There were six locked rooms in the villa, each representing the domain of one of the six Phantoms.
So what would happen if they were missing even one key?
No one knew for certain, but experienced players in the game world understood that these six keys would undoubtedly play a critical role in the villa—missing even one could mean disaster.
“Where do you think the last key is?” someone couldn’t resist asking Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu responded without hesitation, “How should I know?”
The person asking: “….”
A few other players looked slightly uncomfortable, feeling a bit disoriented after a night of confinement and ghostly encounters. They’d started to assume she had all the answers. Ever since they’d discovered ghosts in the villa, then the existence of the keys, and began the key hunt, this young lady had led the way, setting the pace and guiding them. They had unknowingly begun to follow her lead, feeling as if they’d effortlessly win the game by sticking with her.
Turns out, even a pro doesn’t know everything.
Maybe they shouldn’t rely on her for everything.
Just as this thought crossed their minds, they heard Gu Jiu say, “But I have a guess where the last key might be.”
The players who had just thought they shouldn’t rely on her perked up instantly, eyes blazing as they looked at her.
“Where?”
“It’s probably with the owner of the villa,” Gu Jiu replied, fiddling with one of the keys in her hand. “The villa’s owner is also the boss of this game level.”
The group froze, feeling a chill run down their spines.
Every game level had a powerful boss, and the Caged Bird instance was no exception. However, since the objective was to survive for seven days, they hadn’t paid much attention to the boss—if there even was one. They figured that if there was a boss, they could just avoid it.
For most players, all they wanted was to clear the level and leave the game world alive.
Who the boss was didn’t matter; they didn’t need to confront it.
But evidently, Gu Jiu had a different approach to clearing the level. She wasn’t only aiming to survive seven days; she was also seeking to uncover the secrets behind the game level, even if it meant confronting the boss head-on.
While other players simply wanted to avoid dying at the hands of the ghosts in the villa, Gu Jiu’s mind was on questions like where these ghosts had come from, who had killed them, why they attacked players, and what their purpose was…
Even if it was only a D-level boss, it wasn’t something players could handle easily. They had never seen anyone willing to go toe-to-toe with a boss.
“So… what should we do?” someone asked, voice trembling.
Gu Jiu said calmly, “Nothing, really. Let’s see how things play out. If it comes to it, we’ll take the key by force.”
Everyone: “….” She made it sound so reasonable, yet something about it felt completely off.
But hold on—if they did have to confront the boss, were they really confident enough to snatch the key? Winning wasn’t as simple as talking big.
Gu Jiu’s gaze shifted from the keys on the coffee table to the players around her.
She looked toward the newcomers. “Wait, someone’s missing. Didn’t you all stick together last night?”
The other players turned to the group of newcomers as well. They had noticed earlier that one of the seven newcomers was missing, but after being trapped all night in fear and anxiety, they hadn’t had the presence of mind to worry about who was absent. Now that Gu Jiu had brought it up, they looked over, thinking that the missing person was probably in dire straits.
Xu Chenfeng answered, “There was a middle-aged man. He refused to go out with us.”
“Is he still alive?” Ge Guang asked with a frown, baffled by how someone could be so foolish as to stay alone in such a dangerous place.
The previous night, Gu Jiu had suggested they search for keys together and specifically advised cooperation.
The meaning behind her words was obvious: it was best to act together, both to look out for each other and to reduce the chance of triggering a death scenario.
Xu Chenfeng shook his head. “No idea. When dawn came, we found ourselves back on the first floor and didn’t return to check the rooms.”
The other players had a similar experience—trapped for the night until dawn, when the shadowy figures receded, leaving them all in the first-floor hall. None of them had checked their rooms since.
Gu Jiu stood up. “Let’s go take a look.”
Lu Ji stepped forward, gathering the five keys and following Gu Jiu up to the third floor.
Curious about the newcomer’s fate, the rest of the players followed them up.
The seven newcomers had gathered in a room at the end of the third floor the previous night.
Xu Chenfeng quickly approached the room, unlocked the door with a key, and they all entered. They searched the room thoroughly, inspecting every corner, but there was no sign of the man from the night before.
Ai Ruyi nervously glanced at Gu Jiu, then pointed to the gap between a cabinet and the wall.
“Last night, he was hiding right here.”
Ge Guang and another player, who had a keen sense of smell for blood, approached the gap, examining the area between the cabinet and the wall, as well as the floor around it.
After inspecting the crevices in the floor tiles, the player spoke up.
“There’s blood residue here, similar to the scene with the newcomer who died on the first night.”
The room of the first night’s victim had no visible traces except for some blood in the cracks between the tiles, as though the victim’s blood had spattered across the floor, only to be meticulously wiped away by “someone.” The blood in the tile cracks, however, was harder to remove completely, leaving faint remnants.
“It appears that the newcomer who died the first night and the one from last night met the same fate,” Qi Yuheng commented, wiping his hands with a white handkerchief, his expression listless. “They were both killed by the same entity.”
Ai Ruyi and a few other newcomers huddled closer, their faces filled with fear, as if proximity to each other provided some sense of security.
A player asked, “Were they killed by those shadowy figures?”
Qi Yuheng replied coldly, “Possibly.”
The group left the room, instinctively looking to Gu Jiu as if seeking guidance on what to do next.
Gu Jiu said, “Ah Ji, try the keys on the rooms of those ghostly entities.”
The keys didn’t have any room numbers, and each key was unique, clearly matching specific locks. They’d have to figure out which was which.
They went to a locked room on the third floor. Lu Ji took out the five keys and tried them one by one. On the third attempt, the door opened.
Seeing the door unlock, the players looked astonished.
They had assumed that without all six keys, the doors wouldn’t open.
As Lu Ji pushed open the door, he quickly pulled Gu Jiu back a step. A stifling, stale air, trapped for who knows how long, rushed out, and a few nearby players couldn’t help but sneeze.
Once the stale air dissipated, Gu Jiu walked inside.
The others followed closely behind her, like a young lady leading a troupe of attendants.
The room was dimly lit; the curtains seemed to be drawn, allowing only a sliver of light near the doorway, leaving the rest of the room shrouded in darkness.
Ge Guang reached out to press the light switch on the wall, but the lights didn’t come on.
“The switch isn’t working.”
As their eyes adjusted to the dimness, they noticed the curtains weren’t actually closed. Instead, the windows had been sealed with wooden planks, letting in no light at all, making the room appear even more ominous.
They searched the room, but found nothing of particular interest.
The rooms throughout the villa followed the same layout, with similar furniture and arrangements, like standardized dormitories. This locked room was no different.
However, since it had been sealed off for so long, there was a faint but unmistakable scent of decay in the air.
Disliking the air quality, Gu Jiu commented, “Can one of you remove the wooden boards from the windows?”
Qi Yuheng, equally put off by the stale air contaminating his refined respiratory system, pulled a high-powered horror chainsaw he’d bought from the game’s shop out of his bag and tossed it to Ge Guang, gesturing for him to cut through the boards.
True to its reputation as a premium game item, the chainsaw made quick work of the planks, and soon sunlight flooded the room, illuminating everything in stark daylight.
Everyone’s attention was instantly drawn to the ceiling, walls, floor, bed, cabinets, and desk—all were covered with dried bloodstains. The splatters were everywhere, and from the patterns, it was impossible to tell how many had died here, or how brutal their deaths had been.
It was a horrifying murder scene, which explained the faintly rotten smell that lingered in the air.
Some of the newcomers nearly screamed and clung to each other in terror.
Xu Chenfeng was pale as well, sticking close to Gu Jiu and doing his best to ignore the bloodstains, but it was hard. Every inch of the room was splattered, and no matter where he looked, there was dried blood, making it impossible not to imagine the massacre that had taken place.
“Just how many people died here?” one player muttered in shock.
“Could it be the blood of all the killed newcomers gathered here?”
“With ghosts living in a place like this, it’s no wonder they’re always out for blood. This place reeks of evil energy, enough to turn even ghosts into vicious spirits.”
“Right, which ghost stays in this room?”
“It should be the female ghost that Mr. Qi scared off.”
The newcomers, seeing these seasoned players casually discussing the grisly scene without a hint of fear, looked at them with disturbed expressions, wondering just how twisted the Multiverse Game was to warp players to such a degree.
If they survived this, would they too end up as warped as these players?
After taking a lap around the room, Gu Jiu couldn’t stand the stench any longer. She quickly exited and proceeded to unlock the next room.
The others followed her lead.
Even though the remaining five newcomers were terrified, they didn’t dare wander off on their own and forced themselves to stick with the group as they continued to check the other rooms.
When they opened the second room, the scene was similar to the first: the window was sealed shut, and the air was thick with the smell of decay.
Ge Guang lifted the horror chainsaw again and cut through the boards covering the window.
As daylight flooded the room, they saw that it, too, was a gruesome murder scene, with dried blood splattered everywhere—a sight haunting enough to fuel nightmares for days.
Next was the third room, which was no different.
With that, they had unlocked all three rooms on the third floor.
They moved down to the second floor.
The last two keys each unlocked a room there, and both rooms had scenes similar to those upstairs. The only door left locked was the one next to the room where Gu Jiu and Lu Ji were staying—the domain of the male ghost they’d seen in the mirror.
“It seems the missing key belongs to this room,” Gu Jiu said, leaning against the wall opposite the door, gazing at it thoughtfully.
The others looked at her, and Ge Guang, with a hopeful grin, asked, “Miss Gu, is there something special about this one?”
Gu Jiu replied, “How would I know?”
Ge Guang: “….” It seemed he’d asked another silly question.
Feeling a bit drained, Gu Jiu went down to the first-floor balcony, settled onto the sofa, and basked in the sun, gazing out at the blood-red rose bushes in the garden.
The warm sunlight felt cozy on her skin, and it lulled her into a drowsy state.
Thanks for the updates!!