Jiang Che ate quickly, anxious to leave.
The atmosphere inside was unnerving; Jiang Che buried his head in his food, while the Blood Nurse sat across from him.
She was wearing a filthy, grimy nurse's uniform, her face wrapped in bandages—and beneath those bandages, you could just make out countless centipede-like scars. "Bloody" and "terrifying" didn't even begin to describe her.
She didn't speak—but Ya couldn't shake the feeling that this evil spirit radiated warmth and motherly love.
Ya didn't dare to make any sudden moves. Seeing that the evil spirit wasn't hurting her, her terrified brain whirled even faster.
Stay calm! Be cool! She began secretly adjusting her breath, forcing her frenzied heart to settle down bit by bit.
Calmness was a mandatory lesson for everyone before entering a dungeon.
Only, when danger struck, not everyone could keep calm—not everyone had strong nerves.
Motherly love?
She already thought there was something off about this evil spirit, and now it felt even crazier—one's always looking for parents, another actually treats him like her kid?
She wondered if she should call the evil spirit "Mom," just like Jiang Che, and take a gamble. But then she remembered she'd soon be leaving with him to find his wife. So long as she helped him find her, the spirit wouldn't hurt her.
Meanwhile, the live stream audience was exploding, because the broadcast wasn't affected by the illusion technique.
Usually, viewers see illusion traps from a detached, observer's point of view when watching survivors in the dungeon.
Ordinary survivors had no means to break the illusion technique—some followed evil spirits thinking they were comrades, others ate things they thought were food but weren't.
The involved are confused, the observers clear-minded. Every time they see a survivor get caught by an illusion, viewers bang their chests in despair, mourning for the unlucky survivor and for themselves since they wouldn't know how to break it either.
So now everyone could see clearly: Jiang Che was eating actual instant noodles.
Not some shapeless mass of blood and flesh, not disgusting maggots…
[Wait, didn't he eat gross stuff last time? Why is it normal food now?]
[Exactly which step did I miss?]
[I don't get it. Did the Blood Nurse really raise Jiang Che as her kid?]
[Not raising a son, more like raising a pet.]
[Is this some way of negotiating with the evil spirit? You get items and short-term safety. As long as you escape at the end, being a pet or slave now is fine by me.]
...
The audience began calculating the odds of this pretend-family strategy working. There had never been a case of playing house with an evil spirit before—this was the first time in history.
At the same time, Jiang Che's stream was suddenly blowing up—someone with his kind of mental issues had survived this long and even gotten two special items, that already said a lot.
Ghostly pretend-family—possible!
Now, everyone in the stream was staring at Jiang Che, wanting to learn how he dealt with evil spirits.
Looking at the chat analyzing Jiang Che's every move, someone laughed self-mockingly:
[LMAO, mental illness really is the ultimate pretend-family physique.]
[Can't believe I'm learning how to play house from a mental patient.]
[Maybe it's just coincidence? This wouldn't work on other evil spirits—it's just the Blood Nurse's personal kink?]
...
No one said anything—they just took notes.
Learn every trick you can; who knows when you'll be desperate enough to need it.
Instant noodles only take a few minutes to eat—Jiang Che took two big bites, and the bowl was almost empty.
Finally, he noticed Ya staring hard at him from across the table.
Ya didn't get it. How could Jiang Che eat so happily?
How could he swallow food given by an evil spirit with zero hesitation?
The stuff in Jiang Che's bowl looked like noodles, but after so many dungeon guides, who knew if it was just illusion technique? Maybe, under the spirit's illusion, it was a writhing bowl of maggots.
The Blood Nurse looked at Ya with utter contempt. She could sense Ya's emotions swinging wildly. Ya had been surprised at the noodles at first, but every time she glanced at Jiang Che's bowl afterwards, she was full of horror inside.
Heh, humans.
She snorted, disdainful. If this woman didn't know where her daughter-in-law was, she'd have dealt with her already.
"Are you hungry?" Jiang Che glanced at Ya, then looked down at the bowl—Mom had only prepared one bowl of noodles, he wasn't about to share.
Ya hadn't even spoken yet when she felt the room chill—the threat of death pressed in instantly.
"Not hungry, not hungry! You go ahead!" Ya felt like crying. She hadn't wanted to eat anyway, but the evil spirit was actually afraid she'd snatch Jiang Che's food.
She didn't get it—why would the spirit show killing intent over just a word from Jiang Che?
It was like protecting her cub.
Protecting her cub?
The thought flashed through her mind instantly, and it scared her half to death. She realized that the motherly love she felt wasn't just her imagination…
But…
How could that be!
She looked jealously at Jiang Che's doctor's coat. She recognized it as a special dungeon item. Unlike the audience, she felt it directly.
The viewers thought it was a special item, but she could tell that the moment Jiang Che put it on, his aura blended into the dungeon itself.
She couldn't put it into words,
but in this room, it was obvious—once Jiang Che wore the coat, he still looked human, but somehow his aura and the Blood Nurse's matched like a real family.
Jiang Che even felt like an evil spirit to her.
The doctor's coat completely masked Jiang Che's human presence.
Realizing this made Ya's heart suddenly skip a beat.
She felt like she'd figured out what the coat's ability was:
Conceal aura!
As long as you put this coat on, the evil spirits would think you're one of them!
No matter why the Blood Nurse gave Jiang Che the coat, once they left the house, if she didn't come along, Ya needed to find a way to scam this item from him.
Scamming a normal person might be tough, but fooling a nutcase? Piece of cake!
"I'm done eating." Jiang Che said, satisfied, putting down his chopsticks.
"Go on, hurry up and bring her back." The Blood Nurse stood up and took away Jiang Che's bowl and utensils.
She glanced outside—the sky was gradually darkening.
Night was about to fall, and she knew that once it did, the hunt would truly begin.
She felt safe letting Jiang Che leave only after he put on the doctor's coat.
Between the bracelet and the coat, Jiang Che wouldn't face danger in the dungeon.
She wouldn't follow him—if she did, every human would run at the first sight of her.
She had other things to do instead.
In three days, the dungeon would close—any humans left would be immediately wiped out.
She couldn't let Jiang Che die in the dungeon.