"Nurse, have you seen my family?" Jiang Che politely walked up to the counter where the nurse was watching a video.
"Aren't you annoying! Your family is not here, okay?" The nurse shouted impatiently, soon it would be time for the dungeon's random pull!
This kid is having an episode again!
She stared at the video on her phone—strategies and records for clearing all kinds of bizarre dungeons. She had to seize the last bit of time to learn the key points to escape from those dungeons.
But over ten thousand recorded supernatural dungeons exist all over the world, each with different traits, and every evil spirit has its own characteristics and killing methods!
There's no way to memorize them all. It's just impossible!
In 2025, the Human Realm went through earth-shattering changes.
Every ten days, the supernatural descends on reality, and humans are herded into a hunting ground, forced to find a way to survive that day.
But disaster didn't stop there,
Besides the hunting grounds day, the rest of the time, the world generates bizarre dungeons, and humans get randomly pulled into them.
Within three days of entering a dungeon, if you find an exit, you can escape.
This is also the only way for humans to grow stronger—taking the special items from the dungeon back to reality, or simply escaping increases your physical abilities.
Those special items can mostly help in the real-life hunting grounds, helping people survive.
And if you kill the dungeon's evil spirit, you gain one of its abilities.
But evil spirits are nearly impossible to kill, so most people only aim to bring out special items from the dungeon.
In this weird, tumultuous world, dangers are everywhere.
But Red Pearl Mental Hospital has become a Celestial Destiny Circle, struggling to survive in a crevice.
Almost no dungeon ever generates here; hunting grounds never descend, either.
Whether it's random dungeons or the arrival of a hunting ground, Red Pearl Mental Hospital is always outside the affected area. This turned the original hospital, apart from the patients, into a retreat zone for the rich,
because compared to other places, it's safe enough here.
Patients like Jiang Che were forced into one corner, made to live together.
No one cared for the patients' treatment anymore, just a nurse taking shifts to make sure they didn't disturb life in Anding District.
Red Pearl Mental Hospital was called the Celestial Destiny Circle, but everyone knew it wouldn't always be missed.
So people could only cram in dungeon knowledge, trying to master more ways to survive supernatural spirits.
"So do you know where I can find my family?" Jiang Che's eyes were clear, asking the same question as every day.
He stared seriously at the nurse, even though she wouldn't meet his eyes.
"Your family's in a dungeon, alright? The dungeon's just about to start. Go inside and look for your family, stop bothering me!" The young nurse finally lost her patience and cursed him out.
This mental patient kept searching for his family since he was admitted. Everyone had told him clearly: You're an orphan, you have no family. But he just wouldn't believe it.
"Dungeon? My family is in the dungeon?" Jiang Che froze. This was the first time he'd heard any information about his family.
Before, whenever he asked, people only replied, "You have no family."
"Then do you know how I can get to the dungeon?" Jiang Che's heart trembled hard, the tips of his ears visibly reddening.
"Dungeon… dungeon…" He kept muttering the word over and over, a brilliant light flickering in his pupils.
He wanted to go find the dungeon, but didn't know where it was.
People like them, mental patients, no one ever shared any information about these supernatural happenings or dungeons with them.
"According to the rules, there are three hours left before the dungeon opens," the nurse rolled her eyes at him. Humanity had already worked out the timing of dungeons, but not the location.
"But it shouldn't show up here—Red Pearl Mental Hospital is a famous Celestial Destiny Circle!"
Jiang Che frowned. Hearing that it wouldn't show up here, he turned and left.
Should he run out and look for a dungeon?
He had no problem with intelligence—he just wanted to find his family, he wasn't stupid.
Though this crowd never told them any information, he'd vaguely picked up that the world had changed.
He often watched the rotating staff holding their phones, watching strange videos and jotting down notes and reciting them again and again.
Jiang Che stood beside the courtyard fish tank and tossed in a coin.
He closed his eyes, pressed his hands together, and bowed his head to pray:
Hope the dungeon opens in Red Pearl Mental Hospital.
As if one wish wasn't enough, he reached his hand into the fish tank, retrieved the coin,
: Hope my family is in the dungeon.
Plop!
The coin dropped into the water again, drifting to the bottom.
In the next second, black clouds above Red Pearl Mental Hospital twisted into an ever-growing vortex, just one glance felt like it could pull people in.
His wet hand reached into the fish tank again,
: Hope I can enter the dungeon.
At the same time, a notification flashed into Jiang Che's mind.
[The dungeon is opening. Nobody is allowed to leave. Please await your summoning.]
The vortex above grew ever larger, and from Anding District came the screeches and howls of those people, thick with irrepressible dread: "Dungeon! Dungeon!"
Excited, he rushed back to the counter, but the nurse from before looked as pale as a ghost, her eyes dead and empty.
"Nurse, is this the dungeon? Will I find my family soon?"
But she just glared, then looked back down at her phone, the video now at 3x speed.
Getting no answer, Jiang Che forlornly dragged a stool into the courtyard and stared unblinking at the swirling black cloud vortex.
The other mental patients in the room continued playing on their own, unconcerned by the looming mutant sky.
As the dungeon's aura appeared, Red Pearl Mental Hospital's image streamed onto everyone's live broadcast platform.
This was an item someone once brought back from a weird dungeon, its effect being to connect to dungeons and broadcast live the feed of Survivors entering the dungeon.
When a dungeon forms, the feed starts projecting immediately.
A testament to just how powerful this dungeon item was,
[Hahahahaha, Red Pearl Mental Hospital! It's finally their turn!]
[Fifty grand a day to stay there. If they weren't afraid of kicking out the mental patients and breaking the area's magnetic field, they'd never let so many mentally ill stay.]
[Does living there help? Sooner or later you'll die either way.]
[It helps! I got into the dungeons late, but learned so much watching the streams. I've already escaped from two dungeons.]
[Holy crap, boss! Next hunt can you bring a newbie along? I'll pay!]
[See that idiot sitting in the courtyard? Bet he doesn't even know what's above his head. These rich bastards are real assholes, didn't even bother to teach the mental patients anything about the weirdness and the dungeons.]
[You think they'd understand even if you explained? Waste of time.]
...
Jiang Che lowered his head to look at himself. He was only wearing a blue-and-white striped hospital gown, his hands completely empty.
He'd never seen his family.
If you're going to see your family, shouldn't you bring a gift home?
...
Red Pearl Mental Hospital was divided into two areas: one was the tiny patient ward, and the other was the Anding District where the rich could relax and live.
Jiang Che looked toward the Anding District, sealed up with iron bars, and walked toward the unattended small gate.
The black swirling clouds above grew larger and larger, the invisible pull getting stronger—enough to suck anyone in at any moment.
Soon enough, a neat-looking suitcase appeared in Jiang Che's hand.
He gripped the handle tightly, terrified he'd drop it.
And just now, the footage of him sneaking into Anding District to "take" things was being live broadcasted across the whole internet.
At this moment, the rich in Anding District couldn't care less about Jiang Che rummaging through the rooms for valuables.
Everyone just clutched their prepped weapons, bodies trembling, waiting for the final moment.
Anything could be brought into the dungeon, as long as the survivor thought it was useful—even a rocket launcher would be allowed in.
But after countless tries, it was proven that military-grade gear couldn't hurt spectral beings—only functional items within the dungeon could. Things brought from outside had no effect on the spirits.
Still, people brought weapons for the sense of security, even if it was just psychological comfort.
The audience saw Jiang Che's current state and immediately cracked up.
[If I hadn't seen the jewelry, cigarettes, booze, and a few dolls in his suitcase, I really would've thought he'd got some secret weapon.]
[Does he think he can bribe the spirits with jewels or what?]
[I'm dying, everyone else is packing heat, he's packing cash.]
[See, that's why he's mentally ill—a normal person he's not.]
...
Jiang Che patiently stood out in the open. His heartbeat raced, same as everyone else's, wild rhythm pounding.
Red Pearl Mental Hospital was shrouded in a thin gray mist, and as the fog finally covered it in full, everyone vanished from the hospital.
When the world cleared up again, Jiang Che found himself standing at the door of a two-story standalone house.
The house's entrance was closed tight; it didn't look like anyone was home.
He squeezed his suitcase harder, looking around.
He realized that, just a moment ago, the orderlies and rich folks standing near him were nowhere to be seen.
He sized up his surroundings.
This was the heart of an old neighborhood. The plants in the flowerbed looked like charred wood after a fire, traces of the flames faintly lingering. The walls of the standalone house were marked by scorch and burn, the air filled with the reek of old, rotting smoke.
Looking a bit further out, distant buildings twisted and warped, and up on their roofs strange blobs of flesh squirmed.
Jiang Che looked down; a silver key lay on the ground.
Jiang Che bent down and picked it up.
The key was right in front of him; could this be his key?
Was this house his home?
Were his family inside?
At the moment Jiang Che picked up the key, the people watching the livestream started screaming.
Red Pearl Mental Hospital had a total of 395 people, now there were 395 survivor streams—each one scattered across different spots once they entered the dungeon.
Just one glance and the viewers recognized the dungeon before them.
This dungeon was named [Despair], number nine.
It was one of the SSS-level dungeons that no survivor had ever escaped from.
Unlike other certain-death dungeons, most of the SSS-level ones have obviously marked exits, never hiding them—almost taunting survivors.
But knowing where the exit is one thing, actually getting out is another.
Some exits are guarded by spirits, making escape impossible.
Only the ninth dungeon has never had its exit found—hence, Despair.
To date, the ninth dungeon had opened 19 times, with 8,723 participants; escapes: zero.
In every stream, survivors were already screaming in hopelessness,
"How can it be! How can it be number nine!"
"Out of tens of thousands of dungeons—it had to be number nine!"
"I'd rather kill myself than let the spirits torture me!"
"Others may not survive, but I can—I can! I will find the exit!"
"Despair doesn't mean actual despair—as long as I avoid the wrong turns others took, I can find a way out!"
...
Countless people despaired realizing which dungeon they'd landed in; a few still wanted to try their luck.
By this time, many had noticed Jiang Che picking up the key.
Jiang Che stepped toward the standalone house, and even the viewers held their breath.
[The ninth dungeon isn't unsolvable—it's just that the exit hasn't been found yet.]
[19 previous runs, 8 people started at this house, not one dared go inside—he's actually the first.]
[Mental illness hits different—he's got guts!]
[What if the reason no one found the exit is simply because it's behind the doors of these houses?]
...
This comment immediately caught everyone's attention—stunned, as it was a path nobody had ever thought of.
The level of weirdness in the ninth dungeon actually isn't high; it gets its ranking solely because over 8,000 people passed through and not one found the exit.
The ninth dungeon covers a huge area, and almost nobody enters any locked, unknown houses.
Weird dungeons have one rule: never casually enter a house, because most rooms inside are inhabited by spirits.
Wandering outside, the spirits might ignore you, but if you disturb them indoors, you're doomed to endless torment and slaughter.
[There are 78 locked houses in the ninth dungeon. 65 have already been opened. If folks up front open all the doors, at least the rest of us might have a chance!]
[But what if all the doors get opened and there's still no exit?]
[Then just try other places—use human lives to experiment! That's how all dungeons go!]
[Another idiot opening doors, but there are a hundred idiots this time. Can't we use them as guinea pigs?]
...
Jiang Che slid the key into the lock, tamped down his excitement, and as he twisted it loudly called, "I'm home!"
No answer from inside; Jiang Che slowly opened the door and poked his head in.
The moment he peered in, the viewers saw the house's interior.
The oppressive atmosphere made everyone watching the stream almost choke. In the kitchen, a butcher wearing a faceless mask was cooking at the stove, the pot in front of him bubbling with bloody water.
The bullet screen cleared as if wiped clean; everyone went silent.
The human hanging upside down was familiar—they recognized him as the director of Red Pearl Mental Hospital. Thanks to the Celestial Destiny Circle, he made a fortune and supposedly traded for some powerful dungeon items.
He was seemingly the most likely to survive, and yet seconds into the dungeon—done for?
Jiang Che looked at the scene inside—this was clearly a married couple?
The man cooking; the woman tending to the patient, stitching up their wounds.
"Dad, Mom! I'm home!" Without hesitation, he'd searched for his parents for years outside, and the nurse said they'd be in the dungeon. This couple must be his parents.
The moment Jiang Che called them "Dad" and "Mom," the audience was dumbstruck,
This guy's got mental problems, right? He's calling weird spirits "Dad" and "Mom"?
...
As soon as Jiang Che spoke, the evil spirit in the room stopped what it was doing, and the blood-rusted saw meat knife in its hand dripped blood onto the floor, drop by drop.
"What did you just call us?" The butcher in the kitchen put down the unidentifiable hunk of flesh and, dragging the saw meat knife, walked toward the doorway.
His pants were already soaked with blood, leaving a smeared trail of red as he walked.
The livestream viewers held their breath; some had already switched to other Survivors' streams, unable to keep watching Jiang Che's feed.
[Shit, this idiot!]
[We already know he's insane, but seeing him serve himself up is still hard to take.]
[Even if he's mentally ill, someone in that hospital should've at least taught him the basics, right? If they're going to send him to die, at least let him test out the rules, not just die for nothing.]
...
Ever since this horror descended on reality, the number of lives lost has become countless.
People have stopped sympathizing with anyone; they only think his death wasn't even worthwhile.
The butcher pressed closer to Jiang Che, and even the viewers could hardly bear to watch anymore.
With the thick stench of blood practically suffocating him, Jiang Che just stared seriously into the butcher's eyes.
But the eyes behind the mask were nothing but cruelty and bloodlust.
When he heard the question, Jiang Che was stunned for a moment. Then, unable to help himself, he frowned, "They said my family's in this dungeon. Aren't you my dad?"
The man in front of him reeked of blood and death, but Jiang Che was definitely not the type to be put off by a bad smell.
No matter what his family did for a living, no matter their work, he would always want to be with his family.
Hearing what he said, the butcher actually seemed to be amused by this sudden question; the gaping mouth painted on his mask twisted into a hideous grin.
"Yeah, I'm your old man. C'mon, be a good son and come eat." He let out a low, guttural laugh. He was inviting Jiang Che in to eat, but anyone could hear the mockery cutting through his words.
Jiang Che was disappointed at first; he'd asked, just like every other time, not really expecting much. But when the man admitted it, Jiang Che's eyes turned red and bitter helplessness welled up inside him.
After all these years, he'd finally found his family.
"Look at you, your clothes are all torn. I'll patch them up for you later," the nurse inside put down the skin and flesh she'd been stitching together and addressed Jiang Che with a half-smile, half-sneer.
She waved her fingers—still gripping a scalpel and needle and thread—in the air, while the bodies hanging upside-down beside her showcased their tragic endings.
Jiang Che looked down at the patient's gown he'd been wearing for years—no one had ever cared whether his clothes were good or bad, and it was impossible for the old stains and rips to ever come out.
Moved to tears, Jiang Che nodded heavily.
The butcher, grinning hideously, stepped into the kitchen and shoved his hand into the soup pot, scooping out a pile of strange meat mush to slap onto a plate.
With a sneer, he set the plate on the table, then turned to Jiang Che and waved his saw meat knife.
"Good boy, come eat."
This scene left viewers in the livestream breathless—as if a black hand had wrapped around their throats, squeezing out every bit of air.
[I can barely breathe. Just seeing that… food makes me want to puke.]
[These two evil spirits are absolutely doing this on purpose. They just want to torment and then kill their human victims.]
[Look at that nurse ghost—her entire body is stitched up! She isn't patching clothes; she'll be stitching up people next!]
[I'd rather die than go through this kind of torture!]
[They're clearly treating this mental patient like a plaything.]
...
Jiang Che gazed at them, moved nearly to tears. The place was filthy and bloodstained everywhere, but he didn't mind at all.
He hurried to the table and gently set down his suitcase.
"Dad, Mom, I brought gifts for you this time. I don't know if you'll like them."
As soon as he opened the suitcase, both evil spirits' gazes snapped to his hands, instantly wary, bodies tensed—ready to kill at the slightest provocation.
They were sure he was hiding some kind of fatal weapon inside. But when Jiang Che finally popped it open, he just took out a good bottle of liquor and handed it to the butcher, along with a carton of cigarettes.
The butcher, seeing Jiang Che's expectant gaze, looked momentarily confused.
This kid—is he pretending, or just not afraid at all?
From the moment Jiang Che walked in, they felt not a trace of fear from him. Now, he was even staring up at him, as if desperate for approval.
"…Nice liquor."
The butcher stood silent for a moment, then took the bottle out of Jiang Che's hands.
He twisted off the cap. The strong aroma of spirits instantly mingled with the room's other, much stranger smells—thick, nauseating, and strange.
The butcher glanced at the nurse beside him, his eyes filled with confusion.
"Mom, I got you a gift too." Jiang Che took out a small jewelry box from the case, carefully opened it, and inside glittered a dazzling blue sapphire necklace in his palm.
He'd searched through several rooms in the rich folks' mansion to find that.
"Mom, let me put it on you." Jiang Che went right over, ran behind the nurse ghost, and gently fastened the necklace around her neck, lowering his head to snap the clasp in place.
The two evil spirits stilled, exchanging a puzzled glance.
They could sense it—neither the liquor nor that necklace were any kind of special items that could threaten spirits.
He clipped the necklace on, his eyes pure and clear. The sapphire sparkled, flawless and pure, a stark contrast to the nurse's black-red, filthy uniform.
"It's so beautiful!" Jiang Che said sincerely, oblivious to the increasingly disturbed looks on the two spirits' faces.
The box contained plenty of odds and ends—not just the things he'd taken out, but a few dolls and other objects, all clearly things from the outside world, harmless to evil spirits.
"Alright, let's eat." The nurse ghost twisted her body, sat down at the dining table, and picked a seat.
"Eat." The butcher glanced at the bottle of spirits, then promptly poured it onto the nauseating plate of meat mush.
The already-slimy meat paste quickly turned into an even more revolting soup, the smell now even worse, with a floating layer of greasy scum that could make anyone retch.
When Jiang Che saw his father pour the wine into the food, his eyes reddened, every breath sharp with emotion, and a tidal wave of gratitude washed over him.
He knew some people put wine into dishes to cover up the smell—now his own father was doing the same for him.
Jiang Che certainly noticed the food's disgusting stink,
but at this point, none of it mattered.
The food still stank, the reek not hidden at all, but wasn't Dad making an effort to fix it?
The meals at home were never like this; they must've worried he wouldn't be able to stand the food's stench when he came back.
As long as he had a family, what did a little smell matter?
His parents had done what they could—how could he blame them for not doing better?
Seeing him sniffling, tears nearly flowing, the chat sighed in unison.
[So even he can't hold back now—those tears are pure terror.]
[He's already got nerves of steel. If it were me, I'd never be able to calmly produce gifts and put on a necklace.]
[Sigh… He's not going to last much longer.]
[The evil spirits are just toying with him. He might as well die quickly and get it over with.]
...
...
The smell of alcohol failed to mask the original bloody stench of the food.
On the contrary, with the addition of alcohol, the murky broth became even more bizarre in flavor.
Under the watchful eyes of all, Jiang Che obediently plopped himself down onto the seat.
The viewers watching the stream couldn't help but furrow their brows, for the table was nearly all covered in bloodstains gone black with age—the blood had oxidized and turned dark.
The thick pool of blood accumulated atop the table hadn't solidified due to its heaviness—just running a finger through it would drag out sticky threads.
The same went for the tabletop too; the solid wood had changed color, tainted by all that blood.
Sinister, dark, bloodthirsty, oppressive, evil spirits, savagery…
All these elements were twisted together like a braid, impossible to separate, with only Jiang Che and everything here utterly out of place with one another.
The viewers watching the stream averted their gazes and took deep breaths—only by looking away from the screen did the air feel fresher.
None of them were actually present, but they all felt as though they could smell the nauseating, gag-inducing odor at the scene.
The stench seemed to seep through the screen, worming its way into everyone's nostrils.
There are over ten thousand haunted dungeons, endless blood and slaughter, endless darkness and fear…
The evil spirits thoroughly enjoyed the thrill of toying with their prey, but forcing someone to eat a meal at the table like this was something unprecedented.
From the moment Jiang Che opened the door and called out 'Mom, Dad,' the situation had changed.
The evil spirits had never played house before, and now they were reveling in this novel style of "family roleplay," just waiting for Jiang Che to break—and for his life to end.
The Butcher placed a bowl of murky, meaty broth down in front of Jiang Che.
As he leaned close to Jiang Che, everyone finally noticed: the mask atop the Butcher's head was sewn together from multiple skull caps, completely covering his entire head save for his eyes and nose—the natural cracks in the skulls clearly visible.
He set down the bowl and walked toward the kitchen.
"Thank you, Dad." Jiang Che politely picked up the bowl in front of him, not at all bothered by the strange shape of those chopsticks.
Hearing that title, the Butcher paused for a moment as he turned, then kept walking. "As long as you like it."
Maybe it was just the viewers' imagination, but it seemed like there wasn't a hint of menace in his words.
A surge of warmth rushed through Jiang Che's heart—how could he not like a meal cooked by his own family?
These past years in the asylum, he'd eaten everything there was to eat.
For those patients whose families didn't pay for them, they were never treated like normal people,
Or, rather, never treated as if they had normal intelligence.
But often, someone would come by to check whether their hearts, livers, kidneys, and eyes were healthy.
The best thing the hospital staff did was to care deeply about their physical health.
"Once you're done eating, Mom will patch up your clothes for you." Beside the table, the Blood Nurse's lips twisted into a smile; her cracked mouth nearly split to her ear.
"Okay!" Jiang Che raised his bowl and began to eat in earnest.
From the moment he picked up his bowl and started eating, the attention of both the stream's audience and the two evil spirits converged on him.
The stream, with Jiang Che as main POV, had hit tens of millions of viewers.
Everyone had already given Jiang Che's stream a new nickname: "Haunted Family Roleplay." They were all waiting for the moment when he finally puked.
[Is this lunatic really dumb, or just faking it?]
[Aren't a lot of mentally ill people actually of normal intelligence? Just kind of obsessive, right?]
[I'm about to puke watching this, but he eats like it's delicious?]
[Can you really eat that?!]
[Why don't you try it next time?]
...
After downing a whole bowl, Jiang Che let out a hearty burp. He raised his now-empty bowl high: "Dad! Another bowl!"
The Butcher, who had been watching Jiang Che eat, was dumbfounded. At first, sure, he was only thinking about playing house.
The thrill of hunting and slaughter bored him now; he preferred more subtle torments.
But this person in front of him—this was different. He thought it'd be the same old human tricks, same human ways to survive, the usual acts and desperation.
But no, this one was different!
This child's eyes held no fear. When he called him "Dad" and got a response, he looked happier than anyone else had ever been. When he served him food, the kid's eyes went pink and he looked about ready to cry.
He was actually moved?!
Upon realizing what that emotion meant, the Butcher himself was spooked.
Evil spirits like him grew stronger by feeding on human fear—as long as there was a hint of fear in their vicinity, they could sense it instantly.
But this time, it was different. He didn't sense any familiar flavor coming from this human.
If other people's bloodshot eyes meant terror and fear,
Then this child's bloodshot eyes came from being moved, from happiness, from joy…
All these were emotions he, as an evil spirit, had never experienced before. For the first time, he could taste what happiness felt like.
It was a kind of emotion that did nothing for the growth of an evil spirit—but there was an unfamiliar fragrance in it, something the haunted world had never known.
He got up, taking the empty bowl from Jiang Che and heading for the kitchen. As he walked, he asked, "How did you get by all these years?"
The hand filling up soup paused just briefly, for the moment he asked about Jiang Che's past, he caught a whiff of sadness, suffering, and pain.
"I've been great these years!" Jiang Che took the bowl and slurped down the soup.
But within the Butcher and Blood Nurse's range of perception, his emotions were now turbulent and complex—after a flash of pain and despair, Jiang Che sneaked a glance at the two, then threw it all behind him. "It was just a bit tough, that's all. But now I'm home."
Jiang Che wanted to play tough, but then realized he no longer needed to pretend to be strong.
The Butcher fell silent. The original taste of suffering in his emotions used to be their favorite, but now it just felt irritating.
"Are you full? If not, I'll get you more." The Butcher sat down on the other side of the table, already forgetting that the food he'd prepared was anything but fit for humans.
"I'm full!" Jiang Che nodded vigorously.
"In a bit, your mom will get a room ready upstairs for you. You go up and rest first." The Butcher threw a look at the Blood Nurse.
The Nurse nodded and went upstairs.
She, too, had sensed Jiang Che's shifting emotions earlier. In fact, from the very beginning—when Jiang Che put the necklace on her—she had felt the sincerity in his eyes.
Blood Slaughter's food had always tasted terrible, yet the kid ate every last bite?
At that thought, she froze. She wasn't brute-forced like Blood Slaughter—she immediately realized their food wasn't suitable for humans.
And yet, the kid had still eaten it all with happiness?
She'd have to remind Blood Slaughter later: tonight, they absolutely had to serve something normal for dinner.
Every time a dungeon begins, humans always have to survive here for three days. Most bring rations to get by.
Tonight, they'd have to make sure to prepare something normal for the kid.
But as she thought this, her hands unconsciously paused from tidying the room. She couldn't help but laugh softly.
What the hell?
She and Blood Slaughter had actually ended up raising a human as their son?
...
The room wasn't big, and there was nothing prepared inside.
After she threw all the dried corpses and bones into another room, she realized the house was completely empty—only a bed and a table, nothing else.
It was only when she recalled for a moment what humans needed for daily life that she discovered their home had absolutely nothing prepared.
Thinking of this, she scratched her head awkwardly, opened the door and crept to the corridor, quietly peeking at the father and son chatting on the sofa below, then opened the window and jumped out directly.
She remembered that some evil spirits had killed humans before and collected some decorations.
Humans always brought a lot of things with them when entering a dungeon, and some evil spirits liked collecting these Human Realm items.
Things from their Evil Spirit Realm were often contaminated with blood and filth; although she figured her son wouldn't mind, might even feel happy, she still wanted to get him a clean set of bedding.
She recalled someone brought a lot of camping gear into the dungeon once before.
She used to find it funny, that these humans came to their world and still cared about their quality of life.
But now she thought: good for them!
At this moment, the livestream chat was blowing up; after seeing Jiang Che happily eat two bowls of rice and then chat warmly with Blood Slaughter, with Blood Slaughter quietly sitting on the sofa, listening calmly to Jiang Che talk about his life, the chat went wild.
[Damn, bro, someone should've said earlier that these evil spirits go for this kind of shit! If I could survive, forget eating that meat sludge, I'd eat s—t if it meant living!]
[Another guy scamming for food and shelter, but if that's the survival trick, I'll take ten pounds of it.]
[Gotta admit, this psych ward patient's giving everyone a lesson on how to deal with evil spirits. As long as you can keep up the act and don't slip in front of them, your life's actually safe.]
[What if it's some kind of mindfuck? Play with him a few days, then kill him at the end.]
[Even if it's just to mess with him, at least you get two days to look for an exit without dying right away. Beats instant death, right?]
[Anyone got info on this guy? What's his actual diagnosis?]
[No info, can't get into the psych hospital area right now. Everyone there's stuck in the dungeon.]
[But this guy can really brag. Says he used to have more money than he could spend, tons of girls chasing him… Red Pearl Mental Hospital, I actually know it. They just farm humans for organs there—why would they keep a bunch of brain-dead people out of kindness?]
...
Of course Blood Slaughter knew Jiang Che was lying. Jiang Che said he'd been living happily, eating well every day, living a good life, with a bunch of girls chasing after him…
But he always missed home, missed his parents…
While he was saying these things, all the emotion he radiated was bitter, except for the last part, which was tinged with sweetness.
Jiang Che secretly grumbled—even the "girls chasing him" part wasn't false: sometimes he'd refuse a health check, and the female nurses really would chase him all over the grounds.
Blood Slaughter glanced at the second floor, poker-faced. He could tell the Blood Nurse had gone out, but had no clue for what.
"It's fine, I'm back now," Blood Slaughter said, patting Jiang Che's head, but as he saw the blood on his hand sticking to Jiang Che's hair, he quickly pulled his hand back.
Looked like he really needed to go wash his hands…
"I know you didn't have it good before, but from now on, as long as I'm here, no one's going to bully you again," Blood Slaughter said, staring seriously into his eyes.
Who knew how long they'd been evil spirits; most memories from life had worn away.
Did I really have a son before?
He couldn't remember anything from before death, but actually, it didn't matter—even if he hadn't, raising a son now seemed pretty good.
Jiang Che's eyes turned red; he quickly turned away to hide his tears.
Blood Slaughter could sense that happiness radiating from him. The emotion itself couldn't make them stronger, but with so many other humans to kill, there was no need to kill Jiang Che.
The main thing was, this kid had no fear at all.
Why kill someone with no fear?
Behind the mask, his mouth split into an uncontrollable grin. His head and shoulders twitched with excitement.
Seeing his manic twitching, the livestream chat lost it—
[This psych patient's mental resilience is insane. The evil spirit's about to explode, and he's still calm as stone.]
[Who says this isn't all just an evil spirit prank? What if the guy tries to run and blows his cover?]
[The whole evil spirit family's info is out now.]
...
Everyone scrambled to open their browsers and search "Ghostly House Play." That phrase was now trending for Jiang Che's livestream.
Seconds later, they found all the relevant info.
[Blood Slaughter Couple]
[Evil Spirit Level: A]
[In the past, during the opening of Dungeon #9, Blood Slaughter and the Nurse would always go out hunting. They loved secretly following prey at a slow pace, savoring the despair and pain. During the hunt, they'd gradually dismember the prey—Blood Slaughter in charge of the killing, the Nurse patching random limbs and trash onto the victims and then releasing them.]
[Rating: Enjoys slaughter, Extremely dangerous!]
Seeing those reviews, everyone shivered involuntarily.
Dungeon evil spirits had their own danger rankings, but what everyone feared most wasn't "Extremely dangerous," but "Enjoys slaughter."
"Enjoys slaughter" meant endless pain and torment.
Especially being patched up all weird and sent back out after dismemberment...
During past openings of Dungeon #9, Blood Slaughter Couple had taken part in hunts. After all, humans' fear was one of their power sources.
So all this intel was easy to pull up now.
[Shiiit—I can already imagine how miserable this psych patient will be.]
[I was wondering if this was all play-pretend, but after reading the descriptions, I'm 100% sure it'll be hell for him.]
[Told you not to open this door! In this dungeon, the other doors all needed Survivors to get keys through hard work—they all accidentally barged into the evil spirit houses. But this one? They just left the key at the door. A total setup.]
[Ugh, I'm gonna check out the other streams. This one is pure deathtrap, watching here is just waiting to see how horribly he dies.]
...
Jiang Che looked over at Blood Slaughter. "Dad, can I go out for a walk later? I haven't checked out around the house yet."
Hearing this, Blood Slaughter nodded naturally.
He found it odd—when he heard Jiang Che wanted to go for a walk, his first reaction wasn't that the kid wanted to run. He just assumed Jiang Che genuinely wanted to check out the area.
"I'll give you something to wear in a bit," Blood Slaughter said, getting up to grab a bracelet made of finger bones from a drawer.
He tossed it to Jiang Che; it carried his presence.
"Your mom probably went out to get you some stuff. You take this while you're out, but remember to come home for dinner."
He wasn't afraid of Jiang Che running. He was just worried some other clueless evil spirit might hurt him.
Blood Slaughter watched Jiang Che curiously fiddling with the bracelet, and couldn't help but grin again.
Having a human son actually felt pretty good.
...
Jiang Che put the bracelet on his wrist, then walked out of the stand-alone building under the watchful eyes of the Blood Slaughter.
Even after he walked some distance, viewers of the livestream didn't see Blood Slaughter come after him.
[Wait, what? He just left like that?]
[For real? Blood Slaughter isn't chasing?]
[He's definitely hiding somewhere in the dark. Blood Slaughter loves these hunting games.]
[Why did Blood Slaughter give him that bracelet? That's a special item from the dungeon! We've tried everything and haven't gotten a single useful item, and he just plays house with Blood Slaughter and is given one?]
[You guys don't get it. Blood Slaughter gave him the item for one simple reason: to tell the other evil spirits, 'This is my prey, hands off.' Besides, that bracelet for sure carries Blood Slaughter's scent. No matter where he goes, Blood Slaughter can easily track him down.]
...
At this, everyone looked at the bracelet on Jiang Che's wrist, and the envy in their eyes disappeared—what remained was only sympathy.
There are a lot of items with special functions in the dungeon. People call them dungeon items.
But not every item in the dungeon has a special power. Some of them form their abilities by gathering the dungeon's energy, others are custom-made by evil spirits, or are tools they often use.
But not all of these things are marked with the evil spirit's aura, because what humans find precious is often worthless to evil spirits.
The only things evil spirits care about are maybe their personal weapons—like Blood Slaughter's Saw Meat Knife, or the nurse's scalpel and suture needle.
As for everything else: if they lose it, then so be it.
Most of what humans get are these kinds of things.
They sneak in when the evil spirit isn't home, and quietly take special items from the house.
These things don't have deliberately stored auras—there's just a faint residue. So if they go missing, the evil spirits usually can't track them down.
But Jiang Che's situation is different. The Finger Bone Bracelet exuded a faint pink hue, looking glossy and slick all over,
You could tell at a glance this bracelet was deeply beloved by its owner, played with so often in fresh blood that it developed this beautiful color.
No one would believe Blood Slaughter didn't leave a trace of his aura on this thing.
Jiang Che walked away from the small building. There was no such thing as a 'residential complex' here; from a distance, you could see all sorts of bizarre architectural styles, each representing different areas—the evil spirits' own domains, each with a distinctive vibe.
Some areas were laid out similar to Blood Slaughter's place: apart from the main building, there were mostly scattered, abandoned, uninhabited houses, and endless scorched earth and ruins.
Others looked just like city blocks—a building after another, looking as if you'd entered some urban city, if you ignored the constant, unnerving silence and sense of unease on the streets.
This seemed even more like a small city. There were more rooms suitable for people to rest and live, and unlike the Blood Slaughter Region where the evil spirit's lair was obvious, but here, it was actually even easier to run into a ghost.
Unless you had brain damage, you would never willingly step into Blood Slaughter's main building.
But in this maze of identical buildings and rooms, no one could tell whether the direction they chose led to an evil spirit's den.
As Jiang Che moved farther away, the ground was no longer scorched earth—no longer the appearance of plants burnt by fire.
Fresh green grass had grown, but beads of blood clung to every blade, dripping down one by one, irrigating the cracked and blackened ground.
The ground was soaked in blood red. Clearly, this was another evil spirit's domain.
Jiang Che lifted his foot; ever since stepping into this new area, he'd felt a sticky sensation underneath his shoes.
The blood stains covering the ground were always half-dried, thick and disgusting.
He walked a few steps, immediately leaving a trail of footprints behind him—but before long, the sticky bloody prints slowly merged back into the surrounding stains, erasing any trace of a human's passage.
Squish—
Squish—
No matter how lightly Jiang Che walked, each step made that grating, unbearable noise from stepping on the ground.
Jiang Che frowned—his own home was better than this.
But he wasn't planning on going straight back. Since he was out, he meant to get familiar with the area.
Going farther in, things got complicated.
All around him were shops, their display windows filled with merchandise.
Standing before one of the glass cabinets, Jiang Che saw what it was: a human mummy, made into a mannequin, contorted into a grotesque pose and put on display.
Jiang Che looked at it—the shriveled mannequin's eyes turned to look at Jiang Che as well.
It was still alive!
Viewers watching the livestream through Jiang Che's perspective were just as startled, goosebumps rising all over their skin.
When watching the stream, they'd assumed these displays were fake, just dried corpses of previous victims made into mannequins.
"Help...help me..." The mannequin opened its mouth, but aside from the eyes and mouth, their limbs couldn't move at all.
Jiang Che stared at the dried corpse, thinking it looked familiar. He stroked his chin in thought for a moment, then finally recognized him.
It was the doctor who had been in charge of their checkups at the hospital.
Jiang Che looked at his wrist. He remembered this doctor always wore a watch, and once, when a patient accidentally touched it during a checkup, the doc beat him up for it.
Beside the display counter was a small door, apparently the access to the display window. Once Jiang Che confirmed he couldn't move, he opened the door directly.
The space inside was a bit tight, but you could still move around all right.
Jiang Che reached for the mummy's immobilized wrist,
The audience was stunned at this scene.
[I was floored when the mummy rolled its eyes and spoke! Never thought it was still alive!]
[I know who that is. He's one of the doctors that entered this weird dungeon with the current batch. Caught as soon as they got in, made into a mummy mannequin for display, and not even allowed to die.]
[This psycho might be crazy, but he's actually a good person.]
[This mummy's got a few buddies watching from a distance.]
[Friends? Where?]
...
Viewers could jump to the perspectives of different Survivors, so a lot of people were already aware of the situation here. Unlike lone wolves like Jiang Che, some Survivors arrived in a group when the dungeon started.
But as soon as they dropped in, before they could run far, they were chased down by evil spirits.
Following the rule of 'the slowest gets screwed,' this doctor ended up getting caught and turned into a mummy.
His companions hadn't gone far, just hiding upstairs in a building, quietly observing everything.
They didn't dare step onto the street at all. The bloody, sticky mire covering the ground was like a spiderweb radar—anyone who set foot on it would be detected by the evil spirits.
...
Jiang Che reached out his hand, and just when everyone thought he was about to rescue the dried corpse from the rack, he straightforwardly took the watch off the corpse's wrist.
He put the watch on his own wrist, tilting it back and forth under the light for inspection.
The reflected light from the watch face was dazzlingly clear, all the characters inside were perfectly legible.
Jiang Che studied it from every angle. Seeing how precious the physical exam doctor treated it before—getting so mad just because a patient touched it—he'd assumed it was something impressive. But now that it was on his own wrist, it just felt like nothing special.
His move made the dried corpse's eyes go wide, and every viewer in the livestream went silent.
[I'm done. Just now I was praising him—saying he might be crazy but he's still kind-hearted. I take it back.]
[He really is crazy. Does money even work here?]
[So, this is what mental illness looks like.]
[Even if you don't help him, at least get some intel before he dies, right?]
[If I were pinned down like that, I'd want someone to die with me too.]
[I'll let you go if you talk. Wanna talk? But what does a crazy person know?]
...
The viewers couldn't understand Jiang Che's actions, and neither could the allies in the dungeon who were watching from a nearby building.
"Who the hell is that?" said a man in casual clothes. Despite the getup, his slick, neat hair screamed society's professional elite—probably a regular suit-and-tie type.
"One from our hospital. A mental patient." A nurse let out a sigh, her envy obvious as she watched Jiang Che daring to make such moves. The evil spirit hadn't come out to catch him yet.
This psycho had walked down the street as brazen as you please, still in one piece—and even dared open the evil spirit's cabinet!
They, on the other hand, had just landed and immediately got caught by the evil spirit. Now? They didn't even dare step outside, let alone set foot on the ground.
If they wanted to move locations, the only option was to try crossing through the buildings—since only the floors inside weren't covered in blood.
"What if the evil spirit catching us wasn't actually because we stepped on the ground?" said another man, this one in sportswear. Unlike Mr. Elite, his healthy bronze skin and dense, strong muscles showed he'd spent a lot of time training for this dungeon's survival.
"Maybe we were just unlucky, ran into the evil spirit by chance?"
He frowned, thinking that wasn't impossible.
The four of them had landed together—supposedly the "easy mode," with a much better chance of survival than a solo run.
After all, you only have to outrun someone else. The slowest runner becomes the team's meat shield.
"No way!" The elite shook his head, then paused, frowning. "But it's not impossible."
As he spoke, he glanced sideways at the athletic guy without a change in expression. There were three of them left—the doctor was already gone. His own fitness was average at best; if things went bad, no way could he outrun sports-guy.
It wasn't for lack of effort—he worked out just as much, but he just couldn't match the other guy's stats.
"Maybe we should go out and give it a try?" The elite suggested, tone cautious.
He'd make sure to get sports-guy killed before anything happened to himself.
Dying in the dungeon he could accept—but being a cushion for someone else? No way in hell.
"We should follow him now, stay with him—this mental case looks weak and off-balance. If there's danger…" The elite trailed off, but the meaning was clear.
"I think it'll work!" The nurse raised her hand. "No one here ever talked to these mental patients about dungeons or anything. They probably don't even know where they are."
"Maybe we can trick him into opening doors or scouting ahead." The more the nurse thought, the more excited she got. It was a great plan.
Three of them, each with their own agenda—but if there's an outsider, he's the first to get thrown under the bus.
The mention of letting someone else scout for dangers made the other two instantly light up.
"Let's move then—right now. If he's fine out there, it means we'll be fine too!" The elite didn't waste another word; he took the lead immediately. They still knew where Jiang Che was, but wait too long and he might be gone.
He left the building without hesitation, didn't even look back, and broke into a run.
The nurse stepped outside, hesitated at the bloody mess, then ran after him.
Sports guy froze for a heartbeat, then quickly caught up,
His physique really was superior—within seconds, the nurse was trailing behind him.
Watching the other two run ahead, the nurse was more determined than ever to find Jiang Che.
If they didn't find Jiang Che, next time danger hit, she'd be the meat cushion.
Jiang Che was walking slowly, and the three were pretty close by, so it took just a few minutes to catch up with him.
"Hey, buddy, wait up!" The suit guy called out hurriedly. "You can't just stroll around like this—it's dangerous here!"
Without waiting for an answer, he dragged Jiang Che into a nearby abandoned room.
Only when they left the sticky, blood-soaked floor did he finally breathe easy.
Even after seeing Jiang Che walk around outside unscathed, he still felt nervous just being out there.
The other two kept close, and once inside they all gulped down air, trying to calm their nerves.
"Hey man, I'm Zhao Qi, this is Nurse Ya, and this is Wang Bing." He pulled the two others over for introductions.
"Hi, I'm Jiang Che." Jiang Che replied politely, glancing at them both.
The nurse looked vaguely familiar; not a deep impression, maybe she'd glanced at him from a distance in the asylum, but spent most of her time in Anding District.
Jiang Che?
Nurse Ya eyed Jiang Che and instantly recognized him.
The hospital only had around a hundred patients. Before all the weirdness came, most were just organ donors.
Nurses and doctors had daily tasks: counting heads to prevent escapes, and tracking patient conditions—to avoid anyone with a mental disorder doing something serious, whether self-harm or violence or eating something random.
She knew Jiang Che—one of the better donor candidates in the hospital.
Other than looking for his family all day, he didn't hurt others or himself.
"Jiang Che?!" Nurse Ya lit up. She definitely knew about him—if you mentioned his family, he'd become super obedient.
Immediately, Nurse Ya knew exactly how to control Jiang Che.
"I know where your family is. I'll take you to them later, okay?"
...
Family?
Jiang Che turned his face to look at her, giving a polite smile. "No need, thank you, I've already found my parents."
He felt a bit regretful that he hadn't tried talking to this nurse earlier when he was outside. So she knew his family was in the dungeon too.
Huh?
Nurse Ya was instantly stunned. She'd planned to use this excuse to control Jiang Che, so he'd have to stay with their group. And now he's saying he found his family?
No way, where the hell did he find his family?
Zhao Qi shot Nurse Ya a look, inwardly annoyed. Just now he'd been pleased—Nurse Ya really lived up to being a nurse in a psychiatric hospital, she knew how to better control these brain-damaged patients, knew how to calm them down quickly.
Who'd have expected a problem right away?
Hearing Jiang Che's answer, Ya got anxious too,
But now wasn't the time to dwell on it. She also didn't know what "family" this psycho had found—as always, there's no guessing what goes on in their heads.
Seeing Jiang Che was about to leave, Ya quickly spoke, "You found your parents, but did you find your wife and kid?"
Jiang Che's steps halted. He looked back at Nurse Ya. He only had the vaguest concept of "family."
"Wife? Kid?"
"Yeah, where's my wife and kid?" Jiang Che's eyes grew emptier, his expression even stranger.
Before finding his parents, there'd always been two hazy shadows in his head, shrouding his mind—those shadows represented the place where his parents should be.
After Blood Slaughter and the Blood Nurse admitted to being his parents, the formless parent-shadows in his mind shifted into their forms.
Upon hearing her mention his wife and child now, Jiang Che squatted down, clutching his head, unable to stop his painful howls.
He felt his brain splitting apart, like even his scalp would be torn open.
His fingers kept scratching at his scalp, as though trying hard to remember something.
Behind the two figures of Blood Slaughter, two black shadows took form rapidly. Soon enough, a pair of new figures appeared—one tall and beautiful, leading a small child by the hand.
"What's wrong with him?" Zhao Qi frowned at Jiang Che writhing on the ground, feeling deeply annoyed about taking such a nutcase in their group.
"Isn't there any way to shut him up? If he keeps howling and draws an evil spirit here, then what?" Zhao Qi was growing impatient. If he wasn't afraid the scent of blood would attract more evil spirits—or if he didn't think this psycho might still be useful—he'd have silenced him for good with a single slash.
"Yeah, hurry up and make him stop. Otherwise, we'll really have to get out of here—let's find somewhere else in the building to hide, and come back when he's done." Wang Bing glanced anxiously toward the door again. For some reason, he'd felt restless since a moment ago.
But there really weren't any signs of evil spirits around.
"Let me try something. Three minutes—if he doesn't shut up in three minutes, we'll hide next door and come back later." Ya squatted next to Jiang Che, clapping him on the back, trying to calm him down.
The other two anxiously eyed their watches, already starting the three-minute countdown.
"Yeah, don't worry, we'll help you find your wife and child, okay?"
"It's really dangerous here right now. Listen up, your wife's somewhere else. We'll take you to her, okay?" Ya's voice went soft and gentle, squatting by Jiang Che's ear to soothe him.
"Where's my wife?" Jiang Che, fighting against the pain, slowly raised his head. Sweat beaded across his forehead, his eyes bloodshot.
"She's…" Ya hesitated, but quickly improvised, "There's a completely normal area in the dungeon, just like the outside world. Your wife's there."
"As long as you do as we say, we'll bring you to her." Ya felt clever for coming up with this; she genuinely believed she was a genius right now.
Zhao Qi and Wang Bing exchanged glances. Dungeon 9 was infamous, precisely because there was absolutely no obvious exit inside.
Which meant, ironically, everyone was very familiar with the region.
After all, people outside were constantly analyzing where the exit might be hidden in Dungeon 9.
There were 95 separate areas in Dungeon 9, each occupied by evil spirits. Each domain was a different size, and the spirits kept to themselves, rarely interfering with each other.
Each of those 95 areas had its own brand of horror—but there really was one just like the one Ya described.
The place seemed perfectly ordinary, like the outside world—no haunted houses, no blood on the floor, no weird webs or tentacles. Just an unbelievably serene oasis.
Some believed the exit was there—simply because it was so out of place.
Some had snuck inside before, but as soon as they entered, they died inexplicably, with the survivor's livestream feed cutting out immediately with their death.
Now Ya was coaxing the lunatic to go look for his "wife" in there. Until they actually arrived, the guy was still under their control.
A wife?
The two of them suppressed smirks, looking away. This is a haunted dungeon. It's crawling with evil spirits—his wife, really?
The audience let out a sigh at the sight.
[This creepy dungeon's a hellscape. Trust no one here.]
[You can't trust your teammates either—sticking together just means using each other as meat shields. It's all just scheming back and forth.]
[Over three hundred people came in, and in less than half a day, half are already dead. Most of the survivors are being hunted or tortured already.]
[These three probably don't know: this psycho's a walking time bomb. They want him to scout ahead, but with him around, it's basically like dragging two extra evil spirits with them.]
[God-tier opening, and the three of them just pissed it all away.]
[If you see someone walking alone in here, even an idiot would know they're trouble.]
[Looking forward to seeing their faces when they run into Blood Slaughter's "family." When Blood Slaughter catches up, "Huh? How did my prey multiply from one to four, mitosis or something?"]
...
The three did know better than to provoke anyone strutting around Dungeon 9 solo, but this time was different.
This guy was a psych ward patient—his brain was fried.
He'd walked right up to them. It would be dumb not to use him.
At that moment, all four of them were preoccupied with their own thoughts. But none of them realized that, not far away, an evil spirit was staring intently at their position.
From the start, it had felt a new prey appear in its territory—a prey carrying Blood Slaughter's mark.
Just a prey; at first, it didn't care.
If someone took it, so be it.
What it didn't expect was that this prey had actually joined up with its own target!
