I'm being held captive by a monster

Chapter 69: The Weakness of the Hallucination Ghost (Please Read the Third Update!)
"I……"

Teacher Juzi's question stumped Lin Xing'an.

"Zhou Ziming's father... I saw the two mourning dogs looking at him with particularly bloodthirsty eyes, the same way they looked at me, and he was very old."

"Zhou Ziming himself was locked in a nutrition chamber, with tubes inserted all over his body."

"So... my first feeling is that they should all be human."

"As for Zhou Ziming's mother, she has turned into a zombie. Regardless of whether she was human before, she is no longer human now."

Lin Xing'an said after thinking for a moment.

"Oh, because they are all in a vulnerable position, so you think they are human..."

"But little brat, remember what I told you at the train station?"

"You have to treat everyone except yourself as a ghost."

Teacher Orange also took a bottle of yogurt from the small freezer in the car.

"hiss……"

Lin Xing'an shook his head.

Indeed, in this ghost world, he actually mistook strangers for humans...

"This Zhou Ziming, you saw him in the nutrient chamber, he was only breathing his last breath, so he definitely can't be human."

"Because once the Awakened are discovered by the gluttonous ghost, they will surely die."

"It's even more impossible for a fool. Although the gluttonous ghosts can't actively reveal their identities to fools to force them to awaken, they really hope that fools can awaken so that they can eat them. Zhou Ziming is placed in a petri dish, half-dead, so there is no possibility of him awakening. The gluttonous ghosts will not do that."

"So he's either a confused ghost or a glutton? But a glutton wouldn't normally do something like this to another glutton."

Teacher Orange paused.

Lin Xing'an also nodded repeatedly.

Indeed, he was not thoughtful enough at that time...

"As for Zhou Ziming's father, you said he always mistook this hallucinatory ghost for Zhou Ziming. So, it's likely that he was hallucinating."

"Since the Illusion Ghost used his power on him but didn't kill him, he must be the Confused Ghost."

"The same goes for Zhou Ziming's mother. After all, gluttonous ghosts don't have any rules or restrictions on confused ghosts."

"So this family is just a happy family of fools."

"But no matter who this family is, the hallucinating ghost's behavior is indeed very suspicious..."

Teacher Orange also bit the mouth of the yogurt bottle, frowning.

"Indeed, regardless of whether this family is human or ghost, the idea of a hallucinating ghost taking over another person's identity is... very strange."

"There's no reason for it to cause itself more trouble. It must make sense to play house in this villa."

"So I feel like it has to do with its weakness."

Lin Xing'an pursed his lips and remained silent for a moment.

His mind replayed his battle with the phantom ghost.

His shadowy power hit the phantom ghost, leaving it with skin and flesh torn apart, but it seemed unaffected at all and felt no pain.

That feeling, his first thought was "this body has no effect on him at all"...

"Hey... bro, let me interrupt."

Wang Xi, who was driving, cleared his throat and leaned back.

"Actually, you don't have to figure it out at all, and you don't have to think about it so complicatedly."

"If you feel that something a Taogui does or does is strange, it must be related to its weakness. Just do the opposite."

"For example, this glutton went to great lengths to save Zhou Ming's family. This is incredibly suspicious, so..."

Wang Xi raised his eyebrows at Lin Xing'an through the rearview mirror, giving him a look that said "you understand, right?"

"Then you can just kill this fool and his family and that's it."

Seeing that Lin Xing'an was still a little confused, he also reached out and measured his neck.

"Wang Xi is right."

Teacher Orange also nodded.

"Since the gluttonous ghost allowed this family to live, it's likely related to its fatal weakness."

"Then, no matter what its specific weakness is, the opposite of 'let this family live' is 'let this family die'."

"This is the simplest way to break their weaknesses." Teacher Orange said calmly.

"……really."

Lin Xing'an was stunned.

If you think about it carefully, this is indeed the truth!
Why do you think so much?

No matter what, just cut the Gordian knot and be done with it!

"Brother, you're not feeling sorry for the confused ghost, are you?"

"Ah? No, that's not the case. I'm thinking about how to kill them as quickly as possible..."

Lin Xing'an said thoughtfully.

If there was an ordinary, normal, confused person there, Lin Xing'an would definitely not kill him without any reason.

Now the life of this confused ghost is linked to the gluttonous ghost.

If you don't kill it, the gluttonous ghost will kill you.

How could Lin Xing'an have any hesitation?

"Alright, little brat, what's going on with that ghost realm? What else happened in this villa?"

Teacher Orange patted Lin Xing'an on the head, opened another bottle of yogurt and asked.

"Villa... Sister Orange, there is a coffin in this villa."

Lin Xing'an stopped worrying about Zhou Ziming's family and took a deep breath.

"coffin?"

Teacher Orange frowned.

"Yes, there's nothing on the first floor of this villa except a coffin placed in the center, surrounded by four red pillars."

"Then, the coffin, the pillars, and the floor were all engraved with...some strange patterns."

"This pattern is the same as the one on those statues that Taogui has been transporting at the train station lately..."

Lin Xing'an recalled the structure of Villa No. 06 in his mind.

Even though he had already left, he still felt a pang of anxiety when he thought of the coffin...

As he listened to his description, Teacher Orange's expression gradually changed.

"How do you know what the patterns are on the statue?"

She interrupted Lin Xing'an and asked.

"...Because there's a secret room in that hallucinating ghost's room, and in that secret room there's a statue, the size of a palm."

"Are you sure the patterns you saw in this hallucinating ghost's home are the same as those on the statue?"

"……Sure."

Seeing Teacher Juzi's serious expression, Lin Xing'an recalled it again before nodding.

"Where the lines meet is an eye, right?"

"...Yes, the pupils in the eyes are densely packed like grapes, and they look..."

Lin Xing'an narrowed his eyes, as if searching for descriptive words in his mind.

"Like a whirlpool?"

Before he could continue, Teacher Orange said.

The tone was surprisingly serious.

"Yes, it's like a whirlpool."

Lin Xing'an was stunned for a moment and nodded.

"Damn, this isn't the same as..."

Wang Xi, who was driving, also changed his expression and looked at Teacher Juzi through the rearview mirror.

Teacher Orange leaned against the back of the car and remained silent for a long time.

"……How can it be……"

she murmured.

(End of this chapter)