A Ghost's Romantic Folly

Click, click, click.

High heels struck the concrete ground beside the playground bleachers, producing a crisp, rhythmic sound.

The woman wore delicate, understated makeup; her brows were like painted ink, her lips like cherries, and her face as luminous as the moon. She looked like a classical beauty stepped out of a traditional ink wash painting, exuding the unique charm of a woman in her prime.

Her skin was flawless, delicate as congealed fat under the night sky. She was well-maintained, and based on her appearance alone, she looked to be only in her early twenties.

Yet, the poise in her every gesture was far more composed and noble than that of a girl in her twenties.

She wore a simple white shirt, the top three buttons undone to reveal her beautiful collarbones, with a hint of black lace peeking out from beneath.

Her tight skirt perfectly accentuated her exquisite curves, the fullness of her hips and the slenderness of her waist complementing each other flawlessly.

Carrying a box of coconut cakes in her left hand and a box of egg yolk pastries in her right, she walked slowly until she stopped just a few paces from Wen Nan.

[Name: Lin Xuemei (Aunt Mei)]

[Identity: The snow-white and tender neighbor aunt]

[Background: Ever since you moved when you were twelve, Aunt Mei has been your neighbor. She is Qiqi's aunt. To take care of Qiqi, who lost her mother at a young age, she has turned down relationship after relationship, remaining single to this day.

From childhood to adulthood, every time you returned home from school, you couldn't wait to rush to the neighbor's house. It wasn't so much to see Qiqi as it was that you wanted more opportunities to interact with someone else.

In your memories of the neighbor's house, it is filled with lace of various styles and textures, along with the soft scent of shampoo drifting from hair swaying in the breeze.]

[Difficulty: ★★★★☆]

[(﹃｀)]

[(@￣ρ￣@)]

[(ρ`)]

[Which brand of snow-skin mooncake is this? So white, and so tender.]

[Which shop are those egg yolk pastries from? So round, so big.]

[(＾＾)]

[(￣￣*)]

[Big Bear, I've finally waited for you.]

[You've made me wait so long, Big Bear.]

[...]

[Wait, no, guys, do you even remember that this is a horror survival game?]

[Open your eyes and look, this female ghost boss is four and a half stars!]

[Holy crap, four and a half stars? That's so high! I've never encountered such a high-level ghost boss even until the day I died! No wonder she's so intense! Slurp, slurp.]

[Slurp, slurp.]

[Stop slurping. Have you guys considered what four and a half stars actually means?]

[The most expensive item in the novice trial area, the [Safety Bubble], only works on ghosts up to four stars. That means if she really attacks the streamer, he has almost no way to resist.]

[Resist? Why resist? Wouldn't it be better to just enjoy it...]

[(￣￣*)]

[Exactly. If she'd let me be buried in that, I'd die a happy man.]

[...Why has the vibe in this stream become so weird?]

[Can't help it, we've all been led astray by the streamer's various wild antics.]

[Anyway, four and a half stars, and she's currently in a berserk state after being triggered by the school beauty's pheromones. How are you supposed to fight a ghost boss like that?]

[They're level-one noob players; they definitely can't win. They can only try to find a way to stop her from manifesting.]

[Too late, she's already triggered the manifestation mechanism.]

[Huh?]

[Holy crap, it's true. Look at the skin on her neck; she's starting to ghost-ify!]

[How is it so fast? She hasn't even touched the streamer yet.]

[It must have been just now when the streamer said, "Let me explain." He was clearly insecure then, thinking he'd delivered a lame line, and started to hesitate and doubt himself.]

[With the streamer's mindset, that little bit of hesitation and insecurity wouldn't usually trigger Big Bear's manifestation, especially since she was so far away. But there's no helping it; Big Bear is in a berserk state right now, making her hypersensitive to emotional shifts.]

[What do we do now?]

[Kiss her again?]

[Don't you see he's busy kissing Little Chili right now? He's spread too thin!]

[Besides, the idea that a kiss can stop a ghost boss from manifesting is just too ridiculous. It might work on a three-star ghost, but it's definitely useless against a four-and-a-half-star one.]

[Then what now?]

[I'm betting the streamer is doomed this time.]

Wen Nan was truly spread too thin.

He clearly heard the sound of Lin Xuemei's footsteps approaching from behind, and heard her ask, "Xiao Jiu, what are you doing?"

In his current state, what else could he be doing? Naturally, he was kissing.

Fun fact: it is not convenient to talk while kissing.

Therefore, Wen Nan had no way to answer her question.

However, Wen Nan did not want to ignore her, nor did he dare to.

Lin Xuemei was a four-and-a-half-star target. With such a high-quality, high-level target, Wen Nan was deeply worried that if he took one wrong step, he would fail to capture her.

He remembered clearly that if he failed to capture any one of the five targets he had chosen, he would be finished, and his journey would end on this trial map.

Thinking of this, Wen Nan loosened his grip on Little Chili, took a deep breath, and turned his head. "Aunt Mei—"

"Roar—"

The moment Wen Nan let go, a low, hoarse shriek erupted from Little Chili's throat, and a scorching tongue of flame looked ready to burst forth from her lips once again.

Wen Nan panicked and turned his head back, pressing his lips against hers once more.

The other party's scarlet eyes slowly closed, and the fire in her throat extinguished again.

Damn it, why is her temper so volatile? How long does he have to kiss her for it to subside?

As he resumed kissing Little Chili's lips, the biting aura enveloping Lin Xuemei behind him grew increasingly thick.

That aura, like a blizzard in the dead of winter, pressed down upon Wen Nan's back, chilling him to the bone and making him shudder so violently he nearly lost his hold on Little Chili.

Wen Nan stood against the wall, caught in a dilemma.

With two women in front and behind him, trapping him in the middle, he truly experienced the feeling of being caught between ice and fire.

He couldn't go on like this; if he continued, his body definitely wouldn't be able to take it.

He had to find a way to break the deadlock...

Just as Wen Nan was pondering, a familiar figure approached from the other side.

It was Qiqi.

[Oh boy.]

[I forgot, Qiqi is also in a berserk state.]

[It looks like the host's "listen to my explanation" from earlier didn't just trigger Big Bear's ghost transformation, but also triggered Qiqi's at the same time.]

[Well, this is great. The host couldn't handle the two women in front and behind him, and now with Qiqi added to the mix, can you even take this?]

[Isn't he done for?]

[Is this really the end?]

[Even if a legendary-tier big shot came, this situation would be hard to clean up.]

[Folded hands.]

[Folded hands.]

[Folded hands.]

In the livestream, the odds for the initial betting pool regarding whether he could clear the level were pushed to a new height.