Two Players Dead!

When the Hanged Female Ghost appeared on the wall as a shadow, all they could see was a gray silhouette. But when she reached toward the glass door's lock, her shadow appeared in the glass's reflection, revealing a deathly pale arm, bright red nails, and an equally vivid red dress.

Lan Xingchen chose not to stop her. Although the appearance of another ghost was unexpected, he did not look particularly panicked. He seemed to have already prepared himself for a fight.

Trying to stop them or escape at this point might only make things worse.

"Back away." Lan Xingchen took a pair of black Leather Gloves from his waist pouch and put them on, then waved Su Bai and the others back. "Stay as far away from these ghosts as you can."

Despite his words, Building 1 was in the same situation as Building Two. No one knew whether Ghost Creatures were roaming its elevator, stairs, or other floors, so although Qiu Man retreated with her younger sister, she stayed within Lan Xingchen's sight.

Click.

The female ghost's fingers reached out of the reflection, and a gentle hook of her finger unlocked the door.

Creeeak-

The Butcher Ghost outside pushed the glass door open with his Butcher's Knife. The light in the first-floor lobby illuminated his bloodstained face and its thick folds of flesh. There was nothing on that face but brutality and bloodlust.

He was undoubtedly a vicious ghost who had broken free of his false memories ahead of time.

"In the Nightmare World, the moon is a very special presence." Shielding all the newcomers, Lan Xingchen spoke quietly, enunciating every word. "That thing is practically the symbol of the Nightmare World, and a symbol of power. Before we regained our memories, we never even noticed that red moon in the sky. But once our memories returned, we noticed it immediately, didn't we?"

"That's true." Qiu Man held her younger sister, keeping a wary eye on the Hanged Female Ghost on the wall, who might vanish at any moment.

"Those things outside are standing in neat rows, staring toward the Red Moon as if something's controlling them... If they're like us and can't see the Red Moon before breaking free of their false memories, what exactly are they looking up at? And if they've already regained their memories, why did only two ghosts follow us? We probably would've been torn apart while we were still outside." Lan Xingchen might have been the type who found it easier to think the more dangerous a situation became.

"You mean those Strange Creatures outside clearly haven't broken free of their false memories yet, Mr. Lan, which is why most of them didn't attack us. But some power might be ordering them to stare at the Red Moon. Even if they can't see it yet, the Red Moon itself possesses a very special, very powerful force. Perhaps staring at it long enough really will restore their memories!" Su Bai considered this alongside what he already knew.

"Those Strange Creatures standing outside really might be performing a ritual—a ritual to speed up the recovery of their memories." Although Su Bai had already suspected as much, thinking about the consequences still sent a chill down his spine.

Originally, "play your role properly and play house with these Strange Creatures" could have been considered the safest strategy for clearing this game. But clearly, the central figure of this game—possibly Happiness Residential Complex itself—did not want to see players clear it in such a safe, uneventful way. It would rather see rivers of blood flow through the complex...

Lan Xingchen glanced at Su Bai out of the corner of his eye but said nothing.

The butcher directly ahead had already charged at them with his heavy Butcher's Knife. There were no flashy feints or techniques. The Butcher Ghost attacked as though he were gutting a pig as quickly as possible, his blade always aimed at a lethal part of the human body before he hacked down with a savage expression.

Clang!

Standing in front of the Qiu sisters and Su Bai, Lan Xingchen tried to catch the incoming Butcher's Knife directly with his gloved hands. But after the knife and gloves collided with a deafening metallic crash, he staggered several steps backward.

To Su Bai, Lan Xingchen's gloves were clearly an item of some kind. But even if they could block the Butcher Ghost's attacks, the ghost's sheer strength prevented Lan Xingchen from holding his ground.

The Butcher Ghost looked down at his bloodstained Butcher's Knife in apparent confusion, then stood there studying Lan Xingchen, who had blocked his attack.

Lan Xingchen took a deep breath. His previously subdued blue-black hair turned a lighter, brighter shade of blue. A second after the transformation, the look in the Butcher Ghost's eyes changed. Even the Hanged Female Ghost, who had remained hidden on the wall as a shadow, stepped out of it and became a woman in a red dress with her head lowered.

Although the Red-Dressed Hanged Ghost remained beside the wall, she now faced directly toward Lan Xingchen.

Perhaps to keep the others from panicking, Lan Xingchen assumed a defensive stance and said, "You should already know a little about traits. Mine is... 'I don't want to be a selfish person.' The ability I developed from that trait is Taunt Shield."

"Like a certain class in a game, when I use this ability, as long as there are between two and five humans present, every ghost's attention will be focused on me, and they'll only attack me. In return, my body becomes stronger for a while, I feel less pain, and my wounds heal a little fas-"

Before Lan Xingchen could finish, the Butcher Ghost's knife had already swung toward his face.

But this time, not only was Lan Xingchen not driven back, he grabbed the Butcher Ghost's knife with one hand and threw a punch with the other, trying to break the joint in the ghost's knife-wielding arm.

However, the Butcher Ghost's body was tougher than Lan Xingchen had anticipated. Even a punch delivered with all his strength seemed to have no effect.

Instead, the Butcher Ghost jerked his knife free of Lan Xingchen's grip and slashed horizontally at his neck. Perhaps his ability had enhanced his reflexes; Lan Xingchen turned aside and dodged the attack, but the Butcher's Knife still struck his shoulder squarely.

"Urgh-" Although Lan Xingchen had said he felt less pain, the wound in his arm was deep enough to expose bone. Both Qiu sisters cried out and averted their eyes.

The wound did not stop Lan Xingchen. He took a sharp Short Knife from his waist pouch and charged straight at the Butcher Ghost as though he had no regard for his own life.

As he approached the Butcher Ghost, Lan Xingchen ducked beneath the Butcher's Knife, leaped up beside the ghost, and drove his Short Knife into the spot between the ghost's eyebrows. At the very moment his strike landed, the Butcher Ghost's knife hacked into his arm again.

Had Lan Xingchen's body not been enhanced, the Butcher Ghost's strength would probably have severed his arm outright.

Lan Xingchen knew perfectly well that closing in would get him slashed again. But rather than treating himself as a "shield," his fighting style turned him into a "target." Even if he sacrificed his arms, even if he suffered more slashes, even if wounds covered his body, even if he was mangled beyond recognition...

As long as those behind him remained safe from attack, he would make himself the target and risk his life to kill the Ghost Creature before him.

Su Bai quietly watched Lan Xingchen's suicidal fighting style. He had already lost count of how many times Lan Xingchen had been slashed in that brief minute, and how many times Lan Xingchen had stabbed the Butcher Ghost.

He could have stopped him, but he did not.

Because Lan Xingchen's willingness to throw his life away had nothing to do with his feelings for the elder Qiu sister, nothing to do with a sense of justice, and nothing to do with sympathy for the newcomers. It might not even have involved any normal human emotion...

He was simply punishing himself!

"Hahahahaha-!"

When Lan Xingchen cut off the Butcher Ghost's fingers one by one, when the Butcher's Knife finally clattered to the floor, when Lan Xingchen picked it up, he stood there covered in wounds deep enough to expose bone and laughed like a madman.

"I'm a sinner. Everything I do is to atone." Remembering Lan Xingchen's words, Su Bai found the man who had previously seemed so righteous unsettling no matter how he looked at him.

The disarmed Butcher Ghost stood there and roared at the Red-Dressed Hanged Ghost, who had been watching silently nearby. He did not seem willing to give up the delicious meal before him.

Just as Lan Xingchen gripped the Butcher's Knife and prepared to charge again, the elevator doors on the right side of Building 1's lobby suddenly opened with a ding-.

"..."

Su Bai glanced over and saw two people who appeared to be players emerge from the elevator, supporting an unconscious young woman with a serious abdominal wound.

With these three emerging from the elevator, seven players had now gathered in the first-floor lobby. Adding Ning Yan, Fang Xiujie, and Feng Ling in Building 3 made exactly ten players, representing the 100 points displayed on the Score Clock.

If Su Bai remembered correctly, Lan Xingchen's ability could cover no more than five people!

Ding! Ding!

Before the people emerging from the elevator could speak, the Score Clock on the lobby wall, which displayed the score between the eerie beings and the players, suddenly chimed twice.

Su Bai looked toward the sound and was shocked to discover that the score on the Score Clock had changed to-

94:80?

Two players had been killed at the same time?!