Within the narrow catacomb, countless specters surged forward.

The blood on the peachwood sword dried quickly.

Ye Shu could do nothing but reopen the wounds on her still-healing hand.

"Hrr...hrrr..."

The fiends kept pressing into the pit.

"Tsk, what a bother."

Ye Shu gripped the sword's tip tightly, letting fresh blood cascade down the length of the blade.

In the darkness, the peachwood sword glimmered faintly red, forcing some of the catacomb ghosts to recoil. Ye Shu fought with increasing ferocity, skewering three ghosts through the skull in a single stroke.

She slew dozens of catacomb fiends in rapid succession.

Su Bai, hiding in a corner, watched with a pounding heart.

When did the girl who used to cry behind her back become this strong?!

Ye Shu had grown formidable near the end of her last game, but never to this degree.

While pride welled up in Su Bai, her eyes fell on Ye Shu’s bloodied, battered arm.

She was certain that none of these ghosts had laid a hand on Ye Shu just now.

These injuries looked almost like sword wounds!

Wait... catacomb ghosts had no physical form.

Then how could Ye Shu touch them—let alone kill them?

Under Su Bai’s fear-stricken gaze, Ye Shu cut open her arm again and smeared her blood on the blade.

So she can touch them because... she's using her own blood.

If this keeps up, she’ll collapse from exhaustion sooner or later!

No wonder Ye Shu kept eating those red dates and goji berries...

A veteran player shouldn’t be getting overrun by a mob of unknown ghosts. That’s not right.

"Shushu, let me help you!"

Ye Shu was lost in the rapture of battle, unable to pull away. When she heard Su Bai’s words, she hesitated where she clung to the cavern wall, then instinctively replied, "Alright!"

With those words, Su Bai was galvanized as if injected with pure adrenaline. She summoned her power and charged forth, incinerating two catacomb ghosts into nothingness.

Seeing the ghosts reduced to dust, Su Bai couldn't hide her pride. Her fire powers weren’t ordinary flames—but that one strike drained her completely.

"Wuuu... hrr..."

Facing the ghosts’ gaping black sockets, Su Bai froze.

[Player’s SAN dropped 10 points. Only 65 remaining.]

"Get back!"

"These things are out of your league."

Ye Shu lopped off several heads with one stroke, eyeing the masses of ghosts funneling toward the pit. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Su Bai slumped, weak, against the wall.

She guessed Su Bai’s stamina was spent.

This couldn’t go on indefinitely.

Catacomb ghosts—there was no end to them.

And, having lost so much blood, she herself was on the brink.

Once her strength was gone, she'd become their next meal.

They had to escape. Now.

Su Bai was only caught in this mess because of her.

Ye Shu blitzed through the nearest ghosts, retreating tactically as she scooped up Su Bai. She drew out a Thousand-Mile Teleport Talisman and vanished.

Before Su Bai could react, they’d already disappeared from the catacomb.

……

"Another talisman wasted," Ye Shu sighed, regretfully regarding the Thousand-Mile Teleport Talisman as it burned to ash in her palm.

That had been her entire stockpile from several rounds of the game—normally, she would never use them so easily.

"Xiao Bai, you need to leave now. It won’t be long before those ghosts track us by scent again."

Ye Shu sent Da Piaoliang out to scout the area. Once a catacomb ghost was spotted, it would return to report.

"What do you mean?"

"Were those things really after you?"

Su Bai latched onto the point, determined to get answers.

The ghosts were scary, but she’d never encountered catacomb ghosts this obsessed—refusing to let their prey escape!

"Exactly what you think," Ye Shu replied.

"I suspect Lin Shuya used some special item on me. Ever since that encounter, these things have hounded me like rabid dogs. The Thousand-Mile Teleport Talisman only gives us a short respite."

Ye Shu spoke with feigned indifference, but a shadow flickered in her eyes.

Lin Shuya... she was dead set on killing her.

"What?!"

"It was her?"

Su Bai knew things weren’t simple, but she hadn’t imagined the catacomb plague was masterminded.

Lin Shuya was half a mother to Ye Shu, though she’d never really cared for her.

In their previous life, there'd been no "Underworld Game." Their paths never crossed—no grudge existed.

"If you leave now, it’s not too late," Ye Shu offered kindly.

Catacomb ghosts lacked substance. Catching up was simply a matter of time.

"I won’t—"

Su Bai began to argue, when—over the hush of the tunnel—came the slithering, shuffling sound of footsteps. Da Piaoliang appeared first.

"Xiao Hei, are they chasing us again? Already?!"

Su Bai’s face filled with dread. They had just traveled hundreds of miles... how could the ghosts catch up so fast?

Da Piaoliang shook its head, gesturing down the tunnel with a tiger paw, barking some unintelligible sounds.

Ye Shu stiffened.

That guy? How did he show up all the way out here in Area B?

Su Bai couldn’t understand the creature’s cryptic language, left only with growing frustration.

The footsteps drew near. In seconds, a young man emerged from the tunnel.

"Sister Ye! It’s you! I was just about to go back to find you. Never thought I’d bump into you here."

"Mm. What a coincidence," Ye Shu replied coolly.

The Underworld was vast—unless near the exchange zones, it was rare for players to run into each other.

"Hello! I’m Lin Qing, a friend of Sister Ye’s."

Su Bai: "..."

Shouldn’t that be her line?

Wasn’t this guy a little over-friendly?

Lin Qing looked every bit the harmless, sunny big kid, which only made Su Bai more wary.

Hard to be hostile to someone so cheerful, so Su Bai forced a polite smile. "Nice to meet you. I’m Su Bai, Shushu’s best friend in the real world."

Lin Qing smiled back. "Hello—Sister Ye’s friend."

So this was the notorious tagalong, the leech attached to Ye Shu?

She’d have to find a way around that.

For a moment, an awkward silence fell among the three.

Lin Qing glanced nonchalantly at Ye Shu, but his face shifted drastically. He spoke up, flustered: "Sister Ye, when did you get dosed with an Inducer? It wasn’t on you before."

"Inducer?"

"What’s an Inducer?"

"I never saw that in the game store."

"How long does it last? When will it wear off? Is it used to attract those ghosts?"

Su Bai gaped at the plain-faced boy, all caution forgotten as she fired off questions like a machine gun.

Lin Qing shook his head with an air of exasperation. "Which one should I answer first?"

Su Bai chuckled weakly, "Just say everything you know."

But at the word ‘Inducer’, Ye Shu's face clouded ever so slightly.

So it hadn’t just been a guess—Lin Shuya really did use something on her.

There could be no other culprit.

"An Inducer is specially crafted to draw in Underworld ghosts. Victims have no way of detecting it—not even the system can identify it."

Let alone the ghosts or players themselves.

Lin Qing glanced at Da Piaoliang, perched on Ye Shu’s shoulder.

"Those dosed with it carry a scent only ghosts can detect. No matter where you run, they’ll track you down by smell—and you can’t wash it off."

"Lin Qing, you really know your stuff!" Su Bai exclaimed, amazed.

"I've just seen it before..." Lin Qing replied softly.

Of course, he thought, he’d made that very drug himself. How could he not recognize it?