Chapter 23: Lose a hand and become a slave for a day...

Ji Jingchuan really made me cry. He was so scared, but he still came back to save Shang Que.

[But he was the one who locked Shang Que up, hahahahaha.]

[Why do I feel like Shang Que doesn't need him to save her? She doesn't seem to want to run away at all.]

"Wait, Ji Jingchuan." Shang Que hurriedly stopped her, but Ji Jingchuan seemed not to hear her and was determined to pull her out.

Before leaving the room, Shang Que turned back as if sensing something. The ghost in the wedding gown didn't catch up, but instead stood where she had been, her head tilted stiffly, as if she was confused as to why they were running.

*

Ji Jingchuan ran all the way to the village entrance, only stopping after seeing the other people there. Turning around to confirm there was no danger, he immediately changed his nervous expression, holding his head high and chest puffed out, proudly taking credit while also secretly criticizing others: "What do you think, Shang Que, are you touched now? They all fled when disaster struck, but I was the only one who didn't abandon you and ran away with you."

"…I'm touched." Shang Que was forced to run for so long that he finally finished his words. "But why are we running? Aren't we Xiao Man's friends?"

In such a gloomy and eerie environment, a female ghost with a twisted body suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Anyone's first reaction would be to run. But now that everyone calmed down and their minds started to work, they realized that the ghost that appeared at that time could only be Xiao Man.

Jiang Yizhe suddenly realized: "That's right!"

"What's right?" Ji Jingchuan objected. "She has become a ghost, what if she doesn't remember us?"

Shang Que suddenly turned around and asked him, "What about you? If you turned into a ghost, would you hurt me?"

Ji Jingchuan retorted without thinking: "How is that possible?"

"Even if you don't remember me?"

"Of course! Even if I don't remember you,

I will never hurt you. He said this with great confidence, then frowned, very dissatisfied with Shang Que's distrust. "No, what's your question?"

Jiang Yize followed his words and explained: "Look, even if you turned into a ghost, you wouldn't hurt us, and Xiao Man certainly wouldn't do that either."

"Who said that? I only said I wouldn't hurt Shang Que." Ji Jingchuan threatened fiercely, "If I turn into a ghost, I'll come after you first."

Shang Que exposed him: "At most, you will become a childish ghost."

"Maybe he's a coward." Ning Sheng agreed with a smile on his face.

Lu Zhixu also joined in and gave Jiang Yize some advice: "If he comes to see you, just put a mirror in the room and he will scare himself to death."

Lin Jinyi asked curiously, "Can I die again after becoming a ghost?"

"Impossible," Ji Jingchuan snorted coldly, "Who would be scared when seeing such a handsome face in the mirror?"

[I know, it's a narcissist.]

【Hahahaha, I'm suddenly not afraid anymore.】

Everyone finally decided to go back to look for Xiao Man, and even Ji Jingchuan didn't raise any objections. However, when they returned to the hall where the coffin was placed, the ghost was no longer there.

Lin Jinyi asked doubtfully, "If she's not here, then where can she go?"

"There is another place." - the house that cannot be called home.

After Shang Que's reminder, the group returned to the damp, low-rise building. The shabby wooden door was indeed open, and after they entered, they quickly found Xiao Man in her parents' room.

"Xiao Man." Ning Sheng called her name, but Xiao Man still squatted in front of the box without even turning her head.

She seemed to be rummaging through something, showing no reaction to their arrival. There was nothing in the box, nothing in the cabinet, and Xiao Man's aura was visibly becoming increasingly agitated.

Shang Que thought for a moment and took out the torn admissions book: "Xiao Man, are you looking for this?"

Hearing this, Xiao Man slowly stood up, her arms and legs bent at an abnormal angle, having retained their pre-death appearance. She turned stiffly and, upon seeing what Shang Que was holding, suddenly pounced at her.

Ji Jingchuan subconsciously tried to pull Shang Que away, but Xiao Man didn't make any offensive moves. She stopped a step away, stretched out her bloodstained hand, and carefully took the enrollment certificate. She lowered her head and stared at it blankly for a long time, as if holding a treasure. Then she sat down on the ground and hugged it tightly in her arms.

Shang Que also squatted down, touched her messy, rough hair, and said seriously: "Xiao Man, you are very brave. If there is an afterlife, I wish you can have freedom and true love."

Her voice was surprisingly gentle and powerful. Xiao Man suddenly raised her head, her face completely hidden by her long hair, revealing no expression or emotion. But then, she slowly raised her hand and made an action that was beyond her planned steps - a hug.

Shang Que hugged her back.

[Wuwuwuwuwu, I peed in my eyes. 】

Xiao Man actually came back here to look for her school admissions book. Suddenly, she remembered that she had written "I don't want to get married, I want to study" many times on the wall. She really wanted to go to school. [Breaking tears] Damn those people.

[I hope that in my next life, Xiaoman can get what she wants, and have freedom and lots of true love! ]

After the escape room ended and they left the village, a light rain suddenly began to fall. The crimson full moon disappeared, and a faint morning light appeared in the distance. Shang Que looked back and saw that the withered tree at the village entrance had suddenly begun to show signs of green.

Vines have extremely strong vitality. When they feel the sunlight and absorb water, they will grow wildly.

*

This mission was a bit depressing, and everyone was not in a good state after returning from the secret room, so the program team ended the live broadcast early and let them go back to their rooms to rest.

But that night, Ji Jingchuan tossed and turned until midnight and couldn't fall asleep. Perhaps because of the fright he had received during the day, and because he remembered Shang Que's words that his room had bad feng shui and was prone to attracting ghosts, he now felt that there was something invisible in the room.

At this time, the main-less light design made according to his preference revealed a huge drawback. The two dim lights intertwined together, making it look like a disco in the underworld.

Ji Jingchuan was frightened by his own thoughts and couldn't help asking, "System, are you saying there really isn't something invisible in the room?"

[An invisible thing?] The system asked, [Am I not that?]

Wait, if even something as unscientific as the system exists, then there's a high possibility that ghosts exist in the world, right?

“!!!” Ji Jingchuan suddenly jumped off the bed and ran out, “Shang Que, help!”

He ran to the nearby room and knocked on the door: "Shang Que, are you asleep?"

No one responded. Ji Jingchuan turned around and looked at his room again. The door was pitch black, as if something was hidden inside, waiting to swallow him up as soon as he entered.

Ji Jingchuan felt a chill on his back and banged on the door desperately: "Help, Shang Que!"

With a "swish" sound, the door of the room was pulled open from the inside. Ji Jingchuan's palm failed to brake due to inertia, and was about to hit the person in front of him when a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.

Shang Que asked irritably, "What's the matter?"

Ji Jingchuan looked at her grumpy face and laughed dryly, "You haven't slept either, Shang Que—Ah, it hurts!"

Shang Que shook off his wrist expressionlessly, took a step back and prepared to close the door. However, Ji Jingchuan quickly slipped in through the crack of the door, clinging tightly to the clothes hanger next to him to prevent himself from being thrown out.

Seeing Shang Que frown, he immediately closed his eyes and shouted: "Shang Que, since you can't sleep either, why don't we play cards!"

"Can."

"If you don't want to play cards, there's—wait a minute," he said, his eyes wide open, and he asked in disbelief, as if he were hallucinating. "What did you say?"

Shang Que folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall. "What cards are we playing?"

Ji Jingchuan's peach blossom eyes suddenly widened and he said hurriedly, "Fight the Landlord!"

"How do two people play Landlord?" Shang Que took out a deck of cards from a drawer and said, "I'll teach you a new way to play."

The card game is called Pinocchio. After removing the jokers from the deck, players take turns drawing cards until all the cards are drawn. Then, one player turns the cards upside down and reveals the card they revealed (they can lie). The next player has three choices: believe the card and follow the same one (they can lie). Or believe the card but not follow it, and control returns to the previous player, who discards the card. If the other player doesn't believe the card, they turn it over. If they prove the other player is lying, they take the card back and control returns to their hand. Otherwise, if the other player is not lying, the card remains theirs.

Whoever has played all his cards first wins. The rules may seem complicated, but after playing two rounds, Ji Jingchuan quickly understood them.

"Got it?" Shang Que asked as he shuffled the cards, "How about a little bet?"

Ji Jingchuan was not yet carried away by the excitement and said cautiously, "It's not fair. I'm a novice."

"But this doesn't test your skills. It's just a matter of luck at best." Shang Que paused. "Aren't you very lucky?"

Ji Jingchuan thought about it and asked, "What are we betting on?"

"If you lose a round, you'll become the opponent's slave for a day."

"So simple?" Ji Jingchuan said arrogantly, "How about this, at the end of a round, the loser will be a slave for as many days as the number of cards he has left in his hand."

"Okay." Shang Que placed the shuffled cards in the middle. "You go first."

In the first round, Ji Jingchuan went first. He threw a 3: "A 3."

Shang Que: "Follow one."

Ji Jingchuan: "Follow two."

Shang Que: "Another one."

Ji Jingchuan counted them and said, "No, that's five in total. There are five 3s in a deck of cards in your house, right?"

"You can open it and see if it is." Shang Que looked calm.

Ji Jingchuan suddenly hesitated. If he turned over a 3, he would have five more cards in his hand. He thought for a moment and took out a 7 and covered it up: "I'll follow with a 3."

Shang Que didn't expose him and continued to follow with a "3". Ji Jingchuan breathed a sigh of relief and became bolder. He took the other cards and threw them up, shouting "3" no matter what.

This game was all about psychological warfare. After more than a dozen rounds, there were already more than twenty "3s" on the field. Seeing Shang Que follow up with another one, Ji Jingchuan suddenly exclaimed, "Flip!"

"Are you sure?" Shang Que was still calm, but Ji Jingchuan would not be fooled again.

"You're still dealing 3s after more than 20 of them, Shang Que, you're too greedy. Just take these cards back." Ji Jingchuan, with a look of triumph on his face, flipped over the card abruptly: "Let me see what you dealt—"

He paused, then saw that the card was indeed 3.

"You are cheating." Ji Jingchuan turned over the other cards in disbelief. Except for the few real 3s that he had honestly played at the beginning, Shang Que did not play any cards.

Just relying on courage.

"You can take these cards back." Shang Que imitated him.

"Take it if you want." Ji Jingchuan put the cards into his own hand angrily, "You were just lucky once, do you think you can—"

The second time, the third time, the fourth time... they fought all night long, and in the end, after counting all the time, Ji Jingchuan had to be her slave for 1236 days.

Ji Jingchuan was very excited when he heard this number. He hadn't slept at all, and went downstairs immediately after being kicked out by Shang Que.

As soon as he appeared in the living room, the staff of the program team suddenly called him in for a private interview.

In the empty little room, the director sat across from me and asked, "If there was a chance to swap partners, who would you want to swap with?"

Ji Jingchuan frowned in confusion: "What do you mean?"

"Because of an unexpected situation in the first episode, the three groups of 'good friends' were assigned by the production team, not chosen by you all, so there was some friction between each group. To make up for it, we decided to give everyone a chance to choose a new partner." After the director explained, he asked again: "Besides Shang Que, who do you most want to be friends with?"

"Is it okay with you?"

The director was stunned, then laughed and said, "I'd love to, but I'd have to find another guest."

Ji Jingchuan said angrily, "What do you want to change? Are you as pretty as Shang Que? Are you as smart as her? Are you as capable as her?"

He stood up suddenly and said in a loud voice: "I can't switch partners!"

The director shrank back at his yelling. Seeing that he was about to leave, he quickly shouted, "But this depends on whether Shang Que wants to change. As long as one party wants to change, it can be changed."

"Give up on this idea. Shang Que can't possibly—"

"Change, how do we change?" Shang Que listened to him at the dining table and asked seriously, "Can I partner with Ning Sheng? Lu Zhixu is also fine, he's smarter."

Ji Jingchuan asked back: "Am I not smart?"

Shang Que didn't say anything, the answer was obvious.

Ji Jingchuan suddenly became anxious and slammed the table, saying, "No change!"

"It depends on your performance."

"What do you mean by 'it depends on my performance'? You are not allowed to change!"

"You're so noisy." Shang Que took out a piece of paper and made a cross on it.

"What's this?"

"The production team gave me the scoring form." Shang Que turned and glanced at it. "They said I can give you a cross or a check based on your performance, which will serve as a reference for whether to change your partner."

There were more than a dozen items on the form, including reaction, attitude, and tacit understanding... Shang Que just drew a cross on attitude.

Ji Jingchuan was immediately dissatisfied: "What's wrong with my attitude?"

Shang Que didn't explain: "I'm hungry."

"I'm hungry." Ji Jingchuan was very angry. "I'm not your slave."

The next second, Shang Que also put a cross on the reaction item.

Seeing this, Ji Jingchuan's attitude immediately changed 180 degrees. He grabbed her pen that was about to cross it out and said, "Wait! You're just hungry, it's not like I didn't make breakfast for you."

"Your Majesty, what would you like to eat? I will bring it to you right away."

"noodle."

"Okay." Before leaving, Ji Jingchuan took the pen from her hand out of concern. Not long after, he brought a bowl of noodles from the kitchen and shouted loudly and imposingly: "Your Majesty, please have your meal. Your Majesty is twenty-five, twenty-five, twenty-five-five."