As long as you have the courage, fierce ghosts go on maternity leave.

Chapter 223: Sexy underwear

The male ghost general suddenly felt uneasy. Alexander’s smile was far too sinister.

By rights, he was a ghost general, a true demon of the horror world; those chosen should surely be terrified of him. Yet now, as a powerful general-level ghost, he actually felt dread and horror in the face of Alexander’s smile. It was absurd!

The male ghost tried to dispel his internal fear, preparing to unleash a tirade, but what caught his eye were thirty chosen ones, all simultaneously flashing him that same sinister grin.

"What... what do you want?" The male ghost general shivered, gripping his iron hammer tightly with his remaining hand.

"Of course, we want your life," the chosen ones chimed in unison.

At that moment, countless ghost techniques were hurled toward the male ghost general. Among them were attacks infused with special abilities.

Daigo himself could single-handedly kill a ghost general, let alone thirty chosen ones attacking in concert, which was more than enough for a swift execution.

"Haha! Awesome!" Daigo laughed jubilantly. "Before, it was us being scared and toyed with by these ghosts. Finally, the tables have turned! Alexander, you’re amazing!"

"Enough flattery. You just won, didn’t you? Start inflicting some damage, so we can trick Hurricane. You know what to do," Alexander said, while transmuting the male ghost general’s corpse into ghost food.

"Of course!" Daigo responded without hesitation, "Just now, the HongMu Faction and Anlan Faciton joined forces, and their two ghost generals killed Tian. They then attacked the first keystone.

Despite receiving sixteen slashes, I fought back valiantly and was seriously wounded by the extraordinarily powerful chosen one, number 44011, before being teleported back by the protection mechanism."

"Pretty ruthless," Alexander remarked.

"As long as I can kill Hurricane, I’m willing to pay any price!" Daigo said through gritted teeth. Drawing his blade, he spun it across his body, creating several bloody wounds in quick succession.

But this was just the overture.

After carving more than a dozen bloody gashes on himself, he gripped two blades in reverse, hunched his body, aimed the blades at his abdomen, and then abruptly straightened up.

It was a textbook harakiri motion—so smoothly executed that Alexander wondered if Daigo had secretly practiced it before.

Blood gushed out along the blade. A smile graced Daigo’s face as he lifted his arm, still holding a Fierce-grade machete, appearing as if engaged in a desperate battle.

The next moment, due to excessive blood loss, the protective mechanism activated, and Daigo was teleported straight to Hurricane’s crystal location.

What followed was a cyclical pattern. Chosen ones kept being teleported back, feigning severe injuries from stubborn resistance, while guardians from the three factions kept dying.

Because of the protective mechanisms, as long as the chosen ones were not around the crystal, they had no reason to worry about fatal injuries, making their performances highly convincing.

The three heirs were so moved by the "loyalty" of their subordinates—who fought valiantly even with severe injuries, missing limbs, or holding in their own intestines—that they had no reservations in bestowing more gifts upon them to inspire further fighting spirit.

As time passed, Alexander’s gains skyrocketed. Especially later on, when virtually all the treasures from the three major factions had been conned away by Alexander and the others.

In a gambler’s desperation, they started giving away their treasured possessions. Anlan produced a bottle of Ghost King-grade brandy, and HongMu followed suit with Ghost King-grade vodka.

Both bottles were true rarities, so rare that not even a Ghost King, let alone a Ghost Prince, might readily part with them if they had them. It was only because of their status as heirs to the mansion, perhaps facilitated by Alice’s identity, that they had such luxuries.

These bottles’ value was not so much in their attributes or functions but in their rarity. But now, even such treasures were handed out as rewards to the "valiant" chosen ones, all for the ultimate objective: winning the heirship.

If they could become the Ghost Emperor of the mansion, then all these present expenditures would be inconsequential compared to the immeasurable returns.

Hurricane was equally generous. Being the eldest son of the mansion, he too had many treasures and directly gifted a Ghost King-grade cigar to Mebana.

Mebana wasn’t a fan of smoking, so this reward had minimal impact on her abilities. Alexander, using his 30% selection privilege, collected these items for himself.

Of course, compared to the corpses of the slain ghost generals, these cigars and bottles of alcohol were mere trinkets.

Everyone knew Alexander had the capability to kill ghost generals with ease. He’d refrained from doing so intentionally, to allow other chosen ones the kills and therefore high ratings later. Consequently, these chosen ones also surrendered the two bottles and other treasures to Alexander.

Compared to the rewards given to the Chosen Ones to boost morale, what these guardians held in their hands were the most precious treasures, featuring not just weapons but also secret relics.

Soon enough, the battle had already lasted for a solid four days, and each Faction had sent at least 200 Ghost Generals into the fray.

"Boss!" After another round of sending people back to deceive for rewards, all three Chosen Ones returned, with Mares, who was responsible for Young Master HongMu, speaking first:

"Young Master HongMu didn’t give anything this time. He even used his own ghostly energy to heal me. He must be bankrupt by now!"

"It’s almost the same here," said Mebana, responsible for the Hurricane faction, nodding. "I was awarded an artifact, but it’s of a very low tier and doesn’t seem very effective. It can heal injuries, but the process is too slow. Even a minor scrape would take a day to heal."

Finally, all eyes turned to the Chosen One from Anlan’s faction.

"Anlan must be bankrupt, too!"

"How can you be so sure?" the crowd questioned.

"Because she gave me this!"

While speaking, the Chosen One extended two fingers holding a black pair of underwear. Upon closer inspection, it was a sexy piece of women’s lingerie. But what did this have to do with Anlan being bankrupt?

Everyone looked at him puzzled, until he uttered one sentence that enlightened them.

"This underwear was originally worn by Anlan! She took it off in public and said it was to reward my ’bravery.’"

People were astonished. What a peculiar decision!

"Don’t get me wrong; this sexy underwear is actually a decent artifact. When worn, it can withstand the Ghost King’s attacks three times, and it refreshes every month," the Chosen One hastily explained.

Unexpectedly, the one with the most artifacts turned out to be Anlan, who appeared to be the weakest. The underwear seemed to have a long cooldown time, only refreshing once a month.

Not everyone is like Alexander, who frequently goes on "zero-cost shopping sprees" in various instances.

Normally, a Chosen One would only experience one or two instances a month. Most would not even enter a basic instance in a given month, doing everything they could to avoid it.

With a cooldown of one month, this artifact could essentially be used in every instance for most people, qualifying it as an invaluable treasure.

"Boss, I’ve never been able to give you any outstanding artifacts, so let me offer you this sexy little underwear," said the Chosen One, passing the lacy garment toward Alexander.

Alexander quickly stepped back, waving his hands, "You should keep this great item for yourself!"

Joking aside, accepting such an item would tarnish his upright and imposing image. Was he some kind of pervert? Even if he was, he already had Su Rong, Annie, and others who more than fulfilled any of his sexual fantasies.

"Boss, are you sure you don’t want it?" This Chosen One, named Leisen, noticed Alexander’s disinterest and regretfully shook his head, saying, "Such a great treasure, if you don’t want it, Boss, then I won’t hold back!"

With that, Leisen delightfully tied the sexy underwear around his head.

It wasn’t that Leisen was twisted; the attribute description of the underwear explicitly stated that its special features would only be activated when worn. So it was either wear it or tie it around his head. Obviously, Leisen found the latter more palatable.

As Leisen accepted the underwear and tied it around his head, Alexander was about to say something when his expression suddenly changed.

Not just him, the expressions on everyone else’s faces also changed abruptly.

"Instance Alert: Due to the near depletion of healing resources and supplies among the three main Crystal Factions, the protective mechanisms of all the Chosen Ones will completely vanish upon the next activation.

From now on, each faction will send out a Prince-level Guardian every hour instead of a General-level Guardian every half-hour!"

"Special Participant Alert: Honorable Participant Alexander, each of the three Factions has five Prince-level Guardians. If all five are dispatched and perish in battle, Aid Mode will be activated. Faction leaders can then call for reinforcements or allies from the external world, with no level restrictions!"

Alexander, who received an additional alert compared to others, furrowed his brows. After a moment of silence, he spoke, "It seems our deception tactics have reached their end. Prepare for the final battle."

"Don’t worry, Boss!"

"We will certainly execute according to your plan and utterly outmaneuver those three!"

"Speaking of which, Boss, your method is a bit unscrupulous! But I like it!"

The Chosen Ones began to voice their stances one by one. What to do had been discussed countless times by Alexander, and even when facing Prince-level Guardians, no one showed a shred of fear.

Of course, Alexander’s real aim was to eliminate the three heirs directly.

After issuing a few more instructions to the Chosen Ones, Alexander began to wait. Daigo and Mebana did not hesitate to commit suicide by raising their blades, triggering the last protective mechanism and teleporting back.

"What happened to you two?" Seeing both return unscathed and in clean attire, Hurricane, who had gotten used to the Chosen Ones always arriving after bitter battles, found it somewhat disorienting.

"Reporting to Young Master Hurricane! Two Prince-level ghosts from the Anlan and HongMu factions attacked us. We confronted them to allow others to retreat and were instantly killed. Strangely, we didn’t suffer serious injuries," Daigo hurriedly reported.

"Damn it, those two bastards dare to form an alliance? Does this mean that even the ghost generals I dispatched, including the one guarding the last keystone, have been killed?"

A storm of fury roiled across Hurricane’s face. "Fine, very well! If they dare to come today, I’ll kill each and every one of them! Bai, are you ready?"

"Your commands shall be obeyed, young master," came the reply from below the high platform.

A ghost general stood there, skin luminous, dressed in all white, and holding a long sword.

The figure was androgynous, and as they spoke, a chill emanated from their body. On closer inspection, their talents seemed similar to Edward’s.

"Run! The Ghost Prince is coming!"

Just then, screams filled the air, and seven or eight of the Chosen Ones sprinted frantically in their direction.

"What are you doing? You were all quite courageous during the previous battles, so why this sudden fear?" Hurricane was both angry and puzzled.

"We were fearless back then because we had protective mechanisms. And the enemy is far too strong—there are at least two Ghost Princes!"