Chapter 13

…Only an idiot would take it!

At the same time, a chilling wind swept through the stuffy basement. The phone’s ring grew more and more piercing, each ring louder than the last, as if urging the person on the other end to answer like a summons from death.

Xiao Cheng held the phone in distress, not daring to answer but also not daring to hang up. He instinctively looked to the other two.

Zhu Ming and Yun Zouchuan both took a synchronized step backward. Want to pass the buck? Dream on!

Creak—

What was that sound?

Suddenly, Zhu Ming stumbled forward. Gripping her flashlight, she looked behind her with shock and suspicion. “Which bastard pushed me?!”

“Ah!” Yun Zouchuan let out a small yelp, swinging her fist backward, but she hit nothing.

The two exchanged a glance, instantly understanding: There was something in the darkness!

It wasn’t just them who were attacked; Xiao Cheng and Old Man Xu didn’t escape either. And the assailant was extremely cunning and elusive.

The worst part was, during the chaos, Xiao Cheng accidentally hit the ‘Answer’ button. Almost without any pause, the call connected.

A sharp, ear-piercing scream came from the other end of the phone, slamming into Xiao Cheng like a giant hammer. With a buzzing sound, Xiao Cheng’s mind went blank. He froze in place, nearly dragged away by the monster in the darkness.

Old Man Xu pulled him away in time. Xiao Cheng frantically hung up the phone, but the next second, the ringing started again.

Zhu Ming focused her attention. The moment her intuition sensed that chilling, hair-raising presence about to strike her back, she spun around abruptly and kicked out—she stumbled a step forward, her expression growing even more grim.

She was certain the enemy in the darkness had been right behind her at that moment, but there was nothing… No!

It wasn’t that there was nothing; it was simply that they couldn’t touch it. The enemy was like the air itself—omnipresent yet intangible.

So what was the point of fighting? Staying here only meant being a punching bag. Making a swift decision, Zhu Ming, showing zero loyalty, dashed outside with her flashlight. “Back to the rooms!”

Recalling that the attacks always came from blind spots, or rather, blind spots of the flashlight beam, Zhu Ming flipped her wrist, aimed the light at herself, and warned, “Shine them on yourselves!”

Yun Zouchuan followed close behind.

Old Man Xu smacked the back of Xiao Cheng’s head. “Run!”

The group scrambled upstairs towards their rooms. Before entering, Old Man Xu reached out to Xiao Cheng. “Phone!”

Xiao Cheng, face pale with distress, quickly tossed the death-summoning phone to the old man. “Be careful!”

…

Zhu Ming dashed back into her room. She cautiously shifted the flashlight beam away, only deeming it safe to turn off the light after confirming no invisible enemies were lurking in the dark, waiting to ambush her.

Tired and hot from the run, Zhu Ming unscrewed a bottle of water and gulped down more than half of it.

She dragged a chair to the door and sat on it to doze off, worried that sitting on the bed would cause her to fall back asleep.

About an hour and a half later, Zhu Ming heard the faint rumbling of wheels.

Here he comes.

Grabbing her flashlight, Zhu Ming stealthily opened the door and slipped outside in a flash.

There was no light; the darkness was silent, and the chilling wind from before was absent. Naturally, the air-like enemy that ambushed from the shadows was also gone.

Yet…

Fearing she would attract the butler’s pursuit, Zhu Ming hadn’t turned on her flashlight the moment she went out. Immediately, an irresistible, bone-chilling stiffness seeped through her skin, slowly penetrating her bones.

Damn it, being fully exposed to the night’s darkness causes the body to seize up until one can’t even move a finger!

Zhu Ming decisively switched on her flashlight. The moment the light shone on her, making her as conspicuous as a lightbulb, that rigid, stiff sensation instantly vanished without a trace.

Rumble, rumble. The butler, who had just pushed his cleaning cart upstairs, paused: “…”

Zhu Ming looked towards the sound but only saw a cleaning cart, no ghost. She waved her flashlight. The butler seemed to react as well, pushing the cart forward at an unchanged, deliberately slow pace.

Zhu Ming understood. Due to some restriction, the butler had to complete his own task. During this process, he couldn’t hunt down participants, even if she was lit up like a beacon of holy light.

Of course, although the butler was invisible as air and restrained from immediately attacking participants, a blade-sharp wave of killing intent still shot fiercely towards Zhu Ming.

Zhu Ming met it head-on and snorted coldly. “Do your job properly. Be careful, or I’ll dock your pay!”

The butler: “…”

Having said her piece, Zhu Ming turned and bolted, dashing swiftly towards the staircase on the other side.

The butler’s patrol order was 2001-2007-1003. After that, he still had to clean the garbage, buying her a window of time to verify her hunch—even if the key was on the butler, they could still access his room while he was out on patrol.

Since the butler was pushing a cleaning cart, his movement was likely somewhat hindered. There was a high chance he might not lock the door during this time. Of course, Zhu Ming believed even more that leaving the door open was a rigid rule of the dungeon. Tasks must have a method to be completed; the rules here bound both participants and ghosts alike.

Suddenly, someone tugged Zhu Ming’s sleeve. Startled, Zhu Ming nearly crashed into them, only to find it was A-Zou upon turning her head.

“What are you doing out here?” Reaching the ground floor together, Zhu Ming frowned and asked.

“The yell about ‘docking pay’ woke me right up,” Yun Zouchuan said. “You definitely thought of something and planned to take the risk alone, right?”

Zhu Ming gave an embarrassed laugh. “Not really. It’s just that I don’t quite trust Old Man Xu and Xiao Cheng, so I didn’t say anything in front of them. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you about it either.”

Yun Zouchuan wasn’t angry, simply asking, “What are we going to do?”

Zhu Ming lowered her voice. “Go to the butler’s room.”

They wasted no more words. Passing the living room, Zhu Ming, with a distinct lack of civic virtue, knocked over a trash can. They arrived at the door of Room 1001, the butler’s room. Zhu Ming tentatively pushed. Creak—

That was the sound!

The door was indeed open.

The windowless butler’s room was as dark as a pool of thick ink. The flashlight beam that cut into it seemed exceptionally weak.

In this kind of situation, Zhu Ming and Yun Zouchuan, having cooperated many times, had seamless chemistry. They used their flashlights to illuminate each other’s blind spots, one ensuring the other wasn’t fully exposed to darkness while also watching for any threats behind their partner.

The butler’s room wasn’t large. It contained a single bed, a desk, a chair, a trash can, and a poster.

The poster depicted a sexy woman in a red swimsuit. Her black hair was as voluminous as dark clouds. She was quite pretty, but her face was deathly pale, her gaze eerie and sinister. Meeting her eyes in the pitch-black night felt as if she was staring right at you.

After confirming their respective search areas, the two split up the work.

Zhu Ming was ruthless. She yanked at the quilt and sheets on the single bed, rummaging through them wildly. The butler had already discovered her anyway, so she wasn’t afraid of offending him further.

As she searched, Zhu Ming felt a hard object inside the pillow. Exerting force, she tore the pillow open with a rip, sending cotton stuffing flying everywhere. Zhu Ming pulled out a mobile phone.

Pocketing the phone first, Zhu Ming continued searching elsewhere, but after thoroughly checking the entire single bed, top to bottom, she found nothing else.

Rumble, rumble… The butler had reached the first floor.

Yun Zouchuan’s ears twitched. She abruptly turned her head. “I found a notebook.”

Zhu Ming instinctively lowered her voice. “Take it for now.”

“I’ll go check if the storage room is open.”

Yun Zouchuan ran out of the butler’s room and tried the storage room door. It wouldn’t budge. Meanwhile, the butler had already knocked on Room 1004 and started knocking on Room 1003. Once he finished sweeping the trash, he would likely return to his room. No one could guarantee what would happen then.

Steeling her resolve, Yun Zouchuan dashed into the kitchen and began wreaking havoc. The leftover food packaging from the day was still in the trash can; she tossed some here and scattered some there, trying to make a mess of garbage everywhere to keep the butler busy.

Inside the butler’s room, even though A-Zou had already checked the desk, Zhu Ming still went over for a look.

A-Zou was meticulous when working seriously. She had certainly checked inside and out, all the drawers and surfaces of the desk. But sometimes, certain spots were easily overlooked.

Zhu Ming’s eyes landed on the seemingly empty trash can. She kicked it, and the can toppled over, revealing its bottom. Stuck there was a group photo, scratched and scribbled into a chaotic mess. Tch, how cunning.

Zhu Ming peeled the photo off and stuffed it into her pocket. She walked over to the poster of the sexy swimsuit beauty, lifting it from the bottom to check the wall. “A poster on a wall always hides a problem.”

The back of the poster was blank… She silently let it go.

Suddenly, Yun Zouchuan’s voice came from outside. “Ah!”

Had the butler already finished his task?!

Running, Yun Zouchuan shouted, “He hit me with his broom! Boss, keep going, I’m fine.”

That broom seemed to possess a unique ability. Once struck, the victim uncontrollably fell to the ground. Clutching her flashlight, Yun Zouchuan rolled on the floor and scrambled up, but didn’t dare move too far away. She feared that if she went upstairs first, the butler would go directly for Zhu Ming.

During this process, Yun Zouchuan noticed a pattern: the closer she was to the trash on the ground, the higher the frequency of the broom attacks. But if she ignored it, the butler swept at incredible speed and would finish his task in no time.

Thinking it over, she ran and, just as the broom was about to sweep past, kicked the nearby trash away, delaying him this way.

Inside the butler’s room, her brow furrowed deeply, Zhu Ming scanned her surroundings. She had found a phone and a photo; A-Zou had a notebook. So many items—it seemed quite valuable already. Yet, she felt like she was still overlooking something.

“Hurry up!” As the trash dwindled, Yun Zouchuan couldn’t help but urge.

“Got it.” Zhu Ming strode towards the door. Reaching the entrance, she suddenly stopped and turned back. “What are you looking at? Keep staring, and I’ll gouge your eyes out!”

Saying this, she marched back to the poster of the red-swimsuit woman on the wall. Unhesitantly, she extended two fingers to poke the woman’s eyes. “I knew something was off about you. Sure enough, there’s a catch.”

It hadn’t been an illusion; the gaze of the red-clothed woman printed on the poster really was moving. After Zhu Ming poked her eyes, her look grew even more sinister and venomous. Suddenly, she opened her mouth, revealing a dark, gaping maw, and let out a piercing shriek.

The scream was like a sonic wave, crashing into Zhu Ming head-on and forcing her back until she hit the bed frame. Struggling to steady herself, she returned to the poster the next moment. Zhu Ming thrust her hand forward, forming a fist that drove straight into the beautiful woman’s blood-red mouth.

“You don’t even have a tongue, yet you have the nerve to screech and howl.”

Sexy Swimsuit Beauty: “…”

Shock! Why isn’t this person affected? Suspicion! She should be dizzy, disoriented, and hallucinating by now. Rage! She actually dares to stick her hand into my mouth!!!

Zhu Ming opened her hand and began to feel around. Beautiful as she was, the woman wasn’t a living person. Lacking the warmth and softness of the living, she was cold, wet, and slippery. And as her mouth gaped wide, a nauseating, putrid stench continuously wafted out.

Found it!

Zhu Ming bared her teeth in a ghastly, fierce grin.

She knew it. A poster on a wall always hid a problem.

Clenching the cold, hard object she’d found, Zhu Ming yanked her hand straight out. Her hand was dripping wet, covered in a foul-smelling, unknown slime. Outside the door, Yun Zouchuan screamed, “He’s closing the door!”