37 - Unidentified

Translated by rabbitrisu

“In this villa, there’s a helpless patient and a group of lazy and greedy subordinates and family doctor.”

Su Zimo came to that conclusion.

The trainers thought about it, and found that there wasn’t anything to nitpick about the answer. Even for them, it should be the closest answer to the truth.

“Also, since the first time the month’s advance in the light account was rejected, the situation between two accounts began to change.” Su Zimo turned the two notebooks back one page. “The light and dark accounts’ daily expenditures don’t match.”

“It doesn’t add up?” The other trainers got closer.

“Before that, the daily expenditures of the light account book were exactly the same as in the dark book. It wasn’t a problem to use the ‘medical treatment’ items to fill in the difference.” Su Zimo began to compare the subsequent expenditures. “But later, the expenditures in the light account book were similar to previously, and there was even a decrease down to a normal expenditure level. But at the same time, the expenditures in the dark account book was increasing more and more. The housekeeper even paid for a personal car. None of the huge expenditures were reflected in the light account book.”

“That is to say, the large expenses of the villa after that… were paid for by the housekeeper themself? It had nothing to do with the monthly advance payment they requested?” Where did they get so much money…” Jin Lei hadn’t completely finished the word ‘money,’ so he was stuck on the ‘ah’ sound and stopped talking. ¹

“Yes it should be in the safe.” Su Zimo closed the two account books. “Since the excessive advances were denied, the housekeeper and the others should have found a new source of income.”

“A bunch of dirty tricks!” The madman fell face down on the sofa on the other side, and after cursing, he closed his eyes and began to relax.

[Bang- Bang- Bang-]

[Creak- Creak- Creak-]

The trainers’ discussion hadn’t yet ended before creepy noises came again from upstairs. It was as if there were really giants taking heavy steps on the floor, or forcibly breaking through the barrier of wood and iron bars with heavy blows, wanting to be free!

The first time they heard the noise, all the trainers had passed out and the sound had begun to thud repeatedly above the main hall.

But this time when the sound rang out, Su Zimo noticed something was wrong, since that kind of uncontrollable desire to sleep struck again. It let them know that they would soon fall asleep like last time, and maybe they would wake up in some strange rooms again.

Su Zimo began to regret not taking the ghost umbrella with him. He remembered that the last time he was almost bewitched by Peng Peng’s music, it seemed that the chill from the ghost umbrella’s body woke him instantly.

“Oops.” Because of their previous experience, all the trainers reacted and starting pinching themselves in painful areas, hoping to alleviate their drowsiness.

But in the end, everyone fell asleep, including Su Zimo.

When Su Zimo woke up, he found that his limbs were paralyzed, just like the legendary ‘ghost pressure.’ ² He could only lie motionless on the floor, feeling the dust floating in the air and the familiar damp and corrupt atmosphere.

[Creak- Creak-]

The dilapidated wooden floor creaked under that mysterious force.

Something’s coming!

Su Zimo held his breath subconsciously. He could hear that the ‘things’ approaching him were much heavier than ordinary people, so they made the wooden floor emit such an unbearable sound.

It was the ‘things’ that had been walking on the second floor before; they’ve escaped!

“Wu- uh uh- wu- uh.” A series of strange noises accompanied the ‘creak’ sound from the floor. It was like a human voice, but Su Zimo couldn’t tell what the other person was saying. He thought it was a vague series of meaningless choking, like a malicious spirit’s moans.

“Wu- wu- wu- wu- wu- ah!” The ‘thing’ nearby raised their volume as if they were angry, but the noise was still vague and meaningless. The ‘thing’ seemed to be angry, desperately slapping something and making a ‘bang’ sound.

The ‘bang’ sound was different from the previous sound from the second floor. The sound from the second floor was more like something hitting the wall or door, but now Su Zimo’s ears heard sounds like it was beating a table in anger.

[Creak-]

When the thing approached Su Zimo again, he found that his body had recovered. He took out his metal pen from the side pocket of this backpack, flicked his wrist to extend the pen-shaped baton, and waved it in the direction of the sound!

Su Zimo didn’t feel like he was hitting anything based on him waving the stick, but when he hit the ghost students on the platform before, he was able to tell that he had hit them based on sight. There was no feeling to come with it.

After swiping a few times toward the location in his memory, Su Zimo found that the entire dark room had turned silent again. Only his breath could be heard. Su Zimo then turned on the flashlight on his cell phone as quickly as he could and, after taking a picture, he was sure that the ‘things’ had left.

This time, he had appeared in the housekeeper’s room.

Su Zimo took advantage of the fact that there weren’t any trainers or ghosts in his vicinity and let down his guard. He took a deep breath while sitting on the housekeeper’s broken bed. According to his calculations, they only had three ‘days’ to clear the task of this nightmare world, and the things they encounter seem to be worse each day. At least last time when he woke up in the chef’s room, there wasn’t anything terrible close to him.

The situation is getting worse, but Su Zimo doesn’t want to run away so quickly.

After getting a grip on his emotions, Su Zimo rose from the bed, pushed open the housekeeper’s door, and walked out.

Outside the door, the other trainers stood in the corridor with fearful expressions. What surprised Su Zimo most was that some people had weapons in their hands and others had strange marks on their bodies.

This was also the first time that Su Zimo saw the other trainers’ ghost tools, with the exception of Jin Lei. They had given up on hiding them. Su Zimo was afraid they they had encountered some strange things in their rooms like he did.

Cheng Yun, Qi Xiaomin, and Du Xin walked out of the maids’ room first. Qi Xiaomin and Du Xin didn’t have any ghost tools in their hands. Instead, Cheng Yun had a transparent perfume-like bottle when he rushed out.

The moment they rushed out, Cheng Yun put the bottle away, but Su Zimo still saw the text boxes on it.

[Holy Water (Two Stars)]

[Sale Price: 50 Yuan]

[Description: This is real holy water diluted by humans using spring water. Although the diluted holy water cannot kill the ghosts, it can expel them to a certain extent.]

The next person came out of the chef’s room. It was the silent trainer, Liu Xu, wearing a red glove on his right hand and had red claw marks on his exposed arm. He was apparently fighting the malicious spirits.

[Red Gloves (Three Stars)]

[Sale Price: 200 yuan]

[Description: He loves the woman, but he can no longer touch her. He can always see the person he loves standing there under the flashing lights of the hallway, bowing her head, dark hair covering the face he had kissed. Everyone advised him to leave the house, since it was unlucky, but he didn’t care. He wouldn’t be afraid of the house where his lover still existed. His only regret was that he could no longer touch her. Until one day, he put on this red-dyed glove that he didn’t know was once white, and he was finally able to brush the long, red-dyed hair and caress his beloved’s face.]

[Special Ability: You can touch ghosts just like other entities.]

[Limitations: The gloves will take you beyond the boundaries of life and death. This isn’t a good thing. It means that you are constantly in contact with another world, and will eventually be completely engulfed.]

This was the first time Su Zimo had seen a three star ghost tool that could be sold. Selling such a ghost tool could give Su Zimo half a year’s lifespan. The text box was as long as ever, and he read a special story within it.

What Su Zimo couldn’t help but smile at was that there was a ghost’s love story behind the red gloves. But, watching Liu Xu wear the gloves and make a fist… he obviously didn’t get that right. Where the ghost used them romantically, Liu Xu just seemed to used them to release a set of military-grade punches on malicious spirits.

What made Su Zimo’s smile disappear is that Liu Xu may not know that such a powerful pair of gloves also had terrible side effects.

There were only two beds in the gardener’s room opposite him, but three trainers, Fang Qin, Xiao Hup, and Wan Ling, came out. The last time the trainers were disrupted, the maid’s room was also ‘occupied’ by four people. Such a deviation in numbers appeared after Su Zimo joined.

[Nightmare Brand Dagger (One Star)]

[Sale Price: 10 yuan]

[Description: A common weapon occasionally picked up in the nightmare world.]

The red-headed Xiao Huo held his precious lighter in one hand and a dagger in the other. Su Zimo remembered that Gao Yang, a former trainer who used the ‘slave mark,’ had a [Nightmare Brand Dagger], except that his was priced at 20 yuan, and he needed to sacrifice a weak soul to get it.

The method of obtaining this dagger was much more common, like novice equipment in games.

The other weapon that attracted Su Zimo’s attention was the Tai Chi sword held in Elder Fang Qin’s hand, The sword looked no different from an ordinary Tai Chi sword. There was a beautiful wooden scabbard and a comfortable hilt with a red tassel hanging from it. Grandpa Su seemed to have a similar Tai Chi sword.

Most importantly, Su Zimo didn’t see any text boxes.

Bai Man walked out of the bodyguard’s room. She also had a [Nightmare Brand Dagger] in her hand and claw marks similar to Liu Xu’s on her wrist where they had pierced her skin.

As Jin Lei ran downstairs like last time, the last trainer, the madman, walked out of the chauffeur’s room. Although Su Zimo didn’t find a dagger in the madman’s hands, he found that a jade seal hanging from a red thread slipped out of his clothes, and a long series of text boxes appeared with it.

[Demonic Baby Jade Seal (Three Stars)]

[Sale Price: 150 yuan]

[Description: The pain of bereavement made the mental state of the jade carver deteriorate. He can no longer complete his work, since the patterns carved in the jade will always be the face of his dead child with a very strange smile. He gave up his stable job and went home to concentrate on carving the child’s face, but he wasn’t satisfied with most of the finished products. After destroying most of the defective products, he hung the most perfect jade seal on his next and smiled as strangely as the face on the carving.]

[Special Ability: Ghost babies will appear when the wearer is in danger and join the battle.]

[Limitations: The ghost baby is forcefully trapped within the jade seal, so one day it will steal the wearer’s life, occupy their body, and gain freedom.]

Perhaps it was because he saw Liu Xu’s ghost tool, but when he saw the madman’s ghost tool again, Su Zimo lamented the hidden side effects of the two trainers, and hoped there wouldn’t be too many surprises.

However, after reading the text boxes of the two ghost tools, Su Zimo felt that Peng Peng in his store was so innocent, cute, and friendly. He not only had no side effects, but he also protected the people he liked and brought An Yu Yi Yu traffic!

Is that child… an angel?!

“It seems you’ve all gone to different rooms again.” Jin Lei, who ran downstairs, glanced at everyone’s positions and the weapons in some of the trainers’ hands. “You also encountered that slurring ghost?”

“It didn’t dwell for too long.” Bai Man had some sweat on her forehead. “The ghost only attacked for a little while, but the feeling was terrible!”

“Yeah.” Jin Lei put away the scalpels in her hands. “I feel that this nightmare world will become worse and worse, leaving us little time. We still have to find the ‘lifeline’ in the task prompt as soon as possible.’

“Speaking of that, Dr. Jin, you seem to have never changed rooms?” Su Zimo suddenly furrowed his eyebrows. “Every time it’s been the family doctor’s room on the third floor?”

“I also feel it’s strange, but I can’t tell why.”

When Jin Lei was so perplexed, Wan Ling, who was standing next to Elder Fang Qin, walked toward her carefully and began to hide behind her like before, tugging on her white coat to give her a reassuring look.

“Clothes…” Su Zimo’s eyes widened suddenly.

“What?” Jin Lei shook her head a little.

“Because Dr. Jin has been wearing her white coat, a doctor’s white coat, she’s a well-identified character!” Su Zimo couldn’t help but facepalm. “Most of the rooms are also equipped for definite identities, like clothes and tools, but at this moment, only Dr. Jin’s identity can be determined!”

“Except for Dr. Jin Lei, we’ve been stuffed into different rooms every time because our identities aren’t clear enough?!” Thoughts were connected in Su Zimo’s mind. “If this really is a role-playing game, we’ve been out of the game since the beginning.”

Footnotes

<ol>钱 (Qián): money Ghost pressure is sleep paralysis, where someone wakes up and feels like something is sitting on their chest and they can’t move because it’s too heavy.</ol>