Surprisingly, the Scavenger didn't make any unnecessary movements.

The touch was very gentle and strange, Xiao Gui'an's contact was almost negligible, yet it unconsciously made the Scavenger want to stay a little longer.

This small figure before it no longer produced fear, replaced by another flavor, a scent the Scavenger had never smelled before.

The Scavenger took a small taste.

A sweet and sour flavor—that was the taste called 'affection,' an emotion and sensation that shouldn't appear in the horror world.

Not carrying any morbidly twisted feelings.

A very strange texture, but surprisingly not unpleasant.

After one taste, it wanted another.

The Scavenger's massive body trembled slightly, and the eye-tentacles it had retracted earlier churned again, appearing ferocious and terrifying enough to make one's hair stand on end.

It really wanted to devour it in one bite—

But... that wouldn't do, right?

In the Scavenger's chaotic, muddled consciousness, it realized Xiao Gui'an was different from all others.

It had encountered only one like this in so very long—if it ate it all in one bite, wouldn't there be none left?

It wasn't quite like those foolish counterparts who only knew how to eat.

Xiao Gui'an really couldn't bring himself to like those eye-tentacles of the Scavenger; just seeing those twisted and eerie things made his stomach churn, and his hand movements stopped.

The flavor seemed to be fading.

Why?

The Scavenger's slow, rusty organ—if it could even be called a brain—turned over.

The enormous monster figure hesitated, showing some clumsiness as it retracted its tentacles again.

Ah—

That flavor returned.

Hidden within the thick fur, those six vortex-like, blood-red, vacant pupils seemed to show some fluctuation.

"Hey, it's not that daddy dislikes you, but those tentacles really look like parasites or something. I don't even know if this place has anywhere for you to wash up..."

What was he saying?

It didn't understand—

But it really couldn't resist—it would just take a tiny taste.

Before Xiao Gui'an, a bottomless abyss-like maw slowly opened, and then a tongue like a giant serpent covered in sharp barbs slowly licked Xiao Gui'an, leaving behind a foul-smelling, sticky mucus.

"Hey, hey, wait, don't lick me!"

Xiao Gui'an was covered from head to toe in that wet, sticky mucus, which seemed to have strong corrosive properties—the barbs slightly cut his skin.

"I wasn't planning to take a bath tonight!"

If those wounds were on a human body, they would hurt for a long time.

But ghost bodies seemed truly much more resilient; Xiao Gui'an didn't feel much pain, and the cuts that had been made were continuously healing.

"You can't just lick people randomly, understand—"

When a person experiences things that overturn their understanding in a short period, their acceptance level for subsequent abnormalities increases.

Xiao Gui'an was now more concerned about whether this creature carried any bacteria that could infect ghosts—he'd have to thoroughly clean up later.

Speaking of which, do ghosts even need vaccinations?

The tongue took a taste—no flavor.

The Scavenger formed this thought.

But another flavor emerged—somewhat stimulating, with a different texture than before.

The emotion called stern anger.

"Alright, so we'll have to practice in the future then..."

Xiao Gui'an waved the sticky mucus off his hands.

The logout time had arrived.

Chang Mingrui and the others were clearly in poor condition; staying longer would likely only cause more trouble.

But...

Every night's exploration time was precious, especially since they'd encountered something unexpected today.

Any piece of information could become their winning advantage in the future.

After the team members logged out of the game one after another, Liu Feng looked at the ghost object in his hand and raised the eyeball again without hesitation.

For intelligence of this magnitude, every bit more they could learn was valuable.

The long-haired youth seemed to be lecturing the Scavenger, his originally smooth black hair somewhat disheveled, his expression stern yet seemingly carrying a hint of helpless indulgence.

Then—

Seeming to detect someone secretly peeping, the youth with picturesque temperament accurately met the middle-aged man's gaze. His eyes were calm and gentle, without any trace of madness or eeriness.

Just like a refined gentleman, he smiled slightly and nodded gently, as if greeting someone.

How similar—

Completely like a human.

About the same age as the young man next door.

Just around Chang Mingrui and his companions' age.

Liu Feng's heart pounded wildly, as if it would burst open at any moment. He immediately put down the Peeping Eyes and logged out of that terrifying game world without hesitation.

Precisely because it looked so incredibly similar to a normal human, it felt even more terrifying.

What could be hidden beneath that gentle and polite facade of a being capable of taming the Scavenger?

[There's a rat peeking]

The Zero System murmured incessantly.

Then it suddenly proposed taking a photo of Xiao Gui'an and the Scavenger, saying it was to commemorate his first day on the job as an NPC or something.

Xiao Gui'an slightly turned his head, looking toward where the System was.

I didn't expect the System to be quite considerate.

He nodded lightly, a slight smile appearing at the corners of his mouth, expressing approval of the System.

Completely unaware of what kind of psychological trauma he had inflicted on others.

Time passed silently.

"Dong—"

"Long—"

Only the Scavenger could hear the distant, ancient bell toll echoing in its ears.

Coming from beyond this world, as if from the edge of the starry sea.

The Quiet Moment was about to end.

They should return to the void.

Even if the Scavenger wanted to stay now, its body was being slowly dragged away by an invisible force, gradually erasing its existence.

Countless blood-red eyes stared at Xiao Gui'an, seemingly recording his appearance.

His aura, it remembered.

Watching the Scavenger slowly wriggle, its figure gradually fading, Xiao Gui'an realized it was about to leave.

"Alright, see you next time—" He waved at the Scavenger.

After watching the Scavenger's massive figure completely disappear, Xiao Gui'an locked the balcony security lock and immediately ran toward the bathroom.

He couldn't stand it for another moment.

Only after coming out from his bath did he belatedly remember he still had exploration tasks to complete.

Selecting some fruit from the refrigerator, he planned to visit his neighbors.

The hallway lights were actually on now, but they flickered intermittently, extremely dim, making it hard to see the path clearly.

Rhythmic knocking sounds echoed through Sunshine Residential Area.

"Knock knock—"

"Are you there?"

"I just moved in recently..."

"Are you asleep?"

"I have some fruit here, would you like to try some..."

The dim yellowish light stretched the Writer's shadow very long, sketching one twisted and terrifying pattern after another on the ground.

No response.

He knocked door by door, but not a single ghost NPC opened for him.

Not even one made a sound for him.

Clearly he could hear some faint sounds when approaching certain residences.

But as soon as he knocked, they all played dead.

Experiencing this treatment for the first time, Xiao Gui'an felt somewhat defeated. Do NPCs sleep this early?

Or were they all in standby mode before the game fully started?

His first attempt at establishing good neighborly relations had failed just like that.

Xiao Gui'an returned to his residence somewhat dejectedly with his fruit.

While supplementing the Writer's acting details, Xiao Gui'an somewhat distractedly looked at 'Little Xu Zi' on the system task panel.

That person should be similar to the Chosen Ones of Fate, wonder if they're easy to get along with.

But judging by that hint item, with a second-level Psychological Counselor Certificate, they should be someone very emotionally stable and healing, right?

After all, since this is his healing game, surely it's meant for him to heal these tragic ghost NPCs!

Xiao Gui'an thought somewhat naively, completely unaware how far his ideas had diverged from reality.

The so-called healing was actually traumatizing.

When he was playing the role of a half-human half-ghost student, watching Xu Zisheng—who wore a smile but held an axe, fiercely hacking again and again at the wooden door—speak in a gentle, negotiating tone, "Come out, stop playing Hide and Seek... I found you—"

"Bang—"

The cold-gleaming axe struck the door again and again, like chopping human bones.

"Or let big brother give you some psychological therapy, I have a certificate, level two even..."

What kind of psychological therapy comes with physical attack attributes?!

Looking at the precarious door panel and Xu Zisheng's smile hiding daggers at that moment, Xiao Gui'an finally understood how absurd his previous assumptions about Xu Zisheng had been!

So this was the trap the System had laid. His identity as a Real Ghost absolutely must not be exposed, otherwise he'd be chopped into mincemeat!!!

If that axe came down on him like that, he could die on the spot all over again.