Li Zhi thought that Yi Yi had indeed improved a lot. If it had been before, she probably would have just screamed instead of having the presence of mind to make a sarcastic comment.
However, there were only four ghosts in the front two rows, and with the boneless ghost that Li Zhi had thrown over, there were five in total. Between Chi Yi and You Jingmeng, the two of them could handle it without much trouble.
On the other side, Qi Yongyi was once again going up against the little girl in the red dress from the last round. This time, instead of pushing her away, he pulled her in and directly dragged her into the cart.
The little girl hadn’t expected this at all and was stunned for a moment when she fell into the cart. Seizing the moment of her surprise, Qi Yongyi kicked her out of the cart.
The cart, which was a bit cramped for an adult, left just enough space to trap the little girl ghost. Qi Yongyi pressed her down with his foot, freeing up his hands to deal with the other ghosts.
The little girl ghost, unable to move under his foot, let out a sharp, piercing wail.
Li Zhi had just used a chair leg to knock a ghost climbing from the side when suddenly, a wet, slimy tongue licked her cheek.
The sticky, rancid smell made her feel nauseous despite her strong mentality. Even the viewers outside the screen screamed louder than the players inside the game.
The next moment, they saw Li Zhi grab the tongue, yank it forward with force, and drag the long-tongued ghost, several meters behind her, right up to her. Without missing a beat, she wrapped the tongue around the ghost’s neck twice and then yanked hard. The long-tongued ghost’s eyes bulged out as it was strangled by its own tongue, screaming as it fell off the roller coaster.
Li Zhi quickly wiped her hand on her clothes, disgusted by the sticky saliva, her usually composed face now filled with revulsion.
Viewers: ………
[Not sure whether to feel sorry for the long-tongued ghost or for our goddess’s hand.]
[Damn that long-tongued ghost! I haven’t even licked Zhi Zhi yet, and you beat me to it! You deserve to die!]
[The one above, that’s a bit too creepy, isn’t it?]
[Litchi’s been sullied! Litchi’s been sullied! Aaaaaahhh!]
[I will forever bow to Litchi’s strength! Whether it’s her physical power, intellect, or mentality! She’s the ultimate ACE!]
[Litchi’s most precious quality is actually her consistent respect for life. Among all the powerhouses, she’s the only one who truly cares about her teammates’ survival.]
[As long as I see Li Zhi, I still believe there’s hope for our world!]
…
Li Zhi had always been physically strong. Back when she was an extra in movie sets, she even worked as a stunt double for lead actresses. Since the [Ghost] livestream started, she underwent targeted training.
It was just that the previous scenarios didn’t offer much chance to showcase her combat prowess, but this scenario finally allowed the audience to witness her impressive strength.
Add to that Qi Yongyi, who had a military background, and the two of them, sitting in the fourth row, were swinging their chair legs so fast that afterimages were left behind. Like two gatekeepers, they blocked all the ghosts from getting past the few rows behind them.
As long as Chi Yi and You Jingmeng could handle the five ghosts up front without messing up, they’d make it to the end of the roller coaster and clear this round safely.
But the ghosts in the back weren’t mindlessly charging in either. Seeing that Li Zhi’s side was impenetrable, a female ghost wearing high heels with red-painted nails clung tightly to the side of the cart, like a magnet. Her slender body stretched like noodles, her high heels still on the eighth row, but her upper body had already reached the second row.
By the time Li Zhi noticed her, she had already latched onto the door beside You Jingmeng.
You Jingmeng was busy dealing with the boneless ghost and hadn’t noticed the red-nailed hand reaching for her safety bar.
“Xiao Meng! Left side!” Li Zhi shouted sharply, but her voice was scattered by the wind. When the fragmented sound reached You Jingmeng’s ears, she instinctively looked to her left, only to see a female ghost with bright red lipstick crouched on the door, grinning menacingly at her.
In the next second, the safety bar in front of You Jingmeng clicked open.
The roller coaster was entering a turn, tilting at nearly a 90-degree angle. You Jingmeng didn’t have time to react. Still locked in battle with the boneless ghost, her entire body tumbled out of the cart like a fallen leaf.
“Xiao Meng!!” Chi Yi lunged forward, trying to grab her, but the safety bar held her back. She was forced back into her seat, powerless, as she watched You Jingmeng fall into the darkness below.
“Yi Yi! Hand me the long stick!”
Chi Yi didn’t have time to grieve for her teammate’s death. Upon hearing Li Zhi’s sharp command, she instinctively followed. The long stick that Li Zhi had thrown over earlier was quickly picked up by Chi Yi, who tossed it backward.
Thankfully, the stick was long enough. Li Zhi leaned forward, caught it in one swift motion, and with both hands gripping one end, she shifted from swinging it to stabbing. She drove the stick fiercely toward the female ghost crawling toward Chi Yi from the side of the cart.
The ghost, nearly upon Chi Yi, was almost skewered like a piece of coal, screeching in a hoarse and unpleasant voice. While dodging, she glared with venomous hatred at Li Zhi and began crawling along the stick toward her.
Li Zhi’s face remained emotionless. As the ghost got close, Li Zhi grabbed her chin with one hand and her head with the other. With a powerful, unrelenting twist, she snapped the ghost’s neck.
A sharp crack echoed, and the ghost’s face filled with disbelief. Ghosts, of course, couldn’t be killed, but they could be physically injured, which slowed their movements. With her neck broken, the ghost’s body stiffened. Li Zhi grabbed the ghost by the neck and tossed her off the roller coaster.
From the front, Chi Yi’s sobs rang out. Crying as she fought, she poured her grief into her attacks, her combat strength suddenly much greater than before.
You Jingmeng’s death fueled the three survivors, driving their fighting spirit. By the time the roller coaster finally slowed as it pulled into the station, there were only five or six ghosts left on board. The rest had been thrown off and hadn’t had time to return.
As the cart came to a stop, all the ghosts disappeared. The safety bar automatically lifted, and Chi Yi stumbled out of the cart, collapsing into Li Zhi’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Li Zhi and Qi Yongyi both looked pale.
After a long moment, Qi Yongyi forced himself to speak. “We did everything we could.”
They had done everything they could. Entering the instance always meant being prepared for death—whether it was their own or their teammates’.
Chi Yi understood this, of course. But no matter how many times she experienced it, she could never get over the pain of watching her comrades, who had fought beside her, die right before her eyes. The sense of helplessness was unbearable.
Li Zhi scanned their surroundings, then paused. “Where’s Owen Dong?”
Wasn’t he supposed to be waiting for them at the station? With his personality, he shouldn’t have wandered off.
As they were searching, they heard hurried footsteps approaching from the corridor. The three of them turned to see Owen Dong running toward them, his face lighting up in joy when he saw them. “You finally made it! Quick, help Xiao Meng! She’s stuck in a tree and can’t get down!”
“Xiao Meng?” Chi Yi, her face still streaked with tears, nearly jumped in surprise. “Xiao Meng isn’t dead?”
“No, she’s not! I saw her fall! She got stuck in a tree!”
The group immediately started moving.
Li Zhi had taken only two steps when she turned back toward the smiling staff member not far away. “Where’s our reward for the third round?”
The staff member’s smile twitched slightly. From his expression, it was clear that if they had rushed off, he wouldn’t have bothered to give it to them at all. How devious.
Now that Li Zhi had asked, he reluctantly handed over a small black box.
Li Zhi didn’t open it right away, instead stuffing it into her pocket as she hurried to catch up with her teammates.
When they reached the clearing outside the corridor, bathed in an eerie red glow, they spotted You Jingmeng hanging from a large tree below the roller coaster tracks. She was clinging to something, dangling six or seven meters above the ground.
Upon seeing the group approach, she began to cry out, both in joy and fear: “Ah! Ah! Sister Zhi, help me! I can’t hold on much longer!”
When they got closer to the tree, they saw what she was actually holding on to… it was the boneless ghost!!
At this moment, the boneless ghost looked like a noodle draped over a tree branch. You Jingmeng clung to its hair with her left hand and to its ankle with her right, hanging precariously from the tree. From six or seven meters high, falling could mean anything from injury to death—it all depended on luck. You Jingmeng didn’t dare take the risk of jumping down. Owen Dong had tried to find a solution but came up empty, so he had returned to ask for help.
Chi Yi quickly took out a tool. “I have a dreamcatcher! Quick, hold it up!”
The group unfolded the dreamcatcher, and Li Zhi touched the net’s rope. It felt soft, like cotton or linen, and wouldn’t likely cut anyone. The four of them each grabbed a corner and positioned themselves, ready to catch You Jingmeng. But before they could tell her to jump, she was already screaming and falling.
She had reached her limit.
The dreamcatcher caught her securely, and Li Zhi helped her stand up. The moment her feet touched the ground, You Jingmeng burst into loud sobs.
She had truly thought she was going to die.
In those few seconds of freefall, her mind went blank. She flailed her arms, instinctively trying to grab onto something, but in midair, there was nothing to hold onto—except for the boneless ghost that had fallen with her.
That damn ghost!!
Fury suddenly surged through You Jingmeng. Desperation turned into boldness, and she gripped the ghost tightly by both ends. If she was going to die, then they’d die together! Even if the ghost couldn’t die from falling, it wouldn’t escape unharmed! And if it could help her teammates even a little, then her death would have meaning.
So, the human and the ghost plummeted toward the tree. The boneless ghost, never in its worst nightmares, had imagined it would be tormented by a human like this!
No matter how hard it struggled, the human refused to let go—gripping tighter and tighter. Since the ghost had no bones, to avoid crashing too harshly, it had no choice but to flatten its body like a sheet, hoping to reduce the impact.
As soon as the boneless ghost spread itself out, You Jingmeng felt the fall slow noticeably. She couldn’t believe it—this ghost, which had been fighting her just moments ago, had inadvertently become her savior.
For a moment, both human and ghost had complicated feelings about the situation.
Fortunately, the spot where she fell wasn’t at the highest point of the roller coaster but at a lower section near a turn. With the boneless ghost acting as a “parachute,” the impact when they hit the tree canopy wasn’t severe. After breaking a few branches, You Jingmeng, still holding onto the ghost, ended up hanging from the tree.
Her entire body ached, and she had several bruises. It even felt like her arm was dislocated, but her desire to survive was overwhelming.
The pain seemed to disappear under the influence of her strong will to live, and she held on until her teammates came to rescue her.
When Li Zhi supported her, she immediately realized that You Jingmeng’s arm was dislocated. The human body is truly a miracle—despite such a severe injury, she hadn’t let go the whole time.
Suddenly, Li Zhi spoke urgently, “Xiao Meng, look at that ghost in the tree!”
Startled by her tone, You Jingmeng quickly turned her head to look up. The moment she did, there was a loud crack—Li Zhi had popped her arm back into place.
You Jingmeng let out a scream, but after a moment of realization, she moved her arm incredulously. “It’s back in place?”
Li Zhi nodded with a smile. “Yep.”
The ghost, which had been used as a parachute, had long since fled.
Humans were too terrifying! It wasn’t worth provoking them! Time to run!
Li Zhi then took out the hemostatic spray that Li Jianxi had given her from the previous scenario. She wasn’t sure if a spray meant for stopping bleeding would work for these kinds of blunt force injuries, but she tried spraying some on You Jingmeng.
“Hey, it doesn’t hurt anymore!” You Jingmeng exclaimed in delight.
It really worked.
After spraying all her injured spots, You Jingmeng was back to her lively self, bouncing around and profusely thanking Li Zhi.
Li Zhi just smiled and shook her head, putting the spray away.
As she touched the sunflower pendant she kept close, she found herself suddenly looking forward to seeing how Li Jianxi would appear this time.
When she entered the park, she had already summoned him, but they hadn’t encountered him along the way. The thought of him receiving the summon and abandoning his task in another instance to rush over and get back to work made Li Zhi want to laugh.
“Zhi Zhi,” Chi Yi poked her from the side, “What’s the clue this time?”
Li Zhi collected her thoughts and took out the unopened black box.
Everyone leaned in, and they saw that the clue card inside wasn’t a sentence, but an image.
A large red “Double Happiness” (囍) character.