Chapter 31: Play House Well

Chapter 31: Playing House the Right Way

"Do we already have a plan to clear the game?" Feng Ling sat somewhat stiffly on the sofa, partly due to her wariness of the unfamiliar surroundings, and partly because she still bore the female ghost's bloodstains, making her anxious about staining the clean, soft upholstery.

Fang Xiujie began his analysis with the *New Resident Handbook* that the administrator had recited at the start of the game. He then moved on to how the digital clock in the ground-floor lobby had displayed strange numbers after they regained their memories, and finally, to the relationship between those two numbers and the respective scores. The entire analytical process closely mirrored Su Bai's earlier deductions.

"In the worst-case scenario, one of us might have to confront hundreds of ghosts, which would be an absolute death trap," Fang Xiujie said, unconsciously doodling circles with his pencil in his notebook. "Players are at a severe disadvantage in Happy Community; trying to win this game through brute force is utterly impossible."

"I've been thinking—if those ghosts are experiencing memory confusion like us, it should be even harder for them to regain their memories. After all, even without memory issues, ghosts often forget their own nature," Fang Xiujie mused. "So, as long as we don't actively provoke them and let them continue playing house in the community, we'll be safe."

"Speak plainly," Ning Yan interjected, having happily finished her coffee.

"In other words, we must..."

"Play our roles well," Feng Ling blurted out before Fang Xiujie could finish.

Fang Xiujie paused, looking at Feng Ling in surprise. "Yes, exactly—play our roles well. Since the ghosts are playing house, we'll join them and play along. The longer this role-playing game lasts, the safer we'll be. To be honest, we're not professional actors, so it's only a matter of time before we slip up. What we need to do is avoid slipping up as much as possible, avoid provoking the ghosts, and drag things out as long as we can. Surviving 48 hours is victory!"

"I didn't expect you to be quite sharp," Ning Yan remarked, scrutinizing Feng Ling with a hint of surprise. "When did you figure that out?"

"No, it wasn't my idea." Now seated on the sofa in Room 204, Feng Ling was more composed than when she had been standing outside the door. She recounted in detail her entire experience: escaping from her "home" in Room 602, encountering the coughing man carrying a woman on his back, trying to help the woman only to discover she was a ghost, and finally being rescued by the black-clad young man with a sword.

"When that young man left, he specifically told me to play my role well," Feng Ling explained. In her previous game, she had only encountered novice players; this was her first time meeting an experienced player. *So, Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie must be as capable as that black-clad young man, right?*

But after hearing Feng Ling's description of the young man, Ning Yan's jaw dropped in shock, and she nearly dropped the freshly poured coffee cup in her hand.

"Incredibly strong, skilled with a sword, efficiently dealt with ghosts, and exceptionally good-looking?" Ning Yan's voice grew louder with each phrase, inexplicably emphasizing the fact that he was "very handsome." "You met someone like that and just let him go?!"

Ning Yan's face was a picture of exasperation.

"Oh my god, he must be a player who has deeply cultivated his special abilities, or even a rare veteran player in the Nightmare World! If that handsome guy were willing to join our team, even if we ran into trouble while playing house with the ghosts, we might not have to be afraid!" Ning Yan clutched her head in frustration. "Oh my god, if I had met him, he'd definitely be sitting here drinking coffee right now."

"..." Su Bai slowly set down his untouched coffee cup.

"Though it's a bit exaggerated, Ning Yan isn't wrong," Fang Xiujie said calmly. "Hearing your story, I now understand why the lobby clock shows 98 and 100 instead of 100 and 100."

"Since each player is worth 10 points, the total score can't be a single digit, so 98 must be the current total score of the ghosts," Fang Xiujie mused, a touch of awe in his voice. "That means someone has already taken out two ghosts without causing any commotion—likely the young man you just encountered, Feng Ling."

"And since he told you to play your role well, his thinking must align with mine. He wouldn't kill those two ghosts for no reason, which means..." Fang Xiujie pondered. "The ones he killed were likely ghosts that had regained their memories, just like us—hidden time bombs in the community."

"So strong, so impressive, truly amazing!" Ning Yan's eyes lit up with excitement. "I never expected to meet someone so capable in this game!"

"Anyway, although Room 204 is our temporary safe house, our plan is to keep this game of house going, so we can't stay here forever," Fang Xiujie sighed helplessly. "I told the thing upstairs claiming to be my 'grandma' that I was going out to buy soy sauce, and I'll have to borrow a bottle from Ning Yan when I go back."

"While you're at it, take some freshly baked bread back. Grandma will love it," Ning Yan said, heading toward the kitchen. "After all, I made it myself. Though the ingredients are a bit scarce, it's definitely a hundred times better than anything you'd buy at a bakery."

A short while later, Ning Yan placed a packaged portion of bread in front of both Feng Ling and Su Bai.

Su Bai adjusted his decorative black-framed glasses, surprised that Ning Yan had prepared portions for him and Feng Ling. After all, Miss Ning Yan of Room 204 had been acting very hostile toward newcomers from the start, and the way she looked at Su Bai and Feng Ling was strange, as if she wouldn't care if they met with disaster the next second.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ning Yan noticed their expressions and chuckled dismissively. "Don't worry, I'm not pretending to be a friendly senior. I just hope you useless newcomers can keep yourselves alive and not cause me too much trouble. Though I'd love to meet that handsome guy, I don't want to end up with just him and me facing hundreds of ghosts."

"You too, Fang Xiujie," Ning Yan added, singling him out.

Faced with her unfriendly tone, Fang Xiujie simply smiled as if it were routine and even comforted Su Bai and Feng Ling: "That's just how she is. If you get used to her tone, you might find she has her good points too."

"I have plenty of good points; I don't need you to point them out," Ning Yan snorted coldly.

"By the way," Fang Xiujie added, ignoring her and turning to Su Bai and Feng Ling, "if anything unusual happens, Ning Yan will play 'Ode to Joy' on the violin by the window. Her violin skills are terrible, so it's easy to recognize. If you hear an awful rendition of 'Ode to Joy' outside, please return to Room 204 immediately."

"You..." Ning Yan seemed about to retort but ultimately said nothing, sulking off to the side.

After leaving Room 204, Fang Xiujie took the stairs alone to the third floor. The "home" assigned to him by the community was Room 304, directly above Ning Yan's apartment.

Su Bai, as before, chose to take the elevator.

The first time he encountered Feng Ling, Su Bai had been targeting a malevolent ghost hiding in the elevator. That ghost was similar to the white qipao paper doll—formed from the accumulated shadows left by elevator passengers on the walls. It had no humanity to begin with, and whether it had memories or not didn't affect its urge to kill.

After identifying the ghost as an unstable factor in the community, Su Bai spent some time guarding the elevator entrance and eventually captured it in his bead bracelet. Once back at the Mist Shop, Su Bai would turn it into the shop's second product.

In any case, Su Bai knew the eerie presence in the elevator had been dealt with, so taking it might be safer than the stairs.

Feng Ling, who left Room 204 with Su Bai, clearly had no intention of taking the elevator. But before parting ways with Su Bai, she finally couldn't help asking, "Su—Su Bai, have we met somewhere before?"

Su Bai glanced at his shadowy reflection in the elevator door, confirming his disguise was still intact.

"If we survive this, perhaps we'll meet again in ten years," Su Bai said with a smile, his words hinting at something more as he looked at Feng Ling with her twin braids.