Chapter 29: The Ghost That Plays the Victim, Silencing the Witness

One second he was praising Liu Nianqing for his kindness, and the next, Ji Yan was ruthlessly kicked out of the apartment.

"That woman’s husband is an unreasonable brute. The firewood chopper is yours, so that stab I dealt is on your head too."

"If you want to survive, run back to 404. Your two family members there might still be able to save you, though I doubt it..."

"It’s not dawn yet, and the landlord won’t interfere. May fortune favor you."

The door slammed shut, leaving only these few words from Liu Nianqing to scatter in the chilling wind. Ji Yan patted the flashlight in his hand, its beam flickering with a buzzing sound. The few drops of blood on the tip of the firewood chopper—the one that had wounded the ghost mother—were like adhesive, impossible to shake off. Moreover, it emitted an intense, fishy stench.

Because he was holding the chopper, his talent interface triggered, and lines of blood-red text emerged.

【The indelible scent of blood will attract the ghost mother’s husband in ten minutes. He is a "Dead-Eye Ghost"—blind, yet exceptionally ferocious and possessing an acute sense of smell.】

【The road home is not a path to salvation; only by moving to a higher floor can you find a way to live.】

【So, how will you save yourself?】

Perhaps it was because a fragment of his talent had been restored, but the "Omniscient Interpretation" was now much easier to trigger. The hidden information it provided even guided Ji Yan on how to survive.

"The talent is telling me that running back to the 404 ghost family won't save me."

"Not to mention whether the 'Grandmother' and 'Mother' ghosts have enough favorability to risk their lives for me, a fight between the 4th-floor ghosts and the 8th-floor ghost is a losing battle anyway."

Ji Yan muttered to himself, looking at the chopper. A higher floor is the only way to survive. Was his talent implying that the tenant of 801 could save him?

With only ten minutes, Ji Yan didn't have time to overthink. He turned and headed toward the stairwell. One must try everything; since he had helped the Resentful Ghost fulfill its lingering obsession, it shouldn't be out to kill him, right?

Back in the stairwell, Ji Yan stopped in his tracks as the talent panel popped up again.

【There is an eye in the dark coveting your firewood chopper. He has set a trap in the stairwell, and many passing players have tripped here before.】

【Did you notice there is an extra step on the staircase? This seems like a trap, but it is actually a rare opportunity for you to get rid of this hot potato in your hands.】

An eye in the dark? A "camper" player in the game?

Looking at the second hint, which couldn't have been more obvious, and then at the chopper in his hand, Ji Yan’s eyes suddenly brightened. He continued upward, "unwarily" stepping onto that extra stair.

The next second, with a *crack*, the step collapsed. Ji Yan’s right foot was sucked into something unseen. Then, a pair of eyes opened beneath the stairs, and a pair of hands covered in corpse spots reached up along his legs.

A hoarse voice rasped, "Kid, you're really careless. You broke my leg—didn't you see it?"

"Tell me, how are you going to compensate?"

Ji Yan’s mouth twitched. How was this "staged accident" scam even a thing in a ghost world?

"Old woman, why on earth are you sticking your leg out in the stairwell?"

The scammer ghost didn't listen. "I don't care what I was doing! Compensate me."

"Whatever treasures you have on you, hand them over, or I won't let you leave!"

Ji Yan felt a headache coming on. The hands became even more brazen, reaching toward his groin. "If you won't make a choice, I'll make it for you—I'll take this treasure of yours!"

Reflexively, Ji Yan swung the firewood chopper in his hand, stabbing it into the black mass of the scammer ghost beneath his feet. As the blade struck, it felt as if it were being sucked in, and he immediately lost his grip on it.

The next second, the scammer ghost slithered away like an eel, snatching the chopper and vanishing.

Ji Yan blinked, then shouted loudly, "Damn it, my knife!"

Confirming the other party had taken the blade, Ji Yan stopped shouting, clapped his hands in relief, and turned to continue upstairs.

...

Elsewhere.

The scammer ghost emerged from the stairwell, tore open a black, corpse-like skin suit, and out crawled a blonde male player. He held the firewood chopper, his eyes full of surprise. "This knife... it's a treasure!"

"Another night full of harvest."

He walked into a room. "Brother Long, I just swiped a treasure. See what you think of the quality."

Long Yuan, still working on his nighttime mission, turned his head. "What is it?"

When he saw the firewood chopper, his expression shifted slightly. "This knife looks familiar. Who did you steal it from?"

"Just some idiot. I scared him a little, and he dropped it immediately."

"Imagine having the nerve to come out for missions at night with that kind of mindset."

The blonde youth laughed and handed over the knife, showing it off. Long Yuan took it, immediately recognizing it as the ghost artifact Ji Yan had been carrying. His brows furrowed.

"Brother Long, do you know him?" the blonde asked, reading his expression.

Long Yuan shook his head, examining the chopper carefully.

Glancing at the food on the dining table, the blonde youth’s mouth watered. He had survived in this instance for 44 days by using his B-rank talent, "Cicada Shedding Its Skin," to impersonate nighttime ghosts and swindle gear from other players. He would trade the good equipment to Long Yuan for food. He was starving, having gone two days without a meal, and was counting on this to finally eat.

"I can trade it for three loaves of bread."

"Deal!" the blonde agreed without hesitation.

But then, Long Yuan noticed the bloodstains on the tip of the blade. His fingers couldn't wipe them off, and the fishy stench was incredibly pungent!

Long Yuan frowned. "Where did this blood come from?"

The next moment, realization dawned on him. His face changed, and he tossed the chopper back to the blonde. "Take your knife and get out!"

The blonde, who had been ready to pick out his bread, held the knife and asked blankly, "What's wrong?"

"You brought a death-trap of a knife to ruin me!"

"You have ten seconds to disappear from my room!"

Long Yuan’s face was grim, his eyes filled with killing intent. The blonde, terrified by Long Yuan, felt his hair stand on end. He could only turn and leave, clutching the firewood chopper.

But the moment he turned around, he saw the door to the room beginning to rot away, piece by piece. A severely decayed hand snapped the doorknob off.

"I smell the knife that wounded my wife here! No matter where you hide, it’s useless!"

Outside the door, the Dead-Eye Ghost, the husband from 804, had already blocked the exit.

Long Yuan cursed, "Damn it, a completely unprovoked disaster."

He grabbed the blonde by the hair and snarled, "You idiot! You were played by that kid and now you've dragged me into it. You're taking the fall for this!"

The panicked and bewildered blonde had no idea what was happening.

...

On the other side.

Ji Yan knew clearly that dropping the firewood chopper was just a stalling tactic. The ghost mother was so intent on killing him because she smelled the scent of the ghost from the rooftop on him.

Through the information he had gathered, he could deduce the truth: The parents had played a game with their daughter, telling her to hide in the rooftop water tank. It was no accident; the parents had covered it with that concrete slab themselves.

They never intended for their daughter to come out alive!

As for why they wanted their own daughter dead, that remained unknown for now.

Trying to get this family to voluntarily take back the daughter from the water tank was a dead end. He would only be hunted down to be silenced! The ghost mother’s aggressive posture, while seemingly triggered by the injury from his coffin nail, was actually a cover for her cruel crime against her daughter...

Right now, there was only one person who could help him—the resident of 801!

"I hope Huang Sheng’s favor is worth something," Ji Yan murmured, clutching the key the Resentful Ghost had given him as he inserted it into the lock of 801.