Chapter 114
Chapter 114
The fourth night’s game was announced by the Old Man from Room 702. Hunched over, he stood apart from the other Longtime Tenants.
His murky gaze swept across the group, and his rasping voice sounded. “Tonight’s assessment game is Plate Spirit.”
Cheng Miao’s heart sank. Plate Spirit was more troublesome than the other games. In addition to its known taboos, the greatest problem was that the spirit was difficult to send away.
In every other game so far, following the rules allowed the players to dismiss the ghost they had summoned. Plate Spirit was different.
Or rather, because the common ritual for summoning it was improper, it was easy to invite and difficult to dismiss.
The Old Man broke into a racking cough, then retreated into the darkness. Only the faint sound of him clearing his throat remained.
Fewer players remained to draw lots. Four were needed tonight.
Anyone not chosen today would certainly participate in tomorrow’s assessment.
Cheng Miao steadied herself instead of drawing immediately. She looked toward the Old Man. “How are we supposed to summon the Plate Spirit?”
No one else spoke. Plate Spirit was probably the most famous ghost-summoning game, and everyone present knew how it was played.
The darkness remained silent. Cheng Miao’s clear, cold eyes revealed no emotion. “Can we use any method?”
“Yes,” answered a voice as old and harsh as a broken gong.
The other Longtime Tenants showed no reaction. Any method was allowed. If the New Tenants wanted to cut corners…
Their candlelit faces looked ghostly. They certainly did not mind.
Plate Spirit had the highest death rate of all the games.
If the vengeful spirit refused to leave, players panicked. Once panic took hold, they were capable of anything.
Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of New Tenants in previous years had died during this game.
Cheng Miao nodded and took a paper ball. Unsurprisingly, it was marked.
With the odds this high, being selected was normal.
The four players chosen were Cheng Miao, Lin Zhu, Freckles, and Old Zhao.
Qi Jiajia’s expression darkened. This game was too dangerous. Two of her teammates had been selected, along with a girl who had cooperated with them before. What a nuisance!
There was still some time. Cheng Miao called Lin Zhu over and whispered instructions.
He nodded repeatedly, rose, and left the hall.
While everyone wondered where he could be going at a time like this, Cheng Miao swept her gaze across the three seventh-floor residents. “Do any of you have joss paper? I’d like to borrow some.”
Besides the smell of blood, the seventh floor carried the faint odor of burned paper. The Longtime Tenants were dead, so it would not be strange for them to possess joss paper.
Perhaps some of them had been tormented by Shen Xin’s ghost before death and tried burning offerings to appease her.
Mockery appeared on the Old Woman’s and the Pregnant Woman’s faces. The young man from Room 703 still looked gentle and approachable.
But ever since the Old Woman told Cheng Miao that the smiling man had taken Shen Xin home whenever she tried to divorce him, Cheng Miao had found him more frightening than any of the others.
The Old Man poked his head from the darkness. “I have some.”
Supporting her waist with one hand, the Pregnant Woman asked, “We could give it to you, but how will you repay us?”
It was only joss paper. Did Cheng Miao think burning a little for the female ghost at the brink of death would make the ghost show mercy?
If that worked, which of them had not burned countless offerings and tried countless methods? In the end, they had all remained trapped in the apartment.
Cheng Miao pretended to consider it, then negotiated, “How about I decide not to send you to meet the Landlord?”
The Longtime Tenants fell silent. That struck painfully close to home.
The players stared at Cheng Miao. Holy shit. Ruthless!
Cheng Miao toyed with the Fishbone Dagger. Unsurprisingly, several Longtime Tenants edged backward, which amused her.
Ghosts or not, they were only prisoners and had little power.
Even to kill someone, they depended on the victim breaking a rule, while Shen Xin was the one who actually struck.
These ghosts possessed the shell of something terrifying and little else.
“Follow me.” The Old Man did not appear afraid of Cheng Miao’s dagger. He slowly turned and shuffled into the elevator.
Cheng Miao stopped Qi Jiajia from following and told her to guard the still-weakened Qin Musong. Then she entered the elevator alone.
Riding an elevator with a ghost was hardly pleasant. Fortunately, the Old Man made no attempt to frighten her. He crouched silently in one corner.
Cheng Miao relaxed and mentally reviewed the coming game. Suddenly, the elevator light flickered.
Her instincts screamed danger. She drew the Fishbone Dagger but neither moved nor spoke, holding her previous posture while preparing to strike.
The flickering stopped, though the light remained much dimmer. In her peripheral vision, Cheng Miao saw a female corpse in white appear beside her, radiating the stench of decay.
Shen Xin!
This time, Cheng Miao did not panic as badly. She observed without outward reaction.
The wounds on Shen Xin’s body had indeed been inflicted before death. Blood still circulates in a living body; after blood loss, wounds contract. The surrounding tissue retains elasticity, causing their edges to curl outward.
Every wound fit those signs.
It was now almost certain that Shen Xin had suffered inhuman violence before she drowned.
Whether she had killed herself to escape reality or been murdered remained unknown.
Cheng Miao had a more immediate concern. Why had Shen Xin suddenly appeared?
The white figure remained motionless. Cheng Miao did not need to look directly to imagine the swollen, pallid face beneath that foul black hair.
The elevator did not rise. The fourth-floor indicator kept flashing, and the Old Man in the corner did not move.
Cheng Miao held her body taut and waited.
Shen Xin moved. She slowly approached Cheng Miao. A bead of sweat rolled into Cheng Miao’s eye, making her blink.
Facing a water-bloated ghost still created enormous psychological pressure. Black hair hung down Shen Xin’s front, its ends knotted into clumps.
Without warning, Shen Xin raised a wrinkled white hand and pointed at the Old Man in the corner.
Cheng Miao’s brow shifted. Then the indistinct head before her moved from side to side.
“Hey, are you coming or not?”
The hoarse voice jolted Cheng Miao awake. She looked up sharply. The elevator’s red indicator showed the seventh floor. The Old Man was already halfway out, but had turned back when she failed to move.
Cheng Miao took several breaths. Had her buff activated again? What had Shen Xin meant?
The Old Man.
A shake of the head?
The seventh floor was very likely where Shen Xin had died. Cheng Miao remained vigilant, yet obtaining the joss paper proved unexpectedly easy.
The Old Man opened Room 702 and turned on the light. Cheng Miao stood at the threshold and raised an eyebrow.
He seemed to have made a living producing funeral paper crafts. Paper people and paper horses filled the apartment so completely that they blocked the doorway, forcing him to squeeze inside.
Cheng Miao did not follow. Who knew how many taboos governed a business serving the dead? Tomorrow would be troublesome.
The Old Man soon emerged with two stacks of joss paper and the blank yellow talisman paper Cheng Miao had requested.
He handed them over and pulled his rigid mouth into an unreadable smile. “Even if you know how to draw talismans, it is useless. Here, she is invincible.”