Ye Xiaocen ultimately chose not to use force. Calmly, he ordered a portion of Snow Maiden Cake. Zhou Que was unwilling but had no other choice and followed suit.
A smile returned to the female chef’s eyes as she quickly plated their food. “Enjoy your meal.”
Ye Xiaocen turned and sat at a table near the door.
Zhou Que, not strong enough to see through the true ingredients of the Snow Maiden Cake, grew uneasy and asked, “Should we eat it?”
Ye Xiaocen didn’t reply. His gaze kept drifting toward the doorway. When Lin Lele and Chen Buqi entered, he deliberately made some noise and kept rubbing his wrist. At the same time, he glanced at Zhu Mei. “Why does the tattooed spot itch?”
Zhu Mei barely paid him any attention. Lin Lele, however, changed expression at once and hurriedly asked, “You got a tattoo?”
Ye Xiaocen nodded and reminded her, “Be careful with the food.”
Lin Lele lowered her eyes to the Snow Maiden Cake on his tray.
Ye Xiaocen pulled out a small vial and carefully dropped a single bead onto the cake’s surface. Instantly, the outer cream melted away, revealing yellowish lumps of fat.
Lin Lele turned her head aside after just one glance.
Ye Xiaocen went on: “The steak from Window One is human flesh and bone.”
“Thanks.”
Suppressing the urge to gag, Lin Lele exchanged a few words with Chen Buqi. The two of them ordered the same dish from Window Three but didn’t eat it, drinking only plain water throughout.
Su Er observed everything and whispered, “You did that on purpose?”
Ji Heng nodded. “According to Zhu Mei, skipping breakfast will definitely cause problems.”
Before terror descends, there’s always an order of victims. Lin Lele’s reaction made it clear she didn’t have a tattoo. Ye Xiaocen was deliberately baiting her into getting the same food so that if something went wrong, she would be the first to suffer.
Zhu Mei was still eating her Snow Maiden Cake, each bite releasing unpleasant chewing sounds.
Su Er rose from his seat, unwilling to linger.
When the others saw someone leave, they too quickly pretended to wipe their mouths and left one by one.
The female chef at Window Three fixed her gaze on the uneaten Snow Maiden Cake, her eyes unfathomable. “Those who waste food will be punished.”
Her voice drifted after them. Lin Lele, at the very back, shivered and quickened her pace to get out of the sickening farmhouse-style restaurant.
The rising sun began to drive away some of the mountain chill.
From the sky came the long cry of an eagle. With its call, envelopes slipped from its beak and scattered in all directions. One happened to snag on a tree outside the restaurant.
Ji Heng picked up a stone and, with a perfect arc, knocked the envelope down.
At the same time, Ye Xiaocen found one near the pond and unfolded it—
Dear brave guests:
As a well-known destination, Reincarnation Resort has a history of fifty years. Yet three years ago, the lady of the manor was tempted by the Book of Reincarnation, murdered her entire family, and vanished. Since then, the resort has become a place of terror.
My dearest guests, I hope you can find the Book of Reincarnation within seven days and burn it, so that future generations won’t repeat the same tragedy.
Ji Heng exchanged envelopes with Ye Xiaocen and confirmed the contents were the same.
“The date is yesterday,” Ye Xiaocen crumpled the envelope into a ball and tossed it into the trash, smirking coldly. “Consider it a special courtesy.”
This meant their first afternoon didn’t count.
“The mission’s finally released.” Chen Buqi actually sighed in relief. “The last one to come into contact with the Book of Reincarnation was the manor’s previous mistress. We’ll need to find out what became of her.”
Right now, their only lead was Zhu Mei.
Suddenly Zhou Que shouted, “Su Er’s gone!”
Ye Xiaocen seemed to realize something and hurried back into the cafeteria. As soon as he entered, he saw Su Er nodding like a pecking chick, sitting obediently in front of Zhu Mei, listening to her recount the past.
When Zhou Que caught up, his face sank. “That’s too selfish of you.”
Interrupted mid-speech, Zhu Mei’s gaze turned cold.
Zhou Que quickly forced a fawning smile and apologized repeatedly.
“Anyway, that’s how it is.” Zhu Mei had finished her story. Carrying the plate of leftover fat, she went to Window Three and complained that today’s ingredients weren’t fresh.
The female chef at Window Three put her hands together pleadingly. “Please don’t fire me. I promise tomorrow’s will be fresh!”
Even as she spoke, her eyes flicked toward the players.
For the group, the chef’s threats mattered less than the information Su Er had extracted from Zhu Mei.
Su Er shrugged. “If you want it, you can ask her yourself.”
“Just one question.” Before leaving, Ye Xiaocen asked, “Where’s the current owner of the manor?”
On their first day, Zhu Mei had stressed that she was only temporarily managing Reincarnation Manor in his stead.
Su Er replied, “No idea. They communicate through eagle letters, forming a kind of special employment relationship.”
Zhou Que refused to give up, staring at him suspiciously. “That’s it?”
“You’re questioning me?”
The corners of Su Er’s lips curled, but his eyes were icy cold, as though looking at a corpse.
For an instant, Zhou Que felt as if countless waves of malice were closing in on him. Instinctively, he swallowed back the retort that had risen to his lips.
“Say less,” Ye Xiaocen said, gazing at Su Er’s back. “Something’s not right with him.”
This time Zhou Que didn’t argue. In that moment, he could clearly feel that Su Er truly wanted to kill him.
Kind people get bullied—that was one of the reasons Zhou Que dared to run his mouth so recklessly. Su Er had a good reputation in the game; players who had teamed with him were consistent in their assessment: as long as you didn’t provoke him with violence, he wouldn’t bother you, and he would even share clues proactively.
But in this instance, Su Er had shown no intention of siding with anyone.
“So the rumors were wrong,” Zhou Que muttered sourly. “Looks to me like he’s just tired of putting up the act.”
Lin Lele was curious. “You two have a grudge?”
Zhou Que’s tone went cold. “He made me lose a high-level item.”
The item was the excuse, but jealousy was the root cause—something he would never admit.
Ye Xiaocen cut through Zhou Que’s resentment and looked at Lin Lele and Chen Buqi. “Those two have already decided to keep to themselves. Our only way out is to work together.”
Lin Lele barely hesitated before nodding.
Chen Buqi said nothing, but by standing there, his stance was already clear.
Su Er himself also felt the strangeness within him.
Walking along a mountain path, the furrow in his brow never smoothed. After a long pause, Su Er took out the stun gun. If earlier he had been fifty percent certain, now he was a hundred: the stun gun was the incarnation of some powerful ghost.
He should have realized it sooner—how could it both release yin energy and launch attacks? This wasn’t some AI robot!
And no high-level item should ever possess such awareness.
Ji Heng muttered, “The best solution is to discard it now, once and for all.”
But who would give up such a powerful crutch for an unknown reason? Besides, true strength never fears any challenge.
When he turned his head, Su Er was already gone. Looking around, he finally spotted him on the lawn, drenched in sweat, squatting and digging a pit with his bare hands. Once the hole was deep enough, Su Er unhesitatingly dropped the stun gun in, buried it, and stomped the soil down firmly with his feet.
“......”a
The slap in the face came that fast and that sudden.
After finishing, Su Er let out a long breath. Looking up, he caught Ji Heng making a strange gesture, rubbing his cheek. Su Er looked puzzled.
“My face… toothache.”
Ji Heng forced an explanation.
Su Er didn’t dwell on it. Stretching lazily to loosen his muscles, he said, “I had no choice.”
Some things could be tolerated, but something that could affect his mind—he really couldn’t risk keeping it. “Ever watched fantasy dramas? This thing is like a demonic sword. It gives its wielder immense power, but one day, the wielder will lose control and turn into a bloodthirsty fiend.”
Ji Heng looked at him deeply. “You’ve thought this through.”
With the stun gun dealt with, Su Er finally felt some relief and turned the topic back to the mission. “Zhu Mei said the Reincarnation Resort used to be run by a family of four, living in a bamboo house…”
Before he could finish, he felt a faint new weight on him. Reaching into his pocket, he touched a familiar casing.
The stun gun was back!
Su Er’s face darkened as he pulled it out. He suddenly recalled—he had bound the stun gun long ago.
Ji Heng caught his train of thought and shook his head. “There must be more to it.”
Normally, a bound item abandoned by its owner would at most become unusable by others.
“Forget it.” Su Er pushed down the urge to deal with it for now and raised his eyes toward the bamboo house nestled among the green trees nearby. “Let’s go take a look.”
The bamboo house had two floors. Below, a separate space still bore traces of once housing animals. In truth, the mountain environment wasn’t suitable for bamboo houses, so the original owner likely built it for its scenic value.
Su Er had only ever seen such structures in textbook illustrations, and the one before him was quite different. Most bamboo houses avoided snakes by using square pillars, but this one was supported by twenty-two round columns, each carved with a goat motif.
The crime scene from three years ago was preserved in its rawest state: walls spattered with dark red stains, blood on the floor leading up the stairs. From these traces, it wasn’t hard to imagine the brutality of that night.
The victims had desperately tried to flee, only to be slaughtered by the lady of the manor in the end.
Glancing around, Su Er walked to a cabinet in the corner and picked up a family portrait. In the photo, the family of four smiled brightly: the little girl and boy held hands, while the husband wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulders. Nothing in the photo hinted at the tragedy to come.
But what drew the most attention was the appearance of the lady of the manor.
Some people were naturally beautiful but soulless in expression. The lady was different—her features were ordinary, but every movement, every smile carried an irresistible charm.
Born with innate allure, it radiated from her completely. That same seductive quality, Su Er had also seen in Zhu Mei.
Just about to set down the photo frame, the woman in the picture suddenly widened her smile.
“Come.”
The sultry voice slid into his ears, as if it could burrow straight into his heart—not something sheer willpower could resist.
Dizzied, Su Er swayed slightly. The eagle tattoo on his arm suddenly flared out a shadow, clawing hard at the photo. The woman in the picture, unwilling but helpless, returned to her place. At the same time, Su Er snapped back to clarity.
“Come find me at midnight.”
By the time he steadied himself, the photo had already returned to normal. Even using his charm to probe, he could only sense the faintest trace of yin energy, as if those last words had been nothing but a hallucination.
“This photo…”
“I know.” Ji Heng stepped over, clearly aware of what had just happened.
As he spoke, he rolled up Su Er’s sleeve. The tattoo had faded, the eagle far less spirited than before.
Su Er immediately understood. “The tattoo can protect me, but it’s limited in number of uses.”
“More precisely, it depends on the ghost’s power. Against a true fierce ghost, it can only resist once.”
Just as Su Er wondered how he knew so much, Ji Heng showed his own tattoo—now only a faint outline.
Su Er’s eyes widened. Only then did he notice Ji Heng’s hand wasn’t its usual icy cold but burning hot. Acting on instinct faster than reason, he opened his inner sight: more than twenty black-horned red-eyed goats clustered behind Ji Heng. One of them sensed him and looked back. A surge of searing lust shot through him, and his breath caught.
If just one glance had such an effect, what must it be like for Ji Heng, surrounded by all of them?
“Careful…”
Before he could finish, stabbing pain lanced through his head. Su Er’s heart sank.
The mysterious eye in Tianji City had already shown its flaw—facing too many ghosts at once would consume immense power. But it was too useful, and he had kept relying on it. Now the backlash hit hard.
Before, it was only headaches. This time even his consciousness was slipping away.
The last thought before he fainted was bafflement: since when had he developed Lin Daiyu’s fragile constitution?
Ji Heng caught his slender body in time, saving him from crashing to the ground.
But Ji Heng himself wasn’t well. Though talismans suppressed it, the effect was weak. Goats were unlike ordinary ghosts—they didn’t attack outright but magnified hidden human desires until one was wholly consumed by them.
The pale slender neck was within reach, the devil’s whispers at his ear:
“Bite it.”
“Drink the hot, sweet blood to the last drop, and you will be together forever.”
The pressure of the phantoms bent his spine. Ji Heng’s pupils lost focus. His lips brushed unconsciously against Su Er’s neck.
Dozens of goat-shadows merged into the face of a woman, grotesque and eager, commanding: “Bite it!”
But the bloody scene never came. His lips lingered softly at the skin for only a moment before pulling away.
In just a few blinks, the intoxication in Ji Heng’s eyes vanished. Standing straight, knife in hand, he slashed down the goats one by one. Calmly, he spat: “Beasts! You’d have me prey on a boy who hasn’t even graduated high school.”
The severed goats quickly reformed, though clearly shaken.
What just happened?
He’d been ready to give in—
So, why did it feel like they’d been tricked instead?
Meeting each other’s eyes, the phantoms realized it was daylight. Their strength was weakened. It was futile to persist, and they retreated back into the pillars.
Ji Heng sheathed the knife and lifted Su Er into his arms. As he carried him out, his gaze fell on the faint kiss mark at the boy’s neck. His lips pressed together. So this was what it tasted like.
He wasn’t the sort to take advantage. Kissing was too intimate, something that needed consent. After weighing it over, he merely brushed the spot lightly with his lips.
Next time—whatever happened—would wait until Su Er had finished his college exams.
If anyone found out later, he could always blame it on the goats.
Weak sunlight filtered across the bed. Though it should have been the hottest time of day, the mountain air remained cool.
When Su Er woke, it was already afternoon. His head throbbed.
Rubbing his temples, he resolved not to use the Eye again anytime soon.
He called out twice, but no one answered. Ji Heng was nowhere to be found. But the blanket over him made it clear Ji Heng had brought him back. For now, he was safe.
“Strike while he’s down…”
The eagle had pecked the photo earlier; most likely the ghost was still weak. Su Er glanced outside, weighing whether to double back and search the bamboo house again.
The thought hadn’t settled when his face abruptly changed. The stun gun was gone. In its place, a smooth hide coiled around his ankle, crawling up his leg.
Cruel reality proved that ghosts and humans alike believed in striking the sick.
Getting real food from the dining hall wasn’t easy. Ji Heng had worked hard to bring back a bowl of porridge.
Hearing footsteps, Su Er opened the door himself, smiling with bright crescent eyes. “You’re back.”
Ji Heng looked at him for a long moment before quietly setting the porridge down.
“Drink while it’s hot.”
“Alright.”
But the next moment, Ji Heng’s fist came flying out of nowhere.
Su Er’s face drained in alarm. Just as he was about to dodge, the fist stopped short before hitting him.
“Don’t play tricks like—”
The words cut off as he noticed an open wound on Su Er’s arm. Three talismans slapped around it, binding his movements.
Ji Heng acted with ruthless precision. Tearing at the split, he ripped off a whole sheet of skin.
Su Er’s will had been restrained all along. That hide had been trying to consume him from within, controlling his body. They had been locked in stalemate—until Ji Heng ripped it away.
Watching the skin squirm on the floor, Su Er’s brow furrowed.
The talisman power was strong, but even that was slowly being dissolved by the hide.
Ji Heng’s eyes hardened. “The stun gun?”
Su Er nodded. He hadn’t imagined that the stun gun he carried all along was, in fac,t a hide.
“This isn’t ordinary skin.” Ji Heng’s expression was grave. “It’s an exceptionally rare Painted-Skin Ghost. It can shift into many forms, lure other ghosts, and devour yin energy.”
Su Er drew in a sharp breath, a shiver of fear running through him.
After a pause, he turned his head away. “By the way, how did you know I was possessed?”
“The badge is still here, which means the body is yours.” Ji Heng let his guard down around him and spoke without thinking: “But the kiss mark on your neck is gone.”
With that kind of sucking force, the mark wouldn’t disappear in such a short while.
“......”
Silence—suffocating silence!
After a long time, Su Er’s gaze flickered, his eyes narrowing dangerously: “What did you just say?”
“......”
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