The Next Time Will Hurt More

In the villa of the Widow Investigation Team, Lu Xiaorong suddenly slammed his hand on the table, causing many sunflower seed shells to fly off.

Surprisingly, the team members didn't scold him for this. They were also somewhat surprised as they watched Zhao Mou being pushed out of the camera's view and disappearing from the archives.

"It's a hungry ghost!" Lu Xiaorong stood up excitedly. "It's a hungry ghost!"

Yan Ming patted him on the shoulder. "Sit down, sit down, let's calm down."

Lu Xiaorong turned his head, his face still showing a hint of shock followed by a belated surge of ecstatic joy. "It's a hungry ghost!"

"Are you a broken record? We all have eyes!" Qiu Ziyan covered her face, seemingly unable to bear watching the little dumpling trembling so badly that her fat was practically jiggling. "You fucking sit down! Calm down!"

The disdainful female voice seemed to carry an irresistible authority, and before Lu Xiaorong could react, she had already subconsciously sat down.

Yan Li then turned his gaze away from the screen and said, "It's half a thing, only the head, no body. Look carefully."

Fatty Lu finally calmed down. "Oh..."

Look carefully.

I've calmed down.

"It's just a hungry ghost that came along with the offering; it has no physical form, no body, and its consumption is a consequence of the dissipation of its spiritual power." Yan Ming flipped through the book of offerings again, stopping at the page with Zhao Mou. "It's completely different from yours, but if you're interested, we can invite Zhao Mou over to ask him after the Fear Hospital ends."

Fatty Lu thought for a moment and said, "Great!"

Yan Ming at him knowingly. "I'm afraid you'll still be disappointed. Tsk... This is the first time Zhao Mou has taken out this offering; it seems to be a recent acquisition. So, which existing offering's slot does it replace...?"

Yan Ming went off to work on his book.

Yan Li looked at Lu Xiaorong's obese body and the table in front of him that only had Lu Xiaorong seeds on it, and his gaze darkened.

It seems we really need to have a talk with Zhao Mou. As the team leader, I feel very sorry for Lu Xiaorong's situation.

Few people remember that Lu Xiaorong's Persona Mask was called [Hungry Ghost].

Hungry ghosts, one of the traditional Chinese ghosts, are those who, after death, are burdened with some sin and are hungry all day long, yet their throats are as thin as needles, making it difficult for them to eat.

Such ghosts are perpetually hungry but unable to eat, their bodies are emaciated, especially their necks, which are so thin that one hand can encircle them.

As for Lu Xiaorong... he's much better than the hungry ghost; at least he can eat something, though only a little bit.

The side effect is that he gains weight after eating just a little bit. A meal that would fill a normal person up would make him gain at least ten kilograms.

Furthermore, you will feel a burning sensation in your stomach, which is extremely painful.

Yan Li had always wanted to find a way to make Lu Xiaorong less miserable, because this was, after all, just a side effect of the Persona Mask, not due to Lu Xiaorong's physical condition, so there was still room for improvement.

Finding a solution is just too difficult.

The wheelchair rolled a long way, and after Zhao Mou was pushed aside, he knew that Yu Xing didn't need him anymore. He gripped his cane, causing the hungry ghost to let out a scream, which made people's minds tremble.

The wheelchair continued forward, the phantom of the hungry ghost enveloping it before quickly disappearing into the darkness.

"Oh dear, the person you wanted to kill got away! Hurry up and chase after them!" Yu Xing blocked the doorway, kindly reminding Han Yan.

"Then would you please move aside?" Han Yan retorted, moving the gun barrel in his hand to Yu Xing's forehead.

"Sorry, I've been in a good mood lately and gained some weight, so I'm a little embarrassed." Yu Xing, quite distressed.

"... ha."

"What's the point of you doing this?" Han Yan seemed a little puzzled, yet also a little sarcastic. "Do you really think that if I'm not allowed to go to him, I can't kill him?"

In the darkness, some hidden entity moved through the shadows, following the sound of the wheelchair.

"Besides," Han Yan said with amusement, noticing Yu Xing's distracted attention in the direction Zhao Mou had left, "Someone has to be killed, right? If no one dies, how will you identify me?"

"Don't you... want me out of the game?"

"Of course I want to, there's still Shafuri," Yu Xing said innocently, looking incredibly kind. "Go ahead and kill Shafuri, I promise I won't stop you."

As soon as Shafuri stepped into the garden, intending to help dig, she felt a chill run down her spine.

The comments section was buzzing with inflammatory remarks.

[Poor Shafuri, she's on the Fallen Path. If she survives and sees the replay, Yu Xing is probably in grave danger.]

[That depends on Yu Xing's true strength. Besides, if Shafuri really survives, the Midnight Guild probably won't let her be enemies with Yu Xing Qu Xuanqing for a while.]

[Yes, we finally managed to cooperate on the same side, so let's at least have a truce for a month.]

[The Midnight Guild has gotten this bad in the last few days.]

This is Fallen Path from the line of depravity.

[Go check it out, several guilds have posted statements.]

[Hilarious, this is clearly a declaration of war]

[Wow, the Research Institute released a list of over a dozen hidden Single Prism members, and wow, I even saw one of my favorite Righteous Path star predictors in it!]

[The Zhao family also received several.]

Go watch it now!

Suddenly, several forces affected by the Fear Hospital incident seemed to have conspired together and launched a unified counterattack.

They can't interfere with the unfolding events, but can't they at least create chaos outside?

Suddenly, many hidden members of Single Prism were exposed, involving even more forces.

Some viewers went off to watch the excitement, but most stayed tuned to the live stream. They could watch the excitement anytime they wanted; right now, it was Han Yan and Yu Xing facing off one-on-one!

This Yu Xing; not only did he choose to confront the Despair-level guild head-on, but he also continued to provoke the Midnight Guild. Is this what emotional intelligence is?

Is it really safe to do the opposite?

"Shafuri..." Han Yan seemed to accept Yu Xing's suggestion with exceptional good temper, then asked in return, "And what about you?"

Yu Xing asked, puzzled, "Me?"

"Who are you going to kill to complete your mission?" Han Yan guessed that Yu Xing hadn't revealed the perpetrator's identity to everyone. So, besides targeting the real Ren Yi, the remaining targets were Yu Xing's own people. What choice would he make?

Tsk, even if he wanted to reveal his identity and get voted out in the next round, he'd have to kill someone first to ensure the alarm goes off in the next round, right? Who could he possibly bring himself to do that to?

"How about we make a deal?" Han Yan's voice carried a subtle, seductive undertone. "You let me kill one of your people, and I'll leave Shafuri to you. That way, you won't have to kill your friend. Sounds good, right?"

[So Yu Xing was another perpetrator?]

I thought I made the right choice by casting the Siren.

[The Siren, the most innocent woman in this situation]

"Then you implied to them that I betrayed my teammates, personally handing one of them over to you to kill?" Yu Xing had seen through this tactic long ago. A smile appeared on his lips. "That way, you can sow the seeds for your later instigation in the evening round, right?"

"What a pity, I don't intend to give you that chance. It's better for me to kill them myself than to let you kill them." Yu Xing took a step forward, deliberately pressing her forehead against Han Yan's gun muzzle, and nonchalantly took out the Sheqing Dreamscape, slashing it with a dagger.

Han Yan's forehead twitched. The other party was not afraid of firearms, which clearly meant they had something to rely on. They might have some kind of rule-based sacrificial item to resist firearms, or perhaps they could resist fatal attacks.

He stepped back, dodging the dagger, and then fired a shot at Yu Xing's leg. Yu Xing didn't dodge, and a flower of blood bloomed on his calf.

But he underestimated Yu Xing's speed. At the same time the bullet hit, the dagger in Yu Xing's hand flipped and slashed across Han Yan's chest at another angle, tearing open the Doctor's uniform.

A deep red gash appeared on Han Yan's chest muscle. The wound wasn't shallow; the amount of blood was considerable. This showed that Yu Xing had achieved his goal of provoking the Despair level.

"Ouch, that hurts!" As Yu Xing stabbed the man, the pain from the bullet wound spread through his nerves, causing him to stumble backward and fall to the ground, completely losing his composure.

His legs were bent from the pain, one hand supporting him on the ground for balance, the other hand trembling as he covered his calf. He even had the leisure to carefully separate his pants from the wound, lest they stick together later.

Han Yan looked down at Yu Xing, the contestant who was faking a fall, and silently calculated in his mind.

If Yu Xing's goal was to use Zhao Mou to lure him out and then prevent him from killing Zhao Mou, then this goal is no longer achievable, because the ghost he controls has already silently approached the wheelchair that is moving further away.

Who could blame Zhao Mou for having a leg disability? The sound of his wheelchair scraping against the ground was as noticeable as a bell in the quiet hospital.

Yu Xing clearly noticed the ghost leaving, so why waste time here?

He's not killing Yu Xing now purely because the rules are still in effect. He and Yu Xing are both perpetrators, so they can't kill each other. But he's not in a hurry; Yu Xing will die eventually.

So what is Yu Xing thinking right now? What does he hope to project to the audience, or does he have other plans...?

As he thought about it, he shifted the gun's muzzle, this time aiming it at Yu Xing's other leg.

"If you want to put on a weak and innocent act here, I don't mind helping you." Han Yan was very friendly, but looking at Yu Xing's actions, he threatened her in a sinister way, "How about... all four limbs broken? I'll put a few ball joints in them and let you experience the life of a doll?"

"Hmm, probably not necessary." Yu Xing's pants were stained with blood. He sat on the ground, and due to the angle, his slightly long bangs covered most of his face. It was difficult for Han Yan and the audience to see his full expression; they could only see the tip of his nose and... his smiling lips.

Two seconds later, he suddenly changed his mind. "Or you could try it too? Is turning people into dolls your ability? I'd really like to see it."

Yu Xing sincerely invited Han Yan to experience this kind of thing, but Han Yan was not very happy about it.

He wasn't very interested in Yu Xing, who couldn't possibly die in this round no matter what. Or rather, he could tell that Yu Xing wasn't the kind of person who would be afraid of physical torture. Rather than wasting time hurting Yu Xing here, it would be better to kill his companion in front of Yu Xing, let him see his own incompetence, and give him a clear understanding of his own strength. That's what torture is all about.

Han Yan squatted down, his gaze unusually darkening. He stared into Yu Xing's eyes and finally laughed, "You self-righteous... old fogey. Do you think this fake and clumsy performance can change anything? No, you can't change anything. Zhao Mou... I've already caught him."

Yu Xing looked up, her eyes bright, and chuckled softly, "Is that so?"

"Gurgle..."

The wheelchair bumped into an iron bed placed in the corridor, making an unavoidable noise. The hungry ghost, who was enveloping the wheelchair, continued to push it forward with extreme caution and clumsiness.

Her long hair swayed in all directions, some strands disappearing into the darkness and being swallowed up by the surrounding blackness.

The next moment, those few tufts of hair were suddenly grabbed by something. An irresistible force made the hungry ghost scream, and with a teeth-grinding friction, the wheelchair was forcibly brought to a stop.

The hungry ghost almost thought, "Why is this wheelchair so rudimentary? It needs to be pushed to move. If it were more automated, wouldn't the owner be able to crank the handles to move it forward by themselves?"

The ghostly creatures that swam from the darkness gave her no chance to think. The darkness surged forward and instantly surrounded the hungry ghost. They clung to the ghost's face like a layer of black mucus. Some of them were eaten by the ravenous ghost, making its color even darker and more transparent. The rest attacked the ghost wantonly. In less than ten seconds, the ghost was brutally crushed and disappeared from this dimension.

The dark shadows excitedly surged toward the person sitting in the wheelchair, only to find that the person had no signs of life.

Only then did they look closely and see that the person in the wheelchair was clearly a straw man!

The moment it was discovered, the scarecrow shrank from life-size back to the size of a palm, silently remaining on the wheelchair seat, only to be torn to shreds by the angry shadows.

At the same time, Han Yan received a message from the Shadows and raised an eyebrow.

This Zhao Mou, he actually pulled off a clever escape without anyone noticing, and no one knows where he started getting out of the wheelchair, leaving his ghostly figure chasing him for so long for nothing.

If we try to find him now, Zhao Mou has probably already escaped using other means.

"Only one chance." Han Yan held up one finger to Yu Xing. "The people I want to kill only have one chance to escape. Zhao Mou has already used up his chance."

"You only had one chance to kill him, and now you don't have it." Yu Xing returned the smile, which was undeniably offensive.

Han Yan didn't retract his finger. Instead, he touched Yu Xing's gunshot wound. On the surface, it looked like he was just lightly touching it, but in reality, only Yu Xing know that he used so much force that he almost poked another hole in the wound.

"Hiss." Yu Xing's leg cramped uncontrollably, and he stepped back, just out of the camera's view of the archives room.

"Does it hurt? That's good." Han Yan didn't care whether he was on camera or not; he laughed, "It'll hurt even more next time."