Click, click, click.
Her high heels struck the concrete beside the school sports field bleachers, ringing out crisply.
The woman wore delicate makeup. Her brows were dark and graceful, her lips red as cherry blossoms, and her face as lovely as the moon. She looked like a classical beauty who had stepped out of an ink-wash painting, with the unique charm of a mature woman.
Her skin was so smooth it looked as though it would yield to the slightest touch. Beneath the night sky, it was as fine and lustrous as jade. She took excellent care of herself; at a glance, she looked barely into her twenties.
Yet the poise she exuded with every gesture was far more composed and elegant than that of a woman in her early twenties.
She wore a simple white blouse, with three buttons undone at the collar, revealing her beautiful collarbones. Below them, a hint of black lace peeked out.
Her tight skirt perfectly accentuated her shapely curves. Her full hips and slender waist complemented each other beautifully.
She carried a box of coconut pastries in her left hand and a box of egg-yolk pastries in her right. She walked slowly toward Wen Nan, stopping a few steps away.
```
[Name: Lin Xuemei (Aunt Mei)]
[Identity: Fair and Tender Neighbor Auntie]
[Background: Ever since you moved away when you were twelve, Aunt Mei had been your neighbor. She was Qiqi's aunt, and in order to care for Qiqi, who had lost her mother at a young age, she had turned down one relationship after another and remained single to this day.
Growing up, every time you came home from school, you couldn't wait to hurry over to your neighbor's house. You claimed you were going to see Qiqi, but really, you wanted more chances to spend time with someone else.
Your memories of your neighbor's home were filled with lace of all kinds, in every style and texture, and the gentle scent of shampoo wafting from soft hair blowing in the breeze.]
[Difficulty: ★★★★☆]
[(*﹃｀*)]
[(@￣ρ￣@)]
[(ρ`)]
[What brand of snow mochi is that? So fair, so tender.]
[Which shop sells those egg-yolk pastries? So round, so big.]
[(＾＾)]
[(￣￣*)]
[Big Bear, I've finally been waiting for you.]
[You've kept me waiting so long, Big Bear.]
[...]
[No, guys, do you even remember this is a horror survival game?]
[Open your eyes and look! This female ghost boss has four and a half stars!]
[Holy crap, four and a half stars? That's so high! I've never run into a female ghost boss of that level, even when I died! No wonder she's such a hottie! Slurp, slurp.]
[Slurp, slurp.]
[Stop drooling. Have you even thought about what four and a half stars means?]
[The most expensive item in the beginner Trial Zone, the [Safety Bubble], only works against female ghosts rated four stars or lower. In other words, if she attacks the streamer, he'll have almost no way to fight back.]
[Fight back? Why fight back? Just enjoy it...]
[(￣￣*)]
[Exactly. If she'd let me bury my face in there, I'd be a romantic even in death.]
[...Why has the vibe in this livestream gotten so weird?]
[Can't be helped. The streamer's antics have rubbed off on everyone.]
[Speaking of which, she's four and a half stars, and she was just provoked by the school belle's pheromones. She's berserk now. How are they supposed to fight a female ghost boss like that?]
[Those level-one rookie players can't win in a fight. Their only option is to find a way to stop her from manifesting.]
[Too late. She's already triggered the manifestation mechanic.]
[Huh?]
[Holy crap, really! Look at the skin on her neck. She's starting to turn into a ghost!]
[Why so fast? She hasn't even touched the streamer.]
[It must've been when the streamer said, "Listen, let me explain." He clearly wasn't confident in himself then. He thought he'd said a terrible line, so he started hesitating and doubting himself.]
[With the streamer's mindset, that little bit of hesitation and self-doubt normally wouldn't be enough to trigger Big Bear's manifestation, especially since Big Bear was so far away just now. But she's berserk, so she's way too sensitive to emotions.]
[What should he do?]
[Kiss her again?]
[Can't you see he's kissing Little Chili right now? He's all out of mouths!]
[And I still think the idea that a kiss can stop a female ghost boss from manifesting is ridiculous. Maybe it'd work on a three-star ghost, but there's no way it'll work on one rated four and a half stars.]
[Then what should he do?]
[Looks like the streamer's doomed this time.]
Wen Nan really was all out of mouths.
He could clearly hear Lin Xuemei approaching behind him, and he heard her ask, "Xiao Jiu, what are you doing?"
What else could he be doing in this position? Kissing, obviously.
Fun fact: it wasn't easy to talk while kissing.
So Wen Nan couldn't answer her question.
But he didn't want to ignore her, and he didn't dare ignore her, either.
Lin Xuemei was a four-and-a-half-star target. She was such a high-quality, high-level target that Wen Nan was worried one wrong move would make her impossible to win over.
He remembered all too well that if he failed to win over even one of the five targets he'd chosen, he was done. His run on this Trial Map would end there.
With that in mind, Wen Nan released Little Chili, took a deep breath, then turned around. "Aunt Mei—"
"Roar—"
As soon as Wen Nan let go, a hoarse roar burst from Little Chili's throat. The scorching flames looked ready to gush from her lips again.
Wen Nan hurriedly turned back and kissed her on the lips once more.
The other woman's crimson eyes slowly closed, and the fire in her throat died down again.
This was bad. Why was she so short-tempered? How long would he have to kiss her before she calmed down?
As he kissed Little Chili again, the icy aura surrounding Lin Xuemei behind him grew more and more intense.
It pressed down on Wen Nan's back like a blizzard in the dead of winter, making him shiver so violently that he nearly dropped Little Chili.
Wen Nan stood by the wall, caught between advancing and retreating.
The two women had him trapped between them, one in front and one behind, giving him a very real taste of being caught between ice and fire.
He couldn't keep this up. If it went on any longer, his body wouldn't be able to take it.
He had to find a way out...
As Wen Nan pondered the problem, a familiar figure approached from the other side.
It was Qiqi.
[Oh, damn.]
[I forgot Qiqi was berserk too.]
[Looks like the streamer's "Listen, let me explain" didn't just trigger Big Bear's ghost transformation. It triggered Qiqi's, too.]
[Well, that's great. He's already struggling with two women on either side of him, and now Qiqi's joining in. Can he even handle this?]
[Isn't he screwed?]
[He's really done for this time, right?]
[Even a legendary expert wouldn't know how to handle this situation.]
[🙏]
[🙏]
[🙏]
In the livestream, the odds in the betting pool about whether he could clear the game had just hit a new high.
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