Chapter 44

After making sure the Granulation Ghost had not caught up to them, the people upstairs all let out huge sighs of relief.

The tense atmosphere lingered as the darkness receded and dawn gradually broke.

Day fourteen of the game.

The once fairly harmonious group of players split into two camps again after Manager Liu had pushed someone out to take the hit.

It was not that Nie Yun feared Manager Liu would use his teammates as shields and no longer wanted to team up with him. Rather, Manager Liu had struck first, ordering someone to tie up both him and Old Wang and confiscate all the Exorcism Props on them.

Old Wang said, "?I can join you guys!"

Nie Yun played dumb. "Why are you tying me up? Aren't we teammates?"

Manager Liu chuckled, his expression returning to its usual calm. "Two days left. The two of you will be enough to get us through the final two days."

Nie Yun felt as sick as if he had eaten shit. He had actually trusted them!

He lowered his head, filled with regret.

He had forgotten the headquarters' teachings. He had thought too highly of human nature. He had believed that if he showed kindness to others, they would return that kindness. It was all his fault... he was just too naive!

Sniffling, he looked at Old Wang. Old Wang looked a little awkward. "Would you believe me if I said I was joking?"

This time, Nie Yun truly cried. Tears splattered down as his two-hundred-pound body suddenly looked frail and helpless.

Not far away, behind a crumbling wall, Ye Zhao had watched the entire scene unfold.

She clicked her tongue and shook her head. Nie Yun had indeed paid the price for his innocence.

Ye Zhao had given Nie Yun the bronze mirror before because she thought he was rather innocent. Later, she gave him compressed biscuits because he had extended a hand of friendship first. She might not have much of a conscience, but she had always repaid kindness with kindness and grudges with grudges.

She sat back down, unwrapped a milk candy from her pocket, and popped it into her mouth. Its sweet flavor drove away the ugliness of human nature.

Taking out her phone, she scrolled through the players' forum.

Sure enough, the tone of the posts had changed. Most of the previous comments had been cries for help, complaints, encouragement, and support. Now, there were accusations and condemnations.

[I'm reporting Liang Zu by name for murder! He pushed his companion out to feed the ghosts! He's a murderer! He even stole my game items! He's utterly vicious! If you run into him in the future, be careful!]

[So scary. I saw several people in the building across from mine join forces to throw a woman downstairs! They're not human!]

[Every man for himself, or heaven and earth will destroy him. One person dying can save several others. They died for a worthy cause.]

[Then why don't you go die?]

[Survival of the fittest. They can only blame themselves for being too weak. This was always a cruel world.]

[You're already in the Survival Game, and you still expect the police to come uphold justice? Idiots.]

[Let me tell you all—the way to stop them from going berserk is to sacrifice people to them. Only when they calm down can we survive!]

[Hahaha, choose for yourselves. Do you die, or does someone else die?]

[...]

After devouring humans, the ghosts could somewhat ease their frenzied emotions. This was not exactly a difficult secret to discover. If someone claimed ghosts would become docile after drinking Banlangen, now that would be truly hard to imagine.

So the secret spread among the players. The once relatively united player camp instantly fell apart, and everyone began watching out for one another, each fearing for their own safety.

Situations like those involving Manager Liu and Nie Yun were playing out everywhere.

This was not only a world where ghosts ate people. It was also a world where people ate people.

Moonlit Night Boat Journey: [Everyone, don't be like this. We Blue Star players should stand on the same side and resist them together! No matter what difficulties we face, we should never cast aside our original beliefs and conscience. If we can only survive by hurting our companions, then what is the difference between that and being dead? Would those of us who survived still be human? Wouldn't we regret it and suffer when we wake in the dead of night?]

[Wuwu, seeing everyone like this truly hurts me. Please hold fast to the beliefs in your hearts. I believe we will achieve final victory!]

After Ye Mingyue sent this message, she finally felt a little better.

Though she wanted to help everyone, her strength was limited. This was all she could do.

She hoped everyone would not lose their humanity and would hold fast to their beliefs. Yet after sending the message, the first reply she received was:

[Idiot! If you're so noble, why don't you give your game items to everyone for free?]

Ye Mingyue's face darkened when she saw the comment. She helplessly shook her head, put down her phone, and looked at the man before her. "Sigh, I've already done my best. But when I think about how players will become less and less human in the future, more and more cold-blooded, until killing becomes an ordinary thing, I still feel so sad."

The man was exceptionally handsome. He had long, narrow eyes, and when the corners of his lips curved in a smile, he looked like a romantic young master from ancient times. "They're all irrelevant people. Why care about them?"

Ye Mingyue sighed helplessly. "I just don't want to see too many people die. Besides, if those people who casually kill their companions return to reality, they'll bring disaster to the real world too."

The man frowned slightly in displeasure, but said nothing. He merely looked at the compassionate Ye Mingyue and smiled softly. "Yueyue is so kind."

Ye Mingyue smiled shyly.

He sat with her for a while, only leaving the room after one of his subordinates knocked on the door and said there was an urgent matter. The subordinate said, "Boss, it's started rioting again!"

The man shot him a speechless glance and said coldly, "Do you need to ask me about something like this?"

"Th-this..." The subordinate was still somewhat afraid. After all, they were throwing people out to feed ghosts. He had never killed anyone back in the peaceful world, so doing something like this still left him with psychological scars.

The man gave him a chilly look. The subordinate's back prickled, and his expression changed drastically. "Boss, please wait a moment! I'll go right away!"

The subordinate ran off without looking back. Before long, a man's incomparably shrill screams and curses rang out. "I curse you all to die horrible deaths! You devils! You all deserve to go to the eighteenth level of hell and never be reincarnated! You all deserve to die! Die—"

Very quickly, the man's voice vanished, leaving only bone-chilling sounds of chewing.

The subordinate stood at the stairwell, looking at his hands. He told himself that he had done nothing wrong. He only wanted to survive. His wife and son were still outside; he had to make it back alive!

Inside the room, Ye Mingyue was still arguing with people online on her phone. As for those who insulted her, she patiently tried to persuade them without caring in the slightest.

She had seen too many hateful comments. They truly could not affect her.

After all, she had originally been an influencer with millions of followers. Although she had plenty of fans, there were also plenty who envied, resented, and hated her. She received many hateful comments every day. Most of those people either hated the rich or simply could not stand seeing others doing well. After seeing enough of them, she had gotten used to it.

What she was seeing now was really nothing.