Chapter 7: Bathroom

At this moment, there was still a minute and a half before the game could conclude. 

The drowned female ghost’s speed of putting on clothes was rapidly increasing. In the last few moments, the ghost was able to put on an article of clothing within five seconds. Even if Bai Yan handed over articles of children’s clothing, the female ghost remained unfazed as it continued to pile it on. It was unknown how her swollen body was even able to put it on.

The female ghost had put on a lot of clothes but its figure didn’t seem to grow bigger. Because all of the clothes were on its body, it looked as if they were being sucked into her body. And while she continued to pile on clothes, she also stared fixedly at Bai Yan. This made Bai Yan realize that this big sister still kept him in mind and that she was going to peel his skin to put on like clothes. 

Bai Yan counted the last few pieces of clothing, the feeling of imminent catastrophe growing more intense.

He looked at the empty wardrobe and sighed in his heart. He felt that this game was impressive. A story of a family of four was brimming with feelings. The plot layout also seemed very real. The playability was high. But when you die here, you wouldn’t be able to play the rest of the games any longer, how unfortunate would that be.

The thought that his demise could happen today made Bai Yan’s hands tremble incessantly. 

In the end, he was also afraid of dying.

A man who was not afraid of death has finally met it after so many years.

And so, this malicious ghost picked up Chu Fu like a little chick, and without the slightest hesitation, grabbed onto her hand and chomped down on it at once.

“He…Help!”

“Wang Ze! Please! Please help me!”

At that moment, the entire room was filled with Chu Fu’s horrified screams.

Watching as tears and snot continuously flowed out of the girl’s face and seeing how backed into the corner she was, Bai Yan’s right hand continued to hand over clothes to the female ghost, while the left one showed a helpless gesture to Chu Fu, showing that he couldn’t afford to help her as much as he wanted to.

Seeing that ‘Wang Ze’ hadn’t had the slightest intentions of helping her, his face showed an expression that enjoyed her misfortune. Chu Fu completely fell into despair. And amidst her sheer desperation, was a sliver of resentment.

Why?

Why won’t you save me?

You surely didn’t tell me something important! You obviously had the ability to do so!

Being firmly grabbed in a vice grip by the ghost, Chu Fu gave up struggling. She gave ‘Wang Ze’ a nasty glare as though she could glare the evil ‘Wang Ze’ to death.

However, her glare merely lasted for 20 seconds as ‘Wang Ze’ suddenly disappeared.

She saw ‘Wang Ze’s’ hand pull out his phone, while the other gave the last piece of clothing to the female ghost. When the female ghost put on the last article of clothing, he, along with his ghost, had vanished without a trace.

‘Wang Ze’ …Where did he go?

Could he have finished the game?

Chu Fu pushed herself to think harder. But before she could realize anything, along with a ‘crunch’ sound, the starving ghost completely bit off her hand.

This time, Chu Fu didn’t have the power to scream.

……   

After handing over the last piece of clothing, Bai Yan started to single-handedly unbutton his dress shirt. But without waiting for him to completely unbutton it, the female ghost impatiently grabbed his neck. When he opened his eyes again, Bai Yan found himself in an entirely new place.

Furthermore, specks of red liquid floated in his eye from time to time. The pain coming from his eye was at an extreme.

He immediately knew that he was submerged in water.

To be more precise, he was in a bathtub filled with bloody water.

What was more terrible was that the female ghost who had clenched onto his neck was pressing down on him directly, submerging his head completely into the water, inhibiting him from breathing.

Bai Yan opened his eyes and saw a full view of a smelly rotten woman’s corpse that was staring at him with its putrefying eyeballs unblinkingly, making him shudder.

Too much. This was too much.

If it wanted to skin him, then it could, but it wanted to choke him to death first. Was it trying to soften his skin before peeling it?

Unable to bear the bloody and stinky bathtub, Bai Yan used all his strength to push the female ghost, intending to come out from the water.

But, the female ghost’s corpse was heavier than stone. It didn’t matter how hard Bai Yan pushed. It still firmly pressed against him like a coffin. He was firmly locked into place in the bathtub, unable to budge the slightest bit.

“Looks like I can’t escape.” Bai Yan thought, however, he was unresigned and continued pushing with all his might. Yet, the female ghost didn’t move a single jot.

Perhaps due to disliking that Bai Yan wasn’t staying still, the female ghost’s hand squeezed his neck even tighter. Her sharp fingers pierced his skin, compelling Bai Yan to behave and not dare to act blindly without thinking.

Judging the current circumstances, the female ghost seemingly didn’t intend to kill him immediately. It was first preparing to drown him so that he could enjoy what she experienced in her previous life.

Putting himself in his shoes, Bai Yan didn’t feel that it was odd because if he were in its position, he might have done the same.

Knowing that he couldn’t get out, Bai Yan didn’t expend any more effort to struggle. After getting over his dismay from changing locations, he now calmed down and wasn’t as flustered anymore.

He remembered that there was still a minute and a half left the moment he gave the last piece of clothing. If there weren’t any unfortunate events occurring all of a sudden, he could probably finish the level.

According to the game’s rules seen from the phone at the beginning, this was an easy level. If the game did not intentionally change its design and decide that all players wouldn’t be able to clear the game, then it certainly wouldn’t set a sure death scene.

The junior high student’s and middle-aged man’s deaths were because they didn’t find a way to survive, so when the ghosts were about to touch them, they instantly died.

As for Chu Fu… Bai Yan guessed that the girl was panicking right now, perhaps even crying. But according to what he had observed, she had a high chance of getting out alive and clearing the game.

Although Chu Fu wailed bitterly, when he saw what had happened, he immediately understood something. Despite the ghost biting her, its gnawing speed was much slower than when he was eating common food previously.

When he had disappeared, the starving ghost hadn’t finished nibbling her hand. With the rate it was eating at, as long as Chu Fu’s luck was good, once five minutes was up, she would at most lose only an arm. 

Similar to Chu Fu’s situation, although the female ghost had submerged a large part of his body into the bloody water, the hand that firmly gripped the phone was still outside the bathtub.

As long as he got through the remaining minute, he could slowly feel about his phone and use it to get out of there…

……   

Bai Yan thought about it so beautifully, but the ghost thought otherwise.

To accurately grasp the time, Bai Yan also mentally counted the seconds, only waiting for the moment when he could press the return button. However, when he still had 30 seconds remaining in his mental timer, a misfortune of an event arose.

Under the bathtub, something was gushing out of the drainage hole. They wrapped around Bai Yan’s feet, grabbing his head, and slowly but surely, dragging him down.

At this rate, even without the female ghost pressing down on him, he still wouldn’t be able to crawl out of the bathtub.

Most likely from being underwater for a long time, Bai Yan felt a burning sensation in his lungs as though they were about to explode at any moment.

His face gradually turned flushed as he started choking, but his mind remained clear. He even had energy left and counted the remaining seconds and persistently kept thinking. Perhaps, the female ghost’s death was caused by the unknown entity that was entangling him.

This origin of this entity that murdered the woman was unknown. But after dying, the female ghost nonchalantly came back home, as if nothing had happened, and even coincidentally came across the two other deceased.

He supposed that these three playing ghosts met outside, plotted together, and came back home together. After coming back home, they saw their precious loved one and naturally wanted to kill her so that she could turn into a ghost just like them.

Following this thought process, this family of four was indeed miserable. They had gone through many hardships…

Besides pressing him down in the water with her hand around his neck, the female ghost didn’t do anything else. Her rotting face appeared terrifying and the bloody water also stung his eyes increasingly with time, but Bai Yan didn’t dare close his eyes. Besides occasionally blinking, he didn’t take his eyes off of the female ghost. With 10 seconds left on the clock, Bai Yan felt his body become light. The female ghost and the unknown entity had both disappeared without a trace as if everything was merely part of his delusions.

Was the game over?

Since the female ghost couldn’t kill him, she discreetly walked away?

Bai Yan raised half of his body from the bathtub, fiercely gasping for air and soothing the burning sensation in his lungs.

An incandescent light shined down. Currently, he was completely soaked in blood. His white blouse was stained red from the bloody water in the bathtub, emitting the scent of blood all over. If he returned to reality and was seen by his friend, Wang Ze, right now, he would no doubt be sent to the local police station immediately.

However, he couldn’t meddle in others’ affairs anymore, because this person was already dead.

Bai Yan laughed. His hands continuously rubbed over his purple neck while his head moved around to survey his surroundings. When he finally lifted his head, he saw the female ghost standing inside the bathtub with a strange facial expression.

Bai Yan lowered his line of sight and discovered that the female ghost’s arms had stretched out horrifically long, almost touching the phone in his hand.

“……”

“You haven’t felt like leaving yet?”

Bai Yan was alarmed, immediately retracting the hand that held the phone to his chest. He stared at the ghost as he swept across the countdown on this phone out of the corner of his eyes.

Five seconds, four seconds…

“Goodbye to you.”

Bai Yan turned to the side and got out of the bathtub, running straight towards the door in a flash. He began pulling on the door with this empty hand.

Like other common horror movie scenes, with a ghost in the room, the doors could never be opened. However, Bai Yan also didn’t expect to be able to pull the door open. After stalling for three seconds, his thumb immediately tapped the return button and under the female ghost’s resentful gaze, he was sent out of the room by the game.