CH 31.1

April 27, 2023 by Wyrd

When all the players were feeling scared while looking at their ghost friends, Shi Tianzhu still held onto her ghost friend’s hand.

The wax figure doll had a very strong wax-like texture, creating a disturbing and eerie feeling of being fake.

The oil wax in his hand looked like it was about to drip, oily and slippery, forming an extremely strong contrast with the fair and tender hand holding him.

Even if a grown man were to hold such a hand, they would feel repulsed, let alone a six-year-old like Shi Tianzhu.

However, Shi Tianzhu seemed oblivious and never let go of her ghost friend’s hand.

Her ghost friend was being held by her like a newborn baby, looking at her with innocent eyes.

She smiled at Zhu Shuangshuang, although she didn’t say anything. The smile in her beautiful peach blossom eyes conveyed a lot.

They were both six years old now. Even if it was their real age, she was only a little older than Zhu Shuangshuang. But she called Zhu Shuangshuang “little girl”, and at this moment, she looked at her like an admired junior.

This might not be about age. She was the earliest player to enter the game base, and she was the senior to almost all players, even if the other party was an old man, let alone a new player who was young.

Zhu Shuangshuang was happy to be appreciated by a senior like her, and a little embarrassed because of her beauty.

Actually, she was not smart. She just knew a little more about this aspect than most people.

When she first entered the dungeon and heard the system prompt, she had some guesses.

Because the prompt for this lucky value system was too long, and there was a specific example given.

They could gain lucky value in the dungeon and get help from their ghost friends, and Zhu Shuangshuang immediately thought of the setting of Gu Man Tong.

But at that time, she was still not sure. When she discussed it with Ji Mingrui while waiting for her ghost friend in the room, she didn’t mention this point for fear of misleading something.

It wasn’t until she saw everyone’s strange ghost friends that she confirmed her suspicion.

Zhu Shuangshuang studied screenwriting at the Film and Television Academy, and many of her schoolmates had become stars, including one who she knew raised a Gu Man Tong. She had even gone to see the Gu Man Tong that the other raised.

In that schoolmate’s words, it was learned that many Gu Man Tong were in various forms of doll-like human figures.

All of these ghost friends in the corridor fit the description.

Her speculation about the nature of ghost friends being Gu Man Tong was affirmed.

Shi Tianzhu asked, “Why do you think we have become like five or six-year-olds?”

Zhu Shuangshuang wrinkled her brow in confusion. She had not thought about this and couldn’t understand why.

Seeing that she couldn’t answer, Shi Tianzhu’s gaze inexplicably shifted to Ning Su.

Ning Su had also changed his clothes.

The clothes in every wardrobe in this castle matched the tone of the castle.

Six-year-old Ning Su was wearing a loose silk cotton white shirt with a small satin bow at the collar and a pair of gray pinstripe overalls.

His hair was soft, his skin was fair, and his eyes were as beautiful as a fold of spring peach blossoms.

During the day, he was a like a little beggar, but at night, he became the most precious little prince in the castle.

At this moment, people didn’t know what he was thinking, his long eyelashes half-closed, his peach blossom eyes slightly curled, quiet and peaceful.

Shi Tianzhu’s heart suddenly softened, a sour and soft feeling rushing up from her blood to her heart.

A feeling she couldn’t understand.

In the two seconds that she looked at him, Ning Su, who seemed to be lost in thought, immediately opened his eyes and looked over.

Shi Tianzhu’s gaze immediately shifted to his ghost friend.

Ning Su followed her gaze.

Originally, his ghost friend had stopped bleeding, but after the group of monster children appeared, she began to bleed again.

Bloodshed was equivalent to tears for her, and Ning Su guessed that she must have been scared to cry. However, Shi Tianzhu’s attention should not be on her tears.

Ning Su felt that Shi Tianzhu was staring at the hairpin of the Blood Doll, that red three-petal lily flower hairpin. People on the fifth and sixth floors had seen what happened here and were preparing to leave.

Ning Su looked around but didn’t see Little Gu Witch’s figure, but he knew that she was also watching.

When Shi Tianzhu lifted her foot to walk towards the stairs, Ning Su crouched down and greeted the soft belly bug on the piece of broken meat on the ground, “Hi, Great Gu Witch.”

“Did you see it clearly? Do you want me to explain it to you again?”

“...”

Upon hearing this, even Shi Tianzhu stopped her footsteps. She stood there for a while and turned her head to look at Ning Su. “I am curious. Why do you always greet her but not me?”

This was the first thing she said to Ning Su. Ning Su turned his head to look at her. He was crouching on the ground, and she was standing, so he could see her feet clearly.

The first time Ning Su saw Shi Tianzhu, she had just come out of the instance and was clean as a whistle.

However, for some reason, she was not wearing shoes now and was barefoot, stepping on the floor scattered with human flesh and blood. The black and red flesh stuck to her fair feet.

Ning Su stood up and took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.

Shi Tianzhu was momentarily stunned, then took the white and green handkerchief and glanced at him before continuing to walk back.

Those around her could feel that she was in a good mood at the moment.

Yan Nuo bit his lip, feeling very unhappy.

When Shi Tianzhu came down, she first looked at Zhu Shuangshuang with a different light in her eyes.

When Zhu Shuangshuang answered Shi Tianzhu’s questions fluently, he felt like he was being slapped in the face with each response, making him look like a fool for not being able to answer.

Then, she started talking to Ning Su on her own initiative, saying something particularly thought-provoking.

She really treated Ning Su differently, at least paying attention to him.

Yan Nuo: “That person called Ning Su seems to be familiar with Gu Witch. Could he have had contact with the Yongming Guild a long time ago?”

Shi Tianzhu didn’t say anything.

Yan Nuo hesitated for a moment and asked, seemingly curious, “Did he kill the person in the black cloak?”

Shi Tianzhu turned to look at him, and a layer of silver light flashed through her gray-black eyes. “If you don’t know how to speak, you don’t need to speak in the future.”

Yan Nuo’s heart trembled, and he couldn’t help but take a step back.

He knew that with Shi Tianzhu, not speaking meant not being able to speak again.

Yan Nuo dared not say anything else and silently followed behind Shi Tianzhu as they walked upstairs.

***

On the fourth floor, after Ning Su handed the handkerchief to Shi Tianzhu, he turned to see Zhu Shuangshuang staring at him. “How many handkerchiefs do you have?”

Ning Su: “...”

“My ghost friend tends to bleed tears easily, so I put two extra ones in my pocket, just in case.”

He didn’t expect that his ghost friend wouldn’t need them, but he gave one to Zhu Shuangshuang and one to Shi Tianzhu.

Ning Su turned his head and saw his ghost friend staring at him with bloodshot eyes.

Ning Su lightly touched his nose.

Players from the fifth and sixth floors had all left.

Only six players remained on the fourth floor.

After a brief conversation with Zhu Shuangshuang, the hallway fell silent.

Sun Xing had died, and the ghost friends that were most likely Gu Man Tong were waiting for them amidst the scattered flesh and blood in the hallway.

They didn’t know how they were going to get through this night.

Zhu Shuangshuang said, “We don’t have to be like this. If they really are Gu Man Tong, that’s a good thing. Gu Man Tong is not like ordinary ghosts and won’t harm people for no reason.”

The conversation between Shi Tianzhu and Zhu Shuangshuang just now had made everyone somewhat convinced of her words, and hearing her say this, they were somewhat relieved.

Zhu Shuangshuang continued, “It’s only the first day, and we already know what ghost friends are and have a reliable inference about the identity of the monster children outside. That’s already good enough.”

They had just finished another instance, and they only had a total of five days. On the first day, they didn’t get any useful clues. In comparison, this instance was already much better.

Several players became more at ease and began to return to their rooms.

Ning Su looked at Zhu Shuangshuang and blinked.

It was true; they had already figured out these key NPCs on the first night, but this was not a decryption instance, it was a survival instance.

As a decryption instance, “Ghost and Animals” relied on clues that were difficult to obtain easily.

This instance, however, was a survival instance, where survival was key. They had only just checked into the castle today, and two players had already died: one was taken down by a bug on the road, and the other was torn to pieces by a monster child.

From this perspective, the situation was not optimistic.

Zhu Shuangshuang said this to comfort people.

In a situation where she herself was also afraid.

It was her goodwill.

Ji Mingrui also glanced at her and said, “Very good.”

Zhu Shuangshuang smiled awkwardly.

It was late at night, and they didn’t say much and went back to their rooms.

As soon as he entered the room, Ning Su was hugged by his ghost friend.

Blood Doll’s eyes were all covered in blood, and when he looked at people, his eyes were weak and naturally unaware of the world. “Mom, mom...”

Ning Su: “?”

Ning Su: “Take a good look at my height before speaking.”

Blood Doll looked confused, “Mommy...”

Ning Su: “...”

He measured his height, “At most, you can call me brother.”

Blood Doll opened her bloodshot eyes, “Brother...”

Ning Su nodded in satisfaction.

After Gui Sheng put another bowl of blood in the small refrigerator, the two of them worried about the doll covered in blood.

They couldn’t just let her sleep like this.

Ning Su led her to the children’s bathroom, trying to get her to wash herself.

No luck.

The blood doll was like a newborn child, a blank slate with just a little bit of consciousness and no understanding of anything else.

If it had been a boy, it might have been easier, but Ning Su didn’t know what to do with a girl.

He took the Blood Doll’s hand and knocked on Zhu Shuangshuang’s door.

Zhu Shuangshuang wasn’t afraid of Ning Su’s ghost friend at first glance, but when she took a closer look, she shivered all over and even her ghost friend took a step back.

Zhu Shuangshuang’s ghost friend was a red paper doll, with a fragile paper-mache body that was hiding behind Zhu Shuangshuang.

Ning Su took a quick glance and explained his intentions to Zhu Shuangshuang.

She immediately let them in, and she and the Blood Doll sat together for a while before going to the bathroom to wash up.

As she washed the blood doll, she talked to Ning Su.

“When we were discussing the instance this evening, were you intentionally letting the Gui Sheng say those things?”

Ning Su knew she was a bit scared and wanted someone to talk to, so he naturally answered and talked more than usual.

“Well, we’re in a survival instance right now, why bother thinking so hard about these questions?”

It’s better to be a lazy bum who ate and drank and didn’t think about anything, right?

“Of course we have to,” Zhu Shuangshuang gave an example, “Just like today, we know that ghost friends and Gu Man Tong are very similar, so we know how to treat them, and our chances of survival are higher.”

“Gu Man Tong are not little ghosts, in some exotic legends, raising a regular Gu Man Tong is a good thing, it helps poor infant spirits reincarnate, and the infant spirits will help their caretakers in return. This might be the reason why the system calls them ghost friends.”

“If we didn’t know this, and treated them as little ghosts, being wary of them, it might have had a different outcome.”

Ning Su: “Oh.”

Zhu Shuangshuang added, “Also, this dungeon may have a ghost master.”

Ning Su: “...”