“Where is Lei Yating?”
Only after everyone had calmed down did they realize someone was missing.
Bai Xiaoxiao had been the last one grabbed and hung up by the female ghost, so she was relatively lucid and remembered what had happened during the chaos just now.
“Bah!
She ran away ages ago!”
When fleeing, she hadn’t forgotten to shove Pei Ye inside to her death to buy time for herself.
Mentioning this, Bai Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but feel a chill.
Lei Yating was a total viper.
No one could guarantee they wouldn’t encounter another ghost in the future.
If their companions were all like Lei Yating, just the thought of it made them shudder.
“Survival is human instinct,” Zhou Huirong said in a low voice.
“Yeah, survival is instinct, but pushing someone to their death just shows she’s scum!” Bai Xiaoxiao retorted.
At this moment, Mi Xiangjun, who had given Pei Ye the e-cigarette earlier, chimed in.
“Lei Yating doesn’t seem to be an ordinary person either…”
Despite her disheveled state, Lei Yating had indeed managed to avoid being caught by that boy ghost.
“She’s most likely a half-baked Heavenly Master,” Pei Ye said.
“The Magic Artifact in her hand didn’t suppress the fierce ghost, but instead provoked its vicious nature.”
Bai Xiaoxiao and the others had watched those palace intrigue dramas centering on forced miscarriages seven or eight times and had read countless analysis posts.
They easily understood this hint.
The fierce ghost had originally come to reason with them, but ended up lashing out and hurting people.
This was probably the fault of Lei Yating, that half-baked Heavenly Master!
Pei Ye added a reminder.
“By the way, it’s best you don’t touch her things.
The effects might be good, but they’re too wicked.”
Bai Xiaoxiao and the others trembled.
Their cheeks, which had just regained a little color, turned pale once more.
Pei Ye took a drag from her e-cigarette.
Holding her full-screen phone, she scrolled through the System Record.
[19:33, Zhou Huirong secretly used the female lead Lei Yating’s Immortal Water.
Lifespan decreased by 1 day.]
[19:35, Mi Xiangjun secretly used the female lead Lei Yating’s Immortal Water.
Lifespan decreased by 1 day.]
[19:36, Bai Xiaoxiao secretly used the female lead Lei Yating’s Immortal Water.
Lifespan decreased by 1 day.]
…
Sure enough, every single one of them had secretly used it.
Since the System Record stated it was “secretly used,” it meant Lei Yating hadn’t been in the dorm during that time.
The records showing her sending and receiving red envelopes—which deducted her Merit and Qi Fortune—also proved this.
Pei Ye didn’t care how Lei Yating courted death, as long as she didn’t implicate innocent people.
However, taking without asking was stealing.
Zhou Huirong and the others had stolen someone else’s things, so they had to bear the consequences themselves.
One day of their lifespan was the price.
However, this would only happen once!
If they still didn’t listen after her warning, she would just let them continue to dig their own graves.
Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes darted around.
“How…
how is it wicked?” she asked guiltily.
She had been the one to suggest using that bottle of Immortal Water.
The others were initially hesitant, feeling that using Lei Yating’s cosmetics without permission—especially such highly effective and expensive ones—was inappropriate.
But unable to resist the temptation of becoming more beautiful, they had eventually agreed to cover for each other and keep the secret.
They hadn’t expected Pei Ye to suddenly bring this up.
They hadn’t used much; surely nothing bad would happen?
Bai Xiaoxiao subconsciously raised a hand to touch her smooth, fair cheek.
Her skin was as delicate as a freshly peeled hard-boiled egg.
They felt that after using Lei Yating’s Immortal Water, their beauty had leveled up a whole tier.
“There’s no such thing as getting something for nothing,” Pei Ye said.
“The effects are so good because the price you pay is equally massive.”
The cost of a day’s lifespan was certainly not small.
But Pei Ye also knew that even if she spelled it out, these girls wouldn’t take it to heart.
There were so many food safety issues nowadays—if it wasn’t gutter oil, it was Sudan Red dye or preservatives.
Consuming those things shortened one’s lifespan far more.
Just a single day?
If it could level up their looks, who would care about such a small price?
A woman’s obsession with beauty was terrifying; they could even unleash a formidable fighting capacity for its sake.
Therefore, Pei Ye decided to reveal half the truth and hide the rest.
She would scare them and let their imaginations fill in the blanks regarding the cost.
Sure enough, Bai Xiaoxiao and the others showed remorse.
They exchanged silent glances, the atmosphere growing heavy.
“Just stop using it.
Take good care of yourselves and you’ll be fine.” After scaring them, Pei Ye gave them a reassuring pill.
It was essentially a slap in the face followed by a sweet treat.
Bai Xiaoxiao and the others breathed a sigh of relief, deciding never to touch Lei Yating’s things again.
Becoming beautiful was indeed important, but their lives were important too.
“It’s a great virtue to correct your mistakes.
But regardless, taking other people’s things casually is just wrong.
It’s considered stealing.”
Bai Xiaoxiao hemmed and hawed.
“How do you know for sure that I took her things…”
Pei Ye couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“Your skin has changed drastically.
Anyone who isn’t blind can see it.”
Bai Xiaoxiao was speechless.
Fine.
As far as being a thief went, the evidence was literally plastered on her face.
“At worst, we’ll just compensate her based on how many times we used it.” The amount for a single use was only a few dozen bucks; it wasn’t like they couldn’t afford it.
They were all first-time thieves, and being caught red-handed made them incredibly flushed with shame.
Having survived such a roller-coaster of a crisis, everyone felt mentally exhausted.
Yet, they didn’t dare sleep, terrified that more ghosts and monsters would enter the dorm.
Just then, the dorm door opened with a CREAK.
Like frightened birds, everyone nearly bounced right out of their beds.
Lei Yating was left speechless.
She had spent a long time mentally preparing herself downstairs before finally gathering the courage to come up.
She wouldn’t be a deserter.
Even if she couldn’t save anyone, she could at least make a distress call and collect their corpses.
To her surprise, her roommates were all lying perfectly fine in their beds, as if the thrilling, near-death experience from earlier had been entirely her own hallucination.
Bai Xiaoxiao snorted heavily, wrapping herself in her blanket and turning to face the wall.
The others also pulled their thin blankets over their heads with complicated expressions.
No one uttered a word to break the silence.
Lei Yating stood hesitating at the door for a long time before finally stepping inside.
She climbed up to her bed with her head lowered, secretly clutching the Magic Artifact Red Silk wrapped around her hand, managing to glean a slight sense of security.
No one spoke.
Pei Ye held her phone, playing a game.
Bai Xiaoxiao secretly poked her head out.
“Xiao Hong?”
Pei Ye looked up.
“What?”
“How about you turn on the background music?
Just the lowest volume is fine, so we don’t disturb the next room,” Bai Xiaoxiao suggested.
It was so quiet that she was too scared to sleep.
Pei Ye was speechless.
A moment later, a childish voice from the background music announced, “Airplane!”
After another moment, it added, “Pass,” and then, “Hurry up, I’ve waited so long my flowers have withered!”
With the cheerful background music chiming away, the atmosphere couldn’t stay heavy even if they wanted it to.
Lei Yating felt stifled but didn’t dare ask Pei Ye to turn off the game audio.
Even until the very end, she never realized that her Immortal Water was missing some volume.
Why?
“Because I topped it off with my own bottle of Immortal Water…” Bai Xiaoxiao weakly admitted.
Honestly, that was wicked enough in its own right!
Pei Ye didn’t care how these girls would explain the secret use of the Immortal Water to Lei Yating.
It had nothing to do with her anyway.
She spent the whole night playing Fight the Landlord against AI bots.
Even Lei Yating, feeling guilty about pushing her earlier, remained endlessly tolerant of the noise.
The next day, each of them sported massive dark circles.
They looked as haggard as if they had been collectively busted in a vice raid.
When the first ray of sunlight hit the windowpane, they all felt momentarily dazed, as if last night’s nightmare had evaporated with the morning sun.
According to their common sense, evil spirits and shadowy entities couldn’t appear during the day.
It was Saturday.
Bai Xiaoxiao and the others truly couldn’t hold out any longer, finally falling into a deep slumber bathed in the sunlight.
Pei Ye yawned, preparing to catch a little shut-eye herself, when the experience bar of the egg in her game caught her attention.
[301/1000 Merit]
How did she suddenly gain 250 Merit points?