Chapter 44: Times Like These, You Have to Rely on Your Teammates
"The current favorability levels for the ghosts are as follows:
Yin Guoheng (Residual Thought): Stranger (You're not even friends yet; he helps you purely out of instinct) Du Ruoshui (Residual Thought): Stranger Yin Munan (Residual Thought): Stranger Yin Xiaoxiao (Vengeful Spirit): Slightly Fond (You've caught her attention; in her eyes, you're a bit closer than a stranger) Zhang Ya (Red-Clad Vengeful Spirit): Uniquely Devoted (You're special to her; she likes you, but she likes the dead version of you)
Ghost favorability has been unlocked. You can increase favorability by letting them hear screams filled with a tourist's negative emotions, gifting items carrying resentment value, or completing ghost favorability quests.
When favorability reaches a certain level, she will selectively follow your commands.
Note: Only vengeful spirits with deep resentment, bloodthirsty and evil natures, come with favorability quests. Completing these quests can significantly boost favorability and allow you to ask her to do one thing that doesn't go against her own will!"
This newly unlocked feature in the mobile game gave Chen Ge a deeper understanding of the "various ones" around him.
He pulled the smallest cloth doll out of his pocket. This doll looked no different from the others on the surface, but the mobile game had given her a distinct rating—while the other three were Residual Thoughts, she alone was a Vengeful Spirit.
"With that look of yours, you're a vengeful spirit too?" Chen Ge reached out and poked Xiaoxiao's little face. Suspended in midair, Xiaoxiao seemed a bit annoyed. The feeling she gave Chen Ge was like a kitten that hadn't been weaned yet, flailing its paws and meowing, 'I'm super fierce!'
"Guess it's an unexpected gain." If Yin Xiaoxiao was the gentle and kind exception among vengeful spirits, then Zhang Ya was probably the polar opposite. This was the first time he'd seen the mobile game specifically give a rating like Red-Clad Vengeful Spirit.
"What's the difference between a Red-Clad Vengeful Spirit and an ordinary vengeful spirit?" Chen Ge tried tapping on Zhang Ya's name. The screen flickered, and a blood-red interface appeared.
"Do you accept Zhang Ya's favorability quest? Warning! This quest carries a certain level of danger!"
The blood-red exclusive interface made Chen Ge break out in a cold sweat. "Didn't it say only vengeful spirits with deep resentment, bloodthirsty and evil natures, come with favorability quests? Am I really that lucky in some areas? One random draw, and I pull a top-tier one?"
In truth, Chen Ge's inner monologue was that such a 'top-tier' one could be done without. He just didn't dare say it out loud, afraid that Zhang Ya, who might be hiding somewhere, would hear him.
"Uniquely devoted, likes the dead version of me—this lady has some psychological issues!"
After exiting the phone screen, the fear the mirror monster had instilled in Chen Ge completely dissipated. Compared to the one he'd drawn from his lottery, the shadow in the mirror seemed pretty ordinary.
But that didn't mean Chen Ge would let it off. On the contrary, he had made it his goal to eliminate it at all costs. Only by dealing with the mirror monster could the Horror House operate safely.
The unlocking of ghost favorability gave Chen Ge more options. In his view, this feature in the black phone was likely preparation for later having ghosts work in the Horror House.
As the game content improved, Chen Ge's interest in it grew stronger.
After reviewing the newly unlocked feature, Chen Ge started checking his second reward—Yin Pupils.
The reward from the nightmare-level quest could change himself. Chen Ge tried looking into the distance. Aside from seeing slightly clearer in the dark, this Yin Pupil didn't seem to have any other effects.
"Maybe this reward, like the Embalming Face, needs a specific environment to trigger." The floor was covered in mirror shards. He picked up one and held it in front of his face. His eyes looked no different from an ordinary person's.
"Literally speaking, Yin Pupils should let me see things normal people can't, but..." Chen Ge held Xiaoxiao up to his eyes and saw nothing strange. "Am I not using it right, or is there a special technique?"
After fiddling with it for a while with no results, Chen Ge decided to stop worrying about it.
He stretched his numb body, picked up his phone, and sat in the bathroom, starting to edit a video.
"I went through so much trouble; it'd be a shame not to share it with more people."
He first uploaded the original video to the paranormal forum. It was four in the morning, and Chen Ge thought not many would see it, but as soon as his new video was posted, comments started rolling in.
Chen Ge glanced at the first comment—it was from the forum admin. He thought for a moment and added a text description of the game process below the video.
After two or three minutes, comments gradually increased. Chen Ge's account was already quite famous on the forum. Some people who were already asleep were woken up by friends specifically to watch this video.
"Lying alone in a bathtub full of water at 3:30 AM—forget everything else, I wouldn't dare do it even with the lights on."
"This video is even creepier than the last one the OP posted!"
"Did you hear any strange sounds underwater? Or see anything weird? Big shot, begging for a reply!"
A few comments did make some sense. Chen Ge skimmed through them, and like last time, he didn't reply. He logged out of the forum and started editing the video.
He clipped the segment from when he lay in the bathtub to when he finally broke free—sixty-three seconds in total.
Short videos usually work better the shorter and more shocking they are.
But this time, Chen Ge went against the grain. He posted a sixty-three-second video titled—Challenge: Hold Your Breath for One Minute.
The video went live, and everyone following Chen Ge's ID got a notification. Some people started commenting before even finishing the video.
"Hold your breath challenge? No horror video today?"
"All show, no substance. Isn't someone chugging a bottle of liquor more exciting than this?"
"Hold your breath for a minute? Let me try too."
"Everyone, move along. The streamer's run out of ideas... Holy crap! What the hell is that thing crouching by the bathtub staring at me! Get out of my phone!"