The trailing players clustered at the doorway, their eyes first falling on a large drum resting on a shelf in the utility room.
Despite the room’s darkness, the drumhead seemed to emit an otherworldly glow, akin to the flawless radiance of a young maiden’s skin. The surface gleamed with a pearly sheen, smooth and delicate beyond compare.
The unsettling drumming sound they had heard earlier had originated from this very drum.
No matter how tightly they covered their ears, the sound seemed to bypass physical barriers, drilling directly into their minds, stirring restlessness and irritation.
It wasn’t until Gu Jiu swiped at it with her claw that the players realized the incessant drumming sound invading their consciousness had finally stopped.
Remarkably, the drum had been silenced with a single swipe from the young lady.
Examining the drumhead again, five bloody claw marks marred its surface, resembling scratches on human skin. The wounds were inflamed, edges turned outward, and thin streaks of blood oozed from them, making the sight particularly eerie.
The sudden scene sent a chill down the players’ spines.
“This is a human-faced drum,” Jiang Ze observed as he scrutinized the large drum on the shelf. “Look closely at the drumhead. It’s identical to human skin. They must have used the most flawless patch of skin from a young maiden’s face to craft it.”
B-level players, with their sharp perception, could discern the drumhead’s material at a glance. Seeing the oozing blood on the claw marks further strengthened the illusion that the drumhead might actually be a human face.
Unable to resist, Tan Lan touched her own face. “How many pieces of human skin would it take to assemble such a large drumhead?”
Tong Shen replied nonchalantly, “Who knows.”
In the game world, supernatural beings were as countless as the stars. After experiencing enough, even encountering a human-faced drum felt ordinary. The most satisfying part was witnessing the young lady display her might, silencing the drum with a single swipe.
Gu Jiu stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the human-faced drum with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
The drum was now as quiet as a mouse, completely devoid of the gall it had shown earlier, when it disrupted everyone’s sleep in the dead of night.
“If you dare make another sound, I’ll shred you to pieces!” she said, her tone soft but threatening.
Perhaps it was a collective hallucination, but everyone felt the drumhead’s bleeding had slowed, as if it had been frightened.
Lu Ji stepped forward, speaking gently to soothe her. “Ah Jiu, it’s all right now. Let’s go back to sleep.”
Chai Yingying chimed in, “Young Miss, I don’t think it’ll dare make another peep.”
Gu Jiu responded with a soft “Hmm,” her gaze sweeping the room before she turned to leave.
The players at the doorway instinctively parted to make way for her, their deference as reverent as if welcoming a queen.
Tan Lan, holding her phone, hesitated before saying, “Um, Young Miss, this time the death announcement is titled The Haunted House Claims Lives. Xiao Qiao Inn has turned into a haunted house again.”
From Gu Jiu’s demeanor, it was clear she had been roused by the noise and came over immediately, without even checking the death announcement on her phone.
Zhou Anmin remarked, “I think haunted houses and ghost houses are basically the same. Both have ghosts, anyway.”
As he spoke, a sudden gust of icy wind swept past their necks.
Instinctively, the players dodged, but a few were caught. Several individuals were hoisted upward, their faces contorted in agony as if something invisible was strangling their necks, suspending them in mid-air.
Their bodies dangled, faces turning blue and purple. Their hands clawed desperately at their necks, trying to break free from the unseen force.
The remaining players, seeing the scene, leapt into action with their weapons, slashing at the air above.
Suddenly, flashes of light erupted. The players being strung up fell to the ground, only for others to be lifted shortly after.
In the darkness, countless interwoven blood threads crisscrossed, suspending players in midair.
At this moment, the players finally understood the meaning of “The Haunted House Claims Lives”. This time, the ghosts actively sought to take lives, with danger lurking everywhere, impossible to predict or guard against.
Lu Ji stood protectively in front of Gu Jiu, his black sword emitting arcs of light as it severed the blood threads weaving their way toward them.
The threads couldn’t breach the perimeter around the two of them, but their movements grew increasingly frantic, transforming into a dense, menacing web.
Gu Jiu narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze piercing through the darkness. At last, her eyes fixed on a spot above the corridor—a female ghost clad in a blood-red dress hung upside down from the beam. She manipulated the blood threads, lifting players into the air. Her crimson eyes glowed with a sinister intensity, appearing as if they might drip blood.
The Lingyuan Blade struck out, piercing the ghost’s forehead.
The ghost cast Gu Jiu a resentful, venomous glare before dissolving into a pool of blood and disappearing.
As the ghost vanished, the power of the blood threads dissipated. The suspended players fell to the ground, coughing violently, tears and mucus streaming from their faces.
They glanced around in terror, still reeling from the sudden attack.
“What was that just now?” Chai Yingying asked hoarsely, clutching her throat.
“It was a female ghost,” Gu Jiu replied, pointing toward the corridor beam. “She was controlling the blood threads to take lives.”
The group followed her gaze and felt a shiver run through their hearts.
When the attack began, they had immediately searched for the hidden ghost, scouring every corner without success. Even the spot Gu Jiu now pointed at had been checked, yet they had seen nothing.
This ghost, it seemed, could remain perfectly hidden, imperceptible to the players.
Gu Jiu sheathed her Lingyuan Blade, frowning as she gazed at the ominous structure before them. The haunted house had retained its foundation as Xiao Qiao Inn but now bore several grim alterations. White mourning banners drifted in the night, giving it the appearance of a funeral hall.
Under the dim, flickering lights, the banners fluttered like white-clad ghostly figures.
The atmosphere was chillingly well-crafted.
The players, now wary, realized this Haunted House Claims Lives scenario was far more perilous than the ghost house before.
The sound of water splashing abruptly broke the silence.
Alarmed, the players instinctively turned toward the courtyard.
There was a well in Xiao Qiao Inn’s courtyard. Earlier that day, during the ghost house maze, a ghost had been submerged in the well. Now that the scenario had evolved into Haunted House Claims Lives, could that ghost be emerging?
Their instincts proved correct. Amid a surge of malevolent ghostly energy, a long-haired female ghost crawled out of the well.
Her drenched hair dripped water, which spread across the ground like the icy rivers of the netherworld, chilling the air and lowering the temperature noticeably.
Standing by the well, the ghost’s pale eyes, with barely any irises, glared at them from behind her soaking black hair. Slowly, she extended her hand.
The ghost’s arm elongated unexpectedly, grabbing one of the players.
The captured player reacted swiftly, slapping a talisman onto the ghost’s hand. The charm sizzled, and the ghost shrieked in agony. Yet instead of letting go, she pulled the player closer, opening her mouth to bite down on his neck.
This female ghost was a man-eating specter.
Lu Ji threw a dagger, lodging it squarely in the ghost’s mouth.
The other players rushed into the courtyard, intent on rescuing their comrade from the female ghost’s clutches.
This ghost, a malevolent spirit claiming lives, was far stronger than the ghosts from the maze earlier in the day. Holding her prey in one hand, she skillfully evaded the players’ attacks, leaping through the air and staying out of reach.
“This ghost is ridiculously powerful.”
“What do we do?”
The ghost perched triumphantly on one of the fluttering white mourning banners, looking down smugly at the players below. To their horror, she bit down and devoured one of the player’s hands.
The player let out a blood-curdling scream and hastily activated a summoning card, disappearing from the ghost’s grasp.
Realizing her prey had escaped, the ghost roared in anger, her hand lashing out toward another group of players.
This time, the players were prepared. They deftly dodged, leaving the ghost’s hand grasping at empty air as it chased their movements. Finally, her claw extended toward Lu Ji and Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu immediately shoved Lu Ji aside, allowing the ghost to grab her instead.
“Ah Jiu!” Lu Ji shouted in alarm and fury, ready to rush after her, but Chai Yingying grabbed his arm.
“Don’t go! The Young Miss knows what she’s doing,” Chai Yingying said firmly. The situation had clearly shown that Gu Jiu had deliberately allowed herself to be caught.
Gu Jiu wasn’t the type to attack from a distance; she excelled at close combat and relished the chance to face her enemies head-on.
As expected, the ghost dragged Gu Jiu closer, intending to repeat her earlier method and bite off her prey’s hand. However, just as the ghost opened her mouth, Gu Jiu’s fist shot forward.
Crack!
The sound of breaking teeth echoed as the ghost lost half her mouthful of teeth.
The ghost: “…”
Before she could recover, Gu Jiu grabbed her and launched a flurry of punches.
The ghost was utterly dumbfounded. By the time she realized what was happening, it was too late. Gu Jiu pummeled her relentlessly, leaving her bruised and battered. Her once-solid ghostly form now looked translucent and fragile.
“Stop! Stop! No more!” the ghost wailed, sobbing hysterically.
Gu Jiu ignored her pleas, continuing to land blows until the ghost’s body became faintly see-through. Only then did she finally release her grip.
Pinning the ghost beneath her foot, Gu Jiu towered over her and sneered. “For a ghost that eats people, killing you wouldn’t even count as overkill. But since I’m feeling generous, I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself.”
The ghost: “…”
Seeing that Gu Jiu had subdued the ghost, the other players gathered around in excitement.
“Miss Gu, why keep this thing around?” Chai Yingying asked, her face full of undisguised disgust. For a ghost that not only claimed lives but also directly consumed humans, the only logical course of action seemed to be annihilation.
Gu Jiu replied, “She’ll lead the way. Let’s see how many of these man-eating spirits are hiding in this haunted house.”
The players considered her suggestion and found it to be a good idea.
“Alright, lead the way,” Gu Jiu said, lifting her foot and yanking the ghost up.
The ghost, now sobbing miserably, shuffled ahead to guide them. Her cries were shrill and grating, like worms burrowing into the players’ minds. Annoyed, Gu Jiu gave her a sharp kick. “What are you crying for? Shut up. If you keep crying, I’ll sew your mouth shut.”
The ghost immediately clamped her mouth shut, trembling in fear.
For years, she had been a malevolent spirit, consuming countless humans. Who would have thought she’d one day fall into the hands of this terrifying woman? If she’d known this “Lady Fiend” was so dreadful, she would’ve stayed in her well and never crawled out.
It seemed Gu Jiu’s earlier display of dominance had thoroughly intimidated the malevolent spirits lurking in the haunted house. For the remainder of their exploration, no other ghost dared to directly claim lives. The once-aggressive spirits appeared to have gone into hiding.
But hiding didn’t matter much—after all, the female ghost was well-acquainted with the other members of the haunted house. She volunteered to lead the players to them.
Perhaps driven by the philosophy of “if I can’t have peace, neither can they,” the female ghost actively cooperated, pointing out the hiding places of one malicious ghost after another.
The players, already on edge from the death notice, found a perfect outlet for their pent-up frustration. Without hesitation, they went after the ghosts with their full strength.
The malevolent spirits, once terrifying figures of doom, were now reduced to wailing and sobbing under the players’ relentless attacks.
The female ghost seemed quite pleased with this outcome. Seeing the other ghosts suffer worse than she had lifted her spirits considerably.
The players were equally satisfied. Transforming from prey into hunters and reclaiming their dominance felt immensely rewarding.
One by one, the ghosts of the haunted house were dragged out by the female ghost and handed over to the players. Each time, the group swarmed the spirit, pummeling them until their ghostly forms became faintly translucent.
At last, the final malevolent ghost’s aura of hatred dissipated under the players’ assault, and the group returned to Xiao Qiao Inn.
Outside, the sky was a dull gray, signaling the approach of dawn.
Gu Jiu yawned, turning to the group of players who were still buzzing with energy after their ghost-bashing spree. “I’m going to sleep. You all handle the rest.”
“Understood, Miss Gu! We won’t disturb you.”
The players replied in unison, their faces lighting up with smiles as they watched Gu Jiu and Lu Ji head back to their room.