadow had a human-like shape, with a pair of blood-red eyes in place of a head, staring intently at the players inside.
This was the ghostly shadow from the villa—the same kind that knocked on their doors every night, disturbing their rest. These entities seemed to lack consciousness, acting purely on instinct, unlike the six distinct ghosts.
Ge Guang fired his spirit gun at the shadow in the doorway. One of the shadow’s arms was hit, dissipating like smoke.
“Our items work against it!” the players exclaimed in delight, quickly slapping a Holy Light Talisman onto the ghostly shadow.
The talisman emitted a sacred glow. Under this radiant light, the shadow started to melt away, like ice meeting a blazing sun, eventually fading and disappearing.
Everyone cheered in relief.
After the shadow vanished, an identical figure appeared at the doorway.
The cheering players fell silent, as if choked. They stared in horror at the doorway, where another identical shadow had emerged.
Once again, the players threw a Holy Light Talisman, and the shadow vanished upon contact with the holy light.
And then, yet another identical shadow appeared at the doorway.
The players were on the verge of collapse, despair evident as they cried out, “Is this thing duplicating? How do we kill one and then another comes? It’s endless!”
With no options left, they turned to Gu Jiu and Qi Yuheng, pinning all their hopes on the two experts.
Gu Jiu left the window and walked toward the doorway.
“Let’s go to the first-floor hall,” she said.
The first-floor hall?
Everyone froze for a moment. Now? With the shadow creatures at the door?
Qi Yuheng donned his gloves and turned to Ge Guang and the others, saying, “Follow Miss Gu’s lead, let’s fight our way out!”
With both of them deciding to move forward, the others, despite their doubts and reluctance, had no choice but to follow. They couldn’t risk staying behind and meeting the same mysterious end as the two newcomers who had strayed off alone. It would be a pointless death.
Luckily, Gu Jiu led the way, cutting a path for them, unlike those powerful yet malicious players who often used newcomers and other players as shields.
When Gu Jiu reached the doorway, a paper frog and a paper figure appeared at her feet.
She paused, glancing back at Lu Ji.
Controlling the paper frog and figure, Lu Ji commanded the paper frog to open its mouth and bite the ghostly shadow at the door, while the paper figure stepped on the shadow’s heel.
“Hurry up!” Lu Ji urged in a low voice. “They can’t hold it off for long.”
Hearing this, Gu Jiu swiped at the shadow, shredding it into a puddle of black ink, then stepped forward and walked out.
The others followed, astonished at the paper frog and figure holding back the shadow, their faces filled with amazement. They had always assumed Lu Ji was just an assistant to the young lady, given her frail appearance and seeming lack of combat ability. They’d thought she needed protection—who would have guessed she was another hardcore expert?
The group dashed toward the staircase.
Along the way, they encountered several ghostly shadows. They used every means at their disposal, whether Holy Light Talismans, other tools, or their own unique skills.
These so-called special skills were the awakened talents of the spiritual seeds within players, like Gu Jiu’s “Demoness Claws.” Such personal, awakened skills were rare; even among a thousand players, only one might have the chance to awaken one.
Qi Yuheng and the twin sisters were among those who had awakened talents.
The twin sisters had the “Linked Eyes” ability; when they activated it together, their vision could pierce through spatial barriers, unaffected by spatial restrictions.
Qi Yuheng’s awakened talent was unique—it was a soul-reading technique. Not only could he see a person’s true character, but he could also use this ability to influence others’ perception, making himself appear almost invisible.
Qi Yuheng activated his soul-reading ability, leading them smoothly to the first-floor hall.
The hall was brightly lit, making the dangers from the game world all the more visible.
Ghostly shadows shaped like humans filled the space, wandering through the hall, and the ever-present, enormous eye outside the window watched them intently, seeing them as prey.
As the shadows rushed toward them, Qi Yuheng finally deployed the “Fortress Barrier,” creating a safe zone that enclosed everyone inside.
The shadows collided with the invisible barrier, bouncing off without being able to harm the players within the safe zone.
The players, tense until now, began to relax, deeply grateful to Qi Yuheng. Had it not been for him purchasing the “Fortress Barrier,” they might already be torn to shreds by these ghostly shadows.
One or two shadows were manageable, but hundreds or thousands would tear them to pieces.
The eye outside, seeing the group hiding within the safe zone, let out an enraged roar, causing the villa to shake once more. The chandelier on the ceiling trembled as though it could crash down at any moment.
The players’ momentary relief was quickly replaced with renewed anxiety.
Someone murmured, “It’s like an earthquake…”
“Not surprising,” Gu Jiu said slowly, gazing at the giant, angry eye outside the window.
“Imagine if you were shaking a birdcage at home—wouldn’t the bird inside feel like it’s in an earthquake?”
Everyone: “!!!!”
The mere thought of it conjured up a vivid mental image, making the situation all the more terrifying.
The name “Caged Bird” for this game instance was indeed simple and straightforward. The entire villa was a birdcage, and outside was the “cage owner,” who stared greedily at the “birds” trapped inside.
Clearly, the eye at the window belonged to the villa’s owner—the boss of the instance, watching the players with an unwavering gaze.
Then they heard Gu Jiu add, “But don’t worry, ‘it’ can’t enter the birdcage, so there’s no need to worry about that eye breaking into the villa.”
That was a relief.
Qi Yuheng, however, frowned. “While the boss can’t come in, it can still command its lackeys.”
Everyone glanced around at the ghostly shadows and immediately felt their spirits droop again.
Qi Yuheng had a point. The ghostly shadows and the six specific ghosts within the villa were all the boss’s underlings. The six ghosts, at least, had some intelligence and could feel fear, even fleeing from Gu Jiu. But these ghostly shadows were just silhouettes with no mind of their own; they couldn’t be communicated with or frightened away.
One player asked hopefully, “Why don’t we just stay inside the ‘Fortress Barrier’ until the seventh day ends?”
The other players perked up. Right! They could hide in the “Fortress Barrier” until the game time ran out! They almost got swayed by Gu Jiu’s straightforward approach, actually considering fighting the boss directly, which was entirely unnecessary.
Qi Yuheng snorted. “The ‘Fortress Barrier’ only has limited durability. It’s a single-use item and lasts only six hours.”
Six hours? And it wasn’t even dawn yet!
The faint hope they had felt was quickly crushed. The players’ disappointment was palpable, and someone asked desperately, “What do we do now?”
“Obviously, we find the key,” Gu Jiu replied. “As long as we find the last key, we’re safe.”
Hope rose again in the group. “Really?”
Gu Jiu glanced at them, not giving any overconfident assurances. She gazed at the ghostly shadows lingering outside the “Fortress Barrier,” as if deep in thought.
The others, seeing she wasn’t responding, felt awkward but didn’t dare disturb her.
Time passed bit by bit. The eye’s owner, seeing that Gu Jiu was hiding and unable to poke at it anymore, leaned closer to the window, casting an eerie, sinister gaze over the players in the hall.
The players felt chills under the weight of that gaze, as though it pierced them to their very cores.
It was an awful feeling.
Qi Yuheng’s face looked especially grim as he scowled at Ai Ruyi, who had edged closer to him.
“Get away from me. That cheap perfume you’re wearing is really irritating my respiratory system.”
Ai Ruyi scooted a bit farther away, embarrassed, but didn’t dare to go too far.
Right now, she wanted nothing more than to stick to him, figuring that her chances of survival were better with an expert. She didn’t trust anyone else to keep her alive.
Though the other players weren’t as obvious as Ai Ruyi, they all felt similarly. They dared not get too close to Gu Jiu—not only because she was an imposing beauty and they feared she’d misinterpret their intentions, but also because of her fierce demeanor that could scare off even ghosts. If the supernatural creatures couldn’t handle her, neither could the living.
This put Qi Yuheng, who had a strong aversion to others invading his personal space, in a particularly uncomfortable position. He looked as though he wanted to kick everyone out of the “Fortress Barrier.”
Seeing his discomfort, Ge Guang and the twin sisters hurried over to shield him from the others, hoping to prevent him from losing his patience and doing something drastic.
Ding—
A faint sound broke the silence. Gu Jiu tilted her head slightly, looking toward the window.
Outside, apart from the eye peering in on them, there was only a thick blanket of darkness that obscured any clear view of what lay beyond.
Softly, she said, “The key has appeared.”
The players, who had been inching closer to Qi Yuheng, froze for a moment, then turned to her in surprise and excitement. “Really? Where?”
Gu Jiu pointed out the window. “It should be in the rose bushes outside. I heard it.”
The group stared at her, bewildered. How come they hadn’t heard anything?
Ignoring their confusion, Gu Jiu began pondering how to retrieve the key. Clearly, it had been deliberately placed outside in the rose bushes to tempt them. It was easy to guess who had orchestrated this little game.
“How are we supposed to get it?” Ge Guang scratched his head so vigorously he seemed ready to pull his hair out, but he couldn’t come up with a good plan.
The eye outside glared at them with an intense, predatory gaze. Running outside would be like walking into a trap, exactly what the villa’s owner likely wanted.
Qi Yuheng glanced briefly at the enormous eye pressed against the window, his expression quickly souring.
“This is obviously a trap, hoping we’ll run outside willingly.” After a pause, he added, “Just like a bird in a cage. The owner opens the cage door, and the bird flies out on its own—right into the waiting hand.”
Everyone: “….” The way he described it was so vivid it sent chills down their spines.
Qi Yuheng turned to Gu Jiu. “Miss Gu, do you have any ideas?”
Gu Jiu smiled. “I don’t, but our Ah Ji does.”
Instantly, all eyes turned to the quiet girl standing beside Gu Jiu, who had gone largely unnoticed. When they saw the little paper figure perched on her left shoulder, their eyes lit up.
This girl’s paper control technique was remarkable—they had already witnessed it in action.
Lu Ji murmured, “I’ve already sent…someone to retrieve it.”
Her voice was slightly muffled, deliberately vague, so the villa’s master—the eye outside—wouldn’t overhear.
The players were thrilled, though they tried not to show it, keeping their joy restrained with great effort.
Just as they were reveling in this plan, six ghosts suddenly appeared in the hall, startling the more timid players, who let out sharp gasps.
The ghost in the mirror, leading the others, glared at them in a fit of rage. “I don’t believe you can stay in there all night! Sooner or later, you’ll have to come out, and when you do…”
He sneered, his hateful gaze fixed on Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu didn’t even spare him a glance, instead turning her gaze toward the other ghosts.
Looking at the pregnant ghost, she asked, “Do you want to break free from the villa’s control?”
The pregnant ghost gently held her swollen belly, saying nothing, but the flicker in her eyes made it clear—she wanted freedom, desperately.
Gu Jiu then turned to the headless female ghost. “And you?”
The headless ghost didn’t respond either, only touching her neck, where a bloody gash marked her severed head.