Xiao Mi’s hair fell out at an alarming speed—in the blink of an eye, she looked completely bald.

And the black hairball that had once perched on her shoulder hit the floor and immediately split into several smaller clumps, wriggling toward the people nearby.

Sensing danger, Zhou Jiayu quickly pulled out the talismans he’d prepared beforehand and rushed to the front of the group. He slapped the paper charms onto the creeping black hairballs.

As soon as the talismans touched the hairballs, a sizzling sound erupted, and white smoke began to rise. The air filled with the unmistakable stench of burning protein. Everyone else froze in shock at the sudden turn of events. A boy standing next to Shen Yiqiong cried out in terror, “Shen Fu, what’s wrong with your idiot friend?!”

Shen Yiqiong knew Zhou Jiayu must’ve seen something. “Calm down, he’s not an idiot!”

“How could he not be an idiot?!” someone else shouted emotionally. “I saw him tilting his head and drooling—who can fake being dumb that convincingly?”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Bro, that kinda hurt.

“He’s really not an idiot,” Shen Yiqiong tried to explain. “That Xiao Mi isn’t normal—we came here to investigate all this!”

“You! You all!” The once-crying Xiao Mi had clearly heard Shen Yiqiong. She slowly rose to her feet, her expression twisted and terrifying. “Do you even realize what you’ve done?!”

Honestly, she probably should’ve been scary in that moment—but Zhou Jiayu’s attention was completely drawn to her shiny bald head. All her hair was gone, and her scalp gleamed like a freshly boiled egg. Under the lighting, it was even reflecting light.

Xiao Mi screamed, “I’m going to kill you all! I’ll kill you!”

Shen Yiqiong, the cheeky brat, had the nerve to retort, “Oh yeah? You gonna kill us by reflecting light off your shiny head?”

That comment made everyone’s expressions freeze—half trying not to laugh, half unsure if it was appropriate to laugh at all… But it was kind of funny.

Naturally, Xiao Mi wasn’t in on the joke. Her expression grew even more twisted, her features contorting. “Heh heh heh heh. I might not be able to kill you, but they can. Not just you—all of us. Everyone!”

As if to echo her words, the glass windows began to shatter with sharp cracks. It sounded like whatever was outside was about to break through.

Zhou Jiayu said calmly, “Don’t panic. Come get some talismans—three per person. The dirty things are about to break in. We’ll form a circle with the talismans!”

Shen Yiqiong asked, “Damn, when did you prepare all this?”

Zhou Jiayu replied, “Ages ago—what, you really thought I was an idiot?”

Shen Yiqiong gave a sheepish chuckle. “You’re kind of cute when you act dumb.”

Zhou Jiayu glared at him. “Stand under the light and don’t wander into the shadows, or no one’s gonna be able to find you in a bit.”

Shen Yiqiong: “…”

The enemy hadn’t even attacked yet, but these two had already started verbally shanking each other—every blow landing deep.

Everyone was on edge now, all eyes locked on the window.

Crash—a crisp sound of glass breaking. The inevitable had arrived. The glass, smeared with bloody handprints, finally shattered. A gust of wind roared into the room, and Zhou Jiayu saw with his own eyes as seven black shadows crawled in through the window.

They moved fast—within seconds, they were right in front of them.

Zhou Jiayu said, “Don’t panic. Let’s assess the situation.”

The group stood frozen in their talisman-formed circle, barely daring to breathe as the shadows crept closer… and closer… until they were almost touching the edge of the circle.

Then, right at the boundary, the shadows suddenly slowed. It was clear they were deeply wary of the yellow paper charms painted with red cinnabar. One by one, they halted, not daring to move any farther.

But just then, Xiao Mi—who had been lying motionless on the floor—suddenly lunged at Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong.

Zhou Jiayu dodged, but Shen Yiqiong got tackled head-on. “What the hell are you doing?!” he shouted.

“Killing you!” Xiao Mi shrieked, her expression twisted beyond recognition. She clung to Shen Yiqiong’s waist and tried to drag him toward the black shadows.

Zhou Jiayu grabbed Shen Yiqiong’s hand. “Yiqiong!”

In a panic, Shen Yiqiong slapped a talisman right onto Xiao Mi’s shiny forehead—but nothing happened. He immediately realized—Xiao Mi was still human. For some reason, though, her strength was terrifying.

“Shit! Let go, or I swear I’ll beat you to death!” Zhou Jiayu cursed out loud.

“Then beat me!” Xiao Mi screamed. “If I’m dying today, I’m taking you with me!”

Zhou Jiayu knew there was no talking this down anymore. He grabbed Shen Yiqiong with one hand and looked around desperately for a weapon. Just as he turned, a loud bang rang out. The force dragging on his hand disappeared—Shen Yiqiong was yanked back.

Zhou Jiayu turned to look and was stunned. Xiao Mi was lying on the floor, bleeding heavily from her head and completely unconscious. Standing in front of her was a girl holding a stool.

It was the same girl who had looked timid and nervous the whole time—Number Two. Now, her face was streaked with tears, and she was sobbing, “Die, you freak! You freak!”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” And they say women are weaker than men?

Though Xiao Mi was down, the seven shadows still loomed around them. They wouldn’t approach—but they weren’t leaving either.

Zhou Jiayu said, “Hang in there. We’ve got this!”

Shen Yiqiong pulled up his shirt and looked down, unsurprised to see several crimson handprints on his waist. From the marks alone, one could tell just how strong Xiao Mi had been earlier—if Zhou Jiayu hadn’t held on to him with all his strength, he would’ve been forcibly pushed out of the protective talisman circle.

If they could hold out here until Lin Zhushui returned, that might count as a victory. But sometimes, things just didn’t go the way Zhou Jiayu hoped.

The blood-covered Xiao Mi—bashed on the head with a stool by Girl Number Two—slowly began to rise from the ground. This time, her face was expressionless, her cheeks smeared with blood, looking even more terrifying than before.

Zhou Jiayu noticed the clump of black hair that had once been perched on Xiao Mi’s back. After falling off, it had stayed curled up in the corner of the wall, but now it began to inch its way back to Xiao Mi.

As Zhou Jiayu wondered what it was planning, he suddenly saw a black dagger materialize in Xiao Mi’s hand. The blade was about half a meter long, glinting coldly—it looked razor sharp, the kind of weapon that could slice cleanly through flesh.

Expressionless, Xiao Mi raised the knife and began walking slowly toward them.

“Where the hell did she get a knife?!” Shen Yiqiong lost it. Talismans worked on ghosts—but not on people. And Xiao Mi wasn’t just strong, now she had a deadly weapon too. She could probably cut through them like watermelons.

“No, we can’t stay here anymore!” Zhou Jiayu said. “We need to run!”

Shen Yiqiong said, “How do we run—”

“Open the door! Run downstairs!” Zhou Jiayu barked. He’d already handed everyone talismans—if they kept them on their person, they’d be fine. They didn’t have any weapons now, so confronting Xiao Mi directly would be suicidal.

By now, the knocking sounds had stopped. Zhou Jiayu, steeling himself, told everyone to stay put. He held a talisman and slowly moved his body out of the protective circle.

As he expected, with the talisman in hand, the shadowy figures didn’t dare approach him. He rushed to the door, flung it open, and shouted, “Come on! Grab your talismans and run downstairs!”

The others had been hesitant, but when they saw Xiao Mi closing in with her knife, they all stumbled toward the door in terror.

Zhou Jiayu was the last to leave. Before stepping out, he glanced back—Xiao Mi was approaching at a slow, steady pace. Her knife dragged along the floor, making a screeching noise that was deeply unsettling.

“Let’s go!” Shen Yiqiong grabbed Zhou Jiayu’s arm.

Zhou Jiayu nodded and followed him down the hall.

There were only two ways down: the elevator or the stairs. The elevator was faster, but felt unsafe—what if Xiao Mi stopped it mid-ride and trapped them? The stairs were slower, but at least they could maneuver around.

When Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong got to the stairwell, the others were already gone. Shen Yiqiong cursed, “Wow, those jerks just ditched us!”

Zhou Jiayu heard that screeching knife-dragging sound again—Xiao Mi was catching up. “Shut up and run!”

The two of them charged downward, flight after flight. The dimly lit stairwell felt like a maze with no end.

Zhou Jiayu kept an eye on the floor numbers. As the numbers dropped from eighteen, he finally started to feel a little relieved.

“I’m dying here,” Shen Yiqiong panted. They’d made it to the third floor. “Almost there. Once we’re out, I’m calling the cops. That damn Xiao Mi needs to rot in prison.”

They’d used every last ounce of strength to run. By the time they hit the second floor, both were gasping for air, legs trembling from exhaustion.

Zhou Jiayu hadn’t expected running downstairs to be this tiring. As they clung to the handrails and made their way to the next landing, they turned the corner—and their faces froze.

The number on the sign that should have read “1” instead glowed with a haunting red “18.”

They’d somehow… looped back.

At that moment, the stairwell door creaked open. Xiao Mi stood there, knife in hand, her skirt soaked with the blood dripping from her face. Behind her slithered the seven shadowy figures.

She grinned at Zhou Jiayu, her voice shrill and piercing: “Found you.”

Shen Yiqiong cursed loudly, spun around, and fled with Zhou Jiayu.

Running upstairs was far harder than going down. After only two flights, their bodies grew heavy, their legs dragging—it felt like they couldn’t move another step.

“Something’s not right,” Shen Yiqiong panted. “My stamina’s not this bad… Just eighteen floors… Let’s go back down—I really can’t keep going.”

Zhou Jiayu swallowed hard. He was also near his limit. “How about we hide somewhere on this floor?”

Shen Yiqiong checked—they were on the third floor—and nodded.

So the two dashed away from the stairwell, deeper into the third-floor hallway.

This floor was also filled with guest rooms. The corridor stretched long, and Zhou Jiayu noticed something strange: most of the doors were half open.

“Why are all the doors open?” he said.

Shen Yiqiong saw it too. Wiping sweat off his forehead, he gasped, “O-Open?”

Indeed, every door was ajar. As they passed, they could peek inside through the gaps—Zhou Jiayu glanced into one and saw nothing unusual.

“Where the hell are we, really?” Shen Yiqiong said as they ran. “This doesn’t feel like the same hotel anymore.”

Zhou Jiayu suddenly recalled something. “Wait… do you remember when Xu Jian’s soul left his body?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I’m wondering…” Zhou Jiayu said cautiously, “Could it be that our souls have left our bodies?”

Shen Yiqiong was startled. But the more he thought about it, the more Zhou Jiayu’s theory made sense. After all, how could they have gone from floor 1 to floor 18 in a single loop in the real world?

“So how do we confirm that?” Shen Yiqiong asked. “Should I stab you to see if you bleed?”

Zhou Jiayu looked horrified. “Why not let me stab you?”

Shen Yiqiong grinned innocently. “Because I’m weaker.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…”

There was a convenient way to find out the truth.

In his mind, Zhou Jiayu called out: “Ji Ba, Ji Ba.”

A moment later, Ji Ba’s voice rang out. It sounded like he’d just woken up, yawning lazily: “What’s up?”

“It’s been a while since I heard from you,” Zhou Jiayu said. “What were you doing?”

Ji Ba said, “I think Lin Zhushui can hear me… If he finds out there’s a me in your brain, won’t he dissect you?”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Yeah, having a creepy voice like Ji Ba in your head did sound like a horror story.

Ji Ba said, “So? What happened this time?”

Zhou Jiayu gave a brief explanation of their situation and then asked Ji Ba whether they were still in the real world or if their souls had already left their bodies.

Ji Ba said, “Trying to figure that out? Easy. Just find a mirror and see if you have a reflection. Or, if you have your phone, try taking a picture of yourself and see if your image shows up.”

Hearing that, Zhou Jiayu pulled out his phone and prepared to turn on the front camera.

Seeing Zhou Jiayu’s action, Shen Yiqiong was startled. “Wow, you’re taking selfies at a time like this? Guaner, you’re so vain.”

Zhou Jiayu rolled his eyes. “I’m just trying to see if we’re soul-separated—”

“Oh…” Shen Yiqiong responded.

The front camera appeared on their screen, but what they saw shocked them—there was nothing there. The corridor they were standing in was completely empty on the screen. Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong, who should’ve been visible, were missing as if they were invisible.

Even though they had mentally prepared themselves, Shen Yiqiong still gasped, “So we really have left our bodies?”

Zhou Jiayu nodded.

Shen Yiqiong looked at Zhou Jiayu.

Zhou Jiayu said, “Why are you staring at me?”

Shen Yiqiong replied, “Didn’t you go through this before? You’re more experienced than I am… it’s my first time.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…Why the hell are you blushing?”

But previous experience wasn’t much help. Zhou Jiayu was about to say something to Shen Yiqiong when the sound of a sharp object scraping along the floor came from behind them again. The sound told them—Xiao Mi was back.

Shen Yiqiong, in a complicated tone, remarked that it was his first time being chased this hard by a girl.

Zhou Jiayu: “…Shen Yiqiong, can you shut up already?”

The two of them decided to try and run in circles with Xiao Mi on this floor, but suddenly, they heard footsteps.

The sound came from the floor above—not just one person’s steps, but like a whole group moving together.

“Someone’s upstairs?” Zhou Jiayu looked up at the ceiling.

“I heard it too. Maybe it’s them,” Shen Yiqiong added. “The people we were playing the game with…”

Earlier, Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong had lagged behind and gotten separated from the group. Since Xiao Mi had been chasing them nonstop, the others were probably safe.

Zhou Jiayu said, “Should we go take a look?”

Shen Yiqiong nodded.

Xiao Mi didn’t seem interested in switching targets—she just kept dragging her knife and relentlessly following them. Zhou Jiayu blamed this entirely on Shen Yiqiong. If he hadn’t mocked her baldness, she probably wouldn’t be holding a grudge and chasing them so furiously.

Shen Yiqiong reflected on his actions and said he’d be more respectful of people’s flaws in the future. After all, she was a girl, and being called bald must have really hurt.

Zhou Jiayu agreed, “Yes, that’s true.”

As they chatted nonsense, they circled around Xiao Mi and made it to the fourth floor.

The atmosphere on the fourth floor was drastically different from the third. Most of the hallway lights were off, giving it a creepy, sinister vibe.

Zhou Jiayu noticed that there was a conference room at the end of the hallway—and its door was half-open. He looked that way and asked, “Want to check it out?”

Shen Yiqiong said, “Mm… Let’s take a look.”

The two of them agreed and walked toward the room.

Before they reached it, Zhou Jiayu again heard the same strange shuffling footsteps they’d heard downstairs. The sound was unnerving, like a crowd moving slowly in unison.

They both instinctively softened their steps and crept up to the half-open conference room door. Peering inside—

Despite having prepared themselves, Zhou Jiayu was still startled by what he saw. The conference room was packed with people standing tightly together, slowly circling the conference table. But what shocked Zhou Jiayu most was the figure sitting cross-legged in the center of the table—it was Xu Ruwang’s master, Xu Jian.

Xu Jian seemed to sense their gaze and opened his eyes, glaring at them with fierce intensity. Even someone like Zhou Jiayu, with a clear conscience, felt a chill run down his spine under that stare.

“Who’s there!” Xu Jian barked.

Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong exchanged a glance, then stepped fully into the room. Zhou Jiayu called, “Master Xu.”

“What are you doing here?” Xu Jian asked. It was the exact question they wanted to ask him. Suspicion flashed across his face as he questioned their identities. “Are you really Lin Zhushui’s disciples, Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong?”

Zhou Jiayu nodded obediently. “Yes, Master Xu. You’ve become soul-separated, and our teacher took on the Xu family’s request to come find you.”

Upon hearing that, Xu Jian looked a little embarrassed. But only for a moment—then he regained his arrogant composure and said, “Hmph, I don’t need him to help me!”

Zhou Jiayu thought: You’re built like a tank—tougher than Xu Ruwang—so stop acting all tsundere. It’s not cute. Shen Yiqiong seemed to be thinking the same thing, judging by his expression.

“But since he’s here to find me, what are you doing here?” Xu Jian suddenly remembered something. “This place isn’t somewhere you can just leave so easily.”

Zhou Jiayu asked, “So… you can’t leave either?”

“Of course I can leave,” Xu Jian replied. “But I won’t.”

Zhou Jiayu was briefly confused, but then realized something. He glanced at the people in the room and saw that most of them looked blank, dull—almost like they were brain-dead.

He pointed at them. “Because of these people?”

Xu Jian sighed and nodded.

Shen Yiqiong said, “Wait, they’re people? I thought they were ghosts…”

Xu Jian explained briefly, “They’ve had one of their souls forcibly extracted. Now they’re bound by a certain contract, which is why they look like this.”

“What happens to someone who loses a soul?” Zhou Jiayu asked.

Xu Jian said, “Losing just one soul isn’t too serious. But the contracts they signed are extremely troublesome. If you want to break them, you have to retrieve the missing soul.”

Right after saying this, he suddenly frowned, as if hearing something. “What did you two bring with you?”

Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong both looked embarrassed. In the excitement of finding Xu Jian, they had completely forgotten that Xiao Mi was still chasing them.

But Xiao Mi hadn’t forgotten them. She was already dragging her knife right toward them.

Zhou Jiayu quickly explained the situation to Xu Jian and asked if he could handle it—if not, he and Shen Yiqiong would flee again.

“Of course I can handle it,” Xu Jian replied proudly. “You two can hide in here. I can’t leave this room, but if she comes in here, I guarantee she’s not getting out!”

Relieved, Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong found a corner of the room to hide in.

Creak… creak… Xiao Mi, dragging her blade, slowly approached the door. She cautiously poked her head inside, clearly searching for Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong.

Seeing her, Xu Jian’s first words were: “This filthy creature… is bald?”

The moment he said that, Zhou Jiayu saw Xiao Mi’s face twist with rage.

Zhou Jiayu: “…Can you not poke at her deepest insecurity?”

---

Author’s note:

Zhou Jiayu: Teacher, teacher, I learned a new phrase today.

Lin Zhushui: Hmm?

Zhou Jiayu: Once a teacher, forever a father.

Lin Zhushui: Good.

Zhou Jiayu: Huh??? Teacher, what are you doing?!