Provocation

"If it keeps scratching at the door, wouldn't the player be doomed? Isn't that a massive loophole in the game?"

Xiao Hao muttered to himself.

The chat supplied the answer he wanted.

[Nope, wild monsters take reflected magic damage when they scratch the door.]

[Unfortunately, reflected damage isn't a cure-all. It's useless against wild monsters that can heal themselves.]

[The most important thing is eating.]

[Wild monsters leave when they need to eat.]

[Unfortunately, this is all experience our races have gathered. Races that are new to the game have to pioneer their own way and figure things out themselves.]

So Xiao Hao shamelessly summarized the experience the chat had already summarized.

"No, the game wouldn't have such a huge loophole."

"If I were scratching at the door, I couldn't keep at it forever either. I'd have to eat, drink, relieve myself, and sleep."

"Ghosts probably don't need sleep..."

At that, Xiao Hao startled, his expression turning horrified. "Don't tell me it's peeing and pooping outside my window!"

[Pfft, hahahaha...]

[Streamer, are you trying to make me die laughing so you can inherit my memes?]

[I never follow anyone when I watch streams. This man made me break that rule.]

[I was really worried about him. Why am I laughing out loud now?]

The chat's laughter flooded the floating screen. The ghost scratching at the glass outside was so furious it nearly had an asthma attack.

If ghosts could have asthma attacks.

The female ghost let out a scream filled with fury and resentment.

"Aah!"

Then it couldn't resist unleashing an ultimate attack.

Xiao Hao calmly used a Calm Card.

Sure enough, it could understand him!

That made provoking it much easier!

Offending it was one thing, but he still had to mind his manners.

So Xiao Hao said politely, "There's no need to be embarrassed. If you really need to go..."

"I still can't let you use the bathroom, but you can squat in the bushes over there."

As he spoke, Xiao Hao even helpfully pointed the way.

Another shrill, piercing soprano scream rang out. "Aah!"

The female ghost scratched furiously, and Xiao Hao noticed that this single swipe had consumed 50 liters of the room's magic!

As for the price it paid...

The female ghost curled into a ball in pain. Its scythe-like fingers glowed red, almost melting, and kept releasing bubbles underwater.

Even the Human-Faced Thornfish couldn't stir Xiao Hao's die-hard straight man's heart, let alone this hideous ghost.

It would be rude not to return the favor. Since it was disgusting Xiao Hao, he naturally had to disgust it right back.

Look at that. Rattle it enough, and it couldn't scratch the window for several minutes straight.

A net gain.

Once the ghost recovered, it resumed dealing steady damage.

Why wouldn't this kid listen to reason?

Xiao Hao patiently urged it, "Oh, remember to cover it with a layer of dirt when you're done, so you don't pollute the environment."

The ghost's Sanity gradually dropped.

"Of course, it'd be best to bag it up and take it home. Where we're from, responsible pet owners do that for their cats and dogs."

"Aah!"

The ghost mustered all its strength and conjured an enormous purplish-black energy claw.

This time, Xiao Hao didn't use a Calm Card. Instead, he countered with a Rebound Card.

The gigantic purplish-black energy claw didn't strike the Coral Shell Room. Instead, it nearly tore the ghost apart.

Xiao Hao clearly saw cracks appear in its bones.

The withered-tree arms it had used to invade the Coral Shell Room last time were charred black. This time, those charcoal-like arms were nearly severed.

The ghost collapsed to the ground without a sound.

Should he take this opportunity to finish it off?

Xiao Hao wasn't falling for that.

He waited several minutes, but it remained sprawled in the same spot.

Xiao Hao simply sat on the bed and quietly watched its performance.

What a joke. There was no way reflecting just one attack could finish it off.

If it were truly badly injured, it would stagger away rather than stay there as bait.

Since he had nothing else to do while sitting there, Xiao Hao took a bucket of popcorn out of his space slot and ate while browsing the forums and reading the chat.

Another ten minutes passed, and Xiao Hao faintly sensed its body trembling.

He couldn't tell whether it was from anger or cold.

The ghost climbed to its feet as though nothing had happened. Xiao Hao suddenly looked up from the forums and asked, "Awkward, huh?"

From how violently the ghost's chest rose and fell, Xiao Hao could tell just how angry it was.

Provoking it was exactly what he wanted.

Xiao Hao only had 60 Spirit Pearls, enough for one upgrade. He couldn't use all his cards in one go either. He had to save some to guard against the ghost.

He had to stall until it left, then hurry outside to farm Spirit Pearls.

Xiao Hao was desperately short on Spirit Pearls. His Guardian required far too many.

The ghost continued scratching the window as though it couldn't hear Xiao Hao.

Clearly, it still didn't understand how serious the situation was. Xiao Hao needed to give it a reminder.

"You should know I'm a player. But did you know that a player's game interface has a recording function?"

Xiao Hao spoke while struggling to hold back his laughter.

"Sorry, I recorded that just now and accidentally posted it on the player forums."

"Aah!"

The ghost's Sanity dropped to 0.

The enormous purplish-black energy claw descended again.

And struck the ghost itself again.

Seeing that the cracks in its bones had grown much denser, Xiao Hao said reassuringly, "Bones decorated with cracks look better."

The ghost was so furious it wanted to turn and leave, but it suddenly turned back.

Its eye sockets fixed on Xiao Hao, as though saying, No matter what, I won't leave! I'm going to destroy your Coral Shell Room in one go!

The ghost's eye sockets suddenly shifted toward the cards in Xiao Hao's hand, and its eerie skull seemed to smile again.

It hadn't said anything, yet for some reason, Xiao Hao had a powerful intuition.

It was as though it were saying, You must be low on Spirit Pearls, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't be so anxious! Cards are rare. If you're using them this often, your Coral Shell Room must be nearly out of magic!

Xiao Hao didn't know whether his translation was accurate, but he felt that was roughly what the ghost meant!

Damn it!

How was I reading so much information from a skull?!

The ghost stopped paying attention to Xiao Hao and steadily dealt damage, scratching the glass outside the window one swipe after another.

Xiao Hao sighed inwardly.

Highly intelligent wild monsters really were hard to deal with.

He had indeed planned to anger it into leaving, then hurry out to farm Spirit Pearls.

Now that it was ignoring him and scratching away at the window, Xiao Hao was at a loss.

Xiao Hao actually had another option: summon the Shadow Seahorse and use Darkness Erosion and Darkness Domain right inside the room.

Their stacked AoE effects would be enough to reach the ghost outside the window.

Judging from its ultimate and basic attacks, it probably had no ranged attacks.

That meant the ghost would either have to retreat or suffer Darkness Erosion.

But if Xiao Hao brought out his Guardian, the ghost would very likely decide he was making a desperate last stand and attack the Coral Shell Room even more relentlessly.

A level 5 seahorse couldn't whittle away much health. Strengthening its determination to attack the Coral Shell Room would only make things worse.

After thinking it over, Xiao Hao decided against using the seahorse.

Didn't it think his room was low on magic and he didn't have enough Spirit Pearls?

Then let it scratch.

When his level 5 base was nearly scratched to pieces, wouldn't a sudden upgrade to level 6 completely break it?

Over an hour passed. Scratches covered the Coral Shell Room inside and out, leaving it looking considerably more dilapidated.

The ghost saw hope and scratched even harder.

Unfortunately, just as the spiderweb cracks in the glass were about to give way under the deep-sea water pressure, Xiao Hao tapped upgrade.

The entire Coral Shell Room was instantly renovated.

Its magic replenished completely.

"Aah!"

The ghost was so furious that even the bones around its eye sockets cracked.

With a faint, teasing smile, Xiao Hao said, "I never said I was short on Spirit Pearls."

That innocent look seemed to pierce the ghost's heart, and it finally left.

Xiao Hao breathed a sigh of relief, though he didn't forget to glance at the Spirit Pearl count on his game interface: 0.