He roughly described Qu Qingming’s appearance to the little clay figure: “You saw her last night—she’s the most beautiful one.”
The clay figure set off, still dazed.
Meanwhile, Su Er didn’t stay idle. He quickly tidied up the scene, dragged the unconscious camerawoman into the bushes, and then found a hidden spot to carefully conceal himself.
Lying in the grass was far from a pleasant experience. Bugs crawled up from the dirt now and then and wouldn’t go away no matter how much he shooed them. Just as Su Er was considering whether to sacrifice them to the heavens, footsteps finally came from the distance.
Fully focused, he could clearly hear the approaching steps—steady and grounded, nothing like Qu Qingming’s light-footed gait.
The figure in the distance slowly came into view: Ji Heng’s tall silhouette appeared.
Su Er was stunned for a second and stood up, still covered in grass: “Why is it you?”
Ji Heng glanced at the clay figure. “It led me here.”
Su Er sighed and scooped the figure into his palm, looking it in the eye: “Can you not tell the difference between handsome and beautiful?”
The freshly sculpted eyes stared blankly back at him.
No point arguing with a clay doll. Su Er let out a sigh and asked, slightly worried, “Where’s the host?”
Ji Heng replied, “I stood by the sea for a bit, then went elsewhere.”
Su Er was curious: “He didn’t follow you?”
Ji Heng smiled. “At noon, new crew members come to deliver supplies.”
Su Er caught on: “The host thinks it’s a diversion. He’s worried you’re luring him away so I can sneak over and target the crew?”
Ji Heng nodded. “So the ‘Mister Rose’ is still guarding the coast and won’t leave anytime soon.”
The coiled snake on the fake altar twitched every few seconds. Ji Heng spotted it immediately: “You made that?”
Su Er replied with a simple “mm.”
“It’s too obvious,” Ji Heng warned. “You should move it to a more hidden spot and add some cryptic numbers to guide the others to ‘crack the code.’”
Su Er accepted the advice, handed over the script for Ji Heng to hold, and rolled up his sleeves to do the heavy lifting.
By the time he finished moving the altar, huffing and puffing, Ji Heng had already skimmed through the script. Tilting his head, he remarked, “I don’t get many scenes.”
Su Er waved it off: “That’s already pretty good. The host doesn’t even have a name in it.”
Once everything was set, Su Er once again instructed the clay figure to go find Qu Qingming: “The prettiest sister. You delivered a message to her last night.”
He emphasized the gender in his tone.
The clay figure set off again.
Once it was out of sight, Ji Heng glanced at Su Er. “You suspect Qu Qingming?”
Su Er nodded. “To be alone with a ghost and survive, either she’s exceptionally powerful, or they’ve reached some kind of agreement.”
Ji Heng didn’t comment, waiting for him to continue.
“Also, in last night’s vote, Qu Qingming wrote down everyone’s name except her own.”
It was a bold move. In an uncertain situation, writing just one name would’ve been the safest.
“If her vote had been counted, it would’ve meant one vote for every other player,” Su Er said with a faint smile. “Best case scenario, she thought everyone would do the same and it would end in a tie—no one would be at risk.”
But that possibility was nearly zero. For example, someone like Lu Quanqiu, impulsive by nature, would never think to write everyone’s name.
Ji Heng didn’t question Su Er’s reasoning or try to interfere.
Just as Su Er was about to continue, Ji Heng raised a finger to his lips and shook his head.
Su Er got the message, swallowed his words, and quickly hid behind a tree at a slight distance.
Voices approached—
“Could this be a trap?”
“Better than sitting around with nothing. Let’s follow it.”
Recognizing Lu Quanqiu and Man Jiangshan, Su Er pressed his temples. Clearly, the clay figure had its own ideas—it had brought the wrong people again.
“I’ll have to rewrite the whole script,” he mouthed to Ji Heng.
Ji Heng pointed upward—his meaning clear: Man proposes, heaven disposes.
“Look!”
Lu Quanqiu’s voice rose with surprise. He quickly composed himself and rushed forward.
Man Jiangshan, being female, moved even faster and arrived first. “It’s an altar!” she called out, then quickly added, “Be careful! The snake on it moves.”
Lu Quanqiu took a step back at her warning.
Ji Heng turned slightly, watching it all unfold, and silently acknowledged Su Er’s creative brilliance.
If he hadn’t known better, even Ji Heng might’ve been fooled for a moment. The fake altar was creepy in its ugliness, but the moving snake added just enough realism to make anyone hesitate to doubt it.
“Why would this clay figure bring us here?” Man Jiangshan, ever cautious, asked.
Lu Quanqiu thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s related to last night’s vote?”
Man Jiangshan suddenly asked, “Let’s be honest—who did you vote for last night?”
That whole “I didn’t write anyone’s name” excuse wouldn’t fool an idiot.
Lu Quanqiu hesitated briefly, then answered seriously, “Qu Qingming.”
Man Jiangshan was surprised. “You didn’t vote for Ji Heng?”
Behind the tree, Su Er gave Ji Heng a teasing look and mouthed, You’re a prime suspect.
Ji Heng didn’t seem surprised.
“Nope,” said Lu Quanqiu. “Because Qu Qingming gives me nothing but good vibes.”
Man Jiangshan looked stunned—what kind of bizarre logic was that?
Lu Quanqiu asked, “Between Ji Heng and Qu Qingming, who’s stronger?”
Man Jiangshan answered without hesitation, “Ji Heng.”
Lu Quanqiu continued, “But even Ji Heng’s been acting strangely, and don’t even get me started on Su Er—sneaking out in the middle of the night. Only Qu Qingming always seems calm and in control.” He let out a sarcastic laugh. “If she were really that capable, why isn’t she more famous in the game?”
Man Jiangshan didn’t agree with his logic, but didn’t force her own guess onto him either. She asked the more urgent question: “What do we do about the altar?”
Lu Quanqiu said, “How about we bring Qu Qingming here and see what she does?”
Man Jiangshan shook her head. “That thing doesn’t look very sturdy. If she has a prop that can destroy it, we’re done for.”
Unable to risk moving the altar themselves, the two silently memorized its location.
Lu Quanqiu said, “Players can’t kill each other, so let’s figure out a way to eliminate Qu Qingming.”
Although Man Jiangshan suspected Ji Heng more, she agreed with the plan. After all, Qu Qingming was easier to deal with, and even if they were wrong, getting through the game was more important.
Once the two had gone far enough, Su Er stepped out from behind the tree. “They sure trust each other.”
Ji Heng said, “Not necessarily. Just now, when Man Jiangshan reached the altar first, she deliberately blocked that string of numbers you scribbled.”
Su Er sighed at the complexity of human nature and waved his hand. The little clay figure ambled over.
Ji Heng added, “You don’t have any kind of contract binding it.”
In other words, once it grew stronger, it turning on him would be perfectly normal.
Su Er nodded. “I’ll be careful.”
Just as he was about to return the clay figure to his pocket, his hand paused in midair. He pointed at himself. “Am I pretty?”
The clay figure nodded.
Su Er then pointed to Ji Heng. The clay figure nodded again.
Su Er frowned—so it did have a general sense of what was attractive.
Thinking for a moment, he gestured, “What about the one with the big curly hair?”
The clay figure shook its head.
Su Er fell silent.
Qu Qingming gave off a different aura compared to the others, but he was sure it wasn’t ghostly. So what was the issue?
Just then, Ji Heng reached out and gave his head a light tap. “I told you—you focus too much on absorbing energy.”
Su Er’s eyes widened.
Ji Heng said, “There’s a better method.”
The slight furrow in Su Er’s brow showed he was beginning to think it through.
Ji Heng sighed. “Did you forget you still have that eye?”
Su Er looked up in a daze. His lips moved slightly before he muttered, “I’m an idiot.”
Ji Heng chuckled, clearly amused by this rare silly side of him.
All this time, Su Er had relied on absorbing ghostly energy to distinguish between people and ghosts—it had never failed him. That other eye inside him, though powerful, came with severe drawbacks. Sometimes once opened, it wouldn’t easily shut again, so he avoided using it.
Back in Tianji City, he hadn’t expected all the civilians to be snake people. That single glance nearly shattered his mind.
Ji Heng knew about this concern and nodded. “Only use it if you absolutely have to.”
Su Er, wanting to quickly verify if there was something wrong with Qu Qingming, looked at Ji Heng on the way. At this point, the man should’ve just told him directly whether she was the Love Killer. Why let him risk using that eye?
“With me here, go ahead and use it,” Ji Heng said with a cheerful squint. “And stop focusing so much on the host. He’s just another employee of the game.”
Su Er interpreted the implication: So the real enemy is the game itself?
Halfway there, he suddenly remembered the camerawoman and turned to go back. Then something hit him. “Where’s the camerawoman who was tailing you?”
Ji Heng replied calmly, “I buried her in a pit this morning.”
Ji Heng added, “She’s a ghost—doesn’t need to breathe. Should still be alive.”
Leaving the others where they were, Su Er quietly went back, dragged the female camerawoman out from the bushes, and moved her to a spot far enough from the artificial altar before injecting her with some yin energy.
The camerawoman woke up, and upon seeing Su Er, looked as if she'd seen a ghost. She didn’t even bother grabbing her camera and bolted immediately.
After all the chaos, by the time he returned to the villa, it was just in time for lunch.
Seeing a figure busy in the kitchen, Su Er walked over. “Why are you the one cooking lunch?”
Qu Qingming was wearing an apron, her waist looking even slimmer from behind. With a look that seemed both helpless and aggrieved, she said, “Who else? I wouldn’t dare eat anything the judges cook.”
Su Er looked around and realized the blonde woman wasn’t there.
Qu Qingming whispered, “Every day she goes down to the sea with the big-mouthed judge to catch seafood and offers it to the other two judges.”
Among ghosts, the weak flatter and cling to the strong.
Perhaps because the blonde wasn’t around, Qu Qingming seemed more relaxed, even humming a cheerful tune as she worked.
Su Er moved to the side—seemingly helping, but actually choosing a good vantage point to watch the kitchen from.
Ji Heng nodded outside the kitchen, signaling that he could start using the eye inside him.
Su Er wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but it felt like Ji Heng had been waiting for this moment. To be cautious, he lowered his head and thought things through carefully. This dungeon had three main challenges: identifying the Love Killer, finding the altar, and discovering how to kill the Love Killer.
Suppose the Love Killer isn’t human...
Suddenly, Su Er’s eyes widened in disbelief, as if he had thought of something. He quickly steadied himself and turned his gaze back to Qu Qingming, activating the third eye inside him.
That familiar, piercing pain returned—like a blade scraping along his brain’s nerves.
He gritted his teeth and stared hard at Qu Qingming.
There was no shadow double, the surrounding magnetic field was normal, and there was no trace of yin energy.
“Could you pass me the soy sauce?” Qu Qingming suddenly turned around.
Caught off guard, their eyes met. Su Er instinctively stepped back, bumping his waist into the corner of the cabinet behind him. He held back the pain, opened the cupboard, and handed over the soy sauce.
“Thanks,” Qu Qingming said with a gentle smile.
That face—no trace of its usual allure remained. A greenish birthmark covered half of her face, with black fuzz growing on it. Her eyes bulged, and her lower jaw jutted forward. People use beauty and ugliness to judge appearances, but her face had gone beyond ugly—it was truly terrifying.
What puzzled Su Er was: What exactly is Qu Qingming?
She could deceive others' senses. Clearly not human—but she didn’t resemble a ghost either.
Boom!
A loud sound shattered his thoughts.
Just moments ago the sky was sunny—suddenly, a muffled thunderclap rolled across the sky. A flash of blue light startled Qu Qingming, causing her to flinch and nearly cut herself while slicing meat.
“What happened?”
Lu Quanqiu had just returned to the villa. Reflexively, he hunched his shoulders and looked up at the now cloud-filled sky. “Thunderstorm?”
But instead of rain, what came was a system announcement:
[Player Su Er is banned from entering the 'Dragon-Tiger Duel' instance.]
[Player Su Er is banned from entering the 'Who’s the Killer' instance.]
[Player Su Er is banned from entering the 'Loving Daughters' Kingdom' instance.]
The announcements continued for a full twenty minutes.
Su Er instantly became the center of attention. Lu Quanqiu was so shocked he almost blurted out, “There are dungeon ban notices?!”
Su Er had already guessed the reason as soon as the first alert sounded—these dungeons likely had scenarios where ghosts disguised themselves as players. If he entered them, with the eye inside him, he could flawlessly identify who was human and who wasn’t.
If the loophole was that big, what was the point of playing?
One thing remained puzzling—why didn’t the game block him from dungeons when he first got the eye?
Thinking back, the earlier dungeons wouldn’t have been too affected even if he had spotted ghosts. But this one was different—the Love Killer was key to clearing it. In this case, charm value couldn’t distinguish ghosts, but his inner eye could.
Could it be that the game wasn’t as intelligent as everyone thought—maybe even a little slow to react?
Ji Heng walked over and casually remarked, “I think I memorized about half the dungeon names that were listed.”
Su Er gave a regretful nod, implying he hadn’t remembered much.
“No big deal,” Ji Heng said gently. “We’ll sort it out later and sell the info. As long as players enter those dungeons, they’ll know there’s a ‘ghost-disguised-as-human’ death trap.”
Su Er had a feeling that line was said on purpose.
Sure enough, just moments later, the clouds that had dispersed gathered again—
[Instance 'Dragon-Tiger Duel' temporarily suspended.]
[Instance 'Who’s the Killer' temporarily suspended.]
At least a hundred dungeons were on the suspended operations list.
Ji Heng tilted his head to look out the window—or more precisely, toward the sea. “The yin energy has grown much heavier.”
With that, he stepped outside.
At the doorway, Lu Quanqiu and Man Jiangshan exchanged glances, then followed after him.
Su Er asked Qu Qingming, “Want to go take a look?”
Qu Qingming shook her head. “My spiritual value is too high—makes me an easy target for possession. I’m not taking that risk.”
So Su Er went alone.
The color of the sea had darkened considerably. Mister Rose was standing in the water, occasionally bending down to scoop something up. Each time, a pale shadow was flung onto the shore.
By now, four or five of these creatures had piled up at the water’s edge.
“What are those?” Su Er didn’t dare get too close.
“Drowned ghosts,” Ji Heng answered.
Su Er frowned, surprised that so many drowned ghosts had suddenly appeared.
Mister Rose flicked water from his hands, his expression mocking. “With so many instances sealed, thousands of evil spirits are suddenly out of work. Conveniently, my instance’s short a few staff members—naturally, the drowned ghosts are scrambling to rush in.”
Then he gave a chilling smile. “By the way, remember why I’m short-staffed?”
Su Er guiltily looked away—because he and Ji Heng had killed them all.
Mister Rose counted the pale creatures on the shore. “Six. That’s enough.”
Just as he was about to step onto the shore, his legs were tangled by white shadows. Two drowned ghosts, who hadn’t yet been pulled out, surfaced halfway and pleaded, “Sir, please, give us a job too.”
The scene was strangely heartbreaking.
Ji Heng ignored the absurdity and began to speak. “Su—”
Su Er quickly stopped him, carefully covering his name tag. “Don’t say my name! From now on, I’m taking your surname.”
After that, Su Er nervously looked at the drowned ghosts on the shore, certain that if they found out the culprit was standing right in front of them, they’d go berserk and try to tear him apart alive.
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