Guangdong East First People’s Hospital.The first light of dawn filtered through the gauze curtains into the private ward. Around the lone hospital bed, various instruments were arranged, a dense tangle of tubes connecting to Zhou Su, monitoring his vital signs.Zhou Su’s condition was rather bizarre. All his vital signs were clearly normal, yet he simply wouldn’t wake up, and even the specialists couldn’t find the cause.In the quiet room, the only sound was the “scrape, scrape” of peeling an apple. Gu Zhiyuan was cutting a big red apple with a small knife; the peel she shaved off was thin as a cicada’s wing, yet remained unbroken the whole way.The entire process flowed like water—practically an art performance.Gu Zhiyuan’s attention, however, wasn’t on the apple. She looked toward Zhou Su on the bed. Her expression was still mild, but it couldn’t hide the worry within it.She set the peeled apple on the tray, and the next second her body suddenly tightened, every hair on end.Because she felt a shocking killing intent.Gu Zhiyuan tightened her grip on the small knife. Her deep-brown irises began to turn white, and at the center of the white pupils, a violet ring appeared.Her aura changed in an instant, radiating a biting chill.Just as she braced herself, that killing intent vanished without a trace, as if everything just now had been her illusion.“Was that apple peeled for me?”A slightly hoarse voice sounded. At some point, Zhou Su had already opened his eyes, staring hungrily at the fruit on the plate.The sun had fully risen, and the blazing light flooded the ward.Zhou Su was gnawing on a beef short rib like a starving ghost reborn.During his coma, he had survived on IV nutrition, but that could only maintain bodily needs and did nothing for hunger.So the first thing he did after waking was ask Gu Zhiyuan to order takeout for him. The beef short ribs had to be a chef’s signature—tasted pretty great.As for the doctor’s advice—“after a serious illness you mustn’t eat anything too greasy”—that went in one ear and out the other.He could say with total confidence that there was nothing wrong with his body… it was just his spirit that had a problem.Gu Zhiyuan sat quietly at his bedside and recounted what had happened after he fell into a coma. Her tone had no waves at all—no matter how exciting the story, out of her mouth it became a dry, factual report.“You’re saying I was out for five days and five nights?”At that, Zhou Su started, not expecting he’d been unconscious for so long.Instinctively he looked to the blood-red mark on the back of his hand, and pulled up the information he urgently wanted to know.【Countdown to the next Blood Moon rule broadcast: 8 days 15 hours 32 minutes】Zhou Su let out a small breath. The worst thing hadn’t happened.If the next Blood Moon rule were to broadcast immediately, with how wrecked he was right now, there’d be no way he could cope.Fortunately there were still more than eight days left, which gave him time to fix his soul-side ailment.He did a quick estimate. That meant after “Celebration” ended, the Blood Moon rules had given humanity a 14-day breathing period.Gu Zhiyuan called the doctors. After a series of examinations, they found nothing wrong with Zhou Su—at most, a bit of malnutrition.The doctors wanted him to stay hospitalized a while longer, but he refused on the spot. He’d already lost five days to a coma—how could he waste any more?And his problem wasn’t something a hospital could solve anyway.Zhou Su didn’t go back to his old rental. He headed instead to Skyview Estate in the outer second-ring suburbs.Before the second rule even broadcast, he’d planned to move out of that shabby rental, and he’d ultimately picked this place.The black car rolled into Skyview Estate. What used to be a bustling villa district now looked desolate and empty.Even a thriving megalopolis like Yue City had grown less crowded under the Blood Moon rules; too many had died in the trials.Apartment blocks that used to be booked solid now stood half vacant. Renting had become quite easy.The first thing Zhou Su did after entering the house was carry out a thorough inspection of the entire building.Not to check cleanliness or the appliances—he used professional detection gear to make sure there were no cameras or anything of the sort hidden in the villa.It might smack of paranoia, but Zhou Su still felt that being careful never hurt.After all, the era had changed. He’d seen the treachery of human hearts firsthand during “Celebration.”“No issues.” Zhou Su set down ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) the detector and let out a long breath.His attention fell to the blood-red mark, eyes full of anticipation.Blood Moon data flashed rapidly into view.【Blood Moon rule “Celebration” has concluded. Proceeding to final settlement.】【You successfully survived. Reward: 150 points!】【Your recognition value among ghosts: extremely low! You have obtained a Gray-Iron Survival Chest!】Adding the 120 points he had left before, his total now came to 270.Zhou Su frowned at the words “extremely low.”He felt insulted. If you treated the Blood Moon rules like a game, he’d count as a “high-level player” at the very least—yet this was the rating he got?But once he understood what “recognition value” meant, his frown smoothed out at once. The Blood Moon’s evaluation didn’t seem wrong after all.Called recognition value, but “goodwill” was actually more accurate.He could roughly infer the high-score clear for “Celebration”:Under the premise of hiding your human identity, interact with as many powerful ghosts as possible—and earn their goodwill.During the trial, of course no ghost suspected his identity, but earning goodwill had left him at a loss.“If only it could be hatred instead.”Zhou Su let himself daydream. If that were the metric, his score would probably explode off the charts.Even though he’d only received the lowest “Gray-Iron Chest,” he would have made the same choices no matter how many times he repeated it.Because no matter how high the rating, it couldn’t compare to what he’d gained this time.Close to eight hundred Dusk Crystals, a Green-Mythical upgradable weapon, lightning-thought, solid knife work…Pick any one of those at random and it counted as a major haul.The Gray-Iron chest floated before him. Zhou Su tapped it with a finger, the lid slowly lifted, and dazzling light burst from within.When a Blood Moon chest opens, the brighter the glow, the better the contents.【You have obtained “Firmament Trench Coat (White-Rare)”】【Firmament Trench Coat: A trench coat woven from black python silk. Repels bloodstains, nulls ordinary blade cuts, and can withstand attacks from low-tier ghosts.】“Luck’s good today.” Zhou Su hadn’t held out much hope—after all, it was a chest from the lowest rating—so the surprise delight was unexpected.He took the Firmament Trench Coat out of the blood-red mark… The chest-opening sequence was just the Blood Moon giving trial-takers a sense of “ceremony.” The item itself went straight into the mark’s storage.The coat was black through and through, the lining laced with a few gold threads. It felt extremely light to the touch, yet the texture was excellent.“This cut… kind of trendy.”Hearing the name, he’d thought it would be some abstract getup, but it turned out to be a very in-vogue retro mid-length trench coat.And the blood-red mark was very user-friendly—the piece you personally opened fit perfectly.Zhou Su suddenly thought of Gu Zhiyuan. With how she performed during “Celebration,” her rating had to be quite high.“Those strange eyes—could they be a trial reward?” he couldn’t help guessing.Blood Moon treasures typically came without drawbacks, completely different from the materials stolen by God’s Third Hand.Zhou Su called up the System Mall. The previously empty shop now listed three new items.They were chests in three grades: “Gray-Iron,” “Silver,” and “Gold.”He wanted to buy one or two, but gave up after a glance at his points.The Gray-Iron chest cost 30, Silver 300, and Gold 3000.He had 270 points now—30 short of a Silver chest.He could buy several Gray-Iron chests, but what came out of those wouldn’t be of much help to him anymore.Zhou Su was about to summon Tang Dao: Ghost Hong—he was very curious how the blade would be in reality—but as soon as the thought formed, a surging wave of drowsiness crashed over him.His eyelids felt a thousand pounds heavy. He didn’t want to do anything—just sleep well.“The side effects of soul overdraft are kicking in.”Riding the last sliver of lucidity, he steered his body toward the bed. He had just reached the bedside when he blacked out on the spot and slammed face-first into the mattress.

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