The Beloved Granny of the Death Game

“Sweetie!

“Just look at yourself. You’re frozen stiff! Your face is even turning blue and purple. Don’t just stand there in the wind!”

I shoved my heavy, warm floral coat into her rigid arms and nudged her icy body back toward the room.

“Come on, hurry up. Put it on! Bundle up! I can’t believe you’re out in this kind of cold with just those thin clothes. Your bones will snap like frozen twigs!”

The ghost girl clutched my glaring red coat, frozen in place.

Her stiff eyes slowly and painfully rolled down toward the bundle of fluffy warmth in her arms.

Her fingers twitched, curling ever so slightly as they gripped the coarse fabric.

Those who were watching the live broadcast were all shocked.

[Huh?]

[What the hell? Why isn’t the frost wraith attacking her?]

[Holy crap! Did she just put her coat on the ghost? That’s the wildest move I’ve ever seen!]

The room itself was colder than a freezer.

I rubbed my numb hands together, looked around, and shook my head.

“Sweetie, how do you live like this? What a miserable life!”

I plopped myself down on the icy dormitory bed like I owned the place, sitting cross-legged.

“You can call me Mrs. Wade. Forget that. Just call me Granny, sweetie. What's your name?”

The frost wraith stood in the middle of the room like a wooden post, clutching the coat.

After a long, long silence, she struggled to move her frozen lips. Finally, a faint, airy voice slipped out.

“Granny, my name is Chloe.”

“Chloe! What a lovely name!”

I slapped my thigh.

“What a sweet name for a sweet girl! Come on, get that coat on. Listen to me, and you can’t go wrong!”

At last, Chloe lifted her stiff eyes from the red coat and looked at me.

Her gaze held a mix of emotions. It was confused, wary—and deep inside, faintly wounded.

Slowly, she draped the red floral coat over her bony shoulders.

She tried to shove her arms through the sleeves awkwardly.

Her stiff movements made my heart ache.

I could not stand it. I leaned over to help.

My hand brushed against her arm. It was as cold as an icicle and sent a numb sting through my fingertips. However, I did not pull away and just muttered as I worked.

“Easy now, easy! There, that’s right! Make sure you button up here. The wind always gets you in the neck!”

The red coat wrapped her up completely.

Its blazing color, so absurdly bright in the deathly gloom, seemed almost comical. However, it strangely warmed the whole room.

[Congratulations, player. You have gained the frost wraith’s recognition. From now on, you will no longer suffer from the cold.]

Warmth spread through my entire body.

That night, Chloe and I—one frozen young ghost, one living old lady—squeezed into the icy bed in Dorm 4101.

We drifted into a hazy but peaceful sleep.

The next morning.

I was jolted awake by a hunger that gnawed straight through to the bone.

It was not my own belly crying, but the room itself. The air was thick with a starving hunger, and it threatened to suck the very life out of me.

Chloe was huddled in the corner, still wrapped in my floral coat, staring blankly at me.

Her gray-blue face seemed a little less stiff, but the confusion and wounded look in her eyes still weighed heavily.

[System prompt: Hunger is spreading. Proceed to Dorm 4404 to obtain food.]

[Warning: 4404’s resident is extremely dangerous! Severely starved!]

The live chat was going wild with messages.

[4404? Oh no, that’s the Hungry Dead! Granny just escaped the freezer, and now, she’s walking straight into famine!]

[That ghost is so hungry it even gnaws on itself! With Granny’s old bones, she’s done for!]

I rubbed my empty stomach and steadied my aching back as I climbed off the bed.

“Chloe, I’m going out to get us something to eat. Be good and wait here till I’m back home.”