Giving Interstellar Players a Horror Ghost Game Shock - Chapter 55
【Hahaha, Sister Yu, have some sympathy for Fish General! Don’t treat him like this, hahaha!】
【Um… Can I just say I love watching treacherous teammates backstab each other? It’s almost midnight, and I’d usually be asleep by now—but watching the streamer’s shenanigans keeps me wide awake.】
【What age group are you in, commenter above? Are you already entering the retirement and wellness phase of life?】
…
Ji Yu stood frozen, expressionless. He stared at the horrifying bloodstain on his hand and then at the dead-serious Liu Yuling. For a moment, he couldn’t decide which was scarier.
Then he reached out and shoved his hand in front of the camera lens.
“?” Liu Yuling gave him a confused look.
Ji Yu let out a dry laugh, his voice and expression oozing a calmness that came from utter despair.
“We can’t catch the ghost on camera, so let’s just make do with this bloodstain on my hand as evidence of the ghost’s existence. Maybe it’s enough to exchange for some cash.”
This time, the other three turned to him with shocked, bewildered, and utterly incredulous expressions.
Who was this seemingly world-weary and composed person? Was this really their timid Liver Bro? The same Liver Bro who screamed at every ghost encounter, never missing a single chance to alert the ghosts and always letting them walk away fully satisfied?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
Even Liu Yuling was stunned.
She had only been half-joking earlier, trying to create some funny moments for the livestream. She’d already prepared herself for Ji Yu to get angry and for her to apologize, but now…
Carefully, she raised the camera in her hands, keeping a close eye on Ji Yu’s expression.
“Uh… Should I actually film this?”
Oh no… Could it be that the scare had been too much for Liver Bro, and now he was mentally unstable or emotionally dead inside? Yuxi, junior sister, what’s up with your protection system? Why hasn’t it automatically ejected him for a break yet?
By now, Ji Yu was completely calm and composed.
There’s a threshold for being scared. No matter how timid someone is, when they’re frightened repeatedly, they’ll eventually grow numb.
In simpler terms, he was exhausted. Let it all end. His only wish now was to survive this level with his character intact so he could log off and call his mom to complain.
Under the faint light of the flashlight, the three remaining teammates watched in stunned silence as Ji Yu, calm yet oddly spirited. He took the lead and headed toward the basement stairs—
Only to quickly duck behind Wang Yuze just before reaching the staircase.
“Brother Ze, after you.”
Wang Yuze: “…”
Thinking Ji Yu had truly grown brave was the most absurd mistake of his life.
He grumbled inwardly but decisively took the first step down the staircase to the basement.
The further down they went, the colder it became. Even Wang Yuze, a military cadet brimming with vitality, shivered from the chill.
Liu Yuling glanced at a thermometer, her expression grim.
“It’s not just our imagination. The temperature really is dropping the lower we go—it’s already close to 0 degrees.”
Ji Yu, teeth chattering, stammered, “D-d-doesn’t that mean… the ghost is down there?!”
Ye Yuxi reassured him, “Don’t worry, it could also mean the ghost just came up from the basement. Remember the game’s mechanics? Ghosts lower the temperature wherever they pass. Since it hasn’t dropped below freezing, the ghost isn’t nearby.”
As soon as he heard this, Ji Yu’s overly vivid imagination kicked in. In his mind, he could already see a bloodstained female ghost crawling step by step up from the basement, then silently making her way to him during the power outage…
He silently tightened his clothes around himself, then took a few steps back, positioning himself behind Ye Yuxi and in front of Liu Yuling.
Ye Yuxi was utterly puzzled, her mind full of question marks. What was wrong with him? Why was he suddenly ignoring her?
Just then, Wang Yuze, who was leading the way, let out an exclamation.
“What on earth do they keep in their basement?”
Since Wang Yuze was in the front, Ye Yuxi had given him the flashlight.
He quickly figured out how to adjust the flashlight’s light modes.
The ultraviolet mode could detect ghosts, but the light source was too weak with poor visibility. Since the temperature hadn’t dropped significantly yet, it indicated the ghost wasn’t nearby. So, they opted for the stronger white light mode.
Now, under the beam of the white light, a box mounted on the wall came into view. Its purpose was unclear. Beside it, a few vague black shadows could be seen—uncertain whether they were trash or something else.
“Friendly reminder: You have discovered the circuit breaker. Please inspect it as soon as possible.”
Upon hearing the game notification, the three true interstellar residents had a sudden realization. Oh, so this was the circuit breaker.
Wang Yuze held the flashlight at the rear, while the others quickened their pace.
However, as they approached, their steps involuntarily slowed.
—The objects next to the circuit breaker weren’t trash at all. They were dolls!
Beneath the box, on the handle, and even on top of it… dolls were everywhere!
Under the flashlight’s beam, the dolls remained perfectly still, their faces frozen in identical sweet smiles. Yet their plastic eyes sparkled with a lifelike gleam, far from resembling inanimate objects. It was as if they were children playing “Red Light, Green Light,” stopping motion whenever caught and pretending to be mere dolls.
The one hanging from the handle was especially unsettling. Its hand clung to the handle, as though it had just been about to open the box but froze when someone approached.
Ji Yu shut his eyes in agony, a chill running through him. His overactive imagination always managed to scare him in games.
He stopped, but others began moving.
Ji Yu watched as Liu Yuling stepped forward, one deliberate step at a time. Assuming she was going to inspect the circuit breaker, he admired her bravery, thinking: What a pro. So fearless.
Even so, he softly reminded her, “Sister Yu, be careful. This circuit breaker is way too creepy, surrounded by all those dolls.”
What kind of person would place dolls near a circuit breaker? He wouldn’t even be surprised if the dolls had walked there on their own!
However, Liu Yuling seemed not to hear him. Her gaze was blank, and her steps straight and unwavering as she walked forward.
Ye Yuxi immediately sensed something was wrong.
Crap! Senior Liu must’ve been affected back in the living room!
She was about to reach out and grab her when Liu Yuling suddenly stopped on her own, a look of startled clarity returning to her face.
She glanced at her three teammates, then at the circuit breaker, her expression shocked and even a bit frightened.
“Didn’t you… see it?”
“See what?” Wang Yuze frowned, the muscles in his arms already tensing.
In Liu Yuling’s pupils, the half-closed circuit breaker door gradually transformed into a double-paned glass display case. She stared fixedly at the shadow reflected in the glass—a shadow that wasn’t her own—and swallowed hard.
“There are no dolls. Inside, there’s clearly a…”
“A little girl.”