Chapter 39

About a minute later, the notebook appeared before Gu Yi'an.
It returned precisely to the spot where the illusion of the notebook had been.
Gu Yi'an remained calm, watching the notebook's sudden appearance.
One person, one notebook, an unspoken silence filled the room.
The notebook seemed to suddenly realize its predicament.
It automatically opened its pages, revealing a line of text.
"She bullied me."
Then, an arrow icon appeared on the paper, pointing toward the little girl who had been frozen mid-grimace.
The little girl remained motionless.
Even if she wanted to move, she couldn't, she was immobilized.
At the same time, she vaguely saw the notebook's distorted version of events.
The little girl could only watch silently.
New text continued to appear in the notebook.
"I am very kind. I didn't hold it against her. I just went out to clear my mind, and I even did a good deed."
The notebook emphasized, "I am very kind."
It repeated those four words once more.
Gu Yi'an furrowed her brow slightly, ignoring the four emphasized words in the notebook, and instead asked, "What did you do?"
The notebook replied, "Helped someone recognize the darkness within their heart."
Gu Yi'an had a gut feeling that something was off about this statement.
She glanced at the notebook and asked, "Was that person the counselor?"
This time, the notebook did not respond. As before, it chose to answer with silence.
Gu Yi'an said, "Lu Zize, I'm asking you again. Answer me."
The notebook changed the subject, revealing a new line of text.
"I never lie to you."
So you chose to conceal the truth.
Gu Yi'an looked at the notebook, which was now playing dead. After a moment's thought, she took the little girl out of the small coffin.
The little girl, now removed from the coffin, sensed that something was wrong, but she couldn't even move a muscle.
Gu Yi'an placed the notebook on the desk and set the little girl, frozen in a grimacing pose, beside it.
Both of them had lost the privilege of sleeping beside Gu Yi'an's pillow.
Gu Yi'an decided to let the notebook stay like this for a while. She was a little annoyed.
As the lights suddenly went out, Gu Yi'an fell asleep.
On the desk, the little girl, still stuck in her grimacing pose, suddenly slumped.
She realized she could move again.
Immediately, she stood up, looking sheepishly at the notebook, and apologized, "Go, "
The little girl was suddenly silenced.
She opened her mouth but found that no sound came out.
Realizing what had happened, she quickly mouthed the words, "Lord Lu."
Her voice returned.
The commotion of their exchange naturally went unheard by Gu Yi'an, who was deep in sleep.
In the morning, Gu Yi'an woke up.
As she passed the desk, she glanced over.
She saw a little girl, no more than two centimeters tall, struggling to hold a ballpoint pen as she wrote on Gu Yi'an's draft paper.
Curious, Gu Yi'an moved closer and saw the first three words on the paper: "Letter of Self-Criticism."
Watching the little girl painstakingly spend several minutes writing a single character, it seemed she had been working on this letter, which already covered more than half a page, all night.
Lu Zize, have a heart.
Gu Yi'an didn't need to think too hard, this was undoubtedly the notebook's doing.
It had even tattled, claiming the little girl had bullied it. But look at how it was bullying the little girl in return.
Such a tiny doll, pitifully writing her self-criticism stroke by stroke, looked both pitiable and adorable. Only Lu Zize could be so cold-hearted.
Gu Yi'an didn't even feel the need to be wary of the little girl anymore.
In this state, the little girl was no match for Lu Zize.
Gu Yi'an tapped the desk, making a bit of noise.
She said to the notebook, "She's been at it all night. Stop bullying her."
The notebook automatically opened, and a line of text appeared on the page.
"She made faces at me."
The notebook tattled again.
Gu Yi'an asked, "Did you do something else to make her make faces at you?"
She harbored deep suspicions about the notebook.
After all, Lu Zize had never done anything good.
Gu Yi'an still vividly remembered the various fatal incidents in her third game.
Her question hit upon the very matter the notebook had tried to gloss over.
The notebook chose silence.
Some things were better left unsaid.
Gu Yi'an could tell from the notebook's reaction that this guy must have bullied the little girl before, which was why she was so full of resentment toward him.
Bullying others and then playing the victim, this was Lu Zize's favorite tactic of twisting the truth.
Gu Yi'an said to the little girl, "Stop. You don’t need to write. Let it write."
The one who should be writing a self-criticism, by all logic, should be that notebook guy.
The little girl glanced at Gu Yi'an, whose expression was hard to read, then looked at the motionless notebook. Clutching the ballpoint pen tightly, she trembled.
Her pitiful eyes were filled with accusation.
You two are arguing, don’t drag me into it.
The little girl chose to shrink her presence as much as possible, hiding behind the teacup. Unfortunately, the pen she was holding had already given away her location.
Watching this scene, Gu Yi'an smiled faintly.
Her life had gained a bit of liveliness that was different from before.
Ignoring the notebook, Gu Yi'an finished washing up, changed into fresh clothes, and only then turned her attention back to the notebook.
By now, the notebook had already responded to Gu Yi'an's words.
On the open page of the notebook, a self-criticism had appeared:
"I confess, the only mistake I made was letting you discover her. She has taken all your attention."
Gu Yi'an didn’t read further. After just the first two sentences, she understood Lu Zize's attitude.
He wasn’t wrong, refused to admit any fault, and acted as if it had nothing to do with him.
Gu Yi'an hadn’t asked him to reflect on the little girl’s situation, she wanted him to reflect on why he had hidden things from her.
Fine, you won’t talk?
Without hesitation, Gu Yi'an closed the notebook.
She didn’t want to see this infuriating guy anytime soon.
Then, immediately, she received a call from the other person she considered infuriating, her brother, Gu Tianjing.
Gu Yi'an checked the time: 8:16 a.m.
Why was Gu Tianjing calling her so early?
She answered the call.
As soon as the call connected, Gu Tianjing’s voice came through.
"Gu Yi'an, you’re not dead, are you? I heard someone died near you again."
Gu Yi'an replied, "If I were dead, would the one answering your call be a ghost?"
Her voice was calm, but Gu Tianjing on the other end sensed something unusual.
Gu Yi'an wouldn’t normally respond to him like that.
Gu Tianjing slowed his speech, even lowering his voice.
"Gu Yi'an, what's wrong with you? Why do I feel like you're angry? Who dared to upset you? Just wait, I'll beat them up!"
"No one," Gu Yi'an denied.
She sighed helplessly, "Gu Tianjing, how old are you now? You're almost twenty-five. Do you still want to fight like you used to every day?"
Gu Tianjing had been a troublemaker in his childhood, the kind of bad student who formed gangs at school. It was only in the last couple of years that he had improved, managing to put on a decent facade, but deep down, he was still the same troublemaker.
Upon hearing Gu Yi'an's response, Gu Tianjing knew that if she said there was no one, then there was no one.
No one had upset her.
Gu Tianjing didn’t consider the possibility of non-human entities.
"Stop nagging, you're even worse than my assistant," Gu Tianjing complained.
Gu Yi'an caught a word she had never heard him mention before. "Assistant? Male or female? Do you have some thoughts about your assistant?"
"Cough, cough, cough! Nothing like that. I’ll be at your school tonight. Do you have time?"
Gu Tianjing forcefully changed the subject.
Gu Yi'an wasn’t particularly interested in gossip either, so she shifted her focus along with him.
The two settled on a time to meet, arranging to meet at a hotel near Gu Yi'an’s university.
Gu Yi'an had classes in the afternoon. She packed her books and prepared to go to the library to review what she had learned earlier.
The notebook lay quietly on the desk.
Gu Yi'an ignored the notebook. She glanced at the little girl behind the teacup, reached out to pat her head, then slung her bag over her shoulder and left.
The sound of the door closing echoed.
The little girl, who had been delighted by Gu Yi'an’s head pat, immediately shrank back behind the teacup.
She could feel the resentment emanating from the notebook. She didn’t dare stay in front of it, nor did she even dare to return to her little coffin.
At that moment, the little girl, a fierce ghost capable of tearing other spirits apart, could only cower, pitiful and helpless, behind the teacup, trying to avoid having her name written down in the notebook out of jealousy.
Even though the little girl knew that the deity had already taken note of this offense.
When Gu Yi'an arrived at the library, her usual seat was still unoccupied.
The students sitting at the study tables were either reading their books or typing on their laptops, working on essays, with only a few playing on their phones.
Influenced by the atmosphere, Gu Yi'an sat down and diligently reviewed the material she had studied earlier, even completing some practice exercises.
It’s impossible to maintain focus indefinitely. When Gu Yi'an noticed she was getting tired, she took out her phone to check the news, play a small game, and look at new messages in her chat app.
No one had messaged her personally, but there was a notification in her class group chat: their homeroom teacher had been replaced. The previous teacher, Ms. Huang Ya, had resigned.
Gu Yi'an skimmed through the messages welcoming the new teacher.
She sighed inwardly.
She knew that this matter was now settled.
As long as no one else died, the school wouldn’t intervene further.
The teacher had probably left the city with her younger sister, and no one had questioned their whereabouts.
Gu Yi'an put down her phone and noticed the notebook right in front of her.
The notebook, sensing her gaze, opened automatically.
"Please don’t be angry, okay?"
Gu Yi'an averted her eyes.
She didn’t really feel like dealing with the notebook right now.
Gu Yi'an ignored the lingering notebook, tidied up the rest of her things on the desk, and left the library.
In the afternoon, Gu Yi’an attended her classes as usual. When she opened her backpack to take out her books, she immediately spotted the notebook inside.
She had no idea how it had gotten in there.
Gu Yi’an took out her textbooks, zipped up the backpack, and trapped the notebook inside.
The rest of the afternoon passed without incident.
In the evening, Gu Yi’an arrived at the hotel, where Gu Tianjing was already waiting for her.
He was dressed in a suit, looking as though he had just finished a business meeting and had taken care to tidy up. He seemed like a completely different person from the slouching Gu Tianjing she remembered.
When Gu Tianjing saw Gu Yi’an approaching, he glanced at her and said, "Why do you look like you’re sick?"
Gu Yi’an pulled out a chair and sat down, asking, "Do I look pale?"
Gu Tianjing questioned, "Did you put on too much powder? Your face is too white."
He couldn’t help but feel that his younger sister seemed a bit unwell, she had lost even more weight.
Gu Yi’an asked, "Do you think I’m wearing makeup?"
Hearing this, Gu Tianjing took a closer look at his sister. Under the light, her face appeared flawless.
Usually, that kind of look meant she was wearing heavy makeup.
"Of course. Aren’t you wearing makeup?"
Gu Tianjing suddenly remembered a question his ex-girlfriend had once asked him, and he understood, Gu Yi’an must be worried about her appearance.
He deliberately put on an elder brother’s attitude and said, "Don’t worry, you’re not ugly. Remember how there used to be a bunch of kids hanging around our neighborhood just to give you love letters? I beat one up, and another would show up. And Old Zheng, remember him? The one who used to come over to our house all the time. I only found out later that he came just to see you."
Mentioning Old Zheng, Gu Tianjing added, "By the way, Old Zheng has been acting strange lately. After hearing about your experiences, he wanted to ask you for advice, but I stopped him."
Gu Yi’an remembered that Old Zheng was one of Gu Tianjing’s friends, the same one who used to team up with Gu Tianjing to tease her.
She played along and asked, "What strange things has he encountered?"
Gu Tianjing said, "How would I know? He suddenly asked me for your phone number. I pressed him for details, and he said he’d encountered something supernatural. If he’s dealing with that kind of thing, he should find a professional. What does he need you for? It’s not like you know how to handle it. I just hung up on him."
Truth be told, Gu Tianjing and Gu Yi’an didn’t have much to talk about. Their relationship had only started to improve over the past year.
He usually just transferred money to Gu Yi'an.
Living expenses, pocket money, tuition fees... he used every reason he could think of.
Gu Yi'an, however, didn’t touch that money because what she earned herself was more than enough to cover her needs.
Once the topic about Old Zheng ended, the two of them fell into silence.
Gu Yi'an took out the last protective talisman she had on her and handed it to Gu Tianjing.
"This one is real. Keep it."
Gu Tianjing glanced at the triangular talisman and, hearing her words, accepted it.
The server brought their dishes, but neither of them touched the food.
After a long pause, Gu Tianjing said, "Thank you."
He stayed quiet for a while, probably realizing that Gu Yi'an had finally started treating him like family. His mood immediately lifted, and he said, "I brought you a gift."
Gu Tianjing picked up a large gift bag from beside his chair.
"I had my assistant pick out some clothes for you."
He looked at Gu Yi'an and added, "They might be a bit big on you. How did you get so thin?"
Gu Yi'an pretended not to hear.
In the eyes of family, unless you’re genuinely overweight, they’ll always turn a blind eye and insist you’re too thin.
Recently, due to the death of her former roommate, Gu Yi'an had been surrounded by gossip and rumors.
Although she could ignore the idle talk, her mood wasn’t exactly great. On top of that, being dragged into The Game of the Gods had drained her mentally and physically after several rounds. The result was that even she noticed she had lost weight.
Dinner passed with Gu Tianjing chattering away, from how being too thin wasn’t good for a girl, to how Gu Yi'an was still in college and shouldn’t date, and then to how women should have children later in life.
God only knew how he could talk so much.
Gu Yi'an chimed in at one point.
She counted off Gu Tianjing’s five ex-girlfriends.
Among them, one had tried to use a pregnancy to secure her position as Mrs. Gu, but she ended up having a miscarriage.
When Gu Yi'an brought this up, Gu Tianjing could no longer maintain his elder brother persona. His own past was far from spotless, so he had no grounds to lecture her.
Despite his present respectable appearance, he had done plenty of shady things back in the day, and Gu Yi'an knew every single one of them. That’s what made her his real sister.
"Stop it. By your standards, I’ve already turned over a new leaf and mended my ways. Do me a favor and don’t bring up the past."
Once he backed down, Gu Yi'an enjoyed the peace and let the matter drop.
Seeing that she had stopped, Gu Tianjing breathed a sigh of relief. His gaze shifted and landed on something next to Gu Yi'an’s hand.
He said in disbelief, "Why are you studying with a notebook even during a meal? Gu Yi'an, have you gone crazy over studying?"
Hearing this, Gu Yi'an looked down.
She saw that persistent, haunting notebook.
Gu Tianjing still hadn’t noticed anything amiss. "When did you take that out? I didn’t see it at all. Are you planning to study right after dinner? Is our family going to produce a scientist?"
Gu Yi'an picked up the notebook, unzipped her backpack, tossed it inside, and zipped it back up before saying, "It’s my diary. I jot down a line or two now and then. I took it out earlier and forgot to put it back."
Her expression remained unchanged as she lied, and Gu Tianjing didn’t detect anything unusual.
Gu Tianjing said, "I never noticed you had a habit of keeping a diary? It seems my memory is really poor, I’ll have to arrange for another assistant."
As he mulled over adding an assistant, he stopped paying attention to the notebook.
Gu Yi’an thought the matter was over.
But then Gu Tianjing suddenly added, "Just now, it was strange. I felt a chilling cold from that notebook that gave me the creeps. When I held the peace charm you gave me, I felt a bit better."
Gu Tianjing continued, "Come to think of it, why was I holding onto this peace charm you gave me for no reason?"
He found his own behavior odd.
"Maybe you’ve been under a lot of work stress lately and feeling anxious," Gu Yi’an calmly smoothed it over, though inwardly she made a mental note about the notebook.
That chill was undoubtedly the notebook targeting Gu Tianjing.
After dinner, Gu Tianjing drove Gu Yi’an back to her rented place.
Holding the gift Gu Tianjing had given her, Gu Yi’an thought for a moment and pulled out a business card from her backpack that she had gotten from the person who sold the peace charms.
"This person has real skills and can exorcise ghosts. If that Brother Zheng bothers you again, have him try contacting this person."
In Gu Tianjing’s eyes, Gu Yi’an was highly trustworthy.
Gu Tianjing tucked the card away and said, "Head up early, and text me when you get in to let me know you’re safe."
"Okay."
Once Gu Yi’an returned to her rented apartment, she sent Gu Tianjing a text to confirm she was safe, then prepared to have a talk with the notebook.
She placed the notebook on her desk.
The little girl hiding behind the teacup peeked out, clutching a pen.
Gu Yi’an spotted her immediately and smiled at her.
The little girl smiled back, but when her gaze dropped to the notebook on the desk, she quickly ducked back into hiding.
Gu Yi’an looked at the notebook and asked, "Why did you follow me today?"
The notebook opened on its own, the handwriting less sharp than before, as if trying to appear submissive.
"I was worried you’d be lonely."
It sounded nice, always saying things that could easily be misinterpreted.
Gu Yi’an didn’t believe it, nor did she want the notebook following her.
Previously, she had worried that the notebook might do something bad when she wasn’t paying attention. There was no helping it, Lu Zize would always be associated with mischief in her mind, so she carried the notebook with her.
But now Gu Yi’an realized that even if she kept a constant watch, it would still find ways to cause trouble on its own.
Gu Yi’an decided to give up.
"I don't want you following me," she said.
The notebook realized Gu Yi'an was angry.
It immediately backed down, new words appearing on its pages.
"Don't be upset. I won't follow you."
Gu Yi'an wanted to say that just seeing the notebook made her unhappy.
She closed the notebook and placed it beneath a stack of thick professional books.
Peeking from behind a teacup, the little girl witnessed this scene and was stunned.
She glanced at Gu Yi'an's calm expression, then at the notebook buried under the pile of books, fully realizing that neither of them was to be trifled with.
Hiding behind the teacup, the little girl not only dared not come out but also completely abandoned the idea of returning to her small coffin.
The notebook seemed to have sensed Gu Yi'an's displeasure, as it obediently stayed beneath the professional books this time, true to its word, it didn't follow her and didn't appear in front of her.
Two days later, as Gu Yi'an passed by the stack of books, she suddenly touched the spot where the notebook lay beneath them.
It felt real.
Lu Zize was actually staying put here.
Gu Yi'an reflected on whether she had been too harsh. What trouble could a notebook possibly cause? It might just have been feeling cooped up and went out to clear its mind.
Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly noticed the little girl behind the teacup.
The little girl looked at Gu Yi'an and silently hid again, but she didn't glance toward the notebook's location.
This behavior struck Gu Yi'an as odd.
The little girl had been terrified of the notebook before, she should have glanced in its direction too.
After a moment's thought, Gu Yi'an pulled out the notebook.
She opened it.
One second, two seconds... half a minute passed.
Finally, a line of text appeared out of thin air on the previously blank page: "An'an, are you not angry anymore?"
"Call me Gu Yi'an."
Gu Yi'an corrected the notebook's form of address, then calmly said, "You know, your words used to appear on the paper. Now, they materialize out of thin air."
One was originally there; the other was added later. Gu Yi'an could still tell the difference.
This meant the notebook had slipped out again. The one in her hands was not its true form.
"From now on, please don't appear before me," Gu Yi'an said.
Even the most patient person would grow irritable at the sight of this notebook.
Gu Yi'an had no intention of letting her temper worsen.
The notebook tried to salvage the situation.
But Gu Yi'an had already closed it, paying no attention to whatever it had to say.
This time, she didn't place it under the stack of professional books but directly into a drawer.
Since it wasn't the notebook's true form, locking it away was merely a statement of her stance.
Seven days later.
The weather grew warmer, and everyone started wearing short sleeves.
Gu Yi'an estimated it was time for her fifth game.
She put on a jacket with pockets and placed the small coffin and the gambler's card inside.
Soon, pure white consumed Gu Yi'an's world.
She watched as her surroundings abruptly turned entirely white.
Then, she saw the notebook flying toward her from who knows where.
But the pure white space was faster. As it merged abruptly, the notebook, still in mid-flight, was blocked outside the space.
The scene was somewhat amusing.
After Gu Yi'an finished laughing, she began to reflect on her own behavior.
In reality, the notebook had no obligation to tell her where it was going.
The two of them weren’t in the kind of relationship where they had to inform each other of their whereabouts.
She had overstepped.
Thinking back now, Gu Yi’an regretted being so cold to the notebook these past few days.
She decided that once she got out of this round of the game, she would apologize to the notebook.
Gu Yi’an looked up at the black text floating in mid-air.
[Welcome to the Game of the Gods.]
[This is your fifth game. The gods are fair, they treat everyone equally. You have not received any hints.]
[But you may bring the items the gods have rewarded you.]
[Praise the gods, for they have bestowed upon you a coffin and a bank card. You can now give yourself a grand burial.]
Gu Yi’an wasn’t particularly keen on arranging her own funeral.
She patted her pockets and found, aside from the small coffin and the gambler’s card, an extra card belonging to Lu Zize. She clearly hadn’t put that card in her pocket.
She could use his card in other game worlds.
He must be a god, right?
But the notebook probably wouldn’t admit it.
Was he really a god?
With this speculation in mind, Gu Yi’an entered the game world.
The pure white faded away.
Gu Yi’an found herself standing beside a bonfire. Around her were men and women, their faces eerily illuminated by the firelight, glowing red. Yet, no one felt even a hint of warmth from the flames.
The roaring fire blazed, and within it, a line of black text visible to everyone floated parallel to the ground before their eyes.
[Shh! The gods are watching you.]
Immediately after, the black text was devoured by the flames.
Gu Yi’an scanned her surroundings.
They were in some unknown location, possibly the wilderness.
The ground beneath her feet felt unmistakably like soil, not concrete.
Everything was pitch black, with only a few stars dotting the sky, faintly illuminated by the hazy moonlight.
A breeze blew from somewhere, carrying what looked like ashes from the bonfire, though there was no unusual smell in the air.
A stern-faced man standing opposite Gu Yi’an spoke up, "If you’re a new player, step forward now."
The man seemed perpetually frowning, his expression severe. His sharp, dagger-like gaze swept over everyone present.
Gu Yi'an also observed their group of players.
Including herself, there were seven people in total, four men and three women.
A young man dressed in trendy, somewhat cool-looking clothes stepped forward and said, "Me, a newbie."
From the young man's slightly arrogant tone, everyone present could tell that he was definitely no ordinary character.
The stern-faced man who had spoken earlier eyed the young man suspiciously, likely thinking his demeanor didn't match that of a newcomer.
The stern-faced man said, "Tell us your newbie hint."
The young man didn't mind the other's tone and replied straightforwardly, "No one survives."
As soon as he uttered those four words, the other players, who had initially suspected he might be an experienced player pretending to be a newbie, averted their gazes. After all, no experienced player would dare give such a ruthless fake hint.
No one survives, did that mean this was a certain-death scenario?
Anticipating the dangers they might face next, everyone's mood soured.
After sharing his hint, the young newbie continued, "You're probably wondering, can you experienced players not get newbie hints?"
Though he posed the question, he didn't give anyone time to answer before adding, "You ask for hints but remain wary of me, are you suspecting I might give you a fake one? Have you encountered experienced players pretending to be newbies and giving false hints before?"
He went on, "You don't need to doubt me. I shared it because I can't figure out what 'no one survives' means. You experienced players probably understand more than I do. I give you the hint, and you help me get familiar with the game. Shouldn't newbies and experienced players mutually benefit each other?"
This newbie isn't bad.
Gu Yi'an, using the firelight, noticed that the other experienced players' eyes mostly held appreciation for the young male player.
Even the stern-faced man's brow seemed less furrowed than before.
He gave the young player a slight nod, then turned to the others. "Let's leave this place now. Any objections?"
As his gaze swept over the players, most nodded in agreement or remained silent, except for Gu Yi'an.
Gu Yi'an said, "Just now, when the wind blew past, something that looked like paper ash or something else drifted out of the fire. We might need to put out this fire and see what's inside."
She had been paying attention to that black, ash-like substance and wanted to figure out what it was.
As soon as Gu Yi'an spoke, the other six players turned their attention to her.
Dressed in a black coat, Gu Yi'an appeared neat and tidy, and with her striking beauty, she immediately stood out.
Of course, the players knew now wasn't the time to focus on appearances. After hearing her words, they quickly shifted their attention to the fire.
The once fiercely burning flames suddenly weakened, and everyone could see several strange objects in the spot where the fire had been burning.
The fire itself gave off no heat. Gu Yi'an bent down and reached out to test it, finding that the flames caused her no harm at all.
So, she directly picked up an object from the base of the fire.
It was extremely light, almost as if she were holding nothing.
As she lifted it out of the flames, she used the firelight to get a clear look at what she held in her hand.
This object looked very much like a mobile phone, but it was extremely crude, as if pieced together from cardboard, and it was designed to resemble a smartphone!
Gu Yi'an held the lightweight object, turning it over in her hands. She realized it was essentially a paper-crafted phone, complete with a power button, a shutdown button, and a screen.
The question was, could this paper phone actually work?
Staring at the paper phone, Gu Yi'an felt a bit conflicted.
When the other players saw Gu Yi'an take out the paper phone, they also reached into the fire and each grabbed one.
Coincidentally, there were exactly seven paper phones.
Seven paper phones for seven players.
At this point, everyone understood, this was a tool left behind by the deity. If they had left directly, they would have missed out on this item.
"Isn't this a phone for ghosts?" someone muttered under their breath.
While fiddling with their paper phones, the players glanced at each other, waiting to see what would happen next. Eventually, their gazes all converged on Gu Yi'an, including the stern-faced man who had spoken first.
Gu Yi'an pressed the power button on the paper phone, but nothing happened, so she simply gave up.
She looked back at the spot where the fire had been. After all the paper phones were taken, the fire had gone out. Now, the only light source for the group came from the moonlight above.
Gu Yi'an scanned the surroundings and spotted a path through the overgrown weeds, leading into the distance.
She couldn't see what lay ahead, as her view was blocked by trees.
Gu Yi'an said, "Let's follow the path."
The other players had no objections.
After all, they had also assessed their surroundings and come to the same conclusion. They were just lacking someone to take the lead.
By guiding everyone to retrieve the paper phones, Gu Yi'an had unwittingly gained a certain level of authority within the player group.
Gu Yi'an walked at the front, and the seven players proceeded along the path. There were no sounds of insects around, only the sound of their own footsteps.
This seemed to hint at something unusual.
With hearts in their throats, they passed through a few trees, and soon, low-rise houses with lights shining through the windows appeared in the distance. The buildings were densely packed, forming a crowded cluster at first glance.
Under the moonlight, they could see a cement-paved road up close.
This was the path leading to the cluster of houses in the distance, likely a village.
Gu Yi'an glanced back at the players and said, "Let's go to the village to find a place to stay."
Everyone looked in the opposite direction from the village entrance and saw only endless darkness, with no streetlights in sight.
This place only had lights in the village.
Given the circumstances and the two choices, they had no option but to head toward the village.
Holding their paper phones, the group slowly trudged toward the village entrance.
At the extinguished bonfire the players had just left, a man with an extremely long neck and rolled-back eyes drifted over.
He sniffed lightly. "I smell humans. There's food."
His voice was grating, like metal being sawed.
Then, he drifted around the extinguished bonfire and pulled out a paper phone identical to the ones Gu Yi'an and the others held.
He blew a breath onto the paper phone.
That breath acted like fuel, lighting up the black screen of the paper phone.
"It's time for the livestream. Time to start the broadcast for the audience."
He tapped an app on the screen and opened his livestream.
"Good evening, ghost friends. Welcome to the Hanged Ghost's livestream. I'm your handsome and dashing host, the Hanged Ghost. Oh, I see new viewers joining the stream. Welcome, Spirit Board Huang Qiao, welcome, Female Rakshasa, welcome... Ghost King! Ghost King, why are you gracing my humble livestream with your presence?"
Seeing the name displayed in the livestream, the Hanged Ghost got so excited that his neck stretched even longer, nearly detaching from his body. The Ghost King's name couldn't be impersonated.
He was thrilled, but the Ghost King paid him no attention.
The Hanged Ghost didn't actually believe he'd be lucky enough to receive a response from the Ghost King.
He immediately began enthusiastically introducing today's livestream content into the phone.
"As everyone knows, strange and eerie places often host very interesting events, like having humans around. Today, I've come to our Daguang Village to conduct a supernatural livestream. We're going to find humans. If we find them, we can have a feast. Just between us, I really did catch a whiff of human scent earlier."
"Don't spam the comments saying you don't believe me. Wait until we bump into humans during the livestream, then you'll see."