Wang Xiuwen still remembered.
Five years ago, when he had just been promoted to Head of the Research Department.
Back then, the strange matchmaking system hadn't appeared.
The Research Department's subjects of study were simply the various instances within the Ghost World.
The player death rate back then was staggeringly high.
Out of a hundred people who went in, if even one made it back alive, they were considered a child of fortune.
But even those who returned were usually covered in injuries, or in a trance, suffering from various psychological illnesses.
It was against this backdrop.
A researcher under his command reported the discovery of a little girl who had just returned from the Ghost World.
The little girl, Ye Meng'an, was only eight years old at the time. When she returned, she was completely unharmed and in a very stable mental state.
This news shocked Wang Xiuwen.
He wanted to know if there was some trick or hidden information about the instance that could be used to benefit the players of Dragon Country.
But when he saw Ye Meng'an's file, he discovered that she was an orphan living at the Jiang Orphanage.
The sky was overcast that day as he went alone to the Jiang Orphanage.
Led by the director, he found the little girl in an empty room, sitting quietly on a chair and holding a worn-out cloth doll.
When she noticed the stranger's arrival, the little girl's expression grew wary. Only after the director's persuasion did she gradually relax and tell him her story.
The ghost instance she had entered was an S-rank instance called [Screaming Amusement Park].
The park's manager was a high-level Crimson-robed Ghost, an eerie clown with blood-red makeup on its face.
Along with her, there were three other players from Dragon Country, as well as ten players from other countries.
Due to her young age, the three Dragon Country players took great pity on Ye Meng'an and protected her most of the time.
But one day, someone—it was unclear who—enraged the eerie clown, and it went on a killing spree in the amusement park.
When she spoke of that day, Ye Meng'an's eyes filled with terror as she recalled the amusement park.
She saw the carousel break free from its inanimate bonds amidst a harsh, grating explosion, wantonly tearing into the players' flesh. The Ferris wheel toppled over, crushing countless limbs like a millstone.
The amusement park that day was filled with desperate screams. Hot blood splattered everywhere, as if the entire world had been dyed scarlet.
And the three older players who had been protecting her were also killed.
After a day of slaughter, the entire amusement park fell deathly silent.
All the other players were dead!
She was hiding in a corner, shivering uncontrollably.
But in the end, Ye Meng'an was discovered.
In a panic, she scrambled through a hole leading out of the park and fled.
She didn't know where she was running; she just wanted to survive.
Behind her, the eerie clown was like a predator toying with its prey, closing in on her step by step.
With nowhere left to run, she found an orphanage.
She didn't have time to think and burst inside.
A beautiful "big sister" heard her story and led her inside.
She saw that the trees in the orphanage were laden with crimson fruit, and their leaves were shaped like hearts.
The children there wore bright, crimson clothes and played games without a care in the world.
And the adults of the orphanage were all kind and benevolent-looking.
One was playing music she couldn't understand on a blood-red bone flute. Another had dozens of hands growing from their body, each holding countless threads, helping the children peel fruit.
The atmosphere was gentle and soothing.
After hearing what happened to Ye Meng'an, the orphanage children became very angry.
Ignoring her protests, they followed an adult and returned to the amusement park.
This time, when the eerie clown saw them, its expression changed drastically, becoming obsequious.
She didn't know what the adult said, but the eerie clown's face filled with terror—the same kind of panicked, soul-chilling fear she had seen on the faces of the players who were killed.
Just as Ye Meng'an thought something bad was about to happen, the orphanage children transformed.
One by one, their faces revealed a violent and ferocious aura.
They smashed all the amusement park's attractions.
Even the eerie clown was killed by them; its head—frozen in terror even in death—was kicked around by the children like a ball.
The adult didn't say anything, only told them to leave once they were done playing.
At the time, Ye Meng'an didn't understand what it meant that the eerie clown, a high-level Crimson-robed Ghost, had been killed so easily.
The kind children even invited her to live at the orphanage.
But Ye Meng'an ultimately refused. She was too scared.
Before she left, a little boy gave her a cloth doll.
In several subsequent instances, players from other countries tried to snatch the doll from her, but every time she closed her eyes in fear, she would open them to find that all the horrible villains were dead.
Their deaths were gruesome, as if they had seen something terrifying to their very bones.
After that, she returned to the real world.
...
Wang Xiuwen remembered this incident.
At the time, he had thought Ye Meng'an was just rambling nonsense due to shock. After all, she was a child with a vivid imagination.
'If what she said was true, were all the children in that orphanage Crimson-robed Ghosts?'
'And the adults... could they be beings even higher than Crimson-robed Ghosts?'
After all, at that time, the Screaming Amusement Park was considered by players worldwide to be one of the ten most terrifying instances.
Wang Xiuwen had studied this matter for a long time afterward.
If the orphanage really existed as Ye Meng'an described,
then its rank would be at least SS-rank!
That would be a nightmare for all of humanity!
Fortunately, other players had gone to investigate later.
But the eerie clown was still there, only it had become much more deathly quiet, like a puppet controlled by strings.
The death rate at the Screaming Amusement Park had also dropped significantly. As long as you did your tasks honestly, you wouldn't be killed.
And that terrifying and bizarre orphanage was never found.
As for the cloth doll, he had examined it and found it to be just an ordinary toy with nothing strange about it.
He had attributed it all to a child's lie.
But now, hearing about it from Gu Yuan's own mouth, Wang Xiuwen broke out in a cold sweat.
'If this orphanage is really his instance—'
His heart wouldn't stop pounding.
His mind was completely filled with shock and horror.
'If that's the case, then what Gu Yuan said about it being 'pretty strong' checks out.'
'That's an understatement!'
'That's not 'pretty strong'!'
'Compared to that orphanage, some S-rank Twilight Castle is like an ant gazing up at the heavens!'
'Relying on his relationship with Yun Zhenyue, couldn't Dragon Country's players walk around like they own the place from now on?'
Wang Xiuwen trembled all over. He hurriedly ordered his subordinates to summon Ye Meng'an.
He wanted her to identify Gu Yuan.
At the same time, he took a blood pressure pill from his drawer and swallowed it.
Seeing the confused looks on his subordinates' faces, Wang Xiuwen licked his dry lips.
'Gu Yuan, oh, Gu Yuan... just what is your identity?'
'If this story is true, you can't be just a vengeful spirit...'
'Could you be—'
An Evil Star?
Wang Xiuwen silently mouthed the two words.
Those two words made his heart pound with fear.
They were ghosts even more violent than the Crimson-robed.
As the saying goes: when an Evil Star appears, nations are broken and cities are slaughtered.
They possess terrifying powers and can easily annihilate the entire population of a small country.
「Soon.」
Ye Meng'an, now much taller and with more delicate features, arrived, still clutching the cloth doll.
Her eyes were cold, as if she were indifferent to everything.
Because no one had been willing to believe her story about the orphanage, Ye Meng'an disliked the Research Department.
She found Wang Xiuwen particularly annoying just to look at.
When Wang Xiuwen, in a fawning manner, pointed to Gu Yuan on the screen for her,
"Ye, take a look. Was this person in that orphanage you mentioned?"
Instantly,
Ye Meng'an frowned.
When she saw Gu Yuan,
her eyes lit up.
As Wang Xiuwen watched in shock,
she said coldly, "It's him..."