Chapter 10: Big Bro, Don’t Be Mad

Lin Kuo felt a little uncomfortable.

Because of his personality, his friends would usually ignore him at gatherings.

However, there were also people who would specifically treat him to a meal, but without exception, midway through the meal, they would always ask: “Lin Kuo, can you lend me some money? I’ll definitely pay you back next month.”

So at this moment, Lin Kuo subconsciously assumed that Sweet as the Wind was going to ask him for money.

He took out the note.

Aside from those few words, there was nothing else.

It seemed this was the first time someone was treating him to a meal purely out of goodwill, and this airdropped breakfast had also solved the pressing problem he was facing.

Lin Kuo was overwhelmed by the gesture.

He had to admit, he felt a trace of happiness at being treated.

He picked up a donut and took a bite.

Sweetness filled his mouth.

He had always liked sweets.

Sweet as the Wind had chosen perfectly.

Lin Kuo himself didn’t even realize that his perpetually furrowed brow had relaxed, and the corners of his eyebrows had even lifted slightly.

The people around him looked at Lin Kuo with envy.

Li Yinan swallowed.

She wanted to eat it too…

Lin Kuo wasn’t the type to repay grievances with kindness, nor would he generously share food that someone else had paid for.

He picked up his phone to thank Sweet as the Wind

During this, he noticed Li Yinan’s swallowing motion and decided to ask Sweet as the Wind if he could share a little with her.

Opening his phone, he was greeted by a flood of angry bullet comments:

_________________________________________________________________

[Who was that? Who donated the food item?]
[There’s a traitor among us. So angry :)]
[The item was donated anonymously. Too scared to let others know what you did?]
[The note has “Sweet as the Wind” written on it—did anyone notice?]
[So the donor is a girl? Did she fall for the dog streamer? Crazy.]
[Egg rolls, truffles, champagne, Kaka donuts, pudding—these are all level-one food items, right?]
[It’s a level-one food item, starts at 2000 points.]
[…A rich lady?]
[There are only a few female players on the points leaderboard, and I haven’t seen them enter the stream. She’s probably just some silly girl charmed by his face.]
[That’s 2000 points. How long would it take to save that much? Did this girl donate all her points? Does she not want to live anymore?]
[If someone wants to die, who can stop them? I just want to say, if you have extra points, give them to me. Giving them to this dog streamer is such a waste.]

_________________________________________________________________

Seeing words like doesn’t want to live and all her points, Lin Kuo’s raised eyebrows drooped.

The faint happiness in his heart also faded, and even the sweetness in his mouth began to turn bitter.

He opened Walled City Chat and sent a message to Sweet as the Wind:

[Lin Kuo]: What are you doing?

The reply came almost instantly.

The other end sent an emoji:

_________________________________________________________________

[Sweet as the Wind]: CatFeelingWronged.jpg
[Sweet as the Wind]: I just wanted to treat Big Brother to breakfast.
[Sweet as the Wind]: Big Brother, don’t be fierce with me.

_________________________________________________________________

Lin Kuo’s heart tightened.

He frowned and typed in frustration:

_________________________________________________________________

[Lin Kuo]: I wasn’t being fierce.
[Lin Kuo]: …I was worried.
[Sweet as the Wind]: Don’t worry, Big Brother. I know what I’m doing.
[Sweet as the Wind]: Big Brother’s priority is clearing the instance. Let’s chat when you have time.

_________________________________________________________________

Since Sweet as the Wind had said that, and because Lin Kuo was feeling emotional and his tone earlier had been a bit harsh, he decided to have a proper talk with her that night.
He put away his phone and looked at the group.

After that episode, Lin Kuo’s gaze turned noticeably colder.

Considering Lin Kuo’s strength, Liang Sihong didn’t want to fall out with him completely, so he offered a placating smile.

“I was just thinking about everyone’s safety. Of course, I can also communicate with my room manager to prove my identity.”

Lin Kuo looked at him with disgust. “You still think there’s a ghost among us?”

Liang Sihong smiled.

After confirming Lin Kuo’s identity and seeing the self-playing piano, it was clear the ghost was a separate entity.

His words were just meant to show goodwill toward Lin Kuo.

Lin Kuo said coldly, “Don’t come up with such terrible ideas in the future.”

He wasn’t angry about being mistaken for a ghost.

If Liang Sihong hadn’t suggested sending flowers, Sweet as the Wind wouldn’t have been tricked into spending so many points.

“How is this a terrible idea?” Liang Sihong’s smile faded. “In the Morgue instance, God S used this method to find the ghost that had blended in.”

It was only after Li Yinan mentioned it that he thought of The Morgue.

Before S, instances where ghosts infiltrated the team almost always ended in heavy casualties.

So when S came up with this method, everyone had a “This actually works?” kind of reaction.

The key was—it really worked.

After that, in low-star instances, players began copying the method.

After all, once you identified the ghost, the only thing left was to take precautions and protect yourself.

The flower-identifying method had saved thousands of players in the Walled City’s Lower District.

Because of this contribution, S was even deified.

Just like all players in the Lower District, God S held an unshakable position in Liang Sihong’s heart.

So he was naturally displeased that Lin Kuo had called it a terrible idea.

Lin Kuo said indifferently, “Unlucky.”

It was really unlucky that this S became his room manager.

Sensing that Lin Kuo was truly angry, Liang Sihong awkwardly changed the topic.

“Nothing strange happened in our room or Wang Miao’s last night. It really seems like the piano in your bedroom is the problem.”

That was a pointless remark.

Lin Kuo didn’t even bother replying.

Liang Sihong shamelessly continued, “Li Yinan said the piano music sounded scared? Lin Kuo, can you explain the situation in more detail?”

Lin Kuo retorted, “What’s the point of repeating nonsense?”

Liang Sihong sighed.

He hadn’t expected Lin Kuo to be so uncooperative when angry.

He just wanted to hear a firsthand account of the discovery.

After all, Li Yinan was a newbie with an unimpressive performance.

She had even proposed the number 13, misleading everyone into thinking there were life and death doors.

So naturally, he looked down on Li Yinan, assuming she wouldn’t explain Lin Kuo’s discovery clearly.

Lin Kuo read the expression on Liang Sihong’s face and said coldly, “She thought of using the livestream to prove her identity. Isn’t that better than the rest of you?”

Liang Sihong was stunned. Even though Li Yinan’s method had flaws, the overall idea aligned with God S’s approach.

Li Yinan was a little excited.
Was the boss affirming her just now?!
Wow. So happy.

Knowing that Lin Kuo would rebut anything he said, Liang Sihong stopped talking.

He glanced at the item box on the table, still somewhat shocked.

Very few people donated items in the Lower District’s livestreams.

Because of that, Liang Sihong took another glance—and discovered something new.

“This is…”

His voice caught everyone’s attention.

Lin Kuo looked over.

There was a black object in the item box. Because Lin Kuo had taken out the donut, a corner of it was now exposed.

Even without the full view, you could tell it was something hard.

If this item box didn’t belong to Lin Kuo, Liang Sihong would have reached for it already.
He held himself back and kept urging Lin Kuo.

Lin Kuo’s first thought was that Sweet as the Wind had wasted points again.

Thinking of the bullet chat’s talk about her, a trace of resistance rose in his heart.

He looked at Liang Sihong. “Can I refuse it?”

Everyone looked at him like they’d misheard.
Liang Sihong shook his head.

The points had already been spent.
Only then did Lin Kuo reluctantly take out the hard object hidden beneath the food.

It was a small item box, but it didn’t have Lin Kuo’s name on it.
Instead, it was labeled Bonus Gift.

Food items sold poorly, and high-point level-one food items were especially hard to move.

So according to the Main God System’s donation rules, level-one food items would randomly include a small survival item as a bonus.

Lin Kuo let out a breath of relief and opened the box.

A Polaroid camera.

Underneath was the instruction manual.

Lin Kuo quickly read it.

Using this Polaroid could reveal ghosts invisible to the human eye—provided they were willing to appear in the photo.

It seemed pretty useless. The fact that it only came with three sheets of film made it seem even more useless.

It could only be used three times.

After Lin Kuo gave a brief explanation, disappointment was written on everyone’s faces.

Looking outside the window, they hadn’t even realized it was getting dark.

The second day was about to end, and all they’d done was cause a farce.

Even Lin Kuo, who never blamed others, felt for the first time that pig teammates were really hard to lead.

After a while, the butler arrived at the dining room, looking at them timidly. “It’s getting dark. It’s time to rest.”

Helplessly, the group followed the butler up the stairs from the living room to the second floor.

“Tonight… be careful tonight.” The butler said this after leading them up, then, as if eager to flee, disappeared from the second floor like the wind.

Since there were no casualties last night, the groupings remained the same as the night before.

When it came time to choose rooms, Wang Miao unexpectedly volunteered to take the piano room where Lin Kuo and Li Yinan had stayed.

Li Yinan was more than happy to switch rooms.

Lin Kuo looked at Wang Miao with a complicated expression.

Wang Miao, afraid Lin Kuo would object, quickly turned the doorknob and slipped inside.

Just as Lin Kuo was about to say something, Liang Sihong stopped him, giving him a meaningful look. “Let him go.”

Lin Kuo swallowed the words he was about to say and handed the Polaroid to the other person who would be sharing the room with Wang Miao. “If the piano plays tonight, make sure to take a picture.”

The person nodded and brought the Polaroid into the piano room.

After the door closed, Lin Kuo glanced at Liang Sihong, who shrugged. “This is their own choice. Let’s see if they have your luck.”

“Let’s go.” Lin Kuo didn’t want to say anything more to Liang Sihong and led Li Yinan into Wang Miao’s former room.

Once the door closed, Li Yinan let out a sigh of relief. “Although I don’t know what Wang Miao is planning, I still want to thank him.”

Lin Kuo said, “You wouldn’t want to thank him if you knew what he was thinking.”

Li Yinan asked, “Huh? What’s he thinking?”

Just as Lin Kuo was about to explain, Li Yinan added, “Boss, let me try to figure it out myself first! Give me a chance to train.”

In the bedroom with the piano—

Wang Miao looked at the Polaroid in his companion Zhu Hai’s hand and said in surprise, “He actually gave that to you.”

Zhu Hai nodded. “Yeah, he told us to take a picture.”
As he spoke, he glanced at the partitioned area with the piano.

Wang Miao got goosebumps.

Zhu Hai leaned over and hesitated. “You sure we’ll be okay tonight?”

Wang Miao rolled his eyes at him. “Didn’t you hear what Li Yinan said? The room is haunted, sure, but the ghost didn’t hurt them.”

Zhu Hai replied, “But our previous room wasn’t haunted at all.”

Wang Miao said, “Are you stupid? This is the second night. You think it’s normal for a two-star instance to go two nights without anyone dying? And did you hear what the butler said just now?

He specifically told us to be careful. He didn’t say that yesterday.”

Zhu Hai shivered.

Wang Miao continued, “Lin Kuo and Liang Sihong were analyzing some Teddy Bichon thing and trying to figure out its kill conditions. Last night, Lin Kuo and Li Yinan encountered the ghost but survived. Do you know what that means? It means the most dangerous place is the safest place. So if we want to survive this survival instance, we have to stay in the most dangerous place.”

Zhu Hai thought Wang Miao’s reasoning actually made sense.

Wang Miao added, “It’s just a pity that Lin Kuo gave us the Polaroid. This thing is destined to be useless. Otherwise, I’d really want to see what that thing looks like.”

Zhu Hai sighed and tossed the Polaroid aside. “Forget it.”

The two of them tidied up a bit and went to bed.

Late at night, under the glowing red moon—

In the dead silence, the sound of da da da da footsteps suddenly rang out.

Zhu Hai, already on edge, woke up with a start.
He listened closely—the footsteps were getting louder and louder.

Cold sweat broke out all over him.
He quickly shook Wang Miao awake and said hoarsely, “Did you hear that?”

Wang Miao hadn’t slept well the night before and had fallen into a deep sleep early tonight.
Now woken up by Zhu Hai, he snapped irritably, “What?! Don’t make a big fuss.”

Zhu Hai’s heart was pounding. “Listen, there are footsteps.”

Wang Miao was startled by Zhu Hai’s panic and immediately sat up, straining his ears.
All he could hear was the thudding of his own heartbeat.

He breathed a sigh of relief. “What footsteps? Don’t go—”

Da da da da da.
Da da da da da.

Wang Miao fell silent.

Zhu Hai rolled out of bed to grab the Polaroid.

Wang Miao swore under his breath. “Can you be quieter? Don’t lure them over here.”

At this moment, Wang Miao wasn’t so sure if the most dangerous place is the safest place still applied.

He wanted to curse Zhu Hai’s eighteen generations of ancestors. “What use is that item? You—” But the words died in his throat when he saw Zhu Hai’s expression.

Zhu Hai was frozen in place, pointing a trembling finger at the door.

The footsteps had come closer and now stopped right outside their room.

Wang Miao swallowed.

No way, I can’t be this unlucky. This was Lin Kuo’s room. He didn’t die last night. We won’t die either.

“What do we do?”

Zhu Hai’s mouth was open, but no sound came out.

Wang Miao looked at the shape of his lips and silently mouthed back: Don’t make a sound.

It’ll be fine.
It’ll definitely be fine.
Wang Miao kept telling himself.

“Drive them away.”
“No, kill them.”

Wang Miao’s mind buzzed. He cursed under his breath, “I told you not to make a sound!”

Zhu Hai’s face turned pale with despair.

He hadn’t said anything.

Those voices weren’t his.

They were…

He turned his gaze to the door.

Click.

The two of them broke out in cold sweat.

The doorknob had turned on its own—

Because something on the other side was pressing it.