This time, Wang Yue didn’t scream when the female ghost appeared. Instead, she simply crouched on the ground, calmly waiting for the “RE”—the reset. She looked quite pitiful huddled there.
Watching this scene through the interface, Lulu’anna laughed so hard she almost blew a snot bubble.
Was this still the cool and arrogant Wang Yue? Seeing her curled into a ball, looking so aggrieved and helpless… she was just too cute!
Lulu’anna basked in her amusement for a while, but she soon noticed something. Wang Yue hadn’t fallen into a cycle of fear as she’d expected. Usually, victims would become more terrified with every reset, eventually losing their minds and hiding in the coffin, weeping and begging for mercy.
On the contrary, Wang Yue showed an extraordinary interest in the Almshouse’s plot. Her eyes constantly glimmered with the light of deduction.
She seemed to have grasped something essential: the key to this place wasn’t the wandering ghosts, but something else entirely.
While she had played many horror games, the difference between a screen and a real haunting was stark. The all-encompassing sensory stimulation was unprecedented, which was why she had appeared a bit disheveled at first. After a few experiences, she was already adjusting.
She jumped out of the coffin once again, glancing at the old man with practiced familiarity—Aha, the items refreshed.
She snatched the matchbox that had spawned in the old man’s hand and bolted straight for the Warehouse.
This time, she didn’t search the first floor. She headed directly for the second.
Her logic was that the Blood-Red Slime Mold only attacked when she approached the tunnel; perhaps going straight to the second floor wouldn’t trigger it.
As she climbed the stairs, she kept a sharp eye out. Sure enough, there was no movement in the corners. She had guessed correctly.
The second floor was a half-height loft with two rows of wooden shelves scattered with a few cardboard boxes. The light was dim, provided only by a single window on the gable wall. The moonlight couldn’t reach every corner.
The atmosphere grew much quieter, carrying a faint, oppressive sense of danger.
As she stood in the middle of the loft, the door behind her began to creak open and shut, though there was no wind. Shadows huddled against the walls, writhing as if whispering to one another, shadow-wraiths plotting in the dark.
The wind caught the curtains, and a flash of light—bright as lightning—illuminated a grotesque figure standing by the window before it vanished into the gloom.
Is the jump scare coming? A high-energy event?
Wang Yue held her breath, watching the corners and the window to prevent some ghost from lunging at her.
When no scare triggered after a long moment, she relaxed and reached out to flip open a cardboard box. Suddenly, countless pitch-black fibers erupted from the box, instantly wrapping around her hand!
She let out a startled cry. The furry, rough sensation felt exactly like a rat’s tail!
She had never actually touched a rat’s tail, but that was the only comparison her mind could conjure in that moment of revulsion.
She jerked her hand back, but the black fibers didn’t pursue her. It seemed they were only meant to startle her.
The second floor hadn’t yielded any loot. She headed back down and searched the first floor, finding a lemon inside a wooden barrel.
“What’s a lemon for? Let’s have a taste.”
Just as Wang Yue was about to bite into the fruit, she saw a layer of white frost creeping across the ground by the door out of the corner of her eye. The air grew frigid.
The Female Ghost was here!
She shivered and scrambled back up to the second floor. Peering down, she saw the Female Ghost floating into the Warehouse. Then… she started coming upstairs!
That’s cheating! Aren’t ghosts without feet supposed to be unable to climb stairs?
The window on the gable wouldn’t open, leaving her with no way to jump out. Like a rabbit backed into a corner, she hid behind a shelf, holding her breath and remaining perfectly still.
The Female Ghost stopped at the top of the stairs. She seemed to have caught the scent of a human and had become suspicious.
Wang Yue prayed for her to leave. If she stayed any longer, the purple scars would start appearing on Wang Yue’s skin.
But the ghost seemed determined to wait her out, lingering by the stairs without moving.
Gradually, a large purple bruise spread across the back of Wang Yue’s hand. A Ghost Eye was about to manifest!
In a flash of inspiration, Wang Yue took a bite of the lemon and smeared the sour juice over the purple bruise.
A blind cat finding a dead mouse—she had guessed right!
The scar didn’t develop into an eye; instead, it slowly faded away.
“So that’s what the lemon is for.”
After being used once, the lemon rotted instantly. It seemed one lemon was only good for one treatment.
Once the ghost finally drifted away, Wang Yue followed her down and watched her head toward the cemetery. Seizing the chance, she hurried into the building next to the warehouse.
This was the most luxurious building in the Almshouse.
