While the ghost market manager was doubting its own existence, Zhou Q’ian, who had been sleeping soundly in the employee dormitory, was rudely awakened by the system’s prompt.
[Five-star instance, Hao Hui Sha Group, has been cleared]
[Clearance reward of 18,800 points has been sent to your backpack]
[23,500 experience points have been obtained in this game. Do you want to use all of it for personal evolution?]
Zhou Q’ian, still sleepy, yawned and asked, “Can I convert part of it to equipment experience?”
The white silk had been heavily damaged in this instance, so it was best to repair it.
[Today’s Exchange Rate]
[3,000 experience points ≈ 100 equipment experience packs]
“…” Why don’t you just go and rob someone!
Zhou Q’ian was instantly awake. He steeled his heart. “Convert fifteen thousand for now.”
[Experience packs have been issued]
[Use now?]
Zhou Q’ian gritted his teeth. “Yes, use it on the white silk.”
[White silk repairing…]
[Repair complete]
[Repair result: Although still a little imperfect, strangling two at once is not a problem]
Since a large part of the experience was used to convert into equipment packs, this time’s panel update was very simple:
[Blood Vessels (Primary Evolved State): Only a hair’s breadth away from the intermediate level. It will better help you maintain blood pressure and body temperature. The tough blood vessels can feel changes in the environment before your brain does. Oh, it’s so sensitive.]
[Your constitution has become more special]
Zhou Q’ian’s eyelid twitched. The evolution of blood vessels was to further activate his psychic constitution. This kind of constitution was definitely very sensitive, but to have it specifically written on the panel, the more he looked at it, the weirder it seemed.
[Vocal Cords (Primary Evolved State): A little bit of overflow experience has been absorbed by the vocal cords. You have a talent for learning to imitate voices, but unfortunately, it doesn’t add much to your singing]
[Prompt: You will be teleported out of the instance soon]
[Teleportation countdown: one minute]
Everything before his eyes began to become illusory. Zhou Q’ian changed to a peaceful posture, lay back on the bed, his hands crossed on his abdomen, a faint smile on his lips.
“In my twenties, I already own a city and several shops. What kind of power is that?”
The smile widened. Zhou Q’ian lay there laughing until he was shaking, but accidentally choked himself.
“I hope my throat can be evolved completely soon.”
Choking on a laugh was too fragile. Maybe he could even become the future golden voice of the singing world.
Gradually, the smile became a little more sinister. Zhou Q’ian’s gaze was dark and unreadable. “…I also hope the ghost market manager likes the gift I left.”
The residents of Huagu City were very well-mannered. He believed they would definitely leave a deep impression on the other party.
The world changed completely. Zhou Q’ian was pulled by a force and fell rapidly. The feeling of weightlessness from falling from a thousand meters high made his heart pound even harder. The air was filled with a faint, fishy smell.
Everything around him was a vast expanse of white.
The familiar fog had returned.
The inertia hadn’t completely disappeared. Zhou Q’ian’s legs felt a little weak, and a hand promptly grabbed him.
Shen Zhiyi pulled him to stand in the elevator. The others weren’t so lucky and fell to the ground in a disheveled state. Yuan Nianshu’s palm touched the cold metal. She quickly looked around and confirmed they were in an elevator.
They had entered through the building’s elevator when they arrived.
At this moment, the elevator was descending rapidly. The players were suddenly teleported out, and in such an environment, their center of gravity was naturally unstable.
Not in a hurry to stand up, Yuan Nianshu lifted a corner of her sleeve and let out a long sigh of relief.
The corpse spots were gone.
The elevator finally reached the first floor.
Of the eleven people who had come, seven remained. The survival rate was quite high, if you ignored the fact that Zhou Q’ian and his group took up three of those spots.
“Thank you so much this time,” Qiao Song’s back wound had also healed. He looked at Zhou Q’ian with sincere gratitude.
If it weren’t for him discovering the exchange killing, they would have probably suffered heavy casualties halfway through the survival instance.
The others also expressed their thanks one after another.
After cooperating in an instance, they even felt a little reluctant to part ways.
Zhou Q’ian just nodded.
They were just passing strangers. He didn’t feel any sadness of parting. Zhou Q’ian suddenly frowned, feeling a subconscious influence.
Along the way, he had met many selfish players, but there were also some worth befriending, such as Bai Chanyi, Xu Gui, etc. People like Kou Tuo and the young girl, although they had no bottom line, as long as their interests aligned, they wouldn’t easily betray him.
But Zhou Q’ian had never thought of having too close a connection with them, such as developing into teammates to go through instances together.
He was willing to take the university student along only because he valued his healing skills.
“I’m rejecting the idea of teaming up with people.”
The blurry faces of the Whaler’s Association appeared in his mind again. In his memory, they spoke to him with a very intimate tone. Perhaps among them were teammates who had once gone through life and death with him.
A fragmented memory wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
Zhou Q’ian looked down at his hands. The Whaler’s Association had not been merciful, and he would not have any tolerance or scruples either.
His gaze was uncharacteristically cold. The atmosphere, which had just warmed up a little, cooled down again.
As the elevator door opened, Qiao Song was the first to wave goodbye. “Thank you all. See you again if fate allows.”
Chen Su also left with Yuan Nianshu. Before leaving, she said to Zhou Q’ian, “If the Whaler’s Association contacts me again, I’ll let you know.”
Zhou Q’ian nodded.
Whether the Whaler’s Association contacted Chen Su or not didn’t matter much. From the beginning, this was just a card they had placed on the table. There was no such thing as trust, maneuvering, or secondary cooperation.
It was basically impossible for him to use Chen Su to lure the snake out of its hole.
After Chen Su left, the Boss looked at the date in the real world and said with a capitalist’s smile, “It’s time to go back and select the first batch of trainees.”
Zhou Q’ian’s eyelids twitched upon hearing this.
Those who insisted on working in the exploitative factory-like environment were all young, in good physical condition, and had an unusually strong ability to withstand pressure.
It was not impossible that some of them would be absorbed into the instances by the game.
“You’re brilliant.”
What he thought in his heart didn’t matter. Zhou Q’ian unconditionally gave his vampire Boss a thumbs-up.
Yuan and Gou, who hadn’t left yet, stared with wide eyes.
But thinking of the scene where the Boss had crushed the Newspaper Ghost’s head, Yuan wisely did not express her opinion.
Zhou Q’ian, with a forced smile, saw the Boss off, then turned to look at Yuan. She hadn’t left immediately, so she must have something to say to him.
Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes.
Yuan was wearing a jade pendant around her neck. The jade pendant had been inside her clothes before, but it was obviously taken out on purpose.
Good jade can ward off evil spirits. Many players wear jade.
At this moment, Yuan was wearing a common zodiac jade pendant. Her small hand gently stroked the hound’s fur, just looking at Zhou Q’ian, not speaking for the time being.
They were all smart people. Zhou Q’ian immediately understood what she wanted to hint at, but for some reason, she couldn’t say it directly.
A hound, a zodiac jade pendant…
The only thing in the game that could be related to animals was one thing. Zhou Q’ian naturally thought of the staff who looked like the zodiac people.
He immediately re-examined the unusually tall hound.
Could it be like the pigs in the school instance’s pods, used for people to swap heads?
Zhou Q’ian felt a little alarmed. All players who had experienced the incubation base instance had to abide by a confidentiality agreement. It would be understandable if Yuan couldn’t say it directly.
“You’re a good person,” Yuan said. “And a very capable person, so I want to remind you of something.”
“…In the last instance, the players with me unfortunately all died.”
Zhou Q’ian couldn’t be bothered to think about the so-called misfortune and how much human factors were involved.
“After the game’s difficulty was lowered, I encountered a great temptation, but at the last moment, I gave up.”
Obviously, the price of giving up at the last minute was already present. Not only had her size shrunk, but her body had also developed many other side effects.
Regarding how she had brought the hound out, Yuan didn’t mention a single word.
Her topic jumped a lot. Yuan’s gaze shifted to a farther place. “We’re finally back in the safe real world. No demons or monsters, it’s great.”
After speaking, she led the dog away.
Almost everyone from the instance had left. Zhou Q’ian stood there, his expression gradually darkening as he thought of something.
The thing Yuan had reminded him of was essentially the same as the reminder he had given the players in the school instance: to resist some of the temptations the game openly displayed.
But the last sentence was the key.
…The real world, no demons or monsters.
She was emphasizing this matter.
To elaborate, monsters could not enter the real world. This was a well-known fact. But few people would further deduce that if monsters could not invade the real world, then they should also not be able to enter the new world.
Zhou Q’ian had once asked a laughable question on the bus.
What is the difference between an evolver and a monster?
At that time, he had received a chorus of light. But if you really got down to it, it was just a matter of whether they had yin energy or not. There was no clear dividing line. Didn’t Liu Ye turn himself into something that was neither human nor ghost?
“Evolution itself is a good thing, but too much evolution… might lead to uncontrollable consequences.”
For example: being forever trapped in the game world.
“No wonder…”
His shrewd-to-the-bone Boss, in the end, chose to go out and hang the heads instead of devouring the Newspaper Ghost. And the barbecue restaurant owner’s ghost head—at that time, he had wondered why the Boss had resisted eating it even after adding seasoning.
The more Zhou Q’ian thought about it, the more alarmed he became. “Experience really is the best teacher.”
The game’s pitfalls were everywhere.
Fortunately, since his mother and the Boss could have player identities, it meant they hadn’t crossed the line yet.
When he gradually came to his senses, he glanced at Shen Zhiyi, who was standing quietly by his side.
He had been silent all along, patiently waiting for Zhou Q’ian to digest the information. Seeing that his expression had improved a lot, Shen Zhiyi was about to say something.
Buzz buzz.
An untimely phone vibration sounded.
Zhou Q’ian was about to hang up to listen to him first, but when he took out his phone, he hesitated for a moment and still answered.
The call was too coincidental, as if it had been timed perfectly for when he left the instance.
“Hello, Mr. Zhou, this is Yu Tong.”
Just as Zhou Q’ian was trying to recall who this was, the other side had already spoken. “I drove you back last time, the one who danced at the annual meeting.”
Zhou Q’ian had a sudden realization. “You should have just introduced yourself like that from the beginning.”
So it was the other two-hundred-dancer.
The other side paused for a moment, then gritted his teeth and continued, “The new version of the skull ring has a fixed terminal control that can sense whether the holder is in the game. You should have just come out of the game.”
Zhou Q’ian calmly hummed in acknowledgment. Ying Yu had mentioned when he gave it to him that the new version of the skull ring had positioning and call functions.
“What’s the matter?”
There was a short silence on the other end. After a moment, it seemed like he took a light breath. “Mr. Ying is missing.”
Zhou Q’ian froze.
…
The fog in the trade building hadn’t completely dissipated yet. Yu Tong didn’t elaborate on the more important details over the phone, only saying that he was on his way to pick them up.
Just ten minutes after the call ended, the unique sound of car wheels was heard outside.
A magnificent modified car was parked by the roadside.
Zhou Q’ian and Shen Zhiyi exchanged a glance.
Shen Zhiyi walked a couple of steps forward first. With a glance, he confirmed that there was no one else in the car besides the driver.
Only after he nodded did Zhou Q’ian get in the car.
One can’t be too careful. Yu Tong didn’t think it was wrong either.
After the two of them got in the car, the car drove out of the fog. On the way, everyone tacitly did not speak. Until the car was once again covered by a thicker fog, after a familiar journey, they arrived back at the laboratory.
Everyone in the laboratory was still busy in an orderly manner, but Zhou Q’ian could vaguely feel that the atmosphere here was much more oppressive than usual.
It was like countless waves hidden beneath a calm lake surface.
When he had come here before, everyone was busy with their own things. Today, the researchers he passed would occasionally cast glances at him.
Yu Tong led the two of them into the reception room. After closing the door, his expression was serious as he got straight to the point.
“It all started three days ago…”
“According to the schedule, Mr. Ying was supposed to preside over a meeting that day, but he didn’t show up. We tried to contact him many times after that, but we couldn’t find him.”
Zhou Q’ian listened quietly without interrupting.
With Ying Yu missing, the laboratory would definitely have dedicated personnel searching for him. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t come to him first.
There must be other reasons.
The next second, a photo was placed in front of him. From the perspective, it was obviously a screenshot from a surveillance camera.
Yu Tong: “This was found when we were retracing Mr. Ying’s movements that day.”
There were two people in the photo, both acquaintances. Zhou Q’ian picked it up to confirm and was a little surprised.
Isn’t this the university student?
In the surveillance footage, the university student was holding a plastic bag and talking to Ying Yu.
Yu Tong: “Shortly after this, Mr. Ying went missing. According to our investigation, the person in the photo works at the same company as Mr. Zhou.”
Zhou Q’ian pursed his lips, his expression unchanging. “You suspect him?”
Yu Tong shook his head. “For now, it seems like their meeting was a coincidence.”
He showed Zhou Q’ian the complete surveillance video. The video first showed the university student just walking out of the pharmacy, and Ying Yu’s car happened to pass by.
It was Ying Yu who got out of the car first.
“Rewind a little,” Zhou Q’ian said suddenly.
Yu Tong did as he was told.
Zhou Q’ian and Shen Zhiyi both looked up at the same time. Their gazes met, and they clearly had the same discovery.
Before getting out of the car, Ying Yu didn’t look at the university student first, but scanned the surroundings.
The university student did the same. Although it wasn’t obvious, his steps slowed for half a beat just after he came out of the pharmacy.
They both seemed to have been briefly attracted by something.
Yu Tong had clearly also done a thorough analysis. “We checked, and we didn’t find anything unusual in the vicinity. There’s a problem with Mr. Ying’s ring, so we can’t locate him to confirm his situation.”
“It’s like… he just vanished into thin air.”
Zhou Q’ian: “It’s probably not just one person who vanished.”
He figured the university student had also disappeared. Otherwise, his phone would be filled with unread messages asking if he had come out of the instance.
Yu Tong nodded.
“This colleague of yours is also missing. At 4:04 p.m. that day, a thick fog suddenly appeared in the city. The surveillance cameras couldn’t see anything. This fog only lasted for half an hour, and then the weather cleared up.”
“Before the fog, your colleague and Mr. Ying were talking together. After that, we couldn’t find any trace of them.”
Zhou Q’ian fell into deep thought. His first reaction was that the two of them had entered an instance.
But under normal circumstances, the fog wouldn’t dissipate before the instance ended. It would usually only dissipate bit by bit after the players left the instance.
Yu Tong continued, “In Mr. Ying’s schedule, there was a plan to go through an instance with you recently.”
This was the real reason they had come to Zhou Q’ian.
The two missing people both had connections with him. At the same time, Ying Yu rarely praised people, and Zhou Q’ian was one of the few. Perhaps they could get some information from him.
Zhou Q’ian admitted, “That’s right, at the end of the month.”
The last time he came to get the skull ring, Ying Yu had taken the initiative to suggest teaming up with him at the end of the month.
Yu Tong quickly said, “Did Mr. Ying mention anything else?” He paused. “The laboratory has already organized a search party. If you have any news, we will pay a corresponding reward.”
Zhou Q’ian shook his head. The university student had said before that the lottery result was not auspicious. He had told him to go find Ying Yu. He didn’t know if it was related to this.
He didn’t explain everything. At least, he had to first rule out any internal problems in the laboratory before he could reveal everything.
Disappearing into thin air in the real world was definitely not a good thing. If they entered an instance under unknown circumstances, the situation would be even worse.
The time flow in instances was faster. If the two of them really ran into danger, there wouldn’t be much time for them to be rescued.
Whether in reality or in an instance, to be able to trap Ying Yu, it was definitely not an ordinary trouble.
Could it be related to the Whaler’s Association?
There were too many possibilities and too little useful information.
“My suggestion is to do two things first: contact the major associations to see if they have any players who disappeared during the same period; second is about the traitor in the laboratory back then, confirm if there are any who escaped the net.”
It was not out of the question that there were other traitors like Liu Ye who had used their illusion abilities to do something.
Yu Tong: “The first thing is already underway, but it will take time. We can’t be too high-profile.”
If the news of Ying Yu’s disappearance got out, it would easily trigger some bad butterfly effects.
Zhou Q’ian: “If possible, I need the complete surveillance footage and related materials.”
Yu Tong went out to copy the USB drive.
Zhou Q’ian’s brow was never relaxed.
Shen Zhiyi noticed the unconcealable fatigue in his expression. He reached out and gently pressed his shoulder, his tone a bit forceful. “You need to rest.”
All sorts of miscellaneous information flooded his mind. It was clear that Zhou Q’ian’s energy had been almost depleted.
Meeting those grayish-white eyes, Zhou Q’ian was taken aback. Through the reflection in them, he saw his own slightly sickly pale face.
The rise and fall of his chest with each breath was very small, and his breathing seemed very weak.
His long-tense nerves throbbed with a faint, sharp pain. He realized he did indeed need to rest for a moment.
This special room had excellent soundproofing. When he half-closed his eyelids, it was so quiet it was as if he were the only one there.
“Just for a little while…”
He’ll wake me up when Yu Tong comes.
Zhou Q’ian didn’t remember if he had finished the latter half of his sentence. With the sudden, brief relaxation of his nerves, all his fatigue rushed in at once. His head tilted slightly to the side.
Everything from the last instance flashed quickly through his mind, like a continuous series of slides.
Just as Zhou Q’ian was about to fall completely into a deep sleep—
Buzz.
The phone by his hand suddenly began to vibrate wildly. The high-frequency vibrations spread through his fingertips, making his muscles tremble slightly.
Zhou Q’ian’s heart skipped a beat. He snapped his eyes open. The moment he saw the caller ID, all his sleepiness vanished.
“…Ying Yu?!”
__
Author’s note:
White Silk: Thanks for the experience pack. Friends for life.
Zhou Q’ian: Your identity singing this song is really unlucky… I choose to stay.
White Silk: …
