Ch. 11 - Do We Still Have to Follow the Game Rules When the Ghosts Get Glitched Out?
Bug Abuse? I Swear I'm Just Playing Normally!This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
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Ridiculous.
Just as Bai Wan was thinking that, a translucent system message flickered across his mind.
[You have triggered the passive bug “Door Vanishing.”
In accordance with the passive ability Bug Exploiter, this has been converted into a temporary active skill.
Note: Temporary skills gained via conversion must be unlocked after a delay upon entering a new dungeon. All other skills can be used immediately.]
[Congratulations! You have obtained: Door Vanishing Technique (Temporary)]
[Door Vanishing Technique
Level: 4 (This skill cannot be upgraded. Unlocks four days after entering each new dungeon.)
Description: Touch a door, gently trace its surface, and silently chant “Vanish” to make it disappear. Chant “Appear,” and the door will return.]
Bai Wan blinked, momentarily stunned, before remembering his innate talent — [World Glitch], which came with the passive [Bug Exploiter].
[World Glitch
Description: A mysterious anomaly resulting in passive bug emissions. The user passively radiates bugs at all times.
Attached Passive: Bug Exploiter
Effect: Any bug triggered during a dungeon may be converted into a temporary active skill. The skill disappears when the dungeon ends. (Can be permanently unlocked using Paranormal Coins.)]
So that door-vanishing incident earlier, which had happened as a bug, had now been turned into an actual skill thanks to Bug Exploiter.
A powerful skill that could erase doors at will… no wonder it was a Level 4 bug.
With this ability, not only could he move safely again — he could finally leave this room. All he had to do was convert the wall back into a door. He even briefly considered just hiding in this bugged-out room until the game ended. Sure, it was cowardly. But at least it was safe.
Still, he figured the dungeon’s clearance requirements might have other conditions. Staying in one spot the whole time might not be wise when the mechanics were still unclear.
Forget it. He’d wait until morning to head out.
So Bai Wan lay low, keeping his head down while the faint footsteps outside eventually faded into the distance.
Then, just like the night before, those soft steps returned. This time, they walked slowly toward the second floor. He guessed someone else had been selected by the ghost and was being led into the mysterious upstairs room.
But tonight, Bai Wan stayed put. He had no idea where Zhang Wen was right now. Was he still in his room? Or standing right outside this wall?
Either way, not worth the risk — so Bai Wan stayed exactly where he was, lying on the bed with his eyes closed, resting without actually sleeping.
Only once daylight streamed into the room did he grip his emergency lamp and cautiously approach the wall. He pressed a hand to the surface, gently traced it, and chanted silently. The wall turned back into a door.
And with that, he stepped out.
This time, he exited about thirty minutes earlier than the others, so the main hall was empty.
“Bai Wan, is that you? My door won’t open. I think it broke. Can you help me?” Chen Weiyu’s voice called through the door of the room next to his. There was a hint of fear in her voice.
Apparently, she’d been trying to open it for a while without success and only spoke up after hearing Bai Wan’s door unlock.
A stuck door in the Paranormal Game... was never just a stuck door.
“I’ll take a look,” Bai Wan said, walking over and grabbing the doorknob — only to stop short.
His eyes had drifted down to the sticker he’d placed on the door the night before. His heart skipped a beat.
The sticker was torn.
Which meant this door had been opened sometime during the night.
Bai Wan held his breath… and exhaled.
Last night had been incredibly dangerous. A normal player wouldn’t have dared leave their room.
So who — or what — had opened this door?
The only plausible answer is the entity.
“Bai Wan, come on, help me figure this out. It’s really jammed.” Chen Weiyu’s voice came from inside, perfectly normal, perfectly calm. Just like her.
“Don’t worry. Big Brother’s here to save you,” Bai Wan replied sweetly.
Then he raised his hand... and swiped it across the door.
With a faint shimmer, the door vanished. A solid wall took its place.
He stepped back a few paces and gasped dramatically. “Oh no! Your door—it's gone! What is this? Is this even possible?! Oh my god! Holy shit! I’m powerless to help you!”
Inside, silence.
Whoever — or whatever — was on the other side had clearly been thrown off. Maybe it was stunned by the sudden disappearance of the door. Or maybe it was too baffled by Bai Wan’s theatrical outburst to respond.
Either way, the thing shut up.
Crisis averted…for now.
Feeling satisfied, Bai Wan strolled over to the dining table and began eating.
Before long, the others emerged from their rooms as well. Liu Tong came out. So did Zhang Wen.
But Lin Xi never appeared.
No one brought her up. Everyone had heard her scream last night. They all knew what that meant.
Her fate was already sealed.
Liu Tong stepped out of his room, and his gaze landed on the wall where Chen Weiyu’s door should have been. He froze.
“What... What the hell happened here?”
What the hell?! Where’s the door?!
Why is there a wall where her door used to be?
“I don’t know either,” Bai Wan said, wearing a face full of innocent confusion. “It was gone when I came out.”
Liu Tong and Zhang Wen stood there, staring blankly at the wall.
“Is this... a malfunction?” Liu Tong asked uncertainly.
“Can the Paranormal Game even glitch like this?” Zhang Wen looked just as lost. “Well, I mean, if it’s a game, bugs are possible, right? Maybe the system bugged out...?”
Liu Tong felt like his brain was starting to short-circuit. But the moment Zhang Wen spoke, both he and Bai Wan shifted their attention to him.
Zhang Wen immediately noticed the change. Realizing they were watching him closely, he cleared his throat and said: “Liu-Bro... I think something’s wrong with my memory. I can’t remember anything from last night... Is it really the 16th today?”
That morning, when Zhang Wen got up and checked the date, he’d gotten a nasty shock. In his memory, he’d entered the game on the 14th. But now, after just one night’s sleep, it was suddenly the 16th?
What happened to the 15th?
His mind felt foggy, like there was something missing — a blank he couldn’t fill in.
Liu Tong looked at Zhang Wen, hesitated, but didn’t speak. He was carefully weighing one thing: Is the Zhang Wen in front of them... the real one? Or just another ghost pretending to be him?
Based on past experience, it was likely this was the real Zhang Wen. After all, the game wouldn’t just throw players into an inescapable, instant-death situation right from the start.
Whoever was chosen to enter the wooden door on the first night... It seemed like the selection was random.
Meaning — anyone could have been picked.
If walking through that door meant instant death, that would be absurdly unfair, especially for the very first night. More likely, the real player was replaced temporarily by the entity, and only released back after a day.
And the clearest evidence... was Zhang Wen’s clothes.
Liu Tong subtly looked down at Zhang Wen’s shirt hem.
Back when he had “accidentally” spilled soup in the dining room, that hadn’t been a clumsy mistake — it was intentional. Chen Weiyu had been collateral damage. The real target... was Zhang Wen.
Ever since first seeing him again, Liu Tong had been wondering: If Zhang Wen was replaced... how would they tell if the one who came back was real? So he’d marked Zhang Wen’s clothing on purpose, specifically for this moment.
Bai Wan also glanced at Zhang Wen’s clothes, noting how neat they were. Back then, he hadn’t understood Liu Tong’s actions — but now, it all made sense. This government official was sneakier than he looked.
Zhang Wen’s clean clothes proved it: the one from yesterday... and the one now…
Were not the same person.
“Last night, you... seemed to be sleepwalking,” Liu Tong finally said, choosing to tell the truth. He wanted to see how Zhang Wen would respond, and maybe get more clues.
“What? The ghost actually pretended to be me?” Zhang Wen paled, a chill creeping up his back.
He had no idea he’d apparently done anything while sleepwalking — let alone something so terrifying.
At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel... lucky. Even if an entity had taken his place, at least he was still alive.
But then — Zhang Wen’s body suddenly stiffened.
Wait a minute...
According to Liu Tong’s explanation, each night someone was dragged into the wooden room and replaced.
So...who was it last night?
Liu Tong was wondering the same thing. His eyes flicked between Bai Wan and Zhang Wen.
Which one had been replaced this time?
Wait.
Hold on.
Where’s Chen Weiyu...?
Liu Tong froze. A ridiculous thought formed in his head.
Is Chen Weiyu... trapped in her room?
After all, the game had glitched and her door is now a wall.
At that moment, a loud pounding came from behind that very wall.
Bang! Bang! BANG!
She’s trapped? No — something was wrong. That immense force... didn’t sound human.
Which means…
Today’s ghost is Chen Weiyu. And because of the game’s glitch...she is now trapped in her own room.
Liu Tong stood in stunned silence, processing the conclusion he’d just reached. Even he didn’t believe it.
But… Could this really be happening?
He turned and shared his theory out loud.
Zhang Wen was dumbfounded. Bai Wan put on a convincingly shocked face.
“Bai Wan... Bro… are you sure nothing happened before we came out this morning?” Liu Tong asked, narrowing his eyes at Bai Wan.
Bai Wan shook his head, eyes full of blank confusion. “I’ve got no idea. I just stepped out, and this is how things were. I was wondering the same thing — how does a perfectly good door just vanish?”
For some reason, after Bai Wan said that...
The pounding inside the wall grew... angrier.
BANG! BANG! BAAANG!! BAAANGG!!!
Liu Tong cleared his throat. “Ahem. Well, let’s just... move on. It’s getting late. Eat something, and we’ll go continue searching for the ship’s blueprints.”
But Zhang Wen hesitated. “Um... Brother Liu... If the ghost is, uh... stuck in a wall right now... do we still need to go look for the blueprints?”
“I mean... isn’t that just... part of the game flow? Right?”
Liu Tong paused.
He looked at the wall.
At the pounding ghost inside.
And his entire worldview began to tilt sideways.
Yeah... the ghost’s glitched.
Do they still have to follow the normal game flow?
But if they don’t look for the blueprints... What exactly are they supposed to do?
At that moment, even Liu Tong — veteran, cool-headed, professional Paranormal Game player — was completely stumped.