Chapter 52: Ye Shangyu

“Another person died.”

In the lodge near the school, Ye Shangyu said, “Today at 7 AM, a student named Deng Fei called the police. He said that his roommate disappeared last night.”

“The missing student is called Du Han. Deng Fei woke up at 6:30 AM and got out of bed, only to see that Du Han’s quilt was in disarray. All of his outer clothes and shoes were all there, yet Du Han’s pajamas were nowhere to be found. Besides that, the dustpan was placed on the bathroom sink while Du Han’s slippers were also messily placed near the sink as if he was moving around the room last night. According to Deng Fei, before Du Han disappeared, he mentioned a ghost story about ‘an extra person in the dorm room.’”

“An extra person… that’s archive 12.”

Bai Yan said, but no one responded.

He shot a glance at Luo Xing, who was laying his head on his pillow, sleeping soundly.

Because his sleeping posture was wrong, his stomach slightly moved up and down, while his cheeks revealed a shallow dimple as sparkling saliva dripped down the sides of his mouth.

Luo Xing went to bed at 4 AM last night. He slept on his bed before getting up, which was a habit of high school students who studied at night, only getting around three hours of sleep.

“While writing this archive, the president was a human, and was no doubt on the humans’ side. But, he has already been long dead. We only managed to get our hands on the archives after he died. And, who knows if the ghost version of the president tampered with its contents?”

“That makes sense. The new ghost stories were also his doing. If I were a ghost, I would have altered the way to survive, or else we would have completely depended on the archives to clear the level, which would be far too easy.”

Bai Yan put down the archive and lowered his head as he muttered, “Right now, we’ve discovered two ghost stories, so there’s only three remaining. The two NPCs already helped us clearing those, but we don’t know if this will be the case for the next ones…”

“Impossible, I already tried it earlier.” Ye Shangyu cut him off, “This morning, I asked my roommate to open the post, but she simply couldn’t open it. The app wouldn’t let us clear the game that easily. Obviously, the last three ghost stories are specifically set aside for the three players. One for each of us, so no one can escape.”

“Oh, as expected.” Bai Yan exhaled lightly, also understanding the app’s pissy nature.

If it were this easy to clear the level, there wouldn’t be that many people cursing the app in the forum.

Seeing that Luo Xing was still asleep, Bai Yan opened his phone and stared blankly at the ‘Real Ghost Stories’ post.

Now, there was a more pressing matter before them, which was that the NPCs clearly won’t be participating in the next few stories.

Because they didn’t know what exactly happened to the two NPCs, they can’t know for sure if the ways to survive in the archive were trustworthy.

In that case, the first player to take part in the ghost story had the most formidable task, as well as the most dangerous one.

Bai Yan casually raised his head and looked at Ye Shangyu, only to see that Ye Shangyu was also intently looking at him.

The two had ideas that were as devious as the ghosts. In the end, it was Ye Shangyu that first said, “You going?”

“Ladies first.”

“‘Ladies first’ doesn’t apply in this situation. In any case, you’re also a man, so you should show your gentleman’s manners.”

“Haha.”

Seeing that Bai Yan wasn’t eating this up, Ye Shangyu was not upset. She looked at Bai Yan in the eye and laughed loudly, “Bai Yan, there’s no need for this. In fact, I know who you are.”

“Oh?”

“You’ve never seen me before, but I know you very well. I’ll talk about the thing you don’t want people to know about. Your friend, whose surname was Wang, was a nice person who has been featured in the news a lot.”

Bai Yan’s eyes quickly darkened.

“If this isn’t enough, I’ll add some more. Your hair wasn’t originally this color, right?”

“Let’s go out and have a chat.”

Bai Yan said with an expressionless face.

“Okay, let’s go out and chat.” Ye Shangyu’s smile dwindled into nothing as she coldly placed her laptop on the bed and stood up.

The two left the dreaming Luo Xing, who smacked his wet lips in his sleep, and quietly closed the room’s door.

In the corridor, Bai Yan was staring at Ye Shangyu, his expression indescribable, “Are you threatening me?”

“How could I dare.” Ye Shangyu plainly shook her head, using her forefinger to tap the side of her forehead and saying, “I know you have a problem up here and have already gone through many psychiatrists. But, according to web forums’ claims, your illness has no cure. And, I wouldn’t dare provoke a mentally ill person.”

Hearing Ye Shangyu speak bluntly about his mental illness, contrary to how one might react, Bai Yan calmed himself down, the agitation in his heart also melting away.

If it was a simple threat against him, it was unlikely for Ye Shangyu to also go this far. Bai Yan could sense that Ye Shangyu was not trying to infuriate him, rather, she had some other objective.

“Just say what you need to say.”

“I’m Miss Y.” Ye Shangyu’s expression turned serious, “You must have seen my post. What are your thoughts on it?”

Miss Y?

Hearing Ye Shangyu announce her real identity, Bai Yan’s face slightly changed. He quickly recalled the contents of that post and asked with slight doubt, “Were all of the things written inside real?”

“All of it was my personal experience.” Ye Shangyu pointed out, “The data inside that research institute was quite comprehensive. There were many records on how to deal with ghosts. So much so that it could even beat the knowledge shared by the players in the forum. The researchers inside were also experienced. If they were players, they would at least live through the harder levels. Only, unfortunately…”

Ye Shangyu wildly shook her head as if dismissing a thought and merely gazed at Bai Yan, waiting for his answer.

“A doomsday world, outside the research institute was full of ghosts…”

Bai Yan perceived what Ye Shangyu wanted to tell him something concerning the Supernatural Club’s map full of red marks, so he wildly guessed, “Could this world’s end become just like that?”

“Yeah.”

Ye Shangyu silently nodded her head, still quietly looking at him and not saying anything unnecessary.

“What else? What do you want to tell me?”

Seeing that Ye Shangyu made him take a gander multiple times, Bai Yan was somewhat fidgety. He disliked these kinds of guessing games.

Ye Shangyu called him to go outside to discuss something with him, but she only said half of it and refused to say anything more, just looking at him like a monkey and patiently waiting for him to connect the dots, making Bai Yan fairly disgruntled.

He wasn’t surprised when he found out that Ye Shangyu knew information about him in the real world.

Simply watching how Ye Shangyu easily invaded public security through her computer skills, using Wang Ze’s name to trail back to him wasn’t all that difficult.

Bai Yan tiredly kneaded his temples, closing his eyes and reflecting on the possible deeper meaning of Ye Shangyu’s words.

After a while, Bai Yan suddenly raised his head and stared at Ye Shangyu’s eyes, “You don’t want to tell me… or you can’t tell me?”

“We can’t say anything about the game in the real world, but I’m afraid that I’d be targeted by it if I say this in the game. I still can’t die right now.”

Bai Yan nodded in agreement, this ‘it’ she was referring to must have been the app.

In the real world, they couldn’t say anything about the game no matter what, he’s even tested it before. However, saying it inside the game would also make him a possible target, this was the first time he heard this.

Ye Shangyu still looked at him with expectation in her eyes, but the clues she gave were little to nothing, so he really couldn’t guess anymore.

Helplessness immediately flashed through Bai Yan’s eyes. He didn’t want to guess randomly anymore and sincerely admitted, “I can’t come up with anything else.”

“Okay.” Ye Shangyu exasperated, “If I may ask, what do you want to achieve in your wish?”

Bai Yan hesitated for a second but still said, “I want to resurrect a person.”

“Is it Wang Ze?” Ye Shangyu said indifferently, “Then, you don’t need to think this over. Whatever you have in mind, you’ll eventually regret it.”

“Is the wish a bluff? Could it be that the revived person isn’t the same?” Bai Yan’s expression drastically changed.

This time, Ye Shangyu didn’t keep her mouth shut. It seemed that matters concerning the wish could be discussed.

“That person would still be himself, but if he knew at what cost he was resurrected for, I suppose it would make him regret being alive…

Oh, that’s right. I forgot that you’re a basket case, maybe this would make you even more glad…”

Ye Shangyu said a lot of unclear ideas, but seeing that Bai Yan’s complexion grew darker with each passing second, she suddenly stopped spewing out confusing ideas, sincerely saying, “Considering that I’ve revealed a great deal to you, the day you understand what I’m talking about, will you promise me one thing?”

“I guarantee that this thing would suit you well, and you won’t feel that it’s unpleasant.” Her tone didn’t seem pressing, as if she was sure that Bai Yan would have agreed.

“No, why should I make a promise?” Bai Yan rebuffed. Ye Shangyu said plenty of things, and right now, his mind was extremely muddled.

The only matters he completely understood was that as expected, the app wasn’t kind and that there’s big trouble that came with the wish. According to Ye Shangyu’s leaked info, the wish could be done, but there must be a heavy price to be paid for the wish’s fulfillment.

At what cost would make a resurrected person wish that they’ve never lived?

Could it be that Wang Ze would know that he was revived for the sole reason for him being stabbed to death again?

Bai Yan wasn’t sure if Ye Shangyu also knew about this. He had never shared this with anybody before.

Thinking that Ye Shangyu had been trying to tell him something but didn’t dare say anything because of the app’s restrictions, Bai Yan felt that Ye Shangyu must have been giving him hints since before. However, he couldn’t think of what it was right now.