Chapter 42: Instance Crisis, Apartment Collapse

Chapter 42: Instance Crisis, Apartment Collapse

Ji Yan's words jolted the two awake.

Watching the supernatural insects begin to crawl into their pant legs, Huang Ran frowned in confusion. "No substantial harm?"

"Then what about all those corpses with exploded heads on the ground? Were they just illusions too?"

Ji Yan shook his head. "Those people really died."

"That ghost face can only kill through its one and only hunting rule."

"The sounds it emits affect players' brains, creating various hallucinations that lead them to violate that hunting rule."

As Ji Yan spoke, Huang Ran immediately understood. "You mean the hunting rule is fear?"

"To be precise, when fear is amplified beyond a certain threshold, it triggers the rule of exploding heads to force death."

"That old man's ghost face deliberately created an atmosphere of despair, making us feel its hunting rule was unsolvable, thereby infinitely amplifying our fear."

"In reality, its hunting rule is extremely simple."

"These supernatural insects are just another means to instill fear in us."

Ji Yan glanced at his own Life Value, which hadn’t decreased at all, then turned to Liu Yitong and Huang Ran. Their lower bodies were also mangled from being gnawed on, but with Ji Yan’s reassurance, their fear didn’t escalate further, allowing the insects to continue feasting...

At that moment, the mysterious thief suddenly tore open a section of the wall, pulling out a large, bloody chunk of flesh and greedily stuffing it into its mouth...

As the flesh was ripped out, cracks spread across the wall.

"That damn thing is eating the apartment again!"

After devouring a piece of the wall, the thief didn’t continue. Instead, it withdrew its hands, recalling the supernatural insects, and prepared to leave.

Ji Yan watched this scene, knowing this opportunity couldn’t be wasted.

Even if they couldn’t capture it, they had to uncover hidden information.

This thief didn’t seem to steal indiscriminately.

It had a specific target.

Why were both the Landlord and Miss Xu powerless against it, relying on players to catch it?

This made Ji Yan suspect there was more hidden beneath the surface.

And his Talent happened to be the perfect counter!

Having deciphered its hunting behavior, Ji Yan didn’t hesitate. As the thief was about to leave, the old man’s ghost face closed its mouth.

Ji Yan swiftly stepped forward, pulling out his last Coffin Nail, wreathed in supernatural aura.

Locking onto his target, the nail pierced through the air and embedded itself into the ghost face.

The terrible burning sensation made the old man’s ghost face let out a howl, its skin splitting apart.

The thief paused. It wanted to reach out and pull the nail free but didn’t dare touch the Coffin Nail.

In the end, it simply tore the ghost face off its body and flung it into a corner before turning to leave...

Ji Yan watched it go without further action.

Once the thief was gone, the illusions dissipated. The horrifying supernatural insects vanished, and Liu Yitong and Huang Ran’s bloodied bodies returned to their original, unharmed states.

"Thought this ghost was something special, but turns out it’s all bark and no bite!"

With the thief gone, Huang Ran spat in frustration, furious at how humiliated he’d been.

He glared at Ji Yan. "You just let it escape like that?"

Ji Yan shot him a glance. "If you’re so tough, why didn’t you chase it?"

"I just overestimated that ghost. Never thought its hunting rule would be this simple. If I’d known its killing rule from the start..."

"Enough with the 'what ifs.' If it weren't for my reminder, your head wouldn't be on your shoulders right now."

Ji Yan cut him off mercilessly. He had no patience for those who talked tough after the fact but lacked the skill to back it up.

"And you’ve misunderstood one thing."

"It didn’t leave because it was afraid we’d escape. It left because it got what it wanted."

Ji Yan never believed that uncovering one Hunting Rule meant the Thief was powerless against them. That was just the Old Man's Ghost Face’s method of killing.

Earlier information had mentioned that the Thief’s body was covered in ghostly faces—each one likely possessing its own Hunting Rule. The Thief might not have even bothered to take them seriously.

"That Thief is nothing but a rat everyone wants dead. If we players can’t handle it, we still have the Supernatural Residents to help."

"No matter how fierce it is, can it really stand against every resident in the apartment?"

Any player involved in the Main Storyline Task could obtain equipment and assistance from the Supernatural Residents—that was why so many players had confidence.

For example, that Supernatural Pistol was given to Huang Ran as a reward by his Supernatural Family after he accepted the Main Storyline Task.

Seeing they weren’t on the same page, Huang Ran snorted and turned to leave, probably to team up with other squads to continue the hunt.

Ji Yan ignored him. The Old Man's Ghost Face on the floor, now detached from its host, withered rapidly, its vitality draining away.

Ji Yan walked over and reached out to touch it.

As expected, his Talent triggered. At least the last Coffin Nail hadn’t been wasted.

[Everything must be replaced. I’m only discarding what should be discarded—for the sake of longer survival.]

[What you should be stopping isn’t me. You’re just digging your own graves.]

"...What does that mean?"

Ji Yan’s expression froze. He hadn’t expected the Hidden Information to be the Thief’s own words.

"Things that should be discarded"—did that refer to what it had stolen?

But if they didn’t stop it, the apartment would surely collapse from all the theft.

How was that digging their own graves?

Ji Yan didn’t believe the Hidden Information would lie. There had to be another meaning.

"What’s up with that face?" Liu Yitong asked from behind, eyeing the completely withered, rotten face in Ji Yan’s hand.

Tossing the now "dead" face aside, Ji Yan dusted off his hands. "Nothing. Just looked weird, thought I’d see if there was anything useful."

No sooner had he spoken than the game’s notification echoed in his mind.

"Warning! The Main Storyline Task boss’s progress has caused 13% structural damage to the Instance Apartment. The building has entered the initial stage of collapse."

"If the apartment’s damage reaches 85%, load-bearing structures will fail, the Instance map will collapse, and all players will be eliminated."

"Please stop the malicious Supernatural Entity as soon as possible!"

"Strategy Hint: Supernatural Residents cannot stop it, but they can provide equipment to restrain or even kill it. Players can interact with Supernatural Families to obtain Main Storyline Task equipment."

Seeing this, both Ji Yan and Liu Yitong were stunned.

Liu Yitong shook Ji Yan’s shoulders excitedly. "The game actually gave us a strategy hint! Now we have a way!"

But Ji Yan was skeptical. "This is the hardest Main Storyline Task."

"For the game system to just hand us the solution like this—doesn’t that seem too easy?"

Previously, even when taking on a C-grade task, there was never anything like a game guide hint.

"Isn’t this strange? Maybe the difficulty isn’t in the hint itself, but in the interactions?"

"And besides, that Thief is so terrifying. Without some hints, it’s literally unplayable!"

"The main storyline task concerns the entire instance. The game system is probably afraid of losing it and is leaning toward helping the players."

Liu Yitong stared at the headless corpses scattered across the floor, the psychological trauma still fresh in his mind. Just one encounter had wiped out so many players. If the system didn’t offer help, how could they even play?

Ji Yan closed the hint panel and opened the chat window instead.

As expected, the group had exploded into chaos after the hints were provided.

The remaining players were no longer running around like headless flies—they suddenly had direction.

Interact with the supernatural residents, obtain equipment, and push the main storyline!

Their urgency wasn’t just due to the instance’s crisis, but also the massive rewards tied to the main storyline task itself.

Liu Yitong tugged at Ji Yan. "Let’s go back to 404!"

"What for?"

"To get supernatural artifacts from the family! Now that we have some info on that Thief, we can definitely get something more useful."

"The other players are already moving. We can’t fall behind!"

Ji Yan pondered for a moment before turning toward the stairwell. "Fine, let’s head back to 404 first."

On the way down, cracks had already begun spreading across the walls and ceiling, thick black blood oozing from the fissures.

Just as the game system had warned, the apartment was truly crumbling bit by bit.

And as Miss Xu had said, that Thief was stealing the lifeblood of the apartment!

When they returned to the room, Ji Yan entered the Grandmother’s quarters.

Even her walls were cracking, her hunched figure looking more weathered than ever.

"Did you catch that thief?"

The Grandmother wiped the sweater in her hands, her cloudy eyes fixed on Ji Yan.

Ji Yan shook his head. "Grandmother, we ran into the thief."

"But it’s armed. Our makeshift thief-catching squad suffered heavy casualties."

"We were unarmed—could only watch helplessly as it escaped."

His words were far from subtle.

He might as well have outright asked for equipment—without it, catching the Thief was impossible!

The Grandmother didn’t even hesitate.

She opened a box and pulled out a silver needle the length of a finger, handing it to Ji Yan. "Take this."

"This is the embroidery needle I’ve always treasured. Many fabrics were cut and shaped with it. I don’t know what that Thief looks like or what it’s capable of."

"But if you so much as scratch it with this needle, it’ll remember the pain for eternity."

Closing the box, she looked at Ji Yan with the solemnity of someone entrusting their final wishes. "Good grandson, I’ve given you my family heirloom."

"You must prove yourself. You have to stop that thing."

"I truly don’t want to leave this apartment. I can’t bear to see it collapse and perish."

"I’ve lived here too long. Too much of me is tied to this place."

"Out there… I wouldn’t survive."