The scumbag game wanted her to help Number 652 recover her lost memories. All Bai Yu could confirm was that 652 was one of the game participants, but her exact identity remained a mystery. Regardless of who it was, though, they were an “old friend” of sorts. As long as it wasn’t one of the truly troublesome ones.
When she saw the monster’s face at the doorway, a familiar figure surfaced from Bai Yu’s memory.
The girl’s alias was “Ghostface,” though some also preferred “Beastface.” The name wasn’t derived from her abilities, but from that disfigured, terrifying face of hers—her most defining trait.
In the scumbag game, no one wanted to reveal their real name, and no one knew each other’s codenames. Over time, after surviving many mission worlds, they inevitably crossed paths. So they’d start calling each other by nicknames based on striking features. Eventually, the names stuck.
Bai Yu hadn’t interacted much with Ghostface directly. All she knew was that the other woman’s abilities revolved around fire and toxins, and that she was a ruthless butcher who killed without a second thought.
Of course, anyone who could survive long enough to participate in this mission wasn’t exactly a pushover.
As for why she looked like that now, Bai Yu would find out soon enough.
In the fourth-floor corridor, Ghostface was already preparing to leave. She hadn’t spotted Zhao Mingyue here, and there was a new disturbance coming from the cafeteria. She needed to go there and catch that little pest.
But just as she turned, she caught a glimpse of a short figure in her peripheral vision.
“Hsss… Found you…” Ghostface’s voice was hoarse and rasping. It was a quiet sound, yet it carried clearly into Bai Yu’s ears as she stood at the stairwell, like someone whispering right next to you.
Ghostface stood in the hallway, a two-and-a-half-meter-tall figure, gaunt as a skeleton, with a neck twice the normal length. Her posture was a twisted, terrifying thing. Just imagine what it would be like to come face-to-face with a monster like this in a dead-silent hallway past midnight.
Yet Bai Yu’s expression remained utterly calm as she walked towards Ghostface, step by step. Her right hand opened, and blood threads writhed and surged in her palm, solidifying into a crimson long saber.
The blade was styled like a Tang Dynasty saber: edge straight and razor-sharp, a meter and twenty centimeters in length. But because it was formed from condensed blood threads, the entire weapon was a deep, uniform red. On its spine, you could still see wisps and strands of blood threads writhing.
Back at Sunshine Apartment, she had barely used her long saber, resorting to her fists instead. Partly because there had been no need, and more importantly, she was afraid of revealing her identity too early.
“Ghostface. Did you find your memories here?”
The tip of her blade angled towards the ground, Bai Yu spoke softly.
The Emaciated Monster had already raised its grease-stained hands. Upon hearing Bai Yu’s words, its movements paused. It hesitated for about a second, then brought its black-mist-shrouded claws slashing down ferociously.
Bai Yu sidestepped, her expression unchanging. The ghost claw scraped past her body, close enough to ruffle the strands of hair on her forehead with its solidified black resentment.
Her pupil-less, pure black eyes shimmered with a faint crimson light. Bai Yu stepped forward. As a ghost claw swept horizontally towards her side, her saber flipped and slashed upwards. With a wet, tearing sound, the Emaciated Monster’s arm was severed at the root.
“Not Ghostface… No, it is her. Just not her true form…”
Pondering this, Bai Yu saw the monster’s other hand clawing at her. She casually swung her blade, lopping off that hand as well. Amid the spreading black mist, the gleam of a blade aura flashed, and the monster’s legs were also severed, causing its body to collapse forward uncontrollably.
Clang!
The blade split the monster’s body down the middle. In that instant, the saber blasted apart into its constituent blood threads, which wildly devoured every last shred of the monster’s resentment-formed body.
This Emaciated Monster was, at best, on the level of an ordinary Ghostly Monster—maybe a notch or two stronger. It was nowhere near the level of Xiaolian, the female ghost from Sunshine Apartment.
An entity of this level could never be the Final Boss of a mission location. A bold theory began forming in Bai Yu’s mind. She looked from the railing towards the cafeteria, and sure enough, saw four or five more figures—some tall, some short—charging in that direction.
“Unless I find her main body, these resentments will never be fully cleansed.”
“No wonder Mingyue’s voice earlier didn’t draw them out. Number 652 herself hasn’t arrived yet, so the resentments haven’t fully awakened.”
Bai Yu was starting to piece things together, but one detail still eluded her.
The thing she had just killed wasn’t just a simple duplicate. She could devour ghosts to strengthen herself, and based on that fact, she was absolutely certain that creature had been a fully-formed ghost, not a portion of someone’s power split off.
So here was the question: these ghosts clearly weren’t born from Number 652’s deathly resentment.
What exactly were they then, and why did they all wear that woman’s face?
To understand the relationship between these ghosts and Number 652, she would probably have to find the woman herself.
Bai Yu vanished from sight, merging back into Zhao Mingyue’s shadow.
Meanwhile, Zhao Mingyue was still hiding behind the door, utterly oblivious to what had just unfolded outside. She only stirred when Bai Yu’s voice echoed in her mind.
“That thing’s been dealt with.”
“Dealt with?!”
Zhao Mingyue blinked and cracked the door open to peek outside. Sure enough, nothing there.
“What happened out there just now?”
“It was just an old friend.”
“You have friends here too?”
“Yes. We need to go find her now. Once we do, the majority of this situation can be resolved.” After a moment’s thought, Bai Yu decided to share some information with Zhao Mingyue, though she concealed details about the mission and the scumbag game. As for Ghostface, she described her just as she had: an old friend, nothing more.
Zhao Mingyue stood in the corridor, not rushing to leave.
She listened to Bai Yu’s account and fell silent for a long moment.
“Sister Yu, I think if your friend is the culprit and has returned for some reason, finding her will be easy. We should go to the Principal’s Office. There’s a very high probability she’ll be there.”
“And all those wraiths you mentioned—could your friend have brought them with her? Kind of like you and me.”
Zhao Mingyue’s words were like a spark in Bai Yu’s mind, a sudden moment of clarity.
This mission was clearly anything but ordinary. These ghosts might not have originated within the school; they could have been brought from the outside.
“Let’s go. To the Principal’s Office.”
Zhao Mingyue nodded, trying her best to be silent. To ensure her safety, Bai Yu didn’t bother hiding in the shadows any longer, manifesting to walk beside her.
It turned out that as long as you didn’t make a sound, trouble really did stay away.
Perhaps due to the monster’s return, all the tiny imps in the school had fallen quiet.
Bai Yu and Zhao Mingyue followed the concrete path to the teaching building located behind the dormitory.
The Principal’s Office was on the third floor of the teaching building. As soon as Bai Yu arrived, she saw the chains ripped apart on the floor and the Principal’s Office door standing ajar.
“Wait out here.”
Bai Yu stepped forward and pulled the office door wide open.
Inside, a girl with a delicate, pretty face whirled around in shock.
“Ghostface, did you find your memories?” Bai Yu asked.
