Chapter 258: [Rotten Bones and Resurrected Flesh] Shameless Beyond Measure
When Bai Cha carried the box out the door, the yellow dress hanging overhead fluttered twice, as if seeing her off.
Inside the box, the puppet kicked the wooden frame, looking utterly thoroughly bereft of any desire to go on living.
The other players carried their chosen items out one after another as well.
Certain items were directly visible—Zheng Zelin, for instance, held a rabbit doll with a fairly high degree of damage, while Shen Xiao-luo carried a pair of red dance shoes, which looked like a child’s size judging by their dimensions.
Chen Mi and Song Shi-fan’s items were also housed inside boxes—one a wooden box, the other a cardboard box.
Wang Yuan carried an object draped under a red cloth, making it impossible to determine what it was.
The group stole brief glances at one another, stepping through the main door.
Master Gao sat before a wooden table, still holding that black umbrella of his in hand.
Could it be that the umbrella was a restored item as well?
He was currently repairing the umbrella ribs, which appeared slightly snapped.
A pair of glasses rested on his nose; catching sight of them walking out, the corners of his mouth pulled downward in a sneer, clearly dissatisfied with every single one of them.
Evidently, everyone’s favorability score was likely far from high.
“Sit down.”
Fixing the umbrella ribs, Master Gao wiped away all the smudges on the umbrella with meticulous care.
He pointed at the tools resting upon the table.
“These tools are what you will be using next. But as for how to use them, how to fix your items, you will need to ask the objects in your hands.”
“These old items all possess souls. If you wish to restore them properly, you must learn what they crave.”
The players put on obedient expressions on the surface, yet felt a rising sense of trickiness deep down.
How novel—they knew souls resided inside these things as well.
What could these specters possibly crave?
If they craved eating human flesh and drinking human blood, would the players be forced to commit murder?
“I will impose zero restrictions on you today. Just restore the items in your hands as best as you can. Furthermore, do you see that room over there?”
Master Gao pointed at a room door situated behind the group’s backs.
That room door was locked.
“If you feel the items in your hands are too difficult to restore, you may bring them back to swap at any given time. Each person gets three opportunities to swap items, but you are forbidden from touching the items inside that room.”
Excellent—generally speaking, stating things this way implied important clues resided inside that room, making it highly probable they would need to step inside for a look.
“Alright, go get to work on your restorations. I will come check your results tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, the person with the most failing performance will be eliminated.”
Having finished speaking, Master Gao took his umbrella and stepped out the door.
The black umbrella unfurled, vanishing rapidly into the pouring rain.
The door remained unclosed; as icy wind mixed with frigid rainwater blew inside, Bai Cha began coughing once more.
Shen Xiao-luo couldn’t resist asking in the end, “What kind of illness do you actually have? Tuberculosis?”
Shaking her head amidst her coughing fit, Bai Cha’s eye rims turned rimmed red, her face ghastly pale.
Only after her coughing fit subsided did she speak up: “Just a weak constitution—I can’t stand wind, and I can’t stand cold air.”
“Speaking of which, do you know what this shop is called?”
Appearing disinclined to have others dwell on her physical condition, she shifted the topic directly.
The players harbored their own individual judgments regarding her situation deep down.
However, her question indeed served as a good inquiry.
They knew merely that they were situated inside a shop capable of restoring old items, yet not a single soul knew what this shop was actually called.
“Step outside to catch a glance?” Chen Mi suggested.
Bai Cha cast a hesitant glance outside, shaking her head.
“My body can’t be exposed to rain.”
“Is the shop’s name even important?” Song Shi-fan spoke up. “This instance clearly doesn’t seem to possess much of a storyline. Even if it does, it’s likely unimportant.”
If a storyline existed, every single item in this place might possess a narrative segment of its own.
Such lore held zero practical significance inside an instance, offering no substantial benefits toward clearing the game.
Naturally, exploring the situation inside the instance remained necessary all the same.
Chen Mi drew out an umbrella.
An oiled-paper umbrella.
“I’ll step out to take a look at the shop’s name.”
Unfurling the umbrella, Bai Cha noticed the patterns painted atop it, stained in a vast swath of red as though paint had been spilled over it, rendering its original design impossible to discern clearly.
The red pigment spread out instantly upon contacting the rain outside, turning the entire canopy red in a single moment.
Taking a quick glance upward, Chen Mi returned inside swiftly, retracting the umbrella back into his backpack.
“The shop’s name is [‘Rotten Bones and Resurrected Flesh’]—identical to the instance’s name.”
“This name… implies a meaning akin to rebirth, doesn’t it?” Shen Xiao-luo spoke up.
“Why bother over so much? Let’s figure out how to restore the items in our hands first. He said whoever fails to do a good job will be eliminated tomorrow,” Wang Yuan said with a frown.
The others shifted their attention onto the items in their hands in an instant as well.
Bai Cha found a stool in a corner of the room to sit down, opening the box.
The puppet lay there motionless.
Bai Cha picked him up, shaking him twice.
The puppet: “…”
“Can you talk? Where is your issue?” Bai Cha inquired in a low voice.
Chen Mi cast a glance in her direction.
Talking to specters? Was that an ability brought about by her skill as well?
The puppet remained entirely indifferent, much like a dead object.
Bai Cha let out a sigh.
“Looks like I can only inspect it myself then.” Saying this, she yanked one sleeve straight off the puppet’s clothing.
“Stop right there!” A voice sounding humiliated to the point of anger echoed straight inside Bai Cha’s mind.
“Are you certain you are trying to repair me?!”
It was a young boy’s voice.
[System Notice: May I ask if you wish to restore your current item: Marionette [Wen Zhao]?]
Bai Cha looked thoughtful.
This instance truly felt like playing a video game.
“Yes.”
The surrounding scene shifted in an instant.
Every object inside the room vanished.
This place resembled a sprawling, hollow mansion far more.
Yet it had grown exceedingly dilapidated, with dust and cobwebs scattered everywhere.
In the center of the courtyard stood a boy in red attire.
He possessed delicate, handsome features, yet his complexion was stark white—a lustrous, bone-like sheen, his body bearing the exact same joint markings as the puppet.
The gaze he fixated onto Bai Cha was thoroughly hostile.
Because his clothing had slipped off on one side, revealing a scar across half of his exposed torso right over his heart’s location.
“You are shameless beyond measure! A girl like you, laying hands so casually!” The boy snapped the moment he opened his mouth.
Oh, in truth, he hadn’t opened his mouth either; he merely possessed facial features, his eyes capable of radiating certain emotions, yet incapable of making actual movements.
Bai Cha raised an eyebrow.
She could sense that she had lost all her power in this place, left with merely a frail, miserable body.
Yet she could simultaneously sense that if she wished to forcefully summon the Dodder Vines, she could still destroy this place directly.
This place likely constituted the puppet boy’s personal domain.
“I can be even more shameless than this—would you like to see?” Bai Cha offered him a brilliant smile.
Wen Zhao: “…”
He was furious.
Yet the aura radiating from that Ghouls’ Bane title above Bai Cha’s head made it exceedingly difficult for any specter not to feel a chill in their heart.
She had to have slaughtered countless brutally vicious specters—Boss-level entities at that—to cultivate such a dense layer of blood-soaked aura.
This title exerted a terrifyingly suppression effect against a minor specter like him.
“Forget it! Don’t you want to repair me? My heart is right here—find it for me, and I’ll repair myself!”
