Inside the apartment at this moment.
Ruan Qing'an was standing on the balcony outside the living room, looking up into the distance. She couldn't help but frown, her expression slightly somber.
037 continued to chatter in her mind as usual.
【What's wrong, my dear? Is it going to rain?】
When she heard 037's question, Ruan Qing'an did not answer. She just stood by the window, gazing at the distant city of Beijing. The once clear outline of the city was gradually becoming blurred.
Not only that, it was still morning, which should have been the best time of day, but the sky was overcast, dark clouds pressing down on the earth, and the horizon seemed to be churning with an apocalyptic power. But—
Despite the unusual weather, Nguyen Thanh An noticed that the pedestrians coming and going downstairs from the apartment building showed no signs of anything amiss.
Ruan Qingan's expression darkened slightly: "Something's not right."
037: [Could it just be that it's going to rain? The random NPCs don't seem to have changed at all. I don't understand...]
"It is precisely because there is nothing unusual that it seems all the more eerie."
Ruan Qing'an paused, his eyes darkening slightly: "When the serial murders broke out again at F University, the NPCs were terrified, and some even wanted to flee the capital, where daytime was no different from the real world."
"But at night, everything changed. Everyone disappeared, and the once bustling capital city seemed to turn into a ghost town in an instant, leaving only supernatural events."
037, seemingly understanding but not quite, asked: "I think I understand now, Ancestor. You mean that what used to happen only at night is now spreading to the daytime as well?"
"Yes, they shouldn't be so calm."
Ruan Qing'an said in a low voice, "There is only one possibility: the progress of the dungeon has accelerated. Before long, day and night will merge into one, and the huge dungeon map of the capital city is now obviously shrinking. The dungeon... is about to end."
Thinking of this, Ruan Qing'an finally remembered the task he had long forgotten and asked, "Little system, how's my task of winning over Jiang Shihe going?"
【It's actually quite good!】
"...Didn't you say the affection value system was broken?"
The mechanical voice of 037 abruptly stopped, and after a long pause, it said: "It's broken, but with my ancestor involved, it'll be a piece of cake!"
Nguyen Thanh An: ...It's hard not to be suspicious of you.
But Ruan Qing'an didn't say anything more. After so many missions, this silly and cute mascot wouldn't harm her. As for this mission—she hadn't taken it to heart yet, because Jiang Shihe always gave her the feeling that the mission was already accomplished.
This is why, in the end, Ruan Qing'an almost forgot about the mission and instead focused on immersing himself in the dungeon.
Just as the dark clouds pressed down and the sky grew increasingly gloomy—
Ruan Qing'an's body stiffened. The portrait ghost, who had been crouching by the door while holding the picture frame, suddenly popped its head out and pointed its withered finger at the door, as if indicating something.
Her fingertips twitched slightly, and invisible threads, faintly carrying a strong sense of yin energy, spread outwards towards the door. After a moment, she couldn't help but chuckle. Ruan Qing'an waved her hand and said, "...A guest has arrived."
"Ghost portrait."
"Open the door and welcome our guests!"
...
Having learned from Zhang Da's experience last time, when Ji He and the other two arrived at Ruan Qing'an's house and saw the half-open door, they looked at each other and did not dare to go in directly.
Just then, Li Hua suddenly pointed out the window: "Sister Ji, I have a prop that should allow us to go in directly from that side."
Through the glass window of the stairwell, directly opposite is Ruan Qing'an's balcony. Li Hua was clearly considering that since they couldn't go through the main entrance, climbing over the balcony should avoid directly stepping into the ghost realm.
Seeing that the two remained silent, Li Hua explained, "I guess that Zhang Da was caught off guard and dragged into the Ghost Realm after entering directly, which is why he was trapped in a deadly situation. Otherwise, there would have been a chance to turn things around."
"...Okay, let's go this way."
Upon hearing this, Ji He made a decision without hesitation.
So Li Hua stepped forward, quickly took out a black and white Polaroid camera, took a picture of the balcony through the glass window, and soon obtained a photo of the balcony.
Next, Li Hua pasted the photo on the wall, and the next moment, light blue patterns appeared in layers, and the entire wall suddenly turned into a mirror. The mirror reflected the image of the balcony opposite, and ripples appeared when the mirror was touched.
Li Hua explained, "This is one of my props that can be used to move positions, and it just so happens to come in handy."
"Are there any restrictions?"
"...No, it can't be restricted right now."
Li Hua scratched his head and said with a smile.
Apart from the reckless Zhang Da who died, the remaining players, even if they weren't as astute as Xia Changhong, all had some trump cards up their sleeves; otherwise, how could they have possibly made it through the Ghost Realm?
Thinking of this, Ji He's eyes darted around. Recalling how Cheng Yuwei and Li Hua were able to escape from those ghostly realms without losing any limbs, it seemed... they had hidden quite a few props.
Just as Ji He was pondering this, the three of them had already passed through the mirror and arrived directly at the balcony.
But Ji He keenly noticed that her fingertips were beginning to turn grayish-white, exactly like the black and white Polaroid camera Li Hua was holding: "What's going on?"
"A little bit of side effects, just a little bit."
Li Hua smiled awkwardly and casually said that the reason he dared not use this item often was because the more times it was used, the faster it would turn him from black to white. Once it was used for the first time, the change would be irreversible throughout the entire instance.
The black-and-white transformation will gradually spread throughout the body over time. The more it is used, the faster it spreads. When it is 100% black and white, the player becomes a photograph.
Li Hua didn't say it aloud, but instead changed the subject, pointing to the sky outside the balcony: "Sister Ji, Cheng Yuwei, look."
“When we arrived, it should have been noon, but now that we’ve entered the balcony, it’s already dark. If I’m not mistaken, this place must be the realm of ghosts.”
"Let's go in and take a look."
Ji He said in a deep voice, leading the two people into the living room.
The living room was decorated quite warmly, but the darkness and intense yin energy made it feel eerie. There wasn't a single ghost in the living room, yet the three of them were on high alert.
Just then—
The half-open door was suddenly knocked on.
They reacted quickly, glancing sharply towards the entrance. They hadn't expected that even if they didn't enter through the main door, they would still trigger the rules of the ghostly realm there; they had miscalculated…
As the knocking sounded, a sweet, childlike voice came from inside: "Brothers and sisters, can you open the door for me?"
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