Moment of Ending

When Qin Manjiang encountered "Chen Ping," Zhong Xueran had only just shaken off the Black Sheep pursuing her and found somewhere to hide for the moment.

Her stamina was quite good thanks to her dedicated training, but she had no intention of keeping on running as they had agreed.

Placing all her hopes in someone else went against her principles.

Zhong Xueran took the Three Pure Ones Bell from inside her clothes. She was not worried about it making a sound and alerting the ghosts.

This item could only be used once per game, and only then could it be rung.

The ferocity of the Sick Sheep Ghost Story had exceeded Zhong Xueran's expectations. She had already found it strange, since players in the top Ten Seats were usually assigned to Challenge Mode. For them, Multiplayer Mode was practically a vacation.

As far as she knew, every player in the top Ten Seats, herself included, possessed their own exclusive Permanent Item. Compared with those other players' bizarre abilities, the Three Pure Ones Bell's Instant Teleportation was hardly outrageous. Their chances of survival in Multiplayer Mode were far better than those of most players.

Yet this round of Multiplayer Mode not only included a new player who had just passed the Beginner Level, but had also thrown three Vengeful Ghosts at them right from the start.

Even the rules for making wishes were buried so deep that they still had not figured them out. The difficulty had spiked...

But it was only the others who had not figured them out.

Zhong Xueran took a hair tie from her pocket, tied back her loose hair, and silently began counting the time.

Neither the physically capable He Jian nor Liu Jingqing, with her outstanding textual analysis skills, nor even Qin Manjiang, who hardly seemed like a new player, had noticed one thing.

The Immortal Sheep was the root of everything. The other two ghosts, "Chen Ping" and "Li Rong," were both Vengeful Ghosts spawned by errors in this Immortal Sheep Ritual. In other words, if things had followed their usual course in this village, Chen Ping and Li Rong would simply have died. They could never have returned as ghosts.

Judging by the three Vengeful Ghosts' behavior so far, "Li Rong" killed whenever she wanted without ever asking anyone their wish. "Chen Ping," on the other hand, would ask people what they wished for whenever he encountered them. As for the elusive Immortal Sheep, who had attacked Qin Manjiang and Liu Jingqing, there had been no sign of any attempt to ask for a "wish."

That made one conclusion easy to draw...

The Immortal Sheep's power to grant wishes had been bestowed upon "Chen Ping." That was why only "Chen Ping" kept asking people their wishes.

Then what abilities had "Li Rong" and the Immortal Sheep's original body inherited?

The answer was not complicated either...

Just then, the Black Sheep's footsteps sounded outside the courtyard where Zhong Xueran was hiding. She had never expected to stay hidden forever.

Zhong Xueran stroked the Three Pure Ones Bell and whispered, "You'll have to put up with this for now."

She hurled the Three Pure Ones Bell in the opposite direction with all her strength!

An exclusive Permanent Item could almost be considered an extension of its player. After being used, it could briefly confuse Vengeful Ghosts.

That was why she had used her once-per-game Instant Teleportation ability as soon as she found an opportunity. Now she could throw the bell away without regret.

As for the Three Pure Ones Bell she had thrown out to lure the Vengeful Ghost away, it would return once the game ended.

As the clatter of hooves receded, Zhong Xueran fled without hesitation.

She had not known what Qin Manjiang was planning earlier, but his arrangements suited her perfectly.

Based on "Li Rong's" behavior, the ability she had inherited was that of collecting payment. When someone made a wish to "Chen Ping," "Li Rong" would come to collect the price.

There was only one price-death.

But they had mistakenly assumed that they could make wishes to all three ghosts.

At the very least... "Li Rong" would not listen.

They had also forgotten something else. Even if the ritual had gone correctly, only two people... could actually make wishes.

One was the person who became the Immortal Sheep. The other was the person chosen by the Immortal Sheep.

As for anyone who made a wish without meeting either condition...

Zhong Xueran stopped dwelling on it. Half an hour... should be enough time to act.

Good luck to you all.

You could never have too much Spirit Pupil...

He Jian was still running.

The village remained quiet.

Could I survive?

He Jian had no confidence at all.

He knew he was not an exceptionally capable man. He had not become a history teacher because he was particularly clever, either. He was simply willing to work hard.

If someone else could memorize something in an hour, he would spend two hours on it. If others could think on their feet, he would consider the situations he might face in advance and prepare plans for them.

He had done the same before entering Xianyang Village, buying a large pile of things that might come in useful.

But... most of them had proved useless.

He Jian panted for breath. Even though "Chen Ping" had yet to appear, he still did not dare stop, as though he would fall behind the moment he did.

In this Ghost Story Game, the only person he knew was Shi Lianshan. They had worked together in a previous Ghost Story Game and had met in real life as well. They were on very good terms.

The two had shared drinks in private and talked about their lives, their work, this damned game, and how long they could hold on before dying.

Shi Lianshan had taken it all in stride. He said he had nearly died during his Beginner Level.

The ghost had taken the appearance of his late father. He knew it was a ghost, but he still could not bring himself to use the rules to destroy it completely.

After barely passing the Beginner Level, Shi Lianshan had already known that he would die sooner or later.

"If I ask you to kill me with a knife, you have to help me..." Shi Lianshan had said drunkenly.

"Got it." He Jian had not pressed him. Instead, he asked, "Tell me, why would ordinary people like us be chosen by a game like this? We're middle-aged, heading into our later years. We can't compete with young people, physically or mentally. What makes us worth choosing...?"

His question sounded like drunken rambling, but Shi Lianshan answered seriously:

"Life isn't a novel with only one protagonist."

Bleary-eyed with drink, Shi Lianshan slumped over the table. "You know, He, the moment I realized I was the protagonist of my own life was when my father died..."

"I was thirty then. My child had just been born."

"He and I never talked much, but when he was about to die, I got scared..."

"My father noticed... He asked my wife, my mother, and my child to leave. He had something to tell me..."

"He said..."

"'You can't hide beneath someone else's roof anymore. Now you have to be the roof over this family...'"

In the end, Shi Lianshan had never answered why people like them had been chosen by this game. But to He Jian, that no longer mattered.

That was right...

Most people in this world were ordinary, but ordinary people were under no obligation to become anyone else's supporting cast.

I wanted to live. I would live.

For my family. For my own life.

He Jian ran with all his strength. All he could do now was trust Qin Manjiang. But just then, he received a text message that brought him to an abrupt halt.

"The ghost is with me. Go to the Chen Family's house."

The sender was Qin Manjiang.

Qin Manjiang had chosen to send a text rather than call. If a Vengeful Ghost was right in front of him, he could not possibly compose a message or make a call on the spot. Receiving this message now left only two possibilities.

First, Qin Manjiang had anticipated an unexpected development and prepared the message beforehand, ready to send if something went wrong.

Second... the Vengeful Ghost had sent this message, with a single purpose: to lure him to the Chen Family's house.

But... why the Chen Family's house?

He Jian stopped in his tracks.

The time restriction on "Chen Ping's" movements had long since expired. Fifteen minutes had now passed, yet "Chen Ping" still had not appeared.

Could "Chen Ping" really be with Qin Manjiang?

But why hadn't Qin Manjiang wished for "Chen Ping" to stop moving for fifteen minutes? If he was truly confident that he could end this game within half an hour, that was the wish he should have made...

He Jian stared at the text on his phone, unable to decide.

He could not determine whether the message was genuine. If he judged incorrectly, only death awaited him.

The Chen Family's house... what could possibly make it worth going there?

He Jian gripped his phone tightly. The last words that surfaced in his mind were what Qin Manjiang had said before leaving...

"If you trust me, do as I say."

Trust...

It was precious enough in the real world, let alone in the Ghost Story World, where life and death hung in the balance at every turn.

Should I... trust him...?

Clutching the Writing Brush, Liu Jingqing ran desperately toward the Ancestral Hall.

Every second sooner she arrived would mean breaking the Silent Domain that much earlier. At least those Vengeful Ghosts that could not bear the light would have to rein themselves in a little.

This was all I could do...

She had never run this fast before. She was exhausted. Back in school, an eight-hundred-meter run had nearly killed her, and after she started working, years of sitting in front of a computer had severely eroded her stamina.

But now she did not dare stop. Her throat burned, her ears roared, and her legs moved mechanically. Where was the elegance she had displayed when she first arrived in her luxury car?

At last, the Ancestral Hall appeared before her.

Like the rest of the village, it was deserted.

Liu Jingqing felt as though her heart would leap out of her chest, but she still did not dare pause for even a step. Panting, she ran to the entrance of the Ancestral Hall and pushed with all her strength.

This was the place...

This was the place hinted at in the Opening Lines!

[I was placed in a dark, narrow hollow, my eyes could no longer hold the light.]

The Ancestral Hall was not small, yet it had been described that way. That could only mean one thing... the Immortal Sheep's true body was far larger than they had imagined!

With that idea in mind, a closer look revealed that the Ancestral Hall the village had built specifically for the Immortal Sheep resembled a sheep lying down when viewed from above.

The head of the sheep was where the main entrance stood!

And the spot between the eyebrows was right here...

"Creeeak..."

Liu Jingqing finally pushed the door open.

Her gaze fell on the threshold. Gripping the Writing Brush nervously, she raised a finger and bit down hard enough to break the skin!

She had no time to find any other liquid. After soaking the tip of the Writing Brush with blood from her fingertip, Liu Jingqing took a deep breath, her heart pounding!

She vaguely sensed a gaze that filled her with terror!

That horrifying pressure surpassed anything she had experienced in any previous Ghost Story Game!

Her entire body trembled, and her teeth chattered uncontrollably. Holding the Writing Brush, Liu Jingqing was so frightened that she wanted to turn and flee.

But...

Liu Jingqing abruptly pressed the brush tip down onto the threshold!

"Buzzz-"

It was as though that sound had rung out inside her mind.

Then the chirping of insects and the calls of birds all returned at once!

They were back! The Silent Domain was broken!

But before she could celebrate any further, she saw rivers of blood flowing down the steps outside the entrance!

The headless bodies of two young people lay there in a ghastly sight.

Trembling, Liu Jingqing looked into the Ancestral Hall. Dismembered bodies had smeared blood all over the floor, and the stench made her gag!

Just then, a vibration came through the Writing Brush!

Liu Jingqing stiffened, and a series of images appeared in her mind...

Sheep horns... sheepskin... a touch of the brush... becoming a sheep...

Was that... "Li Rong"?

So that was how she had died...

Wait, if that was the case... didn't that mean-?!

Liu Jingqing's eyes widened. She looked down at the Writing Brush in her hand, then back at the Ancestral Hall, where not a single living person remained, only a heap of dismembered corpses.

She straightened and stood in a daze, thinking for a while.

Then, step by step... she walked inside.

One more chapter tonight, and this volume will be complete!

(End of chapter)