---
**Shuffling Footsteps**
Hearing the faint footsteps outside and noticing the sudden daze of the people in front of her, Jiang Xiuxiu knew she had succeeded. Finally, these men who had kept her hungry would have to leave.
She had chosen this specific time to confront them, knowing that the white ghostly figure would appear at midnight. While the game's safety rules prevented her from directly harming these four men, she could still indirectly trap them.
The white ghost seemed to target players who were awake, so she deliberately woke them up just as it arrived. Having practiced faking sleep once before, Jiang Xiuxiu was much more experienced this time.
The white ghost didn’t realize she was still awake. It simply walked past Zhang Wei and his group, then stopped.
**Shuffling Footsteps**
Accompanied by a strange sound, the four men inside the room slowly stood up. As if entranced, they staggered out of the room in a line.
Lying on the floor, Jiang Xiuxiu could clearly hear their synchronized footsteps. She could also feel the cold gaze of the white ghost but remained perfectly still, feigning unconsciousness.
After about a minute, once the four men had left, the white ghost also withdrew its gaze.
**Shuffling Footsteps**
The ghost left, taking the four male players with it.
Since Zhang Wei's room was at the end of the corridor, it would take some time for the white ghost to exit the hallway. To be safe, Jiang Xiuxiu stayed on the floor for over ten minutes. Only after confirming that the ghost had moved to the hall did she get up.
Instant noodles, cookies, bread, and canned food—she was ready!
Without hesitation, she quickly ran to the place where Zhang Wei's group had stored their food. Starving for a whole day, she immediately started eating as soon as she sat down.
She devoured the food ravenously until she was too full to eat anymore. Satisfied, Jiang Xiuxiu stood up and patted her stomach, nearly moved to tears by the joy of finally being full.
She no longer had to endure hunger.
Feeling content, she took enough food for herself and hid it away. As for the remaining food, she moved it all to the hall outside.
The food was originally intended for all players, not just one group. The others could deal with it in the morning.
After finishing her task, Jiang Xiuxiu decided not to go to sleep immediately. She wanted to secretly follow the white ghost. Her curiosity about the ghost and the basement persisted.
She had explored the basement during the day, finding only the ghostly children, but she couldn’t forget the strange formations and the ghost’s behavior of leading players there at night. She suspected the basement held more secrets, possibly related to the game's boss, given that it was the site of the couple's sacrifice and death.
She quietly followed the ghost's path based on her memory. Jiang Xiuxiu moved quickly, catching up with the slow-moving ghost halfway.
Aside from the ghost, she saw a large group of players following it.
But there seemed to be too many players.
Counting them silently under the moonlight, Jiang Xiuxiu realized there were ten players. Shocked by the number, she knew something was wrong.
The ghost had only taken two players the previous night. Adding Zhang Wei's group of four, there should be six players, not ten.
Had she inadvertently woken other players while knocking on Zhang Wei’s door?
After some thought, she dismissed this idea. Since Zhang Wei’s team had broken into other players' rooms, most had moved to the second-floor guest rooms. With good sound insulation, her noise should only have woken Zhang Wei’s group.
So, who were these extra four players?
Moving closer, Jiang Xiuxiu squinted to get a better look.
The moonlight illuminated the players' faces, showing their expressions clearly. Everyone followed the ghost with blank expressions, their movements synchronized, eyes vacant like dolls.
Among the ten players, the six besides Zhang Wei’s group had extremely pale faces, as white as corpses. Unlike the relatively healthy-looking Zhang Wei group, these six looked eerily dead, with blackened eyes, bloodless lips, and barely moving chests.
With no comparison the previous night, Jiang Xiuxiu hadn’t noticed anything amiss with the two taken players. Now, the difference was stark.
---
Now, contrasted against Zhang Wei and the other normal players, those six players looked exactly like ghosts.
No, they had become ghosts.
Jiang Xiuxiu realized this because she noticed that the six players were walking on tiptoe.
At that moment, Jiang Xiuxiu understood.
These six players must have been taken by the ghosts after falling into their trap when they entered the game. For some reason, they had forgotten their experience of being taken and continued to act normally in the haunted house, indistinguishable from regular players.
But they should have been eliminated long ago. Their souls, or perhaps their mental energy, remained in the haunted house after their deaths.
Some of these players had even interacted with Jiang Xiuxiu during the day. Little did she know, they had already died once.
Silently, Jiang Xiuxiu followed them, watching them leave the haunted house through the back door and enter the yard.
As Zhang Wei and the others stumbled over branches and stones in the yard, they gradually woke up.
Zhang Wei reacted quickly, appearing as if he had played many escape games before. As soon as he woke up, he controlled his breathing, closed his mouth tightly, and took a few steps back, preparing to leave quietly.
Unfortunately, his teammates, who had been chosen for their physical strength but lacked brains, were not as discreet. The blond guy who had previously yelled at Jiang Xiuxiu couldn't help but shout, "Hey, where are we? How did we get here?"
Hearing this, Zhang Wei's face darkened, and Jiang Xiuxiu almost burst into laughter.
As expected, the white ghost at the front stopped upon hearing the noise. Its hollow eyes turned towards them, looking even more sinister under the cold moonlight.
"Run!" Zhang Wei shouted decisively and turned to flee. His lackeys quickly followed suit in a panic.
But perhaps due to bad luck, they saw the ghostly players behind them and didn't dare to run in that direction. In their confusion, they turned and ran toward the basement.
The white ghost stood silently, watching Zhang Wei and his team run faster and more frantically, getting closer to the basement.
Seeing this, Jiang Xiuxiu, who had initially felt schadenfreude, suddenly had a bad premonition. It was as if something terrible and dark was about to happen.
"Ahhh!" Zhang Wei, running in front, suddenly let out a horrific scream. Fire erupted out of nowhere, engulfing him completely.
"Help me! Help me! Save me! Ahhh!" he screamed as he was consumed by the flames, writhing and struggling but unable to escape the inferno. Gradually, he turned into a charred figure, trembling and writhing on the ground like a burnt-out log.
His teammates also caught fire one after another. Their anguished cries filled the yard, and the bright flames illuminated the sky, making the scene even more horrifying with the shadowy figures writhing in the flames.
Watching this and hearing their screams, Jiang Xiuxiu felt a chill rise from her heart. The air was thick with the smell of burning flesh, mixed with a faint hint of blood.
She thought she might not want to eat barbecue for a long time.
"How boring." Just as Jiang Xiuxiu was about to leave in fear and uncertainty, a man's voice suddenly broke the silence in the yard.
Looking toward the voice, she saw a man in black standing above the basement. He watched the four burning men with disinterest, as if he were watching a dull performance.
It's the boss.
Jiang Xiuxiu realized this instantly. The boss of this game had finally appeared.
However, upon hearing the boss's voice, Jiang Xiuxiu froze. Seeing his face, she was even more shocked.
It wasn’t just because he was the boss. The boss in this game looked exactly like Xu Bai from the last game.
No way, she thought. Is this game so lazy that they reuse the same character model for bosses?
Remembering what she had done to Xu Bai in the last game, Jiang Xiuxiu felt a shiver run down her spine. Even though he probably didn't remember her due to formatting, she still felt suffocated.
Not only Jiang Xiuxiu but also the white ghost noticed the boss's appearance. The ghost, along with its six players, walked towards the boss.
Jiang Xiuxiu bit her lip, prepared to take a few steps back and quietly leave. Since the ghost seemed occupied with the boss, she could take the opportunity to escape.
"Is there a little mouse hiding here?" To her surprise, the boss didn’t look at the ghost. Instead, he slightly turned his head and gazed directly at her hiding spot, meeting her eyes.
Jiang Xiuxiu froze. She had been discovered.
Her instinctive step back halted. Looking at the boss, she felt like crying. On a whim, she waved awkwardly and greeted, "Hi."
Oh well, she thought. Being burned to death, though terrifying, would be quick. With the pain level set to 10, it shouldn't be too torturous.
To her surprise, the boss didn’t attack. Instead, he smiled gently at her. "It's you," he said with a slight smile. "Long time no see."
During the painful wails, Xu Bai's smile remained gentle and innocent. However, his deep black eyes, under the firelight, seemed tinged with a strange red hue.