The light inside the tailor shop was a dim yellow, and everything looked as though it were permanently coated in a layer of age-old grease.
Chen Xi could feel the pressure from the human bone clothes rack behind her.
She wanted to throw up, but her stomach was empty, with nothing but churning acid.
Chen Xi remembered:
She had ruined Sister Fang's Human Skin Coat.
And Chen Shulan stood right in front of her, her two arms pressed intimately against her flesh.
The other's body temperature was so low that just by being near, the breath Chen Xi exhaled turned into white mist.
“No need to be so surprised.”
Seemingly sensing her shock, Chen Shulan was in an exceptionally good mood, so much so that she was even willing to explain:
“Ah Kun told me you're a cop. It's so nice nowadays; girls can be cops too. How impressive.”
Ah Kun, Lu Bingkun.
Instantly, the image of that large dog with the bizarrely human expression flashed through Chen Xi's mind.
A ghost whose limbs had been severed and replaced with a dog's legs, its spine forcibly bent, its mouth stitched into the shape of a dog's muzzle.
His body was draped in a dog's skin, which had fused with his soul, making them forever inseparable.
—That was Chen Shulan's handiwork, her revenge on her ex-husband.
“Thank you for saving me, Sister Lan, but you've mistaken me for someone else.”
Chen Xi took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. “I'm not a cop. I'm the new security guard.”
She had no intention of exposing her true identity, let alone letting the other party know more about her.
In an Instance, in front of a ghost—the more you exposed, the greater the danger.
“You don't trust me?”
Chen Shulan spoke, her voice incredibly soft. “Fair enough. After all, the living and the dead walk different paths.”
Having said that, she reached out with her long fingers and pressed them against Chen Xi's face.
The fingertips were sharp and hard to the touch, like five icicles pressing against her skin.
Chen Xi could feel the nails moving along the contours of her facial bones.
It felt as if she were measuring her, or perhaps inspecting the quality of a piece of merchandise.
Chen Shulan tilted her head slightly, staring at Chen Xi's face for a long time before finally sighing:
“I originally thought you might be a descendant of my daughter.”
There was a hint of disappointment in her voice. Her fingertips finally came to rest on Chen Xi's jawbone, tapping it twice.
“Everyone in the Chen family has a small mole on their chin. It seems you don't...
Besides, your cautious personality is nothing like how I used to be.”
As she spoke, the eyes hidden beneath the white cloth paused:
“Would you believe it? I've been dead for so many years—it felt just like falling asleep, but the moment I woke up, people told me I'd been dead for decades.”
As if she couldn't find anyone else to confide in, she carried on talking to herself:
“When I died, my relationship with Lu Bingkun was already like fire and water.
It was just that I was too foolish back then. I only had enough time to entrust my baby girl to someone else; I couldn't beat him.
I couldn't save the Chen family, nor could I protect our family assets.”
Chen Xi didn't understand why she was telling her all this. She quietly struggled with her hands behind her back, trying to escape from the human bone clothes rack:
“And then...? How did you become a ghost, and why did you become a player?”
“I don't know. I don't know either.”
Chen Shulan opened her palms somewhat blankly, murmuring to herself:
“After being dead for so many years, I don't know why I only became a ghost now, nor do I feel like I suddenly got any smarter.
It feels as though I just took a nap. My dreams were filled with hatred, and I woke up still hating. It's like I've been playing a role in a show.”
Having said this, Chen Shulan suddenly pulled back all her extraneous expressions and turned her head, facing Chen Xi once more:
“I saved you.”
“You must repay me.”
Chen Xi fell silent for a moment.
Her brain was working at high speed, every nerve ending calculating her options.
Her probability of survival, the possibility of escape, Chen Shulan's true intentions, and the threat of the Skin-Peeling Ghost, Sister Fang.
Countless pieces of information intertwined in her mind, forming an intricate web.
She thought of Zheng Wenxuan; she still didn't know where he was.
And Kang Xiaojia, Li Yafei, Wang Lei, and the others.
Therefore, she couldn't die here.
...
...
“What do you want?”
Chen Xi took the initiative to ask. The corners of Chen Shulan's mouth curled upward, finally revealing a satisfied smile:
“I want your points.”
She spoke very slowly, spitting out the words one by one:
“Note: all of your points. Including the points you've earned in this Instance.”
Her voice was kept very low, ensuring only Chen Xi could hear:
“You'd better not lie to me, or I'll hunt you down and kill you even in the living world.”
Beneath the white cloth, a sliver of her teeth was revealed—neat and tidy, yet tinged with a bizarre, dark bruise-like hue.
Chen Xi was startled and subconsciously looked toward Sister Fang.
Sister Fang was still standing there, acting as if she couldn't hear their conversation at all. The scissors in her hand snipped through human skin, making a crisp, rhythmic "snip-snap" sound.
Chen Xi understood. Sister Fang couldn't hear them.
Chen Shulan's status in this tailor shop might be much higher than she had imagined.
—High enough that Sister Fang would temporarily put aside her killing, high enough that she could haggle with the living here.
So what class did she actually have?
Could it be Gold-Tier, just like hers?
“Will you agree or not, pretty girl?”
Chen Shulan spoke unhurriedly, as if making small talk. “By the way, what are your quests as living players?”
Chen Xi didn't make a sound, still trying to break free from the human bone clothes rack.
Quests.
Main quests, side quests, hidden quests.
It was possible that Chen Shulan also had quests, and they differed from those of the players—otherwise, she wouldn't have appeared here as a resident.
The cost-benefit analysis was completed within three seconds.
“I can give you the points,” Chen Xi said, her voice steady. “But only after I safely leave the Instance.”
She hadn't let her guard down just because of Chen Shulan's "victim" confession earlier.
The sole daughter of a casino tycoon.
Which Hong Kong businessman from that era didn't have blood on their hands?
Moreover, Chen Shulan had imprisoned Lu Bingkun's ghost, draped him in dog skin, and turned him into a dog that could never find release.
That was the eternal imprisonment of one soul by another, a punishment far more cruel than death.
As an opponent, Chen Shulan was by no means the "powerless to resist" person she claimed to be.
Even her attire—a face covered in white cloth and a white dress—resembled White Impermanence, who had been chasing her earlier, just by outward appearance.
Coupled with the fact that she had the strength to rescue someone from White Impermanence's grasp—
Chen Xi frowned, countless conjectures flashing through her mind.
Chen Shulan paused after hearing Chen Xi's words, then burst into laughter:
“You really are difficult to deal with.”
She shook her head, her tone actually carrying a hint of approval. “Fine. Then we'll settle the points separately.”
“On top of that, we will exchange intelligence.
I can tell you what my quest is, and you must tell me what yours is. But you have to go first.”
She held up a finger, her pitch-black nail reflecting a faint sheen under the light:
“Guaranteed fair trade.”
Chen Xi thought rapidly. One of her objectives upon entering the Instance was to gather intelligence.
Sometimes, intelligence was worth far more than points in this Instance.
Chen Shulan had been here longer than she had and was a special "ghost" player, so she undoubtedly possessed more than just a single piece of information.
This deal was worth making.
...
Rate on N.U.
