Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 48
by Little PandaVolume 3: Song of the Wanderer
Great Demon King 07
The Game of the Brave
Xin Lan kicked so hard that Qi Haolin nearly coughed up blood.
He stared in shock at the girl who had grabbed his collar, retracted her foot, and was now cursing at him, unable to process what had just happened.
The pain in his body forced him to acknowledge a reality – he had actually been hit by Xin Lan.
If someone had told him before that Xin Lan would treat him like this in the future, he wouldn’t have believed it a hundred or thousand times over. How could it be possible? This was Xin Lan – that naive and weak woman who was as gullible as a foolish rabbit, who would only cry when wronged, who didn’t even dare to talk back, who could only endure everything in silence.
Xin Lan released her grip and shook her hand in disgust.
She particularly despised such self-satisfied people, with their faces showing “you definitely still love me” – it made her want to punch them and made her feel nauseous.
“You should be aware of what you’ve done. Don’t you know you can’t be this shameless?”
Xin Lan sincerely hoped that after she had slapped Qi Haolin’s left cheek, he wouldn’t turn the right one toward her.
If she lost control and didn’t execute the scumbag punishment properly, it would affect her final rating and impact her wages.
Xin Lan hadn’t cared about this before, but after expanding the simulation space for Ling Jiu, she had to pay attention.
Money was useful at any time.
Qi Haolin opened his mouth to speak but swallowed his words when he saw Ren Difei suddenly appear at the door.
Everyone had thoroughly searched the place, combing through it like a carpet, before gathering in the living room.
Moli took out an apple she had brought and bit into it, while others also took out their food, except for Ren Difei who just looked around at everyone else.
Ren Difei: “Hey, why did you all bring food? Weren’t we just coming out to play?”
Moli: “When you go out, don’t you bring fruits and snacks?”
Ren Difei: “I thought we’d only be here for a day, so I didn’t bring anything.”
Moli: “Oh well, stay hungry then.”
Qi Haolin, Pi Tianzi, and Sheng Lifan were all eating bread, while Ke Xuguang had brought instant noodles. But since there was no hot water here, and even if there was he wouldn’t dare use it, he simply sprinkled the seasoning packet and ate it dry while drinking water.
At this moment, an important issue became apparent – food.
There couldn’t possibly be anything edible in this place. Perhaps they would starve to death before being killed by ghosts. In the original story, the original host had pieces of flesh cut from them by Qi Haolin to eat.
Hunger can drive people to do crazy, irrational things. When starving, people might do anything, but that doesn’t make such actions right.
In the original plot, Qi Haolin had already decided to use the original host as food storage by the second day. This wasn’t a decision made out of desperation – he was truly psychotic.
Xin Lan laughed coldly inside; she would make him pay for everything, one by one.
Ren Difei swallowed hard, clutching his stomach in discomfort.
There were leftover takeout meals on the dining table, but he didn’t dare eat them. That piece of meat that looked fine but reeked when cut explained everything. Who knew how long it had been there? It would be terrible to die from food poisoning rather than a supernatural event.
Of course, he didn’t want to die from a supernatural event either.
Seeing his condition, Xin Lan handed her bread to him.
Ren Difei was shocked, and others were surprised, especially Qi Haolin, whose face darkened as he glared at Ren Difei with burning anger.
Ren Difei’s hands were still trembling as he took the bread – it was from Boss Lady!
He wondered if this meant he had successfully hugged the big leg [meaning: to gain protection from someone powerful].
The reason Xin Lan gave away the bread was that while the original host had brought many small breads and snacks, she preferred meat.
Ling Jiu: “Host, wait just half a minute. The fried chicken is almost ready, plus there’s cola, and I’ll make you a chicken wrap too!”
Xin Lan nodded with satisfaction internally – why eat bread when there was meat available?
Ling Jiu wore an apron while busy in the kitchen. The silencing device worked very well; at least the host hadn’t complained about hearing sizzling sounds in her head.
Seeing this world’s lack of food, Ling Jiu thought that after leaving this world, they could purchase more fresh ingredients, ensuring the host would always have good food to eat!
After giving away several pieces of bread, Xin Lan also handed Ren Difei a small bottle of probiotics.
Ren Difei was nearly moved to tears. If he hadn’t been too scared to sit on the same sofa as Xin Lan, he would have definitely moved closer.
The others looked at these two with strange expressions, especially the other two girls present, including Qi Haolin who had just been kicked by Xin Lan.
After everyone finished eating, they shared what they had discovered.
Sheng Lifan: “In the shoe cabinet, there are men’s leather shoes, women’s high heels, and children’s shoes. There are also shoes at the entrance where people take them off. It feels like a married couple lived here together.”
Moli: “I looked at the bedroom vanity. It’s mostly filled with women’s makeup, but there’s one bottle of men’s cologne.”
If the situation weren’t so serious, Moli would have sighed over all those luxury brands she wished to own. The lady of this house must have lived well – it was exactly the kind of privileged life she dreamed of. Too bad that person was already gone.
Ren Difei: “Though this place is somewhat messy, it doesn’t look like someone lived alone. Some clues contradict what we found earlier.”
Qi Haolin leaned against the sofa in silence, processing all this information.
Two pairs of shoes at the entrance, leather shoes and high heels in the cabinet, leftover takeout on the table, fast food boxes in the trash, half-cut meat on the cutting board, a large bag of vegetables, men’s cologne on the vanity, clothes in the closet, an album with only two people, hidden group photos, burned photographs, a wedding photo with faces scratched out, a little girl’s shredded dress, diaries and sketchbooks recording different moods… What kind of story did all these pieces tell when connected?
Everyone fell into deep thought. Xin Lan stood up and walked toward the right.
“Where are you going?” Moli asked.
“Bathroom.”
Xin Lan walked toward the bathroom and closed the door.
This bathroom had two levels, with a sink below the steps, a washing machine in the open space, and a frosted glass partition separating the shower head.
The glass door was closed. After Ling Jiu activated the Absolute Domain for her, she started eating fried chicken and drinking cola.
The Absolute Domain was a shielding function that blocked all sounds and smells within a one-meter radius around oneself – perfect for private conversations.
After finishing the fried chicken and cola, Xin Lan wiped her mouth and went out.
As soon as she opened the door, she noticed something was wrong.
That faint mist was floating in the air again, just like last night.
Suddenly, a child’s voice emerged from the mist, growing closer from afar.
Xin Lan remained in place, but felt the atmosphere around her had changed.
The little ghost from last night ran past her as if she couldn’t see her, reaching the bedroom door and starting to knock.
“Mama, Mama, can you play with me today?”
“Mama’s busy, Xinyu, be good and go play with your toys in your room.”
A beautiful woman emerged from the door, well-dressed and carrying a handbag, looking ready to go out.
“Is Mama going out again?”
“Yes, if you get hungry, just order takeout, okay? Mama’s leaving now.”
The little girl stood there wanting to say more, but saw the woman had already walked past her.
“Bad person.”
The little girl watched her mother’s retreating figure and said this without expression.
She returned to her room, and Xin Lan noticed the room wasn’t messy – completely different from what she had seen earlier.
“What’s the point of keeping things tidy? Mama won’t praise me anyway.”
The little girl pouted, grabbed a plush toy beside her, threw it on the floor, and even vengefully stomped on it twice.
She began destructively ravaging the room, messing up all the neatly arranged toys.
She grabbed the Barbie doll from the windowsill by its hair, and with a gloomy expression, started dismantling its limbs. After removing only half, she impatiently tossed it aside.
She took her watercolor pens and ran toward the bedroom.
Xin Lan clearly saw the man and woman in the wedding photo and raised her eyebrows.
The woman was that same woman, but the man wasn’t the same man – different from the man in the family photo album that everyone had concluded showed a family of three.
The little girl had struggled to climb onto the headboard – not an easy thing to step on – and reached out her hand, blindly scribbling on something she could barely see.
“None of you will play with me. You’re all bad people.”
The little girl muttered until she had vented completely, then collapsed sitting on the large bed.
Suddenly, she turned her head toward Xin Lan’s direction.
Her body faced forward, but her head twisted in an almost 180-degree arc as she grinned at Xin Lan.
“Big sister, will you come play with me?”
While most people would have been startled, Xin Lan remained completely calm, crossing her arms where she stood.
“How did you die?”
She asked directly.
“I won’t tell you, nyah nyah nyah.”
The little girl stood up and made a funny face at Xin Lan.
“Come catch me! If you catch me, I’ll tell you.”
The little girl ran outside, and at the moment she passed through the door, roaring flames suddenly appeared.
She ran toward the fire light, waving at Xin Lan from there.
“The game is finally starting! Come quickly!”
The flames grew more intense, spreading around Xin Lan.
She could even feel the scorching heat, and within the firelight, the little girl’s voice drifted farther away.
Xin Lan remained unruffled, bending down to touch the flames.
Her palm felt scorching hot, but no burn marks were left.
The thin mist gradually enveloped this space again, and Xin Lan found herself back in front of the bathroom.
A violin melody came from somewhere unknown, beautiful yet tinged with melancholy.
Ling Jiu: It’s a famous violin piece called 《Song of the Wanderer》.
Xin Lan followed the direction of the music. In this mist, everything was blurred – she couldn’t see furniture or walls.
The scene before her gradually became clear. By the floor-to-ceiling window, a young woman in a white dress was playing the violin.
Her face seemed divinely sculpted, possessing a stunning beauty.
Xin Lan felt she looked familiar but couldn’t remember why.
The moon’s pure radiance fell upon the young woman, making her appear like a moonlit sprite.
As the piece ended, the young woman looked at Xin Lan with a slight smile.
“Welcome to the Game of the Brave. My violin and I will accompany you until you either win or die.”
“My name is Yu Wanyan. I give you this violin. You’ll understand its purpose once you play it.”
“The game has officially begun. You don’t have much time.”
“Find the key to go upstairs. The exit is on the rooftop.”
“Only five people can reach the second floor, three can reach the third floor, and one can reach the rooftop.”
“Do try hard to stay alive.”
Under the moonlight, Yu Wanyan’s smile became somewhat sinister.
LP: Re-translated on January 13, 2025
is that her? Wan Wan choose to do horror charisma??
is that her? Wan Wan choose to do horror charisma??
So Yanyan truly is a ghost ? Inwas hoping for more interactions and romance between her and mc but it looks like we won’t get much of that in this world….