Edited by Jules
The instant he opened the door, Xiao Lan seemed to see a pair of red high heel shoes on deathly pale legs floating in the air, but they completely disappeared in the next second.
His brow furrowed slightly and he looked at Luo.
Luo nodded at him, indicating that he had seen it as well.
The players behind them were utterly unaware of this, and trooped into the office.
After entering this office.
Xiao Lan realised that this was the most normal room he had seen so far. There was only one workstation here, the things were placed very neatly, there were some ornaments on the table, and a faint aroma still lingered in the air. Green plants had been placed in the corners and next to the window. Although they had already withered from lack of care after so long, they had probably been verdant and lush originally.
Hu Zhai instinctively made out the truth and couldn’t help getting excited. “This is a girl’s room! Someone who loves cleanliness this much is definitely a beautiful little lady!”
While Xiao Lan didn’t know if she was beautiful, he also felt that the previous owner of this room was probably female. After all, few men would use a floral rubber duck bolster. The entire office decor also exuded the delicate and meticulous touch of a woman.
However, did this single workstation mean that it was just one person who did all the art-related work?
Xiao Lan thought about the dumbfounded expressions of the players who had been assigned the arts, and suddenly felt a sense of admiration for this artist jiejie whom he had never met.
This was a genuine all-round art god ah.
The players split up and began searching for clues in this room.
Hu Zhai went to the window, Mu Yang walked over to the computer, while Cheng Wenyi remained engrossed in stroking his cat and in his own handsomeness.
Xiao Lan and Luo walked over to the nearby bookcases, which had also collected dust. Xiao Lan glanced at the book titles. Most were art collections, the bulk of which were monster mythologies, as well as a few miscellaneous notes on the supernatural and uncanny beings. They were basically resources.
But there wasn’t much related to ‘Yin’. What was displayed here were just ordinary resources.
Just as they were about to leave, Luo noticed what looked like a green perfume bottle in the corner on the topmost shelf. He took it and passed it to Xiao Lan. “There’s an item here.”
【Name: Green-turning mist spray】
【Ability: Engenders suspicion between collaborators for a 2-minute duration】
【Description: Wife, I’m… back… What are you guys doing?!】
Xiao Lan: “…”
What a heartrending item. There seemed to be a marvelous backstory.
But if he was once again chased by a group of monsters, this item would probably be very useful, and they didn’t have to move things to block the path anymore.
He shook the bottle. There was still a lot of liquid inside; he could at least use it several times.
Xiao Lan put away the item, and the others also didn’t have any opinions about this.
According to the unspoken rules that were tacitly agreed on between players, an item generally belonged to the person who found it. If you didn’t want to clash with someone else, then don’t object about ownership, or it would be seen as a provocation.
At that moment, Hu Zhai found a photo frame and bottle next to the window. He called the other players over. “Come see. This seems to be a photo of the artist.”
The players walked over.
They first looked at the photo frame. In it was a photo of a woman in a red dress. She had long black hair and very nice curves, and was the gorgeous and exquisite type. She was leaning against a man and smiling at the camera. One of the man’s arms was holding an umbrella while the other held her in his embrace; it was very obvious that this was a couple.
Hu Zhai couldn’t help saying, “How beautiful ah… Such a beauty dying is truly too much of a pity…”
Suddenly, he realised something was wrong. It was very possible that saying something like this to a female ghost would make her assume that he wanted a ghost marriage, and was very easily remembered. Just from the rumours he had heard, he knew that several people had provoked ghosts like this in the games.
Why hadn’t he restrained himself for a moment? Even if she was beautiful, she was still an NPC ah, and one who was long dead!
Hu Zhai hastily covered his mouth, regret all over his face.
“No need to be nervous. She probably won’t come looking for you.” Cheng Wenyi’s slightly arrogant and indolent voice rang out. He unhurriedly walked over and pointed at the man in the photo. “See these clothes? It’s custom-made by a well-known master; there aren’t many sets even in a year.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He then pointed at the man’s umbrella. “This is the umbrella that comes with a Rolls-Royce. One umbrella is worth about a hundred thousand.
“Obbx ja tlw jujlc.” Coafg atja, Jtfcu Qfcsl ufraegfv ja atf wjc’r lwqgfrrlnf ojmf jcv oluegf, atfc mbcvfrmfcvlcuis rlhfv eq atf qiewq jcv gbecv Le Itjl. “Vb, sbe’gf nfgs rjof.”
Le Itjl: “…”
Although Cheng Wenyi hadn’t said anything demeaning about him, why did he feel like his knees were super painful? Also, the lives of you rich people are truly hard to comprehend.
Le Itjl mbeivc’a tfiq jrxlcu, “Qts kbeiv j mjg tjnf lar bkc ewygfiij? Jjc’a tf ufa bcf tlwrfio?”
Cheng Wenyi seemed a little perplexed. “Preparing one on your own won’t match the car; moreover, that is the chauffeur’s job.”
Commoners: “…”
Ah, there’s something like this?
Mu Yang quietly said, “Cheng ge, you’re just showing off your wealth.”
Cheng Wenyi: “…”
He took a deep breath and preserved his elegant demeanour. “Another two more essays.”
Shirley’s large furry tail swayed. “Meow~”
Mu Yang: “…”
Perhaps this punk youth was the person who was truly injured the most in this game.
“Then… then what about that?” Hu Zhai pointed at the bottle next to the photo. He didn’t want to be tangled up in such a distressing topic like artist jiejie and her Mr Perfect boyfriend anymore, and hastily changed the subject.
The bottle Hu Zhai was pointing at was exquisite, with a meticulous and realistic design. The liquid inside was a ruby red.
Luo reached out and picked up the bottle that was smaller than a palm, examined its exterior, then opened the lid to take a sniff. “This is a perfume bottle. From the exterior and craftsmanship, it was probably custom-made.”
He flipped over the perfume bottle to see the bottom. “It has a date. It might be the artist’s birthday, or something like their couple’s anniversary.”
Hu Zhai was astonished. “You can tell even this?”
Luo’s elegant and appropriate smile didn’t waver. “After seeing so much, it’s nothing. After all, there’s a very large difference between the craftsmanship for custom-ordered versions and bulk products.”
Hu Zhai: “…”
What was up with this feeling of being attacked by intangible flaunting yet again?
Were all players now so rich? Was he imperceptibly lowering the players’ average income… For one moment, Hu Zhai sank deep into self-doubt.
Seeing that the scary big monster was finally further away from Xiao Lan, Shirley’s big blue eyes brightened. It couldn’t help stretching out its furry little paws to try and touch Xiao Lan’s arm with its super soft pink pads.
Closer, even closer, just a little more…
Luo suddenly turned his head, his sharp gaze sweeping in Shirley’s direction.
“Meow…” Having been discovered by the big monster, Shirley retracted its paws aggrievedly and crawled back into Cheng Wenyi’s embrace.
Seeing the being which coveted his family’s master finally withdraw, a pleased Luo finally withdrew his gaze.
Sensing Luo’s gaze, Cheng Wenyi’s eyes turned cold — this guy was actually provoking him!
It’s bearable; who can’t bear it?!
•
After looking at the photo and perfume, the players split up and continued searching.
Not long after.
Mu Yang, who was searching for clues on the computer, finally found a lead. He pushed the chair back and pointed at an image on the screen as he said, “This is probably the design draft for Yin. From the file name and timestamp, it’s the final draft.”
The folder had a pile of photos. The names were ‘design_1’, ‘design_2’… ‘Final’, ‘Final_2’, ‘Final_3’…
The name of the opened image had already reached ‘Finalfinalfinal_23’. The frequent modifications throughout the game’s making was obvious.
On the screen was a greyish-blue, half-transparent thing. Its form was a little similar to a human, but its entire body was unnaturally swollen, like a floating corpse. Its head had already swollen to two to three times the size of a normal person’s, and some parts had even festered, giving it a bizarre and repugnant look.
Moreover, its body gradually became intangible from the waist down; there was already nothing where its feet should be.
The image also contained a clear model sheet and a detailed drawing, allowing even the players who didn’t know anything about game development to clearly understand its appearance.
Hu Zhai inhaled sharply. “Ss… This is Yin? It looks really…”
Mu Yang’s expression also wasn’t good as he poked the mouse. “It’s useless even if we know what Yin looks like; we can’t even see it.”
Hu Zhai also realised this, and was a little disappointed. “That’s true…”
Xiao Lan pondered. “Since we were able to find this clue, it’s possible there’s a chance we’ll see Yin later.”
Mu Yang: “You’re talking about that method to seal it?”
Xiao Lan nodded. “If we don’t know what Yin looks like, how can we guarantee that the one we seal is genuinely Yin?”
That was true; if they wasted a lot of time and effort but ultimately sealed the wrong thing, wouldn’t everyone die and enter the earth’s core?
Zz — zz — zzz —
A strange sound rang out in one corner of the office.
Everyone turned to look, only to see the printer that had been sitting quietly in the corner automatically light up. It should be pointed out that right now, all the players were gathered around the computer; there was no one near the printer.
Under the players’ gazes, there was the buzz of printing as a sheet of paper slowly came out of the paper tray.
A gust of wind from who knew where blew this paper from the printer to float all the way to the players.
There was a black and white human face on the paper. The hair was long, dishevelled and in need of trimming, and the face was very thin with large dark circles around the eyes. It had the look of excessive liver failure.
As if the printing quality was poor; the face was covered in large patches of black and white, like dried bloodstains and laceration wounds.
The haggard face had a sinister appearance as it stared forward fixedly to meet the players’ gazes.
The terrifying movie cliche trope — the human face from the printer.
Hu Zhai couldn’t help taking a step back. Although he had experienced many games, he couldn’t be considered brave, and was still a little timid when facing a scene like this.
Mu Yang also quietly took one step behind Cheng Wenyi. Even if he was an arrogant and obstinate punk youth, he was still terrified when encountering supernatural incidents.
Cheng Wenyi shot him a look, his eyes a little scornful, but he didn’t push him away either.
The players were silent for a time.
Seeing this, the printer became increasingly unbridled.
Zz — zz — zzz—
Sheets of the same face emerged from the printer.
The only difference was that the malevolent ghost face got bigger and bigger, as if a malicious ghost was getting closer to the surface of the paper and about to break out.
The papers fluttered about in the office in an unknown breeze.
A sheet of paper just happened to drift to Xiao Lan’s feet. The instant the face met Xiao Lan’s eyes, it slowly revealed a smile.
That smile was gloomy and sorrowful, as if it harboured deep malice.
Beside him, Luo’s eyebrows rose, and he raised his foot with a small smile —
And then ruthlessly stepped on the face, stomping that expanding smile back down.
When Luo lifted his foot again, the malevolent ghost face looked a little comical because of the footprint that occupied half its face.
Ghost face: “…”
“A printer ah, I think I still remember how to repair it,” Xiao Lan said lightly, then walked towards the printer.
He once did office-related jobs as well. Moreover, he also did some odd jobs as an intern, and sometimes would be asked to repair the printer and whatnot.
Although, he hadn’t done this work for long before he was fired because of the loan sharks coming to the door and making a ruckus.
Forging his way through the fluttering papers, Xiao Lan reached the printer.
He directly reached out to open the printer lid, but it was like the printer was being protected by some unknown force. The cover fit seamlessly, and for one moment, he unexpectedly couldn’t open it.
But, strength produced miracles.
Kacha — Under Xiao Lan’s efforts, the cover of the printer was lifted up completely; it was just that he went a little overboard, and directly broke off.
Xiao Lan threw away the cover in passing, then found the printer’s ink cartridge unerringly. The unknown force still wanted to try and struggle, but it seemed extremely pathetic, weak, and helpless.
Kacha — The ink cartridge was also forcibly torn out by Xiao Lan.
After that, this guy heartlessly threw out even the papers in the machine.
Then, Xiao Lan crossed his arms and stood to the side as he looked coldly at the printer. His eyes seem to be saying, “If you have the ability, continue printing ah.”
Unfortunately, he didn’t obtain any poverty value.
But one could guess that Yin probably didn’t care about anything in this setting. After all, it even dared kill its creators.
Mu Yang and Hu Zhai who had watched the entire process: The fuck, this guy is so heartless, he doesn’t even have the slightest of the necessary respect for a scary cliche trope.
As the proverb went, ‘the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice’.
The cleverest ghost also couldn’t print without ink and paper.
Seemingly enraged by Xiao Lan’s actions, the wind howled wildly. A shadow that couldn’t be considered tall slowly crawled out of the printer. He glared fiercely at Xiao Lan, like he wanted to tear him to shreds.
Xiao Lan took out 【Dalit’s Bone】 and prepared to meet the enemy head-on.
Right at that moment, a slender and well-shaped leg wearing a red high-heel shoe swept through the air. The eight-centimeter stiletto kicked the ghost face which appeared right in the face.
“Ao —” The male ghost gave a shrill shriek.
The sight made them feel pain on his behalf.
Xiao Lan paused. What was going on here?
The owner of the red high heels slowly appeared. Red clothes, black hair, gorgeous looks, but with a deep ligature mark around her neck — it was the ghost of the artist.
She wore a red dress and her whole body exuded a black fog, as if her resentment had been given material form.
Miss Artist ignored the players present as a blood-coloured whip appeared in her hand and she violently beat up the male ghost that had crawled out of the printer.
Pa —
Pa —
The sound of air crackling echoed in the office.
The ferocity of the artist’s attack made the onlookers keep quiet out of fear, and she directly beat up the other until he wailed loudly and regretted being a ghost.
“W- w- what… is going on?” Hu Zhai was stupefied by the beautiful lady’s cruel actions.
Cheng Wenyi reached out and scratched Shirley’s head. “I’m guessing the one being beaten up is the designer.”
The designer, who all day deluded himself into thinking the artist liked him, and even arbitrarily demanded that she modify the drawing repeatedly and work overtime, and also tormented Yin into existence, leading to the young lady’s death.
Hu Zhai’s voice trembled. “Turns out the conflict between the designer and artist is this bloody?”
Mu Yang poked his head out from behind Cheng Wenyi. “Think about it: you’re barely enduring your demanding boss, vulgar colleagues, and work that makes you go bald, and you’re about to marry and become a Miss Perfect and reach the pinnacle of life, ending your dog life of working overtime day and night — in the end, you’re killed by the monster created by this guy. Tell me if you’d be angry or not.”
Hu Zhai thought about it —
Real angry oh, want to beat him to death.
thanks for the chapter! ♡
».. while Cheng Wenyi remained engrossed in stroking his cat and in his own handsomeness.« lololol Question, bc I can’t remember, did this guy anything useful so far? xD
And that scene with the cat, if I could draw that would make a funny picture haha.
Yeah lady in red, beat that delusional guy hard >3
Thx for the ch ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و
Lmao serious respect for the artist
+1 she has successfully caught by respect, and hey do you guys think maybe she can teach Lou how to draw? Or is it really the point of no return…
Woah the NPC could go like that too 😅😁
Thank you for the chapter ❤️
I Love Her!
Yas, girl, beat him to death!! We, from this side, can’t do this but you can, so we share with you part of our power!
thanks for the chapter~
Lmao, TYSM for the Update
That high-heel descending from nowhere to kick, too beautiful. Guys who make up problems so you have to talk to them are the worst, even more so if they then get you killed. It’s probably pretty bad that my first thought when the printer started putting out multiple sheets of an encroaching ghost was “such a waste of paper,” and then “wow, this printer is pretty fast?”” haha
Thank you so much for translating! <3
Truly a waste of paper.
Go girl! Hit him!
Thank you for the update! 😆
Poor Shirley’s trying so hard to get close to Xiao Lan, so cute! ( ≧▽≦ ) Too bad Luo won’t allow it kekeke.
Gotta remember, Luo used to be a cat too… Cats can be very territorial when they think one of their kind is encroaching on what they see as theirs, lol. 😅😂
Thanks for the chapter! ^^)❤
Lol imagine you have a conflict with someone and you think they have a conflict with you but their actual conflict is with your cat 😭😭. If i was the artist i would beat his ass too😌😌
thanks for the chapter <3
Nice, I really like the Artist
Awwww Shirley is so cute. I wanna see XL pets Shirley (and watching Luo’s vinegar ahaha)
Lol that’s also how i name my files 🙃
Go Miss Artist, beat him🔥
Thanks for ur hardwork! ❤
💜💜💜
Beat him more !!! Hit him more !!! Go !!! Go !!! Go !!!
The cat is a little Sus.
Isn’t the description of a girl in red dress that wields a whip, smth we’ve seen alrdy near the end of the subway station instance???
rip artist she was so close to living that dream life. work must have been pure suffering and that designer deserves the absolute worst.
Poor the artist (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Luo ge ah, you’re so jealous! let Xiao Lan experience that happiness, ba!~
also this artist jiejie idea really… i’ll help you ba!