Chapter 5: Discovered

The junior high student had suddenly disappeared but no one believed that he was still alive.

The sinister pool of blood left on the chair shattered the last delusions these people had. This game could not be simply cleared just by finishing the required mission.

The junior high student quickly and meticulously completed the puzzle, following the app’s requirements. But after solving the puzzle, his ending was being stripped of his life by the ghost in the puzzle.

Chu Fu put down her hand that was covering her mouth, eyes filled with tears. Her quivering body leaned over to take a look at the student’s puzzle and she only saw that the ghost’s figure in the puzzle had disappeared.

If the ghost on the puzzle was gone, then where did the ghost on it, gone off to?

Chu Fu mustered up the courage to look at the chandelier and saw that the chandelier was covered with a thin trail of bloodstains, but there were no ghosts to be found.

Chu Fu couldn’t help but feel relieved, nearly hiccuping into tears.

But before she could think of what to do next, the man who had been silent for a while suddenly rose in revolt.

And so, he lifted up his head and with a straight face said, “I already gave you my puzzle, what else do you want?”

Just after his voice had fallen, he seemed to regret provoking the man. So, he slowed his tone down to make up for it, “It’s not that we’re unwilling to tell you. Although you treated the student that way… since we are all in this game together, we should help each other out. My puzzle still has a big unsolved area, so let’s just make this long story short—— Earlier, I found something in the wardrobe. All of the women’s clothes were wet. Probably because someone had worn it before, so I thought that these might have a use. If the ghost comes, perhaps these clothes could ward them off. That’s why I brought these over.”

After Bai Yan finished explaining, Chu Fu was afraid that the man would try to pick a fault, so she hurriedly added, “I’m a nervous eater, I especially eat a lot when I’m nervous, so I couldn’t help myself from getting some food from the food table.”

“You think I’d believe this?” The man questioned her, “Tell me the truth, don’t assume that I don’t hit women!”

“If you don’t believe me then ask him. It was him who started a conversation with me, and he advised me to not eat these things.”

Chu Fu remembered what Bai Yan had told her about the clue on the ‘starving ghost.’ She felt timid, but she didn’t have a good impression of the man so, in the end, she didn’t sell Bai Yan out and instead, resolutely said, “Besides, look at this piece of chocolate. I’ve already opened it before and eaten half of it. If he hadn’t convinced me to stop, I would have eaten it all.”

The man was still skeptical of Chu Fu’s words and found them hard to believe. This girl’s courage must be big enough for her to dare eat these things of unknown origin and not be afraid of being poisoned to death.

But after living in society for so many years, he knew that there would always be some people whose brains didn’t function right, perhaps the girl in front of him was one of those people.

And so, he accepted Chu Fu’s explanation reluctantly and impatiently said, “Fine. But both of you need to give me the clothes and the chocolate. Quickly! I don’t have the time to dally with you.”

“Didn’t you already get the little brother’s puzzle? How could you ask us for our things.” Chu Fu mumbled in response, her face brimming with unwillingness. But forced by the man’s tyranny, she still reluctantly handed over the food.

Behind Chu Fu, Bai Yan also pulled out 2 stinky articles of clothing for the man.

Fearing that the man would think that Bai Yan was targeting him, he added, “All of the clothes smell like this. After all, they had been worn by the female ghost. Just put up with it for the time being.”

Receiving the chocolate and the clothes, the panic in the man’s heart lessened a bit.

He wasn’t going to be that bastard who’ll get killed by a ghost. His puzzle didn’t have a ghost on it. Moreover, the other two had already given their items to him. No matter what, he was going to stay alive.

After the man received the items, he quieted down and finally stopped swearing and making a ruckus.

………

The room’s atmosphere recovered its silence once again. Bai Yan started to concentrate on handling his puzzle.

Due to the lights going out and the man’s nagging, there was still a big area of his puzzle left unfinished and time was very tight.

While Bai Yan was busy with his puzzle, Chu Fu also pieced hers together with urgency. However, the junior high student’s ending cast a shadow on her heart. She couldn’t help but look back after joining two pieces together, afraid that there was a ghost standing quietly behind her, waiting for her to finish the puzzle to take her away.

The ghost on Chu Fu’s puzzle was a malnourished and sickly middle-aged man. On the puzzle, he stood in front of the food table, occupying a decent-sized area.

Because ghosts were something to be naturally feared, so when starting the puzzle, Chu Fu kept away from the pieces that had the body parts and specially solved the background first.

However, after eventually finishing the background, she hesitated for a while. Chu Fu then gritted her teeth and laid down a few pieces of the puzzle, forming the ghost’s arm. Following that, she couldn’t help but look back, finally seeing a horrifying scene——

In front of the food table, an unattached waxy yellow arm appeared. It was moving midair, appearing to be trying to grasp something.

As it turns out, solving the puzzle did summon the ghost!

Seeing this scene, Chu Fu already completely understood.

The unfortunate junior high student must have been too focused on solving the puzzle that he didn’t see the ghost in the chandelier, which was why he was taken away by the ghost.

Thinking that the ghost was silently watching the junior high student piece his puzzle and slowly approaching him from behind, a chill ran down Chu Fu’s spine.

The junior high student was already gone, then what about her?

Would she suffer the same fate as the student? Once she was done with piecing the puzzle, would she also be taken away by the ghost?

If finishing the puzzle releases the ghost, should she continue piecing the puzzle?

A series of questions flooded into her head, one after another. This caused Chu Fu to loathe her brain for not being smart, for she was unable to come up with a solution.

However, doing nothing and only focusing on completing the puzzle would surely lead to death. The student already used his life to prove so. Then what should she do? Should she give up on finishing the puzzle?

Recalling the student’s blood-curdling scream, Chu Fu’s body started trembling with fear. She didn’t want to care anymore and just wanted to toss the puzzle aside, nevermind giving up on the game.

But, if she gave up on the game, would she still be able to survive?

Chu Fu remembered before she even entered the game, she had run into a malicious spirit who tortured her, so she knew that the app would never let her go. If she couldn’t finish the game, the app would punish her, and she would forever undergo the torture of evil spirits. Even death would never set her free.

So what could she do now, how could she survive…

As if her life depended on it, Chu Fu started thinking about everything related to the game. The little brother sitting on her left told her that the puzzle she had was of a starving ghost. Seeing the middle-aged man’s thin and waxy yellow arm, she felt that what he said must be true.

Since it was a starving ghost, if she offered it the food she found on the table, would she be able to survive?

Chu Fu tried her hardest to not turn her head, enduring her fear of piecing the puzzle while thinking in her heart for a way to survive this mess.

Because the student had demonstrated what would happen when the last piece fell into place. Chu Fu took extra caution and clenched the piece in her hand, not in a hurry to lay it down.

She tilted her head to look at Bai Yan and found out that this little brother was doing the same as she was. A lump on his jigsaw remained empty, and she did not know what he was planning.

Remembering that this youth was willing to help others and that the starving ghost clue was also found by him, Chu Fu thought from the heart that this little brother was reliable.

As such, Chu Fu had intended to ask him her question, letting this little brother help her analyze it so they could discuss what their next move should be.

“Handsome brother, I see that both of us only have one last piece left to solve. Should we put down this last piece of the puzzle or not?” She quietly asked.

“Put down. The game requires us to solve the puzzle within 30 minutes, so we’ll wait for the last few seconds to put it down. There is a countdown on the phone. Be careful and don’t mess up the timing,” Bai Yan said.

“I thought so too.” Chu Fu approved, “As long as we finish the puzzle within the stipulated time frame, even if there are only a few minutes left, living a little bit longer is always better.”

After saying this, she felt slightly worried, “You previously said that my puzzle had a starving ghost. If I offer it something, it wouldn’t eat me right?”

“I also don’t know. These were only my speculations.” Bai Yan laughed bitterly, “If my theory was incorrect, after you finish the puzzle, you should run away. If you manage to hold on for five minutes and press the return button on your phone to go back.”

Bai Yan’s reply caused Chu Fu to start worrying again, her mind on the brink of collapse.

Even this reliable younger brother was also not sure. Looks like everything was up to fate.

When Chu Fu’s heart rate reached 102, she carefully and attentively watched her phone. The man once again began to flex his vocal cords, shouting and making a commotion.

“Hey, what are the both of you buzzing about again?”

Impatience painted the man’s face. “I coincidentally have something to ask you two. Both of your puzzles are like mine right? It’s missing a piece.”

“No. Both of our puzzles are complete.”

As soon as these words fell, Chu Fu felt something amiss. “That’s not right. Ours are both complete. Why are you missing a piece?”

After hearing Chu Fu’s words, the man reacted. He quickly glared at Bai Yan for a moment, furiously saying, “It was you. You did something to my puzzle, innit!?”

Ah, he was found out.

Only, he was found out a bit late.

Bai Yan found the man’s agitated expression to be amusing. The man’s face without a doubt, wrote fury all over it but his shaking fists revealed his trepidation.

Seeing that there were only five minutes left in the game, Bai Yan inwardly said that it wasn’t time yet. He struggled to restrain the excitement in his heart, preventing himself from revealing a sinister smile.