This was the second time Mi Xiaobai had awakened in Yu Qing's body.
He had expected to open his eyes to the expensive crystal chandelier in Painted Skin's home. Instead, he found himself surrounded by a pack of ravenous wolves.
"Quite the welcoming committee, considering I've only just opened my eyes," Mi Xiaobai muttered.
He seized the ghost in front of him by its deathly pale neck and yanked it closer.
The ghost had only intended to poke the man to see whether it could touch him. It certainly hadn't expected him to turn the tables, and for a moment, it froze in astonishment.
"Hello. Would you mind showing me your pupils and teeth? I'd like to confirm whether you're transformed humans or actual ghosts," Mi Xiaobai said.
He sounded perfectly reasonable. His tone was even remarkably friendly.
...If one overlooked the fact that he had the ghost by the throat.
The ghost finally recovered its wits. With a guttural "Hrrrgh—" it swung its twisted arms at him, trying to land a couple of blows.
Its claws flashed coldly, reeking of blood as they slashed toward Mi Xiaobai's eyes, determined to gouge his eyeballs straight out of their sockets.
"I suppose that's a no," Mi Xiaobai said, sounding a little disappointed.
He evaded the claws with almost unimaginable speed and slipped behind the ghost in an instant. Catching its flailing arms, he twisted them backward, planted a foot against the small of its back, and stamped down hard.
Crack!
The ghost crumpled to the floor, its body twisted at an unnatural angle.
Mi Xiaobai grabbed a fistful of its dripping hair and wrenched its head back.
Its stark-white face tilted upward, revealing eyes that were nothing but black, hollow pits and a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth.
"Wonderful."
Definitely not human.
"I've never been particularly good at dealing with people," he told the ghost beneath his foot, smiling. "But I'm much more experienced with your kind. All I need is—"
He drew out the last word and glanced around. When he spotted the fountain pen on the desk, his eyes curved into a smile.
The kitten on the bed understood immediately.
It darted over, snatched up the pen in its mouth, and bounded back to Mi Xiaobai's side.
"Good kitten."
Mi Xiaobai patted its head, took the pen, and pulled off the cap with his teeth.
"All we've got here is a pen, I'm afraid," he told the ghost, his words slightly muffled. "Try not to scream too loudly. It'll be over quickly."
With that, he lowered the sharp nib to the ghost's face.
As he drew the first stroke, faint sparks flickered at the tip of the pen.
His handwriting was as bold and sweeping as the notes he had left Yu Qing, but now there was far more force behind every stroke. Each mark carved itself deep into the ghost's flesh.
The ghost began to shriek!
For a moment, even the wind outside seemed to howl twice as fiercely. Every ghost in the room hesitated at the sound.
Even the skeletal kitten, which had hissed at Mi Xiaobai several times before, straightened its tail and stared with wide eyes, waiting to see what would happen next.
They waited.
And waited.
A good ten seconds passed.
Mi Xiaobai finished writing and lifted his pen. Even the ghost had stopped screaming.
The entire room fell deathly silent.
Nothing happened.
The skeletal kitten: "?"
The ghost: "?"
Mi Xiaobai: "...?"
The anticipated destruction never came.
Apart from the indecipherable markings now covering its face, the ghost hadn't lost so much as a single hair.
This was nothing like what anyone had expected.
Every cat and ghost in the room was thoroughly bewildered.
"One moment. Let me check something."
Mi Xiaobai stretched out an arm and retrieved the phone from the bed.
He opened the identity code on the home screen, scrolled down, and found the second page of the character information panel.
【Player Nickname: ^ ^
Level: 1
HP: Abnormal
Agility: Abnormal
Physical Strength: Abnormal
Spiritual Power: Abnormal
Abnormal character values detected in all the above attributes. Determined to be a bug.
All attributes have been restricted to Level 1. Within this instance, attribute values will increase in accordance with Character Level.】
Level 1???
Mi Xiaobai: "..."
Monsters inside an instance were generally several levels higher than the players.
Under normal circumstances, players had to complete quests and steadily level up before they could barely put up a fight against the monsters in the later stages of an instance.
Trying to kill one by force with Level 1 stats was practically a joke.
Mi Xiaobai put away the phone and turned toward the little skeleton crouching on the floor.
He blinked.
"We have a problem."
The little skeleton: "..."
"Looks like there's only one thing left to do."
Mi Xiaobai lowered his voice.
"Make sure you hang on tight with those claws. If I lose you, I'll have a hard time explaining myself to someone."
The instant he finished speaking, he scooped up the little skeleton and bolted.
The ghosts' frenzy surged to new heights, fueled by the fury and humiliation of having been toyed with. Their bodies twisted hideously as they swarmed after him.
******
Never before had the hotel's corridors echoed with such piercing ghostly shrieks.
As the ghosts crawled forward at terrifying speed, their soaking hair spread wildly along the walls, ceilings, and carpets, growing without end.
With the skeletal kitten in his arms, Mi Xiaobai raced through the hotel's floors, weaving through the corridors with the entire horde in pursuit.
His pretty friend's expensive suit jacket was tailored a little too closely to allow him to move freely.
He took it off and draped it over his arm, conveniently covering the skeletal kitten's head.
White masks hung at various heights along the corridor walls, interspersed with long glass mirrors. Ghostly shapes flickered everywhere.
In one of the mirrors flashing past, Mi Xiaobai caught a glimpse of his current face.
The instance had altered his features into something utterly ordinary, which looked rather out of place on Yu Qing's tall, slender frame.
He examined himself from a few angles and found the result thoroughly displeasing.
So he plucked a white mask from the wall and put it on.
Smiling, he caught hold of the banister to brake into a sharp turn, then raced down another floor.
Despite the relentless pursuit, he didn't look the least bit disheveled.
Mi Xiaobai even found time to take out his phone and leave a few hurried voice messages in Team Chat.
—^ ^: Mind if I ask you something? Have any of you encountered monsters in this hotel?
—Three Ks: ...Oh, have we ever.
—^ ^: I've only just woken up, so I'm not very familiar with the mechanics. How did you kill the monsters you encountered? What I mean is, is there a decent weapon that's effective at Level 1?
—Three Ks: ...
—Just Plain Rude: Are you even listening to yourself?
—^ ^: What do you mean? It's a little noisy here, and I can't spare the attention to figure it out.
A little noisy was an understatement.
Behind him, the corridor was filled with shrieking ghosts.
Fortunately, the phone's microphone was surprisingly good. The recordings he sent to the group contained only a little background noise, with nothing to reveal what was actually happening.
Three Ks couldn't understand why noise would interfere with someone's ability to comprehend a message, but he replied anyway.
—Three Ks: You ran into monsters too? Then stay in your room and DON'T MOVE! You haven't done the later beginner quests, so you might not know this. Your room is the safest place you can be.
—Just Plain Rude: Forget about weapons. Our levels are too low for them to be useful yet. What, are you seriously thinking of fighting those things head-on???
Mi Xiaobai glanced over the two messages, thought for a moment, and replied:
—^ ^: Of course not. I'm a coward.
******
Thankfully, the instance's mechanics were reasonable enough not to restrict his intelligence to Level 1 as well.
Following Three Ks's advice, Mi Xiaobai opened System Notifications and found several messages Yu Qing had never bothered to read.
【Beginner Guide — Quest 1: Proceed to the hotel and check in.
Completed. Rewards available to claim.】
The notification did indeed emphasize that his room was his only safe room.
Another notification explained why their particular room was anything but safe.
【Error: Player accommodation consumed no assets. Error Code: 00986716 detected.】
Beneath it was another quest notification that Yu Qing had yet to complete.
【Beginner Guide — Quest 2: Midnight is approaching. Remember to purchase a weapon for self-defense.】
By the time Mi Xiaobai read this message, he had reached the staircase leading to the first floor.
Taking three steps at a time, he bounded down into the lobby.
The hotel reception desk was deserted. Bloodstains were scattered across the floor, suggesting that things hadn't been particularly peaceful here earlier either.
A vast horde of ghosts surged toward the lobby, shrieking as they pursued him.
Mi Xiaobai caught hold of the hotel's front door and checked his momentum for an instant.
Not far away, he spotted three dimly lit little shops.
The ghosts were making such a frenzied spectacle of themselves, yet the owners of the three shops merely poked their heads out to take a look.
They didn't seem the least bit afraid that the ghosts might invade their premises.
Mi Xiaobai rapidly reviewed everything he knew.
Then he made his decision and headed straight for the weapon shop.
******
Sure enough, the moment he stepped inside, the shopkeeper pressed a button on a remote control and slammed the front door shut.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The ghosts, claws bared, were instantly shut outside.
They pounded on the door but could not enter.
It seemed that as long as the weapon shop's owner kept the door closed, this place was safe.
But why, then, had the system notification claimed that the player's room was the only safe room?
Unless the safety provided here was extremely temporary.
For example...
Perhaps the shop was safe only while a player was purchasing a weapon.
With that thought in mind, Mi Xiaobai fixed his smiling eyes on the shopkeeper through the mask.
"Why are you so late?" the shopkeeper asked mechanically. "Pick a weapon and pay for it."
Two buttons of Mi Xiaobai's shirt had come undone, and his sleeves had been pushed up to his elbows during the chase. He looked a little rakish, but there was no sign of panic about him.
He took his time looking around the shop.
"How much?"
"Which one?"
"I'm terrible at making decisions. Why don't you tell me the prices of all of them?"
"..."
The shopkeeper seemed to have little patience left and was clearly eager to close for the night.
Nevertheless, he suppressed his irritation and listed the prices of the knives, crossbows, and talismans one by one.
"The talisman costs that much?" Mi Xiaobai asked.
"Of course it does! That talisman was consecrated with incense before a deity, and it's specifically for helping souls pass on. They don't even make them anymore. What's wrong with charging a little more?"
Mi Xiaobai was a complete bastard.
He gave the shopkeeper a thumbs-up.
"Fair point."
"..."
The shopkeeper couldn't shake the feeling that he was being mocked. It made him uncomfortable all over.
Mi Xiaobai picked up a pair of black gloves from the counter and began trying them on without asking permission.
Then he pointed to a small fruit knife.
"What about these odds and ends? Why haven't you quoted me any prices for them?"
"..."
The shopkeeper took out the little knife and slapped it against the counter several times, thoroughly annoyed.
"Why can't you appreciate a good recommendation? Everything I've shown you is practical, easy to handle, and worth the money! You don't want any of those, but you want this tiny little knife instead? What are you going to do with it? Peel apples?"
"Well, what if the smaller ones are free?"
Mi Xiaobai's voice carried a smile, but to the shopkeeper, he sounded like a shameless freeloader.
"Dream on! No chance! Even a little knife like this costs 300! Do you want it or not?"
"No, thanks. I don't have any money."
"..."
The shopkeeper thought he must have misheard.
He asked again.
"You don't have WHAT???"
Mi Xiaobai spread his hands.
"I don't have any money."
The shopkeeper was so furious he practically jumped.
"Then what the hell are you doing in my shop if you can't pay?!"
"Nothing much. I just wanted to test a few ideas."
"What ideas?"
Mi Xiaobai smiled.
His voice softened, the words emerging in a lazy drawl.
"For example... whether your shop stays safe as long as I don't complete the weapon-purchasing step."
"W-what?"
"Or, supposing this place does become unsafe, would that be because the monsters outside managed to get in? Or... because there's already a monster inside?"
The shopkeeper froze.
"There's something else I'd like to ask you," Mi Xiaobai continued. "Your level should be roughly the same as the monsters outside, shouldn't it? Your physical strength and spiritual power too? Of course, it's your spiritual power that matters most."
The question was so unexpected that the shopkeeper failed to react.
By the time he came to his senses, the customer in the white smiling mask had already slipped behind him and reached out to press the remote control.
Click!
The weapon shop's tightly shut front door flew open.
The ghosts that had been prowling anxiously outside poured into the shop in a frenzy!
"With a level like yours, isn't it a waste to stand behind a counter instead of fighting monsters? Why don't you let me borrow you for a bit? What do you say?"
The shopkeeper's face turned white at those outrageous words.
The next instant, the customer's left hand shot past him, seized a ghost by its neck, and dragged it forward.
His right hand, clad in a black glove, caught hold of the shopkeeper. Using the shopkeeper's own hand to wield the short knife, he carved a row of characters into the ghost's face, cutting straight through skin and flesh.
The characters were written in wild, sweeping strokes, but the longer the shopkeeper looked at them, the more familiar they seemed.
Some of the strokes and their distinctive turns were practically identical to those on the talismans for helping souls pass on that he sold in his shop!
Just as the realization struck him, sparks burst from the knife as it carved another stroke.
Outside, the wind rose to a howl ten times fiercer than before, mingling with the ghosts' screams in a hideous, piercing cacophony.
And the ghost held in the customer's grip—
The moment the final stroke was completed, it let out a shrill scream and disintegrated into ash.
******
Five minutes later, the weapon shop's floor was covered in ashes.
The customer hadn't spent a single asset, so no purchase had been completed.
The shopkeeper stood beside the counter, his face and clothes covered in soot. He had not transformed into a monster, nor had his shop disappeared.
Mi Xiaobai, meanwhile, stood leaning against the doorway, his spotless suit jacket draped over one arm and his phone in his other hand.
He appeared to be sending someone a message.
If anyone had moved closer, they would have seen that he had opened the Friends tab in the chat interface.
He tapped the entirely white avatar representing himself and began writing a message.
My dear, pretty friend, I'm terribly sorry.
I'm afraid I've accidentally dragged you into this instance. Oh, right. I do hope you understand what an "instance" is.
If you don't understand it yet, that's perfectly fine too.
Just think of it as a little adventure that won't last very long.