Chapter 49: Spectral Deception

Their eyes were filled with sheer terror.

No one could have imagined that the real ghost was Yenir!

“Ah ah!! Ahhhhh!!”

Unable to contain the fear in his heart, Fang Yuan stared at the talisman he had just dispatched, feeling an overwhelming shock.

He had been deceived by a ghost! Yenir was the real ghost!

He screamed and stamped his foot on the ground, as if trying to flee from the evil ghost Yenir. Meanwhile, Huang Xia—whose mind had been brainwashed by Yenir’s words—looked utterly dazed, her eyes filled with despair.

The next moment.

Amidst a sea of trembling, nearly broken expressions, Yenir suddenly wiped the eerie smile from his face and regained his calm.

“Just kidding. I was only trying to scare you.”

He shrugged.

“I just wanted to remind you all: any one of us could turn into a ghost, so don’t trust your judgment too much.”

Ignoring the terrified crowd.

Yenir turned around, slightly tilting his head as he calmly fixed his gaze on the iron door.

Listening to the increasingly piercing shrieks drawing near, he chuckled lightly:

“Li Zhiping…”

“Or rather, Tao Guosheng.”

“Are you really going to continue the act?”

In an instant, the rapid footsteps and shrieks outside came to an abrupt halt.

Their sudden stop was as if they never expected to be exposed.

The next moment, a recovering Li Zhiping cried out in shock, his voice weak:

“What did you just say!?”

“The female ghost is about to…”

Bang!

With a swift kick, he flung open the iron door. Yenir wasn’t about to continue the act with Li Zhiping any longer.

As the door burst open, Li Zhiping—whose voice had still echoed from afar—was revealed standing outside, with a floating female ghost behind him whose head hung low.

That was pretty convincing.

Yenir watched Li Zhiping, who had gone all out in his performance, with keen interest as he swung the talisman in his hand.

“Dispell the illusion behind you.”

“Teacher Tao Guosheng?”

His expression darkened as Tao Guosheng suddenly lifted his head. In their brief eye contact, feeling Yenir’s absolute conviction, he decided to drop the act.

As the female ghost dissipated, it was revealed that the once gentle eyes of Tao Guosheng were now filled with venomous intent.

“How did you uncover me?”

“Don’t tell me it was those reasons you mentioned just now.”

“Only an idiot behind you would believe that!”

He seemed visibly reluctant to accept defeat.

The man and the ghost locked eyes through the door.

“The idea that someone among you is spouting ghost tales is utterly preposterous! What if the female ghost only speaks when she’s sealed? If she tricked you into letting her go, her words wouldn’t be any more trustworthy! And besides, I haven’t lied—I was merely guiding you! Everything you deduced was your own conclusion!”

“Meeting that old man and my familiarity with the terrain are hardly reasons to brand me as a ghost!”

“Why couldn’t the former be explained by my abilities? And as for the latter, my dungeon records provide all the proof you need! After all, I specialize in paranormal dungeons!”

Watching his ghost teacher brazenly question him, Yenir’s eyes flickered with surprise.

After all, with one simple talisman, he could have defeated him and ended the mission. Why complicate matters?

Unless…

In that instant, Yenir suddenly grasped a long-standing mystery.

It was why his ghost teacher was so intimately familiar with the Awakened.

“You care about these details?”

“You’ve survived in the dungeon for a long time? Have you encountered other Awakened?”

“How can you retain your memories after the dungeon resets!?”

“Are you planning to uncover the flaw just to trick and kill the next batch?”

As soon as his words fell, Tao Guosheng froze, utterly shocked by Yenir’s rapid response.

He said nothing, yet Yenir’s deductions nearly exposed all his secrets.

“No hiding it:”

“That’s right.”

“I’ve survived in this dungeon for a long time. Indeed, I am a ghost.”

“Now, tell me how you uncovered me. I don’t believe you can bet I’m a ghost based solely on your guesses!”

Watching the resolute male ghost seeking answers, Yenir’s expression turned grim. Such an extraordinary presence unsettled him.

Dungeons typically reset after their conclusion.

Just like a computer reboot, everything returns to its original state. It was hard to fathom what had gone wrong in this dungeon to allow Tao Guosheng’s existence.

“Why should I tell you?”

“You’re a ghost and I’m human. What makes you think I should help you find your vulnerabilities?”

Unsurprisingly, Tao Guosheng sneered:

“Because I can help you complete your hidden mission.”

“Now, toss that talisman over. Regardless of whether you hit me—and even if you do—you’ll only earn a standard rating.”

“But if you agree to tell me, I can voluntarily dissipate after your mission ends, ensuring your hidden task is completed!”

With a confident glare, Tao Guosheng, one of the rare intelligent dungeon entities, was convinced that no Awakened could resist such an offer!

Huddled inside, the stunned onlookers watched as Yenir negotiated with a ghost, feeling as if their entire worldview was being upended.

After exchanging glances, Yenir’s eyes flickered with hesitation.

A hidden mission… that required the male ghost to vanish on his own? Frankly, this hidden task was downright perverse. If nothing went wrong, no one had ever succeeded at it.

After weighing the pros and cons, Yenir spoke in a low voice:

“Indeed, based solely on the prior information, I wasn’t absolutely sure you were a fake.”

“After all, who would suspect that a ghost would be lurking among us from the start, even playing the role of an Awakened skilled in paranormal dungeons?”

“My real suspicion of you lies in your reluctance to share information.”

“You made it clear from the beginning that any situation or information would be shared in the public channel.”

“But from start to finish, you never used the public channel; you always had Huang Xia relay the messages.”

“That’s why, noticing this, I concluded you couldn’t use the system functions at all!”

After a moment, Tao Guosheng’s face darkened as he shook his head:

“Not enough – still not enough!”

“Even if I don’t send messages, I can explain everything while gathering clues. Huang Xia and I are on the same team; why can’t she report for me?”

Glaring intently at Yenir, he refused to believe that things were as simple as Yenir thought.

Seeing the relentless male ghost, Yenir sighed:

“Fine.”

“The only way to truly confirm your identity is via a system message.”

“I sent you a private message declaring that I was a ghost. But the system said there was no such person – message failed.”

After his words, Yenir simply shrugged. He had been baffled by this revelation for a long time.

At these words, Tao Guosheng froze in place, utterly shocked that his meticulously crafted disguise had been unraveled by such a laughable method.

Keep in mind, he had already deceived and killed more than twenty Awakened… yet not one had seen through him.

Raising the talisman, Yenir signaled Tao Guosheng to honor his word.

The onlookers behind them wore expressions of disbelief, as if today’s events were nothing more than a surreal dream.

However, standing outside the door, Tao Guosheng suddenly let out a derisive laugh:

“What, did you really think I’d commit suicide?”

“Didn’t the system warn you? Don’t believe a ghost’s words!!”