I started on a rocking horse and relied on watching ads to dominate the highway survival charts.

Deep in the old house

Huo Yunzhi and her team had searched most of the remaining areas, including the courtyard where the Mirror Ghost had appeared.

Her clone remained suspended in the air, looking at them with indifferent eyes.

This time, however, it has a brand new clone by its side.

He was dressed in a sorcerer's robe, and preferably had a faint smile on his face.

"As you said," Huo Yunzhi turned to look at Wen Zhaoye, "the number of clones has indeed increased."

Wen Zhaoye looked at his own clone and muttered to himself, "What a stupid system! It doesn't copy the handsome suits in my closet, but instead chooses to copy some random piece of clothing. And it's called a mirror image ghost? It has no aesthetic sense at all."

"It's strange that you care about the location sometimes, senior," Su Anning whispered, leaning closer.

Huo Yunzhi and Shen Chilie nodded in tacit agreement.

Ignoring the Mirror Ghost, they prepared to continue exploring the old house.

As Huo Yunzhi passed by a dilapidated house, she suddenly heard suppressed sobs.

"Wait a minute."

Upon hearing this, Shen Chilie, who was walking at the front, immediately turned around: "What's wrong?"

"Did you hear crying?"

"Crying?" Wen Zhaoye was surprised, then began to listen carefully: "No."

Everyone else shook their heads, indicating that they hadn't heard anything.

Only for me to hear?

Huo Yunzhi focused her mind and began to walk towards the source of the sound.

The further they walked, the louder the crying became.

Huo Yunzhi stopped and looked at the people behind her: "It seems this is the last vengeful ghost. I'll take you to the source of the sound."

The sound was coming from the second floor of the old house.

When Huo Yunzhi went upstairs, she used a safe zone to surround them to avoid being attacked by a sudden ghost.

The old house was filled with a musty smell of decay, and the stairs were so dilapidated that the wood seemed to scream with every step.

The crying grew closer and louder, now reaching the level of a seven or eight-year-old child howling at the top of their lungs in front of Huo Yunzhi.

However, the remaining four people still indicated that they hadn't heard anything.

Just as they were about to go up to the third floor, Huo Yunzhi stopped.

"Found it?"

"Hmm." Huo Yunzhi frowned. "There's something that looks like a vengeful ghost on the third floor."

"Suspected?" Wen Zhaoye believes that this word is biased.

After all, in this old house, the only other people besides them could be vengeful ghosts.

"It's called 'suspected' because it doesn't exude the despairing aura of ordinary vengeful ghosts," Huo Yunzhi said, puzzled. "Instead, it has a... sense of déjà vu."

"Never mind, we'll find out what's going on once we go up there." With time running out, Wen Zhaoye couldn't help but feel a little impatient.

"Got it. Go up there and unleash your ultimate attack when you see the vengeful spirit." Shen Chilie cracked his neck and wrists, looking ready to go all out.

They ran quickly up to the third floor.

The corner of the dilapidated attic was covered with blackened moss. A thin girl stood with her back to them, wiping away tears with her arm across her face.

In her other hand, she was holding a rusty axe.

"It's a quest item." Wen Zhaoye's eyes lit up: "Let's do it!"

Huo Yunzhi divided the safe zone in two and swiftly threw both pieces at the evil spirit.

"bump!"

The two circles intertwined and instantly split into countless chains, locking the vengeful ghost within.

"Qianluo Dana, Donggang Taixuan, slay demons and bind evil, kill countless ghosts... fierce ghosts, imprison them!"

Then, with the golden light reflected from the safe zone, Huo Yunzhi was able to see the face of the vengeful ghost.

It was a face that vaguely resembled hers.

Its lips curled up slightly, revealing a familiar smile.

Huo Yunzhi finally understood why she had that familiar feeling.

The vengeful ghost before her was clearly the same as she looked when she was a child.

"laugh--"

The crying around her suddenly stopped, and Huo Yunzhi smelled the bitter odor of burning yellow paper.

Her paper doll as a substitute is burning fiercely.

"Stop attacking immediately!"

Upon seeing this, Wen Zhaoye immediately ordered everyone to stop.

Just as Shen Chilie's fist was about to land, he heard these words and quickly withdrew his hand.

"What happened?"

"We've activated the vengeful spirit mechanic; she just died once."

Wen Zhaoye was now extremely vigilant: "Let's go downstairs and leave this place first."

"Wait a minute." Xu Xiu stopped after taking only two steps.

"What's wrong?"

"I think I... heard the crying you just mentioned."

Huo Yunzhi turned her head and looked at the vengeful ghost again.

At this moment, its face no longer resembled her as a child; instead, it looked more like... more like...

"It became me when I was a child."

Wen Zhaoye stopped Shen Chilie and Su Anning, who were ready to make a move at any moment, and looked at the fierce ghost standing in the corner, tilting its head and watching them.

"Records: The fifth vengeful ghost in the Qiao Family Mansion—the scapegoat."

"A scapegoat? You've figured out its mechanics?"

"Only a part is needed; more parameters are required for verification." Wen Zhaoye gestured for them to quietly step back.

Tell me more.

"After everyone attacked, Miss Huo's paper doll was burned. This shows that the damage we caused to it will be returned to one of us in a certain proportion, or even 100% proportion."

As for the media… Miss Huo, can’t you hear the crying anymore?”

"Um."

"That's right, the crying is the medium through which the vengeful ghost mechanism is triggered. Whoever hears the crying is the one targeted by the vengeful ghost mechanism."

Wen Zhaoye pointed to the appearance of the vengeful ghost and said, "Look."

The vengeful ghost, who was originally a child, has now grown from a ten-year-old girl into a seventeen or eighteen-year-old woman.

Their appearances and figures are also increasingly similar to Xu Xiu's.

"This is the certificate; it grows one year older every minute."

"If, if it grows to look exactly like me now..."

"I'm afraid he'll replace you directly."

Huo Yunzhi now felt that the code name Wen Zhaoye gave it, "scapegoat," was extremely fitting.

"Ms. Xu, I'm sorry, I need to test the damage feedback ratio."

Xu Xiu understood what Wen Zhaoye wanted to do: "It's alright, don't worry, go ahead and do it."

"Alright, I'll go myself then, and try to minimize the damage." Wen Zhao'er took out a dagger: "Now, everyone else except me, keep your distance from the ghost and don't make any offensive moves."

Wen Zhaoye cautiously walked towards the direction of the vengeful ghost, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Huo Yunzhi still standing there: "Miss Huo?"

Huo Yunzhi remained unmoved.

"What's wrong? Has the vengeful ghost attacked again?" Su Anning looked left at Xu Xiu and right at Huo Yunzhi, extremely nervous.

Huo Yunzhi stood there blankly, staring at a transaction request on the screen.

Transaction initiator: Bangbang will give you two punches.

The other party uploaded the following item for trade: a paper doll.