After that, Guinaifen got to enjoy the thrill of her follower count skyrocketing, as if she had become rich overnight.
But she quickly calmed down from that floating feeling and started looking for new suspicious incidents.
The work assigned by the Ten-Lords Commission still had to be done, and this account also needed to be managed properly.
Although she had benefited from Nero and Bailu's popularity and gained a huge number of followers in a short time, Guinaifen knew very well that probably not even one-tenth of those followers had come for her.
She still needed to create good content and keep those followers around.
After all, she couldn't shamelessly keep begging Nero and Bailu to make videos for her, could she?
Now, about the new post that caught Guinaifen's attention.
The poster's username was "Raw on the Outside, Cooked on the Inside."
The person claimed that a strange individual calling herself the Chess Ghost had recently appeared in the Exalting Sanctum area. She had set up a stall and challenged people to play chess with her.
Anyone who beat her would receive a large amount of patrol tokens.
But the strange thing was that anyone who lost to the Chess Ghost would stand nearby like a soulless puppet.
The Ghost-Hunting Squad gathered again in the maze and listened as Guinaifen explained the strange details surrounding the Chess Ghost.
"Ugh... people who lose a game lose their souls. This is a... a Dark Duel!" Guinaifen said.
Sushang rolled her eyes.
"I thought you were going to say something important... What do you all think?"
"Very mysterious."
Huohuo's evaluation was short and direct.
Guinaifen immediately added another sentence.
"I-I mean, this is probably the work of a Heliobus," Huohuo quickly clarified.
"Or maybe it's just some street performance art." Guinaifen frowned.
"So instead of hiding around and scaring people, the Heliobus is setting up chess puzzles on the street? What's that supposed to mean?" Sushang asked.
"Huh? Do kids from the Yaoqing not listen to ghost stories?" Stelle blinked at Sushang's words.
She still remembered how Nero had described the Fright Maze. She had assumed that even if Xianzhou people were afraid of ghosts, they should at least be familiar with ghost story tropes. Sushang's reaction had surprised her.
Sushang was also stunned by Stelle's question.
"Is Luofu's preschool education that advanced?"
"I don't know. Nero told me that Xianzhou kids are scarier than a terrifying Curio I've seen before," Stelle answered honestly.
"N-No. Luofu doesn't have a tradition of making children listen to ghost stories from a young age..." Huohuo hurriedly said, hoping to prevent everyone from developing unnecessary stereotypes about the Luofu.
Then she added, "However, I often read horror stories to build up my courage, and there is one idea that comes up fairly often."
"They say ghosts will use people's greed to set traps and lure them in."
Sushang swallowed.
"Th-That's way too dangerous... Th-Then wouldn't martial artists like us, who are always trying to improve our skills and become stronger, be especially easy targets?"
"As a member of the Ghost-Hunting Squad, it'd be hard for you to fall for something like that, Sushang. Whether it's Huohuo or Nero, they're professionals when it comes to dealing with this stuff." Guinaifen shook her head."
"Why think so much about it? Once I play a game against her myself, we'll know what's going on." Nero flicked his sleeve and smiled."
"Nero, you know how to play chess too?"
March looked at Nero in confusion.
In her impression, Nero was indeed a very smart kid. He seemed to have a wide range of hobbies and also possessed that magical patting ability.
But she had never seen Nero play chess before, nor had she ever heard him say that he knew how.
"Don't worry. Jing Yuan has never beaten me at chess!" Nero declared boldly.
"That amazing?"
March exclaimed.
But if Yanqing were here, he would definitely say something to shatter March's beautiful illusion of Nero.
Ordinary people rarely had the chance to enter the Seat of Divine Foresight, so naturally they had no idea how Nero played chess against Jing Yuan.
But Yanqing was a Cloud Knight Lieutenant and Jing Yuan's "bodyguard." He had personally witnessed exactly how Nero played chess with Jing Yuan.
From a normal person's perspective, hearing Nero say he knew how to play chess would be enough to leave them speechless.
But he was Nero.
Oh, then it was normal.
Since Nero had said so, challenging the Chess Ghost was naturally settled.
However, only Stelle, March, and Cirrus accompanied Nero. Huohuo and the others still had other things to investigate.
After all, so many strange incidents had appeared because of the escaped Heliobi, and the Ghost-Hunting Squad had plenty of members. They couldn't have everyone focused on a single case every time.
Besides, Nero was the strongest member of the squad. If they weren't worried about him getting tricked, nobody would have been concerned even if he went alone.
If he couldn't win at chess, couldn't he just win in a fight?
Soon enough, the group plus Cirrus arrived at the Chess Ghost's location.
By pure coincidence, Yanqing was there as well.
"Teachers, Nero, what brings you here?" Yanqing asked.
"You came to play chess too?" Stelle asked.
Yanqing neither nodded nor shook his head.
"Yanqing's purpose should be the same as the teachers'. I'm here to subdue a Heliobus.
"The General was reading documents from the Ten-Lords Commission at the Seat of Divine Foresight, and Yanqing happened to be reading behind him. Nero defeated another powerful enemy."
"Yanqing has read the Record of Great Enemies before. I imagine this Heliobus should be a worthy opponent and will surely help temper my swordsmanship, so I came here."
While they were talking, a Foxian woman nearby spoke to Yanqing in an irritated tone.
"Kid, are you going to play or not? I thought you lacked the brains to beat me, but it turns out you don't even have the guts to challenge me. Hah... mmph!?"
Before she could finish speaking, Nero interrupted with a single sentence.
"When children are talking, why is an adult butting in? Shut up. You're not allowed to speak!"
The next moment, the Foxian woman's eyes widened in terror.
She discovered that she really couldn't open her mouth anymore.
After hearing the Foxian woman's mocking tone, Yanqing's expression didn't change in the slightest. He wasn't annoyed at all.
Instead, he introduced her to Seven-Star Fish and the others.
"Ah, let me introduce everyone. This is... Teacher Heliobus? She calls herself the Chess Ghost. The people behind her seem to be those who lost chess games to her earlier..."
As soon as Yanqing finished speaking, one of the blank-eyed people standing behind her like walking corpses suddenly shouted, "You coward! You don't dare challenge Lord Chess Ghost... mmph!!!"
"That's right, you... hmm? Mmph!!"
"Cowardly... woo..."
The three of them also lost the ability to speak after Nero said, "You three shut up too!"
The Chess Ghost stared in shock.
Her disbelieving gaze swept repeatedly across the thralls she had just controlled before finally landing on Nero.
She stared at the white-haired boy.
The shock in her eyes was practically overflowing.
'This is way too bizarre!'
'You say nobody's allowed to talk, and suddenly they can't talk...'
'So which one of us is the Heliobus here...'
'You or me!?'