Chapter 10: Female Ghost!

The door lock clicked open, but it was only the door to Room 044. 

Huo You had already completed her observation period ahead of time. 

This floor had many dormitory rooms on both sides, each with its own commotion, but the central corridor was eerily quiet and empty.

Initially, while inspecting the electrical wires, she had considered sabotaging the entire power system to force everyone out of their rooms. 

Chaos would work in her favor. 

However, she quickly realized that each dormitory had an independent electrical system, affecting only the electronic doors without disrupting other rooms or the entire building. 

This was likely a clever design of the dungeon simple, but not so simple as to allow someone to take everything down at once.

Huo You had to abandon that plan. 

For now, she didn’t leave immediately but instead peered through the door crack to ensure no one was outside and that all doors were locked. 

Everyone was already beginning to tackle the “dangers” within their rooms. 

Whether they fought among themselves or united, they would eventually have to face the “Sixth Person.” 

If they truly united, five people could easily handle it. 

The real fear was disunity or encountering someone like her a troublemaker.

“The trouble is, I need to get out early…” 

Choosing the simple level with a one-hour limit wasn’t due to overconfidence or some lofty ambition. 

It was mainly because of the physical gap caused by her being three years behind others.

Brook, her parasite, was newly born and lacked the endurance of other candidates who had been nurtured for years with ample nutrient supplies. 

She wasn’t suited for prolonged battles and had to find ways to finish the dungeon in the shortest time possible while achieving a decent score to pass the first hurdle of the college entrance exam and secure a survival space on Brook’s garbage planet.

What to do? 

Team up with other candidates? 

Huo You glanced at the bronze badge. 

This dungeon seemed designed to create a killing environment of “worker ants turning on each other.” 

The bronze badge alone was enough to plunge the first stage of the fourth exam into a survival-of-the-fittest state.

What to do? 

Actually… Huo You gripped the door handle. 

As she stepped out, she turned back, dragged Chen Jing’s corpse, and activated the “corpse” state.

Huh? 

There were no enemies, no other potential competitors, yet she used the “corpse” state?

Wasn’t this just reckless and wasteful? 

Yet she did it, letting her hair down and draping herself in a blood-soaked white sheet. 

In the silent corridor, she dismembered Chen Jing’s corpse and others, then dragged the mutilated remains openly through the fourth-floor hallway.

A corpse… dragging corpses… The fourth floor had 25 rooms, each with candidates either already fighting, racking their brains for clues, or answering questions. 

The remaining 24 “Sixth Persons” controlled by the night watchmen of the fourth-floor morgue were lurking, waiting for the candidates to discover them or turn on each other.

Then… 

“What’s that sound?” 

“Outside?” 

“Let me check… Thank goodness this door has a transparent window… Holy crap!” 

“A… a female ghost!” 

“Sadako?” 

“Shut up, cover your mouth, quick!” 

“Is this the simple level? Why is there a Sadako here?” 

“Is it a ghost?” 

“Definitely! My parasite can sense temperature… This ghost has no warmth! No red heat signature, all blue! It’s non-living…” 

“This doesn’t match our earlier analysis… So the biggest boss at the start of the dungeon is outside the corridor? We’re safer staying in our rooms?”

The hundred-plus candidates in the 24 rooms trembled at the sight of the terrifying female ghost dragging corpses outside. 

Initially, they all thought they should leave their rooms early, but now they believed it was better to stay inside. 

Seeing the boss ahead of time, some candidates who had been scheming against each other collectively abandoned their plans for infighting.

The 24 “Sixth Persons”: ??? 

Wait, this doesn’t match what we know. 

What’s going on? 

Do we have a female ghost boss now? 

And they’re not fighting each other-how are we supposed to sneak in and take advantage?

Do we have to fight head-on?”

***

Muddy waters don’t always yield fish, but when a huge troublemaker enters the pot, everyone notices, and the meal is ruined. 

The carefully designed dungeon flow, with every rule pushing the plot forward, was suddenly disrupted by an unknown entity following a rogue path, throwing both the “college entrance exam problem-solving education” and the “anti-problem-solving student-killing method” into disarray. 

Both sides thought the other had called in reinforcements, causing panic and anxiety.

But it wasn’t a big deal. 

The vast college entrance exam system wouldn’t be intimidated by such a small disturbance; it had plenty of experience dealing with such situations. 

So…

As the female ghost Huo You strutted down the corridor like a Victoria’s Secret model, she turned and heard the piercing screams from the 24 rooms. 

Oh, great, the plot was accelerating. 

The corpses couldn’t hold back and were starting to act. 

Indeed, the most experienced response was-fight it!

Huo You was satisfied and quickly left the area. 

She needed to find the morgue.

The “corpse” state’s time was ticking away. 

Huo You needed to save time, and the morgue wasn’t an obvious clue location it wouldn’t be easy to find. 

She first deactivated the “corpse” state, pausing its usage time, and moved swiftly through the interference-free zone before the candidates and monsters emerged.

The dormitory building had five floors, each with 25 rooms, each room housing five candidates. 

This meant the building accommodated 625 candidates. 

It was likely designated as one examination hall. 

The building was sizable, and the commotion within the rooms wouldn’t last long. 

Among the 625, some strong and smart candidates would surely break out first. 

Whether they would become her enemies or not, they could easily interfere with her. 

Searching floor by floor for the morgue would take too much time.

Huo You’s goal was clear: “Three minutes… three minutes of flexible time.” 

She immediately looked for a shortcut.

Got it! 

Near the elevator on the fourth floor was a utility box. 

Since each floor had an independent power system, the utility box was naturally independent for each floor. 

Huo You didn’t need to go to other floors-she found the fourth-floor utility box, opened it, and checked the electricity usage data. 

The area with the highest usage would be the morgue.

The fourth floor showed no abnormalities-usage was roughly the same everywhere. 

Huo You decisively rushed up the stairs to the fifth floor. 

After checking, it was also normal. 

She descended to the third, second… the second floor. 

Time was flying—a minute and a half had already passed. 

This one! 

In the second-floor utility box, she spotted a room number with unusually high electricity usage. 

Room 0218. 

The morgue was here.

Huo You calculated the time… 

Without activating the “corpse” state, she silently crouched, moving stealthily along the wall toward Room 0218 and hiding in the nearest stairwell entrance. 

She waited.

Counting down the seconds… 

Bang! 

Some electronic doors in the rooms were being attacked-the first batch of candidates was preparing to break out. 

Huo You, lying in wait, immediately activated the “corpse” state to mask her living presence.

She raised an eyebrow, thinking: ‘As expected, the first to break through in most confined spaces are the strongest fighters.’ 

While clever shortcuts exist, none can match the sheer power of “overcoming all obstacles with strength.” 

When the parasite is strong enough and the team is large enough, the electronic door and the corpses inside are no problem. 

Only people like her, who rely on clues to open doors, need to rack their brains.

So, the strongest batch of candidates on the second floor was about to break out. 

Then… what about it? 

Huo You waited until the third second. 

She heard a faint sound… creak… the heavy door opened. 

Through the small window in the stairwell door, she caught a glimpse.

The morgue door creaked open, releasing a wave of icy cold air. 

A shadow slowly emerged. 

She saw it, her pupils slightly dilating.

The F34 parasite morgue’s night watchman. 

It bore little resemblance to its genetic ancestor, the first-generation B-level Kru monster night watchman. 

The true night watchman was thin, with a pointed head, wearing a straw hat-like hood, holding a lantern that floated a meter above the ground. 

Its body was about a meter tall, resembling a malnourished, ugly dwarf-mysterious and silent. 

But after generations of genetic mixing with other creatures, the morgue’s night watchman had become vastly different from its ancestor.

Three meters tall, bulky, heavy, with 80% corpse-like features, covered in pus and frost-covered armor. 

Its head was twisted, somewhat resembling a giant’s deformed state. 

Its weapon wasn’t the mysterious lantern but a double-edged bone-cleaver scythe, essentially a massive butterfly knife. 

At first glance, it looked like a pure berserker.

But Huo You didn’t dare underestimate it since its race still carried the “night watchman” title, it likely retained the night watchman’s abilities: controlling corpses and extracting something.

What exactly it extracted, Huo You didn’t know, but she knew that as a B-level Cthulhu monster, its lantern was said to capture the soul of anyone it shone upon… stealing their abilities.

Tough nut to crack its combat power was explosive. 

It seemed the dungeon’s initial questions about “unity” weren’t without reason. 

This night watchman required the combined strength of many candidates to defeat it was nearly impossible for a single person to take it on, at least not her.

“However, killing it isn’t the only way to clear the dungeon. Surviving for an hour is also an option.” 

Bang, bang… 

The morgue’s night watchman, the dungeon’s final boss, emerged from the morgue, paused, and stood there. 

It was only three meters away from Huo You, separated by a stairwell door. 

Huo You remained motionless but saw its twisted, grotesque face with 360-degree rotating eyes… emitting a dark green light, scanning… 

It was using the hidden human skins in the rooms to inspect each room.

Then… Tap, it took a step, quickening its pace, heading toward the corridor, likely targeting the most threatening room.

Huo You waited until it was far away before leaving the stairwell and slipping into the morgue.

Upon entering, the extreme cold made her raise an eyebrow. 

It wasn’t worried about intruders; this temperature was unbearable for the living. 

Blood would freeze instantly. 

Fortunately, she was in the “corpse” state.

Once inside, Huo You wasn’t sure when the F34 night watchman would return, and her “corpse” state had only six minutes left. 

She had to maximize her time… to find the dormitory building’s exit key.

The morgue was vast, lined with over a hundred body storage units. 

In the center was a four-meter-long autopsy table, covered in frozen pus-likely its “bed.”

However, while searching for the key, Huo You’s attention was immediately drawn to something against the wall.

Hmm? 

A coat rack. 

A long coat rack, three meters in length, with at least a hundred hooks, but now empty. 

Were these the clothes of the deceased? 

Or their skins? 

The missing skins… coats… were they here? 

Where had they gone?

Huo You glanced briefly, muttering to herself, then began searching for the key. 

There were no clues about the key, so Huo You had to rely on her observations of the floor and the traces on the body storage units. 

The dungeon’s simple level provided a clue: the night watchman’s body secreted oil and pus.

Through careful observation, Huo You noticed that these traces were densely distributed throughout the morgue.

But… she focused on the freshest residue—it must have hidden or checked the key when the exam started and it sensed the disturbance she caused, ensuring the critical item wasn’t stolen. 

So…

Huo You looked at one of the storage units. 

She carefully opened it. 

Inside lay an “peaceful” bloated, ugly face, with a key clenched in its teeth. 

There it is. 

However, its limbs weren’t frost-covered, and there was no cold air. 

Normally, a frozen corpse would emit cold air. 

It seemed like it had just been placed inside. 

Huo You’s expression shifted slightly, and her hand moved as if to take the key…

Suddenly, its eyes snapped open, the dark green pupils spinning with cruel cunning. 

Its hands, hanging at its sides, shot up, aiming to gouge her eyes!