Who says vengeful ghosts can't go on blind dates?

This sudden thought startled Ren Zhizhe slightly.

Why do I think this way?

Putting everything else aside, the idea itself is quite bizarre. "Death of fellow human beings"... this kind of wording makes it sound like Jiang Xiaowei isn't human.

In any case, it's just a video about the lives of wild animals.

No matter what, comparing a person to an animal is somewhat offensive.

Ren Zhizhe shook his head, shaking this inexplicable thought out of his head.

"that……"

"Um?"

Just then, he suddenly saw Jiang Xiaowei approaching somewhat shyly. Her expression clearly indicated that she had something to say.

"Um," Jiang Xiaowei said timidly, "could you come with me to the restroom?"

"Huh?" Ren Zhizhe was stunned on the spot.

Going to the restroom? Or should we go together?

...The women's restroom?

"No, is it not okay?" Jiang Xiaowei immediately looked somewhat panicked when she saw that Ren Zhizhe did not agree right away.

"Well..." Ren Zhizhe originally wanted to politely decline. But seeing Jiang Xiaowei's expression, he hesitated for a few moments before speaking and did not answer immediately.

"Well, it's mainly because I don't know where the restroom is..." Jiang Xiaowei quickly explained.

This time, her voice was barely audible, and she kept her head down as she spoke.

Although this was out of fear, Ren Zhizhe hadn't thought about it in that way at all, so naturally some misunderstandings arose.

"Uh?" Ren Zhizhe thought for a moment.

If you don't know where the restroom is, you can ask the staff.

Besides, he seemed to have seen a restroom when he walked over. Jiang Xiaowei should have been able to see it too.

Or is the other person trying to deepen their relationship through this method?

Thinking about how the other person had acted before, he felt conflicted, as if this was not something the other person would do.

This made him feel somewhat pretentious and awkward.

"All right."

He wasn't really interested in accompanying someone to the restroom. But after thinking about it, out of politeness, or simply because he didn't want to lose face, he agreed anyway.

He stood up, ready to lead the way. This time, Jiang Xiaowei took the initiative and grabbed his hand.

It seems that going for a walk outside the coffee shop was the right decision.

The blind date was indeed not as nervous as it had been at the beginning.

When they held hands earlier, he could clearly feel that Jiang Xiaowei's palms were constantly sweating.

Now, although Jiang Xiaowei still looks a bit nervous and awkward, at least her palms are no longer sweating.

Ren Zhizhe felt his mood improve significantly.

It seems that going to the movie theater was definitely the right decision.

As he led Jiang Xiaowei forward, he tried to recall the location of the restroom.

As he followed the octopus-like ghost towards the private room, he seemed to have seen the restroom in the corridor.

If I remember correctly, you should be able to see the restroom after turning one more corner.

"It should be just ahead," he reminded him.

"Mmm," Jiang Xiaowei responded softly.

Ren Zhizhe led Jiang Xiaowei around the corner of the corridor.

Sure enough, his memory was right. As soon as he turned the corner, Ren Zhizhe saw the restroom sign.

"Look, it's right ahead."

He stopped in his tracks.

At this point, Ren Zhizhe's meaning is quite clear—he wants Jiang Xiaowei to walk the rest of the way on her own.

The women's restroom was very close to the corner. So, Ren Zhizhe decided to wait at the corner.

However, Jiang Xiaowei didn't move. She clearly had no intention of going over herself; instead, she gripped Ren Zhizhe's hand even tighter.

"Um?"

Because Jiang Xiaowei was holding on tightly, Ren Zhizhe almost immediately cast a questioning look at her.

"I...I was wondering," Jiang Xiaowei's voice trailed off, "could you please walk me to the door?"

"The door? What... do you mean I'll take you to the door of the women's restroom?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Huh? This..."

Ren Zhizhe looked troubled.

Does that mean he should wait at the entrance of the women's restroom?

It's not appropriate for a man like him to be waiting at the entrance of the women's restroom... isn't that a bit inappropriate?

He glanced tentatively at Jiang Xiaowei.

At this moment, Jiang Xiaowei had her head down, and Ren Zhizhe could not see her expression at all.

However, Ren Zhizhe felt his hand being gripped even tighter, as if afraid that he would slip away if he couldn't hold on.

"Fine, whatever."

He hesitated for only a moment before agreeing.

"Ah, that's great..." Jiang Xiaowei exclaimed with relief.

Ren Zhizhe still hesitated. Actually, he still didn't want to stand at the door of the women's restroom. The thought of having to wait there made him inexplicably uncomfortable.

Never mind, it's just standing there for a while.

Anyway, there was no one else in the hallway right now. Besides, he was just standing at the door waiting for someone, not actually going in.

The women's restroom was very close to the corner of the corridor; Ren Zhizhe had only taken a few steps before leading her to the restroom door.

"Alright, we've arrived."

"...Hmm." Jiang Xiaowei seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then, she slowly released her hand.

At this point, the human and the ghost had finally temporarily severed their only physical contact.

Ren Zhizhe stood there for a few seconds. Seeing that Jiang Xiaowei was still standing there blankly after letting go, he immediately tilted his head in confusion.

"Go on, you can't expect me to open the door for you, can I?"

Although it felt a little strange, Ren Zhizhe still called out to her.

We've already reached the restroom, why aren't we moving?

Is it really just being overly dramatic?

……

Oops.

Really bad.

This is terrible!

Jiang Xiaowei was filled with regret.

She originally intended to persuade Ren Zhizhe to ask him for directions to the restroom.

In this way, she could not only get rid of Ren Zhizhe, but also have a suitable reason to go out after he returned, so as to complete the strange game mission.

But as soon as she opened her mouth, for some reason, she felt inexplicably panicked after looking at Ren Zhizhe.

She stammered several times, and the words she uttered had a different meaning.

Even though she lowered her head in fear, Ren Zhizhe didn't seem to intend to skip the topic. In the end, it turned out like this.

However, as she walked, Jiang Xiaowei suddenly realized a very serious problem—

Does this restroom also contain rules for murder?

she does not know.

Before entering the eerie game, all she knew was that vengeful ghosts had rules for killing.

However, after actually experiencing a bizarre game instance, she discovered that the buildings in the bizarre world also seemed to have rules for killing.

For example, the underground parking garage in Hengjiang residential area.

Because the restroom in the original plan was just a pretext to get rid of Ren Zhizhe, she didn't consider it that much.

To make matters worse, the lights in the hallway were off!

The lights in the private rooms were originally on. But now, perhaps because the projection room lights are off, the lights in the private rooms are also off.

Ren Zhizhe seems to have night vision; he can see the content of the posters on the wall even when the corridor is pitch black.

But she can't.

She has no night vision.

Ren Zhizhe can see it, but she can't!

She was surrounded by complete darkness. Without light, she couldn't even see where she was going.

But by the time she realized this, Ren Zhizhe had already pushed open the door to the private room and led her into the corridor.

Want to back out? It's too late.

You can't exactly tell this anthropomorphic ghost that you don't want to go to the bathroom, can you?

If the other person thought she was playing a trick on him... Jiang Xiaowei dared not think any further.

But it's not all bad.

After the initial panic subsided, she thought for a moment and quickly realized that the posters on the wall were not attacking as before.

I distinctly remember being attacked when I passed through here before. So, what's going on now?

If I had to pinpoint the difference between before and now... would it be the lights?

In other words, does the poster's murder rule mean that the killer is killed when the light is on?

Jiang Xiaowei's eyes lit up. But after comparing them to her own situation, her eyes dimmed again.

It's too late to notice now that the murder rules on the poster are related to lights. By this time, Ren Zhizhe had already led her to the entrance of the women's restroom.

The bathroom door should be closed, but she doesn't even know where the doorknob is.

In order to prevent Ren Zhizhe from becoming suspicious, she could only slowly loosen her grip on his hand.

However, just as she subconsciously pulled her hand back into her pocket, her fingertips suddenly touched something hard.

This looks like... looks like her phone.

After writing down Ren Zhizhe's phone number, she put her phone in her pocket.

Wait a minute, the phone?

Jiang Xiaowei suddenly remembered something and quickly took out her phone.

She tapped on her phone screen. To avoid arousing suspicion, she simply left the screen lit, without turning on the phone's built-in flashlight.

Although it was somewhat dark around her, she was able to see the location of the women's restroom doorknob by the light from her phone screen.

It actually works!

But the biggest problem remains unresolved.

Using the light from her phone, she quickly glanced at the bathroom door.

It looks like a perfectly normal door.

Her heart started pounding as soon as her hand touched the bathroom door.

She's taking a gamble right now.

He was betting that he wouldn't immediately trigger the killing rule.

Her goal was to buy items from the in-game shop. Therefore, all she needed was for the door to block Ren Zhizhe's view—just for a short while!

Jiang Xiaowei took a deep breath, pressed the handle, and opened the door.

This step went very smoothly, with almost no obstacles encountered.

Everything in the restroom seemed normal. It didn't seem like a disguised monster like those in the "underground parking garage" type; it was more like a normal restroom.

After entering the restroom, Jiang Xiaowei closed the door behind her. Only after confirming that she could reopen the door did she slowly breathe a sigh of relief.

Am I overthinking things?

After all, this movie theater is not as dangerous as Hengjiang Community, and it doesn't seem to have any supermodels like those in the "underground parking garage".

"Let's buy the boning knife first. And... let's buy the old radio and that invitation as well."

Jiang Xiaowei took the stack of ghost money out of her pocket.

To purchase items from the store, you need to touch the ghost coins with your hands beforehand.

Seemingly in an effort to improve the survival rate of new players, there's a featured post on a real-world online forum about a bizarre in-game store.

It was because of this post that Jiang Xiaowei knew so much about the in-game store before even entering the first game instance.

Soon, the hundred-yuan ghost coin in my hand began to fade until it disappeared completely.

The same was true for the fifty-yuan ghost coin. However, the two ten-yuan ghost coins remained unchanged from beginning to end.

"what?"

The invitation purchase failed?

This is quite unexpected.

Jiang Xiaowei thought she could use two ten-yuan ghost coins instead of twenty-yuan ghost coins. Now it seems that this idea was completely wrong.

The post didn't mention anything like that.

Wasn't that post compiled by players? If it really was compiled by players, why was such obvious information ignored?

Despite her doubts, the ghostly object that appeared out of nowhere beside her successfully diverted her attention.

Jiang Xiaowei first looked at the boning knife.

The price of the 100-yuan ghost coin made her wince – it was the largest denomination of currency she currently possessed.

However, considering that the goal this time is to "kill a vengeful ghost", this boning knife seems absolutely necessary to acquire.

From its appearance, this is a typical boning knife.

The boning knife has a narrow, thin, and sharp blade.

Compared to a real-world boning knife, the blade of this ghostly artifact is noticeably shorter. It feels more like a miniature dagger than a boning knife.

As soon as she got her hands on it, Jiang Xiaowei hid the boning knife on her person.

Fortunately, the blade was relatively short, making it relatively easy to hide. Otherwise, she wouldn't know how to explain the origin of the knife to Ren Zhizhe.

Of course, the disadvantages of a short blade are also obvious.

For example, before she even gets close to the vengeful ghost, it might use its long arms to strangle her.

Jiang Xiaowei then looked at another item she had bought—an old radio.

This radio is about the size of a palm, and it's a handheld device.

Although it's called "Old Radio", she felt that the radio wasn't old at all, but rather very old-fashioned.

Unsure of the radio's volume, Jiang Xiaowei didn't dare touch the knobs and simply put it away.

She used the radio to gather intelligence and the boning knife to launch her attack. Although she felt it was still impossible to kill the vengeful ghost, something was better than nothing.

"It went even more smoothly than I expected."

Jiang Xiaowei opened the door. Seeing Ren Zhizhe waiting outside as promised, her heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down.

"Let's go." Ren Zhizhe naturally offered his hand.

He paused slightly when he took her hand this time. But he didn't make it too obvious, and just led Jiang Xiaowei back as usual.

Jiang Xiaowei was unaware of this subtle change.

At this moment, her attention was completely drawn to the new message popping up from the eerie game.

[Store Message: The "Invitation to the Bone Manor" is being delivered. This shipment is handled by a courier center under the post office. Please pay the required Ghost Coins before the courier arrives; otherwise, the player will be solely responsible for any consequences!]