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Chapter 069 I Give My Life to Guarantee It

Just as this thought flashed through my mind, a sudden noise came from ahead.

Looking up, a landscape painting hanging on the corridor wall suddenly fell and crashed to the ground, causing Ling Mo’s earlier expression of excitement to freeze on his face.

Xia Xinyan reacted quickly, immediately opening the intercom: “A painting just fell over here. Did you find anything in the car?”

“The painting fell? That’s a paranormal event… Let me check.” After a pause, Brother Haonan continued, “The temperature hasn’t dropped around you, right? The flashlight didn’t flicker either? Then it’s a warning, indicating that a ghost is nearby… Oh, let me see, activity level 4, it’s a show! Can you find a way to lure it out?”

“How should we do that?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“……”

Ling Mo snapped back to reality, trying to calm himself down, and opened the intercom to ask, “What do we do to make the ghost appear? Anger it? Or what?”

“Uh… I can’t really say. Yelling its name can bring it out, but saying other things usually doesn’t work. But angering it… Hmm, that could work, but I don’t know how to anger it.”

Ling Mo thought for a moment and asked, “Would just raising the volume annoy it?”

“Maybe, but it generally has to be a continuous sound. Are you planning to perform a stand-up comedy show?”

“No, I have other methods.” Ling Mo took a few seconds to prepare himself mentally, then raised his left hand and began to conjure his abilities.

He was still a bit scared.

But to show off in front of Xia Xinyan, he was willing to gamble.

Seeing this, Xia Xinyan also took out a copper coin, ready for a potential ghost attack.

A few minutes later, Ling Mo successfully materialized something in his hand—it was… an extremely old Noah’s Ark-style button mobile phone.

This was the highest tech item he could conjure right now.

However, he could customize various documents inside it at will.

So…

“Let’s see…” Ling Mo cranked the phone volume up, searched through the list for a while, and then found a target he was satisfied with, instantly tapping ‘confirm.’

In the next moment, the phone’s simple and yet shocking external speaker began to play a rhythmically intense popular square dance track, TOP1.

It almost left Xia Xinyan dumbfounded.

“Heh, there’s no way this can’t disturb her,” Ling Mo said with a stern face, fixing his gaze on the corridor ahead. “Come out! Face me! Bold demon! Hurry and descend!”

Xia Xinyan: “……”

Though she knew he was just trying to bolster his courage, it… seemed pretty silly.

And why did he pick this particular song…

It completely shattered the eerie atmosphere.

Not long later, the ghost didn’t show up, but the intercom echoed with the chubby guy’s horrified voice: “Damn, why do I faintly hear someone doing the square dance?! Is this ghost trendy or what?!”

Ling Mo: “…That’s me playing it.”

“You were the one playing it? Where did you get a player… Oh right, I forgot you’re a DIY inventor.” The chubby guy gasped, “Can you turn it down a bit? We can hear it all the way on the first floor. Damn, you have no idea how terrifying it is to hear a square dance echoing in this creepy mansion!”

“If I turn it down, isn’t it…”

“Wait! Activity level 10! It’s at level 10 now!” Brother Haonan’s loud voice immediately interrupted everyone, “Old Ling! Be careful!! She’s about to start hunting!!”

Ling Mo was shocked and instinctively wanted to shut off the music, but the flashlights suddenly flickered, and as they lit up again, a pale figure appeared in the once-empty corridor, her hair unkempt, her face completely obscured.

Every flash of the flashlight brought her closer to the two, and within just a few seconds, she was almost right in front of them.

Ling Mo was dumbstruck.

It felt like he had lost control of his body; his muscles tensed up, and he couldn’t even make a sound, just staring at the ghost as she drew nearer, until she was less than a meter away from them…

Then, a burst of golden light suddenly exploded in front of them, causing the female ghost to let out a shriek and vanish into mist, while all surrounding paranormal phenomena ceased.

After that, the intercom crackled with the others’ voices.

Brother Haonan: “The activity level has dropped! It’s at level 4! Did she leave?! Did you guys see her? Why aren’t you talking?”

Chubby Guy: “Hey?! Old Ling! Is Old Ling still alive?! If he’s not dead, say something! I’m scared!”

Someone named Wen: “Haonan, didn’t the paper dolls get burned? That shouldn’t happen, right? Didn’t they have three lives? Old Ling? Ling Mo? Say something!”

The noisy voices finally brought Ling Mo back to his senses. As his mind gradually cleared, he began to pay attention to his surroundings again.

He then noticed he had somehow ended up sitting on the ground, perhaps because he was frightened earlier. Xia Xinyan had been holding onto his arm, and since she didn’t get a chance to let go, they both ended up falling into his embrace.

The burst of golden light earlier was actually Xia Xinyan using the copper coin to deflect the ghost’s attack.

Not only that, but after they fell, during the brief two seconds when the ghost charged at them, she managed to whip out a camera with one hand and take a picture, then calmly took out the copper coin for defense.

After all, she had tons of experience. In the face of such danger, the worst thing to do was to lose your composure.

The ghost hadn’t shown up right in their faces initially; it was the game giving the players a reaction time. As long as they could seize that opportunity, the ghost was not that difficult to handle.

Now it seemed that the real challenge of this dungeon was more about psychological fear.

However… while she could guide Ling Mo based on the path she once took to increase his strength, when it came to overcoming psychological fear, she genuinely had no clue how to teach him.

She wasn’t a psychologist and hadn’t studied psychology or anything.

Sure enough, feigned courage was so fragile…

Glancing back at Ling Mo, she gently asked, “Are you okay?”

Ling Mo paused, unsure where the courage came from, or maybe his brain just hadn’t caught up yet. He suddenly made a move he would never dare to do under normal circumstances—he hugged Xia Xinyan tightly.

Xia Xinyan was taken aback.

“I’m sorry,” Ling Mo’s voice was a bit hoarse, carrying a hint of guilt, “I said I would protect you.”

“Ah… it’s okay,” Xia Xinyan, caught off guard, replied, “Aren’t we okay?”

She had no experience responding in this situation.

After all, most of her past life had been spent alone, and she didn’t recall ever having to comfort anyone.

Even though she was quite familiar with Ling Mo, at this moment, she didn’t know how to speak up.

However… Ling Mo didn’t want her to comfort him.

In fact, the more she tried to comfort him, the more he felt uncomfortable.

Especially when he realized that he had actually been protected by Xia Xinyan.

In front of anyone else, it would be fine, but in front of Xia Xinyan…

That was the last thing he wanted to happen.

It wasn’t just embarrassing; it also made him feel useless in front of his girlfriend.

If he was even afraid of a ghost, how could he protect her?

He wanted to calm down for a bit.

Holding onto Xia Xinyan, feeling the warmth radiating from her, the scent enveloping his senses—a delightful aroma that seemed to possess some sort of magic. It gradually soothed his emotions.

It made him, without realizing it, sink into a haze of comfort.

For a moment, he wanted to hold her like this, holding her for a lifetime.

But his proud self-control soon helped him adjust his mindset.

“Thank you,” he slowly released Xia Xinyan, his voice very soft, “I will definitely protect you; I give my life to guarantee it.”

Xia Xinyan paused for a moment, then nodded: “Mm.”

It felt a bit strange.

She realized she was starting to not understand this former self of hers.