In this dungeon, night lasted almost twice as long as day. After lunch, the sky outside darkened in an instant.
Su Er had long known the game was full of malice toward players, but he hadn't expected the welfare zone to be this ruthless—practically driving people to death. With so little daylight, how could anyone possibly complete many tasks?
Yao Zhi gave him a subtle glance and quietly reminded, "Keep your guard up."
In the lobby, Cai Dou was pacing restlessly, clearly still short on room fees.
Su Er admitted to himself he couldn’t see through people. Most players, even if malicious, would at least keep up appearances. In that regard, Wen Buyu was very skilled.
But Cai Dou wasn’t a newcomer. Why would he show hostility so openly?
Yao Zhi said flatly, “Respect biodiversity.”
Su Er was left speechless.
He stopped a ghost doll that was clearing the tables and asked if he could switch rooms.
The ghost doll replied, “Costs extra.”
Su Er: “That's fine.”
The previous guest room still held lingering poisonous gas—only someone with a death wish would keep staying there.
On his way back, Su Er ran into Hou Kewei, who was leaning against the corridor wall as if waiting for someone. His mood seemed agitated; he furrowed his brows briefly before smoothing them out and calmly asked, “Su Er, want to make a deal with me?”
Su Er just stared at him in silence.
Hou Kewei let out a breath and said, “I can tell you everything about my last visit to the welfare zone, every detail.”
Su Er answered honestly, “You fared worse than I did.”
If he was desperate enough to come looking for Su Er, then that ‘experience’ probably wasn’t worth much.
Hou Kewei's expression darkened. He said through clenched teeth, “Tasks change daily. I have limited strength.” Before Su Er could shoot him down, he quickly added, “The info I’m offering is about the auction.”
His tone sharpened. “As long as you pay me 100,000…”
“Hold it.” Su Er interrupted, “A player can only pay a maximum of 50,000 on behalf of someone else. I already used part of that limit.”
“Then trade me an item.”
Su Er glanced at him, guessing that was the real goal… coveting the doll given by the old lady.
Hou Kewei promised, “The information I give you will more than double your return at the auction.”
But Su Er showed no interest and just gave his hand a little shake.
Hou Kewei frowned, unsure what that gesture meant.
“See ya,” Su Er said.
Shaking his head, Su Er turned to head to his newly changed room. Behind him, Hou Kewei’s voice came cool and laced with menace. “Your physical power isn’t high. You better think carefully before doing anything reckless.”
Su Er stopped abruptly, turned around, and stared him down. With deliberate clarity, he said, “In all martial arts, speed is unbeatable.”
Talking to this guy was never pleasant. Before Hou Kewei could process that line, Su Er added, “No matter how strong the punch, speed can still break through.”
And with that, he suddenly bolted toward the lobby with no warning.
As the wind whistled past his ears, Su Er’s thoughts raced just as wildly. He made up his mind to start serious running training after getting back to the real world. Physical power wouldn’t rise overnight, but if he ran fast enough, fists couldn’t catch him!
Hou Kewei was a moment too slow to react. When the negotiation failed, he had planned to just rob him. Who could’ve guessed things would take such a wild turn?
His face darkened, and he gritted his teeth as he chased after Su Er.
There was a burst of commotion up ahead. As he rounded the corner and was about to catch up, Su Er suddenly spun back and ran toward him, eyes blazing as he shouted, “Get him!”
Hou Kewei froze. In a flash, a slightly chubby figure appeared before him. Before he could react, he was kicked to the ground.
“You—”
His words were cut off by two kicks to the waist. At the same time, Lu Huan and Zhu Yanyan’s iron fists came crashing down from above, showing no mercy.
“You guys—!” Hou Kewei roared, shielding his head with his arms. “Are you all crazy?”
He knew Yao Zhi and Su Er were close and had thought that if the trade failed, he could just steal the doll and run to Gou Baopu to exchange it. Then he could hide in his room and wait it out—they wouldn’t be able to touch him.
Of course, he'd considered failure… but never expected to get jumped like this.
As a bystander, Su Er really wanted to land a few hits himself, but unfortunately the area was already crowded—no space for him. So he could only recover some dignity with words: “One hero needs three helpers.”
He had helped Zhu Yanyan and the others earlier. As long as they weren’t heartless, of course they’d return the favor. And it was just beating up Hou Kewei—not risking their lives fighting ghosts.
In the blink of an eye, Hou Kewei was covered in bruises. Su Er looked up and spotted Cai Dou not far away, hiding in the shadows with a pale face, quickly averting his gaze.
Elsewhere, the smiling merchant stood in the shadows, expressionless as he adjusted his top hat, calculating the fastest way to reap the lives of players.
Outside, night had fully fallen, and the corridor lights flickered on. One by one, the group retreated to their rooms. Hou Kewei struggled up from the floor, too scared to waste even a breath cursing, and hurried back toward his room.
Just then, Cai Dou suddenly rushed up and grabbed him tightly.
Hou Kewei, injured, shook his shoulder hard but couldn’t break free.
Cai Dou clung on desperately. “Either you pay my room fee and save my life—or we die together!”
Hou Kewei glared at him. "Don't you dare regret this."
Su Er, being nearby, opened his room just in time to witness the dramatic scene, shook his head, and closed the door behind him.
Lying on the bed, he stared at the ceiling and muttered, "The auction..."
Hou Kewei’s words ended up being a wake-up call—the auction might not be as simple as he had imagined. It might not just be a bunch of people calling out bids, with the highest offer winning. Su Er turned over, gradually slipping into a half-asleep, half-awake state. He didn’t know how much time had passed when a sudden scream outside jolted him upright. He immediately grabbed his stun gun.
The sounds coming from the corridor were strange. Besides the scream, there was a rustling like sand hitting the ground. As the minutes ticked by, the sound grew heavier. The door didn’t even have a peephole for him to see what was happening outside.
That night was particularly hard to get through. Su Er barely slept in the latter half. Though it was unlikely, every slight noise made him suspect some unclean thing might break through the door.
Better safe than sorry. He leaned against the headboard, dozing off in a half-sitting posture. Only when daylight finally spilled across his face did Su Er allow himself a faint sigh of relief.
Keeping a safe distance, he rested his hand on the doorknob. After hesitating a moment, he pressed down.
The door opened with a click. Yellow sand was scattered around outside, and the ghost dolls were already cleaning. Whether intentional or not, they weren’t clearing away the corpse first but rather sweeping up irrelevant piles of sand.
The corpse’s face was no longer recognizable. Its limbs were splayed out, and sand oozed from the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. A gaping hole had been opened in the victim’s chest. It was impossible to determine the real cause of death. From the clothes, it could just barely be identified as Cai Dou.
Players opened their doors one after another. Their expressions turned grim at the scene, followed by a wave of gratitude—they’d made it into guest rooms last night.
Yao Zhi wore a serious expression. Walking carefully along the wall to avoid sand, he came over to Su Er. “Don’t take any high-difficulty tasks today.”
Su Er nodded.
“These sands… they might’ve come from the gardener,” Zhao Xue said warily. “My task yesterday was to help the gardener dig sand.”
“Something’s off,” Zhu Yanyan said. “There are way too many ghosts in this dungeon.”
And they were all unusually intelligent. If not for lacking physical power, wouldn’t they all be on the verge of evolving into ghost kings?
Hou Kewei, the only one who might know more, leaned against his door silently.
Yao Zhi eyed him. “Drag him over and beat him up—maybe we can shake some info out of him.”
The tone sounded familiar. Su Er recalled hearing the same voice when his math grades dropped and this same person gave him a scolding.
“Forget it,” Su Er shook his head. “If he gives us false leads, it’s not worth it.”
Hou Kewei wasn’t someone to be trusted.
The ghost dolls worked quickly. Soon, they had carried away the body. Another ghost doll went to post a new task sheet in the lobby.
Aside from the sewing doll job, nearly all the other tasks had been replaced.
Su Er pointed at one related to the gardener: Celebrate the gardener’s birthday.
Yao Zhi said, “Cai Dou might’ve been killed by him. You sure you want to take it?”
Su Er replied, “Cai Dou died at night. Going there now might actually be safer.”
The reward was low, and it wasn’t worth sending two people. Yao Zhi preferred a transport job that happened to be near the gardener’s area, so they could watch out for each other if something happened.
The temperature indoors and outdoors wasn’t very different, with a chill in the air.
The days were short, and with insufficient sunlight, many of the flowers looked crooked and malnourished.
“Happy birthday,” Su Er said from several yards away.
The gardener let out a weird giggle and waved him over.
Su Er kept one hand in his pocket, gripping a prop tightly as he walked forward.
In front of the gardener sat a complete human heart, with long candles inserted into it one by one. Each insertion made a sickening plop sound as blood oozed out of the tiny holes.
“Blow,” the gardener said.
At his feet was a fallen name tag with ‘Cai Dou’ written on it. The identity of the heart’s former owner was painfully clear.
A foul stench drifted over from time to time. The gardener urged again, “Blow. You must blow them all out.”
Su Er gave him a look, held his breath, and blew out all the candles in one go.
Disappointment flickered in the gardener’s eyes. But quickly, he cut off a piece of the heart with a small knife. “Eat.”
Su Er didn’t move. The task had the lowest payout—he figured even if he didn’t eat, it likely wouldn’t cost him his life. This felt more like petty revenge for succeeding in blowing out the candles.
The gardener said darkly, “Don’t waste the cake.”
After a long, silent stare, Su Er suddenly said, “I left something behind. Mind if I go back and grab it?”
The gardener generously nodded, baring his teeth. “If you don’t come back, I’ll come find you.”
Time ticked by.
A gentle breeze passed. The blood on the heart had begun to congeal. But Su Er hadn’t returned. Instead of getting angry, the gardener happily lifted his shovel, preparing to head into the castle.
Before he could take a step, Su Er came rushing back, carrying a large bucket.
He set it down gently to avoid spilling anything. The bucket was filled with glistening white meatballs that wobbled slightly with the impact.
Earlier, Su Er had first gone to Gou Baopu to reclaim the monster meat the guy hadn’t accepted the other day. Unscrupulous to the end, Gou Baopu even extorted another ten grand from him. Afterward, Su Er went to the kitchen and paid six thousand to have it made into noodles.
“Smell that—it’s delicious, right?” Su Er said with a smile.
The seasoning was rich and the smell decent. A thin layer of oil floated around the meatballs. The scum on the soup’s surface could’ve been either worm corpses or just greasy fat—impossible to tell.
The gardener looked slightly nauseated.
“You gave me cake. In return, I’m offering you longevity noodles.” Su Er pulled a pair of chopsticks from his pocket, split a meatball in half, and held it up. “Eat it while it’s hot.”
The meatball’s center didn’t seem fully cooked—streaks of blood were still visible.
Seeing the gardener unmoved, Su Er picked up the plate with the heart slice, suppressing his own nausea. “Let’s eat together.”
Despite the words, neither of them moved.
Only the mingled smells of blood and soup lingered between them, drifting slowly on the breeze.
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