Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 139

Chapter 139: Dark Shadow of the Ancient Temple 6

“Give me a talisman paper.” Since this ghost appeared on its own, it would save them the trouble of finding it.

Taking the talisman paper from Zhou Zhou’s hand, Alvia walked towards the ghost hanging from the horizontal beam. The ghost suddenly opened its eyes and revealed an eerie smile towards the two people below, its laughter shrill and unpleasant.

Just before Alvia could paste the talisman paper on it, the ghost actually crawled up along the horizontal beam.

The white cord it was hanging from disappeared, leaving only a distinct deep purple strangulation mark around its neck.

Its body was extremely flexible, able to crawl up the beam like a crawling animal with ease, its gaze fixed on the two people below.

Its yellow animal-like pupils shone with a cold light, as if weighing the strength of the two people below. After a moment, it suddenly charged towards Zhou Zhou.

But the moment it approached Zhou Zhou, Alvia had already arrived by his side.

Sensing the danger, the ghost with its lolling tongue abruptly changed direction mid-air, flying back to the horizontal beam.

This ghost could actually fly? Zhou Zhou stared at the hanged ghost in wonder.

The hanged ghost had a ferocious and terrifying expression, but its form was that of a human female. It retracted its long tongue and said to Zhou Zhou, “Life is short and full of suffering, you might as well join me in ascending to eternal bliss early.”

It then tossed a white cord towards Zhou Zhou.

Zhou Zhou: “……”

The white cord fell to the ground, but neither Zhou Zhou nor Alvia made any moves.

A hint of confusion flashed across the hanged ghost’s eyes, then it threw out another white cord, “Life is short and full of suffering, you might as well join me in ascending to eternal bliss early.”

Two white cords now lay entwined on the bluish-gray brick ground. Zhou Zhou looked at the ground, then back up at the hanged ghost on the beam with a dazed expression.

The hanged ghost tilted its head, throwing out yet another cord, “Life is short and full of…”

Zhou Zhou turned to Alvia and said, “Is it stuck in a loop or something?”

Alvia: “……Perhaps.”

Seeing the third white cord about to hit the ground, Zhou Zhou stepped forward and caught it. It felt slightly cool and smooth to the touch, the material seeming quite decent.

When the hanged ghost saw Zhou Zhou grab the cord, it covered its mouth and let out a harsh, wheezing laugh. It then waved its finger, causing the cord in Zhou Zhou’s hand to move on its own despite the lack of wind. The other end drifted up and circled the beam once before falling back into Zhou Zhou’s hand.

Zhou Zhou looked at the two ends of the white cord in his hand, as if needing only to tie a knot.

Not knowing what compelled him, Zhou Zhou obediently tied a knot in the cord, then looked back at the hanged ghost.

The hanged ghost seemed very pleased with Zhou Zhou’s compliance, but confused when he merely stared at it unmoving. It asked, “Why don’t you hang yourself?”

Zhou Zhou looked curious, “Why would you think I would listen to you and hang myself?”

The hanged ghost froze for a moment, then became enraged, “So you weren’t ensnared by my bewitchment?”

“Were you trying to bewitch me? When did that happen?” Zhou Zhou had felt nothing out of the ordinary, no wonder the hanged ghost was acting so strangely, it must have thought he was bewitched and would hang himself willingly.

Feeling deceived, the hanged ghost lunged at Zhou Zhou with a ferocious expression. At the same time, the two untouched white cords on the ground rose up like snakes and attacked Alvia.

Alvia dodged the two cords, moving towards Zhou Zhou’s location.

Meanwhile, Zhou Zhou was already holding a talisman paper which he slapped onto the hanged ghost the moment it pounced, freezing it in place so it dropped from mid-air onto the ground.

Zhou Zhou gave Alvia, now in front of him, an amused look. It turned out that when the hanged ghost attacked Zhou Zhou earlier, the white cord hanging from the beam had also come alive, trying to loop around Zhou Zhou’s neck, but Alvia had grabbed it in time.

The hanged ghost was taken away by the appearing deities, but the group who had ascended the tower still did not come down.

“We caught the hanged ghost, but what ghost is up there?”

Zhou Zhou looked up the stairs but could see nothing, only hearing faint screams from above.

“Let’s go up and take a look.” Zhou Zhou did not feel at ease leaving it unchecked, so he said to Alvia.

But before they could go up, the players from above all came running down, panicked expressions on their faces. Seeing Zhou Zhou standing at the stairs, they shouted, “Zhou Zhou, run!”

“What’s wrong?”

Before Zhou Zhou could finish asking, Xue Li grabbed his sleeve and pulled him away to run with them.

Confused, Zhou Zhou followed everyone out of the tower. Seeing their breathless state, he silently waited with them to recover.

“Quick, close the door! Don’t let that thing out!”

The last ones out, Eddie and Qian Le, immediately closed and bolted the door, even finding a wooden pole to brace it.

“It can’t get out now.” Xue Li felt relieved.

“Um, Al is still inside,” Zhou Zhou suddenly spoke up.

The players present froze as if paralyzed, even those still catching their breath. Their momentarily set-aside worries resurfaced.

Xue Li turned to the others, “You guys didn’t bring Al out with you?”

The others exchanged blank looks, at that moment, they had only been focused on escaping, nobody remembered to check if others were present.

“Quick, open the door!”

Zhou Zhou was not worried about Alvia, no matter what ghost was inside, Alvia could handle it easily. Moreover, he still had a talisman paper to instantly seal any troublesome ghosts.

“What exactly happened?” Zhou Zhou asked curiously.

Xue Li came over with a tense expression, “Zhou Zhou, you don’t know what we saw, it wasn’t actually a hanged ghost, that ghost was a headless ghost. Its head had rolled all over the place, oh my god, I still feel sick thinking about it.”

Apparently, when Eddie had looked back the second time, the player corpse inside had disappeared, and strange sounds were coming from the 8th floor.

Xue Li and Ke Li were at the very back, originally waiting for Eddie to pass on any messages. But then they heard a thumping noise from the 8th floor. When they turned around, they saw a headless ghost wandering erratically on the 8th floor.

Xue Li screamed in fright, which caused the ghost to sense them and come groping their way.

After the chaos, they realized this ghost couldn’t see people, but had extremely good hearing and would immediately detect any sound or movement.

Everyone held their breath while Eddie tried to approach the headless ghost with a talisman paper. But the talisman wouldn’t stick to it, falling off as soon as it touched the ghost’s body. And not only was the ghost unaffected, it detected Eddie’s presence.

They all surrounded and attacked the headless ghost together, finally managing to rescue Eddie, who was being strangled.

Talisman papers were ineffective against the headless ghost, leaving them at a loss for what to do as they hid in corners, playing cat-and-mouse with it.

Since talismans had worked on all the other ghosts, they figured there must be a specific spot to paste them for it to work. So they tried sticking them all over the headless ghost’s body experimentally, but this tactic was completely useless, it only enraged the headless ghost further.

The furious ghost chased after them as they fled down the tower steps. And as they passed the 7th and 6th floors, the previously empty floors were now littered with countless identical human heads, glaring angrily like they had a major grievance. Using the spring from their necks, the heads snapped open their jaws, lunging to bite at them as they desperately fled.

Xue Li animatedly waved her arms, straining to describe the scene they had witnessed, but Zhou Zhou reacted calmly.

“Oh.” A decapitated ghost, they’d encountered realistic human NPC like that before, feeling a bit nostalgic even.

As they spoke, Qian Le and Eddie had re-opened the door, Alvia casually strolling out.

Qian Le froze for a moment before sneakily peeking inside, finding that all those rolling heads were now gone.

“The people? No, the heads, where are they?”

Alvia glanced at him, his expression calm. “They’ve been eliminated.”

“What? Eliminated? But our talismans didn’t work!” Qian Le asked in disbelief.

Alvia walked over to Zhou Zhou. “Talisman papers only work when the headless ghost’s body and head are connected.”

Eddie was still confused, “But just now there were dozens of heads chasing us down, how did you know which one was the real headless ghost’s head?”

Standing by Zhou Zhou’s side, Alvia replied, “Used my eyes to look.”

Eddie: “……”

They all looked identical, how could just looking distinguish them?

Seeing that Alvia didn’t intend to elaborate further, Ke Li sneaked into the tower, looking around carefully before confirming that it was indeed quiet and still, the earlier chaotic pursuit as if an illusion.

“Anyway, we’ve caught one, leaving three ghosts remaining,” Ke Li said.

“Two left, we ran into the hanged ghost earlier,” Zhou Zhou added.

Come to think of it, the two ghosts in the tower had been dealt with by Zhou Zhou and Al, while the rest of them hadn’t really done anything.

After thoroughly searching the tower again to confirm no more ghosts remained, they returned to the temple grounds.

Looking up at the sky, Xue Li said, “It seems the last two ghosts will probably appear at night, since we’ve already searched the temple and tower thoroughly.”

The others agreed, so they spent the remaining time waiting in the temple for nightfall.

Zhou Zhou really liked this ancient temple, its antiquated style feeling quite welcoming. He even burned incense and paid respects in front of the various Buddha statues.

Except for the last faceless Buddha statue.

Night finally fell, and the players were all on high alert, searching every corner.

There were two talisman papers left, one with Xue Li and the other with Eddie. He had held onto the talisman but hadn’t been able to use it. Originally he wanted to return it to Zhou Zhou, but Zhou Zhou declined, saying they would all be ghost-catching together anyway, so it didn’t matter who held it.

Eddie was determined to catch the next ghost himself, no longer content to just stand by while Zhou Zhou and Al did all the work.

So during the search, he was extra diligent.

“Do you think a ghost could be in the trees?” Eddie shone his light up into the dense pines of the courtyard, turning to Qian Le, “Qian Le, I think we should…”

There was no one behind him, while Qian Le was at another bushes, crouched down rummaging through the foliage, clearly not hearing Eddie at all.

Eddie looked at Qian Le’s location in confusion, scratching his head. Hadn’t Qian Le been right behind him this whole time? When did he wander that far away?

He continued sweeping his flashlight over the pines, abruptly spinning around to shine it behind him, but there was nothing there.

Eddie casually turned back, continuing to search nearby areas.

His expression was solemn, because he could sense someone following close behind him, step-for-step, but every time he turned around there was nothing to see.

It must be a ghost.

Eddie opened his quest log, indeed finding the prompt about the next ghost.

This ghost was called the Boot Hanging Ghost.

Eddie: Never heard of it, what kind of ghost is this?

He walked over to Qian Le and kicked at him as he was about to burrow into the bushes. “What are you doing? Don’t damage the plants and trees.”

Qian Le looked up at him speechlessly. “I’m searching for ghosts.”

“I think the ghost could be hiding in the trees. Come with me to check over there.” Eddie said with a meaningful look towards Qian Le.

Originally Qian Le was doubting if Eddie’s eyes were playing tricks on him, but their recent outdoor training had cultivated some tacit understanding between them. Qian Le suddenly realized Eddie seemed to have made a discovery.

Following behind Eddie, Qian Le also felt like there was someone trailing him, but turned to find no one there.

“You sensed it too?” Eddie asked in a low voice.

Qian Le nodded.

“Think of a way to lure it out.” Eddie had a talisman paper gripped in his half-clenched fist.

Qian Le walked a few steps ahead, side-by-side with Eddie, the ghost still following behind them.

When the two reached the trees and shone their lights upwards for a moment, they abruptly spun around towards their rear.

Qian Le grabbed the ghost behind them while the quick-handed Eddie slapped a talisman paper onto it.

Seeing the small dark blur freeze motionless behind him, Qian Le asked in disbelief, “We caught it just like that?”

Since the talisman could immobilize it, clearly this was a real ghost. Eddie nodded, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from curving up. “Yeah, we caught ourselves a ghost.”

When the smoke appeared again, the others all came over, surprised to find that the ninth ghost had actually been caught by the combined efforts of Qian Le and Eddie. They asked how the two had managed it.

Since the process was so simple, the pair just shook their heads wordlessly, looking profound like they couldn’t reveal such mysteries.

To their surprise, the deity summoned this time was Guan Yin. With a compassionate countenance and a slight smile, Guan Yin gave a gentle wave of the willow branch in her hand, causing the ghost to vanish.

Mission progress: 9/10

At the same time, Ke Li also found a clue about the final ghost, on that faceless Buddha statue.

“I came by at noon and this Buddha statue was clearly looking down slightly. But just now it was staring straight ahead, something’s definitely off.” Ke Li insisted adamantly.

The group stood in the temple, gazing at the seated Buddha on the lotus pedestal, its head slightly bowed. “Are you sure you saw it looking straight ahead earlier? Your eyes weren’t playing tricks?”

Ke Li scoffed. “I don’t have cataracts. I’ve had a weird feeling about this Buddha statue for a while now.”

Ke Li was quite observant, he had noticed Zhou Zhou’s seeming dislike for this particular Buddha statue, as he had paid respects to all the others except this faceless one. So when searching for ghosts, he had paid special attention to this strange Buddha, finally noticing the irregularity.

Everyone carefully examined the Buddha statue but saw nothing amiss. Xue Li took out the last talisman paper and tried pasting it on, but it just slid off the statue’s body.

“The talisman doesn’t work, so there must still be an issue somewhere.” Xue Li picked up the fallen paper, saying.

Zhou Zhou opened his quest log. “We shouldn’t be mistaken, the final ghost has appeared. It’s the Substitute Ghost.”

No one present had even heard of a Substitute Ghost before.

Zhou Zhou analyzed, “Going by the literal meaning, it implies this ghost will capture players to use as substitutes or decoys. Or it could take on a player’s appearance. Possession is also possible.”

Any of those sounded troubling. The players surrounding the Buddha swiftly spread out.

“It sounds pretty formidable. So how do we catch it?” Xue Li asked.

Zhou Zhou shook his head. “I’m not sure either.”

Seeing Zhou Zhou furrowing his brow in contemplation, Alvia spoke up. “I’ll act as bait to try luring the ghost out.”

Zhou Zhou: “I’ll go.”

The others also volunteered to be bait, after all, Zhou Zhou and Al had been doing all the work so far, so it was their turn now.

In the end, Ke Li was chosen as bait. He hadn’t managed to catch a single ghost yet and felt unsatisfied, especially when even Xue Li had caught several, making him the only one in the squad who hadn’t contributed.

Taking a deep breath, Ke Li stepped forward while Xue Li stayed close behind, talisman at the ready to paste on.

Only a fist’s distance from the Buddha statue, but facing the icy cold statue, Ke Li had no idea how to provoke the ghost out. He couldn’t just punch it, the stone would only hurt his own hand.

Thinking it over, Ke Li lightly tapped his fist against the Buddha’s face, it was stone after all, too much force would just injure himself.

Originally not expecting this method to work at all, merely testing it out, Ke Li was shocked when the Buddha statue started trembling, the entire temple lightly shaking like an earthquake, alarming everyone present.

The next moment, a white gaseous entity drifted out from the Buddha’s ear, rising into the air like a cloud. Ignoring the nearby Ke Li, it charged straight towards Zhou Zhou instead.

Alvia stretched out his hand to block it, but the white gaseous mass simply passed through and plunged into Zhou Zhou’s forehead before vanishing.

Caught completely off guard, Xue Li panicked and rushed towards Zhou Zhou with her talisman paper. Thinking the ghost had possessed Zhou Zhou, she tried pasting the talisman onto his arm to drive it out.

Zhou Zhou’s mildly surprised expression instantly froze in place.

He had been immobilized.