Chapter 32: Cursed Malice

With the male corpse no longer interfering, the clapping game proceeded smoothly.

Player No. 2, Shi Ji, replaced Wu Xian and became the new seeker.

Soon after, Player No. 3, Yue Mei, clapped three times in rapid succession, having already prepared herself to be found.

Shi Ji kept his eyes closed and did not search for Yue Mei.

Instead, he groped in the darkness, searching the room for another source of clapping—he needed to find the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother and make her take over as seeker to find Yue Mei.

This had been their prearranged plan.

One guestroom in the inn was too cramped to hold six survivors, but if they split into separate rooms, they'd have to face the scenario of searching across rooms.

Listening to the Ghost Mother's footsteps leaving the room.

Followers of the Ghost Mother can reduce the impact of negative emotions during the clapping game and gain her favor, earning the privilege of brief vision within the game, thereby increasing their chances of survival in the blessed land.

Having become a follower, Yue Mei now found her former self laughably foolish, leaving only hatred for Wu Xian and the others.

"Holy shit, Brother Xian, I almost pissed myself just now—if I hadn't been constantly dealing with shit, piss, and farts and trained my nerves to be thick as a brick, I'd have gone insane from that sight."

But bound by the rules of the clapping game.

For a long stretch afterward, it remained safe—until the final player, Su Huijin, blew air onto the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother's eyes, triggering the next round.

But the cost was that one had to periodically offer the Ghost Mother an Offering.

The guestroom was small.

This was an expression she would never have shown before.

And worst of all, every time Shi Ji touched the Ghost Mother, horrific visions flooded in—these despairing images twisted his face and pushed his mind to the brink of collapse.

This game was too intense; it would likely cause a sudden heart attack or hypertension and kill someone on the spot within moments.

If one truly opened their eyes to look at her, they'd probably die in the most gruesome way imaginable.

Room 401.

And the likelihood of accidents was extremely high.

Thus, these three groups of survivors wouldn't need to leave their rooms, greatly increasing safety and making the entire game controllable.

"Shit, this is bad!"

"I can't help it—it's your own fault."

Shi Ji muttered complaints to Wu Xian in a low voice.

This was far too dangerous.

But Wen Chao's movements were steady.

Shi Ji nervously groped over the Ghost Mother's body, his fingers nearly cramping—he'd never touched a woman in his life, but the moment he realized he was touching a supreme evil, all lustful thoughts vanished; he feared touching some forbidden spot and being brutally murdered by the Ghost Mother.

Seeker switch completed!

The Ghost Mother pushed Shi Ji aside and slowly crept toward Room 401, following the sound of Yue Mei's clapping—her movements were slow, like a true blind woman, yet no matter the distance, she always found the next survivor within ten minutes.

But switching the seeker was not an easy matter.

Wu Xian's face darkened: "The mental shock from contacting the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother is hard even for you and me to resist, yet Yue Mei is the weakest-willed among us—how could she possibly withstand spiritual corruption?"

She coldly watched Wen Chao's actions; when she saw him finally touch the Ghost Mother, a cruel smile spread across her face.

For an ordinary old man.

Even if Wu Xian guessed the truth, he couldn't warn the others—he could only pray they remained vigilant toward Yue Mei.

Shi Ji had no answer.

Wu Xian clenched his teeth, a bad premonition rising in his chest—perhaps the returning Yue Mei was no longer the same person; she had brought the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother not to help them escape, but for some other purpose…

The very Yue Mei who had just shed her role as seeker suddenly opened her eyes.

Wu Xian and Shi Ji both exhaled deeply—they had finally survived this round.

So Wu Xian proposed a strategy: when a room switch became necessary, the seeker would find the Ghost Mother and make her become the new seeker, crossing room boundaries to find the next person clapping.

He kept his eyes tightly shut, carefully scanning along the room's edges, leaving no corner unsearched—no matter where the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother hid, he would eventually find her.

Shi Ji quickly touched tattered clothing and located the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother.

She had not been blinded and killed; instead, she received the Ghost Mother's forgiveness, at the cost of becoming her follower and offering high-quality flesh and blood.

Shi Ji's heart jolted: "What's wrong? Did something else go wrong?"

The ignorant girl, while worshiping the Ghost Mother statue, believed she had found a way to escape death—but in truth, the old crone had marked her as an Offering for the Ghost Mother.

"Fine, even if her will is truly strong, why, after enduring two hellish nights, is she still so radiant and so reverent toward the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother?"

But when the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother truly touched her, an endless flood of negative emotions instantly shattered her already fragile mental defenses.

The two sat down—one on the bed, one on the chair—gasping for breath; merely touching the Ghost Mother had already inflicted spiritual trauma upon them.

That day, guided by the old crone, she worshipped the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother, and that very night she played the clapping game to save her life.

…

As Wen Chao's hand neared the Ghost Mother's eye, about to fulfill the game's condition, Yue Mei let out a cruel, sharp voice.

Fortunately, Shi Ji finally touched the Ghost Mother's eye.

But he didn't notice that something had changed.

She opened her eyes and faced directly the original evil of this blessed land.

Yue Mei was found by the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother.

Just as he thought this, Wu Xian's face suddenly changed.

Yue Mei must also periodically offer an Offering; otherwise, the Ghost Mother would instantly punish her for breaking the rules—and the Offering the Ghost Mother required was high-quality flesh and blood, untouched by this world's corruption, just like hers!

Thus, Yue Mei turned her thoughts to the other survivors.

"If even one of you had helped me back then, I wouldn't have ended up like this—now it's your turn to pay for your past mistakes!"

"I'm sorry, Professor Wen."

Wu Xian instantly smelled the stench of pig intestines…

After becoming a believer.

She kept encouraging herself.

He trembled as he crept up to the Ghost Mother, blew a foul breath directly into her eyes.

"Of course, it's too terrible…"

"You saw those images too?"

In his long scientific career, he had long since learned that tension served no purpose.

In the darkness, she groped until she found Wen Chao standing on the other side; the seeker switched again.

"Perhaps… she's soft on the outside but firm within?"

Wu Xian nodded in understanding; he prided himself on his resolve, yet even he had been shaken repeatedly by those images—ordinary people would probably have…

Before Wen Chao could reply.

Yue Mei reached for Wen Chao's eyes, determined to force them open!

(End of Chapter)