Jiang Xiuxiu squatted down and quickly pushed aside the layer of plants on top.
Now, she noticed that compared to the surrounding soil, the soil here appeared slightly lighter in
color, as if it had been added later by someone.
What's buried underneath?
Jiang Xiuxiu broke off a branch from a nearby tree and started poking at the soil.
This layer of soil was shallowly buried. Jiang Xiuxiu didn’t have to exert much effort before she
cleared it away.
Beneath the soil was a black iron cover. Jiang Xiuxiu hooked her fingers around the edge and pulled
it open, revealing a staircase leading down into the ground.
Below the stairs was a dark tunnel that seemed to go on forever.
A distinct burnt smell filled the air and hit her face as the iron cover was opened.
There’s a basement here!
Jiang Xiuxiu was delighted, realizing she had uncovered a deeper secret of this level.
There must be some breakthrough related to this level down here.
However, it was also evident that danger lay within.
So, should she go down or not?
“Let’s go in and take a look.”
Jiang Xiuxiu didn’t hesitate long before giving the order.
Her intuition told her that staying in the comfortable and perfect old house wouldn’t yield any
discoveries.
Only in places like this could she uncover more secrets, like those related to that couple or the
boss.
Her mission was to change the boss’s outfit. Compared to others, she needed to know the boss and
understand its strengths and weaknesses as quickly as possible.
Seeking wealth amidst danger, even if there were risks, she had to act when necessary.
In some ways, Jiang Xiuxiu was quite brave.
People like her made decisions faster and more decisively than ordinary people.
After saying that, Jiang Xiuxiu adjusted her backpack, then grabbed Ye Ming’s wrist.
Without looking at Ye Ming’s reaction, she eagerly descended the stairs.
She carried her backpack in front to avoid any accidental noises if it bumped into something behind
her.
She held onto Ye Ming mainly to prevent the newcomer, who often didn’t understand the situation,
from wandering around and causing trouble.
Thus, Jiang Xiuxiu, pulling Ye Ming along, quietly entered the basement.
As she fully descended, the burnt smell, like that of a fire scene, became more intense.
She covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve, trying to breathe less to avoid sneezing from the
pungent odor.
She took a few more steps down and then stopped, planning to wait for Ye Ming to catch up before
proceeding further together.
However, to Jiang Xiuxiu’s surprise, as soon as she stopped, a heavy “bang” sounded from above her
head.
The entire tunnel plunged into darkness, without a single ray of light.
The basement entrance was closed.
Did Ye Ming come in?
Jiang Xiuxiu was slightly startled, feeling the wrist she was holding become ice-cold at some
point.
Cold enough to be unnatural for a human.
Jiang Xiuxiu’s heart sank suddenly.
She didn’t dare to look back, maintaining her posture and standing still.
In the darkness, her breathing became exceptionally clear, but besides her breathing and heartbeat,
the entire basement was silent with no other noises.
No second person’s breathing.
Ye Ming was gone.
Realizing this, Jiang Xiuxiu’s heart began to race.
Her hand was still in the position of holding someone, but her arm trembled uncontrollably.
Ye Ming didn’t come in, he closed the iron cover and trapped her inside.
Jiang Xiuxiu felt a flicker of doubt, but then dismissed it.
Ye Ming had no reason to do that. He was still in a mutually beneficial relationship with her.
If he wanted to harm her, he had countless opportunities last night, there was no need to wait until
now.
So, what was going on?
And what exactly was she holding onto now?
Jiang Xiuxiu’s heart grew increasingly anxious.
In the frightening silence, it felt as though countless eyes were hidden in the darkness.
Jiang Xiuxiu’s rapid breathing was almost uncontrollable, and the temperature in the air dropped
sharply.
The damp, cold, and deep environment was scarier than the unknown entity behind her.
Thud, thud, thud.
At this moment, there were faint knocking sounds from the depths of the basement.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
The sound of a ball bouncing.
Once at the old house entrance, Jiang Xiuxiu had heard this sound.
Back then, two ghost children were bouncing a red ball in the old house.
The ball eventually landed on the threshold, and Jiang Xiuxiu saw it with her own eyes.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
“Hehe.”
“Hahaha.”
Not far from Jiang Xiuxiu, they were playing with the ball.
The faint laughter of children echoed in Jiang Xiuxiu’s ears.
The sound maintained a delicate distance, seeming both close enough to charge at her and far away.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Sometimes light, sometimes heavy, the ball’s sound echoed through the basement.
Jiang Xiuxiu didn’t dare to move rashly, holding onto “Ye Ming” and standing still, her breathing
almost imperceptible.
After an indeterminate time, Jiang Xiuxiu closed her eyes and steeled herself.
No, she couldn’t keep stalling.
Since she decided to explore the basement, she had to be bold. Standing like a statue wouldn’t yield
any results.
At worst, she’d be eliminated. She had to see what secrets were hidden here.
Without hesitation, Jiang Xiuxiu released the “wrist” she had been holding.
This action acted as a switch, immediately disturbing the previously quiet basement.
Thud, thud.
The ball landed heavily, making a crisp sound.
Soon, a voice echoed.
“You’ve been discovered.”
It was the child’s voice.
Its tone was eerie, and Jiang Xiuxiu couldn’t determine if it was a boy or girl.
“It’s you.”
This ghost child clearly remembered Jiang Xiuxiu.
Upon realizing it was her in the basement, it paused before letting out a strange laugh.
“Sister, come with us and play.”
As it spoke, a round ball rolled over, bumping into Jiang Xiuxiu’s foot.
Then it stopped by her foot.
It was that ball.
Jiang Xiuxiu was slightly startled.
The next moment, she felt a cold, damp breath behind her ear.
“Sister, did you see our ball?”
Jiang Xiuxiu remained silent.
To survive, she played dead, ignoring the child’s antics.
However, while monitoring the situation, she felt puzzled.
Including this time, the ghost child had played with the ball twice.
She remembered the children bouncing the ball in the hall when the players first entered the old
house.
Now, two ghosts were playing in the basement, otherwise, it wouldn’t have said “we.”
After that, the ghost child appeared twice more.
Once to get her to fetch a book from the study, and another time to take the long-haired female
player in the restroom.
In those instances, the ghost child was alone.
When accompanied by other ghosts, it only played ball.
Is this a coincidence?
Was playing ball a hobby in life, or did it have a special meaning like the book “Selfish Gene”?
Jiang Xiuxiu’s eyes flickered as she pondered.
“Sister.”
The ghost, previously pretending to be Ye Ming and held by her, was now hovering behind her neck.
Facing the unresponsive Jiang Xiuxiu, it asked softly, “Can you hear me? Why won’t you answer?”
Its breath, cold and damp, seeped into her skin, numbing it. “Where’s my ball? Do you know where it
is?”
Of course she knew—it was at her feet.
Jiang Xiuxiu silently thought to herself.
Jiang Xiuxiu understood that this was a blatant trick by the ghost, it wanted her to react.
Dealing with such ghosts wasn't difficult, as long as you grasped the rules.
According to the sentence she saw on the wall earlier—don't listen, don't respond, don't turn
back—she could basically survive safely.
This game had told them how to escape from the ghosts right from the start.
As long as she could endure, keep confronting the child ghost long enough until it lost patience.
This way, she could wait for the ghost to leave and quickly escape the basement.
To be honest, after the ghost appeared, this was exactly what Jiang Xiuxiu planned to do.
She believed she wasn't the only one, many other players thought the same.
But now, she suddenly didn't want to do this anymore.
She entered the basement to gain something, not to be completely blocked at the entrance, forced to
hide and eventually escape miserably.
Maybe she already had a rough guess about the child ghost's situation, or maybe she was just tired
of it and didn't want to keep running away.
Jiang Xiuxiu thought, in the first game, she had the courage to go alone to an appointment and
even managed to kill Li Xiaoxiao. So why should she be so cowardly now?
Besides, is it really true that there’s no way to control this child ghost?
Thinking this, Jiang Xiuxiu finally moved.
She rummaged through her backpack and took out a flashlight, then pointed it straight ahead and
pressed the switch.
Thanks to their identities as university students on an adventure, besides the flashlight, Jiang
Xiuxiu also found many bandages, * Yunnan Baiyao, and adhesive bandages in her backpack.
Tnote: Yunnan Baiyao is a Chinese medicine used for small cuts and bruises.
Now, even if she got injured due to her recklessness, she would have a chance for treatment.
A bright beam shot out from the flashlight. After enduring the initial discomfort, the basement
environment gradually revealed itself.
A long tunnel with charred walls, and a child ghost quietly standing in front of her.
This was a little girl with two braids, wearing a skirt.
She stood there, expressionless, staring fixedly at the red ball at Jiang Xiuxiu’s feet.
Even when Jiang Xiuxiu shone the flashlight directly at her, she had no reaction at all, as stiff
as a doll.
Instead of calling her a ghost, it was more accurate to say she was a soul that had lost most of
its consciousness.
Seeing this, Jiang Xiuxiu understood that her guess was correct.
The ghost that appeared in front of everyone and kept attacking the players was indeed the missing
little boy from this family.
"Sister, what are you doing?" the little boy, leaning on Jiang Xiuxiu’s neck, asked in confusion.
Jiang Xiuxiu didn't respond.
She looked down at the ball at her feet, then bent down and picked it up.
The red ball was very common, but because of its color, many people often missed some details.
For example, the dirty stains on this ball were not dirt but dried blood.
Looking at the bloodstains on the ball, Jiang Xiuxiu finally smiled.
"How did you disappear?" she suddenly asked. "Is it related to this ball?"
Her voice was soft, but in the empty basement, it was exceptionally clear.
Whether it was the little girl ghost in front of her or the little boy ghost behind her, they both
fell into an eerie silence the moment she spoke.
Jiang Xiuxiu wasn't surprised by this.
The condition for the ghost to harm her was that she had to "respond."
What does "respond" mean?
According to Baidu, it means "to answer out loud," but in Jiang Xiuxiu's view, it also means that
when she makes a sound, what she says must be in response to the ghost.
Just like in the study earlier, although she didn't speak, when the ghost asked her to get a book,
she nodded—that was a "response."
After she responded, the ghost gained the ability to control her arm.
But since she didn't speak, the condition of "responding" was not fully met.
Now, although she spoke, her words were questions, asking the ghost, not responding to its previous
requests.
The earlier line warned players not to "respond," but no rule explicitly stated that players
couldn't ask ghosts questions.
All they needed to do was avoid responding to the ghosts' words.
This way, even if she initiated the conversation, she had the leading role as the questioner.
The role of responder fell to the child ghosts.
Facing their silence and the sudden surge of killing intent from the little boy ghost behind her,
Jiang Xiuxiu didn't feel scared.
She just paused and continued, "I think, before you disappeared, you were playing with your sister,
right?"
"Then the ball fell far away, didn't it?"
Ghosts were different from normal people, Jiang Xiuxiu didn't believe that a fierce ghost would
still have the leisure to play.
The action of playing ball had appeared twice, indicating that in its lifetime, this action must
have had a special meaning.
Not to mention, this activity was done together with the little girl.
According to the implication of the book "Selfish Gene," the little girl more or less pushed the
boy's disappearance, almost causing the tragedy of their family.
Therefore, Jiang Xiuxiu boldly speculated that the boy might have been playing ball with his
sister before he disappeared.
"I know your disappearance, or rather your death, should be related to your sister," Jiang Xiuxiu
said calmly. "But I don't understand, how could a six or seven-year-old girl, no matter how capable, kill
her brother or make him disappear? Moreover, how could she disguise it so perfectly that even the police
couldn't find out?"
Her smile slightly faded as she continued, "For something that even the police can't solve, that
can be classified as a disappearance, and that leaves parents with no results after years of searching,
there must be some external force at play."
"The most common one should be abduction."
The little girl might have resented her brother, but such emotions wouldn't lead her to
meticulously plan and commit murder.
She wasn't that smart, nor did she harbor that much hatred.
But telling a lie or hiding something would be very easy for her.
Two children playing ball outside, accidentally hitting the ball far away.
The little boy runs to get the ball but is suddenly covered and taken away by a stranger.
The little girl witnesses everything but pretends not to see it, missing the chance to rescue him.
She quietly leaves the spot where they were playing, and when it finally gets reported, she doesn't
reveal anything.
This was Jiang Xiuxiu's rough guess, the result of her bold imagination.
From the moment she noticed the little boy always loved to hit the ball far and then ask the
players where the ball was, she had this prediction.
Of course, it was also possible that the child just loved doing this in life, a bad habit that
persisted after death.
But if she guessed wrong, she could just continue to play dumb and get by.
"You're right."
After a long pause, Jiang Xiuxiu heard the little boy ghost's response beside her ear.
"She saw me... she saw me being taken away by that person, and Mom was just about to turn and find
me."
As the facts slowly came to light, his voice became extremely eerie, the hatred in his words almost
uncontrollably pouring out. "But she tugged on Mom, she deliberately called out, diverting Mom's attention."
This was the full truth behind the little boy's disappearance.
Desperate and helpless, just about to be found by his mother, he lost any chance of being rescued
due to his sister's deliberate distraction.
Jiang Xiuxiu suddenly understood why the parents and sister didn't turn into ghosts, but only the
little boy did.
Because he died with hatred.
"Then how did you come back?"
Jiang Xiuxiu wasn't moved by such a story for long, she was inherently a heartless machine focused
on passing the level.
After listening to the little boy, she simply continued asking, "You died outside, so
theoretically, you shouldn't have been able to return home, right?"
And the boss...
She felt the little boy might know who the boss was.
"How did I come back?"
The little boy didn't answer her question but instead laughed strangely. "Sister, since you took my
ball, why don't you play with me?"
His voice twisted with extreme excitement. "Play with me, and I'll tell you."
After the little boy's voice fell, Jiang Xiuxiu felt a sticky, cold sensation in her palm holding
the ball.
She looked down and saw that the ball in her hand was continuously oozing blood.
The thick smell of blood mixed with the smell of burning made it hard for Jiang Xiuxiu to breathe.
She instinctively wanted to throw the ball away, but gritted her teeth and held on.
She prepared to struggle back, but the next second, her neck was grabbed tightly by the little boy
ghost.
He could actually touch her.
"You all think that as long as you don't speak, I can't do anything to you?" The little boy looked
at the shocked Jiang Xiuxiu and let out a sharp laugh.
"You're so smart, you know everything, so guess if I can kill you now."
The little boy's sinister voice, combined with the stabbing pain in her throat, instantly
overwhelmed Jiang Xiuxiu's mind.
"Hahaha..."
"Stay here forever and play with me."
Not good.
He was going to kill her.
She had to think of a way, she had to think of a way.
Based on how the little boy died, there had to be a way for her to escape. The game wouldn't set an
impossible situation.
In a flash of inspiration, Jiang Xiuxiu looked at the ball in her hand.
Without hesitation, she turned around and swung the ball at the little boy.
Since he was abducted because of the ball, the ball must be an important item.
The ghost's fatal weakness often related to its experiences before death.
They had repeated the action of hitting the ball away, so if she forced the ball into the little
boy's hands again...
Wouldn't that be the same as him picking up the ball again, recreating the day he was abducted?
"Aaaah!"
Sure enough, when the red ball touched the little boy's body, he let out a horrifying scream.
He retreated in an attempt to escape, but as an adult, Jiang Xiuxiu moved much faster than him.
Without hesitation, she jumped at the little boy ghost with all her strength.
Then, with all her might, she pinned down the little boy's arm, forcing him to touch the ball.
"Take it away, take it away!"
The little boy ghost struggled frantically, his pale face showing ferocious wounds and corpse
spots, his black eyes filled with despair and pain.
Jiang Xiuxiu gritted her teeth, enduring the ghost's attacks, and pressed the ball into his arms,
refusing to let go.
Looking at the wounds on her arm caused by the ghost, Jiang Xiuxiu, while enduring the pain,
thought that she must be one of the few players brave enough to fight the ghost head-on.
Thankfully, it only had physical attacks, and thankfully all she needed to do was push a ball.
Otherwise, in such close combat, she might not only fail but also be killed in return.
After all, the only fighting moves she knew were kicking and hair-pulling.
"No!"
As the contact with the ball prolonged, the little boy's movements became smaller, his resistance
gradually weakening.
His once malevolent and vicious eyes slowly turned hollow and eventually became void.
In Jiang Xiuxiu's dazed gaze, the little boy fell to the ground.
His figure instantly disappeared completely, taking the red ball with him.
He was dead.
Jiang Xiuxiu watched the little boy ghost's disappearance without moving.
Only when he completely vanished, leaving not even a shadow, did she breathe a sigh of relief.
She relaxed, sitting on the ground, suddenly realizing that her body and palms were covered in
sweat.
She knew she had succeeded.
She had gambled correctly.
Reflecting on her every word and action just now, Jiang Xiuxiu felt like she was walking a
tightrope, any slight mistake would have led to elimination.
Like at the beginning when she picked up the ball and questioned the little boy.
When she spoke, she had only guessed about the "responding" rule, not confirmed it.
After all, she hadn't spent enough time with the child ghost to conclude its conditions for harming
people.
She spoke partly because she believed the ghost could be communicated with.
If she couldn't even talk to the ghost, how could she control it in the future?
Did she have to hide every time she encountered the child ghost and waste time?
What if the ghost insisted on finding her and refused to leave?
Moreover, her speculations about the boy and girl's grudge were mostly based on imagination.
The game wouldn't blatantly tell her the story, especially this level, where evidence was too
obscure.
Without the victim's confession, her guesses would remain guesses.
If she guessed wrong or missed details, she wouldn't be able to defeat the ghost.
As a weak girl, she couldn't fight the ghost, all she could do was talk her way out.
It also verified her guess, killing two birds with one stone.
Jiang Xiuxiu did what she did with this in mind.
In hindsight, rather than questioning, she was boldly risking her life to test the rules.
She had prepared for complete elimination if she failed.
Fortunately, her rashness was correct.
Now, she could finally examine the basement properly.
The white ghost from last night and the two players who followed it disappeared outside the
basement.
And the little boy ghost could bypass the rules to attack her directly.
There was definitely a significant secret here.
Jiang Xiuxiu thought about this while resting on the ground.
After her heartbeat returned to normal, she shook herself, stood up, and picked up the flashlight
on the ground.