Chapter Four: Dancing Eerily—Asking for Tips Is Only Natural, Isn’t It?

After reading the diary, everyone fell into a long silence. Through their eyes, they could all see the horror reflected in each other’s gazes.

A god?

Before the girl disappeared, she claimed to have seen a god?

What exactly did they encounter on the ship...

And what was it that they encountered in the last hour before reaching shore...

Could there really be a god in this world?

Liu Tong, the usually composed official, wiped the cold sweat off his forehead involuntarily.

Something was off about this scenario; it was supposed to be just a beginner’s level.

Yet the invisible pressure was even more intense than previous missions.

Moreover, he had an uneasy feeling, a strange sense of dissonance.

Suddenly, Liu Tong’s heart skipped a beat, a flash of inexplicable panic crossing his eyes. “No, this can’t be! Why is this diary written in Chinese?”

His words stunned everyone. Right, wasn’t this supposed to be the diary of a British girl? Why was it in Chinese...

Not good!

Teacher Zhang Wen, holding his phone, felt a sudden jolt in his mind, followed by a chill in his eyes.

On the phone’s screen, the once-clear text began to warp, the characters writhing like living worms.

Then, the screen started to bleed; vivid red blood oozed out, corroding the entire phone.

“Hee hee hee...”

As the lights flickered, the laughter of a little girl flashed by.

Startled, Zhang Wen’s hairs stood on end, and he dropped the phone immediately.

The blood-stained phone seemed to be swallowed by the ship itself, sinking bit by bit into the ground until it vanished without a trace.

“Ah!!!” The timid Lin Xi screamed outright.

Everyone else also backed away in panic.

“Don’t panic, everyone. The game has just begun. The eerie things can’t kill yet,” Liu Tong hurriedly tried to calm the group.

Hearing this, everyone relaxed a little.

Bai Wan also breathed a sigh of relief.

Damn it, encountering something eerie right after entering the game!

That bleeding phone was genuinely terrifying.

But...

“Is it really worth being this scared?” Bai Wan muttered darkly, glancing at the photo behind him.

From the photo came voices:

“Waaah! Mom, there’s something eerie, something eerie!”

“Ahhh... husband, there’s something eerie!”

“Grandpa! Please save the children!”

“Meow meow!!”

Bai Wan’s grandfather, Bai Ren, wore a constipated expression as he looked at his son clinging to his leg, his daughter-in-law clutching his son’s leg, his granddaughter holding onto the daughter-in-law’s leg, and finally, the cat biting the granddaughter’s trouser leg, its fur bristling.

“Enough already! Can’t you all be a little braver?”

Grandpa Bai Ren looked disappointed, first with disdain, then suddenly collapsed to the ground, trembling and unable to get up, crying out with a quivering voice, “He’s too old, ah~~ there’s something eerie! Something eerie!!!”

Bai Wan: “...”

Hey! Enough already!

I’m the one who came to play this eerie game!

Stop screaming about ghosts!

Besides, my great-grandfather died ten years ago!

If he really got summoned, who knows which side he’d take!

“Also, miss, how long do you plan to keep holding on?” Bai Wan looked at the female college student who was clutching his waist tightly.

The girl was well-proportioned, her soft chest pressed against Bai Wan’s leg, but her posture was strange.

She was kneeling under Bai Wan.

If one didn’t know better, it might look like they were doing something weird.

“Ah... sorry...” Chen Weiyu blushed deeply upon hearing Bai Wan, hastily loosening her grip.

“No, sorry... I was just too scared before... I... ow...” Chen Weiyu trembled as she stood, only to fall to the ground again.

Bai Wan: “?”

Chen Weiyu, on the verge of tears, said, “My legs... my feet have gone weak from fright. Could you help me up?”

Bai Wan: “...”

Hey! Next time you stay up late watching dramas, maybe choose some horror films, okay?

Bai Wan glanced at the photo showing four trembling humans and a cat, then at Chen Weiyu lying on the floor, utterly speechless.

They were all so unreliable!

Still, the official brother was the most dependable.

Bai Wan couldn’t help but look toward Liu Tong, who had remained calm.

Whether they could clear this mission depended on the official brother.

Then Liu Tong took a pill from his pocket, swallowed it, sat down, massaged his left chest, and grimaced, “Damn, my heart condition is acting up.”

Bai Wan: “...”

Damn it, looks like I’m going to have to rely on myself in this mission.

“Guests, the meal is ready. Please enjoy,” an old voice suddenly came from afar just as everyone was calming down.

Bai Wan and the others looked toward the sound to see an elderly woman pushing a tray of food slowly to the table, placing it down.

Everyone just stared silently, or rather, dared not respond.

The old woman’s complexion was pale, as if she had just been pulled from water.

By the story’s logic, she should be the steward of the ship, responsible for serving the guests.

But now, stuck on a ghost ship, who could say if she was human or something eerie?

Liu Tong shook his head silently.

Newbies were just too timid.

The eerie beings hadn’t killed anyone yet—that was the best time for investigation.

If they let fear stop them from exploring and digging for clues to survive, their fate would be grim.

Usually, the eerie don’t speak, so this old woman was probably not one of them. Then again, the chances of her being fully human were slim.

She was likely a product of a living human consciousness corrupted by the eerie—a neither fully human nor fully eerie entity.

Many such creatures existed in eerie games.

Without commands from the eerie, they generally wouldn’t kill.

Just as Liu Tong was about to stand and approach the old woman, his eyes suddenly flickered with surprise.

Huh.

He saw Bai Wan was already the first to walk over.

With a smile, Bai Wan approached the old woman.

“Ma’am…”

Not bad.

At that moment, a trace of admiration appeared in Liu Tong’s eyes. Although this young man in the photo seemed a bit odd, he was brave—a vital trait in eerie games.

A faint smile curled Liu Tong’s lips; the youth reminded him of his younger self.

This boy was courageous.

But soon, Liu Tong’s smile froze.

The boy patted the old woman on the shoulder enthusiastically and said:

“Hey, ma’am, let me dance for you!”

Liu Tong: “????”

Everyone: “????”

The old woman: “????”

For a moment, the old woman was stunned.

What did this human just say? He wanted to dance for her?

Then she watched in disbelief as Bai Wan, full of enthusiasm, suddenly exclaimed:

“Ma’am! Please enjoy my dance!”

Then he began to dance with fervent energy.

“Three turns to the left, three turns to the right... twist the neck, wiggle the hips...”

The old woman stood there somewhat bewildered.

Humans entering eerie games usually fall into despair; some are too timid to even speak when encountering the eerie.

But this human…

The old woman looked at the lively Bai Wan hopping around and seemed momentarily dazed.

This human was far too spirited...

Nearby, Liu Tong and the others rubbed their eyes, mouths agape, dumbfounded by the surreal scene before them.

What the hell??? What did I just see???

My teammate is dancing for an eerie entity???

Ridiculous!

Way too ridiculous!

How dare he?

Then, everyone saw the old woman slowly approach Bai Wan.

He’s done for!

They all held their breath, thinking Bai Wan was about to perish.

This reckless youth had gone too far.

But what happened next stunned them all.

The old woman reached Bai Wan’s side, then slowly pulled out four jet-black eerie coins, handing them to him, saying, “Nice dance.”

Liu Tong: “??? Ah?”

Everyone: “??? Ah?”

Bai Wan accepted the eerie coins with joy, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

No way, that’s allowed???

Liu Tong even felt envious.

One black eerie coin was worth ten regular eerie coins.

That meant Bai Wan earned forty eerie coins just by dancing once?

Eerie coins were extremely valuable!

They were needed to buy life-saving cards, use eerie tools, and so on.

They were basically life currency.

Normally, a game’s full completion only awarded about 100 eerie coins.

Yet Bai Wan had just earned 40 for free with a single dance!

Suddenly, Lin Xi stood up and began to dance.

After hesitating, Chen Weiyu also followed Lin Xi.

Not to mention, girls dancing were far more graceful than Bai Wan.

Their slender waists and long legs swayed wildly in the air.

At the same time, pressure shifted to Liu Tong and Zhang Wen.

They exchanged awkward glances, from bewilderment to determination, then to a resolve as if facing death.

They stood up simultaneously.

“Auntie, if it’s dancing, my PE teacher is very good at it!”

“Grandma, to be honest, though I’m a police officer by profession, I’ve always dreamed of being a street dancer since childhood.”

Before they could start dancing, the old woman turned and left.

Lin Xi and the others looked disappointed.

They had missed the chance to earn eerie coins.

But halfway out, the old woman seemed to recall something and came back.

She handed them a set of keys and said, “It’s getting late, and the rain will be heavy soon. Once you’ve eaten, you should rest. There are five rooms on the first floor—just enough for each of you to have one. Remember to lock your doors at night and be careful when you go out.”

Crash!

A bolt of lightning illuminated the raindrops outside.

Everyone looked toward the window.

The rain had indeed intensified.

From the initial drizzle to now heavy raindrops.

Bai Wan looked at the keys in his hand, then at his assigned room.

His usual carefree demeanor vanished, replaced by a deepening seriousness.

It had begun...

The first night on the ghost ship, with each person assigned their own room.

Tonight would not be peaceful.