“Congratulations. You have cleared this game.”

The ghost-fire Inspector’s notification sounded through the air before any actual ghost-fire had appeared.

At the same moment, the rain finally stopped.

The ground trembled. The scenery around them slowly sank downward. The entire old house descended deeper and deeper, like an ancient tomb in the deep mountains that had never been sealed.

The hall door that had just swung shut opened once again, and the ghost-fire Inspector drifted out from inside. The interior of the room had also been transformed entirely.

No longer the ordinary furnishings of a main hall — it was now a complete burial chamber.

The ghost-fire spoke: “When Liu Yanruo left home, her older brother was away studying and knew nothing of this injustice. In the decades that followed, he enjoyed a life of wealth and high official rank, while their parents could never find peace. They grew increasingly despondent and passed away one after another. In death, they sent messages in dreams, instructing him to find his lost sister by any means during his remaining years, so the family could be together once more.

“The players have achieved the mission objective, halting the Corpse-Hauling Woman. You may now enter the burial chamber for reward settlement. Each player may freely choose one burial item as their reward.”

Bai Youwei made a faint sound of disdain.

Using burial items as reward tools — truly suited the ghost-fire’s character and image.

The Inspector heard the faint noise and glanced silently at Bai Youwei.

Hmm…

To be able to clear the game, she truly did have genuine ability. No wonder she gave the other Inspectors such persistent headaches. It seemed its own caution and care had been entirely necessary.

All four followed the ghost-fire into the burial chamber.

It was still the same elaborately appointed boudoir — yet different from before. The alcove bed had become a coffin. Oil lamps burned all around, casting enough light that everything was clearly visible.

As for burial items, these were simply things used in life and buried in death.

Bai Youwei looked around the burial chamber with curiosity and found quite a few things that had not been there previously.

Apart from various everyday items belonging to a woman, there were also a great deal of paper spirit money and offerings, paper ingots, and five-colored copper coins.

“How is ‘one item’ counted?” Bai Youwei asked. “For instance, those paper ingots — they’re all stacked together. Does ‘one item’ mean a single one, or the whole stack?”

The ghost-fire paused.

Here it came…

Here it came…

She had started looking for loopholes!

“‘One item’ refers to a single individual unit by measure,” the ghost-fire answered with care. “Only an indivisible single object counts as ‘one item.’ One ingot means one ingot — not a whole stack.”

Bai Youwei looked thoughtfully around the room and walked to a large lacquered cabinet with eight compartments, lightly patting it. “What if I choose this cabinet? Does everything inside belong to me as well, or would I only receive an empty cabinet?”

The ghost-fire grew more cautious still.

A troublesome player indeed. Even at this stage, still trying to exploit the rules…

If everything inside the cabinet could also be claimed, one could theoretically pile all the other items inside and take everything at once.

…No matter. Its game rules were the most rigorous and airtight. As long as it handled this carefully, nothing would go wrong.

The ghost-fire answered: “A cabinet is composed of wood, iron nails, and fittings. If a player chooses the cabinet, they receive the wood, iron nails, and fittings — nothing else inside.”

It paused for two seconds and added by way of clarification: “The eight-compartment cabinet in this scene may be selected, but it is not a reward item. Reward items will display relevant information upon being touched. Players are advised to choose with care. Once a reward item is touched, it will be bound to that player by the system immediately and take effect — it cannot be changed.”

Bai Youwei exclaimed in surprise, “But without touching them to look, there’s no way of knowing what a given item does. Isn’t that essentially just leaving everything to chance?”

The ghost-fire: “Luck… is also a part of strength. And so — please, everyone, make your selection.”