"This instance lasts for three days. Usually, the game won't put players in danger right from the start," Chu Changge said, looking at Zhao Tiankuo's reply. "The instance somehow restrains the ghosts, keeping them far away from the players. But as time passes, this restraining power lessens. Three days later, if he's really a ghost, he'll definitely come to meet you if you invite him again."

But Gu Mian didn't know if there would be a "third day" in this instance.

He always felt that the game developers were scoundrels, always creating shoddy, defective instances. These instances always had minor problems, and any small issue would make players scream, 'Ah, I'm going to die! I'm doomed! You guys get out of here!' As a result, ever since global gaming descended, he had almost always rolled out of instances.

Keke stared at the bloody picture Zhao Tiankuo had sent. This Zhao Tiankuo was dangerous, ghost or not. It was chilling to imagine the scene when he met 'Xiao Mianmian' and discovered 'she' was a man.

Meanwhile, the restless Gu Mian took out Chu Changge's cell phone again, leaned against the fourth-floor railing, and started texting Xia Yutong.

"Hey, silly, what did you have for lunch?" Gu Mian wanted to trick her into sending a food picture; that way, he might be able to tell which restaurant she was at from the photo.

But Xia Yutong, perhaps busy weaving her web of deceit, didn't reply.

Chu Changge, who had little interest in his girlfriend, was currently staring out the window.

Keke watched the phone in Gu Mian's hand for a moment. Seeing no reply, she looked away, bored. Before meeting Gu Mian, she'd never thought she could feel "boredom" in an instance.

Previously, in instances, even amidst bustling crowds, even when no danger was apparent, she could rarely enjoy a moment's peace. A ghost could appear from any corner: from the sewer by her feet, from behind a curtain stirring without wind, or it could even be a teammate who had suddenly turned into one.

Now, she no longer had to worry about that. She felt very safe.

As Keke was thinking this, she looked up at Gu Mian, but halfway through lifting her head, she realized something was wrong.

The person standing before her wasn't Gu Mian at all!

This was a woman wearing low-heeled boots and a deathly pale long dress. Looking up, Keke saw a checkered shirt with embroidered patterns. Her eyes fixed on the woman's face: it was a stiff, expressionless mask, utterly devoid of emotion, as if its owner had died at that very moment.

Keke recognized her. It was Xia Yutong.

What was going on? How could Xia Yutong suddenly appear? And where was Gu Mian?

Keke turned her head towards Chu Changge, and something even more terrifying happened: Chu Changge had also vanished, replaced by another woman in the same deathly pale long dress—also Xia Yutong.

Two identical dead faces stared at her, motionless.

Two of them. Two Xia Yutongs!

Keke looked around frantically and saw a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth...

She almost broke down.

All of them wore that same ghastly white dress, staring at her with identical faces, and splitting into hideous smiles at her.

Keke took a few steps back, her calf was tripped by something, and she stumbled backward.

"What's wrong?" Gu Mian grabbed Keke, pulling her back just as she was about to fall over the railing.

This was the fourth floor. If she'd fallen from here, she probably would've been dead before she could even shout, 'Xia Yutong pushed me!'

Only then did Keke come to her senses. With that pull, the women in white dresses dispersed like reflections in water. Gu Mian's large face appeared in her vision, looking at her curiously.

"I... I..." Keke panted, looking at the two people before her. She repeatedly checked their player panels above their heads before finally sighing in relief. She realized she might have been hallucinating. "I saw Xia Yutong just now."

Then she recounted to Gu Mian what had just happened. Afterwards, she still looked back with lingering fear. If Gu Mian hadn't pulled her, she'd probably be a smear on the ground floor by now.

"It was a hallucination," Chu Changge frowned. "This ghost can deceive people's vision."

Gu Mian rubbed his chin, looking at Keke. "So, it was a hallucination. I thought you were about to gloriously sacrifice yourself for our cause of luring out Xia Yutong."

"But now we don't need to lure her out. A ghost can't make people hallucinate from miles away. Since it could make Keke hallucinate, it must not be far from us—most likely within this school." Gu Mian looked around. There were no women in deathly pale long dresses with deadpan faces as Keke had described.

There was, however, a man with a deadpan face nearby—that would be Chu Changge.

"The ghost is mixed in with these people?" Keke asked quietly. She looked at the crowded dining hall; there were too many students coming to the cafeteria, making it impossible to distinguish who the ghost was.

Actually, distinguishing them would be simple: take a knife and slash everyone; whoever didn't spurt blood would be the ghost. However, considering this might get him packaged off to the police station, Gu Mian suppressed this practical idea.

"What should we do?" Keke had no idea.

Gu Mian sat down at a nearby empty table. "We can't identify the ghost, so let's just discuss it here. By the way, Chu Changge, did you hallucinate just now?"

Chu Changge also sat down and shook his head.

"It's a bit odd. Xia Yutong is your romantic target; even if she were hunting someone down, it should be you. But why would she target Keke? If Keke had fallen just now, her head would definitely have split open." Gu Mian mused, "Indiscriminate attacks?"

Keke touched her head, her scalp tingling a little.

"That's possible, but I didn't expect the ghost to show murderous intent so early," Chu Changge tapped the table. "Ghosts are usually suppressed by the instance's rules and wouldn't try to kill people right away. This situation means the instance's suppression of the ghost is gradually breaking down."

Gu Mian thought of the game's two sponsors: one favored the instance worlds, the other, the human world. Perhaps the power of the sponsor favoring humans was gradually weakening, allowing the ghosts in the instances to progressively overturn their restraints.

Keke was still thinking about the ghost's indiscriminate attacks. "This time, five of us entered the instance, and we were matched with five ghosts. If the ghosts really attack indiscriminately, isn't it possible for all five ghosts to attack one person simultaneously?"

Gu Mian nodded. "Theoretically, yes."

Five ghosts attacking one person... Even he would get punched a couple of times.

Chu Changge pushed up his glasses. "There's a pattern to everything. Unless someone does something particularly outrageous, they shouldn't be that unlucky."

Of course, that excluded Gu Mian. With his level of bad luck, even if he were just lying in bed sleeping, a ghost could fall from the sky and land on his head.