The rules only said not to close your eyes or scream, but they didn’t say you couldn’t fight back.
As the roller coaster hurtled along, Li Zhi rubbed her wrist. The speed was too fast, and she hadn’t controlled her strength properly. She slapped too hard and ended up twisting her own wrist.
The head that she had slapped back in the front row seemed stunned, remaining in the same position without moving for quite a while.
Chi Yi had been startled by the ghost woman who suddenly appeared and twisted her head, but Li Zhi’s reaction was so quick that before she could scream, the ghost’s head had already been slapped back. Chi Yi quickly covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing.
At that moment, all the ghostly passengers in the carriage had revealed their forms. This round didn’t even give the players a chance to blink or close their eyes. The ghosts appeared without warning—twisting heads in the front row, tapping shoulders in the back—executing surprise scares.
But as long as the players could resist the fear and didn’t break the rules, the ghosts could only play pranks to scare them and couldn’t proceed with the next step of killing.
The pair of boneless arms wrapped around You Jingmeng’s neck kept fidgeting, sometimes touching her face, sometimes patting her shoulder. The eerie, sinister giggling occasionally echoed in her ears, but Qi Yongyi kept his hand firmly over her mouth. You Jingmeng clung tightly to his strong wrist, making sure she didn’t make a sound.
However, blinking was inevitable. With each blink, the boneless arms around her neck tightened, leaving You Jingmeng’s face flushed red as she leaned back uncontrollably. Qi Yongyi realized the danger and turned to try to pry the arms off her neck.
His hands touched something soft and slimy, sending chills down his spine.
But the more he tried to pull, the tighter the arms wrapped around her. You Jingmeng frantically shook her head, signaling him to stop. She strained to lift her body and lean back, trying to breathe.
Qi Yongyi wasn’t completely safe either. A little girl in a red dress had climbed over from the front row, squatting on the barrier in front of him, smiling. His scalp tingled, and he immediately shoved her off.
The little girl fell off the fast-moving roller coaster, but before Qi Yongyi could relax, he caught a glimpse of a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. He whipped his head around, and the girl who had fallen was right next to him again.
This time, she was even closer, clinging to the railing beside his seat, staring at him with a chilling gaze.
Qi Yongyi tried to push her off again, but this time she held on tight! The little girl clung to the railing, refusing to let go, her eyes growing more resentful with every moment.
Qi Yongyi: “…”
He was at his wit’s end.
This round of the roller coaster was longer, faster, and higher than the last. By the time the carriage rolled into the station, there were already two or three ghosts hanging around each passenger. When Owen Dong saw this scene, he was nearly suffocating.
His expression changed drastically as his gaze swept over the sixth row. He quickly stepped forward and shouted in shock, “Where’s Zheng Qi?!”
The seat in the sixth row was empty. Zheng Qi had vanished.
The roller coaster had been moving too fast, plunging at a 90-degree angle, flipping and twisting throughout the ride. With the added threat of ghost attacks, the people in the front didn’t even have time to look back, and no one noticed when Zheng Qi disappeared.
It wasn’t until Owen Dong’s words that they turned around and saw the empty seat.
Once the roller coaster came to a stop, the ghosts in the carriage finally disappeared. You Jingmeng’s face was ashen, and the slimy, soft feeling on her neck still seemed to linger on her skin. As soon as she got off the ride, she threw up and struggled to speak, “I think I heard Zheng Qi screaming at some point…”
The wind was howling so loud in the air that she couldn’t hear clearly, especially with those arms wrapped around her neck. When she heard the scream, she hadn’t dared to look back.
Li Zhi and Chi Yi were sitting in the second row, and the wind noise was even worse for them, making it impossible to hear anything.
The ghosts in the second round had appeared so suddenly. If it weren’t for Qi Yongyi covering her mouth in time, You Jingmeng might have been dragged away by the ghosts like Zheng Qi. With that height and speed, if someone were pulled from the car, they would be shattered to pieces.
Less than an hour into the game, and they had already lost a teammate, even with the known death conditions. The atmosphere grew heavy. Owen Dong swayed on his feet, feeling both sorrow for his lost friend and relief that he hadn’t gotten on the ride.
A staff member approached with a smile, “Congratulations, everyone, on completing the second round of the Dragon Coaster challenge. Here is your reward.”
The same black box was handed over, and Li Zhi opened it, pulling out the card inside. This time, the clue contained only four characters: “Great Joy, Great Sorrow”.
Owen Dong scratched his head, exasperated: “Why are the clues getting harder and harder? What does ‘Great Joy, Great Sorrow’ even mean?!”
Li Zhi pinched the card thoughtfully. “It should refer to ghosts who have experienced both joy and tragedy at the same time, like…”
She paused to think, and Chi Yi quickly chimed in, “Like the ghost bride and groom from ghost marriages! Their wedding feast is both a celebration and a funeral, fitting the clue of ‘Great Joy, Great Sorrow.'”
Qi Yongyi frowned slightly. “But do ghost brides and grooms usually seek replacements? I don’t recall there being a replacement concept in ghost marriages. Plus, the hanged ghost and water ghost we speculated about in the first round have nothing to do with great joy or sorrow. These clues might be pointing to another ghost altogether.”
You Jingmeng, still weak, added, “Maybe we’ll only figure it out when it’s time to cast our votes on which ghost is real. We’ll need at least three clues to find the right answer.”
Li Zhi glanced at the dark, ominous roller coaster tracks in the distance and said gravely, “We’ll have to ride again.”
Everyone’s legs felt weak at the thought.
Li Zhi pocketed the card, avoiding the staff member, and gathered the group aside, speaking in a low voice: “The third round is the final round, and it’s also the most dangerous. I suspect that this time, whether or not we keep our eyes open or scream, the ghosts in the carriage will be able to kill us directly.”
“Once the roller coaster starts, they’ll do everything they can to drag us out of the car. But based on my experience from the last round, the ghosts in the carriage can physically attack, and besides moving freely on a speeding roller coaster, they don’t seem to have any other abilities. As long as we don’t let them get close and open our safety bars, we should be able to survive.”
Owen Dong trembled as he listened to her, his lips quivering. “That’s way too risky…”
If the ghosts really could kill them directly, even if they could be physically fought off, there were ten cars on the roller coaster, and all but two rows were full of ghosts. That meant there were sixteen ghosts in total.
By this calculation, each player would have to fend off four ghosts—how could two hands deal with so many?
Li Zhi looked around. “We need to find some tools.”
Fighting barehanded was obviously out of the question, and her usual props weren’t suitable for physical combat. Hearing her suggestion, everyone began searching the area. But the park didn’t have much lying around, and the only items they could use as weapons were a discarded wooden chair and a broom.
“This will do,” Li Zhi said, lifting the chair and smashing it to the ground, breaking off its legs. There were four chair legs, just enough for each person to have one. Chi Yi swung one in her hand, testing its weight, and found it quite handy.
Li Zhi also dismantled the broom, wielding the long stick with a practiced air, making it whoosh through the air with force.
She turned to Owen Dong. “Are you riding this time?”
Owen Dong shook his head vigorously. “No way, I’d rather stay alive and try the Ferris wheel.”
Li Zhi nodded and quietly briefed the team on what to do once they got on the ride. Armed with their makeshift weapons, they returned to the platform and told the staff, “We’re ready for the third round of the challenge.”
The staff member smiled and asked, “How many of you will be participating in this challenge?”
He hadn’t asked this question in the previous rounds, so this sudden inquiry only confirmed Li Zhi’s suspicions.
“Four people,” she answered.
The staff member nodded. “Understood.”
He turned back to the control panel, and soon the sound of the roller coaster clattering through the night filled the air again. The group looked up, watching as the carriage, packed with passengers, slowly pulled into the platform.
Except for the second and fourth rows, all ten rows were filled with people.
The little girl in the red dress, the long-haired ghost woman Li Zhi had slapped earlier, and the boneless ghost that had wrapped itself around You Jingmeng’s neck were all illuminated by the platform lights. In unison, they turned their heads and flashed eerie smiles at the players standing on the platform.
As expected, in the third round, the ghosts no longer hid their forms. They appeared directly in the carriage, ready to start killing as soon as the players boarded.
Li Zhi remained expressionless as she gripped her stick and stepped forward.
Seeing the long stick and chair legs in her hand, the long-haired ghost in the front row, whom Li Zhi had slapped earlier, seemed to twitch slightly. The smile on her face faltered a bit.
The four of them boarded the roller coaster again. This time, Li Zhi and Qi Yongyi sat in the fourth row, while Chi Yi and You Jingmeng took the second row.
After securing the safety bars, Li Zhi placed the broomstick across her lap and tapped the railing in front of her seat with the chair leg she was holding, as if reminding her companions, “Stay seated and don’t move.”
The surrounding ghosts: “…”
Was she reminding her companions, or threatening us?
With a ding, the roller coaster began to move. This time, the voice from the platform broadcast carried a creepy, laughing tone: “The Sky Dragon Roller Coaster is about to depart. We wish you a safe journey.”
Earlier, they wished everyone an enjoyable ride, but now it was only about a safe journey.
As the carriage pulled out of the station and began ascending the slope, all four gripped their makeshift weapons tightly, ready for action. The ghosts in the first and third rows sat upright, not even turning their heads. But amidst the clattering sounds, You Jingmeng felt she could hear a strange rustling.
Her neck prickled with unease, and as the coaster continued climbing, she took the opportunity to glance back.
One look nearly scared her soul out of her body.
The ghosts in the back rows had all climbed out of their seats. Like some sort of insect-like creatures, they clung to the chains connecting the carriages, crawling toward them with eerie, contorted movements.
You Jingmeng bit down hard on her lip to stop herself from screaming and frantically signaled to Li Zhi in the back row.
Li Zhi smiled at her, signaling that she was aware of the situation.
Both she and Qi Yongyi were skilled fighters. They exchanged a glance and nodded to each other in silent agreement.
Finally, the roller coaster reached the peak, and just as the car began to plunge down, the ghosts creeping closer seemed to receive a signal to attack, swarming toward them all at once.
Li Zhi and Qi Yongyi moved as if they had eyes on the back of their heads. In unison, they grabbed the two ghosts lunging at them, each performing a seated over-the-shoulder throw, sending the two ghosts tumbling off either side of the roller coaster.
The boneless arms that had previously wrapped around You Jingmeng now slithered toward Li Zhi, the chilling breath of the ghost pressing against the back of her head. She gripped the broomstick lying across her lap, and with both hands, she shoved it backward, pinning the ghost behind her. Trapped beneath the broomstick, the ghost had no choice but to let go of Li Zhi and reach for the stick instead.
This was exactly the moment Li Zhi had been waiting for. With both hands, she yanked the stick forward, flinging the ghost that had latched onto it into the front row of the coaster.
From the front, Chi Yi’s scream pierced the air: “Zhi Zhi! Stop sending us more ghosts!”