After Qin Xiaorou, Yao Jia, and Cheng Yuan played the game for a few hours, they simply ate dinner on the first floor of the Squid Experience Center. The neighboring tables were also entirely occupied by players who had come down to eat after getting hungry from gaming.

Nowadays, the business for this type of comprehensive experience center was booming. It was a one-stop shop for eating, drinking, and playing. At night, there were even private booths where you could sleep; gamers who loved playing could stay here for several days without ever getting bored.

Several guys at the next table were discussing excitedly: “Holy crap, that scared the shit out of me! I finally passed the Tongue-Ripping Hell only to run into King Qinguang and die over a dozen times!”

“That boss is so perverted, it’s way more thrilling than the mobile game!”

Hearing the discussion next door, Qin Xiaorou said softly, “They’re playing Ghost Realm too? Looks like this game is quite popular.”

Yao Jia said, “It just launched today, so there are definitely a lot of people coming to join the fun and try something new.”

Whether a game could truly become popular depended on whether its subsequent content could retain players.

Some games were exceptionally hot when they first launched, but after just a few days, due to garbage gameplay or predatory monetization, a massive number of players would abandon the game, and it would start going downhill.

Cheng Yuan, her face pale, said, “Regardless, I don’t want to play anymore. That Scissors Hell almost scared me into pieces!”

Yao Jia said, “Who told you to pick Zhong Kui at the start? Next time, pick Wei Zheng. The treasure hunting system is genuinely really fun. Just to collect all the treasures in the mall, I could play for a month.”

Qin Xiaorou agreed, “Me too. I think the Random Encounter system is very interesting, and I want to keep playing. Aside from Qiao Sheng and Liancheng, there are definitely many other interesting stories. Let’s continue after eating?”

Yao Jia said, “Of course we’re continuing!”

Looking at her two friends’ excited expressions, Cheng Yuan gritted her teeth and said, “Then I’ll give it another try.”

After dinner, the three went to the front desk to top up their cards and activated their gaming cabins once again.

Yao Jia and Qin Xiaorou continued playing the treasure hunting and random encounter systems.

Cheng Yuan booted up Ghost Realm, and her game progress was saved at the Scissors Hell.

She had barely taken two steps before dying under a massive pair of scissors again. Black Impermanence jumped out and mocked her coldly: “Your head fell off again. Pick it up and take a look, aren’t you clumsy?”

Cheng Yuan: “…”

This NPC is so annoying!

White Impermanence asked with a smile: “Do you still want to persevere?”

System Options: [Must persevere] / [I want to give up].

Cheng Yuan hesitated for a moment and selected “give up.”

The moment she selected the option, the scene before her suddenly shifted, and she was teleported back to Senluo Hall. Just as she was feeling confused, she heard King Yama say, “Zhong Kui’s trial might have been too severe for you. Do you need to choose another judge for a retrial?”

Cheng Yuan’s eyes lit up, and she hurriedly said, “Change, I must change!”

The options for the four judges reappeared before her eyes.

She remembered her two friends had picked Wei Zheng and Lu Zhidao, respectively. She had picked Zhong Kui at the start, but no one had picked Cui Jue yet.

How about trying Cui Jue?

This judge held a strange notebook in his hands; she didn’t know what it was used for.

Cheng Yuan selected Cui Jue.

Cui Jue opened the notebook in his hand, and only then did she see clearly that it was a “Book of Life and Death.”

After flipping through the book for a moment, Cui Jue seemed to find her name and said, “Your lifespan has not yet ended, how did you arrive in the Underworld? This is not a place you should stay. Hurry back.”

Cheng Yuan froze: “My lifespan hasn’t ended?”

An option box popped up in front of her—
[I don’t want to stay in the Ghost Realm, I want to go home!]
[Since I’m already here, could you let me wander around a bit?]

Cheng Yuan chose the second option.

Cui Jue said, “Very well. For you to arrive in the Ghost Realm is also a kind of fate. I can permit you to travel through the Ghost Realm. However, there are many malicious and evil ghosts here. I will give you a talisman to keep you safe. Remember, this talisman must not be lost, otherwise your life will be in danger.”

He took out the brush in his hand and rapidly wrote and drew on a piece of paper. The words “Pardon Edict” seemed to be written on the talisman. The talisman floated over from the air and stuck to her back.

[Obtained Cui Jue’s talisman. Entered “Wandering Soul” state. You can fly at accelerated speeds in the Ghost Realm.]
[Scenic Record System unlocked. You can view it in the system menu in the top right corner.]
[Achievement System unlocked. Earned Achievement Points can be exchanged with corresponding judges for Nether Coin rewards.]

Scenic Record System? Achievement System?

Cheng Yuan hurriedly opened the system menu in the top right corner and was subsequently stunned by the massive Achievement System!

The Achievement System was divided into four major chapters in total.

Chapter One: Challenge Chapter.
Achievement content included: Clear Tongue-Ripping Hell (10 pts), Pass King Qinguang’s Trial (15 pts), Clear Scissors Hell (10 pts). “No-Damage Clear” awarded the highest achievement points. Further down, there were many achievements labeled “??”, which likely required players to complete the previous stage’s achievements before unlocking.

—The Unlucky Bastard who got their head continuously cut off 10 times in the Scissors Hell (10 pts, Already Obtained).

On her achievement panel, only this single line was lit up.

Cheng Yuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “I died so many times in the Scissors Hell, looks like I didn’t die in vain!”

I actually got an Unlucky Bastard achievement?

Alright, I guess that counts as a harvest!

In the afternoon, playing this game had only made her increasingly irritable. But now, seeing that she had accidentally obtained an achievement, she suddenly became happy and continued scrolling down.

Chapter Two: Treasure Chapter.
Every 10 rounds of treasure hunting completed would reward achievement points. There were also achievements like “Find 3 Grade B magical items,” “Encounter a Treasure-Stealing Ghost while hunting,” “Synthesize your first Treasure Map,” and so on, all of which awarded a large number of achievement points.

Chapter Three: Story Chapter.
Complete the Qiao Sheng and Liancheng story quest (10 pts); Complete the Nie Xiaoqian story quest; and things like A’Bao side quest Tragic Ending / Happy Ending; Assist Gongsun Jiuniang in finding her grave, etc…

The dazzling array of story achievements made Cheng Yuan widen her eyes in surprise. She didn’t expect Ghost Realm to have this much story content. Qin Xiaorou was going to have her hands full playing!

Chapter Four: Scenery Chapter.
Take a photo with Meng Po at the Bridge of Helplessness; Walk into the center of the Sea of Spider Lilies; View your past three lives’ marriages before the Three Lives Stone; Travel to the Eighteen Pools of Mount Baodu; Leave footprints in Jiaolong Cave; Gaze at the River of Forgetfulness landscape from the Sea-Viewing Pavilion; Reach Feiyun Peak, the highest point of Mount Luofu; Find the Baishui Gate Waterfall…

Below, there was still a lot of mysterious content marked with question marks waiting to be unlocked.

The more Cheng Yuan read, the more excited she got!

The Scenic Record System was a collection of the Ghost Realm’s landscapes and wondrous sights, essentially acting as a “tourist check-in system.”

Players could travel all over the Ghost Realm, reach designated locations, and take check-in photos according to the requirements to obtain the corresponding “Achievement Points.”

Cheng Yuan loved traveling. During her winter and summer vacations every year, she would normally visit various tourist attractions both domestically and abroad, taking check-in photos to post on her WeChat Moments. And Ghost Realm‘s Scenic Record System provided these “scenery lovers” with a massive map. Here, there were countless bizarre and spectacular attractions waiting for players to slowly explore.

The five mountains with strange names, the Hell regions of the Ghost Realm, the River of Forgetfulness, the Sea of Spider Lilies, and so on—they all sounded so interesting.

You want to go to Feiyun Peak, the highest peak of Mount Luofu? It definitely wouldn’t be easy to reach. You’d have to find a way to climb the mountain, and you might encounter some difficulties along the way, but the moment you reached the summit and earned the achievement, it would definitely be deeply satisfying.

Cheng Yuan excitedly walked out of Senluo Hall, only to realize that her body suddenly lifted off the ground. She jumped in fright: “I can fly now? Right, I’m in the Wandering Soul state… Wandering Souls can just float everywhere?”

She tried moving forward and found that her speed had increased significantly. With her feet off the ground and her body airborne, she actually felt as light as a swallow. It was too magical.

Cheng Yuan flew forward the whole way. The map of the Ghost Realm was unimaginably massive; many places were covered in dark fog zones, and she had no idea where the so-called “Mount Luofu” was.

She quickly discovered that every time she reached a new area, the fog there would disperse. Opening the system menu, she could see the area she was in light up on the map, revealing place names. For example, the small mountain in front of Senluo Hall was called “Yin Mountain.”

She had reached the foot of Yin Mountain, thereby unlocking the “Yin Mountain” region.

In a holographic game, players controlled their bodies to walk. If the map was too big, running across it yourself would be very tiring. From the achievements already visible in the Scenic Record System, one could tell the Ghost Realm’s map was considerably vast.

You couldn’t possibly be expected to slowly run to every single location, right?

Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly saw a red dot on the minimap in the top right corner. A strange circle icon appeared, with an arrow pointing toward that spot.

Curious, Cheng Yuan walked over to those coordinates.

Upon arriving, she found something resembling a “magic array” nearby, shining with a soft red light. She hesitated for a moment, took a step forward, and stepped into the center of the array.

The surrounding blood-red light shot into the sky like five massive red pillars. As they ascended one by one, a crisp sound effect rang in her ears.

System: Yin Mountain Teleportation Array unlocked.
System: The teleportation arrays of the Ghost Realm are crafted from special magic. You can instantly teleport between arrays at any time.

Cheng Yuan said excitedly, “These are teleportation points!”

So there were teleportation arrays between the different regions of the Ghost Realm?

Once she unlocked all the teleportation arrays, she could instantly teleport between different regions without having to slowly run long distances. This was too friendly to players.

Cheng Yuan continued forward. She planned to make unlocking the map her first step!

She would find most of the teleportation arrays in the Ghost Realm first, and then travel around, searching for various scenic spots to check in and take photos.

Just a moment ago she had said she didn’t want to play this game anymore, only to be slapped in the face this quickly.

The game’s mechanics were very rich. She had finally found where her fun lay in this place.

---

Qin Xiaorou was reading stories, Yao Jia was earnestly hunting for treasure, and Cheng Yuan was running around unlocking the map.

Three girls who didn’t like “horror games” and were experiencing a “holographic game” for the first time were having the time of their lives in Ghost Realm. They had all found content they enjoyed here.

As for the majority of challenge-loving players, after a whole afternoon of dying repeatedly in front of King Qinguang, half of them had cleared it and begun heading to the next hell.

July 15th, the first day of Ghost Realm‘s launch.

During the evening online peak hours, the #GhostRealm topic on Weibo was once again pushed to the number one spot on the trending chat list by the enthusiastic discussions of the players!

At the same time, in the Holographic Domain—the country’s largest forum dedicated to discussing holographic games—the Ghost Realm subforum saw a massive influx of guide posts, help request posts, and experience sharing posts.

The most popular one was “King Qinguang clear experience sharing, newbies welcome to take a look.”

This post was pushed to the HOT section, with over 20,000 saves. Countless players shed tears of gratitude, replying to the thread saying they finally knew how to beat this boss. The hot-blooded passion of nationwide collective pioneering was completely ignited by the forum!

Someone posted to show off: “The treasure hunting system is super interesting! My luck wasn’t bad; on the 8th round I found a Grade B treasure [Cosmos Sack], which can be used to catch ghosts for fun!”

Someone else made an emergency post asking for help: “How do you beat Grandma in the Nie Xiaoqian story? I’m begging! Can someone give me a tip? To protect Ning Caichen, my Nie Xiaoqian has had her soul scattered three times already, boohoohoo.”

Someone replied: “I encountered the Nie Xiaoqian side quest too. Use the whip Judge Lu gave you. When Grandma lunges over, just seize the opportunity to attack her. The combat in the story quests isn’t hard; try a few more times and even mechanically challenged players can pass.”

Original Poster: “Thank you! I’m going to replay it right now. I must make sure Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen get a Happy Ending!”

Suddenly, a post titled “Ghost Realm Judge Selection Guide” popped up on the front page.

A player with the ID “Loves Playing Holographics” posted a very long guide thread.

“Newbies, are you still struggling over which judge to choose? Let me tell you the correct opening method for Ghost Realm. This is the precious experience I gained after restarting 5 times!

Out of the four Great Judges, pick Cui Jue first. He will calculate your lifespan (if you’re interested, you can keep asking him to read your fortune to see how many years you have left, lol). Then, he will unlock the Scenic Record System and the Achievement System.

That’s right, the Scenic Record is used for sightseeing and opening the map!

When playing a game, the first step is naturally to open up the map.

Going straight ahead, you’ll find the teleportation points for Yin Mountain, the Eighteen Hells, the River of Forgetfulness, and the Bridge of Helplessness. Walking toward the outer perimeter, there are also wilderness areas like the Sea of Spider Lilies and the Mass Grave. The farthest out are the Five Direction Mountains.

Mount Taozhi in the East, Mount Bozhong in the West, Mount Luofeng in the North, Mount Luofu in the South, and Mount Baodu in the Center.

There should be a lot of scenery inside these mountains. You can unlock the teleportation points at the foot of the mountains first, and then slowly climb the mountains to investigate them later.

I spent the whole afternoon running the map and discovered that the Ghost Realm’s map is so fucking ridiculously huge!

So, you absolutely must unlock the teleportation points.

This game is very suited for long-term play. Once you open the map, you can teleport back and forth later on. If you haven’t opened it now, it’s not too late to go back and do it; it won’t affect your game progress.

Furthermore, achievements are recorded automatically! After beating King Qinguang, if you go back to Judge Cui to open the map, you will automatically receive the achievement points you’ve already completed!

For players with different preferences, here is some advice:

Wei Zheng: Corresponds to the Bounty/Treasure Hunting system. You can hunt for treasures, synthesize treasure maps, take bounty quests, exchange for Nether Coins, and trade for magical items. Players who like collecting can choose Wei Zheng.

Lu Zhidao: Random Encounter Side Quest system. There are many spectacular ghost stories; this is the undisputed top choice for story enthusiasts.

Cui Jue: Naturally, the Scenic Records. Check in, stroll around, and get achievements. Choosing him grants you the Wandering Soul state on the overworld map (invalid in the Hell zones). You can float around like a ghost and accelerate your map clearing!

Zhong Kui: For those who like challenging bosses and running hell mazes, finding him is exactly right. All sorts of bosses await you.

By the way, these gameplays can be done in parallel!

The system doesn’t stipulate that you can only choose one of them. You can choose Wei Zheng, accept a bounty quest, then talk to Lu Zhidao and accept a random encounter quest. Treasure hunting on one side while looking for side quest NPCs on the other—doing them simultaneously is totally fine!

For example, if you’re halfway through treasure hunting and feel bored, you can also teleport back to Senluo Hall, find Zhong Kui, and go get some thrills in Hell!

Zhong Kui will save your challenge progress in the Hell zones in real time. If you pass King Qinguang today, then run off to play treasure hunting or side quests tomorrow, the next time you find Zhong Kui to go to Hell, your progress will be exactly the same as before. You will have already passed King Qinguang, and he won’t make you fight him again.

The degree of freedom in this game is extremely high. Players can do whatever they want. If they get upset halfway through doing something, they can just stop and go do something else.

We are all free and unconstrained ghosts!

Finally, I must praise @YangfanStudio. I spent five hours running the map this afternoon, and I still haven’t unlocked all the teleportation points on the overworld map, and there are many hidden areas I don’t know the purpose of yet.

This map is truly incredible, and the gameplay is genuinely rich!

It lives up to what the promotional slogan said—
Ghost Realm is not just a game, but a world!”