Su Lingyan opened her eyes in the darkness.

She stared at the ceiling, closed her eyes, then opened them again a few seconds later. She turned her head and glanced out the window. The window was closed, and everything outside was pitch-black and silent. It was still nighttime.

Which raised the question: why was she awake? Hadn't they been told that lying down would skip the night and take them straight to morning?

Su Lingyan pondered this for a few seconds before getting out of bed and sending a message to the team chat.

Are you guys awake?

After waiting for half a minute without receiving a response, Su Lingyan decided to go out and take a look.

She put on her shoes, picked up the phone from her bedside table, and turned on its flashlight. The beam fell on the window, revealing her own reflection.

Remembering how her reflection had moved by the pool, Su Lingyan took a few steps closer. She couldn't rule out the possibility that a ghost had been responsible, but what if there was something wrong with the reflection itself?

Suddenly, her reflection in the window did something different. It slowly blinked once, then waved at her as if saying hello.

Su Lingyan stared at the window warily.

The next second, her reflection returned to normal , as though the strange behavior had never happened.

But Su Lingyan knew that what she had seen was real.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept past her. Su Lingyan spun around, only to find a blurry black silhouette standing right behind her.

“I like you.”

It was the same voice she had heard by the pool. So this must be the man's ghost.

The shadow slowly approached her, and Su Lingyan slowly retreated until her back pressed against the window.

“Stay here with me.”

A gentle voice rang out. Like the call of a siren, it began to cloud Su Lingyan's eyes with confusion.

“I like you, so stay here with me.” The shadow whispered softly in her ear.

The light gradually faded from Su Lingyan's eyes. In her daze, she saw the shadow transform into her own likeness, wearing an eerie smile.

Stay here?

Su Lingyan struggled to keep her increasingly heavy eyelids open as she watched the person who looked exactly like her lean in for a hug.

Instinctively, Su Lingyan punched the shadow in the face with her right hand.

Sorry, but she didn't just let anyone hug her.

The figure of “Su Lingyan” went flying to the left and backward before crashing to the ground. At the same time, Su Lingyan's hazy consciousness instantly cleared.

She had almost fallen for it. That was a close one!

“Can ghosts have physical bodies, too?” Su Lingyan tilted her head.

How interesting. Was this simply how the dungeon worked, or had Cyril been lying?

Well, if it had a physical body, that made things much easier.

Su Lingyan walked toward “Su Lingyan.”

The figure flickered before transforming into a black silhouette. It then suddenly lunged toward her.

Su Lingyan dodged to the right, but the shadow showed no intention of attacking. It slipped into the window and disappeared.

Su Lingyan stared at the window.

If she really had been bewitched and chosen to stay here forever, what would have happened to her?

She glanced at the message she had sent earlier. Still no response.

Was she the only one who had encountered something like this?

Su Lingyan walked to the door, intending to go outside and investigate, only to receive a system notification.

Night has fallen. Please go to sleep as soon as possible.

All right. So the system was telling her to go back to bed.

She was about to return to bed when she noticed something glowing on the floor, standing out conspicuously in the darkness.

It was a small card with words written in fluorescent ink. Judging by its position, someone had slipped it through the gap beneath the door.

Only two words were written on it.

Watch out!

“Who could have left this?”

Su Lingyan returned to the soft, comfortable bed. This time, just as SunnyBoy had said, she closed her eyes, opened them again, and it was morning.

But Su Lingyan promptly closed her eyes again.

Nothing special. Her old habit of lazing in bed had kicked in. The bed was just too comfortable, and she didn't want to get up.

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.

Who was knocking?

“Lingyan, are you all right?” It was Bai Luoyin's voice.

Su Lingyan sighed, sat up, and went to open the door.

“What's the rush?” Su Lingyan asked her friend.

“Didn't you send that message?” Bai Luoyin replied. “You sent it after everyone had gone to sleep, so I figured you must have encountered some kind of event. I messaged you to check on you, but you didn't respond.”

Su Lingyan checked her messages and discovered that Bai Luoyin had indeed sent her one.

“I ran into a few things. I'll tell you about them later. But you should still be able to see that my status says I'm alive, right?”

“Being alive doesn't mean you're out of danger. Besides, if you'd died, I wouldn't have needed to come looking for you.”

“Fair enough.” Su Lingyan closed the door. “Let's go get breakfast.”

By the time Bai Luoyin and Su Lingyan reached the first floor, the other three players were already seated at the dining table. All of them turned to Su Lingyan with puzzled expressions.

Looks like everyone saw the message I sent.

Aside from his clothing, Keller looked the same as he had yesterday, wearing a perfectly measured smile.

“I hope you all had a pleasant night,” Keller said.

The four players responded with polite smiles, with one notable exception.

“As a matter of fact, my night wasn't pleasant at all,” said the player known as Zerion.

Having learned from yesterday's experience, Kylar maintained his smile. However, the fact that the curve of his lips never changed even slightly made his expression seem rather stiff.

“Did my servants fail to provide you with proper service?” Kylar asked.

“No. I had a nightmare.” Su Lingyan furrowed her brows. “I dreamed there was a shadow that kept talking. It slowly approached me and said it wanted to keep me here forever.”

“...Oh. That's unfortunate.” Kylar paused for a few seconds before giving a rather perfunctory response.

“Mr. Cyril mentioned rumors that this place is haunted. Does that mean I encountered a ghost last night?” Su Lingyan continued.

She really threw Cyril under the bus without hesitation, Bai Luoyin thought as she speared a strip of bacon with her fork.

“Cyril...” A dark glint flashed through Kylar's eyes. “Yes, there have indeed been rumors of hauntings here. Thanks to those rumors, I was able to purchase this manor at a low price. But there's no need to worry. Rumors are just rumors, not facts.”

“I'm relieved to hear you say that, Mr. Rainer.” Su Lingyan nodded and began to enjoy her breakfast.