The landlord had been thoroughly suppressed by the urban ghostly lady and a little ghost, losing all will to fight.
Gu Jiu let out a soft laugh, her gaze drifting over the fallen landlord to the door on the left. Beyond that door lay a long corridor, with another tightly shut door at its far end.
Everyone’s eyes turned to her.
There was a light in the first-floor living room as well. The light here seemed like it would never go out. Though it was dim and cast a pale, chilling glow on their surroundings, it was the only source of illumination, however unsettling it felt.
Under the pale light, her fair and delicate profile was visible, giving her an aura of gentle, traditional femininity. Her presence seemed to soften the eerie atmosphere, bringing an unexpected calm and peace to those around her.
No, rather, it was her display of strength and composure that truly reassured them.
Fatty edged closer to Gu Jiu, rubbing his hands together as he asked, “Sister, what should we do next?”
He couldn’t wait to continue dealing with the scum, even if it wasn’t always about tormenting players. Just watching the scum suffer was its own kind of satisfaction.
Gu Jiu lifted her delicate chin slightly, answering with a question of her own: “Do you know where the ogre is?”
“In the dream?” a male player replied hesitantly.
During their three days in the game, the monster with a sheep’s head and human body had only appeared in their dreams, leading them to suspect it could only exist in the dream world.
Gu Jiu smiled and turned her gaze to Ying Tong.
Ying Tong hesitantly suggested, “Is it in the locked room at the end of the corridor?” She pointed toward the corridor behind the door on the left wall.
Gu Jiu nodded slightly, smiling as she said, “The ogre is indeed in that room.”
The players were taken aback, then puzzled. “It’s really there? So why is the door locked? Was it locked intentionally to keep it from coming out and causing trouble?”
Is that possible?
In the players’ limited understanding, the boss in a game instance was typically the strongest entity. While certain behaviors were restricted by game rules, a boss’s strength remained formidable. Yet the door at the end of the corridor had always been locked, even impervious to player tools.
If the boss was locked up in there, that actually seemed a bit… pitiful.
Gu Jiu remarked, “You’d have to ask the landlord about that.”
Everyone instinctively glanced at the landlord, who was now barely breathing, his consciousness slipping. There was no way they could question him.
And besides, they had no desire to deal with a landlord who had willingly helped evil.
Gu Jiu continued, “Do you remember on the first day, when the landlord was urging us to choose rooms, we suddenly heard a loud thud from downstairs?” She paused, giving the players time to recall. “After that noise, the landlord’s attitude changed. He looked anxious, and his tone became quite unfriendly…”
With her reminder, most of the players remembered the incident.
At the time, they noticed Gu Jiu seemed to be probing the landlord, trying to gather information about the game.
But the landlord had kept repeating the same few phrases, offering no useful information. They had only found his reaction strange. After all, in a game world, unexpected things happened frequently; it wasn’t something to dwell on too much.
Could it be that Gu Jiu had already guessed something at that time?
“Later, when I saw the locked room at the end of the first-floor hallway, I suspected that the noise we heard earlier came from that room. There might be a living creature inside, though I wasn’t sure why it would be confined.”
The players couldn’t help but look at her again, rendered speechless.
How could this young miss think so quickly? No wonder she was the first to uncover information about the game and deduce the significance of the “Seven Sheep” identities; they couldn’t compare.
Gu Jiu continued, “After encountering that sheep-headed creature in the dream, I realized the creature locked in the room must be the same monster, though I hadn’t expected it to be an ogre.”
After all, on the first night, when using the red vine seeds to fend off the creature, she hadn’t associated it with the BOSS.
But the next day, upon encountering the flesh-eating ghoul in the kitchen on the third floor, it became evident. The ghoul’s diet was an obvious clue, and these ghouls, with limited attack power, were confined to specific areas, which explained their behavior.
Most players now had blank expressions.
They felt a bit confused, not understanding how her mind connected everything so quickly, linking seemingly unrelated details.
Tu Shuai scratched his head sheepishly, “Sorry, Miss Gu, I didn’t quite get it.”
Gu Jiu glanced at him lightly, her tone soft, “That’s fine, if you don’t understand, just leave it.”
Tu Shuai: “….” He felt slightly dismissed.
The other players who were equally confused lowered their heads, relieved they hadn’t voiced it out. Being dismissed was one thing, but it was embarrassing to be looked down upon by a capable and beautiful girl.
Ying Tong was entirely absorbed and urged, “Miss Gu, what else? Did you discover anything else?”
With Gu Jiu’s explanations, the parts that previously felt confusing were finally coming together, revealing the hidden truth of the game world in a way that seemed so simple.
Gu Jiu smiled, “The ogre was probably confined by the landlord. As the owner of this house, he has the authority to control each room, just as those seven ghosts are bound to their specific locations. Without the landlord’s permission, they can’t leave their confined spaces unless taken out by someone.”
The paper frog could swallow these ghosts to transport them.
“As for why the landlord would confine the ogre, it’s because he’s afraid.”
Afraid?
The group looked at the landlord in disbelief. Could he actually be afraid? Then they recalled the look of anxiety on his face that first day after hearing the commotion from the first floor—it was indeed fear.
“The ogre is powerful, but in this house, its authority is no match for the landlord’s.” Gu Jiu sighed as she explained, “The rules in this game world are indeed fair, whether for NPCs, ghosts, or players.”
As long as the balance is found, players need not fear those ghosts.
Ying Tong nodded in admiration, saying, “You’re right, the rules in this game are indeed fair. They have always been fair.”
Unfortunately, the truth of the game world is often hidden too deeply. When players can’t piece everything together, they fail to find the balance and end up losing their lives.
The other players also showed respect and admiration on their faces.
Listening to her explanation made everything much easier to understand, and this eerie, sinister house suddenly didn’t seem as frightening.
“The landlord confined the ogre because he was afraid of being eaten by it,” Fatty concluded. “But since the landlord has also been helping the ogre eat people, he’s become an accomplice—another ogre in a way. That’s why he needs the ogre to enter players’ dreams to help him kill. The ogre is very powerful in the dream realm, and without the red vine seeds, we wouldn’t be able to escape and would be easily killed, becoming their food.”
The thin man chimed in, “So, in this house, there are actually two ogres.”
Gu Jiu nodded, smiling, “Yes.”
Having pieced together all the clues, the players felt a mix of admiration and realization that the truth of this game was hidden very deeply.
Had they chosen the cautious approach and stayed in their rooms to survive the last night, they might not have escaped the dual pursuit of the two ogres.
It turns out that choosing to actively confront the situation was the safest way to clear the level.
Understanding everything now, the players felt invigorated.
Fatty rolled up his sleeves, waving his fists excitedly, “Sister, let’s go take down the ogre!”
The other players echoed his enthusiasm.
Ying Tong, however, was more level-headed and asked, “How exactly are we supposed to kill the ogre? It’s the BOSS—won’t it be difficult?”
Gu Jiu smiled, “We can’t kill it ourselves, but they can.”
Following her pointed finger, everyone looked over to see the silent lady ghost and little ghost standing to the side, and a look of realization dawned on their faces.
Yes, the seven ghosts in the house were the “sheep” devoured by the two ogres. They were victims in life, and as ghosts in death, they now had the power to seek revenge. This was another aspect of the game’s fairness.
Gu Jiu continued, “However, as I speculate, it will require all seven ghosts together to kill the ogre. It won’t work with only one or even six.”
As for why, it’s simply another hidden condition of the game.
Much like in the previous game chapter, The Caged Bird, where it required all six keys to unlock the mansion’s main door or be forged into a weapon to kill the BOSS.
In the game world, you have to follow the rules.
With Gu Jiu’s explanation, everyone remembered the last ghost in the corridor.
All they needed was to find that ghost, and the seven would be complete.
“Let’s find that ghost!” the players said eagerly. They immediately headed over and pushed open the door on the left, revealing the corridor beyond.
With everyone surrounding her, Gu Jiu walked into the corridor.
The corridor was very dark, and everyone proceeded cautiously, wondering if, like before, the darkness would envelop them and they’d see a pair of thin, pale skeletal legs appearing in the shadows.
Until they reached the end and saw the locked door, there was still no sign of the ghost.
The players looked at each other, utterly perplexed.
Why hadn’t the ghost appeared today?
Someone speculated, “Could it be that the ghost in the corridor only comes out during the day and not at night?”
If that were the case, what could they do? Tonight was the third night, the final deadline for their game mission—they couldn’t possibly wait until the next day.
Gu Jiu turned to the two ghosts following behind them and asked, “Do you know the ghost in this corridor?”
The little ghost shook its head. The female ghost dressed as an urban lady said, “I know there’s a ghost here, but I’m not sure about the others. We can’t leave the places we’re bound to, so we can’t confirm the situations of other ghosts.”
Realizing that even this seemingly powerful female ghost didn’t know, the players felt even more dejected.
What should they do? Without gathering all seven ghosts, they couldn’t eliminate the BOSS. They might even end up being killed by the BOSS instead.
Just as they were feeling anxious, they suddenly heard banging sounds coming from the locked room, followed by something hitting the door. As the door was struck, the iron lock strained and emitted a piercing screech.
The players were nearly scared to death. “I-it’s coming out?”
The BOSS was coming out?
Everyone stared in horror at the seemingly fragile wooden door, watching as it bulged outward with each hit from inside, looking as if it could shatter at any moment.
They didn’t doubt that the ogre inside had the ability to break through, especially since today was the third night—the time when the BOSS was at its strongest. It might not need to enter their dreams again and could break out directly.
The players were both terrified and panicked, running around like headless chickens, desperately wanting to find the ghost hiding in the corridor to help them fight the BOSS.
Amid their anxiety, Gu Jiu’s voice rang out, “Sister Ying, use the axe to hammer the wall.”
“The wall?!”
Ying Tong was momentarily stunned, but then her eyes lit up. Without hesitation, she took out the large axe and used the back of it to hammer at the wall.
The wall plaster was very fragile. As the axe struck, the mottled plaster cracked like spiderwebs, chunks of plaster falling off in clusters, revealing the wall beneath.
Seeing this, the other players began searching for handy tools to help break down the wall.
They ran back to the living room and found various items—hammers, iron rods, stones, bricks—and vigorously smashed them against the walls, peeling off the plaster on both sides of the corridor.
Although the corridor was long, the number of players and their efficiency quickly led to most of the wall being demolished.
As the players continued hammering the walls, the banging from behind the door grew increasingly intense. The monster inside could break out at any moment. A sense of urgency pressed upon them, making their efforts even more frantic—they were desperate to find the hidden ghost immediately.
“Found it!”
Ying Tong’s voice rang out amidst the hammering sounds against the wall, fragmented yet clear enough for the players to hear.
Everyone dropped what they were holding and rushed over to where Ying Tong was standing.
Ying Tong held up her flashlight, directing its beam onto the wall. The players could see a narrow crevice in which was wedged… a skeleton. Or rather, a ghost so emaciated it looked skeletal.
This ghost looked as though it was just skin stretched over bones, unnaturally thin. Whether it had starved or had its flesh eaten away by the ogre was unclear.
The skeletal ghost was wedged rigidly into the crevice, its ghostly eyes glaring out at the players.
Without hesitation, Ying Tong grabbed the ghost and tried to pull it out, scolding, “At a time like this, and you’re still hiding? Go find your enemy and get your revenge!”
The ghost’s body seemed fused with the wall inside and wouldn’t budge.
The other players quickly reached over to help, urging, “Exactly! You’re a ghost now—seek vengeance if you’ve got grudges! Why hide like a turtle?”
Chattering away, they finally managed to pull the skeletal ghost out, not feeling the slightest bit wrong about their actions.
Only after pulling the ghost free did they glance down at their own hands, realizing in horror that they had actually touched a ghost… Oh no, would their hands be okay?
Before they could make sense of it, a loud crash erupted from the end of the corridor as the door splintered into pieces.
The monster inside had broken through.
The players watched in terror as a massive figure emerged from the endless darkness at the end of the hall—a creature with the head of a sheep and the body of a human. With each step it took, the ground seemed to tremble slightly.
The ogre moved incredibly fast.
“Ah Ji!” Gu Jiu called out as she threw her last red vine seed at the ogre.
The ogre, which had been charging toward them, halted, catching the seed and stuffing it into its mouth.
Seeing this, the other players hurriedly threw any remaining red vine seeds they had at it, trying to buy some time.
Lu Ji tossed the paper frog forward, which opened its mouth to release the four ghosts it had swallowed.
As the ghosts appeared, the air grew frigid. The players shivered uncontrollably, frost forming on their hair and eyebrows.
“Run!” Gu Jiu grabbed Lu Ji and headed out of the corridor.
The other players followed behind, trembling as they used every ounce of strength they had. They feared that if they were even a step too slow, the ogre would catch and devour them.
They all ran back into the living room, faces pale with fear and visibly shaken.
From the corridor came a chilling roar and the sounds of fierce fighting. Without looking, they could tell how perilous the scene was, yet none of them dared approach to watch.
Gu Jiu took a deep breath and slowly sat down, leaning against the wall.
Lu Ji glanced down at her pale face, noting how delicate and weak this young lady’s constitution was. She really needed some training.
“Wait, where’s the landlord?”
Someone called out, and all the players tensed up, fearing the landlord might suddenly reappear.
Soon, they noticed a foul-smelling puddle where the landlord had previously been standing—it looked like the putrid remains of a decomposed corpse.
Covering her nose and mouth, Gu Jiu remarked with distaste, “Even disgusting things, when dead, remain disgusting.”
Everyone else: “….” Actually, aren’t all dead things kind of disgusting?
Realizing the landlord had turned into a puddle of corpse water, the players finally breathed a sigh of relief and refocused on the situation in the corridor.
The sounds of struggle continued in the corridor throughout the night. The players stayed awake, eyes heavy with exhaustion, watching and waiting all night long. None dared to sleep, and luckily, there was no overpowering drowsiness tonight, or they might not have been able to hold out.
Finally, as the bell signaling dawn rang, the fighting noises from the corridor died down.
At that moment, the players felt a familiar tugging sensation and knew that the game instance had ended—they’d successfully cleared it.
Before leaving, Ying Tong smiled at Gu Jiu, saying, “Miss Gu, thanks for your help this time. I hope we get to work together again.”
The others quickly echoed their gratitude, secretly hoping they’d encounter Gu Jiu in a future game so they could once again “win without lifting a finger.”
The feeling of an easy win was simply too good—who wouldn’t want that?
Gu Jiu waved at them as she followed them out of the game world.
After all the players had left, a paper frog hopped into the dark corridor and swallowed a gray fragment…