Not only did the baby-sitting trio want to go to the Black Forest in the back mountains, but the other players also wanted to investigate.

But the Black Forest was a forbidden area, and they couldn’t go there without permission. Wanting to go was one thing, but figuring out how to go without being noticed was another.

Every player had a wristband on their wrist that could track their location and deliver electric shocks. If they were detected in the back mountains, wouldn’t they be electrocuted to death in an instant?

Everyone suppressed their desires. This matter needed careful planning.

Especially after seeing the gruesome deaths of the previous players, they didn’t dare to take risks lightly.

The entire morning was spent in prayer, and it was soon lunchtime.

Zhuang Yu went to get food first, while Shen Hanxiao looked after Gu Rong.

Gu Rong took out the silver straw again, his eyes sparkling as he searched the crowd for suitable prey, preparing to sneak up and suck their blood.

The little Zaizai wasn’t picky, but as a little zombie Zaizai, he had never eaten his “staple food.” He was both curious and hungry.

Once, a kind zombie auntie had seen how cute he was and shared some human blood with him, but he had covered his little nose, finding it incredibly stinky.

Grandpa Ming said that the blood wasn’t fresh. Gu Rong was too young and could only drink fresh blood. Otherwise, he would at least vomit and have diarrhea, and at worst, he could get food poisoning.

There were living people all around, freshly killed prey, it would definitely be fresh.

Gu Rong, clutching the straw, spotted a female player sitting at a table with her back to him. He eagerly wanted to go over.

Just as he lifted his little leg, Shen Hanxiao grabbed the back of his collar, holding him in place.

Gu Rong’s little body was immobilized. He looked up, his little face bewildered as he looked at Shen Hanxiao.

Shen Hanxiao had also been stabbed in the head with this straw once. He squatted down in front of him and looked at the straw: “What’s this?”

Gu Rong hid his little hand behind his back, but Shen Hanxiao grabbed his little hand and obediently handed over the instrument of his crime.

Gu Rong pouted: “This was passed down to Zaizai by Grandpa Ming!”

“Passed down?” Shen Hanxiao laughed, “Passed down is a bit much, isn’t it? It’s not a family heirloom, ‘passed down’.”

Gu Rong harrumphed: “But Grandpa Ming doesn’t have a family heirloom, he only has this straw. He doesn’t even have one for himself.”

Shen Hanxiao: “…”

This straw was passed down to Gu Rong by Grandpa Ming, who said it could pierce human skulls and flesh, allowing him to drink blood directly.

Gu Rong’s baby teeth couldn’t bite through prey, so this straw was perfect for him.

But ever since Grandpa Ming had passed the straw down to him, it hadn’t been put to use. Entering this game was the first time he’d used it, but it wasn’t as powerful as Grandpa Ming had said!

Big Brother’s hand and Little Brother’s head were completely unharmed, not even pierced a little bit.

Gu Rong was planning to try other areas this time, like the thighs or arms, where there was more flesh. Maybe he could pierce through there.

Shen Hanxiao was silent for a moment, then poked his little nose: “Hey, little imp, where are your Daddy and Mommy?”

Gu Rong spread his little hands: “Daddy and Mommy gone!”

He even looked around, proving that they were indeed nowhere to be found.

Two living people, and he was looking around for them. Where was he supposed to find them?

Sigh, poor kid.

Shen Hanxiao: “Then you live with Grandpa Ming? Is Grandpa Ming your real grandpa?”

Gu Rong tilted his little head, his little face innocent and bewildered, his voice babyish: “Grandpa Ming is Grandpa Ming!”

Gu Rong had met Grandpa Ming under the bridge. If Grandpa Ming hadn’t taken him in, he would have been carried away by other zombies long ago.

At this moment, Zhuang Yu returned with the food. He saw Gu Rong looking around for something from afar.

He smiled and asked, “Rongrong, what are you looking for?”

Shen Hanxiao had just unintentionally touched on Zaizai’s sad past. He was about to change the subject when he saw Gu Rong raise the little fist holding the straw and say seriously, “Looking for prey, to suck blood!”

Shen Hanxiao: “?”

Zhuang Yu: “…”

Looking for what? To suck what?

[I almost cried, but I held back at the last moment. Zaizai, you really are Auntie’s precious! [Gifts points]]

[Wait, Zaizai said he was going to suck blood? He wasn’t thinking of players’ heads as milk?]

[LOL, when did you ever see milk that could make you laugh!]

[Good Zaizai, you can’t suck that!]

[Don’t make such a fuss. Zaizai is an NPC. What’s wrong with an NPC sucking some human blood? If it were me, I’d offer myself to him to drink, drink all you want!]

[I can’t stop laughing at why Zaizai has to use a straw to suck blood. I can picture it in my head!]

—Spoilers are only visible to the audience—

Although Gu Rong’s words were shocking, adults have a common problem: they rarely take children’s words seriously.

Zhuang Yu just found it funny.

Shen Hanxiao, however, looked thoughtful and then turned his head to look at Yang Chunsheng.

Yang Chunsheng, sure enough, had been paying attention to them. Seeing Shen Hanxiao look over, he immediately made mouth gestures excitedly.

See, see, what did I tell you? That’s really a little ghost!

Yang Chunsheng thought that Shen Hanxiao finally believed his words. But the next second, he saw Shen Hanxiao lift Gu Rong’s little body, toss him in the air, and lift him up high, making the little ghost giggle.

Yang Chunsheng: “…”

Idiot.

–

Everyone was worried about how to get the keys and had little appetite.

Except for Gu Rong, who was focused on shoveling food into his mouth.

Gu Rong held a bowl bigger than his face with his short little arms, tilting his little head back to drink the soup, drinking every last drop, not leaving a single bit.

His little tummy was so full it was round. The little Zaizai, who used to go hungry all the time, was actually able to eat his fill after entering the horror game.

He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but his pale, almost translucent, little bun-like face had become a little rosier.

Gu Rong patted his little tummy and said: [Zaizai likes it here, no more empty tummy!]

006 said: [As long as you play the role of NPC well, little host, you can eat whatever you want.]

Gu Rong held up his shiny silver straw.

006: […]

Let’s have a nice chat, okay? Don’t just pull out the straw at every opportunity.

006 said: [Little host, during the afternoon break, we’ll take the opportunity to go to the Black Forest in the back mountains and do the task.]

[We’re a hanged little ghost. We can adjust to a ghost state, and we can also scare others. Does the little host want to practice how to scare players in advance?]

Last night, Skeleton Grandpa had taught him two tricks for playing an NPC. Saying he’d practice, Gu Rong made a grimace, using Zhuang Yu, who was nearby, as practice: “Rawr—”

Zhuang Yu: “?”

Suddenly acting cute?

Shen Hanxiao burst out laughing, but then Gu Rong stopped practicing on Zhuang Yu and turned to him instead: “Rawr—”

Shen Hanxiao cooperated: “…Scared, scared?”

Gu Rong put down his grimacing little hand, swung his short little legs, and was pleased with himself, his little face full of joy.

Shen Hanxiao: “…”

That made him laugh for no reason.

[Zaizai’s roar, everyone move aside, Rawr!!]

[Ahhhhh, Zaizai is too cute, so cute I could die! [Gifts points]]

[Hahahahaha, what is Zaizai suddenly doing? This is too cute by a billion!] (similar to “too cute for words”)

[This little baby voice saying “rawr” has struck Auntie’s heart! [Gifts points]]

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao both received quite a few gifts. They had been able to fool themselves into thinking that the viewers were gifting them because of their looks, but the chat content was all about this little Zaizai. It clearly wasn’t about their looks.

This little Zaizai’s fans really had no sense of boundaries!

–

It was soon time for the afternoon break.

The nurse came over and arranged for the patients to return to their respective rooms to rest.

Gu Rong returned to his room. As soon as the nurse left, he adjusted to a ghost state—

His soul left his body, leaving his body on the bed.

Gu Rong looked down at his slightly transparent little body, then at his sleeping self on the bed. He pointed with his little finger, very curious, letting out a little “Huh?”

The wristband on the Gu Rong on the bed was still pale purple, but the wristband on the Gu Rong in ghost form had turned pale blue.

006 said: [Little host, we’re currently using two identity cards. The little host on the bed is using the [Little Mental Patient] identity card, and the soul is using the [Hanged Little Ghost] identity card. We’re now the Hanged Little Ghost and can pass directly through the door.]

Gu Rong nodded. Seeing that his self on the bed wasn’t covered with a blanket, he even pulled the blanket over his body. After covering him, he patted it with his little hand.

006: […]

006: [Don’t worry, little host. You can come back after completing the task.]

Gu Rong: [Okay!]

Gu Rong dadada-ed to the door. Before he could start to pass through the door, a long tongue dangled down from the ceiling.

Gu Rong looked up and saw Uncle Long Tongue hanging upside down from the ceiling. He immediately showed a big smile and greeted him: “Uncle Long Tongue!”

“Thump,” Long-Tongued Ghost fell directly from the ceiling.

Gu Rong bent down to check on Long-Tongued Ghost, his little baby voice concerned: “Uncle Long Tongue, did you hurt yourself?”

Faceless Ghost walked in from the adjacent wall through a glowing circle, crossing his arms and scoffing: “Don’t worry, he won’t die. He’s just too lazy to climb down. It’s faster and more convenient to fall.”

Gu Rong, the master of being even-handed, was equally enthusiastic when he saw Faceless Ghost: “Faceless Brother!”

Even though Faceless Ghost had no face, you could feel that he was smiling, very pleased.

Skeleton Ghost grew out of the ground. First, a section of pale finger bone extended, then his arm broke through the ground, and finally, his entire skeleton emerged from the ground.

Skeleton Ghost moved his bones, making kaka cracking sounds: “And your Grandpa Skeleton!”

Gu Rong was very accommodating. At his young age, he was very supportive: “Grandpa Skeleton!”

The three NPCs cackled with laughter, crossing their arms. They looked at Gu Rong on the bed, then at Gu Rong in ghost form.

“You little ghost, it’s the afternoon break. Why aren’t you sleeping and growing taller? What are you going to do?”

Skeleton Ghost tapped his little head with a finger bone.

Being tapped on the head by a finger bone that could pierce a human skull, Gu Rong wasn’t scared at all. He explained in a babyish voice: “Zaizai is going to the Black Forest in the back mountains to be the devil’s little lackey.”

“…”

The three NPCs’ faces changed drastically, and they looked at each other.

Long-Tongued Ghost’s tongue got tied in a knot: “Be the de-de-de…devil’s little lackey? Are you crazy?!”

Faceless Ghost, who had been crossing his arms, put them down: “You little radish head, you wouldn’t even be enough to be an afternoon snack, not even enough to fill the gap between his teeth.”

Skeleton Ghost “kachak” broke off one of his arms and handed it to Gu Rong: “For self-defense. If all else fails, you can stab yourself.”

“…”

Gu Rong struggled to hold an arm that was almost as long as he was, hexiu hexiu. He only took two steps before his little body became unbalanced and he started to topple over.

Faceless Ghost promptly steadied the little Zaizai and threw the bone back to Skeleton Ghost.

Skeleton Ghost “kachak” reattached his arm.

Seeing how weak Gu Rong was, unable to even hold an arm, the three NPCs decided to escort Little Rong Zaizai to the Black Forest in the back mountains.

In a critical moment, they could even take turns being cannon fodder.