MS Chapter 7

“Old lady, now that’s what I call a threat.” Lu Qingjia flicked the bloodstains off the soul-binding rope.

Even though the ghostly old lady’s family was no pushover, they knew that tricking the fat man’s soul coins would lead to his miserable death. At this moment, they deeply realized that compared to this robber, their own methods were still lacking.

They were merely petty thieves in the underworld, but for ordinary people, ghosts were enough to evoke all their fears, giving them a natural advantage.

Take the fat man, for instance. In reality, he wouldn’t be afraid of a lazy family like theirs, but when it came to ghosts, even without any substantial attack so far, he could still be scared half to death.

But who would have thought that this dead fat man would find such a helper, showing no respect for the ghostly at all. Judging by the robber’s demeanor, he seemed to have a respectable identity in the human world.

Yet in the underworld, it was as if he had lost all restraint, daring to commit all sorts of heinous acts, completely unlike a normal person.

Now, facing this robber, the old lady’s family felt like small-time thugs encountering a real crime lord, their desperate struggle appearing as nothing but a joke to the other side.

Seeing her son’s arm severed, with the soul-binding rope broken and irretrievable, the old lady was instantly heartbroken.

The row of ghosts kneeling before Lu Qingjia trembled in fear, the ghostly woman covering her child’s mouth to stifle his cries.

The scene was pitiful beyond words.

The ghostly son writhed in pain on the ground, looking at the ghostly old lady outside the television screen: “Mom, please save me! I’m your only son; is there anything more important than my life?”

The ghostly old lady, seeing her son’s miserable state, felt both heartache and resentment.

She glared at Lu Qingjia with venomous eyes: “Aren’t you afraid—”

Before she could finish her threatening words, the robber gestured for her to continue: “You could cut off a piece of his flesh to intimidate me, or even disable a limb.”

The fat man immediately wet himself: “Jiajia, I’m your only brother without a plastic vibe; you can’t be so heartless to me.”

Lu Qingjia ignored the fool, leisurely watching the ghostly old lady, urging, “What’s wrong? You’ve been dead for at least a hundred or eighty years; there are plenty of ghosts in the underworld missing limbs and suffering. Are you afraid of blood?”

“Or are you, despite your deceitful ways, still harboring some kindness in your heart and unable to strike?”

Everyone watched as Lu Qingjia stepped on the ghostly son’s face, slowly grinding the sobbing figure into the ground.

He looked directly at the ghostly old lady: “Old lady, if a bargaining chip is useless, can it still be called a bargaining chip?”

After saying that, he shifted his gaze from her miserable son to the trembling little grandson, the implication quite clear.

The ghostly old lady finally couldn’t hold back the pressure and cried out: “I’ll give it to you, I’ll give it to you! Just don’t touch my grandson; he’s still so young!”

Lu Qingjia smiled: “I like talking to sensible people.”

The subsequent actions were quite simple; the ghostly old lady tearfully released the fat man, hunched over, and dove back into the television, returning to the underworld.

Once back in her own ghostly abode, the old lady took out the soul coins she had deceitfully obtained from the fat man, reluctantly returning them to Lu Qingjia as if it were a piece of her flesh.

Then she pulled out a ball of energy from her body and handed it over. When the energy touched Lu Qingjia, it melted into his body and disappeared.

Lu Qingjia could clearly feel that he had gained something. When he focused on the ghostly old lady’s family, he understood their true nature.

He was quite satisfied with this and readily let the ghostly old lady’s family go, returning to reality with the things he had obtained that night.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the fat man eagerly waiting for him.

Seeing Lu Qingjia awake, he hurriedly said, “You finally woke up, you little brat.”

“Come on, let’s talk about what happened last night. I was pinned down like a piece of meat, and while you were supposed to be worried about me, you were over there heating up the oil for the knife.”

“I didn’t wear a diaper last night, you know? Changing pants in the middle of the night is quite embarrassing.”

Lu Qingjia lifted the fat man’s face and pulled out the soul-binding rope, which looked like a police baton, smiling with satisfaction.

The fat man, seeing this, became even angrier: “Alright, alright, I see it now. Our years of friendship aren’t as important as a broken stick. I’m leaving!”

He turned to leave.

“Wait!” Lu Qingjia called out.

The fat man thought the little brat still had some conscience, eagerly turning back, expecting an apology from him.

But Lu Qingjia said, “Take your changed pants with you and clean the floor.”

The fat man was filled with despair, almost performing a widow’s mourning to show this cold-blooded bastard his infinite potential.

Before he could unleash his harsh words, a voice echoed in his mind—

[Congratulations to player Zhou Hang for winning in the selection match, evaluation level S. We look forward to your outstanding performance in future games.]

After hearing this, the fat man didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Hearing this notification, it was certainly good news that the ghostly old lady’s challenge was completely passed, but the next part was just beginning, and he felt a sense of bleakness and hopelessness about the future.

But then, the voice continued, [Based on player Zhou Hang’s unique process in clearing the level, effective means relied entirely on external assistance.]

[This game determines that your personal contribution value is low, and your teammate is more suitable for formal game participation. Would player Zhou Hang like to relinquish the spot?]

Wait, can this thing be given away?

The fat man glanced at Lu Qingjia, who was casually polishing the baton, feeling complicated inside.

He initially wanted to tell this dangerous game to roll far away, but if he transferred it to Jiajia—

To put it bluntly, this was his mess. Although his brother was smarter and handled things with ease, pushing his brother out was—

Caught in this dilemma, he heard Lu Qingjia ask, “Did you hear something?”

The fat man hesitated about whether to tell him, and Lu Qingjia added, “Come on, tell me. This time I’m stepping up, and it’s not just to help you.”

“Unlike you, I’m very interested in this game. If there’s anything about me, just say it.”

“Otherwise, every time I have to participate through you, you’ll be scared, and I’ll find it troublesome.”

The fat man was shocked: “Jiajia, you really are determined to get involved in this. This thing can kill people.”

“I know better than anyone.” Lu Qingjia looked at him. “Because I’ve been looking for it for years.”

The fat man was stunned, unable to believe that Jiajia had known about the existence of this game all along.

Then, under pressure, the fat man could only relay the game’s notification in full.

Upon hearing this, Lu Qingjia smiled: “Good, you should transfer the spot.”

The fat man cautiously said, “No, even though you’re smarter than me, from what I’ve seen in the past two days, your approach is too reckless.”

“I find it risky just watching, and you still dare to participate in this ghostly game?”

Lu Qingjia sighed helplessly: “Do you think I buried hidden dangers by robbing the ghostly officer’s soul-binding rope, or when I was threatening the ghostly old lady?”

The fat man’s expression was clear: isn’t that all your doing?

Lu Qingjia said, “The ghostly old lady can’t cause you any substantial harm. I analyzed this for you before; if she could, your money wouldn’t last long enough to find me.”

“Unless she has the ability to scare you to death instantly. You, while timid, can still withstand some fright.”

The fat man pouted, begrudgingly accepting that he could somewhat forgive him for not saving him.

He added, “The key is the ghostly officer. Are you trying to throw your life away? You dare to provoke that thing? You saw how the ghostly officers in the underworld aren’t as easy to deal with as our police uncles.”

Lu Qingjia replied, “I specifically acted last night to ensure I could wrap things up, so I won’t have to enter that underworld again.”

“That’s not how it works,” the fat man said. “You’re essentially leaving a record in the underworld. Even if they can’t do anything to you while you’re alive, we will have to report there decades later.”

“When they go to register at the ghost gate, you show up, and they find out you have a record from decades ago for robbing a police officer’s gun. Won’t they just arrest you on the spot?”

The nature of the ghostly officer’s soul-binding rope is similar to a police officer’s gun, or even more serious.

Lu Qingjia revealed a strange smile: “Who told you that we will report there after we die?”

“Huh? But isn’t that—”

“That’s not our underworld, at least not the one from our world,” Lu Qingjia asserted.

Seeing the fat man’s confused expression, he explained further: “I only dared to act because I confirmed there were no hidden dangers.”

Of course, Lu Qingjia knew that even if there were hidden dangers, he wouldn’t give up such a good tool: “Once a soul enters the underworld, it will automatically meet with its closest relatives or those who have had guardianship over it.”

“For example, parents or siblings. But I neither encountered my parents nor saw my uncle. As far as I know, the quota for reincarnation takes at least twenty years to start.”

He continued, “You see, we, as yang souls, consuming in the underworld, is also why those ghostly citizens find it unremarkable.”

“Yang souls that accidentally enter the underworld don’t all have soul coins like you; where would they get the money? It’s merely that they automatically reunite with their relatives and are led to experience it.”

Upon hearing this, the fat man finally breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that Lu Qingjia had indeed thought everything through, and he awkwardly said, “So, am I really transferring it to you?”

After confirming repeatedly, he finally responded to the game, confirming the transfer of the spot.

At that moment, both of their minds received a notification: [Transfer successful. Since this transfer is a mutual agreement, voluntarily public, the erasure measures cannot be activated. Former player Zhou Hang will have his memories related to the game erased in one minute.]

The fat man gasped: “Damn, I almost took a trip to the ghost gate.”

“If there really was a hint of malice, I could have silently passed the blame to someone else and ended up in trouble myself, right?”

Lu Qingjia said, “You should take your pants and get out, so you don’t start questioning your orientation after a minute.”

But speaking of which, while the game’s hidden erasure mechanism was cruel, Lu Qingjia felt that it hinted at the game’s tone from the very beginning.

Then Lu Qingjia received a game notification: [Player Lu Qingjia, welcome to the horror game.]

[Please accept the rewards for clearing the selection match, and we wish you a more outstanding performance in future games.]

Lu Qingjia replied casually, “Thanks, chasing after someone else’s wife, thinking all day about cross-species NTR, Mr. God.”

[Poof!] A sound of old blood being spat out echoed.

The author has something to say:

Game: I want to get him, I want to get this bastard!!!!