Inside the Western restaurant, the three presented a subtle composition.
The middle-aged woman contemplated silently, while Shen Zhiyi quietly watched Zhou Qi’an.
No matter how much time passed, Shen Zhiyi remained attracted to the unique qualities of Zhou Qi’an’s soul.
Just as he knew Zhou Qi’an disapproved of reducing difficulty by eliminating members, the latter never lectured, maintaining his own rhythm throughout, undisturbed by outsiders.
Opening the door to welcome the knocking ghost was very risky. If the middle-aged woman was smart enough, she would ask other players for something to save her life.
Zhou Qi’an’s attitude was clear: he had offered a way out, and whether others took it was their business.
Incidentally, he could also gauge their hostility towards him based on their choices.
A moment later, the middle-aged woman left.
She didn’t give a definitive answer, walking all the way to a large tree before finally stopping.
People came and went on the street, and the middle-aged woman showed her first smile of the day.
“That’s a good idea.”
As for the benefits, she could easily get a promise from others that when the opportunity arose, they would help her focus fire on Zhou Qi’an.
It was a rare sunny day, and the middle-aged woman’s smile quickly melted in the sunlight.
“It should… be fine.”
Since entering the instance, she had brushed with death twice, but Zhou Qi’an had only moved his lips.
Moving his lips to drink coffee, moving his lips to tell them what to do.
It made her lose confidence.
Before the sun was once again obscured by clouds, her expression gradually became serious, and she decided to wait a little longer.
She still hadn’t figured out the instance’s mechanics. Every instance had a core main storyline, and now was not the time for internal strife. Besides, no matter what his intentions were, he had saved her life that morning.
Having Zhou Qi’an as the team leader was more suitable than anyone else.
Today, darkness fell slightly earlier than yesterday.
Having been traumatized by the group’s veteran employees, upon returning, the players all gathered at the entrance first, waiting for everyone to be present before going upstairs.
After dealing with difficult customers all day, everyone’s expressions inevitably showed a hint of fatigue. In contrast, the elderly man appeared robust and energetic.
“Today’s total sales are higher than yesterday, so meeting the sales target won’t be a problem.”
His nose was sharp; he smelled lingering coffee on Zhou Qi’an, and his drooping eyelids twitched.
He had worked tirelessly all day running sales, while the young man was eating and drinking in the instance?
As if knowing what he was thinking, Zhou Qi’an said seriously, “As long as I can drink coffee, I can drink coffee for a lifetime.”
“…”
The middle-aged woman was also speechless. She felt that she didn’t even need to do anything; the other party, relying on indiscriminate attacks, could offend a whole bunch of people.
Everyone harbored their own thoughts. The moment the elevator door opened, a fleshy, bloated face suddenly appeared.
The person stared with eyes like those of someone with hyperthyroidism, craning their neck to peer into the elevator.
Zhou Qi’an, closest to the door, instinctively took a step back.
“Why are you only just returning?” The fleshy-faced man grumbled unhappily, “My name is Wang, and I’m your new sales manager.”
The players were quick to respond: “Hello, Manager Wang.”
Manager Wang, as usual, had them hand over the money first, then counted it and said, “Not bad.”
Rarely receiving a compliment, the players breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Manager Wang didn’t immediately let them go. His yellowish-brown eyes shifted. At first, Zhou Qi’an thought it was because one person was missing, as the elusive boss hadn’t arrived.
“You…” Manager Wang pointed at the man beside the middle-aged woman, “Come with me. The others wait at the door first.”
The man who was pointed at changed his expression, frozen in place, quickly trying to figure out if he had violated any rules.
Why him of all people?
The middle-aged woman reminded him, “Don’t keep the manager waiting.”
If he waited too long, he wouldn’t even have a chance to struggle.
The man saw the impatience on Manager Wang’s face, knew he couldn’t delay any longer, and followed him in.
The door was heavily shut. Everyone crowded in the corridor, wishing their sight could penetrate the thick wooden board to see what was happening inside. But in their actions, they deliberately kept their distance from the office door, avoiding being the first to be noticed if the door opened later.
The little girl sat on the hunting dog.
Her overly long fingernails kept circling the small flower embroidery on her sleeve. After a long pause, she patted the hunting dog.
Instantly, a faint yin energy enveloped the little girl, reducing her presence infinitely.
Zhou Qi’an suddenly raised an eyebrow. For her age, painting her nails was normal, but getting a professional manicure seemed a bit strange, especially since the patterns were of a style that mature women liked.
These players were truly “diverse.”
As he was thinking, another elderly person, whose age also didn’t match the player’s qualifications, took out a small jade bottle, inhaled a mouthful of black mist from it, and held his breath, as if merging with the cold aura, also lowering his presence.
Bang!
While everyone was still taking their own preventative measures, a sharp cry for mercy came from the office. The sound was almost distorted. The middle-aged woman took a step forward, wanting to push open the door, but forced herself to stop.
The screams became ethereal, growing fainter and fainter.
Everyone could already imagine what had happened.
Half a minute later, the office door opened.
Inside was a complete crime scene. Shards of glass mixed with blood were scattered everywhere, and there was a new hole in the window. The player who had gone in earlier was gone.
Manager Wang’s gaze returned to its initial state, his sharp eyes sweeping over everyone.
The entire corridor was now truly as silent as death.
This was the third time.
Someone who talked back to an NPC was thrown downstairs; the tattooed man who snuck in at night was killed; and now someone called in by the manager was brutally murdered… Each incident was different, the only constant being death, and death without any prior warning.
The NPCs in this instance were killing, using various absurd reasons to kill.
Everyone held their breath, fearing they would attract attention. The little girl and the old man were automatically ignored. Manager Wang finally set his eyes on another man present. The latter tried to avoid his gaze, but it was useless.
“Come in.”
The man gritted his teeth, glanced at Shen Zhiyi who was closest to the door, not understanding why Manager Wang skipped him.
The office door closed again.
The middle-aged woman took a deep breath.
The person who had just died was a member of her association. The middle-aged woman knew his strength. Why was he gone in less than a minute?
Bang!
Soon, the same loud noise occurred.
Now all the players’ bodies tensed up.
The door opened for the third time.
This time, even the old man’s face lost its smile, and a hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes. If he were chosen, he would kill the manager first, at least the death rule wouldn’t descend immediately.
Fortunately, Manager Wang didn’t call anyone else. He dug into his ear, “New employees nowadays have worse and worse qualities.”
Saying that, he maliciously pinched the middle-aged woman’s waist, full of suggestive meaning, then smiled and entered the elevator.
After Manager Wang left, the hunting dog was the first to dash into the office, sniffing around everywhere. A dusty booklet hidden among the glass shards was unearthed.
The little girl picked it up: “Employee Handbook.”
Zhou Qi’an seemed to have thought of something: “Could it be that the manager is testing the contents of the employee handbook?”
Who could withstand that?
No wonder Manager Wang didn’t bother about the boss not showing up; Manager Wang seemed to assume he already knew it by heart.
One thing was clear now: employees would be killed daily. If the first murder failed, there would be a second. Moreover, the excuses for harassment were all found from players’ daily actions.
The boss being able to recite the handbook by heart meant there was no such thing as indiscriminate killing, perfectly aligning with normal death rule setting mechanisms.
At this rate, as time passed, the number of times they encountered death rules would gradually increase.
By then, it wouldn’t be just once or twice.
Zhou Qi’an’s eyelids drooped slightly. When he looked up again, his thoughts were unreadable: “Go to bed early. We have to get up early tomorrow.”
Shen Zhiyi followed him out.
The group, who were just about to start discussing, changed their expressions. The situation was urgent, yet he was rushing back to sleep?
“If you’re not proactive about sleeping, the King of Hell will knock on your door early.”
Zhou Qi’an stretched when he returned to his room. If discussion worked, then not so many people would have died.
He dismissed all thoughts and lay on the bed to rest.
Around midnight, the alarm clock rang. Zhou Qi’an woke up on time and looked towards the door.
“I wonder if the woman will find a new way out after opening the door for the ghost.”
He silently made the sign of the cross on his chest, praying for her.
He outsourced the exploration work to others. He had more important things to do, such as… getting up to work overtime.
He had to submit a script to the game once every seven days, and this task would delay him for six days.
The yin energy in the room suddenly intensified; it seemed to be the knocking ghost. Zhou Qi’an’s room number was relatively early, so all the ghosts had to pass by here first.
The Trident stood to one side.
Even the holy artifact’s light couldn’t dispel the night shift workers steeped in resentment. Zhou Qi’an: “Get lost, or I’ll stab you.”
Golden light seeped through the door crack. Perhaps it was because Zhou Qi’an wasn’t its primary target, or perhaps it sensed danger, but the temperature in the room gradually returned to normal.
Diagonally across, a few rooms away.
The middle-aged woman was quietly waiting for the knocking ghost to arrive. Manager Wang would most likely come tonight, so she had to meet this knocking ghost.
The woman took out the prayer beads she had been fiddling with; this was a life-saving item.
Time passed little by little, and the night deepened. The middle-aged woman kept staring at the time on her phone.
0:00:00
Finally, the midnight hour arrived.
Thump, thump.
About a minute later, someone knocked.
The middle-aged woman took a deep breath, grabbed the beads, and prepared to open the door. Just as she was about to pull it open, she suddenly stopped, as if she had thought of something.
At this moment, the deadbolt was already halfway down. The middle-aged woman indeed let go, and at the same time, firmly pressed her body against the door.
The thing outside had already heard the faint sound of the lock opening, but at the last moment, the door closed tightly again.
Thump, thump, thump! Thump, thump, thump!
The thing began to knock frantically, but the middle-aged woman remained unmoved, just blocking the door.
The smell of decay continuously drifted in through the cracks, and the temperature inside the room plummeted.
After an unknown amount of time, the sound outside finally stopped. The middle-aged woman didn’t relax, still maintaining her original posture.
Thump, thump, thump!
Her heart pounded violently.
The thing had returned and was knocking faster and faster, as if it wanted to smash the door down.
Five minutes later, the knocking stopped again. The middle-aged woman slowly crouched down, peeking through the door crack to see if the thing outside had left.
With just that one glance, her pupils suddenly widened in shock.
Through the door crack, the pupil of the eyeball outside had already dilated, and the eyeball itself seemed as if it could fall out of its socket at any moment and roll in through the crack.
The middle-aged woman quickly stood up.
She knew who this was, and as she suspected, it was the player who had died on the first day.
When leaving the company this morning, the middle-aged woman noticed that the corpse was still there, but it had disappeared when she returned in the afternoon.
If there were dedicated body collectors, corpses wouldn’t be left for more than a day, so she was extra cautious, worrying about a reanimated corpse.
“It really did reanimate.”
The path to survival certainly wouldn’t be with the reanimated player. The middle-aged woman swallowed, calming her heartbeat. Next, she would wait for the real knocking ghost from last night.
The knocking ghost was different from the reanimated player who died. It wouldn’t knock so wildly. Although she had avoided the first trap, the middle-aged woman knew that this was just the beginning of tonight’s nightmare.
For a moment, she gripped the prayer beads in her hand even tighter.
That night, everyone went about their own business.
Five or six o’clock was a dividing line. Once the morning star appeared in the sky, the night’s crisis was over. But those five hours were no less agonizing than being submerged in water or roasted by fire.
There was a lot of commotion last night, and no one slept well in the latter half of the night. Around six o’clock, someone eagerly opened their door.
There was no smell of blood.
But at the middle-aged woman’s door, a puddle of incredibly putrid liquid had gathered.
Players opened their doors one after another, still considering whether to go and take a look, when suddenly there was movement from inside that very door. Amidst everyone’s wary gazes, the middle-aged woman emerged.
The young girl from the same association immediately ran over and supported the woman, who looked terrible: “President, are you okay?”
The middle-aged woman’s condition was very bad. The girl then noticed that half of her wrist was broken, with the white bone clearly visible inside, and she couldn’t help but gasp.
The president had high-level healing items, but so far, they seemed to have only served to stop the bleeding, indicating a very severe injury.
The middle-aged woman leaned half her body against the wall, and amidst the probing gazes, she spoke up: “I opened the door for the knocking ghost.”
Everyone held their breath and listened.
“As you can see, don’t just open the door for unknown ghosts. I nearly died. But Manager Wang didn’t show up.” The middle-aged woman slowly stemmed the bleeding from her wound. “At night, a single person should only trigger one death rule.”
The old man said meaningfully, “Is that all?”
The middle-aged woman sneered, “If you don’t believe me, try it yourself tonight.”
“I’m going to the hospital; you all do as you please.” The middle-aged woman left with the association members.
Everyone’s gaze fell on Zhou Qi’an. That last sentence was clearly directed at him.
The middle-aged woman didn’t seem to be planning to go out for sales, which was understandable. She still had the hidden trouble of Manager Wang to deal with; she couldn’t possibly worry about sales performance.
Zhou Qi’an, however, was very calm. This ghost was a bit fierce.
Although he didn’t directly find a way out, it solved another of his confusions.
From what he could see, the number of players killed by veteran employees daily was limited. However, according to the sales board’s performance, there were still many people the day before the entire previous group was wiped out.
He pondered for a moment and said, “It’s best to investigate the cause of death of all members of the ten groups before us.”
“We have sales targets on one hand, and investigations on the other,” the old man frowned, “We can’t be in two places at once.”
Zhou Qi’an raised an eyebrow. Was this a hint for him to go it alone? Division of labor and cooperation were correct, but investigating the cause of death was an unknown field, and the danger factor of being at the forefront was imaginable.
Seeing that no one volunteered to go together, he said calmly, “We’ll talk about these later. Let’s focus on getting the sales right first.”
Without a definite reply, the old man’s eyes darkened.
“I’m going to a Western restaurant for dinner. Anyone want to come along?”
No one answered. Zhou Qi’an and Shen Zhiyi walked into the elevator car. The latter directly pressed the close door button, no longer allowing a third person inside.
Zhou Qi’an said, “Ninth floor.”
He wanted to first check the workstations and signed orders of the previous ten groups, perhaps to obtain useful information.
Shen Zhiyi pressed the ninth-floor power button.
As the elevator slowly descended, Zhou Qi’an spoke again, “Regarding the knocking ghost, do you think what that woman said was the truth?”
Shen Zhiyi: “The truth, but not entirely.”
Zhou Qi’an thought the same: “She omitted the most crucial timing.”
She didn’t say when the knocking ghost killed.
If it was an instant kill upon opening the door, unless she had another substitute item, the middle-aged woman wouldn’t have survived. If it wasn’t an instant kill, it at least proved there was time for communication, but she simply failed to communicate effectively.
The familiar open-plan office arrived.
As soon as he entered the office, Zhou Qi’an’s expression was as if he had seen a ghost.
In the office area, the boss was sitting there, with neatly organized documents all over the table.
Wind constantly rushed in through the hole in the window, and his luxurious crimson tie fluttered in the breeze like a snake’s tongue.
No one knew when he had arrived, how long he had stayed, or even if he hadn’t gone back last night.
Zhou Qi’an’s gaze stiffly shifted to those documents. What he had thought of, the other party seemed to have already acted upon.
“Go to Fengdu Street,” the boss ordered directly. “Bring me a cup of coffee when you come back.”
Zhou Qi’an chuckled dryly as he took the stack of documents: “Going now.”
The moment he lowered his head, his smile twisted. Just like before at the company, he didn’t mention a word about reimbursement for the coffee.
Shen Zhiyi disliked the boss’s attitude and frowned slightly. A fleeting glint of blood appeared in his gray-white eyes.
Ultimately, he restrained himself.
Firstly, he knew that the young man didn’t like others interfering in his interpersonal relationships; secondly, this arrogant boss had once helped Zhou Qi’an’s family a great deal, otherwise, Shen Zhiyi wouldn’t have tolerated him alive until now.
Zhou Qi’an was still forcing a smile.
He retreated with small, quick steps, almost gliding back to the elevator car.
His cowardly demeanor, reflected in Shen Zhiyi’s eyes, turned the killing intent into a faint smile.
“That’s good too.”
A little pressure was good, at least he wouldn’t be like before, always harming a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of his own.
The two immediately took a taxi after leaving.
In the car, Zhou Qi’an inquired about Fengdu Street. The driver chuckled, guessing they were tourists.
“It’s great fun there, also called Tianguang Street. Shops are open 24 hours, so there’s no difference between day and night.”
Zhou Qi’an sat in the back, talking and laughing with the driver while looking at the documents.
He had a premonition that the way out might be found there.
The documents had been selected and organized by the boss, making them very clear and concise. In summary:
On X month 3rd, Zhao Qi’an sold two insurance policies on Fengdu Street.
On X month 4th, Zhao Qi’an and Sun Li sold four insurance policies on Fengdu Street.
On X month 5th, Zhao Qi’an, Sun Li, Zheng Wang… and others all sold insurance on Fengdu Street.
…
There were no related sales records on the sixth.
On the seventh, they arrived.
Zhou Qi’an raised an eyebrow. Fengdu Street seemed to have something deliberately luring them. After the first person discovered that insurance sold well there, they told others for the sake of the whole team’s performance, and in the end, they were all wiped out.
Quite literally, wiped out.
After about half an hour, the driver said, “I can only stop here.”
The entire street was unexpectedly bustling, with a stone tablet carved with the characters “Fengdu” standing at the intersection. There were too many tourists inside, and cars couldn’t enter.
Zhou Qi’an got out of the car and found that the sky in this area was much darker than in the city. Although it was a very lively street, it gave him an indescribably strange feeling.
A familiar cold, mechanical voice suddenly sounded:
[Congratulations, you have discovered the most suitable area for selling insurance.]
[You have the potential to become the top sales champion.]
[Friendly reminder: Becoming the top sales champion can, to a certain extent, avoid risks.]
Top? That meant there was only one spot.
Zhou Qi’an looked at Shen Zhiyi and generously offered the spot: “You go sell.”
“…”
Shen Zhiyi narrowed his eyes, suddenly seemed to discover something, and led him directly inside.
A cold sensation spread across his wrist. When Zhou Qi’an reacted and prepared to pull his hand away, his attention was diverted by the other’s words.
“Look at those shops.”
Shen Zhiyi pointed in a few directions, and Zhou Qi’an immediately noticed something abnormal. The shops he pointed to were all closed, not for rent, and without any stated reason.
Commercial properties in tourist areas weren’t cheap, so there was no reason for them to suddenly close their doors.
Outside these shops, there was also a uniformly placed iron cage, covered with a suspicious black cloth.
“Inside are live chickens,” Shen Zhiyi said. “They gather at midnight and scatter at cockcrow. Some shop owners, worried about missing closing time, use chickens as a warning.”
Besides the iron cages, there were also incense burners outside the closed shops, with some remaining incense sticks inserted.
Zhou Qi’an: “Why are these incense sticks in pairs?”
He didn’t know much about these things. Although he had been to temples, he had given up on burning incense at the God of Wealth temple because it cost money.
However, typically, when burning incense, it seemed to be three sticks.
Shen Zhiyi: “Odd numbers are for yang, yang is revered, so burning incense must be in odd numbers. But the incense here is always offered in pairs.”
“Is there some special meaning?” Zhou Qi’an asked.
Shen Zhiyi lifted his eyelids, revealing a playful smile: “Of course. To put it more bluntly, odd numbers are for gods, and even numbers are for ghosts.”
Zhou Qi’an froze, his breathing hitched: “Are you saying some of the shops here are run by ghosts?”
Shen Zhiyi nodded: “This so-called Fengdu Street is probably a small Fengdu.”
He led Zhou Qi’an further inside, softly saying, “Don’t worry too much. At least right now, this street is mostly populated by living people.”
If living people were here, where were the ghosts?
Zhou Qi’an searched Fengdu Street on his phone.
Most of the results praised it as a fun place; no murder cases were found, only occasional tourist disappearances each year, in limited numbers.
However, there were indeed some strange cases every month around Fengdu Street. Overall, if the ghosts here did kill, they must have understood sustainable development very well.
What was the connection between the corporation, the ghosts, and the living people?
He seemed to have a vague idea. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Shen Zhiyi, and Zhou Qi’an suddenly asked in surprise, “You know so much?”
“Doctor of Literature, specializing in folklore.”
“…” He just spouted it out.
As Zhou Qi’an’s evolution deepened, Shen Zhiyi began to intentionally or unintentionally reveal some information between the lines, such as his deep understanding of the oddities within the instance.
However, he wouldn’t delve too deeply.
Zhou Qi’an softly asked, “Mr. Shen, do you know anything else?”
Under the gaze of “you’re so cultured,” Shen Zhiyi suddenly lost himself. He decided to delve a little deeper.
__
Author’s note:
Zhou Qi’an: I heard you should use child psychology to deal with men.
Shen Zhiyi: I’ll give you my life.
