He meticulously rechecked the details of this instance and confirmed that there was no rule forbidding players from going out at night. Mister Rose shook his head in disappointment.
As things stood, Su Er hadn’t broken any rules—he couldn’t be killed.
Since that was the case, there was no need to open the door. Out of sight, out of mind.
The knocking came three times, then paused, then repeated. Su Er realized the person inside was deliberately pretending not to hear. He wasn’t bold enough to continue disturbing them with relentless knocking, so he simply stopped. Seeing the ground was reasonably clean, he sat down.
In fact, this wasn’t so bad. Facing the host directly was far too stressful.
Su Er spoke slowly through the crack of the door: “The moment I saw you, my heart filled with nervousness…”
That wasn’t exactly a lie—anyone suddenly thrown into a novice-level instance would be tense. But what followed was pure nonsense:
“Your eyes are the brightest stars in the sky, your ears are the sexiest flower buds…”
Whether it was because he grossed himself out with the cheesy lines or because of the wild fruit he’d eaten earlier, Su Er suddenly felt nauseous and accidentally bit his tongue mid-sentence.
Only three minutes had passed out of the two hours—each second dragged like a year.
With his strong language skills, Su Er began improvising an 800-word essay on Mister Rose as the protagonist. His throat went dry, and his mind became less clear. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the clock’s hands. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t mistaken—it was already 2:00 a.m.
He quickly stood, patting the dust off the back of his clothes, and rasped out, “Sorry for the disturbance.”
Inside, Mister Rose’s patience had nearly run out. A muffled “Get lost” came clearly through the thick wooden door.
The room’s lights were off, and everything was lit only by moonlight, casting a bleak and eerie atmosphere. The flower on Mister Rose’s ear was likely the only thing that seemed alive, while his gaze was venomous.
To him, Su Er was like an anomaly. Anyone who repeatedly earned achievement points like that couldn’t be a good thing.
This instance was already difficult enough. If Su Er could be finished off here, that would permanently eliminate the threat.
Night was the best time for plotting. As Mister Rose was deep in thought, he suddenly heard a soft door closing sound—seemingly from the main entrance. Frowning, he walked to the window. In the pitch-black night, a figure appeared, moving nimbly toward the shore.
It was a bit chilly outside.
Su Er moved stealthily in the dark. First, he slipped a note under the blonde woman’s door, then dashed off to hide beneath the rocks by the coast.
They had agreed to meet at 2:10 a.m. Ghosts had a surprisingly strong sense of punctuality—the blonde woman arrived on time.
Su Er let out a sigh of relief. “I thought you wouldn’t come.”
Even at night, the blonde woman wore sunglasses. She countered, “If I hadn’t come, what were you going to do?”
Su Er gave a weak smile… then he would’ve had to keep bothering Mister Rose, thick skin and all.
They stood a meter apart, salty sea wind blowing between them. The scent triggered the blonde woman’s appetite. “You smell delicious.”
Su Er furrowed his brow but replied with a compliment: “You’re beautiful. The moment I saw you, my heart filled with nervousness…”
No matter what he said, meeting a ghost alone by the sea in the dead of night was terrifying. Su Er suppressed his nerves as best he could, but still paused awkwardly for two seconds.
What was the next line again?
“Your eyes are the brightest stars in the sky…” A deep voice finished for him from behind.
Yes, that was it!
The joy of being reminded lasted less than a millisecond. Su Er’s back stiffened.
He didn’t dare take his attention fully off the blonde woman, but he turned slightly to keep both figures in view. In the moonlight, he saw another figure.
His lips moved, voice surprisingly steady: “Out for a late-night walk?”
Mister Rose said nothing, leaning against the rock, silently watching him.
Even the dullest person could sense the change in atmosphere. The blonde woman wanted to ask what was going on, but with Mister Rose present, she didn’t dare make a fuss.
“Trying to build a perfect alibi?” Mister Rose finally spoke, directly exposing Su Er’s intention.
One sentence, followed by minutes of silence.
Su Er slightly turned his face, looking out at the rippling sea, and gave up trying to explain. “Players will use any means to survive. My little tricks aren’t much.”
But he was far from as calm as he appeared. Right now, his only option was… to pray.
With his current strength, there was no way he could walk away unscathed.
Su Er sighed. Mister Rose couldn’t kill players without cause—but Su Er had no idea whether the blonde woman needed a specific condition to kill.
“Little tricks?” Mister Rose’s tone was mocking. He suddenly looked at the blonde woman. “Lying in wait… think another rabbit will show up soon?”
The blonde woman, focused solely on killing, still didn’t understand the veiled message being exchanged.
The air grew still and quiet.
Su Er had always had a naturally subdued emotional range. As the standoff dragged on, he calmed down completely. He focused on the blonde woman. Ji Heng had said that ghosts never appear in the game without purpose—these judges must serve more than one role.
Dragging it out any further was pointless. Su Er forced a smile and tested the waters: “Didn’t you say my flesh smelled good?”
The blonde woman licked her red lips and swallowed.
Su Er deliberately rolled up his sleeve, exposing his wrist.
The blonde woman looked ready to pounce and devour him, but she bit down on her own finger—so hard she drew blood—barely restraining herself.
Seeing this, Su Er made a judgment: the judges likely couldn't kill players at will — they probably had to meet some hidden condition. Clearly, he hadn’t triggered the death rule yet.
Wasting no more time, he turned to leave.
Unfortunately, his path was blocked. Mister Rose’s stance was clear — while he couldn't kill Su Er outright, retaliating in other ways wasn't hard. For example, just standing here might lead to another staff member showing up.
Su Er knew he couldn’t keep dragging this out. If the Audio Technician arrived, the truth would come out instantly, and he'd undoubtedly offend every ghost here.
Taking on that much hate in one go — even a god couldn’t handle it.
Perhaps the Sea God heard Su Er's prayers, because things suddenly took a turn.
After about twenty minutes of deadlock, footsteps echoed from afar. Su Er looked up to see Ji Heng’s silhouette gradually becoming clear under the moonlight.
A savior had arrived!
He mouthed the words: Fell before the battle even began.
Ji Heng's expression was unreadable. He walked to Su Er’s side, glanced around, and smiled. “What a coincidence, everyone’s out enjoying the moonlight.”
Su Er nodded and placed his hands behind his back, reciting a line of poetry: “The bright moon rises above the sea, we share this moment no matter how far apart.”
Ji Heng’s presence brought him a sense of calm. For a moment, he was genuinely enjoying the moonlight.
Mister Rose gave them both a glance, then sneered, “Hope you still have a chance to see the moon again.”
With that, he vanished on the spot.
As soon as he was gone, the blonde woman snapped, her tone sharp and hostile, demanding to know why Su Er had asked her to meet here.
Not a word from Su Er was true. No matter what he said, it circled back to one theme: Because you’re beautiful. He did, however, add, “I think you’re way more beautiful than that delicate girl.”
Having long suppressed her resentment in front of those two other ghosts, the blonde woman was inwardly thrilled to hear someone say she was better than that prim, fake little tramp. She instantly found Su Er much more pleasing to the eye.
“Good taste.”
After much coaxing, Su Er finally got her to leave. Leaning wearily against a reef, he let out a long sigh. “Should I schedule the next one?”
Seeing him so deflated — like a wilted eggplant — Ji Heng couldn’t help but laugh.
Su Er gave a wry smile. “I’m really not cut out for this kind of thing.”
With no electronics on them, Ji Heng had brought the room’s alarm clock when he left. It was now 2:32 AM.
“Let’s go back and rest.” The moment Mister Rose intervened, the plan had already failed. Pushing forward wouldn’t align the timing perfectly anymore.
Ji Heng reminded him, “Make sure to leave a message for the Audio Technician.”
Standing someone up — especially a ghost — was never a good idea.
Su Er nodded, tore off a strip of cloth from his shirt and handed it to Ji Heng, then took a deep breath and jumped into the sea. He moved more nimbly underwater than even Zhang Baitian and quickly surfaced with a fish in hand.
Back on shore, Su Er held his prize and raised a proud brow.
Ji Heng praised him without hesitation. “Impressive.”
Su Er chuckled, wrung the water out of his clothes, returned to the seaside villa, took off his outer coat, and began cleaning the fish — planning to save it for soup in the morning. Then, using its blood, he wrote a line on the strip of cloth: Better to miss than to meet.
Three minutes later, the cloth was tied to the Audio Technician’s doorknob.
Ji Heng raised an eyebrow. “Good memory.”
He’d remembered exactly which room belonged to which staff member.
Su Er rubbed his nose. His memory was indeed good, but sadly, his performance tonight had been poor — the whole evening wasted.
Around 3 AM, sleepiness hit hardest. Su Er stayed on the upper floor, while Ji Heng’s room was by the stairs. As they were about to go to their respective rooms, Su Er suddenly paused halfway up. “The lock’s broken. Want to stay in one room and take turns keeping watch?”
Ji Heng replied, “It’s already fixed.”
Su Er was surprised.
Ji Heng said casually, “Fixed it while you were out on your date.”
It was common for players to know how to pick locks, but fixing one? That was rare. Su Er gave Ji Heng a complicated look… Reading lips, repairing locks — what didn’t this man know?
He returned to his room and tested the door. Sure enough, the lock worked.
Exhausted from the day, Su Er slept soundly through the latter half of the night. To avoid filming delays, every guest room had an alarm clock. He’d set his for 6:30 AM. But before it rang, a scream woke him.
The sky was barely light. Su Er opened his door cautiously. The room closest to his belonged to Qu Qingming, who peeked out with a frown. “Something happened to Man Jiangshan?”
The scream was too faint to tell exactly, but it was clearly a woman.
Su Er mused for a moment. “She’s probably fine.”
In these kinds of scenarios, it was rarely the victim who screamed — usually the first person to discover the body.
Death was routine here, so Qu Qingming didn’t panic. He grabbed a coat and followed Su Er downstairs, saying as they went, “I bet the scene’s pretty gruesome.”
Experienced players wouldn’t scream just because they saw a corpse. Some would even stay silent to keep clues to themselves. For Man Jiangshan to scream like that, it had to be something serious.
Halfway down the stairs, Su Er specifically checked Ji Heng’s room. The door was open. Not far away, Zhang Baitian’s door was also ajar, creaking in the wind.
Qu Qingming did a quick sweep of the first floor but found no one. He pointed outside.
Su Er nodded, and the two of them stepped out one after the other.
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