Li Feng had always been the one standing in front of them, ever since they were young.
As the eldest brother, he took on the role of a father after their dad passed away. He always took great care in arranging life and work for his two younger sisters. The more he worried, the less their mother had to.
Back in the day, Li Feng had great potential for promotion in the military. His superiors valued him highly. However, his unit was stationed in a remote border region, and he was only granted one family leave a year. If he wanted to keep climbing the ranks, he would have had to stay there indefinitely.
After their father passed away from cancer, Li Feng resolutely left the military and returned home. At the time, both of his sisters were still in school, and he took on the responsibility of helping their mother raise them by finding a job locally.
Li Feng was always a quiet man. It was in his nature. He didn’t talk much, and his stern features made him look even more intimidating when he was silent. In the past, Li Shuang had been scared of him. Li Zhi, however, had always felt differently. She could see the love in her brother’s calm eyes.
She had always listened to him.
But this time, Li Zhi stood firm and resisted his demands, saying, “One player in the family is enough.”
Li Feng frowned, hesitating. “You saw what happened earlier. More and more people will become players and enter these game-like scenarios. This is the trend of the future. The world is only going to become more dangerous…”
“I’ll protect you all!” Li Zhi interrupted him firmly, her eyes resolute. “I’ll keep you safe. You stay in the real world and don’t enter the instances.”
Li Feng stared at her. “You protect us, but who protects you?”
“I can protect myself. Didn’t you see that?” Li Zhi replied.
Li Feng silently studied her, while Li Zhi’s tone remained calm. “The real world is only going to get more dangerous. If we all become players, who’s going to look after Mom and Shuang? My profile is going to become more prominent, and if someone with ill intentions comes knocking while neither of us is around…”
Li Zhi knew exactly where her brother’s weak spot lay.
Sure enough, Li Feng didn’t press the issue any further. “Alright, we’ll do it your way. Let’s put this matter aside for now.”
Li Zhi silently let out a sigh of relief.
Like her, once her brother made up his mind, it was hard to sway him. In terms of stubbornness, she really was the Li family’s biological child.
Thankfully, she knew her brother’s weak spot. Their weakness was always family.
Now that she was grown, she could stand in front of them too.
Li Feng’s frown finally eased. “Let’s go buy some crabs. People are snatching up food quickly these days. If we’re late, they’ll be gone.”
Li Zhi quickened her pace immediately.
The neighborhood market was always short on supply. Ordinary people didn’t have grand dreams; they just wanted to eat well, stay warm, and live peacefully. So, whenever something happened, they liked to hoard food and supplies. The government had even repeatedly urged people to stay indoors, which had only made the supermarket shelves empty out faster.
Fortunately, there were still plenty of crabs left. Crabs don’t last long, aren’t filling, and are expensive, so people only bought them for the taste. But since Li Zhi liked crabs, the Li family often had them, and Shang Jinru had even mastered the art of cooking them.
They bought up all the remaining crabs from the tank. By the time they returned home, Li Shuang had already found out online about the public knife attack.
Although the live video had been quickly restricted and taken down, many viewers had recorded it, and news of Wang Xiang’s attack had spread across the internet. Screenshots of Li Zhi’s face from the livestream had also been uploaded online.
As soon as they got home, Li Shuang rushed over. “Sis! Are you two okay? How do you end up in such a situation just going out to buy crabs?”
Li Zhi replied, “You know how skilled your brother is, don’t you?”
Li Shuang frowned. “How could there be such a person? He should be executed on the spot!” she fumed, her anger rising. “The world’s already a mess, and if more people start copying him, it’s going to be over!”
Li Zhi guessed that the authorities would soon make adjustments and respond to such incidents.
Sure enough, before dinner, the authorities released a statement, announcing that they would show no leniency toward such heinous acts of violence meant to gain attention. Given the special circumstances, they decided to execute Wang Xiang immediately. The public was urged to take this as a warning.
However, it seemed that the [Ghost] system acted deliberately. Less than a minute after the official announcement, viewers in the Horror Variety Show live stream saw Wang Xiang pulled into a game instance.
There’s always a time gap between government decisions and their execution. The country’s legal processes are strict, and this gave the [Ghost] system a loophole to exploit. Wang Xiang being dragged into the instance caused an uproar, and the authorities learned a tough lesson.
The head of the Special Events Department cursed in frustration: “Next time something like this happens, just shoot them on the spot! I’ll take full responsibility for whatever consequences arise!”
Li Zhi opened her tablet and entered the live stream room. Whether out of curiosity or anger, the number of viewers in Wang Xiang’s stream kept climbing, and the chat was filled with discussions about the incident.
The instance had already begun, and on screen, Wang Xiang looked fanatical. Li Zhi recalled the online rumors about a cult that worshiped the [Ghost] system as a god. Could Wang Xiang’s actions be related to this cult?
Li Shuang, watching beside her, pointed at the screen in shock. “Sis! That’s Lian Qinglin! He’s in the same instance!”
After clearing the new player instance, Lian Qinglin, like Chi Yi, had found Li Zhi’s contact information. They even made a WeChat group and added all four of them who had cleared the instance together. However, the group was mostly silent, with Chi Yi usually chatting with Li Zhi privately.
Lian Qinglin often shared tips and tricks in the group for clearing instances, and he had eagerly told Li Zhi that he was working on getting a team card so they could enter the next instance together.
In the video, as soon as Lian Qinglin saw Wang Xiang, he rushed over and punched him.
He probably saw the news about Wang Xiang’s knife attack before entering the instance. As a righteous nineteen-year-old, he couldn’t help but give Wang Xiang a lesson.
The audience was cheering for Lian Qinglin’s actions, but Li Zhi quietly sighed.
Too impulsive.
By confronting Wang Xiang head-on right away, he exposed his hostility. Now, he’d have to stay on guard against Wang Xiang’s retaliation throughout the instance. A monster willing to kill in the real world wouldn’t hold back in the instance.
This instance wouldn’t be easy for Lian Qinglin. The only thing Li Zhi could do was cast her vote in his favor.
Chi Yi also called. “Zhi Zhi! Did you see that? Lian Qinglin and that murderer ended up in the same instance, and he even beat him up!”
Her tone carried a hint of disapproval.
After chatting for a bit, Chi Yi mentioned the items she had acquired this time: “I got a team card and a time-freeze device. It can only be used in an instance and pauses time for ten seconds. During that time, everything except the user is frozen. I’m not sure if it’ll be useful in the next instance.”
Li Zhi didn’t hold back either. “I’ve got a Ghost Attraction Talisman and a thorned rose.”
Chi Yi was silent for a moment. “I get the Ghost Attraction Talisman, but what’s the thorned rose for?”
Li Zhi sighed. “You’ll see tomorrow. Come over for lunch, and I’ll show you.”
Chi Yi eagerly agreed, “Great! See you tomorrow!”
Outside, Shang Jinru called them to dinner.
Li Zhi hung up the phone. Li Shuang was still frowning as she watched the show, angrily typing out messages in the chat to curse Wang Xiang, the murderer.
Li Zhi stood up. “Let’s eat. We can watch while we eat.”
Li Shuang grimaced. “Watching this while eating? Am I crazy? I’d throw up!”
She quickly closed the tablet.
Outside, the dinner table was filled with delicious home-cooked dishes. The family gathered around, and Shang Jinru, who used to forbid them from drinking soda, now poured it out willingly.
“Drink as much as you want! There’s more in the fridge. I bought a whole case!”
She picked out the biggest, juiciest crab legs and placed them on Li Zhi’s plate. “Eat more!”
Thinking about it made Shang Jinru’s heart ache. Why had she ever restricted the kids from drinking cola or eating spicy food? If they liked it, she should’ve just let them enjoy it. Now, who knew how much longer they could indulge in such pleasures? What if one day…
Stop, stop! Shang Jinru quickly pushed those dark thoughts aside, not wanting the kids to see her worry.
After dinner, Li Zhi took a shower and lay down on her bed, opening the live stream where Lian Qinglin and Wang Xiang were featured. Lian Qinglin had a large fan base, and although his performance in the instance wasn’t particularly outstanding, his lively personality and youthful energy still managed to attract plenty of viewers.
On the leaderboard, Lian Qinglin was way ahead in popularity. Out of the thirteen players in the instance, Wang Xiang wasn’t at the bottom—he was ranked ninth, and his votes were steadily increasing.
There would never be a shortage of bad people in this world. As the [Ghost] system uncovered and amplified the evil within human nature, people like Wang Xiang no longer needed to hide their malevolence. They could be openly wicked, and plenty of people would cheer for them.
Li Zhi speculated that the fanatical cult behind Wang Xiang was likely fanning the flames.
The instance might look like an individual competition, but with the involvement of capital, players would inevitably start forming alliances and teams. It wouldn’t be long before someone came looking for her.
The world order was being restructured. By pulling Wang Xiang into the instance after he was sentenced to death, the [Ghost] system was blatantly challenging the government’s authority. If things continued like this, public trust in the government would surely decline, until eventually, the world fell into complete anarchy.
Inside the instance, a player triggered a death condition and was cleaved in half by a blade that dropped from above.
The bisected body wriggled on screen, blood pooling everywhere.
Li Zhi saw a comment flash by in the chat:
[“Am I too cold-hearted? I don’t feel anything watching players die now. It’s like watching a TV show.”]
Several more followed in agreement:
[“Same here! After seeing so many, I’ve gone numb. It’s like a person dying isn’t even a big deal anymore.”]
[“I even get excited by their death scenes. Maybe I’m a latent sociopath.”]
…
Li Zhi didn’t want to watch anymore and closed the stream.
That was the [Ghost] system’s goal, wasn’t it? When people become desensitized to death, there’s no difference between ghosts and humans anymore.
After using the team card with Chi Yi, all they could do was wait.
Li Zhi continued her daily boxing workouts with her brother. Li Shuang, shaken by Wang Xiang’s public knife attack, also joined in, and the three Li siblings could often be seen sparring on the balcony.
Ten days later, Li Zhi sensed the instance’s approach five minutes early.
She was beginning to grasp the pattern. This heightened sense seemed to correlate with the frequency of her instance entries. The more times she entered, the earlier her perception became. Last time, she sensed it three seconds ahead; this time, it was five minutes.
Five minutes was more than enough time to get ready.
After changing clothes and coming out, her family members were trying hard to hide their worry, but Li Zhi could still see the same solemn looks in their eyes, as if they were sending her off to war.
“I’ll come back alive,” she assured them.
The five minutes passed quickly. As her consciousness passed through the familiar dark corridor, Li Zhi entered the new instance.
When she opened her eyes and took in the surroundings, she was surprised for once.
Previous instances had been desolate villages or ghost towns, like scenes straight out of a horror movie, oppressive and bleak.
But this instance was different. It appeared to be harvest season, with golden waves of wheat stretching as far as the eye could see. The trees along the paths were laden with fruit, their branches bending under the weight. In the distance, smoke curled from chimneys, and villagers called out to each other as they returned home for dinner. The whole scene was full of life and energy.
Li Zhi took in the view for a moment before hearing a commotion behind her in the wheat field. Chi Yi emerged, grumbling, “Ugh! These wheat stalks are so sharp! They’re poking me all over!”