I Became the Protagonist of a Crime Novel Chapter 10

The night grew deeper and deeper.

After Ethan realized he hadn't succeeded, his resentful voice rose again, carrying a whine:

"Lily, open the door."

"Lily, don't you trust me yet? I won't hurt you. I genuinely want to protect you. You're my only love."

"Lily, how can you bear to leave me alone outside? I'm so cold, so scared..."

"Have you forgotten our relationship? We were so happy together before..."

The male ghost first played pitiful and pulled the emotion card. Seeing I wasn't buying it, he simply turned to vicious threats:

"Lily, even you're abandoning me!"

"I was killed by my girlfriend! She clearly said I was her only boyfriend, but then she slowly got together with someone else and distanced herself from me!"

"Why? I treated her as my everything, as the most important person in the world to me, but she called me a psycho, said I was extreme and terrifying, and wanted to break up with me!"

"Guess what happened in the end?"

Ethan giggled:

"In the end, I committed suicide, became a ghost, and then killed both her and her new boyfriend. I ate her heart, so we could be together forever."

I felt disgusted listening: [Then go find your girlfriend. Why are you pestering me?]

"You're also my girlfriend. You accommodated me everywhere, protected me—you treated me even better than she did."

"So I came to take you away. As long as you become a ghost too, we can be together forever!"

"You're even more twisted and disgusting than that killer. No wonder you don't have a girlfriend!"

I complained with disgust, too lazy to deal with him anymore. No matter how he called for my soul, I pretended not to hear. Finally, I even found it boring and started watching a popular TV series, The Crown.

After all, I couldn't get out for a while, and he couldn't get in. Might as well calm down and think of a solution.

In the surveillance footage, thick black fog began emanating from Ethan's body. His resentment must have intensified.

"Lily, I originally wanted to let you die without knowing it, but it seems you don't appreciate it. Then I'll have to force my way in."

Ethan completely lost patience. Outside, the sounds of ghostly wailing began, mixed with scratching and pounding on the door. I saw the talismans stuck on the door continuously smoking, turning from green to black, and finally spontaneously combusting.

As soon as he was about to destroy one, I immediately replaced it with two more.

After this stalemate lasted two hours, Ethan's movements began to slow down.

In the video, much of the black fog around him had dissipated, and his form had become much fainter.

It seemed these ghost-repelling talismans really worked—they could not only prevent ghosts but also had some lethality.

My worries eased considerably. I still had two sacks full of talismans like these. Definitely enough.

"Lily, you're actually so ruthless, using talismans to suppress me.

If the main door won't work, I'll try other places. Just you wait."

Ethan's figure disappeared from the surveillance. At the same time, talismans in other rooms began to tremble, occasionally emitting wisps of blue smoke, accompanied by piercing screams.

Sometimes it was the dressing mirror, sometimes the kitchen exhaust vent...

After repeating this torture for three hours, Ethan's voice had become extremely weak, yet he still didn't forget to curse through gritted teeth:

"Damn, just how many talismans did you prepare? When did you start suspecting me?"

He floated around outside the door cursing for a while, but there was nothing he could do about me.

Until a scream from the bedroom caught my attention. I opened the master bedroom surveillance:

My vision blurred for a moment, and something fell down.

It was that killer, hanging by his neck, swaying back and forth.

He was already dead, his neck half-severed from the ligature. His fake eye was gone, revealing a dark, hollow eye socket. The other eye bulged out, expression twisted, as if he'd seen something extremely terrifying before death.

He was staring straight at the camera.

Ethan, floating in the corner, looked up, his mouth grinning to his ears:

"Lily, you're so naughty. But there's one place you definitely didn't think of..."

His figure once again disappeared from the camera.

I felt the temperature around me suddenly drop several degrees. All the hairs on my body stood up.

Immediately after, the talisman stuck on my head suddenly self-combusted and turned to ash, and the protective amulet around my neck emitted dazzling rays of golden light.

"Ah—"

A shrill scream echoed in my ears. I vaguely saw a figure rolling on the ground while cursing:

"You're ruthless! You even stuck so many talismans on yourself!"

Then he turned into a wisp of black smoke and completely vanished.

I brushed aside the talisman paper in front of my eyes and stood up to observe the surroundings.

With my movement, talismans all over my body rustled.

Good thing I was thorough. When I was checking the talismans around the house earlier, I suddenly remembered that the only thing in the whole house without talismans was myself. How could I forget the most important thing—me?

I could clearly feel that with Ethan's disappearance, the surrounding temperature returned to normal, and the rain outside stopped. The moon hung in the sky, surprisingly bright.

The building I was in seemed to be released from a barrier. Downstairs, elderly people sat exercising on the fitness equipment, occasionally laughing and chatting.

The bustle of the street and the sound of traffic flowed back as usual.

I used to find it annoying, but now it felt so comforting.

My phone had signal again. I immediately dialed 911 to report to the police, sat on the sofa, and waited for them to arrive.

When sirens sounded outside, I knew I was completely safe. Next, I could go home, right...

As I stood up to open the door for the police, everything suddenly went black. In the moment before I lost consciousness, the system's voice echoed in my ears:

"Ding! Congratulations, host, on successfully completing the level.

Unlocked: Horror Apartment

Achievement unlocked: Obtained one Fierce Ghost Medal

Preparing to enter the next level: Death Train."

Me: "???"

No way! Again? Will this ever end?!