The Ghost Tried to Blackmail Us

Charging an e-bike had always been a matter of utmost importance.

Su Lai’s flip-flopped foot, which had already stepped out of the Village Committee office, retreated back inside.
He turned his head and looked at the staff member, who was just about to open her thermos for a sip of tea.
The usually composed staff member’s hand trembled slightly, tea nearly splashing out.

“Any more questions?” the staff member asked warily.

Su Lai: “Can I borrow a charging outlet?”

Staff member: “No.
Public property is prohibited from private use.”

“Oh.”
Su Lai recited expressionlessly.
“Spring Breeze Community Harmony Guidelines, Article 2: Neighbors should live in harmony.
Please do not refuse a neighbor’s (any) request to their face.”
“I’m your neighbor.”

The staff member emphasized righteously.
“Those guidelines are for outsiders.”
“I’m a local.”

Su Lai: “Fair enough.”
Best not to make things difficult for the staff member.

After a moment’s thought, he opened his delivery app backend.
The previous order had timed out long ago.
He pointed at the pickup address on the screen and asked.
“Do you know how to get to this household?”

The staff member shook her head in confusion.
“Our Spring Breeze Community has no such household.”

But he had followed the navigation here.
What was going on?
Had the person who placed the order done it deliberately, to lure him into this bizarre game?

If so, why not conveniently wake up his system for him?
What a waste of a perfectly good money-making opportunity.
Even the delivery fee had gone down the drain.

Such a loss.

Thinking this, Su Lai tried starting his little e-bike.
“Should have enough charge to get home.”

Bai Ke, following muscle memory, sat down and instinctively hugged the delivery box.
“Lai-ge, if you go home, what am I supposed to do?”

Su Lai: “You can get off now.”

Bai Ke immediately shook his head.
“No… no thanks.
I’ll stick with you.”
He felt that maintaining his role of having Parkinson’s and mental illness while obediently latching onto the thigh of a top player suited him just fine.

Besides, upon careful thought, since they needed to farm affection from original residents to exchange for survival time, farming Wang Chunying and Uncle Wang would be easier.
Even if it was a reconstituted family, they were still family.
Water from one’s own field shouldn’t irrigate others’ crops.

He guessed this was also the boss’s calculation.

“You were in such a hurry this morning, yet you still remembered to hang the plushie.”
Bai Ke, on the back seat, noticed the cat plushie dangling from the handlebars and gave a soft “huh.”

He remembered that last night, this black cat plushie had been tied to the stool by Su Lai.
He’d found it inexplicable at the time, which was why it stuck in his memory.

Su Lai: “With it, I’m Wang Xiaosi.”
He glanced sideways at the swaying black cat plushie.
The familiarity and eeriness left behind by last night’s dream lingered.

Had his inexplicable entanglement in this game something to do with “Xiao Chang”?
What did that non-existent pickup address have to do with this bizarre game?
How was he supposed to leave here?

He needed to find the answers himself.
Though he was still in the dark, Su Lai was enjoying it.
If he could make a bit more money, it would be perfect.

“Lai-ge, do you think Bei Yao’s information about the peeper is reliable?”
Bai Ke had now mastered seamlessly switching between “Lai-ge” and “cousin.”

Su Lai considered it.
“The evidence is solid.
That landlord is definitely a creepy peeper.”
“But whether it’s the correct answer… hard to say.”

Bai Ke was taken aback.
“What do you mean…?”

Su Lai: “The village committee isn’t willing to disclose the criteria for judging answers.
They also didn’t emphasize providing sufficient evidence when reporting the peeper.
That’s a bit off.”

Bai Ke suddenly understood, a chill running down his spine.
“So who really makes the call…”

Su Lai didn’t answer this question.

Based on the information Bai Ke had provided, players needed to exchange resident affection for survival time.
Whether reporting a peeper would decrease affection from original residents was anyone’s guess.

Moreover, the village committee only mentioned that players should find the peeper.
How the peeper would be dealt with—the staff member didn’t say a word.

Behind the staff member’s perfunctory attitude, there might just be another story…

* * * *

Not far away, the Qi siblings watched the buzzing e-bike disappear into the distance.
The words “Su Lai Delivery” on the delivery box were highly conspicuous.

“The staff member mentioned earlier: ‘There are quite a few outsiders this time.'”
Qi Mu lit a cigarette, gazing thoughtfully in the direction the e-bike had taken.
“A Mao, what’s your take?”

It seemed like a casual remark from the staff member, but it bothered Qi Mu.

Qi Mao: “There really are two extra people.”
“Ten players entered the anomalous space last night.
I collected all the rental information from the bulletin board.
There were only eight rooms available for rent.”

Qi Mu raised an eyebrow.
“So, according to the instance’s original setting, two players wouldn’t find rooms on the first night and would become homeless vagrants.”

Just like the suited man in last night’s “Spring Breeze Live Report.”
If they didn’t secure a rental, after 7 PM, the player’s mental stability would rapidly decline.
They would become manic and aggressive.

Players who failed the survival task had only one outcome: forced “containment” by the community, eventually becoming a peaceful memorial photograph.

Qi Mao: “But last night, only one player—the suited man—was contaminated due to failing to rent a room.
Not the expected two.”
“That’s why the staff member said there were quite a few people at the village committee today.”

More people had survived.

This outcome meant either Qi Mao had miscounted the available rentals, or some player had figured out an alternative to renting.

Becoming an urban village resident in the shortest time without needing to rent…

Qi Mu: “That ‘exception’ must be the unremarkable-looking Wang Xiaoer, right?”

Qi Mao nodded.
“Becoming a relative of an original resident in such a short time.
That’s indeed an unconventional way to complete the survival task.”
“But if they had that kind of capability, why not just rent a room first?
The conventional approach is simpler and safer.”

Qi Mu: “Maybe Wang Xiaoer triggered a hidden storyline.
Not only did he gain resident status through it, but he also seems close to Wang Xiaosi, who isn’t a player.
That’s no small feat.”

“Sis, do you think that flip-flop NPC is trustworthy?” Qi Mao asked.

Qi Mu shrugged.
“Hard to say if he’s trustworthy or not.
But he’s good-looking and interesting.
I’m quite satisfied.”

Qi Mao smiled helplessly.
“His words and actions have already exceeded my understanding of NPCs.
I don’t know whether to be worried, or more worried.”

Qi Mu: “A Mao, relax.”
“More than that, I’m concerned that the collective side quest is a trap.”
She analyzed.
“The staff member was very vague in describing the answer.
She didn’t tell us what peeping incidents occurred in the community.
Does this mean there are different peepers?”

Qi Mao nodded.
“And what exactly defines a peeper?
What level constitutes peeping?
The so-called punishment mechanism is also unclear.”

“We don’t even know what punishment the reported peeper will face.
If the punishment isn’t severe enough, what will the reported party do to the outsider who reported them?”
Qi Mu analyzed rapidly.

“As for testing the rules, let those eager newcomers do it for us.”
Qi Mao mused.
“And one more thing puzzles me the most.”
“As an NPC, why is Wang Xiaosi so proactive?
He’s been helping us怼 the staff member all day.”

Qi Mu: “Is it possible that NPC Wang Xiaosi is just written that way?”
“Still, what his intention is in pretending to be a player and infiltrating the mission is rather hard to fathom.”

Qi Mao pressed his lips together.
“Sis, you’re looking forward to it, aren’t you.”

“Monotony is boring.
I like variables.
You know that.”
Qi Mu smiled.

Qi Mao: “You’re not thinking of farming Wang Xiaosi’s affection, are you?”

Qi Mu shook her head.
“This guy won’t be easy to deal with.
He’s likely the type who’s immune to soft or hard tactics, indifferent to women’s charms.
He won’t fall for my usual approach.
I’m clear on that much.”
She was confident in her ability to read people.

* * * *

Su Lai sneezed.

In the silent alley, his sneeze startled Bai Ke.

“Why is it so quiet?
It’s creepy for this time of morning…”
Bai Ke, hugging the delivery box, muttered.

Too quiet.
The sound of the e-bike tires rolling over gravel was jarring.

Summer days were long; it was already broad daylight.
But the entire alley was dim and gloomy.
Crooked, crowded self-built houses squeezed out the sunlight.

Telephone poles were covered in mold and moss.
Missing person posters and ads for drain unclogging were plastered together.
Over the years, they had permeated each other, becoming intertwined.

An eerie sensation fermented in the damp, dim daylight.

The deathly stillness of the day was more unsettling than the night.
Familiar daily life gradually disordered in the silence.
People’s senses and perceptions twisted along with it.

Upside-down door gods had faded to black and white, like memorial portraits.
They starkly contrasted with the green-painted security doors.
All the buildings were silent, lurking in the shadow of daylight, lying in ambush.

Behind the pitch-dark windows and doorways, a pair of eyes was peeping at them.
Or rather, countless pairs.

Having stayed in the alley too long, Bai Ke even felt the corner of the door god’s mouth gradually curving downward.
It revealed a reversed smile at him, the passerby.

“Amitabha.
No offense intended.
Amitabha…”
He tried to offset the omnipresent fear with chanting.

The eeriness settled on him like a physical weight.
He knew that the disordered, reversed scenes before his eyes were likely the manifestation of his mental contamination.

And the little e-bike hummed deeper into the alley, slower and slower.
It was barely faster than walking.

“Lai-ge, can you go any faster…”
Bai Ke cautiously urged.

Su Lai rode the nearly depleted e-bike, unhurried.
“Be thankful it’s still moving.”
“If you get off, I can go faster.”

Bai Ke: “…”
He found that whenever Lai-ge opened his mouth, the omnipresent eeriness dissipated by more than half.
He stopped trembling too.

Just then, a sudden BANG!
Like someone stomping on a balloon on the ground.

Bai Ke’s shoulders jolted violently.
Before he could react, the e-bike lurched sharply forward.
He instantly lost balance, instinctively hugging the delivery box tighter.

Luckily, Su Lai had already stabilized the vehicle before he could be thrown off.

Su Lai: “Flat tire.”

Bai Ke wiped his sweat.
“Rule Nine mentioned: Self-built houses have poor sound insulation.
Do not resent your neighbors for this.
Also, please do not make excessive noise that disturbs your neighbors’ daily lives.”
“Lai-ge, would you count that tire burst as noise…?”
Bai Ke was a bit worried.

Su Lai focused on inspecting the tire.
“Right now, you should be worrying about us having to push the bike home.”
“Come lend a hand.”

The moment Bai Ke put down the delivery box, he suddenly felt a chill around his ankle.

Something was tightly gripping his foot.
A cold, damp sensation crept upward.

Cold, slippery, dripping.
Like a piece of half-rotted flesh dredged from a river, clinging limply to his ankle.

On Bai Ke’s system interface, the blue bar symbolizing his mental stability began plummeting rapidly.

[Mental Stability -1]
[Mental Stability -1-1-1-1……]

He had never experienced such a sharp drop in mental stability before!

[Attention! Your current Mental Stability has dropped to 60%!]

Bai Ke froze on the spot, every hair on his body standing on end.
Help—!

Su Lai paused in his movements.
He lifted his gaze from the flattened tire.
He looked past Bai Ke’s trembling knee, glanced impatiently behind—

“Oh.
The ghost trying to scam me has arrived.”