Chapter 131

Li Zhi had opened a Li Jianxi.

That basically meant she was guaranteed to make it through safely.

But her other three teammates had it rough.

There was only one Li Jianxi.

There were countless ghosts and prank items.

Chi Yi glanced back in despair at the five ghosts chasing after her.

The Big-Head Ghost running in front was clutching its enormous head in both hands while letting out sinister laughter as it ran, scaring Chi Yi into sprinting for her life.

Behind it came the Torch-Mouth Ghost, which could breathe fire; the Hanging Ghost with its long dangling tongue; the Toilet Ghost, reeking of excrement; and a Lust Ghost, staring at Chi Yi with lecherous eyes while drooling.

Chi Yi: "..."

Aaaaaah!

Why had every one of the five treasure chests she'd opened since entering the maze contained ghosts?!

At first, she still had items she could use against them.

But as she opened more and more chests, the ghosts kept multiplying.

Now that all five ghosts had gathered together, Chi Yi could only run for dear life.

After turning a corner, another glittering golden treasure chest appeared at the end of the path ahead.

Damn it!

A person couldn't stay this unlucky forever, could they?!

She'd already opened five ghosts.

It was about time she got something good, wasn't it?!

If she could just get an item capable of dealing with ghosts, she could wipe out all the pursuers behind her in one go.

Chi Yi steeled herself, clenched her teeth, refused to believe her bad luck, and sprinted toward the treasure chest.

Before the five ghosts behind her could catch up, she flung the lid open.

A cloud of black smoke billowed out.

Within the smoke appeared a vicious-looking ghost with a green face and protruding fangs.

Apparently afraid players wouldn't recognize what it was, it had thoughtfully hung a sign around its chest.

The sign read:

"Poor Ghost."

Chi Yi: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah—"

Go away, Poor Ghost!!!

The ghosts chasing her had become six.

Chi Yi was nearly driven to despair.

But something even more despair-inducing happened immediately afterward.

She had chosen a dead end.

There was no way forward.

The six ghosts pursuing her had blocked her only way back.

The audience, who had previously laughed while calling her the unluckiest person alive, could no longer laugh.

Was Chi Yi...

Really going to die here?

The maze had been so entertaining that everyone had been having too much fun watching it.

They had almost forgotten...

This was a place where people died.

The six ghosts were almost upon her.

Chi Yi no longer had a single item capable of dealing with ghosts.

She spun anxiously in circles.

Suddenly, she seemed to think of something.

A look of complete resolve appeared on her face.

She threw herself headfirst into the plant wall beside her.

The instant her entire body pressed against the wall, countless green vines suddenly emerged from behind her.

They wrapped around her completely before dragging her into the plant wall itself.

In the blink of an eye, Chi Yi disappeared into the maze.

The ghosts that had caught up lost their target and stopped in confusion.

Meanwhile, inside the plant wall, Chi Yi felt the vines binding her growing tighter and tighter.

They had concealed her from sight.

But at the same time, they began crawling into her body through her ears, nostrils, and mouth.

Chi Yi had developed severe psychological trauma toward things crawling into her body.

Back in the "Infant Tower" instance, she had been invaded by dripping wet hair.

Unable to find their target outside, the ghosts wandered around briefly before beginning to leave.

Once all six ghosts had disappeared down the passageway, Chi Yi began struggling her way out.

The vines that had already entered her ears snapped easily with a gentle tug.

She fell out of the plant wall onto the ground and frantically pulled the broken vines out of her nose and ear canals.

Ten seconds.

Plants were gifts bestowed upon humanity by nature.

They could help players evade pursuit by ghosts.

However, players could remain inside the plant wall for no more than ten seconds.

After ten seconds, the vines would burrow into their bodies.

Eventually, they would become nutrients for the plants.

Chi Yi gasped for breath.

When she looked up with tears welling in her eyes, she suddenly spotted the balloon floating high in the sky.

It was Zhizhi!!!

Not long after entering the maze, the balloon had disappeared.

She had been worried about it for a long time.

Now the balloon had finally reappeared.

And it was actually this close to her!

Afraid that shouting would attract the ghosts back, Chi Yi suppressed her excitement and began moving toward the balloon.

But the maze twisted and turned in every direction.

Although the balloon appeared nearby, finding the correct path to it was extremely difficult.

Chi Yi tried several different routes, only to discover she was getting farther and farther away from it.

She spun around anxiously in place.

Just then, someone above her suddenly shouted excitedly,

"Chi Yi! Yiyi!"

Chi Yi instinctively looked up.

She saw a human head flying through the air.

It was floating even higher than Zhizhi's balloon.

Beneath the head stretched an impossibly long neck, like a giraffe's neck elongated without limit.

The head came swooping eerily toward her.

Chi Yi let out an earth-shattering scream.

The floating head panicked as well.

"Don't scream! Don't scream! It's me! Owen Dong!"

Still clutching her head, Chi Yi screamed,

"I know it's you!!!

But why have you turned into a monster?!"

The floating head stopped in midair.

"I opened a treasure chest and got a buff! I can randomly obtain the ability of one ghost. This is the Dropped-Head Ghost's ability! The Dropped-Head Ghost! The ghost whose neck can stretch super long and whose head can separate from its body! Remember?"

Chi Yi stared blankly at the floating head chattering away in the air.

After finally processing what had happened, she became both angry and indignant.

"Why can you open buffs while I can only open ghosts?!

Is the system deliberately targeting me?!"

Owen Dong looked extremely pleased with himself.

"My luck has always been great.

Who told my surname to be Ou?"

Speechless, Chi Yi shoved the floating head in front of her.

"Hurry up and take your head away.

It's really disgusting to look at!"

Owen Dong wore a wounded expression.

"I searched forever before I finally found you.

This buff only lasts ten minutes.

It's about to expire."

Chi Yi's eyes lit up.

"Then hurry and go find Zhizhi!

See that balloon?

Go over there and tell her to come find me!

I'll wait here for her!

Go! Hurry!"

Owen Dong answered with an "Oh."

He had just raised his head into the air when he noticed the balloon already flying rapidly toward them.

Very soon, both of them heard Li Zhi's voice.

"Yiyi? Is that you?"

Chi Yi jumped excitedly.

"It's me!

Zhizhi!

I'm over here!"

Hearing her reply, Li Zhi, separated from them by several plant walls, let out a sigh of relief.

She had heard Chi Yi scream from the distance a moment earlier and immediately rushed toward the source of the sound.

But there were too many obstacles inside the maze.

Although they were very close in a straight line, actually meeting up would require figuring out a winding route.

Li Zhi was just about to speak when she saw an excited human head flying over through the air.

It bobbed back and forth while greeting her.

"Boss! I'm here too!"

Then it spotted the person beside her.

The head jumped in fright.

"Li... why is the NPC inside the maze too?"

Li Zhi: "..."

Li Zhi looked at him with a complicated expression.

"The Dropped-Head Ghost's ability?"

Owen Dong wore an expression that said as expected of the boss.

"Yeah! Exactly!"

Li Zhi asked,

"Did you find the exit?"

Owen Dong quickly answered,

"I did! It's to the east! But this maze is way too big. I was afraid if I flew too far and the time ran out, my head wouldn't make it back onto my body, so I didn't dare go too far. I can only confirm that the exit is to the east!"

Li Zhi nodded.

"Fly up and take a look at the nearby paths. Is there a route connecting me and Yiyi?"

Owen Dong happily agreed.

He flew into the air, looked around, then said with frustration,

"No, Boss. Your path goes off toward the other side. Let me see..."

As he spoke, he suddenly shouted,

"Oh no! My time's almost up! I have to go back! Aaaaah—"

In midair, Owen Dong's head shot away like a balloon that had suddenly lost all its air.

Li Zhi: "..."

Chi Yi had heard him as well.

She called out pitifully,

"What do we do, Zhizhi?"

Li Zhi comforted her.

"Stay where you are for now. Let me think of something."

The treasure chests could contain ghost abilities.

On the way here, she had encountered three treasure chests.

But because she had been worried about Chi Yi's safety, she hadn't had time to open them.

If she could obtain an ability or a buff, it might prove useful.

She was just about to tell Chi Yi she was going back to open some treasure chests when Li Jianxi suddenly said quietly,

"I have a way."

Li Zhi looked at him in surprise.

"What way?"

Li Jianxi lowered his head and rummaged through his pocket.

Every time he lowered his head and searched seriously for something, Li Zhi always felt that he looked just like Doraemon digging through his magical pocket.

After searching for quite a while, Li Jianxi finally found the item he wanted.

When he looked up, he saw Li Zhi smiling at him.

She seemed to have thought of something amusing.

Her eyes, always bright with light, curved into gentle crescents.

Many times...

He saw that kind of smile on her face.

Li Jianxi pursed his lips and handed the item to her.

"Space Tunnel."

"It can create a temporary passage through obstacles."

Li Zhi looked at the item in her hand.

It resembled a sticky rubber ball.

She exclaimed in amazement,

"So magical?"

She glanced at the focused-looking Li Jianxi.

Her tone was merely curious.

"How do you have so many items on you?"

Li Jianxi froze for a moment.

Then he shook his head blankly.

"I don't know."

"When I existed, these items were already on me."

Li Zhi raised an eyebrow.

She didn't ask any more questions.

Stepping back a couple of paces, she followed the instructions and threw the sticky ball against the plant wall.

A flash of white light appeared.

A glowing passage materialized inside the massive, sturdy plant wall.

Li Zhi bent over and walked inside.

Li Jianxi followed closely behind her.

As they moved through it, Li Zhi saw that the vines inside the plant wall coiled and twisted like snakes.

The moment they sensed intruders, countless vines stretched toward them like tentacles, trying to drag them inside.

However, they couldn't pass through the transparent wall of light.

After crashing into it several times without success, the dense vines began growing along the outside of the light wall, forming a net of roots around the passage.

The sound of the light wall beginning to crack under the strain echoed all around them.

Li Zhi quickened her pace through the Space Tunnel.

Just as the two of them bent over and stepped out, the light wall was shattered by the vines.

The passage was instantly blocked by a dense mass of plant vines.

According to the item's description, the Space Tunnel was supposed to last for one minute.

But these plant walls were obviously far too powerful.

Under the crushing pressure of the vines, it had only lasted a little over ten seconds before disappearing.

The moment Chi Yi saw Li Zhi appear before her, she happily threw herself at her.

As soon as they met, she couldn't help complaining.

"Zhizhi! I opened six ghosts! Six of them!"

She wore a miserable expression.

"On my way here I ran into several more treasure chests. I didn't even dare open them!"

After complaining, she looked at Li Jianxi in shock.

"But... why is he here??"

Li Zhi blinked.

"I opened him."

Chi Yi: "???"

She became even more indignant.

"Why can all of you open good things, while I can only open ghosts?!"

Li Zhi affectionately patted her head.

"In the future, whenever there's a task that depends on luck, just leave it to your teammates."

Chi Yi: "..."

Damn it!!!

So the unluckiest person alive was actually her!!!