Cursed Malice

With the male corpse no longer interfering, the Clap Game proceeded smoothly.

Player Two, Shi Ji, took over from Wu Xian and became the new seeker.

Then Player Three, Yue Mei, quickly clapped three times in a row. She was ready to be found.

Shi Ji kept his eyes closed and didn't look for Yue Mei.

Instead, he felt his way through the darkness, searching the room for the source of the other clapping. He needed to find the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother and have her take over as seeker so she could find Yue Mei.

They had planned this in advance.

A single guest room at the inn was too cramped to hold all six survivors. But if they played the game in separate rooms, they would have to deal with the challenge of searching across rooms.

They listened as the Ghost Mother's footsteps faded away from the room.

The Ghost Mother's followers could lessen the impact of negative emotions during the Clap Game and earn her favor. They gained the privilege of briefly opening their eyes during the game, increasing their chances of survival in the blessed land.

Having become a follower, Yue Mei felt more and more that her former self had been ridiculous. All she had left in her heart was hatred for Wu Xian and the others.

"Damn, Brother Xian, I almost pissed myself just now. If I weren't always dealing with shit and piss, and had nerves of steel from it, that scene would've driven me crazy."

But the rules of the Clap Game meant...

They would be safe for quite some time. The next round wouldn't begin until the last player, Su Huijin, blew into the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother's eyes.

But the price was that she had to offer the Ghost Mother a sacrifice at regular intervals.

The inn room wasn't large.

That was an expression she would never have shown before.

And worst of all, every time Shi Ji touched the Ghost Mother, horrific scenes flooded his mind. Those desperate images twisted his expression, bringing him to the brink of a mental breakdown several times.

The game was far too intense. They'd probably die on the spot from a simultaneous heart attack and stroke not long after it started.

If he really opened his eyes to look at her, he would probably die a horrible death.

Room 401.

What's more, the chances of something going wrong were extremely high.

That way, none of the three groups of survivors would need to leave their rooms. It would greatly improve their safety and make the whole game more manageable.

"Oh no, this is bad!"

"I can't help it. You've only got yourself to blame."

Shi Ji quietly grumbled to Wu Xian.

This was far too dangerous.

But Wen Chao's movements were steady.

Shi Ji nervously felt his way over the Ghost Mother, his fingers nearly cramping. He had never touched a woman in his life. But knowing he was touching a tremendously powerful evil spirit left no room for lewd thoughts. He was terrified of touching somewhere he shouldn't and being brutally killed by the Ghost Mother.

The seeker had been switched!

The Ghost Mother pushed Shi Ji away and followed the sound of Yue Mei's clapping, slowly feeling her way toward Room 401. She moved slowly, like a real blind person, yet no matter how far away the next survivor was, she could always find them within ten minutes.

But switching the seeker wasn't easy.

Wu Xian's face darkened. "The mental shock from touching the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother is hard for even you and me to withstand. Yue Mei has the weakest will among us. What makes you think she can survive the mental corruption?"

Shi Ji had no answer.

Wu Xian gritted his teeth, a bad feeling rising in his heart. The Yue Mei who came back might no longer be the same person. She hadn't brought the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother back to help them out of their predicament. She had some other purpose...

Yue Mei, who had just escaped the role of seeker, suddenly opened her eyes.

Wu Xian and Shi Ji both let out a long breath. They had finally made it through this round.

So Wu Xian had proposed a strategy: whenever they needed to switch rooms, the seeker would go find the Ghost Mother and have her become the seeker, crossing between rooms to find the next person who clapped.

He kept his eyes tightly shut and searched inch by inch along the edges of the room, leaving no corner unchecked. No matter where the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother hid, he would eventually find her.

Shi Ji soon felt the tattered clothes and found the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother.

She hadn't died after having her eyes gouged out. Instead, she had earned the Ghost Mother's forgiveness, at the cost of becoming her follower and offering her high-quality flesh and bones.

Shi Ji's heart gave a sudden lurch. "What's wrong? Did something go wrong again?"

Back when she was still innocent and ignorant, she had thought she'd found a way to escape when she worshipped the Ghost Mother's statue. But the old woman had actually been treating her as a sacrifice for the Ghost Mother.

"Fine, let's say she really does have an iron will. Then why, after enduring two nights of hell, is she still looking so radiant—and showing such reverence for the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother?"

But when the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother truly touched her, the endless negative emotions that flooded into her instantly shattered her already fragile defenses.

Feeling their way through the darkness, one sat on the edge of the bed while the other sat on a chair. They gasped for breath. Just touching the Ghost Mother had already inflicted mental trauma on them.

That day, under the old woman's guidance, she had worshipped the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother. That very night, she had played the Clap Game to save her own life.

Seeing Wen Chao's hand almost reach the Ghost Mother's eye, about to fulfill the game's condition, Yue Mei spoke in a malicious, shrill voice.

Fortunately, Shi Ji finally managed to touch the Ghost Mother's eye.

But he didn't notice that something had changed.

She opened her eyes and faced the original evil spirit of this blessed land.

Yue Mei had been found by the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother.

Just then, Wu Xian's expression suddenly changed.

Yue Mei also had to offer sacrifices regularly. Otherwise, the Ghost Mother could make her pay for breaking the rules at any moment. And the Ghost Mother wanted the same kind of sacrifice Yue Mei was: high-quality flesh, untainted by this world!

So Yue Mei thought of the other survivors.

"If even one of you had been willing to help me back then, I wouldn't have ended up like this. Now it's your turn to pay for the bad decision you made!"

"I'm sorry, Professor Wen."

Wu Xian caught the smell of Pig Intestines at once...

After becoming a follower,

She kept encouraging herself.

During his long career in research, he had learned that nervousness was useless.

She felt her way through the darkness and found Wen Chao standing on the other side. The seeker had switched again.

"Maybe... she's soft on the outside, but tough on the inside?"

Wu Xian nodded in sympathy. He considered himself a man of strong will, but those images had shaken him mentally several times. An ordinary person would probably have...

Before Wen Chao could reply,

Yue Mei reached for Wen Chao's eyes. She was going to force him to open them!