Chapter Seventeen: The Chaotic Aftermath of the Dungeon Collapse

[Confession from the Bizarre Game System: Player Bai Wan disregarded the feelings of other players, forcibly disrupting the storyline flow. Ultimately, through cunning means, he entered the cockpit and stole the Blood Skull Statue and the Ghost Ship, delivering a devastating blow to the dungeon. It is now unusable. We hope the settlement system will consider this from multiple angles and impose sanctions on the player.

Level adjustment: C → -S (no reward in eerie coins)]

[In light of the player rating, awarded the epic title: "He Always Messes Everything Up!"]

Bai Wan was completely stunned.

This was excessive. Even a D rating would have been acceptable.

What kind of nonsense is this negative rating?

The dungeon was damaged—what does that have to do with me?

Isn’t it because you yourself had a loophole?

Then Bai Wan focused on the game title.

In the dungeon, Liu Tong once mentioned that a few geniuses and big shots earn game titles, each unique, representing the highest honor in the game.

He never expected to receive a title himself.

However, looking at the name of the title, he had a vague bad feeling.

[Title: He Always Messes Everything Up

Quality: Epic

Effect: Players with this title are abnormally attractive to the eerie; eerie forces will prioritize attacking this player.]

Bai Wan: "..."

Damn it.

Are you joking with me??

No, he admitted he might have a minor misunderstanding with the game system, but he never imagined the system would specifically create a title just to mess with him!

This is ridiculous!

Bai Wan patiently continued reading, and the following descriptions made his eyes brighten.

[Player Dungeon Rewards:

1. "Damaged Ghost Ship"

Description: Originally an ordinary vessel, but during a voyage, it was invaded by eerie wooden houses, causing the ship to become haunted. To dispel the eerie, the captain sought a statue from a temple. With the statue, the eerie dared not appear, but he did not know that summoning a god is easy, but sending it away is difficult. The ship was cursed by the Blood Skull Bodhisattva, becoming a ghost ship.

Because the Ghost Ship traverses space-time gaps, it is damaged. If the player repairs it, they can apply to become the Ghost Ship Captain and obtain a special profession: Ghost Ship Captain.

Currently, the player has not become the captain but already owns the Ghost Ship, retaining the authority to command the crew.

Friendly reminder: The Ghost Ship is a top-tier game item, bearing a terrible curse, and can only be repaired by craftsmen of the Ghost Artisan level.

Includes crew member: Old Bone Granny.]

2. "Blood Skull Statue"

Category: Eerie Item

Quality: Abyss

Description: One of the statues of the eerie Blood Skull Bodhisattva, connected to the power of the Blood Bodhisattva.

Attached Abilities:

Revival: When triggered, the Blood Skull Statue gradually revives, able to repel eerie forces, consuming 120 eerie coins per second.

Worship: Offering a common-quality eerie item grants the Blood-colored Bodhi Heart (can prevent death once; after revival, for one hour, protected by the Blood-colored Bodhi and will not be attacked).

Eye of the Blood Bodhisattva: Passively activates. When encountering danger, it has a chance to trigger the Eye of Blood Bodhi, blocking eerie attacks. After the first trigger, it cannot trigger again for six hours, with a maximum of two triggers per dungeon.

Abyss Exclusive: Summoning the God

Description: Consumes 300 eerie coins per second, minimum use of 10 seconds, to summon the Blood Skull Bodhisattva in person.

System Punishment: Since the player obtained top-tier dungeon items through illegal means, restrictions are imposed. When the player actively uses the statue (a skill consuming eerie coins), the next dungeon cannot be used.]

Seeing these two items, Bai Wan nearly drooled.

He actually managed to acquire the Ghost Ship, albeit in a damaged state.

But as long as he repairs it, he can apply to become the captain and gain a special profession?

Ghost Ship Captain... sounds really cool.

Besides the ship, he also obtained an Abyss-level eerie item.

Though he didn’t yet know the specific quality tiers of eerie items, the eerie coin consumption of this statue made it clear it was no ordinary item.

Bai Wan’s own Blood-colored item, the Skull Bandage, only consumed 40 eerie coins per second, but this mysterious statue consumed triple that—120 eerie coins per second—an enormous expense.

This was definitely not something from a beginner dungeon.

Whether the Ghost Ship or the Blood Skull Statue, they seemed like background setups, not meant to be possessed by players.

But Bai Wan exploited a bug to obtain them both.

He was grateful he had been decisive earlier; otherwise, quitting according to the system might not have yielded so many rewards.

As for the negative rating, it no longer mattered.

The only truly annoying thing was that damn title.

But gains and losses balanced out—overall, Bai Wan had profited.

In addition to these two high-end items, Bai Wan had an unexpected gain.

[3. Eerie ‘Chen Weiyu’

Description: An eerie born from the ancient wooden house. Due to fear of the Blood Skull Statue, it rarely leaves the wooden house. To survive, it gradually mutated the ability to mimic humans. However, since this eerie directly emerged from the game into reality, its appearance is fixed as Chen Weiyu’s image and cannot change. For safety in reality, this eerie has automatically become a crew member of the Ghost Ship.]

Bai Wan had indeed overlooked ‘Chen Weiyu.’ His good little sister should still be locked in a room on the Ghost Ship. Since he brought the Ghost Ship out, he had inadvertently brought ‘Chen Weiyu’ along as well.

“She’s already a crew member? My dear little sister...” Bai Wan thought, a mischievous smile creeping across his face as he realized he could command the crew freely with the Ghost Ship.

Then, the system’s messages continued to appear.

[Congratulations to player Bai Wan on successfully clearing the dungeon. You have gained +1 skill point, which can be used to upgrade your own skills (only if the skill is marked as upgradable) and to learn new player skills... You may select these in the skill menu.]

[Based on your talent, Bug Controller, you may spend eerie coins to retain temporary bugs generated in the dungeon. Current selectable bugs are as follows:

Door Vanishing Technique

Level: 4 (representing the bug’s tier, unupgradeable)

Description: Touch the door lightly, swipe gently, and chant “door vanish,” and the door will disappear. Chant “door appear,” and the door will reappear.

Unlock cost: 300 eerie coins

Note: Higher-level temporary bugs require longer unlocking times. This Level 4 bug generally becomes available after four days inside the dungeon (specific timing depends on dungeon time).]

Bai Wan was delighted to see new skills available to learn.

However, the settlement wasn’t complete, so he planned to wait until the end to study them.

He pondered the Door Vanishing bug.

Priced at 300 eerie coins, it wasn’t cheap but not overly expensive either. After all, making doors vanish was highly practical, whether to evade eerie forces or to trap them behind walls.

But temporary bugs came with time restrictions—level 4 bugs usually unlock after four days in the dungeon.

If he had enough eerie coins, purchasing it wouldn’t be a problem. But Bai Wan only had 339 eerie coins, most of which were compensation from the system’s temporary upgrades.

If only his rating had been S—he would have had 300 more eerie coins and would have snapped it up without hesitation.

Now, if he bought the Door Vanish skill, he would lose his last defense.

Neither the Blood-stained Skull Bandage nor the Blood Skull Statue could be used without eerie coins—especially the statue, which cost 120 eerie coins per second. That was hugely expensive.

At present, Bai Wan felt he had great items but no money to use them.

“Will the bug disappear if I don’t buy it this time?” Bai Wan asked.

[Each bug is retained for only one dungeon and can be purchased anytime before entering the next dungeon.]

Bai Wan nodded but did not decide immediately.

Having stored the Ghost Ship in his pocket, he quickly fled the scene. The walls in his neighborhood had been battered pretty badly; if anyone saw, it would be hard to explain.

Luckily, his home was nearby, and he arrived shortly.

But as soon as he got home, the girl in the photo suddenly cried out.

“Brother, brother... I seem to have a settlement page too??”

“What??” Bai Wan looked bewildered at the photo behind him.