Chapter 48

Gu Yi'an was someone who, once she made a decision, would not easily change it.
She would keep her distance from the notebook and maintain a mutual non-interference policy.
Therefore, after seeing the line of text in the notebook, her expression remained largely unchanged.
"You're an adult; you don't need a guardian."
Though she spoke with a polite smile, her voice was cool and detached, giving off an unapproachable vibe.
The hanged ghost hanging on the backpack as a decoration silently turned around.
One shouldn’t casually watch the Ghost King’s antics.
Who knows, it might be held accountable by the Ghost King later.
Not only the hanged ghost, but the little girl in the small coffin remained completely still. Even though she had the coffin as a shield, she was still afraid of being noted down in the notebook.
Upon hearing Gu Yi'an's words, the notebook quickly displayed new text.
"You can think of me as still being young."
The handwriting flowed smoothly, exceptionally carefree, without any restraint, proving just how thick-skinned the notebook was.
Gu Yi'an’s gaze shifted down to the notebook’s cover, and she noticed that it was indeed quite thick.
"...Then can you tell me what you were doing when you went out earlier?"
After asking this, Gu Yi'an reminded herself not to ask another question.
The notebook sensed the softening of Gu Yi'an’s attitude.
New text immediately appeared on the paper.
"I went to help a vulnerable child."
A vulnerable child?
Gu Yi'an had a strong feeling that the notebook was full of nonsense.
"Was that child human or a ghost?"
After asking, Gu Yi'an realized it was a silly question. The notebook wasn’t human, so the vulnerable child it helped was most likely a ghost.
The notebook gave its answer.
"A ghost."
As expected.
Gu Yi'an watched as another line of black text appeared in the notebook.
"I am kind-hearted."
The notebook emphasized this point strongly.
Gu Yi'an pretended not to see it.
She could believe its previous words, but this statement, she absolutely refused to believe it.
If Lu Zize were kind-hearted, then in her third game, so many people wouldn’t have died from accidents.
Lu Zize’s words should be taken with a grain of salt, never taken seriously.
Gu Yi'an once again reinforced the idea that Lu Zize’s words were not to be trusted.
His claim that he liked being controlled couldn’t be believed either.
If he said he liked being controlled, it was probably because he found it amusing, or perhaps he enjoyed teasing her by saying such things.
In short, Lu Zize’s words were not to be trusted.
After solidifying this thought, Gu Yi'an didn’t engage further with the notebook.
She booked a flight for that evening online and packed her luggage.
While Gu Yi'an was packing her backpack, the notebook suddenly appeared inside it.
Gu Yi'an saw it, her gaze lingering on it for half a second before she looked away as if she hadn’t noticed anything.
Lu Zize, who resided in the notebook, was a powerful ghost, as evidenced by his ability to suppress the little girl and the hanged ghost.
Not to mention, he was actually an incarnation of a god.
If Gu Tianjing was truly in danger, the notebook might be a powerful asset and could potentially help.
The hanged ghost hanging on the backpack as a decoration breathed a sigh of relief upon sensing the presence inside the backpack.
It had thought so, couples quarreling was common, and sure enough, the Ghost King and his consort had made up in no time.
Just as Gu Yi'an was about to leave, she received a reply from her new academic advisor, who approved her leave request.
Gu Yi'an could now legitimately skip classes and leave the university.
Pushing her suitcase, Gu Yi'an arrived at the bus stop outside the university. Her first task wasn’t to rush to the airport but to take a bus to the Taoist temple where she had previously purchased a peace charm.
There was a chubby middle-aged man there who had real skills.
An hour later, Gu Yi'an, holding a parasol, arrived at the entrance of the Taoist temple she had visited before.
From a distance, she noticed that the person manning the stall at the entrance of the Taoist temple had changed. It was no longer the portly middle-aged man she had encountered before, but a very lean young boy.
The boy appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen years old, with a close-cropped haircut and faded, well-washed clothes. He sat in front of the stall with obvious reluctance.
Gu Yi'an approached and inquired, "Excuse me, is the previous Taoist priest available?"
The boy had actually spotted Gu Yi'an from afar.
First, her attire was refined, setting her apart from the ordinary people around her. Moreover, she was carrying a suitcase and holding a parasol.
As she drew closer, the boy got a clear look at her face, she was as beautiful as a celebrity on television.
His eyes darted around, and he began to form a guess about Gu Yi'an's background.
When Gu Yi'an came near, he immediately spoke up, "The uncle has been invited to deal with a ghost. Miss, would you like a Calming Talisman? I can offer you a discount, just a thousand yuan per talisman."
The last time Gu Yi'an had bought a Peace Talisman from the portly man, it had only cost five hundred yuan. This boy was clearly asking for an exorbitant price, doubling the rate in one go.
Gu Yi'an asked, "Did he go to exorcise a ghost for a family named Zheng?"
Gu Tianjing's friend, who had encountered strange occurrences, was surnamed Zheng. Gu Yi'an had specifically given Gu Tianjing the portly man's business card.
"How do you know that? Are you my master's enemy? Are you... not human?" The boy's expression shifted dramatically, and he immediately gathered the talismans from the stall, clutching them to his chest.
His posture suggested that if Gu Yi'an made any suspicious moves, he would immediately throw the talismans at her.
Gu Yi'an remained still, watching as the boy hastily retreated.
"You don't need to worry about me seeking revenge. I was the one who referred your master. Right now, I can't get in touch with that family. Can you contact your master?"
The boy gripped a stack of talismans tightly, eyeing her warily. "Why should I believe you?"
Observing his defensive stance, Gu Yi'an asked, "You can't reach your master, can you?"
The boy retorted, "Just wait. I'll have my master come and chase you away."
Hearing this, Gu Yi'an pressed further, "How many days has it been since you last contacted your master?"
The boy was stunned into silence.
How did this woman figure it out?
Gu Yi'an, however, decided not to push any further, not wanting to pressure him too much.
Generally speaking, the less confident someone feels, the more they tend to bluff.
That was precisely what Gu Yi'an had surmised.
She hadn't expected to be right on every count.
Unable to extract any information related to the Zheng family, Gu Yi’an shifted the topic.
She asked, “Do you have any wood suitable for a ghost to inhabit?”
This was the real reason Gu Yi’an had come.
“Huh? Uh... yes.”
The young man was sharp-witted. After realizing Gu Yi’an wasn’t the vengeful enemy he had imagined, he gathered his courage and asked, “Are you living here yourself?”
Gu Yi’an had already mentioned it was wood for a ghost to inhabit.
“I’m human,” Gu Yi’an corrected.
The young man looked Gu Yi’an up and down, his expression puzzled. So beautiful, afraid of sunlight, was she really not a female ghost?
But then again, she had no cultivation aura. She must be human, just as he had initially thought.
The young man fished out a palm-sized, dark-red wooden block from a worn-out satchel beside his chair and said, “My master said this is Soul-Infused Wood. The asking price is... 500,000?”
He glanced at Gu Yi’an, his eyes gleaming slightly.
A faint smile curled at the corner of Gu Yi’an’s lips as she silently watched the young man without speaking.
Under her gaze, the young man grew uneasy, feeling that the beautiful woman’s smile was strangely eerie.
He shivered, recalling his master’s teachings about not being too greedy. He quickly amended, “5,000. Final price.”
In the end, Gu Yi’an bought the Soul-Infused Wood for 5,000 yuan and then hailed a taxi to the airport.
The taxi driver was a middle-aged man. Through the rearview mirror, he glanced at the girl in the back seat, young, beautiful, with an aloof and noble aura.
A wicked thought quietly took root, grew, and boiled within him.
At a fork in the road, the driver hesitated briefly before turning in the opposite direction of the navigation.
He turned off the GPS, his hands trembling slightly as they gripped the steering wheel.
“Driver.”
The girl’s cool voice echoed in the taxi.
“This doesn’t seem like the way to the airport, does it?”
The driver didn’t answer, his heart racing with a perverse thrill of impending success.
The taxi turned onto a road with increasingly sparse traffic.
The driver knew the situation was settled, no one would come to save this girl.
His attention drifted away from the road ahead.
As his focus wavered, he vaguely sensed something beside him.
Was the girl trying to hit him?
The driver scoffed inwardly. A girl so thin a gust of wind could blow her away, how could she possibly overpower him?
She only had her phone on her; her luggage was all in the trunk.
The driver turned his head slightly to look.
As he did, he met a pair of white, rolled-back eyes. Focusing more clearly, he saw an extremely ugly, long-tongued ghostly face!
A ghost!
“Ah!”
In the face of danger, the driver could only manage a scream.
However, his cry, muffled by the tightly closed windows, never escaped the car.
With few vehicles on the road and almost no passersby, the driverless taxi, jostled by the driver’s unconscious movements, swerved and crashed into a roadside tree, forcibly coming to a stop.
“Your Highness, this man has fainted. Can I eat him?”
“No.”
Gu Yi’an rejected the Hanged Ghost’s enthusiastic desire to devour the man.
After sensing the driver’s malicious intent, the Hanged Ghost had volunteered to stretch its neck and stare at the driver, preventing him from harming Gu Yi’an.
However, the driver had been intently taking detours, driving the car into a remote area, and only just now noticed the hanging ghost.
The hanging ghost was a bit unhappy and muttered, "Princess, this person wants to harm you. It's such a waste not to eat someone like this."
Inside the small coffin, the little girl pushed open the lid, flipped out, and jumped onto Gu Yi'an's shoulder. She said to the hanging ghost, "You must be trying to harm An'an. In human society, you can't just kill people randomly. Do you want to eat the driver and pin the murder on An'an?"
Seeing the little girl occupying one of Gu Yi'an's shoulders, the long-necked hanging ghost immediately transformed back into its sunny doll form and took up the other shoulder.
"I didn't."
"You definitely did."
The two of them started arguing.
Gu Yi'an was getting a headache from listening to them.
She had originally been lost in thought.
She felt that, logically, this taxi driver shouldn't have been so blatant about dragging a female student like her to a deserted place.
Taxis have their own system and regulatory oversight. Once a mistake is made, it's easy to get caught. Therefore, taxi drivers generally don't target passengers because if they do, they'll be apprehended immediately.
That this driver dared to do such a thing made Gu Yi'an suspect there might be something wrong.
For example, was the driver being controlled?
The little girl keenly noticed Gu Yi'an's slight frown.
She immediately fell silent and obediently sat on Gu Yi'an's shoulder.
With no one left to argue with, the hanging ghost quieted down as well.
In its sunny doll form, the hanging ghost didn't even have legs and could only float in the air, pretending it was also sitting on Gu Yi'an's shoulder.
Gu Yi'an sat calmly in the back seat of the taxi.
"Knock, knock."
It was the sound of someone tapping on the car window.
Sure enough, they had come for her.
Gu Yi'an wasn't surprised; she had guessed that the driver might be under someone's control.
Now, the mastermind had revealed themselves.
Gu Yi'an looked toward the window where the sound had come from.
The window silently vanished.
A somewhat pale-faced man appeared before Gu Yi'an.
The man also noticed the two little ghosts perched on Gu Yi'an's shoulders, one on each side.
He smiled and said, "I thought luring you out of the school would leave you without any support. I didn't expect you to have so many ghosts under your care."
Gu Yi'an had never seen this man before and couldn't understand why he would say such things.
Judging from the man's words, he too was someone who dealt with ghosts and monsters.
Gu Yi'an asked, "What is your purpose in controlling the driver and bringing me here?"
The man held out a skull covered in cracks.
He said with some pride, "Huang Ya, no matter how much effort you put into seizing this new body, in the end, you've only prepared it for me."
Huang Ya was the name of Gu Yi'an's former counselor.
Hearing this, Gu Yi'an finally understood why the man had come for her.
He mistakenly believed that the counselor had taken over her body.
Gu Yi'an said, "You've got the wrong person."
The man laughed, "Huang Ya, you learned how to raise ghosts from me. Do you think I wouldn't recognize you? You're pretending to be that student of yours quite convincingly. Your sister can't leave the school. Even if she wanted to save you, she couldn't."
He lowered his head and spoke to the skull in his hand, "Susu, go. That is your new body."
Gu Yi'an had nothing to say.
Was he saying this in front of her because he thought she couldn't hear? Or did he believe she was incapable of resisting?
A silent, chilling cold emanated from the skull.
A flow of energy surged through the air, rushing straight toward Gu Yi'an.
Gu Yi'an remained seated calmly, the strands of hair in front of her forehead swaying slightly.
Two small figures darted out of the car window.
A notebook, open and floating, appeared in front of Gu Yi'an.
On the lined pages, a line of text was written.
"Don't be afraid. I will protect you."
Gu Yi'an: "..."
The ones truly protecting her were clearly the Hanged Ghost and the little girl.
Inside the car, it was peaceful and stable, with no abnormalities except for the unconscious person in the driver's seat.
Outside the car, the man stared wide-eyed at the white-eyed, long-necked ghost and the ghost that had swollen to the size of a hot-air balloon, which had suddenly appeared before him.
They stared straight at him, their greed and desire unmistakable at a glance.
"Susu!"
The skull in the man's hand shattered into countless fragments, all shooting toward the ghosts in front of him.
The hot-air balloon ghost blocked the taxi, and the fragments embedded themselves into its body but could only lodge on the surface.
The long-necked ghost seized the opportunity, elongating its neck and wrapping it around the man's body.
"Huh?"
The long-necked ghost exclaimed in surprise.
The man's body it had wrapped around turned into a small piece of paper.
"He escaped."
The hot-air balloon ghost rapidly shrank into a doll less than two centimeters tall. The fragments stuck to its surface fell off one by one, then transformed into black mist and vanished as well.
The little girl said with a grim expression, "It escaped too."
The Hanged Ghost, having returned to its true form, floated over and heard the little girl's words.
They exchanged a glance.
Since they had both let their enemies escape, neither had the right to mock the other.
They flew back into the car.
The battle had ended so quickly that Gu Yi'an had just closed the notebook that had suddenly appeared.
As the Hanged Ghost and the little girl flew back, they happened to witness Gu Yi'an mercilessly closing the notebook and stuffing it into her backpack.
The two of them stopped mid-air simultaneously.
Having witnessed the deity being treated so coldly by An'an, would she be marked down in the deity's little notebook?
The little girl felt it was highly likely.
Having witnessed the Ghost King being roughly treated by his consort, should it be seen as a playful interaction between the couple or as an embarrassing moment for the Ghost King?
The Hanged Ghost felt it shouldn't be there.
In the car, Gu Yi'an zipped up her backpack and looked at the hanged ghost and the little girl, who were about to fly outside.
"Are you planning to go out? Did enemies show up again?"
The hanged ghost and the little girl froze, then silently flew back.
While Gu Yi'an was talking to them, a wisp of black energy drifted out from the unconscious male driver in the driver's seat.
The little girl narrowed her eyes and tried to fly toward the driver's seat.
The hanged ghost stopped her.
Gu Yi'an noticed the abnormality in the driver's seat from the reactions of the two ghosts. She turned her gaze over just in time to see a strand of black energy float out of the car window.
The hanged ghost asked, "Your Highness, should we chase it?"
Gu Yi'an replied, "Not for now."
With this incident happening midway, Gu Yi'an began to suspect whether her brother's accident was deliberately arranged by the man from earlier to lure her out of the school.
But the problem was, the man believed she had successfully taken over the new body, Huang Ya.
Based on Gu Yi'an's understanding of the counselor, even if someone were to possess a body, it should be her sister, Huang Qiao, who had turned into a ghost.
How did it become the counselor possessing her in the man's words?
If the counselor had successfully taken over a body, she should avoid contact with the body's relatives and wouldn't leave the school just because of a phone call.
Her brother's situation likely had nothing to do with that man.
Earlier, even with the combined efforts of the hanged ghost and the little girl, they couldn't stop the man.
He had come prepared.
Gu Yi'an had no intention of confronting him head-on or dealing with his backup plans.
She had more important things to do.
She needed to find out whether her brother's disappearance was real or not.
The taxi driver was still unconscious in the driver's seat.
Gu Yi'an used the driver's phone to call an ambulance for him.
With the help of the hanged ghost, Gu Yi'an got out of the car and took her suitcase.
She stood by the roadside for over ten minutes and, before the ambulance arrived, flagged down a private car and left the scene.
The taxi driver was awakened by the medical staff.
His mind went blank for about half a minute before he suddenly remembered what had happened before he lost consciousness.
Fear and remorse flooded his mind.
How could he have been so foolish, harboring malicious intentions toward a young girl?
Doing bad things leads to encounters with ghosts.
The taxi driver was filled with regret.
And that wisp of black energy that had drifted out of the taxi under Gu Yi'an's gaze.
It drifted through the world for a while, then circled back to the scene of the taxi accident, landing beside a tree.
There, the pale figure of a man gradually materialized, completely undetectable by cameras, the very man who had escaped the pursuit of the hanged ghost and the little girl.
The black energy merged into the cracked skull cradled in the man's hands.
As the black energy fused into it, the cracks on the skull became shallower.
"This time's malevolent thoughts are still a bit lacking."
The man spoke affectionately to the skull, "Susu, I misjudged this time. That girl Huang Ya is cunning, she's not just raising her sister as a ghost. She must have realized early on that the formula we provided was flawed, and in the end, she hastily seized a new body. She lost her original body and will need time to adjust to the new one. During this period, we still have a chance."
Another wisp of black mist drifted into the skull.
As the black mist entered, the skull crumbled into dust in his hands.
The man's eyes widened in fury.
This was not the malevolent energy he had reclaimed.
His Susu!
The man jerked his head up and saw a notebook floating in the air.
Above the notebook hovered a line of black text.
"Let's make a deal."
Night deepened.
Gu Yi'an arrived at the hotel room she had booked.
For her, this day had been exceptionally busy.
In the morning, she entered The Game of the Gods; in the afternoon, she was attacked by a stranger; in the evening, she was on the move, taking a flight to the hotel.
There was hardly a moment of rest.
Gu Yi'an washed away the weariness of the day.
Before going to sleep, she placed the notebook, the small coffin, the gambler's card, the jade pendant, and the hanged ghost, now a pendant, on the pillow beside her.
"Goodnight," Gu Yi'an said to them.
The hanged ghost replied cheerfully, "Goodnight, Your Highness."
The lid of the small coffin was pushed open, and the little girl stepped out, forcibly covering the hanged ghost's mouth.
Watching their playful scuffle, Gu Yi'an's gaze unconsciously fell on the notebook.
The notebook opened on its own, and a line of text appeared on it.
"Goodnight, sweet dreams."
Gu Yi'an confirmed that the notebook hadn't slipped away.
She said, "Sweet dreams."
The hanged ghost finally understood why the little girl had covered its mouth, it shouldn't have spoken to Her Highness just now.
It gestured for the little girl to let go.
The little girl released it disdainfully and returned to her small coffin.
The hanged ghost muttered, "Think having a coffin makes you special? I still have my five-thousand ghost wood."
It floated over to the backpack, coiled its lower body around the ghost wood Gu Yi'an had bought, and flew back to the pillow.
Seeing it return, Gu Yi'an turned off the light.
The room plunged into darkness.
In the pitch black, Gu Yi'an didn't fall asleep immediately. She quietly reflected on the events of that afternoon.
A stranger had suddenly shown up, trying to seize her body.
It seemed that ever since she entered The Game of the Gods, she had encountered more people with genuine abilities, and incidents had become more frequent. She had also acquired two capable ghosts.
Gu Yi'an pondered that, for those who dabbled in unorthodox methods of raising ghosts, she might be nothing short of a walking treasure.
She carried a heavy aura of ghostly energy, and her family background was quite decent. From a young age, she had excelled academically, had few interactions with relatives and friends, and wasn't particularly outgoing. Few people truly knew her well, and with her unremarkable appearance, she seemed like the perfect candidate for possession.
She was still too weak. Even with the protection of the notebook and other items, she appeared far too vulnerable.
What she needed to do now was to strengthen her own power, to make those with ill intentions think twice before targeting her.
Once Gu Yi'an had this realization, the distracting thoughts in her mind dissipated completely, and she drifted into sleep.
Gu Yi'an had a dream.
She dreamed that Tang Jiu was looking for her.
She found herself standing on a bustling street, watching the crowds of people passing by, each with a different face.
After searching for a while, Gu Yi'an finally spotted Tang Jiu, who was glancing around anxiously.
She walked up to Tang Jiu and smiled, saying, "Tang Jiu."
Tang Jiu's gaze immediately fixed on Gu Yi'an.
"An'an, I found an item that will let us enter the game together. Are you in the game right now? If not, let's go in together."
"The lifespan rewarded by the god can be carried over if it's not used up. Let's enter a new game together."
Gu Yi'an glanced at the two interlocking metal rings in Tang Jiu's hand.
One round of The Game of the Gods didn't consume any real-world time.
She only had to meet her brother's assistant, Yu Xia, tomorrow morning.
Although she was exhausted from the day, if she could enter the game with a friend, it didn't matter.
Gu Yi'an said, "Okay."
Tang Jiu cheered, "An'an, you're the best."
She added, "An'an, hold onto this ring. I'll hold the other one."
Gu Yi'an did as she was told, gripping the ring with one hand.
In that instant, the world turned pure white before their eyes.
Gu Yi'an found herself and Tang Jiu standing in what seemed like two separate, pure white spaces.
Each of them had black text in front of them, but the spaces didn't overlap, and neither did the text.
Gu Yi'an could only see the black text in front of her.
[This is your sixth game. The god is fair and impartial. You have received no hints.]
Gu Yi'an looked further down and saw that the black text went on to thank the god for allowing her to give herself a proper burial.
Right, she hadn't received any rewards from the previous game.
With her free hand, Gu Yi'an checked her pockets.
She was no longer in her pajamas but was now wearing a tracksuit, sneakers, and a sports jacket.
Gu Yi'an found the small coffin, gambler card, and bank card in her pocket.
No jade pendant was in sight.
She pushed open the small coffin with one hand and saw the little girl sleeping inside.
A slight doubt arose in Gu Yi'an’s mind: if the little girl had followed, why hadn’t the hanged ghost come along?
In the real world.
Above the pillow, a distorted space suddenly closed.
The notebook, small coffin, card, and other items that had been on the pillow vanished without a trace.
Only the hanged ghost, in the form of a sunny doll, remained, sound asleep on the Soul-Infused Wood.
The pure white space before Gu Yi'an tore apart, and she arrived in a new space, or rather, a room.
The moment she entered the room, the ring she had been holding in her hand disappeared.
[Shh! God is watching you.]
The black characters floating in the air dissipated like smoke.
Gu Yi'an immediately looked at the people around her.
Tang Jiu was closest to her and, like Gu Yi'an, was surveying the room.
There were six players in total in the room, three men and three women.
With a quick glance over the other players’ faces, Gu Yi'an spotted one that looked slightly familiar.
It seemed to be a teammate she had encountered in a previous game.
The other person also noticed Gu Yi'an.
Recognizing her, he exclaimed excitedly, "You’re the little thief who stole hearts from that time!"
Hearing this, Gu Yi'an knew for sure that this was the male player she had met in her second game.
The mention of "stealing hearts" by Mr.Demon had left a deep impression on her as well.
Gu Yi'an vaguely recalled some details about this male player, in her memory, he seemed to have coasted through the entire game.
It had been a while, and Gu Yi'an couldn’t remember this male player’s codename.
The male player, however, was already eagerly introducing himself.
"Little Thief, I’m the Student, the one with the student card. I remember now, Little Thief isn’t a thief; you’re the Sage. Sage, I’ll rely on you this round. Whatever you say, I’ll do."
His enthusiastic attitude made his stance clear: he intended to follow Gu Yi'an and coast along.
Gu Yi'an truly couldn’t recall who this male player was, and she had never been good at dealing with overly enthusiastic people.
Since she sensed no malice from him, she let the self-proclaimed Student do as he pleased.
With this exchange between Gu Yi'an and the Student, the other players turned their attention toward them.
One male player was handsome with a cold gaze, as if he saw everyone as already dead.
Another male player was strikingly good-looking with a gentle demeanor; his gaze lingered on Gu Yi'an, not in a disrespectful way, but with appreciation.
Gu Yi'an felt a faint sense of familiarity with him. After a few glances, she concluded that he was indeed a stranger she was meeting for the first time and averted her eyes.
The remaining unfamiliar female player had an elegant aura and looked at Gu Yi'an and the Student with curiosity, asking, "Do you know each other?"
The Student nodded. "Yeah! Sage here is super amazing! In the game we played together, she carried us to victory."
Hearing the Student’s words, Tang Jiu lifted her chin and retorted, "Stop overpraising, will you? You’re an experienced player too. Who makes it this far without some skills?"
The Student, silenced by Tang Jiu’s remark, couldn’t respond.
Tang Jiu then turned to the other players and asked, "Any newcomers?"
There were only six players present.
Gu Yi'an and Tang Jiu knew each other inside out.
The student was also an experienced player Gu Yi'an had encountered before.
The unfamiliar female player and the seemingly cold male player remained silent, their gazes shifting toward the others.
The male player who had appeared gentle earlier spoke up, "This is my first time entering the Game of the Gods. Does that count as a newbie?"
Tang Jiu glanced at him and said, "How come you don't seem like a newbie to me? You wouldn't be one of those sly veterans pretending to be a new player to deceive others, would you?"
The male player wasn't angered by Tang Jiu's words. He replied calmly, "I don't know what kind of person you're referring to, but I truly am entering the Game of the Gods for the first time."
"Really? You're a bit too composed for a newbie, aren't you?"
Tang Jiu and this player seemed to clash from the start.
She kept questioning the new male player, while the good-natured newbie patiently refuted each of her remarks one by one.
The other three players watched as Tang Jiu and the new male player seemed on the verge of an argument. The student was bewildered and unsure of what to do, the cold-faced male player observed their quarrel indifferently, and the elegant female player seemed a bit dazed, wanting to intervene but finding no opportunity as Tang Jiu and the others left no room for mediation.
Gu Yi'an knew that Tang Jiu wasn't usually one to stir up trouble without reason. If she was acting this way, it was likely because she had detected something off about the new male player.
While they were talking, Gu Yi'an carefully examined the room.
It was a sealed white room with no doors or windows, illuminated by fluorescent lights on the ceiling.
The floor and ceiling also appeared to have no exits.
There was no way for them to leave.
On one wall hung a massive display screen.
There were six chairs in the room, seemingly arranged specifically for people to rest and watch the screen.
After refuting Tang Jiu, the new male player turned to Gu Yi'an and the others and volunteered, "Before I came in, I received a hint: Patience. Did you all get one too?"
Patience?
Tang Jiu pondered, "Does that mean we need to have patience to survive?"
No one could answer her question.
Since they hadn't triggered any events yet, no one knew what they were about to face, making it impossible to respond.
Gu Yi'an said to the new male player, "We're experienced players; we don't receive hints. Thank you for sharing this one with us."
She looked at everyone. "There are exactly six chairs. Why don't we all sit on them? Maybe it'll trigger something."
Since there were no visible exits in the room, perhaps the only option was for the players to sit on the chairs and wait for the screen to light up.
The mild-mannered novice male player immediately agreed, "Alright. We don't have anything else to do anyway."
Since he was so cooperative, the other players generally shared the same sentiment and had no objections.
Tang Jiu glanced at the male player, then pulled Gu Yi'an aside and whispered, "An'an, doesn't that male player remind you a bit of Lu Zize?"
Like Lu Zize?
Her words struck a chord.
Gu Yi'an finally realized where the sense of familiarity with that male player came from.
Lu Zize's signature gentle tactics and amiable tone instantly won people over, drawing them to his side.
After Tang Jiu mentioned Lu Zize, she herself seemed unsettled.
She gritted her teeth and said, "Lu Zize is the psychological trauma of my entire gaming life. I never managed to outsmart him, not even once. I thought it was a case of 'sugar-coated poison,' but in the end, I was just crushed to death."
It wasn't just Tang Jiu who had psychological trauma, Gu Yi'an did too.
That game, with its relentless "accidental deaths," had kept everyone on edge.
Tang Jiu sighed in relief, "Thankfully, he was just a character in that game."
Gu Yi'an remained silent. She couldn't exactly tell Tang Jiu that Lu Zize had actually turned into a notebook and was now in the same world as her.
That guy was also one of the incarnations of a god, so he was probably still in the real world.
It seemed quite difficult for him to enter the game space.
Gu Yi'an remembered how the notebook had been blocked by the pure white space last time.
Another female player, seeing Gu Yi'an and Tang Jiu chatting, grew curious. "Are you two companions? I saw you speaking up for her earlier."
Tang Jiu wrapped an arm around Gu Yi'an's shoulder and boasted, "She's my best friend. She came in here specifically to accompany me."
The female player looked envious upon hearing this. She seemed to have more questions, but just then, the mild-mannered novice male player tactfully reminded everyone to take their seats.
The players then found their respective spots to sit.
The six chairs were arranged in a row.
Naturally, Tang Jiu sat right next to Gu Yi'an, on her right side.
The male player who claimed to be a student also wanted to sit near Gu Yi'an.
The mild-mannered novice male player chatted with him for a bit, and before anyone realized it, the novice had shifted his position to Gu Yi'an's left side.
The student didn't notice anything amiss and even happily remarked, "Yeah, that game with the Sage was really cool. While the rest of us were heading to the office building, she found another key location."
Gu Yi'an noticed the novice male player sitting beside her.
He caught her gaze and gave her a gentle smile.
Gu Yi'an nodded slightly and averted her eyes.
Just then, the screen on the wall suddenly lit up.
The players' attention turned toward it.
On the screen, a silent animated cutscene began playing.
A cute little character walked across a grassy field, leaped over a ditch, climbed floating stone steps, and burst through a pair of grand double doors.
After the little character rushed through the doors, the words "Level Clear" covered the character's image and took over the entire screen.
Tang Jiu said, "Are we the little characters in the animation? Do we have to clear levels like it did?"
Gu Yi'an said, "Judging by how things look now, it should be."
Tang Jiu asked, "Then how do we get into that meadow-like scene?"
As Tang Jiu spoke, the image on the display screen changed.
Four words appeared on it: Character Selection.
Below the words "Character Selection," six characters in a comic style appeared.
These six characters consisted of three males and three females, each with extremely distinct traits.
The three male characters were: Cold, Gentle, and Student-like.
The three female characters were: Energetic, Aloof, and Elegant.
These six characters perfectly corresponded to the six players currently in the room!
Tang Jiu stroked her chin and said, "This is interesting. Are we supposed to choose ourselves? Is it voice-controlled or manual selection? What happens if I say 'choose me'?"
As soon as Tang Jiu said this, the display screen changed again.
The female character who appeared particularly energetic and sunny was enlarged and displayed on the left side of the screen, while the other characters disappeared. On the upper right side of the screen, a textual description of this character appeared.
"Character: Reckless. She has a brain, but she doesn't want to use it."
Tang Jiu stopped stroking her chin and said unhappily, "An'an, it's mocking me!"
"Calm down," Gu Yi'an raised her hand to soothe Tang Jiu.
She had just observed Tang Jiu testing the display screen.
She thought this game resembled the casual side-scrolling adventure games they had played on their phones in reality, where selecting a character was necessary before starting the actual challenge.
Gu Yi'an looked at the lower right corner of the screen.
There was a line of text: "Do you choose this character?"
"No."
Gu Yi'an's voice was calm as she said, "Choose me."
The display screen changed in response to Gu Yi'an's voice.
An aloof female character replaced the previously energetic one, appearing on the left side of the screen, while the textual description on the right also changed accordingly.
"Character: Gambler. She has a brain, but she prefers to gamble."
The gazes of the other players shifted over, the student and another female player looked at her in surprise.
The student had thought Gu Yi'an would be the Sage, but she turned out to be the Gambler.
"So, should I call you Sage or Gambler?"
The student was bewildered.
The other female player, who had earlier been misled by the student's reasoning, had believed Gu Yi'an was definitely the Sage.
Unexpectedly, it was a completely different kind of madman from the Sage, a Gambler.
Tang Jiu grew even more displeased when she saw the text on the display screen. "An’an, it's mocking you too."
Gu Yi'an replied, "It's fine."
In her heart, she thought the description was quite accurate.
She truly was a gambler.
But if it was correct, then its assessment of Tang Jiu might also be right.
Gu Yi'an dismissed her deeper thoughts.
She had her own biases when it came to friends and family, in her eyes, Tang Jiu could never be a reckless fool.
After Gu Yi'an and Tang Jiu tried it, the other players also began checking their own character introductions.
The gentle male novice player was the first to try.
The content on the screen changed, and the text for the character introduction shifted as well.
"Character: Wandering Poet. He has a brain, but it's a lovestruck one."
Tang Jiu burst out laughing.
"Someone like you, a poet? A wandering poet? Your title doesn't even fit our vibe, and you're a lovestruck fool. I suspect you're a ghost who snuck in among us players."
The novice male player, now dubbed the Wandering Poet, looked at the text on the display and gave an ambiguous smile, showing no reaction to Tang Jiu's mockery.
Gu Yi'an also suspected that this Wandering Poet might not be a real player, but her suspicion wasn't directed at a ghost, it was aimed at that person.
Given that person's pettiness and tendency to hold grudges...
Gu Yi'an called out, "Xiao Jiu."
Tang Jiu heard Gu Yi'an and shrugged, finally stifling her laughter.
Tang Jiu then asked the poet, "Lovestruck fool? Are you constantly thinking about falling in love? Don't tell me there's someone among us players you've set your sights on?"
Gu Yi'an apologized to the poet, "I'm sorry."
She subtly shook Tang Jiu's hand, signaling her to stop targeting the poet.
The poet said gently, "It's fine. What she said is quite right. I must admit, I was quite taken with the Gambler."
Gu Yi'an: "..." So he really was a lovestruck fool.