The Ghost Mother silently appeared behind Xia Tianqiong, licking her bloodless lips. She had become addicted to consuming humans.
"Found..."
Before she could finish, the man before her suddenly shouted, "Shut up!"
His outburst startled everyone outside the door, leaving them all dumbfounded. Even the Ghost Mother flinched.
"Don't speak, just listen to me first," Xia Tianqiong swiftly turned around.
He couldn't allow her to finish her sentence, as it would fulfill the fatal rule, sealing his doom.
The Ghost Mother stared at him, a flicker of curiosity in her eyes. "What do you want to say?"
"I found your child, but it ran away. I have something it dropped. Is this yours?" Xia Tianqiong reached into his pocket, producing a thumb-sized piece of silver, holding it in his palm.
The Ghost Mother's eyes brightened, nearly exclaiming its ownership, but she restrained herself.
In the face of humans, the supernatural could neither lie nor seize by force, for it would violate the rules of the ghost realm. Yet, she desired the silver piece desperately.
"What do you mean by this?"
"Give you the silver, and it's as good as me finding your child, deal?"
The Ghost Mother shook her head. "The rules don't allow it."
Xia Tianqiong's anxiety deepened, realizing this plan wouldn't work.
After a moment's thought, he asked, "Could you not come to me first? Could I be the last one you ask?"
"Hehe! Deal!"
The Ghost Mother laughed softly, a surprisingly beautiful sound. "Cunning human, but let me remind you, in the end, I will still drain you dry."
With that, she raised her pale, slender hand and took the silver piece.
Everyone outside widened their eyes. So it was possible to extend one's life this way! This guy surely had been hiding something from them!
The Ghost Mother vanished, reappearing in front of another woman outside the door.
"Have you found my child?"
The woman stammered in fear, "I... I'll give you... gold, just don't come for me."
She hurriedly removed the gold necklace from her neck, offering it to the Ghost Mother.
But the Ghost Mother didn't even glance at it. "Only ghost money!"
"Ghost money?"
Everyone except Xia Tianqiong was stunned. It confirmed their thoughts that she was indeed a ghost, for what else would desire ghost money?
"I... I'll burn some for you... Ah!"
Before the woman could finish her sentence, the Ghost Mother attached herself to her, draining her into a dry corpse in an instant. She then glanced back at Xia Tianqiong before disappearing again.
The crowd seemed to have grown accustomed to the scene, not even attempting to flee this time.
After a brief silence, the burly man suddenly asked Xia Tianqiong, "The silver you gave her, was it ghost money?"
"Yes," Xia Tianqiong nodded.
"How did you get ghost money? Where did you find it? Do you have more?"
"Picked it up by the roadside, just that one piece," Xia Tianqiong lied smoothly.
The burly man didn't believe him, nor did the others.
"You can't do this, hand over the ghost money and share it with everyone!"
"Yeah, you can't just watch us die. That's akin to murder!"
The crowd grew increasingly agitated, as if Xia Tianqiong owed them.
The burly man, eyes filled with malice, stepped toward Xia Tianqiong, "Enough talking, let's search his place."
"Yeah, let's all go in and look."
Among the dozen people, only two or three remained indifferent, while the rest, incited by the burly man, surged toward Xia Tianqiong's room.
Anticipating this, Xia Tianqiong suddenly kicked out, knocking the burly man back several steps, and quickly shut the door.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"D*mn it, open up!"
"He's going to get us killed, we can't let him off."
"Break down the door, there must be more ghost money inside."
The group, blocked outside, banged on the door, their shouts mingled with curses and accusations.
"Maybe he brought the ghost here. How else would he know so much?"
"Maybe that child is his and the ghost's!"
Barehanded, they couldn't break down the door, but each had grown angrier.
Their vile words and ceaseless knocking filled Xia Tianqiong with fury. If not for needing them alive to buy time, he would've killed a few himself; after all, he'd killed plenty in his past life.
Yet now, the priority was finding the ghost child. Otherwise, he too would die.
Thinking deeply, he concluded, "There is always a glimmer of hope hidden in the most bizarre death rules."
"No absolute death rule exists," many supernatural beings had confirmed this before.
Unsolved death rules remained so because no one had yet discovered that hidden thread of hope.
"Time is running out!"
The urgency in Xia Tianqiong's heart intensified. Only fifteen or sixteen people remained in the building, giving him just over a hundred and fifty minutes to find the ghost child.
If not, his fate was sealed.
"Ding!"
A sudden noise came from the kitchen, like something had knocked over a glass.
Xia Tianqiong quickly turned on the light and rushed to the kitchen.
He saw the ghost child sitting by the gas stove, its back to him.
He lunged forward, trying to grab it, but the child turned, giving him an adorable, enchanting smile before disappearing in an instant.
"Impossible to catch!"
Xia Tianqiong was furious.
How could anyone catch something that could teleport?
What was that hidden glimmer of hope?
He picked up the fallen glass, setting it back beside the stove. Suddenly, he noticed something missing.
"Where's my braised pork?"
The braised pork delivered by the food ghost, which he hadn't finished, was gone.
"Did the ghost child steal it?"
An idea struck him, "Could I lure it with food?"
In the hallway, the group grew tired of banging on the door and cursing.
When the Ghost Mother appeared again and claimed another victim, they dispersed.
With no way to break down the door, continuing was futile. They'd return to searching for the ghost child, clinging to a sliver of hope.
All left, except the burly man, who remained unwilling to give up.
He decided to get a kitchen knife and break down the door, convinced that capturing the person inside was their only chance of survival.
Suddenly, someone called out to him.
"Hey, buddy, I'm a professional locksmith. I can open the door."
The burly man turned to see a frail, sickly young man.
He roared, "Then why didn't you act sooner?"
"Shh, keep it down."
The frail youth glanced downstairs, ensuring no one heard, before whispering, "Think carefully. If we open the door and everyone gets ghost money, they'll all ask the ghost to come to them last. How can that work?"
The burly man paused, quickly understanding.
The ghost killed one every ten minutes. If everyone wanted to be last, there would be a conflict. Some had to die first for there to be a sequence.
The burly man's eyes glinted, making up his mind.
"Let's work together. You open the door, I'll handle him. We split the ghost money between us and don't share with anyone else."
"Great, deal," the frail youth smiled, his aim achieved. Alone, he couldn't overpower anyone, but together, they had a chance.
"Time is short, get to work," the burly man urged.
"I need to get my tools. You grab a weapon, in case he fights back."
"Fine, I'll get a kitchen knife."
The two conversed in hushed tones at the stairwell, thinking no one heard them.
But the door on the seventh floor had been ajar the entire time.
Jiang Yu peeked through the gap, hearing every word.