Chapter 140

Shi Jian’s grin was bold and arrogant. With just a bit of pressure from her hand, she could easily subdue the Bride Ghost.

At the Bride Ghost’s current size, she could barely even reach Shi Jian’s knees.

The viewers, who had been confused about why the Bride Ghost had suddenly shrunk, had their attention completely diverted by Shi Jian’s antics.

Shi Jian really was the embodiment of that saying: “When a bamboo shoot’s mother opens the door for it—it’s home-level savage.” (a pun meaning Shi Jian is absurdly savage or petty)

Even in her shrunken form, the Bride Ghost didn’t forget her mission to kill Shi Jian—but that brought up another issue.

Shi Jian noticed that the Bride Ghost seemed to have lost her combat power.

Everyone knew how sharp the Bride Ghost’s nails had been—if those shredded fake-smile employees on the floor could talk, they’d definitely have a lot to say about it.

But now? Her attempts at attacking felt more like a kitten pawing at someone.

At first, Shi Jian had remained a little cautious, not letting the Bride Ghost get too close—after all, this was a high-level killing machine.

But as the seconds ticked by, Shi Jian realized: huh, this girl doesn’t seem to have any fighting power anymore.

So, Shi Jian started messing around with the Bride Ghost, casually rua-ing her. (“rua” = affectionate squishing/petting)

The Bride Ghost also noticed something was off. She couldn’t stab Shi Jian anymore. Her usually expressionless face now carried a faint trace of frustration.

“……”

Tang Tian studied the chibi version of the Bride Ghost with great interest, letting out a surprised noise.

“She can’t kill you now?”

“She shrank and lost her fighting power?”

Shi Jian nodded. “Seems like it.”

Faced with her mini, powerless spirit pet, Shi Jian, as the owner, naturally… burst into ruthless laughter!

…

Shi Jian laughed wildly—full-on hysterics—but because she was so beautiful, her face didn’t look distorted at all.

She rubbed the Bride Ghost’s head hard, smiling brightly. “Hahahaha! So you finally got your day!”

Shi Jian hadn’t even wanted the Bride Ghost in the first place—she was forcefully packed up and handed over. And because the system was so damn unreasonable, Shi Jian didn’t even have a way to return this spirit pet who only ever wanted to eat her.

She still remembered accidentally releasing the Bride Ghost at the transit station and then being chased around in total panic.

But now, the Bride Ghost was the weak one.

Shi Jian guessed, “Was it because you ate that heart?”

“That’s what you get for eating random stuff.”

There had been nothing strange about the Bride Ghost before—this transformation had happened right after she devoured the master’s heart.

The Bride Ghost stayed silent. She was busy trying to twist her neck away, attempting to escape Shi Jian’s claws.

Tang Tian had been a little afraid of the Bride Ghost too, but now that she seemed completely non-threatening, he crouched beside her, laughing as he commented, “She actually looks kinda cute now.”She was cute!

Chibi-style things were naturally much cuter, and the Bride Ghost had a proper, refined face. The slight lines that had once marked her expression were now barely visible after she shrank. Her tiny, expressionless face was fair and tender, visibly soft and squishy.

Wearing a red wedding dress, she looked just like a delicate glutinous rice dumpling doll.

Tang Tian: I want to pinch her!

Shi Jian was already fully enjoying herself. While Tang Tian only thought about it, Shi Jian had gone straight into action—she didn’t hesitate at all.

Shi Jian looked up and told Tang Tian, “Feels pretty nice. Kinda soft and smooth… wanna try?”

She sincerely invited her friend to come pinch the spirit pet’s little cheeks together.

But the next second, the Bride Ghost let out a “rawr!” and opened her mouth wide, attempting to sink her teeth hard into Shi Jian’s hand.

Her claws might be useless now, but she still had teeth.

She didn’t land the bite.

Not only because Shi Jian was quick to pull her hand away, but also because Xu An, who had been standing nearby, timely shoved a drink bottle into the Bride Ghost’s mouth.

The bottle had originally come from the long-tongued woman—she had tried to give it to Xu An earlier, who hadn’t taken it. Now it found its perfect use.

The bottle instantly showed a neat row of bite marks.

Shi Jian: “……”

Tang Tian: “……” Definitely taking back that urge to pinch her cheek.

They didn’t have much time left to study the Bride Ghost’s transformation—Shi Jian was already beginning to feel a wave of dizziness. It was a sign they were about to leave the instance.

Still, Shi Jian remembered her promise to the long-tongued woman. So she walked over to her.

She was going to tell her the gossip!

Shi Jian leaned in close to the long-tongued woman’s right ear.

Tang Tian also stood up from her crouched position. “I’m in too.”

She leaned toward the long-tongued woman’s left ear.

The long-tongued woman’s tongue started flailing nonstop, punctuated by the occasional “What the hell” and “No way, seriously?!”

Heavy gossip pouring into both ears at once—

The long-tongued woman exclaimed, “This is just too much fun!”

The livestream chat: They want to hear it too! Can’t you play it out loud?!

They were itching with curiosity.

As for the Bride Ghost, the reason Shi Jian could leave with peace of mind was because she was still hanging off that drink bottle.

She had bitten down and wouldn’t let go. Xu An lifted the bottle slightly, and the entire ghost dangled with it.

Her pitch-black eyes, with no visible whites, were filled with pure stubbornness.

Shi Jian glanced over in passing as she shared gossip with the long-tongued woman: “……”She just wanted to ask—doesn’t your jaw hurt?!

…

Shi Jian had kept her promise. The whole space began to blur and distort… When the dizziness passed, she slowly opened her eyes to find herself standing in the brightly lit, ultra-modern transfer station.

This time, she didn’t return to the judgment room.

No one filed a complaint against her?

Shi Jian was incredibly disappointed—though she quickly realized the reason might be… because she’d basically killed them all.

She’d never slain as many ghosts as she did in this instance. The refined-but-deadly bossy queen persona she played inside the dungeon now had no audience. Realizing this, she instinctively shook out her hands.

But just imagining her own fierce style made her—

Happy. Satisfied. She could picture herself looking super cool!

Still, next time, she probably ought to leave a few survivors.

The transfer station still looked cozy and comfortable. It was the bridge connecting one dangerous, bizarre instance to another, and it served as a harbor of rest for streamers who’d been mentally on edge and constantly at risk of losing their lives in these “horror game instances.”

The transfer station seemed unchanged—giving off that distinct vibe that even if every streamer died, it would still be standing here, unwavering.

But Shi Jian noticed something had changed.

Something was climbing up her leg.

???

Shi Jian’s brain buzzed.

Her first instinct was to kick the thing off and whip out her chainsaw to go to town on it!

Some pervy hands trying to mess with her?! Bold move.

Dead move.

But just before she acted, she looked down—right into a pair of pitch-black eyes.

It was the Bride Ghost. She was hugging Shi Jian’s leg, huffing and puffing, climbing upward with all four limbs.

Shi Jian froze, frowning in disbelief. “Why didn’t you go into the Spirit Pet Ball?”

Normally, even if a spirit pet wasn’t manually retrieved inside an instance, once the streamer left, the pet would auto-return to the ball.

So when she’d gotten distracted gossiping with the long-tongued woman—and saw that the Bride Ghost wasn’t regaining combat strength anytime soon—Shi Jian hadn’t bothered to recall her.

She’d been counting on the auto-recall.

But she never dreamed that the Bride Ghost, still in chibi form, would not return to the ball and instead just follow her directly back to the transfer station.

Shi Jian was baffled, but that didn’t stop Tang Tian and Xu An from hearing her lower her voice and break down in a desperate hiss: “Stop climbing!”

“My clothes are expensive!”

Tang Tian: ????

Why did this scene feel exactly like his coworker’s cat, climbing all over them at home? Honestly—identical.Xu An stepped forward to help by lifting the Bride Ghost by the scruff of her neck, rescuing Shi Jian’s clothing. Tang Tian joined in as well.

Tang Tian and Xu An had been randomly respawned at nearby locations, so they had come together to look for Shi Jian—only to be met with this unexpected situation.

…

“She seems like she can’t go into the spirit pet ball anymore.”

Ten minutes later, back at the hotel, Shi Jian—looking very serious—came to this conclusion.

The Bride Ghost couldn’t go into the spirit pet ball anymore.

No matter how many times Shi Jian tried, no matter how she aimed the ball at her, the Bride Ghost wouldn’t be absorbed like before.

At first, Shi Jian suspected the spirit pet ball was faulty, but even when she switched to a different one, the result was the same.

The Bride Ghost seemed to understand too. She gave a mocking expression and tried to slap away the ball that imprisoned her in the past.

But due to her height, when Shi Jian stood up, she just slapped at empty air.

Bride Ghost: “……”

Tang Tian and Xu An were both in Shi Jian’s room—everyone needed to talk this through.

Tang Tian also found this situation a bit thorny. “Looks like that master’s heart had some serious side effects.”

Shrinking and losing her combat power was already something—but now she couldn’t even enter the spirit pet ball?

How long was this going to last?

Shi Jian asked them, “Have either of you ever heard of something like this before?”

A chorus of “no” followed.

None of them had.

Even Tang Tian, the information-collecting expert, had never heard of this.

Xu An pointed out, “And there was no alarm when she walked around the transfer station.”

Pets weren’t allowed to roam freely in the transfer station, since there was a high chance they could harm streamers. Only in specific areas, like the dedicated spirit pet store zones, were pets allowed out. Otherwise, alarms would immediately go off.

Shi Jian muttered, “...There’s a fine too.”

She had avoided it last time, but staff had warned her it was a one-time exception.

But after Xu An’s reminder, Shi Jian and Tang Tian both realized the Bride Ghost had been walking around the transfer station—and not a single alarm had sounded.

Even though they had hurried back to the hotel as soon as the change was discovered, there had still been quite a bit of distance.

Tang Tian suggested, “Why don’t we go ask one of the transfer station staff?”

Shi Jian agreed—it was the only option. They could go round and round here and still not figure out what was going on.

“We’ll have to leave out the part about her not being able to enter the spirit pet ball.”

Not just because they’d be fined—Shi Jian could sense there was something special about this. To avoid unnecessary trouble, the fewer people who knew, the better.

Tang Tian stayed at the hotel to watch over the Bride Ghost, while Shi Jian and Xu An headed to the staff office....

Since becoming a streamer, Shi Jian had only been to the transfer station staff office twice—and both times, it had been because of the Bride Ghost.

Shi Jian: “…”

The staff member this time had a completely unfamiliar face—not the same one who helped her before—but the service attitude was still professional.

He asked Shi Jian, “Hello, how can I assist you?”

Shi Jian replied, “Hi, I’d like to ask if you’ve ever heard of a situation where a spirit pet ate something in an instance and suddenly shrank, losing its abilities?”

She didn’t bother with the “I have a friend…” kind of phrasing.

She was the one with the problem.

But this time, Shi Jian didn’t get a clear answer.

The staff member showed a helpless expression. He thought for a moment and shook his head. “That’s a very rare case. I’m not really sure.”

“Shrinking and losing abilities—it might be temporary, or it might be permanent?”

He also offered a suggestion: “Would you consider getting another spirit pet? There’s a sale on some pets at the mall right now…”

Shi Jian answered firmly, “No, thank you.”

Was it the end of the month or something? Even this place was pushing sales to hit targets?

In fact, the staff member had politely implied: this spirit pet might be ruined. Just leave her in the ball and forget about her. Time to consider a second one.

Another streamer happened to be nearby and shouted, “Whose pet got ruined? That’s tragic, what a waste.”

Xu An, who was nearby with a gentle smile and purely playing the role of companion, heard this and tried to comfort Shi Jian.

“Don’t be sad. Maybe she’s evolving.”

Shi Jian: ???

She looked up—there wasn’t a trace of sadness on her face.

“I’m not sad. It’s great, actually.”

And she meant it from the heart.

If the Bride Ghost stayed in this current state, Shi Jian thought that was more than fine.

No more threat of being stabbed by her own spirit pet!

What a relief.

Plus she still had a following pet.

What kind of incredible deal was this?

...

After leaving the staff office, the first thing Shi Jian did was go back and trim the Bride Ghost’s nails.

Once the nails were trimmed to a safe length, the Bride Ghost could no longer grab onto her clothes.The Bride Ghost of course resisted fiercely, twisting desperately in Shi Jian’s arms—cutting her nails felt like a death sentence to her.

She shouted a string of, “Bad bad bad bad—”

At the same time, Shi Jian let out a villainous laugh, “Hehe, this is out of your hands now!”

Held down—clipped!

On top of that, Shi Jian also picked out a bunch of cute little dresses for the Bride Ghost.

In her words, “I’m the most stunning one in the instance. If you’re by my side, you can’t make me look bad.”

Shi Jian was obsessed with everything beautiful. Even for the Bride Ghost’s spirit pet ball, she’d paid extra to get the prettiest one. Now that she had the Bride Ghost in baby form, Shi Jian could really go all out.

Shi Jian used to be the one getting dressed up—now she had a target to dress up herself.

Miracle Bride Ghost, let’s play!

Nails clipped, Miracle Bride Ghost minigame played.

Before, the Bride Ghost had been in the spirit pet ball, so there wasn’t much interaction. But now, she lived entirely by Shi Jian’s side.

Shi Jian suddenly thought aloud, “Should I give you a name?”—referring to the Bride Ghost.

Tang Tian chimed in, “You should!”

They’d been calling her “Bride Ghost” all this time. Giving her a real name sounded much more fitting.

Tang Tian asked, “But do you have anything in mind? What would you call her?”

Shi Jian said she had some ideas.

Unable to stab Shi Jian and unable to escape her clutches, the Bride Ghost could only turn her back to express protest—but now, upon hearing this, she perked up her ears just a little.

Then she heard Shi Jian pause in thought, as if carefully considering her naming decision, before bestowing it with solemnity.

Shi Jian declared, loud and clear, “Bride Ghost, let’s just call you Xiao Xin!”

Not only did Shi Jian name her, she also followed up with interaction, “Xiao Xin, Xiao Xin, do you like your new name?”