Day of Imprisonment

The mourning hall before them was arranged in an extremely eerie manner.

Because it was night, there was only the faint glow of white candles on the table. On the long altar before the spirit tablet, there was also an incense burner, with wisps of smoke curling upwards. On either side of the altar were various offerings, fruits and snacks, all carefully selected.

Light gauze draped around the mourning hall, and the night breeze from outside the window gently fluttered it.

Several figures could be seen weeping softly to one side, and the occasional sound of chanting echoed within the quiet, strange room.

“This…” Hou Cheng’s expression was shocked, mixed with a hint of embarrassment and confusion.

He had been so confident before, describing the scene as if it were more familiar than his own home.

But in reality, what he saw and heard after entering was completely different from what he had described.

The slap in the face came too quickly.

“Brother Hou, how did a mourning hall pop up? It’s not what you said it would be,” Zhang Lin, the one called Zhang Lin on Hou Cheng's side, asked, seemingly with some dissatisfaction.

Mainly because the current situation made Hou Cheng seem very unreliable.

Even though they were a group, matters of 'life and death' had to be made clear.

They couldn’t be fooled.

“Tsk, Zhang Lin, don’t be anxious. This might be a new scene unlocked under the ten-person difficulty. It’s okay, I reckon the differences will be minor, and the original path to clearing the game should be roughly the same,” Hou Cheng insisted stubbornly.

He had no choice but to say that at this point.

But what was the reality?

After seeing the mourning hall, he had already begun to feel uneasy.

He realized that he had been outsmarted. Who knew that this 'Escape from the Haunted House' would be so unconventional? The scenes for less than ten people and more than ten people were practically completely different.

He prayed to every god and ancestor, hoping that wasn’t the case.

If that were true, then his previous experience would be useless.

More importantly, the difficulty of clearing the game would increase dramatically.

Knowing that there really were 'ghosts' here, failing to clear the game would most likely result in death, and not only would they not get the clearance reward, but they would also lose their entrance fee.

That would be a huge loss.

And the most troublesome thing was, how would he lead the team after this incident?

The prestige he had built up and the team he had gathered would immediately scatter like birds and beasts.

So, Hou Cheng became anxious. His expression turned serious, and he immediately stepped forward to check the situation.

“Wait!”

Luo Xi wanted to stop him, but was a step too late.

In fact, if a major change in the scene was discovered, the first thing to do was to remain calm and observe, especially not to act rashly, because a careless action might trigger some unknown consequences and mechanisms.

But Hou Cheng was frantic at this time, eager to maintain his authority.

So, he stepped forward and entered the mourning hall.

“Madam, this is bad. Your daughter threw herself into the well while pregnant, and her resentment is too great. Even reciting the 'Rebirth Sutra' cannot resolve her resentment. Now, on the seventh day of her soul's return, something major is bound to happen…”

The next moment, the crying also stopped.

“Master, what, what should we do? My poor daughter, alas… If only, if only I hadn’t interfered in this matter, sob sob sob…”

“Madam, now is not the time to cry. Take everyone and leave immediately. This old monk will try to seal this surge of resentment. Remember, do not speak. If you are noticed by the wandering souls, you will die without a burial place!”

Then, there was a burst of hurried footsteps, but through the gauze curtain, the candlelight flickered, and the figures swayed, making it impossible to see clearly.

Suddenly, a scream arose.

Pfft!

The gauze curtain was immediately splattered with blood.

Thump, as if a heavy object had fallen to the ground, probably the sound of a person falling.

“Presumptuous! Even if your resentment is great, you should not commit matricide and kill your own kin… This old monk may have to take action today and destroy you, you evil ghost.”

Pfft!

Another sound.

Accompanied by the old monk's scream and the sound of a heavy object falling, the room fell silent instantly.

The ten people standing on the outer edge were as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads, and they were all numb.

No one dared to move, and almost everyone looked at Hou Cheng.

The latter obviously didn’t expect this to happen, and judging by his appearance, he couldn’t be relied on. As for Luo Xi, he had already observed the structure of the hall.

The windows could be used to escape, and there was a door in front, but it was a bit dangerous because they would inevitably have to pass the place where the vengeful ghost had just killed people.

And behind them.

The last person to come in was the hooded man who was like a silent oil bottle.

The latter probably didn’t expect to encounter a big move from the scene as soon as he came in, and he was also stunned in place, somewhat at a loss.

He even tried to leave the way they came, but the door they had entered through had disappeared.

Equivalent to, all of them were temporarily trapped in this 'mourning hall'.

Hou Cheng couldn’t be relied on. This guy had thought things too simply, or rather, the level of this checkpoint scene had taken a huge leap in the ten-person difficulty, exceeding everyone’s expectations.

But at this time, there was no need to think about why the scene difficulty had increased so much. What they had to think about was how to avoid being killed by the returning vengeful ghost in the mourning hall.

Whoosh~

The wind howled, and all the candles in the room were extinguished. As a result, the surroundings were plunged into darkness, but it wasn’t completely without light. Moonlight shone in from the open window in front.

Although, in the context of the Bean Bean Game House, which was clearly a building built in a shopping mall, the presence of moonlight was very outrageous, but likewise, now was not the time to investigate this matter.

Because, the 'ghost' was coming!

The light gauze curtain bulged out in the shape of a person, as if someone was approaching from the other side, staring at the gauze curtain and walking slowly this way.

At this moment, everyone held their breath and remained motionless.

Sure enough, they were all relatively experienced Scavengers, not the kind of newbies and idiots who would just shout and scream when they encountered danger and problems. Everyone was smart and knew that they couldn’t move around at this time, and it was best not to breathe.

Because the breathing of living people could easily be detected by certain strange beings.

Everyone understood this principle.

Luo Xi saw Wu Rui and Liu Mao winking at him, probably wanting to see what he thought, what to do next.

Luo Xi shook his head gently, signaling them to stay calm.

Looking at that 'ghost' again.

Under the shroud of the gauze curtain, its form could be seen.

It should be a woman.

With a large belly.

The conversation between the old monk and the madam had already made it clear that the owner of the mourning hall was a young woman, and she was pregnant.

Drip, drip~

In the silent room, the sound of water droplets falling to the ground could be heard.

The source of the sound was the approaching 'ghost'.

The gauze curtain was already soaked, and under the gauze curtain, her feet could be seen.

Very exquisite embroidered shoes, but soaked through, and cold water droplets dripped little by little down her trouser legs onto the ground.

Someone began to wonder, weren’t ghosts supposed to have no feet?

How did this one have them?

But no one was foolish enough to lift the gauze curtain to verify this.

That’s not right!

Besides water, there was also blood.

Perhaps because the light in the room was too weak, the color of the liquid couldn’t be seen at all, but Luo Xi smelled an extremely strong smell of blood.

Everyone in the room was very nervous at this moment, their nerves stretched tight.

But at the next moment, a gust of wind blew, and the gauze curtain swayed, and a scene that made people gape occurred: the bulging belly figure on the gauze curtain disappeared.

Everyone looked carefully.

It really disappeared.

But at the next moment, Liu Mao’s expression suddenly changed, and he almost burst out and rushed over, dragging Luo Xi to run.

“Run!”

At the same time, Liu Mao roared.

This shout was obviously for Wu Rui and Guo Zening over there.

Obviously, Brother Mao had sensed the crisis at the critical moment.

So much so that he would disregard everything, drag Luo Xi, and call his companions to run.

Almost at the same time, a chill and darkness spread rapidly behind them, and then, with a bang, there was the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.

Luo Xi and the others ran a few steps and looked back, seeing a scene that made their scalps tingle.

In the darkness, a headless corpse fell to the ground, blood spurting from the wound on its neck, and beside it stood a big-bellied woman, her upper body hidden in the darkness, unable to see clearly, but she could see something in her hand.

It was a bloody head.