As soon as Lu Qingjia disappeared, it signaled the end of this chapter.
The cyclical rules of the entire hotel fell apart, Manager Hao was completely obliterated, and Mr. Li and Ms. Wang took over the torment endured by dozens of wronged souls over the years.
With their vengeance fulfilled and the truth of their deaths revealed, most of the spirits lost their obsessions, ascending into the air and dissipating into the sky, stepping into the next phase.
Mrs. Li and Zhu Xiaomei’s spirits appeared on the rooftop. Upon seeing Manager Hao’s body about to disintegrate, they hurriedly stomped their feet a couple of times.
Realizing that Lu Qingjia had already vanished, a look of melancholy appeared on their faces.
Zhu Xiaomei said, “If only we could stay a little longer, I didn’t even get a chance to thank him.”
Mrs. Li replied, “What a good man! It’s a pity I was born twenty years too early. Otherwise, I would have chased him with all my might, and I wouldn’t have ended up with that beast, dragging so many people down with me.”
Zhu Xiaomei nodded in agreement, “He’s both excellent and gentle, never looking down on us little people. That’s the demeanor of a good man, right?”
Blushing, she added, “He even praised me for being cute.”
Mrs. Li was unwilling to be outdone, “He praised me for being charming long ago.”
The two female ghosts were secretly competing when they saw a man standing in front of an open cabinet, lost in thought, his expression revealing grievance and unwillingness. He suddenly turned around.
Mrs. Li and Zhu Xiaomei gasped, thinking, when did such a good man come along? Just as Lu Qingjia left, another one appeared.
However, the man’s expression was not good. He glanced at the two shabby female ghosts and scoffed.
With the composure and superiority of a legitimate wife, he said, “He’s just a fraud. As long as there’s a benefit, he can flatter an eighty-year-old woman into a celestial being without batting an eye. What a clueless fool.”
Naturally, Mrs. Li and Zhu Xiaomei were displeased. This was not only an insult to them but also to the gentle and kind Lu Qingjia.
But this man exuded danger at first glance, and the two didn’t dare to confront him directly.
They could only mutter, “Jealousy, it must be jealousy.”
“Or it’s slander. What kind of person can’t stand to see others being liked by women?”
“Indeed, Mr. Lu is the best.”
Zhong Liyu choked, raised his hand to split open a spatial rift, and kicked the two gossiping female ghosts inside—
“Go reincarnate. In your next life, use your brain a bit more, and don’t be fooled by a few sweet words.”
After saying that, feeling the sudden silence of the game was quite profound, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
Horror Game: “Don’t you think before lecturing others, you should reflect on yourself first?”
“Someone was indeed fooled to the point of being dazed, spilling everything that should and shouldn’t be said.”
Zhong Liyu replied, “You can’t say that. I was just complaining about my stupid boss, finding some amusement in its dark history to comfort myself after repeatedly cleaning up its mess.”
“Someone smart extracted key clues from that, which is their skill. If you’re dissatisfied with that, at least be reliable and don’t give me a chance to complain, okay?”
Horror Game: “Oh, so you can talk now? When you faced that kid, you didn’t have half the heart you have for me.”
“I’m a reasonable person; he didn’t make me clean up the mess.” With a thought, Zhong Liyu vanished.
Horror Game: “…”
In the blink of an eye, Zhong Liyu appeared in a familiar room.
The view outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was beautiful and exquisite, rich with subtropical charm.
This was a large seaside manor, and judging by the plants and architectural style, it didn’t look like it was in the country.
Zhong Liyu went downstairs, and at this time, the servants in the manor were busy. Most of them were Southeast Asian, with only a few of Chinese descent giving orders.
The entire manor was vast, and the workload was considerable; there were quite a few gardeners just for tidying up the garden.
Seeing Zhong Liyu come down, everyone temporarily set aside their tasks to greet him, their postures humble, while unnecessary people quietly left their master’s sight.
Zhong Liyu appeared as easygoing as ever, usually quite approachable, but the servants’ caution seemed instinctual.
A rich variety of breakfast was served, and an elderly man in a light-colored Tang suit reported to Zhong Liyu.
After finishing, Zhong Liyu said, “Uncle Zheng, arrange a car for me. I’m going to see Dad soon.”
The elderly man surnamed Zheng, with sharp eyes and a shrewd demeanor, twisted his expression for a moment.
Finally unable to hold back, he said, “Young master, this is the third time this month! And it’s not even been ten days! Is it appropriate for you to visit the old master so frequently?”
Zhong Liyu replied matter-of-factly, “What’s inappropriate about it? We’re blood relatives; isn’t it a good thing to see each other more often?”
Uncle Zheng grimaced, “But the old master is in prison! How can you visit him every three to five days?”
Zhong Liyu waved his hand dismissively, “Uncle Zheng, you’re being biased. Even though my dad is inside, we are still blood relatives. We shouldn’t feel ashamed of that; we just need to wait for his rehabilitation and return.”
He shot Uncle Zheng a dissatisfied glance, somewhat reproachfully saying, “Uncle Zheng, you’ve been with my dad for a lifetime. No matter what others think, you shouldn’t look down on him.”
Uncle Zheng’s lifetime of calmness, forged through blood and storm, finally broke.
He slammed the table, his anger flaring as he shouted, “Is it me looking down on him? You unfilial son, since you’re always going to work, why did you send your own father to prison in the first place?”
After cursing, he grumbled, “Fine, fine, I’ve had enough of your bad luck. I should have gone in with my brother back then, so I wouldn’t have to deal with your nonsense every day.”
Zhong Liyu said, “You can’t say that. The law has its standards for sentencing; Uncle Zheng, you only need to pay a bail.”
Uncle Zheng was so angry he felt dizzy, exhausted, and asked, “What are you going to talk to your dad about today?”
Zhong Liyu’s face flushed, “I’m having some trouble with my partner and want to ask my dad how he won my mom back then.”
Uncle Zheng threw down the documents in his hand and walked out, his subordinates hurriedly stopping him, “Old master, don’t be angry! You can’t leave!”
“I quit! I’m retiring today!”
“You’re throwing in the towel? What will happen to the old master?”
Hearing this, Uncle Zheng indeed calmed down but felt a sense of desolation for the two brothers who had once been formidable.
The industry and territory they had built over decades were not only destroyed by that unfilial son but also forcibly changed into other businesses, compelling the family elders to reform and start anew.
They shouldn’t have sent him abroad in the first place, nor should they have hidden what the family was doing. He grew up thinking he was a good citizen, unable to accept the family business, and directly dismantled it.
Little did he know where the financial and armed forces came from. Wouldn’t it have been better for that unfilial son to help the family become the leading figure instead?
Now, the underworld was laughing at them, and countless families adjusted their heir training strategies because of this.
While the older generation of the Zhong family was clouded with worries, Lu Qingjia returned to reality, having survived a calamity.
He wasn’t wrong about Zhong Ye being a fool; that guy was indeed a pervert.
Of course, the fundamental reason was the gap in their strengths, but there was also a premise based on Lu Qingjia’s understanding of him.
Dating that guy was nice; he was good-looking, wealthy, generous, and fun to be around, knowing how to care for others.
But if one truly thought he was a fool, then the fool would definitely be oneself. That guy had a very unique set of logical thinking and self-definition.
Lu Qingjia considered himself a hypocritical little person, lying without a second thought, with no moral bottom line.
But that fool, clearly gifted and capable of causing trouble, firmly believed he was a model citizen, able to do terrifying things with a natural face, unaffected by external values.
Lu Qingjia felt that many things couldn’t withstand deep thought. At least until he had the ability to stand on equal footing with the other party, he believed there were some subtle points about Zhong Ye that shouldn’t be touched.
He figured that guy wouldn’t come looking for him in the short term, so Lu Qingjia relaxed a bit and sorted through the gains from this chapter.
As expected, the basic task of this chapter was simply to survive for three days. For someone like Lu Qingjia, who directly broke through the chapter and caused the cycle to dissipate, it was equivalent to scoring a hundred points with a passing score of forty.
The evaluation level was predictably high, this time it was S-level, with a reward of twenty thousand points, plus a separate side quest from Manager Hao, rewarding eight thousand. With the points from the selection arena, Lu Qingjia now had nearly fifty thousand points.
I forgot to mention, the one million brought by Mr. Li also converted into one thousand points credited to Lu Qingjia, which was why he insisted on having the other party bring cash. As long as the handover was successful, it counted as his.
This amount of points was a huge sum from any perspective. After all, in a typical chapter, players who received a B rating or above were considered to have performed excellently, and the B-level reward was only two thousand points.
No wonder the previous players were so frugal with the fifty points per charm.
Moreover, when it came to enhancing physical attributes, the standard charge was one hundred points per point. If strength, agility, and speed were each raised by ten points, that would cost three thousand points.
Thus, the upgrade conditions in the horror game were quite challenging for ordinary players.
However, the initial effects were also evident. For example, an ordinary, frail woman could withstand a burly man several times her size by simply raising her three basic skills by five points each.
But combat wasn’t just about physical strength; in cases where the gap wasn’t too large, skill and experience were also important factors. Therefore, to become stronger, proactive practice was essential.
Before entering the chapter, Lu Qingjia hadn’t added anything due to being tricked by the game. Now that the game had ended, that fool didn’t deliberately cause trouble anymore and opened the exchange window for him.
Without thinking, Lu Qingjia allocated fifty points to each of his physical attributes. He had the Soul Binding Rope, and to be honest, low-level items didn’t mean much to him, so he didn’t want to waste unnecessary points for now.
He did pay special attention to the hallucinogenic charms and other auxiliary items used by the previous female player.
However, the most valuable item was still a pass token from the beginner’s gift pack.
This pass token was a one-time item that allowed a player to abandon a chapter unconditionally, with no rewards or penalties, essentially serving as an absolute life-saving item.
However, each player only had one chance to purchase it, which was included in the beginner’s gift pack.
In addition, this chapter also granted Lu Qingjia two skills.
One was the ability to release poison gas, and the other was to manipulate ice and snow. Clearly, these were the skills of Mrs. Li and Zhu Xiaomei, who had the strongest affinity for him.
Both skills were currently at the lowest level. The poison gas release required an absolutely sealed space and could not exceed twenty cubic meters for ten minutes to have lethal effects.
There were many conditions for use, and it was picky about the environment, ensuring the enemy stood still to be hit. Unless one could trick someone into an inescapable sealed space or ambush them, its power was currently limited.
As for the ice and snow manipulation, Lu Qingjia tried it out and could instantly chill a bottle of cola without issue, but to expand the scale and restrict someone’s movement would take a considerable amount of time.
Nevertheless, Lu Qingjia was still very pleased. Upgrading was just a matter of time, and both abilities were quite convenient for offensive purposes.
After counting his assets, Lu Qingjia was satisfied with his progress and decided to rest for a few days.
The fat guy played around for a while before returning to the city. He initially wanted to wait until Lu Qingjia finished that summer festival, but unfortunately, during a video call with his mom a few days ago, he showed off his weight loss, and the market suddenly boomed.
After his mom bragged about him, the intentions of his seven aunts and eight uncles to set him up for marriage surged, and he was urged to return for a blind date.
After the fat guy left, Lu Qingjia’s work also came to a pause, so he applied to the game to enter the next chapter early.
That afternoon, Lu Qingjia returned to his room and locked the door.
After a feeling of weightlessness, he found himself on a passenger bus.
But this time, the scenery outside wasn’t a desolate wilderness; it was surrounded by ordinary urban buildings.
There weren’t many people on the bus, maybe a little over ten in total, and players were easy to identify, with seven of them including Lu Qingjia.
The few people who weren’t players were surrounding a balding middle-aged man, flattering him—
From the leaked snippets, it was easy to understand the situation.
This group of people was a makeshift theater troupe, and judging by the scale, it was just a bit more professional than an amateur shooting self-entertainment videos.
Now, the entire crew was heading to the filming location. After a brief ceremony today for the actors to familiarize themselves with the situation, they would officially start shooting tomorrow.
The bus gradually drove towards the outskirts, not completely far from the city, eventually stopping outside an old residential area.
The crew members divided the labor, carrying the few pieces of equipment to the filming site, which was a dilapidated old apartment building.
There were actually quite a few residents living in this area, but this apartment and the surrounding area were eerily quiet.
As they entered, the residents they encountered shook their heads at them as if they were fools.
The old, chaotic buildings, narrow corridors, and the stench of sewage occasionally had garbage flying out of the upper windows, prompting the elderly sitting downstairs to shout curses.
But the upstairs remained unmoved, and the next time was the same.
A woman who was clearly the lead actress, with a large chest and a pinched face, complained sweetly to the director, “Director An~~, what kind of place did you find?”
Balding Director An pinched her slim waist, “The scene, the scene! For a big production movie to recreate this kind of street atmosphere, it costs a lot of money. Isn’t it worth it to suffer a bit for art?”
“The hit movie this year, the one that made the lead actress famous, isn’t it just this kind of lowbrow stuff?”
“What? Can’t handle it? Then you might as well get married early and don’t walk this path.”
The woman with the slim waist pouted but didn’t complain further.
Meanwhile, as if fearing the task hadn’t been released yet, Lu Qingjia chimed in, “Progress has already reached 60%.”
Before everyone could step into the apartment, the game quickly issued the task—
[Chapter Theme: A Tragic Comedy Film. A few young people with dreams of filmmaking get an opportunity to perform in a low-budget comedy, but during the filming, terrifying events occur one after another.]
[Chapter Task: Complete the film.]
As soon as the task was announced, a player couldn’t help but gasp.
He whispered, “Complete the film? They don’t even give us a chance to escape; this chapter—”
Before he could finish, he was bumped by another player.
At this moment, the director’s assistant was distributing scripts and upcoming arrangements to the actors, including the players.
Lu Qingjia took his copy, and before he could look at anything else, the first thing that caught his eye was his character identity.
The two large characters [Fraud] seemed like an endless mockery from the horror game.
“Heh!” Lu Qingjia laughed, seemingly taking pride in what should be shameful.
