[Soul-Shaking Ancient Village] The Killing Rules Were Finally Clear

Jing Xi was devoured by the ghosts before their eyes, and the sound of rain outside gradually faded.

The sound of a child crying had already died away, but the heavy footsteps still wandered up and down the stairs and through the corridor.

Bloodstains and remains lay on the floor. The doll on the table had toppled onto its side, and fine cracks spread across it until it turned entirely to ash and was wiped away.

A trace of madness flashed across Chen Yong's face at having survived the ordeal. He looked almost deranged. "I survived... I have to stay alive until the instance ends."

As he spoke, he clutched his head and sobbed, his face hidden from view.

Xie Ran looked at the spot where Jing Xi had died, blaming herself somewhat, though it was no use. "Maybe it's better that she's dead. Now she won't have to suffer in the instance anymore."

Si Yehan found their reactions amusing, but remembering the letter he had seen not long ago, he decided to probe them. "Did you get anything strange? Why did you freeze in place earlier, with all those different expressions on your faces?"

Chen Yong raised his head and wiped away his tears, breathing hard. "When I was telling that part of the story, a dilapidated Buddha statue appeared before me. I saw a crowd of ghosts gathered beneath its lotus pedestal. A lot of people were thrown among them and left for the ghosts to devour. After that, I saw my mother die. The illusion seems capable of creating the scenes a person fears most."

Xie Ran's voice was a little hoarse. She handled pressure reasonably well, and as a doctor, she had naturally seen plenty of dead people in the outside world. But too many people around her had died in just two days. "I saw something that traumatized me as a child. After my mother ran off with someone else, my father drank all the time and lost his job. He didn't beat me, but whenever he finished drinking, he'd reek of alcohol and hold me while he cried and poured out his grievances. Later, he chose to kill himself. He loved my mother very much, and I hated her so much that I froze in place inside the illusion.

"It wasn't until the doll grew hot that I was pulled out of the illusion. All three of us went through something like that. It seems anything we've feared can pull us into an illusion."

Si Yehan's expression remained calm. It seemed these people still didn't know the instance's difficulty had increased. If they had letters, perhaps they were in their rooms. He could go take a look later.

"I see. The ghost's killing rule is that screaming means certain death. So let's go back to the second floor," Si Yehan said calmly. He didn't remind them to slow their steps and walk carefully.

Chen Yong and Xie Ran had some trouble adjusting to how quickly Si Yehan changed the subject, but when they saw him leave, they hurried after him. No one dug into why Si Yehan had left earlier and then come back.

For now, Si Yehan appeared to be the key to clearing the instance. On top of that, everyone else was dead, and people feared prolonged loneliness deep down, so no one wanted to offend him in the instance.

Si Yehan deliberately slowed his pace so he could bring up the rear and conveniently experiment on the two of them.

As soon as they reached the second floor, Chen Yong nearly ran headlong into a hunched ghostly figure. Blood dripped from its ink-black face, and its lips were like a slit. The terrifying sight made Chen Yong scream instinctively.

Xie Ran hurriedly avoided the ghostly figure and went around it.

The ghostly figure showed no reaction to the scream. The sound of rain outside had almost faded away, the number of ghostly figures in the corridor was dwindling, and the footsteps were nowhere near as muffled as before.

Having survived the ordeal, Chen Yong was naturally overjoyed. He walked straight through the ghostly figure, but failed to notice Si Yehan approaching from behind.

Si Yehan had seen what just happened. Now it seemed he could only experiment on Chen Yong, since Xie Ran had already put some distance between them.

He raised his foot and kicked Chen Yong in the waist. He deliberately held back, not kicking him straight to the ground, but making him stagger forward with heavy footsteps.

Terror filled Chen Yong's face. He stumbled, his footsteps thudding heavily, and when he turned to look at Si Yehan, the ghostly figure also turned to look at him.

The tall, thin, hunched ghostly figure seemed to be grinning broadly. Blood seeped from the slit formed by its lips and streamed down its face. Two holes appeared in its ink-black depths, scarlet light flickering inside them like pupils!

Shadows surged like a tide. Before Chen Yong could curse him out, the ghostly figure's long, thin fingers plunged into his body and ripped his belly open. His internal organs spilled out amid blood and fat.

Chen Yong raised a hand and pointed fixedly in Si Yehan's direction. Then his hand broke off, and his fingers fell limply.

As blood covered the world before his eyes, all manner of thoughts tangled in Chen Yong's mind. No matter how boundless his hatred, it was useless. His consciousness gradually unraveled.

An image seemed to appear before him: a ventilator stopping in a hospital. Tears fell from the corners of Chen Yong's eyes, mingling with the blood.

Then his head was torn off, and in an instant he was devoured by the ghostly figure, leaving only blood and remains scattered across the floor.

The corners of Si Yehan's lips curved upward, then settled. Now the ghost's killing rules were finally clear: screaming before the little ghost meant certain death; making heavy footsteps before the ghostly figures meant certain death; and both applied when facing the real ghost. These ghosts could also attack people in their sleep now, but falling asleep didn't mean certain death. Otherwise, he would already be dead.

The rain outside stopped, and the ghostly figures slowly faded away.

Terror flashed across Xie Ran's face. She had witnessed the entire process of Si Yehan causing Chen Yong's death with her own eyes.

Seeing the ghostly figures around her vanish, Xie Ran scrambled to flee. Si Yehan approached at an unhurried pace, his steps just as they had been before. A cold glint flashed from his sleeve as he drew a sharp knife and threw it.

It struck Xie Ran squarely in the lower leg. Blood seeped out, staining her clothes red, and she fell helplessly to her knees, her loose hair obscuring her face.

Watching Si Yehan draw closer, she spoke in a somewhat panicked voice, though her words were clear and orderly. "Don't kill me. I'm still useful. I can help you analyze the ghost's killing rules. Besides, killing me now won't do you any good. If you keep me alive, I can take a knife for you and test things for you... I still have something to do. I can't die here."

Si Yehan sneered. "Who told you killing you now wouldn't do me any good?"

Xie Ran froze and asked in confusion, "What good would it do? Apart from leaving you alone and leaving scraps of flesh and blood to be cleaned up, what else would there be?"

Si Yehan stepped forward and pulled out the knife. He planted his foot on Xie Ran's wound, tossing the knife up and catching it over and over in a mocking display.

Xie Ran's face twisted in pain. She reached desperately for the hem of Si Yehan's clothes, but couldn't touch it at all.

Si Yehan severed Xie Ran's fingers one by one with the knife. Blood stained her white doctor's coat red and dripped all over the floor. Flesh fell away, exposing stark white bone.

As Xie Ran lay dying, a calm voice sounded by her ear. "How could emotional value not count as a benefit? Fools like you really are laughable. You're the last participant I can kill at the moment, so naturally I have to use a few more methods on you."

Xie Ran's body was covered in countless wounds. Her gaze was venomous, but Si Yehan found it rather amusing and carved an upward-slanting cut at the corner of her eye.

A long time later, the corpse gradually turned to ash, and the blood covering the floor slowly dried.

The entire three-story building fell unusually quiet. Si Yehan leaned against the corridor wall, his gaze indifferent and the sneer still lingering on his lips. He had never really understood fools like her.

How could the pleasure of killing not count as a benefit?

People spent their whole lives pursuing power, wealth, and happiness, all for the pleasure of feeling fulfilled and secure inside. Some used killing as a means to an end, then gained pleasure once they achieved their goal.

But he could gain pleasure directly from killing, skipping all the steps in between. It was truly comfortable beyond compare.