Blurb：
After being abandoned by her family, Stella finds herself trapped in a deadly horror game orchestrated by the fake heiress Vivian Sterling. Kicked out of the safe room and left to face the night alone, she encounters the mysterious Boss who mistakes her for one of his employees. “Come cry in my company now,” he says, introducing her to the ghosts as their newest member. As Vivian’s cruel bet unfolds—testing blood ties against eighteen years of family bonds—Stella must survive a game where dying means death for real. With rules like “Only Three People Per Apartment” and warnings of “Single Life Only,” she navigates a world of dread, shadows, and corporate horror, all while uncovering the truth about her past and the Boss’s eerie domain.
Content：
After the fake heiress kicked me out of the safe room, I crouched outside crying.
The Boss mistook me for one of his employees and casually took me with him.
“Done crying there? Come cry in my company now.”
When everyone thought I was dead, I’d been introduced to all the ghosts.
“This is our new employee.”
“She’s good at crying. She produces dread in players.”
I had left the family that raised me and returned to my birth family.
Right after I came back, the fake heiress, Vivian Sterling, pulled me into a horror game.
When there were only two of us, she winked at me,
“Let’s make a bet.”
“Blood ties can’t beat eighteen years of staying together as families.”
She wanted me to see that she was the carefully groomed heir; I was just a pathetic outsider.
She had held company shares since she turned eighteen. Meanwhile, I would never get a bit of the family’s money.
It seemed that even my coming back had offended her.
As we were entering the game, Vivian smiled sweetly at our parents, who were also dragged into this,
“It’s just a game!”
“You’re both so busy. Just play with me for once, won’t you?”
“It’ll help Stella get to know us too.”
Our parents doted on her and agreed immediately.
We walked through woods shrouded in black fog.
Deep in the forest stood a shabby building.
Vivian pointed excitedly, “There it is!”
She lifted her skirt and ran towards it.
Only I noticed that beneath the overgrown weeds, a rust-eaten sign with bloodstains read:
[Single Life Only.]??
[Die in Game, Die for Real.]
At the very first night, I was kicked out of the safe room.
Big, red words appeared on the white wall as I followed them into the apartment.
[Only Three People Per Apartment.]??
Vivian feigned surprise,
“Oh! That’s the game’s rule. Breaking the rules means forced ejection.”
She turned to me with an apologetic smile,
“Sorry. I didn’t know the rule beforehand. I only booked one room.”
Mom’s gaze landed on me, hesitant and guilty,
“Stella… It’s just a game. Don’t blame your sister.”
I swallowed my sob and nodded.
Then I picked up my bag and left the room.
I expected that my parents would stop me. Instead, I heard them sigh in relief behind my back.
“We knew you’d be sensible.”
So that was it. They wanted me gone.
I closed the door behind me.
Leaning against the corridor wall, I couldn’t hold back anymore and cried.
I could have had a good life.
Vivian’s birth mother had switched us at birth.
The woman got her karma. She died of a terminal illness in her early forties.
On her deathbed, she finally told me the truth.
I wouldn’t have had to work summer jobs since high school; wouldn’t have had my tuition snatched by a drunkard stepfather…
All my suffering was a result of her selfishness.
And now, though I’d come back to my birth parents, I was still homeless.
I crouched outside crying in my white dress.
In the dim corridor, the sound-activated light flickered on and off, on and off…
I messaged the game’s official account:
[Can I book a room now?]
I got a immediate reply:
[No. After the game starts, players can’t book rooms anymore.]
Dusk was falling.
A red exclamation mark appeared on the corridor wall.
[Return to your apartment before dark.]
I pushed myself up and tried knocking on other doors.
No one answered.
I ended up slumping down in the corridor, crying like a whistling kettle.
The sky slowly darkened.
Footsteps echoed. Someone was wandering nearby.
I couldn’t see it, but I saw the massive shadow cast on the wall.
The shadow drew closer.
A deep voice came from above my head,
“Get to work this early?”
I froze and couldn’t utter a thing.
Having sobbed too much, I could barely catch my breath.
I must have been liked a ghost — my eyes were red; my hair was messy; stray strands stuck sweaty to my cheeks.
An invisible icy hand gripped the back of my neck and effortlessly lifted me.
I instinctively kicked my legs in the air.
“Don’t move.” Its voice was cool.
Soon, it set me down at the end of the corridor.
“Done crying there? Cry here now.”
I totally confused. He helpfully pointed, “Start from here. Cry along the corridor.”
Anyway, I started wailing again.
In the corridor, I roamed and cried like a ghost.
My voice was already hoarse from crying. It couldn’t muster that initial world-ending shriek anymore.
My phone lit up with a message from Vivian.
[You okay?]
[It’s intense out here. Some ghost’s crying.]
[You might run into her?]
It turned out that they had all heard me crying outside this afternoon and evening.
However, instead of caring about me, they mistook me for the ghost!
I was almost crying myself out. But thinking of this, fresh sorrow surged and I cried even more miserably.
Suddenly, someone tugged my skirt hem.
“Sis, shift change.”
I shuddered at the sight of a bluish-purple infant who looked at me with hollow eyes.
“It’s my turn to cry.” she said softly.
I covered my mouth, muffled, “Oh, okay, you go ahead.”
The infant girl was really capable.
She could cry and talk at the same time,
“Sis, aren’t you going back to rest?”
Her words reminded me of my tragic situation.
Fresh tears streamed down my face.
She jumped, “You cry a lot.”
Of course.
She cried for work, but I cried because life was genuinely hard.
I sniffled, “I got nowhere to go. I’ll just stay here with you.”
She misunderstood,
“No dorm? Are you new?”
I whispered, “I could be.”
I stayed with her for half an hour until a zombie came up to relieve her.
I learned that her name was Abby. She was thirteen months old, but she’d been on the job for thirteen years.
Employees hung out on floors one to four off-shift.
Players lived higher up.
Abby took me to her employee dorm which was a nursery.
I felt like crying again.
Even a ghost treated me better than my own flesh and blood.
Abby stood on tiptoe, handing me her bottle.
“Sis no cry, drink-drink~”
Not wanting to disappoint her, I took a couple of sips.
Gag.
It tasted like rust and pennies.
“Sorry, Abby. I really can’t handle it, gag…”
At 11:40 PM, Abby dragged me to their meeting.
She was so kind to me. Tears streamed down my face again.
She shook her bottle,
“Sissy no cry, drink-drink~”
I immediately stopped crying.
Seats were all assigned for every ghost.
I had to sat on Abby’s seat; Abby sat on my lap.
Surrounded by various ghosts in a meeting room, I didn’t dare move.
A snakekin slithered over and sniffed me,
“A human?”
Under her pressure, I broke into cold sweat and started crying again.
“Strange, you smell like him.”
She retreated. I kept frozen in place until the clock struck twelve.
The massive shadow I met in the corridor entered the room.
His form was invisible. There was only his shadow stretching wide on the white wall.
“How many violations tonight?”
“One.” the janitor looked at me, “She’s the extra person from that apartment.”
I’m the extra person. I couldn’t help but cry.
He tapped the table,
“That one doesn’t count.”
“One.” Abby looked at me, “She didn’t get home before dark.”
I never get home. I’m homeless. I cried again.
He said, “That one doesn’t count either.”
Zombie threw up his hands,
“Then none left.”
He said, “Change the rule for tomorrow night.”
“Ask them to come out.”
The meeting ended abruptly.
I sat stiffly, seeing his huge shadow coming to me.
He slipped an employee ID badge around my neck and left.
I got a new WhatsApp account.
All players and employees were added to a group named “Your Time is Up”.
Snakekin sent the first message.
[Congratulations to those in this group.]
[You survived the first night.]
[Tomorrow’s rules will be posted here.]
Vivian seemed to realize something.
[What about those not in the group?]
[Did they die last night?]
There was no doubt that she was hinting at me.
Snakekin didn’t answer directly.
[People in this group are all currently alive.]
[Those who die later will be removed.]
[Basic rule: NPCs can ignore rules. Players die if they break them.]
Vivian seemed more eager.
[What about my sister Stella?]
[Is she dead?!]
Snakekin looked at me,
“Your name’s Stella?”
“Your sister seems eager for you to die.”
I spoke softly in a hoarse voice,
“Yes. I’m Stella.”
“My adoptive parents are Vivian’s birth parents. Her birth mom had switched us.”
“She doesn’t want me back home in case I would compete for inheritance.”
“She deliberately booked only one room and kicked me out at the first night…”
Snakekin’s eyes widened in fury,
“Breaking rules can kill! She did that to you?!”
Her long green nails tapped the screen as she typed violently.
[First Rule: Any Sterling dies instantly.]
Zombie jumped up and grabbed her hand,
“Chill. That breaks workplace rules.”
I chimed in,
“Yeah, other players might be Sterlings too.”
Snakekin relented.
She sighed and patted my head.
Including her serpent tail, she was ten feet in height.
Her bending over felt eerily maternal to me.
“Poor thing.”
“Let me think what job to give you.”
Abby said, “She cries better than me. Good for producing dread.”
So I got the job — being a wandering “ghost” crying all night.
Download the NovelGo app, Search 【 699372 】reads the whole book.
