I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

……

"Yes, yes."

Chen Xi said "okay" twice. The first time she meant repaying Chen Shulan with points, and the second time she meant exchanging information. She spoke first.

She took a deep breath and revealed the main quest of this instance: to stay in the building for a full month and register the identity information of each resident.

She spoke concisely, without saying anything extra, and did not reveal her teammates' professions.

She went over every word in her mind to make sure she didn't reveal any extra information.

After listening, Chen Shulan remained silent for a while, her eyes, covered by a white cloth, staring at Chen Xi as if trying to determine whether it was true or false.

Then she slowly let out a long sigh, as if she had solved some mystery:

"So that's how it is."

After she said those words, she seemed to have thought of something funny, and her mood improved.

"Then I'll tell you another piece of information for free."

"pretty girl."

She deliberately emphasized those two words, and asked with a smile:

"How long do you think I've been in this instance?"

Chen Xi was taken aback for a moment, but answered honestly, "Seven days at most, three days at least."

—From the time Chen Shulan appeared, to the time she killed Lu Bingkun's family to complete her revenge, to the time the Ganglou instance opened.

It will not exceed seven days.

Chen Shulan shook her head: "You guessed wrong. I've been here for almost half a year."

Chen Xi looked at the other person in disbelief. Half a year?

The opening time of the port city instance is clearly recorded, as is the time from Chen Shulan's death to her resurrection.

Half a year? No, that's not right.

Chen Xi immediately understood.

It's not the outside time, it's the time inside the instance.

This is the underworld.

"This is the underworld."

As if to confirm her guess, Chen Shulan immediately said this:

"Time in the underworld is different from that in the mortal world. The space in the underworld is also different from that in the mortal world."

"The first day in the underworld is the second day, and the second day is the two days before."

After hearing this, Chen Xi pondered deeply.

It sounds complicated, but it's easy to understand.

Time in the underworld cannot be recorded using a calendar. Nothing in the underworld can be measured by common sense.

It's possible for a towering tree to grow upside down, sprouting from a dead tree back into a seed.

It's also possible that by the third day, the tree will have completely disappeared, as if it had never existed.

Time in the underworld is not a line, but a vortex.

……

Seeing Chen Xi deep in thought, Chen Shulan kindly added:

"The only thing that can be confirmed is that time in this building is the same as in reality."

As she said this, she pointed to the ceiling:

"While you were gone, a full day and night had passed inside the building."

Chen Xi murmured to herself unconsciously:

"Time in this building is the same as reality, space in this building is the same as reality, therefore—this building is an anomaly."

What does it mean to be an outcast?

This means that its very existence is problematic.

It is located in the underworld, but the flow of time is the same as in the mortal world.

"This building—" Chen Xi's voice was slow and firm, "is the junction of the living world and the underworld. This instance is the entrance to the underworld."

After stating this deduction, she looked up at Chen Shulan.

The other party did not deny it, but instead talked about their own affairs:

"My task is to record the evil spirits hiding in this building, there are four in total."

I've been catching them for over half a year, almost died, and only managed to record two. There's another one on the rooftop, but I can't get close. The last one should be hiding in one of the rooms.

Evil spirit?

Chen Xi subconsciously looked at Sister Fang, who was still sewing clothes.

Her craftsmanship was excellent; the stitches on the human skin were almost invisible, with only a row of fine, dense stitches, like ants crawling across it.

"What are you thinking? Afang is a vengeful ghost, not an evil ghost."

Chen Shulan interrupted Chen Xi impatiently:

"Fang Jie is just a vengeful ghost, not an evil ghost, although I can't quite distinguish between the two."

But perhaps to the underworld, a living person barging in is an outsider.

Players who break the rules die. Just like rain falling and flowers withering, this is how things operate under the rules; it's a natural law.

She said this in a terrifyingly calm tone:

"Living people are very attractive to ghosts, like moths to a flame."

Ghosts generally don't eat people, because people are ghosts who haven't died yet.

"People are like suits," she continued. "Eating people, like eating other people's shed fingernails, eating other people's shed dead skin, it's disgusting."

Her tone was flat, as if she were explaining basic common sense:

"But vengeful ghosts and evil spirits are not the same."

"A vengeful ghost kills for the sake of killing. You broke the rules, you violated the taboo, and you deserve to die."

"But evil spirits—" Chen Shulan frowned, seemingly pondering how to organize her thoughts:

"Evil spirits eat everything, including ghosts and humans. They kill people to eat them and torment ghosts for their own selfish desires."

"Fang-jie wants to kill you now because you ruined your clothes and lost one—so she wants to use your skin to mend it. It's an equal exchange, fair and reasonable. That's the logic of a vengeful ghost."

Chen Xi's heart sank: one item had been lost.

She immediately realized who that person was.

But Chen Xi had no time to grieve; the atmosphere in the tailor shop began to change.

The temperature was dropping, breathing was becoming difficult, and all the hairs on my skin were standing on end.

She learned during her training at the police academy that before encountering a wild beast in the wild, humans would first feel an inexplicable unease.

—That's an instinct left deep in the brain by evolution, a predator's sixth sense about its predator.

Now, this unease enveloped her.

She could feel the skeleton behind her moving.

The human skeleton clothes hanger, covered in human skin, is slowly tightening.

The joints of the bones made a "creaking" grinding sound, as if they were moving at the same time.

Something was pulling at her skin.

Chen Xi could feel something hooking her skin on her back and pulling her backward.

The force wasn't great, but it was steady, as if someone was planning to slowly cut open her clothes with a blunt pair of scissors, revealing the skin underneath inch by inch.

Fangjie turned around.

The blank face was pointed at Chen Xi, and he was still holding that familiar rolling pin in his hand.

Chen Shulan stood calmly to the side, seemingly not intending to get involved.

Cold sweat beaded on Chen Xi's forehead, her adrenaline surged, and she loudly interrupted Sister Fang:

"I can make it up to you!"

Chen Shulan said so much, but all she really wanted was to cooperate. Letting Fang Jie go was probably because she wanted to see her capabilities.

This is her only bargaining chip at the moment.

"I can grant you other requests!"

Chen Xi's voice was loud, echoing continuously in the cramped tailor shop:

"I can help with delivery and errands, and I can help find new embroidery thread!"

The human skin hanger stopped tightening, and the sound of bones colliding also stopped.

The entire space fell silent, with only Chen Xi's rapid breathing audible.

Fang Jie tilted her head.

The blank face was tilted to one side, giving it an eerie childlike quality, like a curious child observing an insect.

But because she has no facial features, this childlike innocence becomes pure horror.

Because you don't know what she's thinking, or what she'll do next.

Fangjie stopped completely.

Then she slowly raised her hand, a pale hand with bits of human skin stuck under her fingernails—she pointed to her face with her index finger.

A face without facial features.

Smooth, blank, as if it had been smoothed out by something.

Chen Xi gritted her teeth, somewhat puzzled.

"She's lost her face and wants you to help her find it."

Chen Shulan spoke with a hint of schadenfreude:

"But you have to save your face first."

Chen Xi's blood froze instantly.

Countless images flashed through her mind, each frame a scene of skinning.

—The knife tip cut into the hairline, slicing along the contours of the face; blood flowed down the blade, and flesh separated from the skin…

If it's just skin removal, and the patient takes medication and receives treatment from Kang Xiaojia, what is the probability of survival?

Hemorrhagic shock, infection, wound size—every possibility flashed through her mind.

"Can."

Chen Xi agreed readily, but Fang Jie turned her head towards Chen Shulan's direction.

Although she lacked facial features, Chen Shulan seemed to have received some kind of information; her voice carried a hint of surprise:

"Don't worry, you won't die, and I'm not going to skin you alive."

Chen Xi was taken aback.

After careful consideration, Chen Shulan translated what Sister Fang, the skinning ghost, had said:

"Your face, your features are still there. It's just that after she took your face—"

People who know you won't remember what you look like.

"Even if you stand right in front of your biological parents, they will still think of you as a complete stranger."

Fang Jie stood in front of Chen Xi, her blank face facing her, as if waiting for her answer.

Chen Xi agreed without hesitation.

Losing your face, not your features, means losing the ability to be recognized.

Her teammates won't recognize her, but similarly, neither will the enemies; this could even be considered a special ability.

Besides, she had no choice.

Faced with a skinning ghost and a vengeful spirit that appears to be a player, escape is impossible.

Although Chen Shulan seemed easy to talk to, that was only because she still had some value to be exploited.

If she refuses Fang Jie's request, will Chen Shulan step in to help her?

will not.

……

……

"I'll change."

Chen Xi's voice was crisp and clear, like a final statement in court.

Only when a person is alive can there be infinite possibilities.

As long as you can leave this tailor shop alive, there's always a way to get back what you've lost.

Once you die, you have nothing left.

Oh wait, maybe if you die you'll become a ghost player.

Chen Xi wanted to applaud his own dry humor at that moment.

Chen Shulan was somewhat surprised, clearly not expecting Chen Xi to be so agreeable, while Fang Jie on the side seemed very happy.

Although she had no facial features or expression, both the human and the ghost could sense her joy.

She eagerly moved closer, her movements so fast that Chen Xi didn't even have time to react.

The face without features pressed straight against Chen Xi's face.

When the skin of the two sides touches each other, it feels cold and moist.

It looked like a piece of raw meat taken out of a freezer and stuck to your face.

Chen Xi closed her eyes instinctively.