Although Ye Shu adored earning points, she was far more fond of staying alive! With all these catacomb ghosts swarming around, how long would it take to exterminate them? She'd probably drop dead from exhaustion before wiping them all out, never mind finishing the job.
“Awooo... There’s just too many! We'll never get through them all!”
“Master, did you accidentally poke a hornet’s nest of ghosts?”
Da Piaoliang wanted to help, but these spirits had no physical form. It was powerless, fidgeting as it could only stand by and watch the carnage unfold.
The catacomb ghosts' nest... In a flash, Ye Shu's mind cleared. Suddenly, she understood why these phantoms singled her out to torment. Lin Shuya must have left something on her! That’s why the ghosts had lost their minds. But what could it be? She hadn’t noticed anything off, there wasn’t even a hint of spectral weirdness she could sense.
The catacomb was honeycombed, tight and suffocating, jammed with ghosts. Surrounded on all sides, Ye Shu didn’t even have a chance to make a break for it. She leapt down, hacking a patch of space clear.
Blood on the peachwood sword ran dry. When Ye Shu stabbed at another spirit, the blade whiffed through thin air. Off-balance, she nearly flung her lantern away.
The catacomb ghosts attacked her with eerie mechanistic persistence, like creatures bewitched. For every batch slaughtered, a new wave surged forward. There was no end in sight—none at all!
“Lin Shuya deserves to die for this!”
“Should’ve rooted her out completely. Never should have left her behind.”
Ye Shu pricked open a barely healed wound and smeared fresh blood across her sword, missing the ghost that had begun to creep its way up the cave wall.
“Master... Be careful! There’s something behind you!”
Da Piaoliang, the ever-dutiful sentry, sounded the alarm.
Ye Shu twisted and drove her wooden sword into the ghost’s throat. A howl, raw and savage, split the air. The thing hung suspended, dead grey eyes glaring hateful at her.
“Owooo…”
Below, catacomb ghosts wailed in chorus. Blackened eye sockets all turned toward Ye Shu.
[Your Sanity has dropped by 10 points. Current Sanity: 56.]
She couldn’t afford another hit to her sanity! She had to escape—right now. The points could go to someone else with a death wish, she wasn’t greedy. With thousands already banked, she had more than enough to buy her withdrawal card from the marketplace.
Ye Shu grabbed a handful of Da Piaoliang’s short, shiny black fur, then drew out a yellow talisman.
“Thousand-Mile Teleport Talisman. Let’s go.”
The catacombs were vast—hopefully the spirits wouldn’t be able to track her. The only problem with this charm: it teleported you to a completely random spot…
…………
Thud—
“Didn’t hurt a bit.”
Ye Shu had landed squarely atop a soft, warm… something.
“Of course it didn’t! The one hurting is me!”
At the sound of a familiar voice, Ye Shu jolted up from the cushion she’d just squashed.
“It’s you!”
The flicker of lantern light revealed Su Bai’s face.
Ye Shu shot a wary look around. This place was calm—no hordes of catacomb ghosts waiting to mob her.
Su Bai coughed twice. Blood traced the edge of her lips. She brushed it away, feigning nonchalance. “Xiao Shu, I didn’t die to the ghosts yet, but if you keep crash-landing like a crow in a jet, you’ll be the death of me instead.”
“Awooo... Master, it’s safe here—no ghosts!”
Da Piaoliang returned from scouting outside, leaping onto Ye Shu’s shoulder after reporting the coast was clear.
Su Bai swore she’d never liked this brash little weirdo more than in this moment. She had to admit, Da Piaoliang was formidable. Her eyes arched, pride swelling in her voice. “Xiao Hei’s here too! Looks like we’ll have an easy win this round—might as well rack up points and trade for loot.”
Strangely, Da Piaoliang didn’t retort. Instead, it looked away, awkward. On rare occasions when this chatterbox got praised, it could hardly admit that, as an SS+ specter, even it couldn’t touch the catacomb ghosts! Thankfully, Master would keep its secret and spare its dignity.
“This round, Da Piaoliang can’t protect us. The catacomb ghosts are immune to ghostly attacks,” Ye Shu said gently.
“Immune?!”
Su Bai lost her composure. “That’s impossible! Aren’t they specters too?!”
Under the faint, fluttering candlelight, Su Bai’s face paled. No wonder Ye Shu had to use a teleport charm—the situation was even worse than she thought.
The shock left Da Piaoliang quietly devastated for a moment.
“Take this. Don’t be so coy.”
Ye Shu tossed over a vial of Medical Regeneration Serum.
“Use it now. If not, hand it back!”
Back in her solo days grinding in the survival game, Su Bai had learned to scrimp and hoard. Even the smallest wound wouldn’t see her breaking out any high-value items lightly. Ye Shu, as ever, knew her inside out—if she didn’t intervene, Su Bai would simply tough it out and waste away.
Su Bai uncapped the serum, slathering it over wounds on her abdomen and shoulder, flashing a grateful grin. “Knew you wouldn’t leave me for dead. If you hadn’t come, what would I have done?”
Chasing after the lantern, other players had targeted her—Ye Shu’s minerals were stolen, and Su Bai herself was left with nothing, not even a lamp to her name. If ghosts had been lurking nearby, she’d truly have had no way back.
“Damn game’s handy with the item packs, gotta give it that.”
Just a few minutes after applying the serum, her wounds scabbed over. At 100 points per vial in the store, she’d coveted it for ages. Using half a bottle for a few scrapes felt almost criminal, like carving out her own heart.
“It’s good—but pricey.”
10ml = 100 points. Even a Rest Card only cost 99. Clearing a game round perfectly yielded only 100. If it wasn’t for her peachwood sword, she wouldn’t dare be so generous with her stockpile.
Ye Shu tore into a shao bing, refueling after exhausting herself in battle.
Half an hour later, a faint rustling and a chill wind seeped in from outside the cave. Ye Shu’s face fell—she knew all too well what that meant. Da Piaoliang, previously on guard duty, now came skittering inside, clearly agitated.
“Awooo… Master! Catacomb ghosts are gathering just outside—and there’s a ton of them! Do we flee immediately or…?”
Before Da Piaoliang even finished explaining, ghosts began to drift into the cave.
“Shushu... There’s so many. So many catacomb ghosts. What’s going on? I usually see two or three at most. With this many, where could we possibly run?”
Su Bai thought she’d grown jaded to these monsters. Yet staring at the tidal wave of ghostly forms, dread wormed into her gut. She lit another lantern with trembling hands, desperate to drive them off—only to despair as the ghosts seemed unfazed, driven to a frenzy as they closed in.
Ye Shu, used to the sight, merely hefted her sword and dove in.
“Shushu, don’t!”
“It’s dangerous!”
“Wait... Why can you kill the ghosts?” Su Bai’s fearful gaze went wide, slack-jawed as she witnessed a beheaded ghost topple at Ye Shu’s feet.
“Just stay out of the way.”
As Ye Shu spoke, she slew several more ghosts.
Su Bai now saw that low-level phantoms fell under Ye Shu’s blade as easily as ripe melons. Her own fire abilities could kill them—but not nearly as swiftly; a run-of-the-mill ghost was almost too much for her.
Ghostly blue flames danced across the walls. The cry of an infant ghost wailed, clawing at their ears. Su Bai’s nerves frayed—losing another 10 points of sanity in the chaos.