As night fell, the players of the Tomb Apartment game faced their first night.
…The first night filled with hidden dangers after the BOSS in the coffin was released.
Inside the coffin was a ghost corpse. He was a ghost of Taiyin, but due to his ability traits, he could appear as lively as a demon race. In this contradictory state between life and death, he became a kind of… "zombie-like monster." This trait also earned him a good job.
He was always the first BOSS to be released. After all, his coffin was sealed on the sixth floor of the apartment, and the Ancient Tomb Apartment was the players' main base. The ghost corpse had planned to immediately escape the apartment to restore his power, visit each player tonight to scare them a bit, and then pick a tender target to eat for nourishment—Crow Taoist was killed.
Crow Taoist, on the first day, just released from the seal, couldn't escape, didn't counterattack, and was directly slaughtered!
It was absurd!
Immediately afterward, he received a reminder from the planning ghost, along with a "suggestion" advising him not to provoke that team of female players tonight.
After the rigid ghost corpse digested this fact, he silently accepted the advice. He put away his arrogance and contempt, carefully observing the player teams from the shadows to select tonight's hunting target. To recover quickly… tonight had to be a success.
Naturally, he didn't dare disturb the female player team that had killed Crow Taoist. Instead, he chose a player team that had fallen into chaos after he left and hadn't obtained the game item.
First, he tentatively released a yin-energy construct illusion to interfere with the six players in the room. Black mist slowly seeped into the room… He directly detached his left arm, turning it into a "zombie puppet" resembling his body to knock on the door. When the players inside realized something was wrong and became alert, the puppet broke in. He used that moment to regenerate an arm, turning into black mist to slip into the room. While the players concentrated their attacks on the puppet, he pounced directly on the player at the end, who seemed to have support skills. The zombie claws ripped through the player's skull, then wrapped the corpse in black mist and devoured it, escaping through the window in the next instant.
The mighty BOSS actually resorted to such tactics on the very first day of hunting, rigid ghost corpse had never been this cautious! He had encountered powerful players before, but those who defeated him had used in-game items, combined with skills, and engaged him in a thrilling battle, contributing flavorful emotion points before finally killing him!
—Based on the "backdoor" vision transmitted by the planning ghost of Crow Taoist's death, rigid ghost corpse felt stifled just thinking about this way of dying. Doing nothing, unable to resist or defend, being used as a meat target to be shot to death with a gun—who could stand that?
Players lost consciousness the moment they were killed, and if they had a chance to revive, they returned to the Nirvana Space. Rigid ghost corpse returned to the coffin on the sixth floor of the apartment to digest the recently consumed flesh and energy, restoring his strength.
"Control… speech-related? We'll have to find a way." Rigid ghost corpse touched his ear, unsure if going deaf would prevent control. If it worked, he could just poke himself deaf right now. But if not, he would have to target that player. His speed was fast, and with a determined ambush, he could be stealthy enough—but the player's speech lasted only a moment; if he got controlled, it would be for nothing.
"…How did I end up facing a player like this?" Rigid ghost corpse sighed. After digesting the energy, he resignedly left the apartment. He needed to provide some help for the remaining two BOSSes still sealed, making it harder for the players to unseal them and allowing the BOSSes to preserve most of their strength as the seals gradually weakened.
Well, he thought, just sever some flesh to make more puppets and bury them in the ground. If those players went to the caves or ponds, they would encounter these randomly appearing zombies. Killing Crow Taoist on the first day…
Rigid ghost corpse thought sadly: Could this game really end in three days? Would he even get full pay?
The ghost corpse stayed up all night setting traps. Only when the sky gradually brightened did he hurriedly return to the apartment. Recalling the attack power and tactics of that player team from the first night, he repeated his trick, releasing black mist to slip inside. He didn't attack suddenly but detached his left arm in the bathroom to make a puppet, then regenerated the arm. Once ready, he controlled the puppet to make some noise in the bathroom. When the players, on alert, woke and tried to investigate, he used the black mist he had released earlier to instantly teleport into the room, tore out a heart with one claw, swung the corpse of a player who hadn't even died in peace out the window again, and escaped outside the apartment to devour and rest.
…
Mu Anqi and the others slept very soundly that night. Wu Sansheng's little robot was stationed at the door as a guard, and a silver bell hung by the bedside. The five girls slept together, and Mu Anqi even held the paper doll substitute, yet unexpectedly, the night was peaceful—nothing happened at all.
[You spent a night in the Ancient Tomb Apartment in fear and trepidation. Early this morning, you intended to return the way you came. However, when you stepped out of the Ancient Tomb Apartment, you found that the way back simply could not be found…]
This prompt sounded while they were brushing their teeth. Mu Anqi rinsed her mouth, splashed her face with some water, and handed the bathroom over to Xia Yun before sighing a little: "This background audio is way too boring." They weren't frightened at all! As for the way back… they were all players, so this kind of background introduction was completely unnecessary.
Perhaps insulted by Mu Anqi's words, the prompt sounded again just a couple of minutes after ending:
[One night has passed, and two guests who stayed in the Ancient Tomb Apartment have mysteriously disappeared. What on earth happened? Unknown fear blankets every traveler. They are desperate to leave this haunted place, but who knows what is still hidden within the black mist? …]
Two players dead in just one night?!
Mu Anqi thought of Crow Taoist, who had been killed by them, and felt a bit relieved: if they had merely unsealed him without actually killing him… more than two players would probably have died that night.
As for what was hidden in the black mist? Weren't they just the other monsters that had been sealed away?
After boiling water, each of them ate a bucket of instant noodles. Mu Anqi washed ten apples, taking two each, and then they all went downstairs together to see if they could find out any news about the players who had died the night before.
As soon as they went downstairs, they ran into two teams of players confronting each other.
"If it weren't for you lot making Ah Long use up his props yesterday, he wouldn't have died last night!"
"…Getting hunted by the BOSS because your own strength is lacking, and you blame us?" The blocked team—the one that had released the ghost corpse from the coffin—had their captain cross his arms, looking disdainful. "You're down to four people, and you still dare provoke us?"
"If you hadn't triggered the seal and failed to deal with the monsters, this night would have been safe!"
What he said… with the prior report of Crow Taoist's death, actually sounded reasonable. Noticing the other team players' gazes, the captain's expression changed. He had roughly guessed what this team meant, and sure enough—
"Shouldn't you share the items you got with everyone?"
Ridiculous. They had taken on unknown risks, opened the seal, and found the items. The sealed BOSS escaped without attacking them… so why should these players who did nothing demand that the items be shared? People died last night? —it wasn't them who killed anyone.
The captain's expression darkened. He looked at the four players blocking his way, then at the two other teams nearby, and finally at the female player team standing on the stairs just coming down. Another team had gone somewhere unknown, perhaps watching them secretly as well.
"Which team killed Crow Taoist yesterday? How do you know last night's player deaths weren't revenge for that? As for sharing items, that's even more ridiculous. This is obviously a large scripted scenario with a storyline. Want items? Go explore outside. There are plenty of good things hidden in the black mist—what, you don't have the courage to take them?"
"Heh, you think a few words can persuade other players to team up with you against us? Go ahead and try. Only two people died last night—you probably think that's too few."
Not an inch conceded.
At the captain's words, the five teammates immediately went on alert. Mu Anqi even saw two of them open their backpacks, revealing hand grenades inside.
"Greedy…" Mu Anqi muttered for a moment. This scene probably earned the game planners a lot of emotional points. But they had no interest in the quarrel. Mu Anqi glanced back at her companions; Wu Sansheng nodded expressionlessly, and they proceeded downstairs as usual, heading outside.
The players on the first floor were still in a standoff. The four players watched Mu Anqi and the others approach the main door, looking tense and hesitant, seemingly unsure whether to give way.
Mu Anqi walked up in front of the four players and stopped. "Please step aside. We're going outside to explore for information."
"Why aren't you moving? Blocking the way, not fighting, and even trying to egg other players on? This game isn't some competitive arena—better watch out or you'll get wiped out by whatever's in the black mist." The captain of the six-player team that had been stopped sneered and directly provoked them. He raised his hand and placed a compass in his palm. "See this? This is the item your grandpa got. Want it? I'll scrape some paint off for you!" Saying that, he actually picked off a tiny chip from the compass's edge and flicked it toward them.
That was pure mockery.
In the silence that followed, perhaps weighing the pros and cons, the two teams of players watching the commotion on the first floor turned and went upstairs. The four players blocking the way fell silent, then stepped aside to open a path, letting Mu Anqi and her team pass. Mu Anqi and the others walked straight out of the apartment doors, and even after they had gone far, they didn't hear any sounds of fighting from the apartment.
It seemed the matter had fizzled out.