Giving Interstellar Players a Horror Ghost Game Shock - Chapter 34
It turned out that Xu Yi’s family had been part of May University’s faculty since his grandfather’s time, a lineage that could be considered scholarly.
However, in the year his grandfather served as a department head, a female student had an accident near May Bridge and was later dumped in the lake. After that incident, for reasons unknown, the family became cursed by the female ghost.
From his grandfather to his father, and now to him—even when far away from the vicinity of May Bridge, they could still feel the chilling gaze of the specter.
Xu’s grandfather had narrowly escaped death by the ghost several times until the family spent a fortune seeking advice from a spiritual master, who provided them with a way to avoid the curse—
“Every 20 years, four people must be sacrificed to the ghost. Like feeding a hungry tiger to prevent it from eating you, isn’t that right?”
Liu Yuling felt a shiver run down her spine. She never could have imagined the truth to be so vicious.
Sacrificing four innocent lives just to save one’s own?
And the idea that taking someone else’s life could save your own… Could such a thing even be true? If so, wouldn’t the elite and powerful gladly sacrifice ordinary people like her to ensure their own survival?
Wen Qian’s eyes burned with icy fury, though she maintained her composure.
“There’s no such thing as a curse without cause. If your family were truly innocent lambs being targeted by a vengeful spirit, you wouldn’t have resorted to such a disgusting method of randomly picking four strangers to die in your place!”
“Classmate, falsely accusing others is not a virtuous act.” Xu Yi’s face maintained an inexplicable mix of subtle pride and cold cruelty, as though he were gazing at people already doomed.
He began retreating step by step, and as he moved, the surrounding fog grew thicker.
When Liu Yuling glanced back inadvertently, her heart skipped a beat—on the far side of May Bridge, she could vaguely see a dark figure taking slow, deliberate steps toward them.
Li Hua seemed to realize something, his face draining of all color.
“You said as long as we didn’t go under the bridge, we’d be fine!”
“If you were even slightly useful, I wouldn’t need to leave you here as well,” Xu Yi sighed with feigned regret. “Perfect timing… Since the other girl hasn’t been found, you can take her place.”
The moment he finished speaking, the dense fog surged forward and swallowed him whole.
Realizing something was amiss, Liu Yuling rushed forward, but to her shock, Xu Yi had vanished entirely from where he’d stood.
“Damn it!” Liu Yuling gritted her teeth, furious at herself for being a moment too late.
She was about to turn around and call Wen Qian to run when her pupils suddenly constricted.
The dark figure, which had been at least several dozen meters away moments ago, had somehow closed the distance and was now right behind her—so close that it was practically brushing against her face.
The figure’s true appearance was now fully exposed. Sure enough, it was the ghostly senior who had died tragically all those years ago. Her body was grotesquely bloated from being submerged in the icy lake for so long, her hollow eyes and decaying mouth a nightmare come to life.
“Ah!” A piercing scream erupted from Wen Qian, followed by the sound of rapid, retreating footsteps. She must have run away.
Liu Yuling didn’t have time to resent the NPC’s lack of loyalty because, in the next moment, a pale, swollen hand—terrifyingly cold—clamped down on her arm.
The instant the ghost’s hand made contact, a black mark appeared on Liu Yuling’s skin, spreading ominously fast.
Liu Yuling’s mind went blank.
Instinctively, she grabbed the yellow talisman hidden in her pocket and slapped it hard against the ghostly hand.
With the talisman igniting in flames upon contact, the ghost’s hand recoiled instantly. The black mark on her arm stopped spreading, stabilizing at a size slightly larger than her palm.
Only then did Liu Yuling belatedly register the fear surging into her heart and the intense pain coursing through her arm. But there was no time to mourn for herself—she turned and ran.
Faster, faster! If she could just make it to the campus and find that damned—
However, the moment she passed through the archway, she skidded to a halt, frozen in place.
On the other side of the arch, instead of the familiar main building, there was the exact same mist-shrouded May Bridge she had just escaped from!
The terrifying ghost stood right in front of her, a grotesque grin on its face as if mocking her futile attempt to flee.
How could this be?!
Liu Yuling’s pupils quaked with shock.
The live comments exploded in panic:
[What the hell is this?!]
[Clearly, you’ve never played escape games before—classic setup, there’s definitely a trap.]
[But this isn’t indoors; we’re outside! How massive would a mechanism have to be to pull this off?]
[You must be new here, right? This is just like the first chase sequence—there’s definitely ghosts at both ends!]
[No way! If there are ghosts at both ends, why did the main building disappear? This must be some kind of spatial distortion near May Bridge… holy crap!]
Amidst the chaos in the comments, Liu Yuling glanced back, only to find that the grand arch behind her had vanished. In its place was an endless stretch of mist-covered May Bridge.
Left with no other option, Liu Yuling picked a random direction and broke into a desperate sprint. Deep down, she had an inkling that she might already be trapped.
This place was far too strange; running in any direction seemed utterly futile.
Damn it, what was she supposed to do now? The game wouldn’t give her a guaranteed death scenario, right? If she made it out, she was absolutely dragging Junior Ye for a serious complaint!
She ran aimlessly for what felt like an eternity—or perhaps just five minutes. Either way, the terror and lack of pacing had drained her stamina, and her legs were beginning to ache.
Just as she slowed down, a chilling gust of wind blew past her.
A deafening alarm rang in her mind, and without hesitation, Liu Yuling dropped into a crouch and rolled across the ground.
In the same instant, the ghost’s long hair swung down right in front of her, and its ghastly pale hand clawed at the spot where she had been standing moments before.
The ghost screeched furiously when its attack missed and vanished again.
Liu Yuling’s face turned ashen. This was bad—she couldn’t track the ghost’s movements at all!
The abruptness of her maneuver caused the camera she had stashed in her bag to roll out onto the ground.
Liu Yuling glanced down at the camera, which had stopped at her feet, and suddenly her eyes lit up.
That’s right—didn’t Qiu Zi mention that cameras could capture things invisible to the naked eye? Could this be the key for this stage?!