Chapter 220: Huaishu Road Construction Site Strange Tales 18

Chapter 220: Huaishu Road Construction Site Strange Tales 18

In the dim corridor, a blood-red, emaciated figure drifted back and forth like a wandering spirit.

It was a woman, her head hanging low, her chin almost buried in her chest, with tangled long hair covering her face.

An overly large dress enveloped her frail body, its hem swinging loosely, making one wonder after staring for too long:

Was there really a body beneath that dress?

"Tap, tap."

As the woman moved, intermittent footsteps echoed discontinuously in the corridor.

Her walking posture was peculiar; when she stepped, her legs barely moved, as if she were floating above the ground.

Yet those footsteps remained clear from start to finish.

...

The system changed the live broadcast perspective from this round onwards.

Viewers still couldn't exit the current live stream, but within each floor of Sinar Mas Department Store, a small window appeared in every broadcaster's live feed, showing additional footage of the female ghost in the corridor.

When the small window opened in Qin Fei's live stream, the female ghost had just pressed her entire upper body tightly against the door of the Property Management Office.

On the screen, her eyes were wide open, nearly tearing, with pure black pupils filling the sockets, and an unnaturally flushed red around them.

Her withered, pale hands curled into fists, digging into the door panel, producing a grating sound that made one's teeth ache.

The system provided no warning before opening the small window, and the moment the female ghost appeared on the screen, some timid spirits were nearly scared witless.

"Frog Fun, retreat! Retreat! Where did this demon come from? Get out of my sight, aaah!!"

In the live streaming hall, a group of spirits jumped on the spot.

"I give up. The system is always so inhumane. Can't we have something more sophisticated...?"

"Speechless."

"Speechless plus one."

"Haha, are you guys serious?? You're not even human yourselves, yet you're afraid of ghosts?"

...

The audience watching the drama became deeply engrossed, arguing endlessly about the live stream plot.

However, inside the massive light screen, the players actually in the game, who faced the threat of the female ghost at any moment, remained calm.

Qin Fei still squatted in the corner of the Property Management Office.

Since the game began, he hadn't moved an inch except to look around occasionally.

Not far away, the source of contamination sat on the chair closest to Qin Fei, supporting his chin with one hand, his gaze never leaving the young man's face.

Qin Fei glanced at Him but said nothing.

Now was certainly not the time to speak.

Just a few minutes ago, the female ghost was still hesitating between the Property Management Office and the room opposite.

The intermittent footsteps were not loud but exceptionally piercing, moving back and forth between the two doors, echoing like sounds from hell.

Under the game's rules, the players could do nothing.

Though they were in the game, they felt like outsiders, watching helplessly as fate's blade might slice their throats.

Mi Yang had been on edge since receiving Qin Fei's message, and as time passed, his anxiety reached its peak.

Especially when the guild channel fell silent for a few minutes before another message appeared.

Qin Fei: "She seems to have made up her mind."

Seeing these words, Mi Yang nearly had a heart attack.

This couldn't go on.

It must be said that Qin Fei's luck was particularly bad.

The game had only reached the sixth round, and if the Property Management Office used up its only chance to close the door in this round, the situation in the subsequent rounds would turn extremely unfavorable for the players.

They needed to find a way to get rid of the female ghost.

Mi Yang leaned against the door, listening intently to the sounds outside, his face a kaleidoscope of emotions, quite dramatic.

Chen Zaocha squatted behind Mi Yang, his face pale.

If... If the ghost outside really entered Qin Fei's room...

Chen Zaocha was deeply conflicted.

In fact, he didn't have much time to deliberate. Once the female ghost definitively chose the Property Management Office and requested to open the door, there would be no way to salvage the situation, even if a deity intervened.

Finally, Chen Zaocha made up his mind.

He patted Mi Yang on the shoulder and wrote in his palm with his finger:

"I have a way to distract her."

Mi Yang's eyes immediately lit up.

...

Chen Zaocha's innate skill was in the investigative style, not limited to just "seeing."

In this game, due to rule restrictions, his skill usage had been significantly impacted.

However, he could still try to create some commotion outside to attract the female ghost's attention and lure her to another room.

—Although this was very dangerous.

Using an innate skill comes with a cooldown period.

Using it now would mean that for the next two rounds, the players would have to face the challenge head-on.

Rounds five and six had already shown that the female ghost could continuously appear in the hallway.

If the selected door opener in rounds seven and eight were still the ghost...

Chen Zaocha swallowed hard.

...

The female ghost left before opening the door, causing Qin Fei to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

The young man's slender fingers naturally hung down, and between his fingertips and the ground lay a rectangular, palm-sized item.

"Mountaineer Kong Siming's phone"

This was a prop Qin Fei obtained in the snowy mountain scenario.

This item could be used to call any player or NPC within the scenario.

Before the female ghost left, Qin Fei was pondering how best to use it to maximize their chances of survival.

The most straightforward method was to call NPC Hu Xiao, who was currently hiding somewhere unknown.

While this might seem unethical, it was foolproof.

Once the call connected, Qin Fei wouldn't need to speak; the sudden ringtone on Hu Xiao's end would be enough to attract the female ghost, thus securing Qin Fei's survival for this round.

But Qin Fei still had concerns, similar to Chen Zaocha's:

Since the female ghost could act as the door opener for two consecutive rounds, did she have a chance to continue doing so in the following rounds?

The phone could only be used once, unable to solve the problem permanently.

Qin Fei had been considering whether he could call the female ghost herself.

This idea sounded far-fetched and was indeed challenging to implement.

The players knew nothing about the female ghost on the sixth floor.

Was she an NPC with self-awareness capable of communication, or merely a murderous spirit? Was she related to the female ghost who appeared in the clothing area on the first floor last night? Were they the same person or different entities?

With too little information, attempting to deceive the ghost was difficult, causing Qin Fei considerable distress.

However, all of this didn't matter now. Qin Fei opened the guild channel and saw new messages as expected.

Mi Yang: "Chen Zaocha just used his skill to get rid of the female ghost."

Chen Zaocha didn't know which room Hu Xiao was hiding in, so he relied on intuition to lead the female ghost to the far end of the hallway.

Mi Yang: "Amitabha Buddha, may the next round not be her again."

These words lacked confidence, as the selection of character cards seemed purely based on probability, with the female ghost having a much higher chance of being chosen than the players.

Round six ended, followed by a lengthy 30-minute break.

Qin Fei remained calm, seemingly unaffected by his brush with death.

In stark contrast, inside the accounting office, the two were filled with gloom.

"If the seventh round is the ghost again..." Chen Zaocha was already thinking about his epitaph.

Regarding his heroic act of sacrificing himself, Chen Zaocha couldn't say if he regretted it or not. If given another chance, he wasn't sure if he'd make the same choice, but these doubts were now meaningless.

"Success or failure depends on the next round," Mi Yang murmured to himself.

Thirty minutes felt unbearably long, with the two players counting their heartbeats and pulses.

In the live streaming hall, the audience was equally anxious, chattering away as a new betting pool opened, with nearly equal bets on life or death.

This was a game entirely unpredictable, relying solely on luck.

The chaos continued until the 30-minute countdown ended.

The giant fluorescent prompter dissolved into dust and disappeared.

Everyone's gaze was fixed on the door standing in the darkness.

Until the footsteps outside sounded again.

"Tap, tap, tap."

Mi Yang's eyes instantly widened.

And Chen Zaocha slumped down, as if drained of all strength.

"Whew..."

The player let out a long breath. Although he still kept his voice low, his expression visibly relaxed.

— The footsteps came from the left side of the corridor.

At the end of the previous round, he had led the female ghost to the right.

After several rounds of the game, everyone was familiar with the female ghost's footsteps, and this sound was clearly not hers.

Mi Yang was busy synchronizing information with Qin Fei, while the person outside seemed to be trying to confuse the ghost by knocking on each door along the way.

Mi Yang sent a message to Qin Fei: "Hu Xiao is really overdoing it this time."

That NPC had little experience with ghost stories and was probably scared witless, causing even his basic judgment to become chaotic.

In fact, since the seventh round's knocker wasn't a ghost, everyone was already destined to be safe.

Whether the female ghost would come out in the final round didn't matter anymore.

Two rooms, four people.

They silently stared at the door, waiting for the person outside to approach.

Finally, a prompt window asking whether to open the door appeared in front of Qin Fei.

Qin Fei raised an eyebrow.

This Hu Xiao sure knows how to pick his spots; there were so many empty rooms in the corridor, yet he chose the one with people inside.

Qin Fei didn't hesitate much and tapped lightly to agree.

The door of the Property Management Office opened.

In the darkness, a face abnormally pale appeared outside the door.

Hu Xiao, as Mi Yang said, was indeed scared witless, with cold sweat almost drenching his hair.

The short man standing outside, with pale lips, stumbled into the room.

"The seventh round of the game has ended! Countdown for the final round: 35 minutes!"

The prompt sounded again, as if rejoicing for those who had narrowly escaped death, with its tone rising at the end.

But this time, after the public prompt that everyone could hear ended,

a new, individual prompt sounded in everyone's ears.

"Congratulations, lucky ones in the game! If you can pass the final round, you can safely leave the sixth floor.

However, before that, please think carefully—is this really what you want?

Friendly reminder: the female ghost only kills one person per round."

After the lengthy prompt ended, Qin Fei remained silent in the corner, and the source of contamination also showed no change, as if they hadn't heard a word.

In the office, only the newly arrived NPC looked bewildered, opening and closing his mouth as if wanting to say something but hesitating.