Ningmeng Busuan had been through plenty of instances, but she had never seen a ghost with such a sad expression before.

Previous ghosts all bore ghastly faces, charging at people to bite them, terrifying anyone who laid eyes upon their pallid countenances half to death.

But this ghost was a bit different. She lowered her head and looked at the photograph in her hand.

The ghost in the photo was sprawled on the ground, struggling. It seemed as if something was pressing down on it, restricting its movements.

Despite the ghost's futile struggles, it appeared pitiful, feeble, and helpless.

"This..." Wenqin Tan Jiu, standing nearby, was also staring at the photo with an odd expression. "What's going on?" 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Just a moment ago, this ghost had been lurking nearby, seemingly ready to ambush the Doctor.

How, in the blink of an eye, had it ended up convulsing on the ground as if it were having an epileptic fit?

It looked rather comical.

The photo only showed the ghost's body. On a street invisible to them, Gu Mian was struggling to hold down the invisible ghost on the ground; Fatty's camera lay on the ground nearby.

The pinned-down ghost thrashed like a fish out of water until Gu Mian finally sat down on it. After this intimate contact with Gu Mian, it let out a helpless cry and finally stopped moving.

Ghosts are invisible, so Gu Mian couldn't see its expression.

However, a street away, Wenqin Tan Jiu and Ningmeng Busuan could see the ghost's appearance through the photograph.

It lay on the ground, eyes rolled back, seemingly having lost all hope in life.

Ningmeng Busuan and Wenqin Tan Jiu exchanged a bewildered look. Both of them had witnessed this ghost's terror and seen firsthand how it killed people.

Its current state and its murderous demeanor from before were like night and day.

"What's happening?" Ningmeng Busuan looked at Wenqin Tan Jiu in confusion. "What happened to this ghost?"

Wenqin Tan Jiu was also unclear about the situation. He shook his head, a bit puzzled, "I have no idea. Maybe the Doctor found the lifeline and managed to restrict it."

"Really..." Ningmeng Busuan looked at the ghost's hopeless face in the photo. Was the ghost really restricted by the lifeline? It didn't quite feel like it.

But regardless, the ghost was now restrained.

Thinking of this, both of them let out a long sigh of relief. They didn't completely lower their guard, though, continuing to keep a wary eye on the ghost in the photo.

Surprises were common in instances.

Who knew if this ghost would suddenly leap up the next second and continue chasing them.

Hao Laoshi, beside them, was a stark contrast. He was slumped on a step, completely relaxed, even sporting an enigmatic smile.

Ningmeng Busuan glanced at Hao Laoshi then refocused on the photo she was holding.

Meanwhile, a street away, Gu Mian was manhandling the invisible ghost beneath him.

He felt it all over and located its head.

Gu Mian touched the back of the head beneath him. He intended to have a friendly conversation with it, but he worried that speaking to the back of its head wouldn't be sincere enough.

So, he placed both hands on its round skull and twisted hard.

A CRACK echoed from beneath his hands, as if something had broken.

Hearing this, Gu Mian straightened the invisible head and withdrew his hands, satisfied, "Good, now you can see my sincere eyes."

In the photo, this scene was rather terrifying:

The ghost, which had been sprawled on the ground looking utterly hopeless, suddenly seemed to go mad. Its head rotated one hundred and eighty degrees, its bloodshot eyes staring directly at the camera lens.

Seeing this terrifying action, Ningmeng Busuan's hand, holding the photo, trembled, "It... it still wants to kill us..."

Even the ghost felt wronged hearing this.

"Alright, your head is straight. Now we can communicate." Gu Mian sat atop the invisible ghost, staring sincerely at the air beneath him. "I know you're a good ghost. You'll definitely answer my questions earnestly, won't you?"

The air beneath him remained silent.

Gu Mian paid it no mind and continued, "This is the Second World, and the corresponding key NPC is... right, it's No. 1."

He looked down at the patch of air beneath him, "So, pal, tell me if you know this person."

Gu Mian had coined "Good Brother" as a term of endearment to close the distance between them.

Fatty had once told him that if he wanted to have a deeper conversation with a ghost and open its heart, he needed to be a bit kinder and give it an affectionate nickname.

Gu Mian thought "Good Brother" was very affectionate, sounding as if they were kindred spirits.

But the ghost beneath him made no sound.

Gu Mian merely felt a slight tremor from the air beneath him, which then escalated into a full-blown shiver.

Could it be that the nickname wasn't affectionate enough? Gu Mian pondered for a moment before trying out other endearments like "Dear Ghosty," "Handsome and Kind Mr. Ghost," and "Ghost Sweetheart."

Unexpectedly, "Ghost Sweetheart" began to tremble even more violently, as if having an epileptic fit.

Gu Mian's patience finally ran out. He dropped his pretense, revealing his ugly, villainous true nature.

He reached out and throttled the invisible ghost's neck, "Are you mute? Can you speak? Can you speak? I'm asking you, can you speak?!"

Ningmeng Busuan and Wenqin Tan Jiu, intently watching the photo, saw the ghost first convulse as if having an epileptic fit, then its eyes rolled back, and its mouth fell open. Its initially pale face turned purplish-blue within seconds, as if it couldn't breathe.

"What on earth is happening?" Both of them were completely clueless.

Experience showed that most ghosts responded to coercion, not coaxing.

Under Gu Mian's "gentle" ministration, the ghost finally made a sound.

"I... I don't know..." it choked out, its voice shrill and grating.

"Finally, you spoke." Gu Mian then let go and smiled. "I thought you were mute."

The invisible ghost shed tears of humiliation.

Gu Mian, of course, couldn't see its humiliating tears.

Upon confirming that the ghost wasn't mute, he continued to press, "If you haven't seen No. 1, you must have seen one or two other NPCs, right? Do you recognize any other NPCs?"

It would be best if it could name an NPC similar to Mr. Green, which would provide more clues about this game.

Unexpectedly, the ghost was a complete know-nothing, only frantically muttering, "I don't know," "I don't recognize anyone," and "Never heard of them."

It was like it had gone mad.

Its mad ramblings were occasionally interspersed with cries of "Help!"

It was unclear who it hoped would come to its rescue.

Gu Mian looked around. Theoretically, when a ghost fell into his hands, the instance should be on the verge of shutting down.

But now, even though he was literally sitting on it, there was no sign of the instance halting for maintenance.

Perhaps this ghost truly knew nothing. The instance was quite certain it couldn't divulge any useful information, so it had confidently thrown it to Gu Mian.

After all, constantly crashing for maintenance didn't look good.

This was truly a case of letting things rot because they're already broken.

This was awkward.

Gu Mian silently regarded the invisible ghost beneath him. He didn't know whether to beat it or not.

By now, Chu Changge had joined Ningmeng Busuan and Wenqin Tan Jiu, also looking at the photo in their hands.

The ghost in the photo was shaking its head frantically, its mouth moving as if saying something.

The ghost had been pushed this far, yet the instance showed no signs of stopping. It seemed nothing could be gotten out of this ghost.

Chu Changge thought, This was understandable; after all, not all ghosts in instances knew anything important.

When the global game first started, if Gu Mian captured a ghost, the instance would still try to rescue it. Now, it was just left to its fate.

Since the game developers weren't intervening, it looked like this instance would proceed normally to its conclusion.

Just then, Chu Changge noticed that the ghost in the photo suddenly reached into its chest, seemingly searching for something.

Chu Changge wondered, A weapon? If this ghost pulled out a handgun and shot Gu Mian in the head, the NPCs would celebrate as if it were New Year's.

But the ghost didn't pull out what everyone was dreaming of.

It merely pulled out a neat stack of A4 paper. The top sheet bore a line of large, black printed text.

The group in front of the photo peered closely at the stack of A4 paper.

The words on the cover read: "Instance Ghost Labor Protection Contract."