While they were talking, Liu Wen was also discussing with Li Zizai: “We have to find a way out of here.”
Li Zizai shook his head. “The price is too high.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ji Heng slip a talisman paper to Su Er, and for some reason, felt a twinge of jealousy—not everyone had props to burn.
Despite being twins, the moment Chen Ziwen and Chen Ziwu laid eyes on each other, they looked like they wanted to skin each other alive.
Chen Ziwu cursed, “Idiot. The fox spirit wants to use you to deal with me and become the new Ghost King.”
“So what?” Chen Ziwen gave a twisted laugh. “I want to watch you be utterly destroyed with my own eyes.”
Chen Ziwu stepped out from the mirror. He didn’t waste words—he attacked directly.
Ji Heng glanced at Li Zizai. “If you don’t want to die, then help the Ghost King.”
Weighing his options, Li Zizai saw the white fox leap at them and knew there was no more room to back down—they had automatically been grouped with the Ghost King.
The narrow hallway became a fierce battleground. Su Er, in his usual offbeat style, burned talisman papers all the way down the stairs and broke out of the encirclement.
“Holy sh*t!” Liu Wen was stunned for a second and nearly got a chunk taken out of him by a Wish Fox.
Was he trying to desert?
No time to complain—he had to refocus and deal with the foxes around him.
Normally, the Ghost King could easily overpower Chen Ziwen, but his injuries from earlier in the day meant he could only stall for time now. Of the others present, Liu Wen was struggling, but Ji Heng and Li Zizai were still handling things smoothly.
The players only needed to deal with the Wish Foxes. The foxes and Chen Ziwen had a symbiotic relationship—without the luck feedback from the foxes, Chen Ziwen’s movements became sluggish.
Ji Heng carved out a battlefield of his own. Li Zizai keenly noticed that the foxes Ji Heng brought down still had a breath of life in them.
When a third of the Wish Foxes had been eliminated, Su Er returned.
Liu Wen was the first to notice him—mainly because of the strange clay box in his hands.
Ji Heng raised an eyebrow. When Su Er had first mentioned making a book, he had just humored him and let him play—he hadn’t thought it would work. After all, books weren’t like clay figures; wouldn’t the pages just turn into a mushy mess?
But now, seeing the book-like box in Su Er’s hands—with clearly defined page edges visible from the side—this was getting interesting.
Su Er flanked from the side. To protect the book, he nearly got bitten twice. Eventually, he threw out a talisman and kicked away one of the foxes, dashing into a safe area before finally exhaling in relief.
Ji Heng disapproved. “You don’t need to be so stingy with your props at a time like this.”
Su Er was a little breathless as he glanced at the book in his arms and smiled. “How’s this?”
Ji Heng seemed to catch on. In a voice only the two of them could hear, he asked, “Stun gun?”
Su Er nodded.
Once infused with yin energy, the book pages gained a bit of vitality. Not only did this make shaping easier, it also allowed for small alterations.
He now turned sideways, covering most of the book. If Liu Wen had looked a little more closely earlier, he would’ve noticed that the "box" in Su Er’s hands was subtly moving—like an injured caterpillar, writhing slightly from time to time.
The book was already filled with yin energy. Only one problem remained: how to get the Wish Foxes to inhabit it.
Truth be told, Su Er wasn’t very confident.
First, whether the pages could withstand the energy of a Wish Fox without collapsing. Second, there was no guarantee the foxes would attach to the book like the ghosts did in the Book of Answers.
“Make it quick,” Ji Heng reminded.
Su Er lifted his chin slightly and glanced sidelong at Li Zizai.
Ji Heng said, “Ignore him.”
As long as Su Er didn’t use the stun gun in front of them, Li Zizai could rack his brain and still not figure it out. Ji Heng hinted, “The host changed.”
Later, they could just make up a story and push it all onto Mister East Wind.
Su Er crouched down.
The Wish Foxes’ claws were razor sharp. At this point, they only had a thread of life left and could only claw at the air weakly.
He placed the clay book in front of one of the Wish Foxes. The intense yin energy inside was a strong lure, drawing the fox to try to burrow in.
Su Er’s voice was soft but carried a creepy undertone. “If you want to live, get in there. And behave—skinning and tearing sinews is something I’m good at.”
He released his grip. A moment later, the Wish Fox vanished, and the clay book trembled slightly.
Watching this miraculous scene, Li Zizai let his guard down for a moment and got scratched by a dying Wish Fox.
“Hiss…”
As he sucked in a breath, Su Er was already smiling.
The clay book had only a dozen or so pages. With Ji Heng clearing the path, it didn’t take long to collect enough. The smile on Su Er’s lips hadn’t fully formed yet when the remaining Wish Foxes suddenly scattered in all directions, and at some point, Chen Ziwen had also fled, injured.
While others were busy fighting, Su Er had been off playing with clay, and now that victory was at hand, he was the first to step up and sing praises.
“The Ghost King is truly unmatched.”
Chen Ziwu didn’t look too pleased. Staring in the direction where Chen Ziwen had fled, the viciousness in his eyes hadn’t fully faded. “This isn’t like him.”
Clearly still capable of fighting, yet he didn’t choose to go all out in a final desperate struggle.
Su Er believed this was just a fleeting alliance of mutual benefit—like a one-night stand. Now that Chen Ziwen was seriously injured, even if he tried to make a move at night, there would be no advantage. On top of that, he had gained the Wish Fox for free—more than enough.
He didn’t say goodbye to Chen Ziwu. After exchanging a glance with Ji Heng, he walked toward the exit of the building.
Liu Wen urged Li Zizai, “Let’s get out of here too.”
A wounded tiger is still no cat. If they delayed any longer, there was no telling if the Ghost King would come after them next.
“Ghosts need specific conditions to kill,” Li Zizai scoffed at his cowardice. Then he looked at Chen Ziwu, smiled, and said, “Didn’t think we’d end up fighting side by side.”
The Ghost King raised his hands, made a rock-paper-scissors gesture, and asked with a blank expression, “Wanna play a game?”
Li Zizai’s face darkened. That question meant things were no different than before—only by winning could one get a reward.
Did that mean all their effort earlier was for nothing?
He squeezed his eyes shut tightly. “Why did those two help us?”
The Ghost King, eager to see them turn on each other, answered maliciously, “Obviously to save their own skins.”
Even Liu Wen understood now. It was likely Su Er and Ji Heng had provoked a ghost—one that just happened to be an enemy of the Ghost King. So the two sides struck a deal.
He couldn’t help glancing at Li Zizai. The poor guy had clearly been played by Su Er. That guy had spoken in vague half-truths, manipulating Li Zizai’s greed to trick him into doing the dirty work for free.
Understanding this, his expression grew increasingly complicated. Regardless of who was right or wrong, Li Zizai’s furious expression made it clear—a grudge had definitely been formed.
Long nights bring strange dreams.
There weren’t any other players in sight on the playground. Su Er stopped beside the basketball hoop, with the Book of Answers on his left and the homemade clay book on his right.
“I’ll try flipping it again.”
Ji Heng nodded.
Su Er opened the clay book first. Over a dozen translucent figures of the Wish Fox appeared. Since they were badly injured, they didn’t fully manifest, but they still had some effect.
Activating his luck buff, he silently repeated the proper question in his mind.
The Book of Answers began to tremble—more violently than it had even during the Hundred Ghost Parade. Su Er felt a strange sensation, as if the eye inside him was trying to absorb the luck granted by the Wish Fox, but because it wasn’t a direct luck transfer, the absorption was very slow.
Worried that something might go wrong, he moved to flip the book open before it stopped trembling.
In that instant, a cold sensation gripped him.
Someone had appeared out of thin air, firmly grabbing his wrist. Su Er looked up—and met a pair of amber-colored eyes.
“It’s been a few months, and your skills have improved,” the Divine Seer said as he let go. His gaze fell on the clay book, and for a split second, his normally calm face tensed. “You’ve even learned how to cheat for yourself.”
“......”a
Su Er’s hand was just a few centimeters from the Book of Answers. He gave up on flipping it. No matter how fast he was, he wouldn’t be faster than the Host.
Ji Heng mouthed: “If you want to flip it, just flip it.”
Su Er shook his head.
Sure, Ji Heng could probably stall the Divine Seer for a bit. But once he got the right answer, that’s when Ji Heng’s trouble would really begin.
He withdrew his hand and met the Divine Seer’s gaze without flinching. Su Er scoffed lightly, “I didn’t break any rules.”
As long as he hadn’t broken the rules, he could still stand on the moral high ground.
The Divine Seer said, “The Tianyi Gua gave you that eye at the cost of your luck.”
Even though he’d already suspected this, hearing it said aloud still made Su Er frown slightly.
Facing him, the Divine Seer’s brow also furrowed slightly. “The reason the game allows you to use that eye is precisely because of that cost.”
Now that Su Er was cheating manually, that balance would be disrupted.
“If the balance is broken, the instance will eventually find a way to destroy that eye,” said the Divine Seer. “Think carefully if it’s worth it.”
Su Er was silent for a second. “If I give up, is there any benefit?”
The Divine Seer shook his head without mercy.
It wasn’t a threat. After saying that, he turned and walked away without the slightest intention of looking back.
Su Er sneered, “He’s betting that I wouldn’t dare gamble with the eye’s usage rights.”
No doubt about it—pulling strings from the Divine Seer’s wool was damn hard.
He glanced at the clay book, then turned to Ji Heng. “You shouldn’t have any restrictions, right?”
Ji Heng shook his head and kept his eyes forward. After a moment, he suddenly smiled. “The buyers are here.”
Over by the corridor of the school building, two heads poked out of a window—Dan Meng and Jin Liya. It was already dusk, and at this distance, neither side could clearly see the other’s expression. Ji Heng made a hand gesture, telling them to wait.
On the way there, Su Er asked, “We’re selling it to them?”
Ji Heng replied, “This book can’t be taken out of the instance. Keeping it is pointless.”
Even the clay figurine couldn’t leave—much less a book tied to more than ten Wish Foxes.
A cool breeze flowed through the corridor. As Su Er and Ji Heng came upstairs, Dan Meng was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected results so soon. According to the agreement made when exchanging the idol, Ji Heng was to reveal the information he had obtained upon their next meeting.
“Earlier, we passed the basketball court and heard fighting in the short building,” Dan Meng spoke first. “Not wanting to get caught in the chaos, we hid in the teaching building.”
Ji Heng nodded in understanding and immediately began promoting Su Er’s handmade products without warning: “Enhances luck, improves page-flipping accuracy—only three items needed to own it now.”
“......”a
At least thirty seconds of silence stretched between the two sides.
Just when Su Er thought there would be no follow-up, a stifled “Buy” broke the silence.
Dan Meng’s facial muscles twitched slightly. His otherwise handsome features looked a bit distorted due to his shaved head, but he managed to squeeze out a question: “How many times can it be used?”
Jin Liya, standing nearby, said nothing. She couldn’t afford three items and was hoping to reuse it after Dan Meng finished, paying one item herself.
“Not sure. But it can’t be taken out of the instance.”
Dan Meng hesitated for a few seconds, then handed over the items.
There wasn’t the expected round of intense haggling, not even a moment of doubt over the product’s authenticity. The deal was made, just like that.
Su Er seemed thoughtful. No wonder Ji Heng chose Dan Meng as the transaction target: plenty of items, few questions, and most importantly—decisive.
Being a considerate seller, Ji Heng responsibly told them that the identity of the deceased student could be found by matching birthdays.
“So it was the birthday.” Jin Liya muttered to herself. She had clearly suspected it for a while but was missing that one last puzzle piece.
After some hesitation, Dan Meng still asked, “Now that you’ve sold the thing, what will you two do?”
Su Er looked up to the sky, feeling the sting.
Ji Heng calmly replied, “We have a side quest to complete.”
That single sentence dispelled Dan Meng’s remaining doubts. He didn’t delay further and hurried off to the office to look for clues.
Once the corridor was left with just the two of them, Su Er sighed, “I hope the reward for finding Zhang Xiaohua’s real killer is at least worth it.”
They’d taken a loss on this deal—the yin energy stored in the stun gun was nearly depleted from all the rapid book-flipping.
Shaking off the sense of defeat, Su Er recalled that Ji Heng had mentioned they already had a suspect in the poisoning case. He began analyzing if he’d missed something again. Unknowingly, they reached the fourth floor. Ji Heng didn’t interrupt his train of thought. Su Er snapped back to awareness: “I want to use the restroom.”
Ji Heng nodded.
As he was about to head up another floor, his peripheral vision caught sight of a classroom at the corner. On a strange impulse, he pushed the door open and walked in.
Under the cold and eerie moonlight, the Divine Seer sat on a small stool fiddling with a turtle shell. When he looked up and saw Su Er, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
“......”a
He wasn’t going to accept such a low-effort scam attempt!
Without another glance, the Divine Seer continued examining the turtle shell. Suddenly, he flicked his sleeve, and the window shattered. The Divine Seer moved so fast that all anyone saw was the trailing hem of his robe. When he sat back down on the stool, he tossed aside a strangled Wish Fox and spat blood again.
Su Er frowned at the sight. The Wish Fox wasn’t strong—why was killing it causing injury?
“Backlash.” The amber-eyed Divine Seer seemed to be able to read minds and spoke up on his own: “This particular Wish Fox was special—sent by the Fox Spirit to watch over you. In the future, there might have been a bad entanglement between you two.”
Su Er blinked and instinctively glanced at the person beside him, silently asking if this was some kind of illusion.
Ji Heng: “It’s not an illusion.”
Su Er pouted. Couldn’t the host have gone mad and decided to help eliminate a hidden threat?
Cutting off their silent exchange, the Divine Seer calmly said, “Eliminating certain elements in advance helps keep the instance stable.”
“......”a
Ji Heng paused a moment and explained, “He’s calculating the potential impact you might cause, eliminating threats ahead of time.”
Hosts weren’t supposed to intervene too much in an instance. Doing so usually resulted in some self-inflicted cost.
Just then, the Divine Seer spat out another mouthful of blood.
Su Er flinched and took a step back to avoid being hit by airborne blood droplets.
“Not afraid of dying in the line of duty?”
The Divine Seer replied coolly, “I’m violating the rules. The game will issue punishment and assign a new host.”
“Then why bother?”
Su Er was puzzled. Fixing flaws ahead of time only benefited the one who came after, while he himself bore the cost.
“Maintaining instance stability is my duty.”
The Divine Seer answered seriously. He was the complete opposite of Mister East West—he sought to fulfill every responsibility to the utmost.
After staring silently at the dead Wish Fox for a few seconds, Su Er left the classroom without a word.
When he reached the stairwell, he let out a faint breath.
Ji Heng: “Think of it positively—the deeper your involvement with the host, the easier it is to earn achievement points.”
Su Er shook his head. “This is actually a conspiracy.”
Ji Heng paused, waiting patiently to hear more.
“When players enter the game, they go through three general phases: energetic, highly alert, and utterly exhausted.” Su Er furrowed his brows. “Mister East West has a slacker’s nature, and has always been on the back foot since we started dealing with him. But the Divine Seer is different—he’s a workaholic, willing to hurt himself just to cut off my opportunities. After he’s gone, the next host will definitely be even tougher.”
Ji Heng didn’t quite get what he was trying to say.
“The hosts are getting progressively stronger, which perfectly aligns with my three phases. What does that tell you?”
Ji Heng tried to respond: “You’ll go from strong to weak—burn bright, then fade out?”
Su Er’s voice turned ominous, and he spoke slowly and clearly: “No, this is Tian Ji’s Horse Racing Strategy.”
“......”
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