As the party exited from the metro, they were greeted by the inside of an eerie, ominous home. The lights were off, the house tinted in a cool shade of blue, and the looming front door just behind them.

Peijin looked around, her expression still and calculating, not a hint of emotion or fear managing to peek through.

“Peijin, where are we?” Yang asked, standing just beside Yue with his staff drawn.

Rather than responding, Peijin confidently turned around toward the front door and flicked on the light switch, and the house now flooded with a cool, flickering light.

“A home,” she replied nonchalantly.

Amelia stood just beside her, short and fearful, and Peijin reached down to remove the blue hoodie before sliding it over herself.

“Ha, think you need the extra protection?” Yue asked, her eyes mocking and her grin wide.

Yang quickly elbowed her sharply, causing her to whip her head around and glare at him. Wei let out a loud sigh and pressed the back of his hand against his temple before standing between the duo.

Peijin’s eyes darted around the house while she wielded Zhige confidently before her. It was always a rather humorous sight considering how large Zhige was in comparison to Peijin’s small body, but she had never noticed the difference—or let it bother her.

“We need to get through the end of this house. I know where the exit is.”

“Ah, and how is it that you know that, dearest god of fate and fortune?” Yue asked, speeding up to walk beside Peijin. Her hair swayed behind her as she wrapped an arm around Peijin’s shoulder, staring at her almost aggressively.

Peijin laughed, fully unbothered by the situation at hand. “Shouldn’t you ask questions after we’re not in the middle of an arc? Interrogate me later,” Peijin replied, pushing Yue off of her.

Bending down, Peijin lifted Amelia up and threw her over her shoulders, holding onto her legs.

“Peijin, you still haven’t told us what this room is,” Wei chimed in, uneasily looking around. They had progressed through the first room and walked down a hallway, now approaching a large granite kitchen island.

Without a moment of hesitancy, Peijin easily turned around and flicked on the light switch once more, not even having to look to see where it was.

“Mm, I guess I haven’t.”

“...”

With observant eyes, Wei noticed how Peijin’s shoulders tensed just a bit more in this room, her throat bobbing up and down with a thick swallow.

“Aren’t you going to tell us?”

“No need to.”

Yue scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Can you stop acting like some emo teenager? You knew the rest of our rooms, but you won’t tell us yours? The hell is so scary about a house?”

With a loud swoosh, a gust of wind flung open a window and blew past the group, causing the dusty curtains to blow around them.

Letting out a surprised sound, Yue clung onto Peijin for a moment before awkwardly pushing herself off and running over to the window, shutting it.

Many in the party expected a crass, childish response from Peijin. Something along the lines of, “You’re the one scared of wind, you idiot,” following a violent burst of mocking laughter.

Yet Peijin remained completely calm, only staring longingly at the sofa in front of the television. Even her tight grip on Zhige seemed to lessen, and she stood there ahead of the party, the faint glow of light from the hallway illuminating her.

She stood there, beautiful and strange and shy.

The sound of Amelia’s stomach grumbling once again jolted Peijin from whatever thoughts temporarily gripped her. Already in the kitchen, Peijin made her way over to the fridge.

“You’re not seriously thinking about eating out of there, are you?!” Yue exclaimed, her mouth wide open in a mixture of disgust and shock.

Peijin opened the fridge anyway, bleu sparks flying out before revealing a massive fridge filled to the brim with delectable frozen foods and ingredients.

Standing there frozen in shock, Yue watched as Peijin held up Amelia and let her pick ingredients out, all of them looking fresh or recently purchased.

Even the freezer was filled with food—pints of icecream, cong you bing,* and oddly enough, a pack of frozen chocolate chip cookies.

Peijin looked over her shoulder, signaling for everyone to come over.

“Grab whatever you want. Let’s spend some time eating so we have enough strength for the next rounds,” she said, giving a small smile to everyone before stepping to the side.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Yue asked, suspicious.

“I made sure it was.”

[Disciple Yue has activated ‘Lie Detection!’]

[Lie Detection confirms Disciple Peijins’s words as truth.]

Yue’s face fell, giving Peijin a doubtful stare. “And how did you “make sure” of it?” She asked, giving air quotes.

Peijin reached into the fridge, grabbed a pear, and threw it straight at Yue’s head before turning back to Amelia, gently speaking to her.

“What do you want? I’m not a good cook, but maybe Yang is.”

“What’s that?” Amelia asked, pointing at the frozen package of cong you bing.

Sometimes, the party forgot that she was a foreigner, and that she had not always been the Amelia that they knew. Even though only a short amount of time had passed since the apocalypse begun, everything had already adjusted between them.

Peijin pulled out the orange pack and tore it open, picking out one of the pieces. “It’s scallion pancakes. They’re savory, though,” Peijin added, “My mom used to cook them for me all the time, but it’s been a while since then.”

She looked up and took three steps down, opening a cupboard without hesitation and pulling out a pan—turning to the large pantry next, she grabbed a bottle of olive oil. Not once did she have to look for anything.

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“Yang, can you cook for her? I’d butcher it.”

It wasn’t difficult to see Yang’s hesitant and nervous expression, but he quickly hid it under a warm smile; the typical orange glow of his eyes was muted to a deep brown now because of the dim lighting.

“Sure. Could you grab me a set of chopsticks and a plate?”

Peijin turned around and reached under the granite countertop, pulling out a barely visible drawer and taking out the plate and chopsticks before setting them on the table. Amelia was lifted onto the barstool before Peijin spun it, causing Amelia to let out a small laugh before swaying from her dizziness.

Yang walked over, turning the knob on the stovetop until a small red fire blossomed. He put the oil onto the pan before swirling it and dropping the frozen pancake in.

“You seem really familiar with everything here, Peijin,” Yang said as if it were a casual conversation.

“Do I?”

“No, you must just have really good luck at finding things.”

“...That wasn’t funny.”

Yang pouted before flipping the pancake, causing little bits of oil to spray out. “Your poster was a family photo in front of a house, was it not?”

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air now. It was something both Yue and Wei had been wondering about the entire time as well, but Peijin had ignored it like the plague. It was understandable, however, as all of them felt horror at their very own posters.

“I wouldn’t know,” Peijin muttered coldly. “I don’t have any family photos left.”

“Aww,” Yue pointed at Yang and Peijin talking while Amelia spun in a chair just before them, “Don’t these two look like a cute couple? Let’s all go around and share our childhoods while in the middle of an apocalyptic dungeon.”

Wei barked back at Yue. “Hey, every room has been different, and I’m sure Peijin knows what she’s doing. She’s gotten us this far.”

Shrugging nonchalantly, Yue turned her focus back to the conversation between Yang and Peijin.

“Really? How come, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Peijin was staring at Amelia, braiding her curly hair. “I moved out when I was fourteen.”

“That sounds more like running away than moving out, no?”

Finally, there was a break in Peijin’s endless droning.

“I grew up in a haunted house.”

Yue paused for a moment before she burst out laughing, reeling over the granite table and smashed her close fist against it. “You mean ghosts and ghouls? Ha ha ha, you’re kidding me!”

It wasn’t that unbelievable of a statement considering that those very same ghosts and ghouls had manifested themselves into their lives, but Peijin’s face flushed a deep pink.

“I mean it! This place is seriously haunted!”

Then this ominous house was Peijin’s childhood home—the one that was allegedly “haunted,” and enough for it to be her greatest fear.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. So what, the boogie man is your biggest fear? Did he grab your foot when you accidentally let it hang over the edge of your bed?”

Peijin let out a loud sigh, running her fingers through Amelia’s hair and undoing the braid. “It was a long time ago. I don’t remember it anymore.”

“Are you that old? Fourteen isn’t that long ago.”

Wei looked embarrassed now at the mention of Peijin’s age and quickly shushed Yue. The cong you bing had finally finished, and Yang placed it down before Amelia. She tore it into smaller pieces before biting down on it, her face lighting up at the savory and crunchy yet still soft texture.

“You said your mom used to cook this for you, right? Where is she now?”

“No clue. Doesn’t matter to me. I haven’t spoken to her since I was eight.”

Peijin turned around and grabbed some instant noodles from the pantry, taking them out. “We should start moving soon. These have meat in them, so let’s fill up then go.” Peijin slid the vegetable one over to Yue before heating up water.

“Did you seriously just give me the worst flavor?”

“If you eat your greens, you won’t be so ugly.”

“What the fuck?” Yue exclaimed, furious.

Peijin finally gave a smile as she poured the hot water into her cup of noodles. She did the same for the rest of the party members before she stepped away, curtly commenting, “I’m going to use the restroom.”

Six steps down the hall and first door on the right. The second floorboard would creak, and Peijin dutifully avoided it like second nature. She stepped onto the tile floor and quietly locked it, making sure not to bother anyone, before darting over to the toilet.

“G-gah!”

Peijin hurled into the toilet, the vomit coming up like red slime. Her stomach was too empty for any large chunks to be found in it. Wiping her mouth on her sleeve, she gasped before vomiting once more.

“God damnit…”

She stood up, flushing the toilet and wiping her face. She stood before the mirror now and stared at her appearance, inspecting her face. Even though her arm was still bandaged, her eyes lingered on something reflected behind her in the mirror.

A smiley face was carved behind her out of the black shadows, and it almost seemed to press out of the walls, reaching toward her.

“Ex..cuse me…. Who are you?” A voice croaked from the wall, warped and vicious.

“You can’t do anything. There’s people at home,” Peijin replied quickly and firmly.

At once, the smiley face shrunk back into the wall before dissipating once more. Peijin turned on the faucet and slapped water on her face, letting out a shaky breath.

“I am Wu Peijin.”

Her reflection stared straight back at her, unwavering.

“I am Wu Peijin.”

She repeated the words, but this time, they were more desperate.

Black eyes peered back.

Nothing was out of the ordinary.

Peijin unlocked the door and walked back to the kitchen.

Yue’s feet swayed back and forth as she kicked the base of the granite island. “Don’t you think we should have Peijin sit back during this dungeon? She’s been doing too much.”

Wei slurped up the last of his noodles greedily while nodding. “I mean, if she’s a god, I understand why. But I don’t get why she’s competing with people instead of serving as a divinity, demon, or ghost.”

“Ahh, do you really think she’d tell us? There’s no way this is just a haunted house. There haven’t even been any ghosts.”

Yang had cooked up slices of meat and was feeding them to Amelia, her face a wide grin.

Yue’s eyes darted over to him. “Hey, you’ve known her for a while, right? Was she always like this?”

He stopped to ponder the question for a moment, looking at the wall across from him. “I didn’t speak to her much about our lives. We were just coworkers after all.”

Yue looked at him suspiciously but let it slide, pouting as she rested her face on her hand. “I doubt she’d have any other friends. Do you think she’d worry about us so much otherwise?”

“How could she not have friends?” Wei quickly blurted. “Do you not look up to her?”

“Eh?! Look up to her?” Yue’s face warped as if she were about to profusely deny the statement, but she suddenly looked down at the ramen in embarrassment. “I might admire her knowledge, but so what? If I was a god, I’d be a far better one.

“Besides,” Yue trailed on, “she said something earlier that…” Her face suddenly hardened, aghast, as she looked down the hall.

A young, teenage girl was standing in the bathroom hall—her hair was that same, familiar bob with bangs, and the small black mole was dotted right beneath her pink lips.

It was Peijin, but she was significantly younger now.

And she stood before an open door.

A man’s voice sounded from the bedroom door just before her, hoarse and weak.

“Peijin? You’ve finally come home.”