Chapter 30: Ten Ways To Summon Ghosts (9)

Source: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1388844.html

But this time, Shu Yushuang replied to Hu Yue in a different way,  

“If I don't have the guts, how can I survive in the dungeon?  

Besides, I know very well—killing me now won’t do you any good.  

We haven’t reached the point where we need to kill each other.”

“Then what about Liang Qi? She isn’t very friendly to you.  

Aren’t you afraid I might’ve made some deal with her to hurt you?”

Since Shu Yushuang said a bit more than usual, Hu Yue felt like talking too.

When she heard the question, Shu Yushuang opened her eyes and stared straight at Hu Yue.

She asked, “Would you?”

Shu Yushuang’s gaze felt like it could see right through her brain.  

Hu Yue looked away as she said, “No, of course not.”

Shu Yushuang closed her eyes again.  

“If nothing unexpected happens, wake me up in three hours.”

“Okay.”

Hu Yue was a bit surprised by Shu Yushuang’s trust.  

But she knew very well—they both really needed a teammate right now.

….

Ever since Qin Su left Fang Xiqiong’s theater last time, she had been restless.

Like now, because she kept thinking about Shu Yushuang, she didn't even notice the prop tossed at her by the Executor in front of her.

“Hiss… That hurts!”

Qin Su frowned and changed into a ghost face to try scaring the Executor, but then she realized they were already gone.

“Ai,” Qin Su could only sigh and shift back into her normal form.  

“I wonder how she’s doing… If only I could’ve stayed in that dungeon forever.  No, wait—what if she enters my dungeon next time? The ghosts here won’t let Executors off so easily. But what if she can’t even survive the dungeon she’s in now?”

Qin Su sighed again and again, not realizing that most of her waking hours were already spent thinking about Shu Yushuang.

“I really want to visit Fang Xiqiong again, but…”

Qin Su’s gaze drifted toward an unknown place in the distance.  

Maybe the person she was thinking about was there—or maybe not.

After she left Shu Yushuang and returned to her own dungeon, Qin Su had become very focused on finding a spirit medium.

She thought, if she could break free from this dungeon that bound her, then she could stay by Shu Yushuang’s side anytime.

Was it really just because of her promise to Shu Ya back then?

Yes, just because of that promise.

Qin Su didn't dare to think about any other possibilities.  

If she were still human, she would never be this timid—but she was a ghost now.

To be fair, for someone born in that era, Qin Su's mindset was already very forward-thinking.  

But even so, she still didn't dare to clearly define what her feelings for Shu Yushuang truly were.

If she treated it as a “favor from an old friend,” then she wouldn't feel so much pressure—even though she and Shu Ya had only met by chance.

If she was lucky, she wanted to accompany Shu Yushuang safely through the rest of her life.  

If she was unlucky, then she still wanted to stay with Shu Yushuang until her final breath.

As for anything beyond that, Qin Su didn't dare imagine it.

At the same time, the person Qin Su missed day and night had safely made it through another day.

Shu Yushuang and Hu Yue took turns resting—three hours each before waking the other up.  

And surprisingly, they managed to pass a whole day just like that, safe and sound.

During this time, they heard no screams from outside, no sounds of the doll moving—  

It was so quiet, it felt as if everything else had vanished, leaving just the two of them.

But Shu Yushuang knew this was most likely just the calm before the storm.

Still, she didn't want to make the first move. After all, the doll was not a threat to her life at the moment. In the last game, the reason she had gone out of her way to find a solution was because, if she hadn't, that female ghost would have killed her right away.

But clearly, Hu Yue was not as calm as Shu Yushuang.

“There’s no sound outside. Should we go take a look?”

“No need for now.”

“But if Yang Zeng is already dead, and we still know nothing, we’ll be in a really passive position.”

“No, if Yang Zeng were dead, that doll would’ve come for us already.”

“Why? Can’t it just skip Yang Zeng and come kill us first?”

Shu Yushuang shook her head. She didn’t feel like explaining too much.

By now, she had already figured Hu Yue out—this girl has ambition, but not enough brains to back it up.

It was obvious the first few steps in the game were all done by Yang Zeng, and the fingernail inside the doll was his.  

So after taking out the ones who obviously broke the rules, the doll’s first real target had to be Yang Zeng.

Hu Yue caught on quickly and didn’t ask further.

Shu Yushuang looked through the peephole. The hallway was still completely empty.

Still, she couldn’t shake off a nagging worry.  

If Yang Zeng’s goal really was to drag everyone else down, then how could he not have realized he’d be the doll’s first target?

If he was smart enough and had the ability to survive, he’d have known—he had to die first to make sure the rest would die too.  

But clearly, he didn’t want to die.

Was he really just that evil? Willing to throw his life away just to kill everyone else?

Then again, the bigger the forest, the stranger the birds.  

There were way too many lunatics in this world who’d take others down with them once they knew they couldn’t survive.

Hu Yue glanced nervously at the door.  

Right now, she could only hope Yang Zeng could hold on until the doll ghost left.

At this time, Shu Yushuang asked Hu Yue: "Besides spitting salt water on the doll, is there any other way to beat this game?"

“There probably isn’t,” Hu Yue said. “I’ve never played this game before. I just saw a rough outline of the steps online.”

Shu Yushuang nodded and said nothing more.

It seemed she should not ignore ghost-related entertainment from now on. If she could leave this dungeon alive, she would definitely read more about this kind of material.

Time ticked by, every second laced with tension. Shu Yushuang felt she could not just sit around any longer. Even if there was no danger for now, staying holed up in the room would do no good. To be honest, she really hadn'thing to talk about with Hu Yue. And in a quiet setting like this, people only got more and more nervous the longer they stayed.

Shu Yushuang decided to go out and talk to Fang Xiqiong. She wanted to see if there was any important information about this game she still didn't know.

Only now did she realize that the woman downstairs who called herself the Regulator was likely the dungeon’s hidden path to survival.

But if Fang Xiqiong knew what she was thinking, she would probably just laugh. She only liked studying ghost lore. She knew how to crack some ghost-summoning games, but… the dungeon never played by the rules.

Take the ‘Ghost At The Door’ game for example. The dungeon used one Executor’s hatred to make all the other Executors miss the first possible route to survival.

As for the traps in ‘Hide-and-Seek’, those were even easier to set. No saltwater, no escape.

Fang Xiqiong’s knowledge could help Executors live a little longer. But to help them clear the dungeon completely? Absolutely impossible.

When Shu Yushuang went downstairs today, the lights in the first-floor lobby were all on. There were no so-called harmless wandering souls in sight.

Fang Xiqiong was still reading the newspaper, but the moment Shu Yushuang came downstairs, she looked up at once. Clearly, she was not reading seriously.

“What’s today’s game?”

“Hide-and-seek.”

“How many players?”

“One.”

Fang Xiqiong’s expression relaxed a little. She leaned back slightly in her chair, then calmly asked Shu Yushuang, “No salt water, right?”

“Right.”

“Is the person playing the game dead?”

“Probably not.”

Fang Xiqiong looked even more at ease. “Then you don’t need to worry for now. As long as that person’s alive, the doll won’t go after anyone else.”

But Shu Yushuang still looked serious. She asked, “What if, starting from a certain point, all the Executors got pulled into the game?”

Hearing that, the relaxed expression on Fang Xiqiong’s face slowly faded.

“What do you mean? All the Executors got involved?”

“Exactly what I said. That Executor dragged all of us in. There are only four people still alive.”

Fang Xiqiong stared at Shu Yushuang in shock, her mind still trying to process the information.

Only four people left?

Source: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1388844.html

Since she took over this theater, it was the first time she had seen something like this.

It was only the third game, yet more than half the Executors had died. And among the survivors, one of them even seemed to be a lunatic.

After frowning and thinking for a while, Fang Xiqiong finally spoke. “If he dragged you all into the game during the third step, then it’s not too bad. The doll will still go after him first, then the rest of you. But aside from the salt water, the instance also hid something else from you: after the game fully ends, you need to burn the doll. But I don’t know if it counts as ‘game over’ when all of you joined and only one person died.”

Shu Yushuang also sensed how tricky this was. That’s right—no one knew what exactly counted as the full end of the game.

The two of them sat in their chairs, silently staring at each other.

When it was almost dawn, Shu Yushuang finally asked, “Can I borrow a lighter?”

“Sure, but you should still be cautious.”

Shu Yushuang took the lighter Fang Xiqiong handed her, thanked her, and went back upstairs.

When she entered her room, Hu Yue was groggily sitting up in bed. Looked like she had just woken up. Shu Yushuang thought she sure had a big heart—that really didn't match the impression she gave at first.

Could something be wrong?

With that in mind, Shu Yushuang moved to the farthest corner of the room.

Hu Yue didn't seem to notice her wariness. After stretching a bit, she asked, “Where did you go?”

“Downstairs.”

“Was there anything downstairs?”

“There was a woman… You haven’t gone downstairs?”

Shu Yushuang grew even more alert.

“Why did you go downstairs?”

“To find something to eat. Otherwise, what have you been eating these past few days?”

Hu Yue took a prop out of her pocket and waved it in front of Shu Yushuang.  

“This prop can create some food. It doesn’t taste good, but it’s enough to fill you up. I got it in the last instance. It’s pretty useful in dungeons like this. I’m not willing to risk my life just to find food.”

Shu Yushuang half-believed what Hu Yue said, but at least she gave a reason. Shu Yushuang felt it would be a bit too cold to keep treating her like a threat.

She took out the lighter Fang Xiqiong had lent her. Only now did she realize it wasn’t a disposable one—it was an old Zippo.

The Zippo was covered in scratches, looking very worn. It was clear its owner hadn’t taken much care of it, but Shu Yushuang didn’t think too much of it.

Downstairs, Fang Xiqiong reached into her pocket and suddenly showed a frustrated look.

“Damn, gave the wrong one! But... if it can help these Executors, you’d be happy too, right?”

Fang Xiqiong let out a deep breath and picked up her newspaper again. But she didn’t really feel like reading anymore.

Back in Shu Yushuang’s room, Hu Yue asked what she had gone downstairs to do, but Shu Yushuang brushed it off casually.

She didn’t want to tell Hu Yue about the final step.

After hearing her response, Hu Yue clearly didn’t believe her, but in the end, she didn’t say anything.

Shu Yushuang didn’t want to talk to Hu Yue any more than necessary. She had other things to think about right now.

If the doll never found Yang Zeng, would the game end after three days?