Chang Zhao sat to Wen Shichun's left.
When he spoke up to retort at Yue Cheng, a noise came from the far end of the dining table.
Chang Zhao turned toward the sound. Bo Ya sat alone at the very end, the seat across from her empty. She had been quietly eating with her head down, but now, her gaze was vacant, fixed on that empty spot.
Chang Zhao only glanced for a second before quickly looking away. After that, his entire body tensed up. He stopped chatting with He Yi across from him and no longer paid attention to whatever Yue Cheng was saying. He stared at the untouched food in front of him, secretly relieved he hadn’t started eating yet.
His right hand picked up the pure silver knife beside his plate, trying his best to act normal.
Wen Shichun noticed the change in the person beside him and turned toward the source of the noise.
His gaze happened to meet Bo Ya’s as she lifted her head and turned toward them.
For a moment, his breath stopped.
Wen Shichun and Bo Ya stared at each other.
In that brief standoff, the sleeve of his left arm was gently tugged under the table. Out of the corner of his eye, Wen Shichun saw Chang Zhao’s left hand discreetly pulling at him.
So he looked away.
But he could still feel Bo Ya watching him.
Her gaze didn’t waver.
Even though half of her face had caved in.
Her eyeballs were gone—who knew where they’d fallen.
Just hollow, black voids.
Still staring at him.
The dining room had gone completely silent.
Wen Shichun was sure the high-level players at the table had all noticed Bo Ya.
But none of them reacted.
As if they’d all silently agreed on something.
Not a single one acknowledged their "teammate" at the far end.
Bo Ya, sitting alone at the end, seemed faintly puzzled.
She could only stare fixedly at the last person who had made eye contact with her.
Wen Shichun felt a creeping dread under her gaze.
What exactly was happening now?
One of his teammates had suddenly turned into a monster.
Her face was now covered in severe wounds.
There was no way she could still be alive.
And yet she was still moving.
His other teammates were all pretending not to see it.
No.
They had actually noticed.
Chang Zhao had even subtly signaled him under the table.
But everyone was acting oblivious.
The dining room was so quiet Wen Shichun could almost hear his own heartbeat.
Then came the screech of a chair being dragged across the floor.
Bo Ya stood up from her seat.
Step by step.
She walked around the end of the table.
And reached the side where Wen Shichun was sitting.
The first seat at the far end was empty.
Bo Ya’s steps were small.
Her pace was slow.
Her body seemed to be dragged forward.
Almost mechanically, she passed the first empty seat.
When she reached the back of Chang Zhao’s chair, Wen Shichun felt the man beside him shudder. Chang Zhao’s grip on the knife tightened with near-brutal force.
Bo Ya paused behind Chang Zhao for only a moment before moving forward again, stopping this time behind Wen Shichun.
This time, she lingered for much longer.
Wen Shichun glanced once more at the sandwich on his plate.
It looked genuinely delicious.
The "teammate" standing behind him didn’t move a muscle.
After a long pause, a question finally came from behind.
Bo Ya was asking him:
"Why did you look at me just now?"
...
"Why did you look at me just now?"
The same question, the same tone—the unchanging voice sounded like a pre-recorded loop. As it repeated, Wen Shichun caught someone shaking their head at him from the corner of his eye.
His teammates seemed to be warning him not to answer.
But that voice… it really didn’t sound human.
Failing to get an answer, Bo Ya only grew more puzzled.
"She" leaned down, slowly closing the distance between herself and the person seated at the table.
The next second, the chair she was approaching was abruptly yanked away. When she looked up, a plate smashed straight into her face.
The moment Wen Shichun struck, the silence in the dining hall shattered.
"RUN—!" Chang Zhao shouted.
Chaotic footsteps erupted in the dining room, mixed with the clatter of utensils hitting the floor.
The "person" struck by the plate let out a piercing shriek.
"She" staggered back two steps, her entire body convulsing violently, half her face collapsing inward like a grievous wound.
Only those black, hollow eyes remained fixed on the figure in front of her.
But soon, her whole body began to crumble away—thin, elongated red tendrils slithering out from those hollow sockets.
Wen Shichun watched as the monster crawled out of Bo Ya’s body. When Chang Zhao shouted for everyone to run, he grabbed a chair and smashed it hard against the little red-skinned creature.
It didn’t feel like enough. He picked up a broken chair leg, dodged the flailing tentacles, and drove the sharp end straight into the monster’s body.
The small creature let out a screech and scurried away, moving at an alarming speed as it darted chaotically around the dining room.
The other players had already fled the dining room.
From the doorway came Chang Zhao’s panicked voice:
“Xiao E, get out now!”
As Wen Shichun heard Chang Zhao trying to turn back, he hesitated for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the sealed dining room. Then he backed toward the exit and locked the door behind him.
Even after stepping outside, he could still hear the commotion inside.
Wen Shichun turned around. The rest of the team stood a short distance behind him.
He looked at them. “What is that?”
“Are you hurt?” Beside him, Chang Zhao looked shaken. He’d bolted for the door the moment he shouted, only to realize Wen Shichun was still inside.
Shen Jing had already pulled out a chain. Once Wen Shichun was out, she stepped forward and fastened it around the restaurant’s door handle, locking it securely.
Wen Shichun fell into thought.
This was his first time seeing such a monster.
It had been easy to fight—it didn’t seem particularly dangerous. But the way the high-level players tensed up at the sight of it had stopped him from trying to finish it off.
“What now?” He Yi, standing further back, spoke up. “Just leave it locked in there?”
“That thing grows,” He Yi sneered, turning to Wen Shichun. “Why’d you even attack it?”
Yue Cheng, nearby, shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. The last traces of her human consciousness are almost gone. At the latest, she’ll turn into a ghost by tonight. If she transforms now, locking the entity in the restaurant is actually better.”
At least this way, it wouldn’t run loose and be impossible to catch.
As Yue Cheng spoke, his calm gaze settled on Wen Shichun—almost as if he was defending him.
He Yi wasn’t done. “Then we’d better hurry and clear this level. Ghosts can’t die. Once it grows big enough to break out, finishing the run will be even harder.”
Wen Shichun listened to the high-level players' conversation.
He only understood two points:
The little monsters inside would grow.
And this monster couldn’t die.
"You don’t know what that is?" Xun Yi walked over to Wen Shichun’s side.
As he spoke, several pairs of eyes turned toward them.
"Even an E-rank should know some basic zone common sense," He Yi said, his face unreadable. "Seems like you’ve been sheltered too well before."
Xun Yi ignored He Yi. When he approached Wen Shichun, he said, "It’s fine. You only run into these things in District 5’s instances." Their luck was just too good.
"When players die in an instance, they don’t realize they’re already dead. At that point, they enter a ‘ghostification’ state," Xun Yi explained, his dark eyes meeting Wen Shichun’s. "This unique form of existence is influenced by the District 5 owner’s master card."
Human survival instincts, under the effect of the desire card, give birth to instance monsters.
"But they’re already dead," Xun Yi continued. "And their bodies begin to nurture undying monsters."
"The monster’s strength is tied to the ghostification level."
"The general rule is: the stronger the lingering consciousness, the more the ghostified being resembles their living self. Once fully ghostified, the resulting specter will be far more powerful."
Hearing this, Wen Shichun’s eyelids flickered slightly.
He looked at Xun Yi and asked calmly, "How do we handle it?"
"Stall for time," Xun Yi replied.
"You’ve already encountered a low-level ghostified being. You must have noticed—low-level ones not only show obvious signs of death on their bodies, but their residual living consciousness fades extremely quickly."
"Since they can’t die, low-level specters are a pain to deal with unless you have special tools to restrain them."
"Remember the most important rule: players must never show suspicion toward a ghostified being’s living identity, and especially must not voice it out loud. If they realize they’re already dead… that they’re ghosts, the specter will manifest immediately."
As Xun Yi spoke, Wen Shichun glanced at Chang Zhao beside him.
So that was why this guy had tugged his sleeve earlier—to stop him from looking at ‘Bo Ya’ again, to avoid giving anything away.
When Wen Shichun withdrew his gaze, he already sensed trouble.
Xun Yi continued speaking:
"When players encounter transformed ghosts in a dungeon, the goal is to stall for time. Sometimes, high-level transformed ghosts—because their residual consciousness is too strong—only slowly realize they're already dead by the time the dungeon ends and they can't leave."
"By then, the surviving players have already cleared the dungeon."
"So there's no need to deal with the transformed ghosts anymore."
Wen Shichun gave a slight nod, his eyes fixed straight ahead: "Then we just need to stall for time, right?"
No other complications?
Xun Yi shifted even closer to him, narrowing the distance between them.
Wen Shichun heard the man’s voice, lowered to a whisper near his ear: "They think they're still human. But in reality, they’ve become appendages of the dungeon."
"Dungeon and players are opposing forces." Xun Yi’s tone was meaningful.
So, without realizing it, the ghosts would act against the players, completely unaware of their own actions.
"But overall, transformed ghosts are easier to handle than regular monsters."
After all… they still believe they’re human.
And as he finished speaking—
Wen Shichun’s eyelashes trembled faintly.
...
Your dungeon is too terrifying.
Not only do we have to solve cases and catch killers.
We also have to fight monsters.
And now you’re telling me players can 'survive' after death?
Though one particular player is highly suspicious.
It’s probably them.
But as Xun Yi said—
The stronger a transformed ghost’s abilities, the more they resemble a living person.
How did he know.
Are there even more powerful ghosts around?
After all, none of you even realized you were ghosts!!!
Wen Shichun kept a straight face as he steadied his nerves.
At least the fact that ghosts and players are opposed still gave some clues.
A small comfort.
No matter how powerful a ghost is, it’ll eventually slip up.
Meanwhile, Shen Jing was still shaken.
"When did Bo Ya get taken? I didn’t notice anything at all."
Before returning to the first floor, she had been with Bo Ya almost the entire time.
Her words reminded Wen Shichun.
Maybe he should pay closer attention to those who had been alone at some point.
As for Bo Ya—
When the lights went out, she had been closest to the study door that the killer had touched.
If Bo Ya had been taken then…
Wen Shichun recalled how he had walked right up to her afterward.
For a brief moment, beneath his calm mask, his face turned slightly pale.
Tense, his gaze once again swept discreetly over his "teammates."
Observe carefully. Proceed with caution.
In the hall.
"Let’s leave this one for now," Chang Zhao said, eyeing the dining room door.
Then, the next second, he nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Shit!"
Chang Zhao turned and strode back to the dining room door, forced to stop when the door blocked his path. Frustrated, he raised his hands and scratched his head anxiously.
Finally, he gave up and turned around to look at Wen Shichun and the others.
His voice and gaze were both unsteady.
"The landline phone... I left it inside..."
After he spoke, He Yi, standing behind the group, suddenly realized.
"Ah. I forgot the cord in there too."
