Could Chen Mo and the others have found new clues so quickly? Li Kai thought to himself as he pulled out his phone, but the screen showed an unknown number.
His heart skipped a beat. Li Kai hesitated, but the incessant ringing urged him to press the answer button, and he brought the phone to his ear.
"Hello..."
Static, static, static—a cacophony of noise came from the other end. Just as Li Kai was about to hang up, a voice, like that of a little girl, mixed in with the static, suddenly rang in his ear.
"Hurry up and find a way to escape, or it'll be too late."
What?
Li Kai jolted in shock and immediately hung up. But at that moment, he suddenly realized that the taxi he was in had somehow stopped beside a desolate patch of wilderness. Not only that, but Ye Sheng and Zhang Yiming, along with the driver up front, had vanished without a trace!
What's going on? Why did the car stop? What happened while I was asleep? Li Kai's heart was pounding with tension, and a vague, ominous premonition crept over him.
Suddenly, the phone in his hand rang again—a distorted, eerie electronic melody, one that was both familiar and terrifying to Li Kai.
The cursed game had activated again on its own. That meant... a new storyline?
Though terrified, Li Kai was certain that the new storyline wasn't just a death notice from this deadly game; it also held hints of survival. Despite his fear, he steeled himself and opened the game interface.
On the screen was the same familiar village, but the distortion was worse, and the severely warped music only exuded an endless sense of dread. At this moment, it seemed a wedding was taking place in the village. A bride in a white veil stood beside a groom in formal attire, receiving a priest's blessing.
"My name is Yin Xiong. Though I didn't have my parents' consent, I feel truly happy to marry Linghua as my wife. I... will definitely make her happy."
"My name is Linghua. Though I didn't have my parents' consent, as long as I can stay by his side, I'm sure... I can still find happiness..."
"No one has the right to tear apart two people in love. One day, you will surely receive your parents' blessing and find happiness."
But just as the priest finished speaking, the scene suddenly darkened.
"No, I haven't found happiness."
"It's all because of you, our daughter... our daughter..."
In the scene, the bride in her wedding dress flickered a few times, then suddenly transformed into a white ghost, lunging toward the "groom."
At that instant, an overwhelming sense of danger surged through Li Kai. At the same time, a pale face—a floating female ghost—appeared directly in front of the taxi's windshield!
This female ghost... was that woman named Linghua?
Could that little girl be...?
In a flash, a thought crossed his mind. Li Kai shoved open the car door and bolted out, running wildly.
What's happening...
Somehow, the outside had turned into pitch-black night. A road stretched through the desolate grassland into the distance, but Li Kai couldn't care about that now. The floating specter, the faintly visible ghostly figure, appeared again and again, each time closer than before!
What do I do? What do I do? This time, I have no protective items left on me.
Panicked, Li Kai fumbled for his phone, hoping to get a survival hint from the game. But in his frantic haste, he dropped it with a sharp crack, and it hit the ground.
There was no time to pick it up. The approaching ghostly figure forced him to abandon it and keep running. Meanwhile, the fallen phone, its screen shattered into pieces, still had the game running on its fragmented display...
The groom, chased by the ghost bride, ran along the village path until a cemetery appeared before him. At the same time, Li Kai, gasping for breath, noticed a cluster of uneven shapes at the end of the road ahead.
This... this is...
Graves!
He had run straight into a graveyard!
If he hadn't dropped his phone, Li Kai would have realized he'd stumbled into a cemetery identical to the one in the game.
Behind him floated the female ghost; ahead lay a terrifying graveyard. But Li Kai had no choice. Gritting his teeth, he plunged into the cemetery.
The uneven tombstones seemed to block the ghost's view, sparking a faint glimmer of hope in Li Kai's heart. He found a large tombstone, crouched down, and hid behind it.
Don't find me... don't find me... just go away...
Praying incessantly, Li Kai's whole body trembled uncontrollably, but he clenched his jaw, afraid to make a single sound.
After what felt like an eternity, the surroundings fell silent. A spark of hope flickered in Li Kai's near-despairing heart.
Could it be that by throwing away the phone, the ghost can't track me?
That must be it—otherwise, why hasn't it come to kill me by now?
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. Hope swelled within him. This was the line between life and death; one wrong step meant utter doom.
After waiting a while longer, confident that there was no movement around him, Li Kai finally couldn't hold back. He slowly stood up from behind the tombstone.
He looked around. Though it was pitch-black, there was no sign of the white ghostly figure. The female ghost seemed to have truly vanished.
Whew... that was close...
He patted his chest, filled with the relief of a narrow escape. He had evaded the ghost's killing spree once more!
I hope Chen Mo and the others can find the final clue to this game soon... Li Kai thought, his mind a whirlwind of emotions. With only three days left in this seven-day death game, he was now racing against death itself.
Standing up, he scanned the area again, confirming the ghost was gone. He finally relaxed, but a lingering doubt remained: if the ghost had vanished, why hadn't the space created by this supernatural force disappeared yet?
But at the same time...
By the roadside, unseen by anyone, a phone with a shattered screen still had the game eerily advancing on its own. From a bird's-eye view on the screen, a pixelated figure stood in the middle of a cemetery, looking around as if searching for something. Above its head floated a white ghost. Because it was directly overhead, the figure, busy scanning its surroundings, didn't notice the specter above!
"Ahhhhhhh—!"
A scream suddenly rang out from the screen...