Bai Wan and the painter both froze for a brief second.
Then, before the man inside could react, Bai Wan slamd the door shut.
“Whew… good thing I’m fast,” Bai Wan muttered with relief. If that deranged artist made it out, not even two S-Rank Captains might be enough to contain the ss.
Luo Ying and Zhao Jie stood beside him, stunned.
Luo Ying: “???”
Zhao Jie: “???”
“…Was there sothing in that room just now?” Luo Ying rubbed her eyes in confusion.
Bai Wan firmly shook his head. “Nope. Nothing at all.”
Luo Ying blinked. “But I swear I saw so scary-looking guy in there painting…”
“Yeah, his eyes looked really creepy…” Zhao Jie muttered, still dazed.
Cold sweat rolled down Bai Wan’s temple.
“Pfft. You two deal with paranormal stuff all year—it’s perfectly normal to have stress-induced hallucinations. Besides, where would a painter co from inside HQ?”
Luo Ying hesitated.
…That’s true. There shouldn’t be a painter in HQ. Maybe it was just their imaginations?
She opened the door again—and this ti, it led to the normal HQ hallway, empty and undisturbed.
“…Forget it. Let’s move on. Maybe we really are overworked…” She massaged her forehead.
Still, despite her words, her professional instincts were on high alert. Could a powerful paranormal entity have infiltrated HQ?
With caution sharpened, they brought Bai Wan to a large empty room.
Inside was just a single table… and on it sat a purple box. Bai Wan imdiately felt a strange pulse radiating from the box. Whatever was inside, it wasn’t ordinary.
Luo Ying smiled. “This is the location for Phase One of your test. It asures observation and analytical skills. For privacy reasons, there are no surveillance devices in here. Both Zhao Jie and I have signed non-disclosure agreents—none of your secrets will leave this room.”
“The paranormal entity you’ll face in here is one we’ve contained through special ans. If any real danger arises, we’ll imdiately take control. So feel free to give it your all.”
Bai Wan nodded.
“Alright. You’ll need to activate Hunt Mode first. Only then can you engage with the entity in real space,” she added.
Bai Wan followed the instructions and activated Hunt Mode within the system.
Whoosh—!
A formless field rippled outward, enveloping the entire HQ.
A system ssage appeared:
[Player “Family” has entered Hunt Mode.]
[Your retained temporary bug skills are now available imdiately in Hunt Mode, with no cooldown. However, using paranormal items still consus Paranormal Coins.]
[All paranormal entities encountered in Hunt Mode are unaffiliated with the system. Their strength is no longer suppressed. No guaranteed path to survival will be offered. Analyze the entity’s kill rules and survive on your own. Good luck.]
This was Bai Wan’s first ti using Hunt Mode. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that his saved bug skills could be used right away—a definite bonus.
“Your Hunt Mode is active. Shall we begin the test now?” Luo Ying asked.
“Sure,” Bai Wan nodded.
“Great. The countdown begins. The test starts in ten seconds. Your objective is to escape the room while under paranormal assault.”
She moved to the corner with Zhao Jie and pressed the stopwatch.
Ten seconds later, the test began.
At that mont, a slow, rhythmic knocking began at the door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Each strike was oddly chanical, as if a robot were tapping with exact timing.
Bai Wan imdiately sensed it—sothing paranormal was on the other side. Then, he noticed sothing even more telling: a spider that had been crawling on the floor suddenly stiffened and dropped dead.
Bai Wan observed for a second, then approached the table and opened the purple box.
What he saw took him by surprise.
Inside was a handwritten page covered in text, and… a severed arm.
The arm was mottled black-green and radiated an eerie cold. It was clearly a severed paranormal limb.
Bai Wan picked up the arm, then read the paper.
It told a story:
During an earthquake in a certain city, a man was trapped under the rubble. Rescue teams ca, but due to faulty signal coordination, they barely missed him. Desperate, he pounded on nearby doors for help—but the debris muffled his cries. Eventually, he died, buried alive in despair.
One month later, residents began reporting a one-ard man knocking on doors late at night across the affected zone. He’d ask if anyone had seen his missing arm. Every person who opened their door for him was found dead soon after. The incident caused a massive uproar.
“A door knocking ghost, huh?” Bai Wan mused, forming an initial theory for Phase One.
anwhile, Luo Ying and Zhao Jie were quietly observing from the corner.
“Not bad,” Luo Ying whispered. “He’s staying calm even with a ghost at the door. Good psychological stability.”
Zhao Jie nodded. “Yeah. A lot of talented recruits freeze up when facing an actual entity—cold sweat, panic. That kind of fragility won’t cut it. But this guy…”
Suddenly, Zhao Jie froze.
“What the hell—?! What’s he doing?!”
To their astonishnt, Bai Wan had started dancing in front of the haunted door.
“Is he… dancing at the ghost?” Luo Ying’s eyes widened.
Not only was Bai Wan moving, his rhythm was perfectly in sync with the ghost’s knocking pattern.
“Is he using the ghost’s knock as a beat??”
“…Should we deduct points for this?” she asked, stunned.
Zhao Jie hesitated. “I an… he technically hasn’t broken any rules…”
“But surely you’re not supposed to dance in front of a ghost??”
Zhao Jie thought of the notoriously eccentric S-Rank Captains and said, “Sister ng, all powerful Para-Hunters have their own quirks…”
“Including dancing at entities??”
“…If nothing else, it proves his nerves are rock solid.”
Luo Ying just stared at her notebook, completely at a loss.
Yeah, I could write “excellent psychological resilience,” but… how?
What exactly am I supposed to jot down here?
“Hunter Bai Wan demonstrated extre ntal stability, remained calm under duress, and engaged the ghost with interpretive dance”???
Thank God he finally stopped.
Seeing Bai Wan halt his provocations and look vaguely disappointed, Luo Ying breathed a sigh of relief. At least he had so sense to stop.
This round was designed to test observation and deduction. The team had scattered small spiders across the room—unobtrusive but deliberate.
The ghost’s killing thod involved vibration-based soundwaves during its knock. A sharp-eyed testee would notice the spiders dying one by one… and infer the ghost’s attack thod. Combined with the paper in the box, it should lead them to the correct solution.
The ghost was searching for its missing arm. If the player opened the door before it began killing the person and returned the limb—they'd pass.
But if all the spiders died and the player still hadn’t figured it out, they’d be next. No buffer. Test failed.
Luo Ying and Zhao Jie gripped their pens, waiting to see how this mysterious prodigy would do.
Would he solve it in ti?
If he figured it out in under a minute—that’d be considered excellent. But Bai Wan had already wasted over ten seconds dancing…
Then suddenly, Luo Ying saw him dash toward the door.
“He’s charging?! He didn’t pick up the severed arm!” she gasped, disappointed.
So that was it… Even this top newcor failed the first round?
He’d noticed the ghost’s kill chanic and tid the escape well—but missed that the severed arm was the real solution.
Test failed. She lowered her pen to mark his score… but froze.
Because right then, Bai Wan casually slapped his hand against the wall beside the door.
And right before their eyes—the door disappeared.
Replaced by a blank wall.
THUD!
A dull impact echoed from the other side, followed by what sounded like bones cracking…
Then… silence.
The door knocking ghost stopped knocking.
The room fell into stunned silence.
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