Human Nature

Last Words was less an item than an ability.

By turning sounds into bullets—Speech Bullets—Last Words could hold up to six sounds.

After firing a bullet and hitting Lu Ban, Lu Ban gained the ability to repeat those sounds.

This repetition completely defied common sense and would not be affected by Lu Ban's condition.

All he needed to do was open his mouth and make a sound.

Recording sounds depended entirely on Lu Ban's will. Opening the cylinder was not actually necessary; it merely served as a psychological cue to keep strange sounds from being recorded.

When a seventh sound was recorded, one of the previous sounds in the cylinder had to be discarded. If that Speech Bullet was already active on Lu Ban, its effect would immediately vanish.

Moreover, though he had not tested it, the knowledge in Lu Ban's mind told him that the Speech Bullets from Last Words currently worked only on himself.

"How should I put this? The ability I got for working so hard to complete the mission is a tape recorder. It feels like getting a box of nearly expired White Lover chocolates as a birthday present."

Calling it useless would be unfair. It was actually fairly useful.

But calling it useful felt wrong too. It did not seem particularly helpful for what Lu Ban needed to do next.

"At least I won't be short on background music now."

Lu Ban decided to record a segment of "Good Luck" and play it later whenever he went to tackle those bizarre little horror games, just to calm his nerves.

He focused his consciousness on the words "can be refined" in Last Words' description.

His fingers rubbed together, and the words twisted and spun.

Refinement

Sublimation Transformation

Spend resources in exchange for miracles

Recommended to try

Silence Points required: 10,000

"Should I be glad it doesn't at least require duplicate cards for a breakthrough?"

Lu Ban had originally looked at his two thousand Silence Points and thought he was practically rich.

Yet he had not expected that merely refining Last Words' ability would cost ten thousand points.

His already meager household finances had just been dealt another blow the moment he saw that description.

There was not even an upgrade preview. Lu Ban imagined that perhaps after upgrading, the revolver would become a submachine gun, letting him rattle off repeated sounds without stopping.

"No need to consider it for now."

He quickly made his decision.

His two thousand Silence Points were not enough for an upgrade. Rather than save them, he might as well spend some first and strengthen himself. What if a real ghost showed up during the next mission?

With that thought, Lu Ban, who had spent two hours studying Last Words, turned the pages before him back to the section with the three hanging heads.

Focusing his gaze, Lu Ban saw several descriptions formed from tiny, twisted yet clearly legible words around the three heads.

The head on the far left had blue-green eyes and looked bizarrely sickly.

End of the Corridor

An abandoned hospital, a hidden truth.

Legend had it that the room at the end of the hospital's deep, shadowy corridor concealed the truth leading directly to the end of life and death. Every year, people disappeared. Where had they gone?

You entered the hospital and saw the person in the mirror smiling eerily at you.

You knew that only by reaching the end of the corridor could you leave this land.

"Hiss, a hospital?"

Hospitals were common settings in all kinds of horror stories. Even normally, the morgue, the green glow of emergency lights at night, and the pungent smell of disinfectant often gave people a sense of fear.

Rotting nurses made of flesh and blood, plague doctors in bird-beak masks, Slit-Mouthed Women who died in medical accidents—there was no shortage of such things.

Exploring an abandoned hospital sounded terrifying just by itself.

Lu Ban looked at the head in the middle. Its eyes were blood-red, as though scorched by rage.

The Last Lesson

Ten years ago, a student hanged themselves in a dormitory.

Ten years ago, an accident caused the school to be abandoned.

Ten years ago, the students who left the school remained tight-lipped and refused to speak of it.

Ten years ago, what exactly happened during the last lesson?

You came to the school and saw several names carved with vicious force into desks in classrooms overgrown with weeds and covered in moss.

All right, sit down. The last lesson is beginning.

"An abandoned school?"

Lu Ban murmured quietly.

Abandoned schools were also places frequently haunted by ghosts. Innocent children often came with unreasonable malice and horrifying cruelty.

This mission looked similar to the hospital one. It was also an exploration-type mission.

Thinking of the completion rate and final mission evaluation, Lu Ban felt that this time might not be so simple.

He looked at the final head.

Pale light shone from its eyes, seemingly wreathed in Gray Mist, giving it an eerie and unfathomable feeling.

Who is Playing the Piano

Who was singing in the theater at midnight, playing forbidden melodies? In the empty audience seats, only lonely applause echoed.

Mournful murmurs always came from the theater destroyed by fire. You came here, unaware that you had already become a character on the stage.

Do not stop playing. Trust me, you would not want to see that scene.

"A theater destroyed by fire."

That was a rather uncommon location.

After thinking it over, Lu Ban could only recall The Phantom of the Opera and its derivative adaptation Song at Midnight as horror films with theater settings. Compared to schools and hospitals, this place seemed safer.

But from another perspective, most human fear came from the unknown. Lu Ban was mentally prepared for most things that might appear in schools and hospitals, but there was no telling what strange characters might be in a theater.

Still, all three missions seemed to require going somewhere. He could not complete one from home like last time.

What a pity.

Lu Ban soon noticed a number steadily decreasing in the corner of the horrifying head illustration.

21:34:56

"A countdown?"

Lu Ban quickly confirmed that there were roughly twenty-three hours remaining.

In other words, after receiving these new mission options, he had at most one day to make a choice.

"Let's investigate online first."

Lu Ban closed the book.

He planned to look up hospitals, schools, and theaters with similar backgrounds in advance and see whether he could find any information.

Then he would choose a mission and obtain the detailed information.

After that, he would buy some useful items.

An hour later.

Having finished reviewing the relevant materials, Lu Ban's mouth twitched.

"Completely useless."

There were certainly abandoned hospitals, schools, and theaters, but none had descriptions of the tragedies mentioned in Lu Ban's missions. They had all been abandoned for ordinary reasons such as poor management, relocation, or old-city redevelopment.

Perhaps even if similar cases existed, the system would erase them?

Lu Ban thought of the little game from last night. He had never heard of anyone else trying it online before.

He could only choose.

Lu Ban considered it.

If his experience could be recorded like before, then hospitals and schools would be too ordinary. A theater was fresher and more interesting.

Besides, he was a director. A theater sounded highly compatible with Lu Ban.

"I choose you."

Lu Ban lightly touched the pale head.