The Only Player in 'Child of Stardust'

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

After nearly ten seconds of empty silence, a piercing, sorrowful female voice came from the other end of the phone:

"I died such a horrible death..."

"What's your name? How old are you? Have you graduated? If not, are you planning to take civil service exams or graduate school exams? Or both? If you've graduated, how's your job search going? Do you have social security and housing funds? Do you have weekends off and public holidays?" Zhou Yuan bombarded with a series of questions.

With the manager by his side, there was nothing to fear.

"I died such a horrible death..." the female ghost on the other end of the line repeated.

"Do you have a partner? When do you plan to find one? From your voice, you don't sound young. It's about time to find a partner. If you wait any longer, it'll be too late. How about I introduce someone to you? I have plenty of resources here. There must be a type you like."

Zhou Yuan glanced outside the window. Under the control of the manager and the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Tree, thousands of fierce ghosts in the amusement castle swarmed out, engaging in a chaotic battle, and there were quite a few decent single male ghosts.

"Do you like tall ones or thin ones? Fat ones or short ones? Young ones or mature ones? Always single or divorced?

Hey, I think this guy looks pretty good. Good-looking, half-body red ghost level, has a stable job in a world-famous amusement park. The future's bright. How about considering him?"

A string of questions was like a soul-searching interrogation from numerous aunts during the New Year, even making the manager exasperated: "Are you really being a matchmaker for a female ghost?"

Yet, faced with such appealing conditions, the ghost on the other end stubbornly repeated:

"I died such a horrible death..."

It seemed this ghost didn't have much sanity, unable to communicate... Zhou Yuan could only turn to ask: "How did you die?"

"I died such a horrible death..."

"Don't just say that. Are you a repeating ghost?"

"I died such a horrible death..."

Zhou Yuan was left speechless. From the sound of it, I can tell you died a horrible death, but did you call just to tell me that?

He glanced at the call duration, 1 minute, 32 seconds. If this continued, he would soon reach the mission target time.

Something was off. Very off. This mission was clearly of extremely high risk. How could it be completed so easily?

As Zhou Yuan pondered, an abrupt change occurred.

Crimson blood started seeping from every nook and cranny of the Opple smartphone's speaker, charging port, and any other gaps. In one second, it was just slowly trickling; the next, it was spraying out, then gushing like a breached dam!

Crimson blood geysered, quickly spreading across the office floor. A female silhouette formed from the blood slowly emerged, oozing with earth-shattering resentment, letting out a mournful wail:

"I died such a horrible death..."

"Come join me..."

The icy blood instantly numbed Zhou Yuan with pain; this was undoubtedly a terrifying, supreme fierce ghost.

[Ah, oh, this terribly miserable Ms. Blood has come to meet up through the internet. Luckily, you stayed vigilant, or you'd have melted like a pudding. By the way, if you can awaken Ms. Blood's consciousness, there might be unexpected rewards.]

Awake what? Now isn't the time to consider hidden tasks!

"Manager!" Zhou Yuan shouted.

"What the hell!" the manager screamed beside him.

What did you bring into my office?!

This ghost actually ignored the amusement park rules and stormed in!

The next second, all the blood on the floor vanished, transferred to the battlefield by the manager's amusement park powers.

"Huff..."

Zhou Yuan gasped as if surfacing from water, quickly leaning on the windowsill to look outside.

The sea of blood now surrounded the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Tree, with countless fierce ghosts battling brutally, a gruesome and bloody scene.

As the sea of blood descended, everything boiled over.

"I died such a horrible death. You all come join me..."

The blood sea ghost had little sanity, mostly acting on instinct, wanting everyone to feel the pain it endured.

Several hands stretched out from the sea of blood, grabbing at the amusement park's fierce ghosts, dragging them into the blood sea. Within moments, dozens of fierce ghosts sank into the crimson, making the glaring color even more vivid.

"I died such a horrible death..."

The blood sea ghost raised its head, unsurprisingly noticing the most prominent presence in the amusement park—the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Tree!

"Come join me..."

The blood sea suddenly erupted, rising into a towering 50 to 60-meter wave crashing towards the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Tree.

Boom!

With a thunderous roar, the wave struck the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Tree violently, causing it to almost topple, a horrific crack appearing on its trunk, nearly splitting it in half.

A massive amount of blood flowed into the gaping hole Chen Guangxi had made earlier, quenching the True Dragon's flames, corroding and disintegrating the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Tree from within, trying to dissolve it completely in the blood sea!

"What the hell is this?" Chen Guangxi was stunned, immediately distancing herself. Where did this monstrous ghost come from?

In the office, Zhou Yuan was struck speechless by the blood sea ghost's ferocity. If he had taken this mission unprepared, he would not have even a complete corpse left.

He held his breath, staring at the clock on his phone screen. Once it hit three minutes, he quickly hung up the call.

However, the blood sea ghost did not disappear with the call's end. It had fully descended into the amusement castle!

Oh damn, manager, I'm so sorry... Zhou Yuan cautiously glanced at the manager. The puppet costume gave no hint of the expression, but the atmosphere in the office had condensed intensely.

Suddenly, the manager sighed helplessly: "Well, I guess that worked."

On the battlefield, the rampaging blood sea ghost vanished, the manager probably transferring it somewhere else.

In just a few seconds, the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Tree was already in shambles, its trunk covered in pits and holes, as if ravaged by locusts.

Seizing the moment, Chen Guangxi threw a pile of high-grade explosives at the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Tree, then breathed out dragonfire, igniting them.

Boom!

A deafening explosion erupted, flames shooting into the sky, sending shockwaves through the amusement park.

Blinding light and heat tore through the last defense of the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Tree, bringing blinding destruction.

The towering trunk collapsed, crumbling inch by inch in the raging inferno, eventually turning to ash and scattering away.

[The Six Desires Heavenly Demon Tree has been defeated—MVP: Ms. Blood Who Died Miserably.]

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During this New Year, the fireworks outside never stopped, making it hard to concentrate on writing. That's all for now.

Happy New Year to everyone, wishing you all the best!