Suddenly, a terrifying suction force erupted from the water pipe that appeared out of nowhere.

Whoosh! The entire swimming pool began draining rapidly into the pipe.

Still coughing and sputtering from earlier, the drowned ghost hadn’t yet recovered before her body was abruptly sucked toward the pipe.

Bang!

Her head slammed into the wall, nearly getting pulled in completely. She was dazed.

Where the hell did this drainpipe come from!?

Whoosh whoosh—

The terrifying suction only intensified.

Her ghostly face twisted from the pull. In desperation, she finally erupted with true power—a surge of ghostly energy exploded from her, forcefully resisting the drain’s pull.

Shhhhk—

Only through this effort did she manage to slowly float away from the terrifying vortex… but just as she exhaled in relief, another pipe appeared behind her on the wall.

A burst of water sprayed out from it.

BOOM!!!

She had barely escaped one suction when this new surge struck her squarely in the back—slamming her right back toward the drain. Her skull wedged into the wall again.

Stunned, the drowned ghost stared behind her at the gushing inflow pipe.

Where the hell did that one come from!?

Inflow and outflow, happening at the same time? What kind of stupid design is this!?

“Damn these cursed pipes! Let me go!” Even she couldn’t help but curse this ridiculous setup.

Meanwhile, Luo Yimeng and Zhao Jie stood there with blank expressions, watching the artificial river now somehow draining and refilling at once.

Where... did those two pipes come from...?

Then, they heard Bai Wan murmuring thoughtfully to himself: “Water flows in... water flows out... Hmm, how long will it take to fill?”

Luo Yimeng: “…”

She stared at Bai Wan’s earnest face as he seriously tried solving the problem on his exam sheet.

Something definitely felt off. Ever since this player called “Family” arrived at headquarters, weird things had been happening nonstop.

Just… what kind of creature is this so-called “newbie”?

While Bai Wan was busy with math, the scene inside the family portrait was lively too. Aside from his little sister sleeping peacefully, their parents were busy trying to solve the questions with him.

Father Bai Tian rubbed his temples, squinting at the first problem:

“A bus and a truck start at the same time from opposite ends…”

“Wait… ‘opposite direction’ means which way again?” Bai Tian muttered, confused.

His wife, Zhang Yanfang, rolled her eyes. “Alright, dear, you and your elementary school diploma can sit this one out.”

She pushed him aside and leaned in to study the question herself. But after a while, her expression grew puzzled too.

“Wait, wait... They’re meeting at the finish line? Then why the hell are we still solving it!?”

Bai Tian squinted. “The finish line? It says midpoint, not finish point!”

Even their family cat perked up its ears. In its little round head, it imagined two cats running toward a dried fish in the middle.

“Forget it, forget it—Little Wan’s moved on to the next question. It’s the one about the inlet and outlet pipes,” Bai Tian said with a sigh of relief.

The whole family got involved, gesturing toward the pipes outside the painting as reference.

But after a long time… no one had solved it.

Old Grandpa Bai Ren finally couldn’t stand it. He snorted and said: “Bah! Don’t even bother with questions like this. In my day, water wasn’t some luxury to waste like this! If you didn’t guard your tap at night, someone else would steal your share!”

The cat was also focused, wagging its tail as it imagined two pipes: one filling with fish, the other draining them out.

After a while… it let out a tragic wail.

“Meowww!!”

All my fishies are gone!

…

Meanwhile, outside the portrait—watching the drowned ghost being flushed around like laundry, Luo Yimeng couldn’t help but feel… pity.

This might be the most pitiful drowned ghost in history.

Then, the inflow pipe blasted even harder. The already stunned ghost, weakened from so much choking, was immediately sucked down again into the depths.

Luo Yimeng and Zhao Jie exchanged worried glances.

Can…can the drowned ghost actually drown?

They felt it was absurd even as they thought it. Worrying about a drowned ghost drowning? Were they sleep-deprived?

Then—something burst out of the river.

SPLASH!

An old man’s figure shot from the water, looking kind and gentle, even a bit saintly.

He pointed to three floating objects and asked with a warm smile: “Oh young examiners, tell me: Is this your gold drowned ghost, your silver drowned ghost, or this… half-suffocating, foam-spewing drowned ghost that’s barely conscious?”

Luo Yimeng and Zhao Jie froze.

Floating on the surface were three drowned ghosts: One gold, one silver, and one half-dead and rolling its eyes.

Luo Yimeng: “???”

Zhao Jie: “???”

Huhhh?!?!

What the f—where the hell did this river god come from!?

Then it hit them—that ridiculous forum announcement, the one that awarded someone the “Lucky Polygamist” title…the one with a golden and silver girlfriend…

They slowly turned toward Bai Wan, who was still diligently scribbling calculations.

This… this is his doing?

Back when that title was posted, they'd been utterly baffled at how someone could earn such a bizarre reward. But now… it all started to make sense.

This is Family’s handiwork.

Absolutely absurd. Absolutely incomprehensible.

After recovering from the shock, Luo Yimeng tried to think through her next move. In fairytales, honesty was rewarded with everything. But this was no normal river god. Still… she and Zhao Jie exchanged a glance and silently reached the same plan.

“I dropped the half-dead one,” said Luo Yimeng.

“I dropped the gold one,” Zhao Jie followed.

That way, at least one answer might be “correct.”

The river god smiled kindly. “Honest people—here is your reward.”

With a flash of light, both the gold and dying drowned ghosts floated to shore.

FWOOSH!

When the glow faded…

There stood a single drowned ghost.

Half of it was gold. The other half was… regular. Due to its uneven weight, it immediately toppled over and began wriggling on the ground.

CLANK.

Luo Yimeng: “…”

Zhao Jie: “…”

Wait a minute! No one said anything about hybridizing the ghosts! Who the hell allowed cross-breeding drowned ghosts!?

Luo Yimeng stared at the glitchy Frankenstein of a drowned ghost in front of her, twitching on the ground.

Can this thing even get back in the water!? Wouldn’t it just sink straight to the bottom!?

THAT was the river god?

No. The true anomaly here was clearly Bai Wan.

Turning toward him again, her expression shifted several times.

He could erase doors from reality…Summon Kung Fu cabbages…Now a river god!? Not to mention: Today’s drowned ghost with cursed luck, the inexplicable pipes appearing out of nowhere…

Luo Yimeng’s mind was in shambles. She could no longer grasp what this player’s abilities even were.

But one thing was certain: Family is terrifyingly powerful.

Powerful, and deeply unfathomable.

She suddenly recalled another test subject from the past—a prodigy who eventually became the youngest S-rank captain. But even he… never gave her the overwhelming pressure that Family did.

This young, unassuming boy—The longer you spent around him, the more unnerving he became.

Exhale…

Luo Yimeng tried to calm herself. She had to finish this assessment properly—even if she couldn’t see through the first two tests, the third one would expose Bai Wan’s true core ability.

That final trial would involve a forced Awakened Skill—allowing them to finally catch a glimpse of the monster behind the ridiculous mask.

“Alright. Second round complete. Let’s proceed to the final test,” she said, glancing at Bai Wan, still trying to solve math problems like a student applying to Harvard.

Bai Wan turned around. “Huh? Already? But I was this close to solving the stupid dual-pipe equation!”

Luo Yimeng looked at the disoriented, lopsided drowned ghost still flopping on the floor and gave a strained smile.

“There’s no need.”

At this rate, that poor ghost might never be able to swim again. This round was… effectively over.

First trial: destroyed.

Second trial: demolished.

Bai Wan looked genuinely disappointed. “Aw… I was so close. You better not dock points for this!”

Luo Yimeng barely kept her smile intact. “Don’t worry… Let’s just move on to the final round.”

Inwardly, she was already exhausted, shaken to the core.

All she could hope for now…was that the last round wouldn’t go off the rails too.

Now that's just torture for the drowned ghost. Honestly starting to feel bad for her.

— Translator

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