Gathering Again

September 3, midday. Overcast.

Qin Manjiang had not gone to work that day. Instead, he was gathering rumors about Lower River Village.

Tomorrow was the anniversary of Old Qin's death, as well as the day he had agreed with Qin Manyi to visit him at Sleep Mountain Psychiatric Hospital.

She had to know something.

So Qin Manjiang intended to prepare in advance.

"Mr. Qin, lunch is ready!"

"Woof!"

The young woman called out first, followed by Little Yellow Dog Xiaobai's bark.

She had arrived the night before last. After spending all of yesterday getting things sorted out, she was now fully settled in.

Perhaps to repay Qin Manjiang for letting her stay rent-free for the time being, she had volunteered to handle the meals for these two days. Naturally, there were no lavish feasts, just some tasty home-cooked dishes.

"Coming."

Qin Manjiang answered.

He put away his phone and went to the living room. Seeing the young woman bustling about in an apron, he found himself a little unused to it.

Her name was Mi Qiao, and she was not a Fu City local. According to her, she had come to Fu City on a sudden work assignment.

She did not seem entirely sincere, but everyone had their secrets, and Qin Manjiang had no interest in other people's.

Neither of them talked much, but eating quietly together did not feel awkward. Mi Qiao, however, seemed preoccupied.

"What do you do for work?" Qin Manjiang asked casually.

"Accounting..." Mi Qiao answered softly.

"Oh." Qin Manjiang nodded. If an accountant had been sent on a sudden business trip, perhaps she was here to reconcile accounts with a partner company.

He said nothing more, and the two of them ate in silence.

Suddenly, Qin Manjiang frowned slightly.

He stood up. "Sorry, I need to use the bathroom."

Qin Manjiang quickened his steps toward the bathroom.

Mi Qiao watched him go without moving.

The whole world seemed to have been soaked through with water. Everything around him twisted eerily.

That suffocating sensation... the suffocation of drowning had returned.

The game was about to begin again.

Enduring the intense discomfort, Qin Manjiang opened the bathroom door, took out his phone, and immediately opened the Ghost Story Game interface.

[Game released. Players assembling.]

[Welcome to the Ghost Story World.]

Lines of red text appeared on the screen. Sweat trickled down Qin Manjiang's forehead. Even with his average physique, he could not suppress his panting, and his body felt utterly exhausted.

He had no choice but to brace one hand against the wall while holding his phone in the other and looking at the screen.

At that moment, many others were experiencing the same thing as Qin Manjiang.

A company boss's expression changed, and he hurriedly cut short an impromptu lunchtime meeting.

An employee chatting with a friend turned deathly pale. When the friend asked in concern, the employee made an excuse, hastily slipped away, and ran off alone.

With the school term just beginning, an exhausted teacher who had finally finished work was about to rest and close their eyes for a while. Now, they too had to force themselves to stay alert and avoid their colleagues.

[Multiplayer mode activated.]

A line of blood-red text appeared.

All the players stared nervously at their screens, silently praying they would not be chosen.

[Ghost story: My Aging Self]

[Player summoned: Yezi]

[Player summoned: Deep Valley Dusk]

[Player summoned: March]

[Player summoned: Xiaotian]

[Player summoned: Soup Dumpling]

[Player summoned: Player]

Qin Manjiang scanned the names. This time, his was not among them.

However, he spotted a codename belonging to the Ten Seats: the Third Seat-Player.

The players selected for the multiplayer ghost story had initially felt rather hopeless, but when the final codename appeared, every one of them breathed a sigh of relief.

With one of the Ten Seats present, their chances of survival would rise considerably!

But... what sort of person was Player?

With such a prominent position as the Third Seat, why... had no one ever talked about him?

It was as though no one knew him at all.

The selected players searched their memories for anything related to Player, doubts stirring in their minds.

Just like last time, it was not over yet. Once the multiplayer participants had been selected, the Crimson Text melted into the black background.

Another line of Crimson Text appeared, as though rising from a bottomless abyss.

[Challenge mode activated.]

Everyone's heart lurched at those words.

Challenge mode... it had appeared twice in a row now.

Had some unlucky soul joined the Ghost Story Game?

Challenge mode rarely appeared. After all, these were multiplayer scenarios that had previously wiped out an entire group of players, and there were not many such ghost stories.

As a result, two multiplayer games often ran at the same time.

A situation like the previous round, when multiplayer mode, challenge mode, and even exploration mode had all appeared together, was generally rare enough not to occur even once a year.

Yet this time, challenge mode had appeared again.

[Ghost story: Butterfly Island]

[Player summoned: Wang Million]

[Player summoned: Swimming Fish]

[Player summoned: Coffee Machine]

[Player summoned: Wool Master]

[Player summoned: Abyss]

[Player summoned: Doctor]

The blood-red names appeared one after another. When Qin Manjiang saw the name Abyss, he frowned. Challenge mode?

He had no particular objection to being selected twice in a row, but... was it not a little too soon to ramp up the difficulty and send him straight into challenge mode?

The other players who would be accompanying Qin Manjiang also looked grim. Unlike him, the veteran players knew little about Butterfly Island itself, but... they were very familiar with one player who had taken part in it.

It was precisely because even that person had died on Butterfly Island that they were so terrified now.

The text... slowly disappeared.

The summons ended. This time, no third game appeared.

Qin Manjiang knew there was more information to come. Sure enough, the screen switched back to Abyss's personal interface.

A striking line of Crimson Text popped up.

This information was visible only to those of them who were about to enter the Ghost Story Game.

[Ghost story: Butterfly Island]

[Opening Lines: Like a bubble, bursting at a touch.]

[Flowers are loved when they bloom.]

[Snow is pitied before it touches the ground.]

[I want to remember them this way.]

[Every single one.]

The Crimson Text branded itself into Qin Manjiang's mind one word at a time. Strangely... compared with Xianyang Village's opening lines, Butterfly Island's seemed exceptionally brief.

The wording was also less eerie than Xianyang Village's.

Yet these very words conjured a hazy scene in Qin Manjiang's mind. It was... an island.

And... an eerie pupil that flashed past!

His heart gave a sudden jolt. Qin Manjiang instinctively looked up in a certain direction.

How was that possible?

He had not even reached the area around Butterfly Island, yet he could already feel something watching him?

This was just...

He drew a deep breath and continued looking at his phone.

The opening lines ended, and the words disappeared one by one.

Then the final text appeared-

[Tomorrow at five in the afternoon.]

[Arrive at White Dew Bay on time and proceed to Butterfly Island.]

[No game time limit. You may not leave the island until you solve the Butterfly Island ghost story.]

[Late arrivals will be deemed to have failed the game.]

[Those who leave the island will be deemed to have failed the game.]

[Those who die will be deemed to have failed the game.]

[Game failure: elimination.]

[Good luck, ghost story player.]

The display vanished completely, and the interface returned to the eerie smiling face.

Qin Manjiang washed his face with clean water. Just as he was about to open the door and leave, he heard a knock.

"Knock, knock, knock-"

Outside, Mi Qiao called softly, "Mr. Qin... are you all right?"

Thanks to everyone for the cameo usernames, haha. If you'd like a cameo, you can join the group. I'll pick some of the more normal names to use. Thank you all!

(End of chapter)