◎ “Congratulations to He Yupu for completing the Perfect Ending!” ◎
He Yupu stood slender and graceful amidst the semi-darkness, his fair, bare ankles stepping on porcelain shards, allowing blood to pool on the floor.
Seemingly oblivious to the pain, he moved the table aside without a change in expression, revealing the wooden shrine hidden behind it. He lifted his injured leg and kicked it over.
With the imp’s physical tether shattered and the shrine the vessel for collecting offerings overturned, the creature was effectively destroyed. The curse used to summon ghosts backlashed directly onto the landlady.
Two piercing screams erupted simultaneously. The landlady’s massive body instantly shriveled, and her mangled eyes bulged as if they might split open. She was forced to endure the agony of a power that did not belong to her being ripped from her body; it felt as if a dull blade were relentlessly hacking her bones to pieces. She rolled on the ground in agony, completely losing her ability to move.
The little girl ghost downstairs also began to shriek. Rapid, frenzied footsteps hammered against the floor as she charged toward the third floor.
He Yupu breathed through parted lips, calmly sitting on the floor to rest. His silver white hair hung loosely over his back, and his exquisite, beautiful eyes flashed with a cold, glacial murderous intent. He looked like a small cat that had bared its fangs while pretending to be innocent, dangerous and lethal.
As the door was violently pushed open, He Yupu, prepared, moved his porcelain like fingers slightly to display the prop photo to the little girl ghost.
[Player has used prop: Memory Photo (B rank)]
[Description: When displayed by the player, the specified monster, NPC, or player will be paused for ten minutes. After ten minutes, the target will lose its sanity and enter a berserk state for one hour.]
The fluorescent light overhead flickered. The little girl ghost’s movements halted at the moment of pushing the door. He Yupu lifted his gaze slightly, finally getting a clear look at her appearance.
The little ghost was covered in burn marks. Her right arm had been severed by a dull blade, and half the rotting flesh on her face had been shaved away, leaving only two thirds of a head. The fabric on her body was still smoldering with spiritual fire.
Most eerie of all, however, was the piece of human flesh she held in her mouth. The edge of the flesh was attached to a remnant of fabric that looked like it belonged to Shen Weiran’s suit.
He Yupu frowned slightly, the murderous intent in his eyes intensifying. Then, he calmed down; the system had not announced Shen Weiran’s death, meaning he had survived.
He Yupu dragged his injured body toward the little ghost, watching the red countdown decrease, and asked unhurriedly, “I am a bit scared. You would not mind if I smoked a cigarette to calm down, would you?”
[Damn, if my wife only opened her eyes a little wider, that sentence would actually be convincing!]
[Is this the first NPC to ever challenge a boss’s authority? My wife is so cool!]
He Yupu produced a cigarette from his trench coat, lit it with the spiritual flame burning on the little girl ghost’s clothes, and placed it between his soft lips, taking a slow drag.
Thin wisps of smoke curled through the oppressive air. He Yupu lifted his eyes, his handsome features imbued with the haze of smoke, looking like a treasure guarded by a beast in the deep sea.
The livestream view blurred, leaving only a vague silhouette of the gorgeous beauty, obscuring the scene within the dungeon. Countless bullet screen comments flashed across the floating page.
He Yupu glanced at the screen, seeing the word “blurred” flash by. He quickly drew a complex rune on the little girl ghost’s body with a fingertip oozing blood. Although he lacked talisman paper, it was more than enough to handle an inferior ghost that had lost its spiritual vessel and had not yet regained its sight.
Yellow flames ignited on the little girl ghost. Her pale, cyan skin melted like wax, and her entire body was devoured. The struggle of her soul stirred a weak, chilly breeze.
[Congratulations to player He Yupu for killing the monster Water Ghost. Reward: 200 points.]
[Congratulations to the player for being the first to break the inn’s rules and fulfilling the clearance conditions. Reward: 500 points.]
[Shop access has been granted.]
After her body vanished, she dropped half a butterfly ribbon, bitten and tattered, along with a sturdy, semi transparent piece of parchment.
[Congratulations to the player for obtaining the fused god tier prop: Parchment (Return of Spring). Reward: 2000 points.]
[Function: After the parchment is fully fused, monsters killed will have no chance of resurrection because the blank parchment will seal them away completely!]
He Yupu picked up the parchment and discovered three locations drawn on it: a creek, a mountain forest, and a village.
The figure of the water ghost appeared in the creek on the paper. As the inn’s rules were broken, the souls of the remaining villagers were collected within, appearing in the village section.
One returned to her original human form, a thin woman with a haggard, aged face. Her hands gripped He Yupu’s pant leg tightly. “Why not let me go? Why not let my daughter go? We just wanted to live a good life.”
The landlady’s voice was hoarse and shrill. “You killed my daughter. You outsiders must all pay for her with your lives!”
[Warning!] [Warning!] [Key NPC emotional breakdown and rampage. The dungeon is collapsing rapidly. All players’ HP will reach zero in three minutes.]
“It was not I who killed your daughter, but the monster that just died.”
He Yupu handed over the blood stained half of the butterfly ribbon. “You should recognize this, right? The hair accessory your daughter was wearing before she died.”
The landlady took it, staring at the bitten ribbon, her fingers tracing the bloodstains. “How could this be here?”
She seemed to realize something, suddenly covering her mouth.
“That was a Water Ghost, an inferior ghost that lurks in creeks to lure human children.”
He Yupu said slowly, “Have you never been suspicious? The ghost summoning tutorial that appeared so conveniently, the complete ritual, and how it was able to summon it so perfectly.”
“There is only one possibility: it had been eyeing your family for a long time.”