Chapter 14: The Upside-Down Clock and Reciprocity
“Notice! The player has successfully killed the eerie family member. The mission will now be recalculated.”
“You have unlocked a new achievement—[Eerie Hunter Novice]!”
“You have earned the title reward—The Upside-Down Clock.”
“Congratulations on completing the hidden quest. Your status level has increased by 1, and all your attributes have risen by 90 points.”
“You have unlocked the apartment privilege—Night Patrol Pass.” (Between midnight and 3:00 a.m., wearing your work pass grants immunity to midnight eerie’s hatred lock-on.)
“The apartment at midnight holds more quests and equipment, including the main dungeon storyline. Please explore actively!”
“Notice! Because you killed your [Father], the [Grandmother] and [Mother] have each gained 20 points of favor toward you!”
“They believe you have grown into a sensible child. What use is a failed father who spends his days drunk and violent? His disappearance will make this family happier and more complete!”
Ji Yan’s eyes widened slightly.
Killing an eerie family member actually comes with so many rewards?
But upon reflection, the risks involved seem to justify such rewards.
He retrieved a newly acquired item from his inventory.
It was a wall clock with its hour, minute, and second hands all wildly out of sync. It looked unremarkable, as if discarded long ago.
Ji Yan opened the item description.
“Item background: Every night before lights out, mother would tell a punctual little girl a bedtime story. Later, to see her mother earlier, she set the bedside alarm clock ahead. But after that night, her mother never appeared again…”
The backstory was hazy and tinged with a hint of horror.
Ji Yan wasn’t particularly interested, but after checking the item’s effect, his eyes lit up…
He glanced at the time in his room—half past three in the dead of night.
The nightmare-eating eerie was dealt with.
“Now, it’s time to deal with that Dong Chu fellow.”
He disliked holding grudges overnight. If there was a grudge, it should be settled immediately.
Living under the same roof, Ji Yan originally didn’t want to tear ties with him. A few barbs at most, but nothing serious.
Yet, he had underestimated the treachery of human nature.
Now it was time to return the favor…
That night, Dong Chu indeed slept soundly.
In his dreams, he vaguely heard Ji Yan’s screams, which only made his rest deeper.
The next morning, the dawn was hazy.
The alarm clock rang. Dong Chu, groggy and heavy-eyed, turned off the shrill sound.
He didn’t slack off, quickly dressed, and left his room.
But in the living room, Liu Yitong was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a plump, large-eared figure was hunched over the dining table, devouring food heartily.
“Fa… Father?!”
Dong Chu froze.
The eerie father actually left his room? That was even rarer than the other two eerie beings!
He had a bad feeling.
Could something have gone wrong last night?
He felt uneasy. The nightmare-eating eerie squeezed out a word:
“Sit.”
Dong Chu sat down, feeling like needles prickling him.
The eerie’s face, riddled with chilling bumps, turned toward him, then stretched into a smile uglier than crying.
“As a father, it seems it’s been a long time since I had breakfast with my own child. I got up early just for today.”
“Among my three children, you are the one I value most.”
“Deep-minded and decisive—that’s the kind of child worthy of me!”
The eerie smiled broadly, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.
His praise was unreserved.
To Dong Chu, this was as unbelievable as seeing the sun rise in the west.
Did he hear that right?
Wait, could it be that by gaining favor with this eerie, he triggered a [Blessing]?
Suddenly, he realized the breakfast invitation was a benefit event.
He felt a mix of disbelief and excitement.
So this eerie could be won over too!
For the sake of favor, suppressing his disgust, he began to eat the food on the table.
“Father, what happened to my little brother last night?”
The nightmare-eating eerie stuffed a piece of sauce-covered meat into his mouth.
“What, you haven’t recognized him yet?”
“The food on this table—isn’t it your dear little brother?”
Dong Chu was stunned. Looking at the steaming piles of meat on the table, his stomach churned and he nearly vomited.
The eerie furrowed his thick eyebrows.
“What’s the matter? The breakfast your father painstakingly made—is it making you sick?”
Dong Chu’s face turned as ugly as pig liver, hands covering his mouth.
In the end, after an internal struggle, he forced himself to swallow.
“It’s okay, it’s just a weird game after all, not the real world.”
“Eaten or not, it’s no big deal. There’s no moral decay or loss of humanity.”
He reassured himself.
But as he ate, he sensed something was wrong.
Opening his info panel, nothing happened.
If Ji Yan had truly died, why hadn’t his talent activated to loot his gear?
Looking at the empty inventory, Dong Chu grew puzzled. His head felt dizzy; he shook it hard.
When he looked up again, the sky outside the balcony, which had been daylight, was darkening.
In the blink of an eye, it turned into night!
He froze, then snapped his head toward the wall.
The old wall clock still showed half past three in the dead of night!
“What’s going on?”
“… Wasn’t it already morning? I clearly heard the alarm!”
He was dumbfounded, then a chill ran down his spine.
He dashed into the hallway, rushing toward his room.
At his door squatted an eerie child wearing a diaper, skin grayish, clutching a headless rag doll.
The child’s eyes, without whites, stared blackly at Dong Chu.
“Brother, my doll’s head is missing again. Can you help me find it?”
Dong Chu’s heart stopped for a moment.
He dared not respond. He knew well that replying meant accepting a quest.
Midnight eerie missions had a nearly 99% mortality rate!
He pounded on the door to the left, calling out to Liu Yitong for help:
“Liu Yitong!! Open the door, please! Don’t go to sleep yet!”
Inside the room, Liu Yitong heard him.
Pulling the covers over her head, she covered her ears and muttered, “So annoying. These eerie things pull the same tricks every night!”
Dong Chu was sound asleep next door. How could he be outside?
“Brother, brother, why won’t you answer me?”
“Please, help me find my doll’s head. It was a birthday gift from Dad. If he finds out, he’ll beat me.”
The eerie child inched closer.
The pleading voice carried a growing darkness.
Dong Chu backed away step by step until he leaned against Ji Yan’s door. Hesitating, he knocked twice.
“Ji Yan?”
“What is it?”
What made Dong Chu’s pupils contract was that he received a reply.
He wasn’t dead!
Why wasn’t he dead?
“You… you…”
He stammered.
“Why am I not dead?”
“Why don’t you take a guess?”
Ji Yan’s calm voice came from inside the room.
Dong Chu quickly realized that the question wasn’t whether Ji Yan was dead or not. Urgently, he said:
“Ji Yan, don’t take what I said during the day to heart. I was only trying to look out for you, to remind you to be alert.”
“I was teaching you how to survive this dungeon. I never intended to harm you. Please open the door?”
His desperate will to survive lowered his pride.
His mind was fixed on getting inside first, living second.
Inside the room came Ji Yan’s cold laughter.
“Indeed, I should thank you.”
“If you hadn’t gone through all that trouble setting the trap, I wouldn’t have had the chance to kill that eerie father or know about all these rewards.”
“So, as a return gift…”
“The eerie bottle you gave me—I’m returning it intact.”
Dong Chu’s mouth opened slightly.
His face gradually paled.
“You knew?? You knew everything!!”
“Was it you who lured me out of my room at midnight?”
Dong Chu’s eyes reddened.
“You toast me a drink, I toast you one back.”
“Quid pro quo. What’s wrong with that?”
“Next dungeon, be smarter. Don’t stir up trouble if you don’t need to.”
“Good night.”
Ji Yan yawned and returned to bed.
Outside the door, Dong Chu raged and cursed hysterically.
Until the eerie child behind him, receiving no response, fully succumbed to darkness.
Those small hands clutched his neck tightly.
“Brother, why won’t you answer me?”
“Your head… is quite nice. Can I put it on the doll’s neck?”
Before Dong Chu could react, those small hands lightly lifted, and the head was easily detached from the neck.
Blood gushed out as the headless body collapsed to the floor.
The eerie child held the head and doll, hopping away until disappearing into the darkness.
“Tonight was really exhausting.”
“Thankfully, the haul was great. And I finally got rid of an annoying fly.”
Ji Yan lay back, hands behind his head, murmuring softly as he closed his eyes and drifted into peaceful sleep.