“Look at me, look at my eyes.”
Having experienced 24/7 suffering, her pearl-black eyes had lost their luster in just two days.
Zhou Qi’an placed his hands lightly on the little girl’s shoulders, reasoning with her: “The shops run by evil spirits only operate at night. We don’t have much time left.”
Normally, he refused to be the backbone of a team, but this time was an exception.
Being able to make his boss work overtime was the pinnacle of his life. Knowing his boss, since he was already awake, he might as well go out to eat.
Sure enough, his boss didn’t say much.
Zhou Qi’an looked gently at his tools; these people’s ability to deal with ghosts should be very strong.
They just lacked the right specialization.
And he, most of the time, just needed to coordinate.
The old man’s expression was grim: “We really need to leave immediately.”
The ghost market belonged to ghosts only at night. Similarly, ghosts’ power would also be stronger at night.
The others also considered this problem. In the past, they would avoid going out at night, but in this instance, it was unavoidable.
To prevent any patrolling security guards, everyone left through the windows. From the eleventh floor, players had many ways to get down.
The scent of blood from the people who had died outside the building hadn’t completely dissipated.
Under the moonlight, the entire building seemed distorted. Everyone hurried to leave. Zhou Qi’an looked back. From the high-rise window, there seemed to be a small black dot fluttering.
He adjusted his phone’s focus, the lens slowly zooming in, and the Newspaper Zombie appeared in view.
Zhou Qi’an’s expression changed; that evil spirit was actually overseeing them.
Putting away his phone, he walked away almost without looking back, the Hao Hui Sha Group gradually being left behind in the night.
After walking a considerable distance, until they were waiting for a taxi, Zhou Qi’an finally said, “There are fewer people now, so let’s introduce ourselves.”
If they didn’t do it now, they might not have another chance.
“…”
Before entering the instance, a few people had already introduced themselves, but the others hadn’t arrived yet. Zhou Qi’an said his name first.
“Chen Su.” A moment later, the middle-aged woman spoke first, giving her name this time.
After she spoke, the young girl from the same association also spoke: “Yuan Nianshu.”
The little girl with the hunting dog was very brief: “Yuan.”
The old man waved his hand: “Just an old man, call me Sixth Master.”
This kind of address usually sounded like someone from the underworld.
The elegant handsome man smiled and said, “My name is Qiao Song.”
The boss did not respond to Zhou Qi’an’s request for introductions, finally concluding with Shen Zhiyi’s introduction as a people’s teacher.
A few people and a dog, one car certainly wouldn’t fit them all.
They split into separate taxis, but when they got out, the same broadcast was playing on the taxi radio: “Rain is expected early this morning. Driver friends, please drive carefully.”
Fengdu Street.
The sky was dim and lightless, dark clouds swirling above Fengdu Street, matching the heavy rain warning in the weather forecast.
“Woof! Woof!”
As soon as the hunting dog got out of the car, it immediately bared its teeth and snarled towards the inside of the street at the critical junction, barking for some unknown reason.
The little girl didn’t speak.
Zhou Qi’an had already given them a heads-up about the ghost market; it was normal for the hunting dog to react.
Due to the weather, there weren’t too many tourists on Fengdu Street tonight, only a few internet celebrities persistently doing live broadcasts of their shop visits.
Zhou Qi’an thought for a moment: “Let’s go to the Other’s Experience Hall first.”
In this weather, the outdoor barbecue chef could withdraw to the shop at any time, making changes likely. Similarly, a swimming pool on a rainy day always felt even more eerie.
Everyone tacitly agreed not to separate immediately.
Killing three ghosts within three days provided ample time; there was no need to split up and risk danger.
It wasn’t difficult to find the shop using navigation.
As they walked, everyone observed the shops on both sides of the road. When they saw that all the incense sticks in the censers were even numbers, the old man’s expression was not good.
A cold wind, coming from nowhere, made him shiver.
It wasn’t very noticeable during the day, but now all the shops were open for business.
The chickens in the iron cages, as if their necks had been violently twisted, hung their heads one by one. As the players approached, all their blood-red eyes stared over.
At the moment of eye contact, the players felt a strange illusion, as if they were the chickens trapped in cages.
“Over there,” Shen Zhiyi’s cold voice brought everyone’s attention back.
The Other’s Experience Hall was nestled behind a large locust tree.
Each word on the sign was separate, surrounded by small light bulbs, flashing conspicuously. A pale curtain hung high, split into two halves, with a circular pattern in the middle connecting them. At first glance, it looked like a large “奠” (mourning).
Worried about bad luck, no one wanted to be the first to lift the curtain.
Zhou Qi’an: “Let the dog go.”
Hunting dog: “?”
Zhou Qi’an looked at the little girl: “It has a tough life.”
The hunting dog almost lunged at that dog-like man.
After a vote, the minority yielded to the majority, and finally, the hunting dog trotted in first.
Zhou Qi’an narrowed his eyes. This dog indeed had some restraining effect on the crooked-necked chickens at the entrance. When the dog passed, the chickens immediately turned their necks to the other side. He seized the opportunity and, before the chickens could turn their necks back, strode into the shop.
The lights in the shop were dim. In the semi-dark environment, the owner was not seen, but there was a cassette tape on the counter.
Zhou Qi’an’s gaze swept around and saw a tape recorder in another corner.
The hunting dog was afraid he would blurt out another sentence, like, “Let the dog put the tape in.”
Fortunately, Zhou Qi’an wasn’t that heartless and didn’t commandeer its paws again.
After everyone had entered, Zhou Qi’an directly pressed the play button:
“Static… Welcome to the Other’s Experience Hall. This establishment will provide you with an alternative immersive experience for your night.”
“Tonight’s experience script is [Hide-and-Seek]…”
As the tape rotated, the plastic tape, which should have appeared black under the magnetic powder, was now exceptionally red.
“Customers can enjoy a thirty-minute experience time after payment. Due to the small size of the shop, we only accommodate four guests at a time.”
“Here are the game tips–“
“To make your money’s worth, the boss will personally play the ‘mouse’ in the [Hide-and-Seek] game.”
“Please remember, the boss only plays the mouse; he will not disguise himself as a cat.”
“The boss is a little hungry today, hehe, wants a late-night snack after getting off work, but that’s not important…”
“If you unfortunately lose important items during the experience, please go to the lost and found in time. This is very important…”
A series of tips, hearing them late at night sent chills down one’s spine.
The old man spoke first: “It sounds like a rule-based horror game. This old man isn’t good at these.”
Chen Su: “Not necessarily a rule-based horror game.”
She had experienced horror fields, where the initial text was generally normal. These game tips were practically screaming “abnormal” between the lines.
However, Chen Su also disliked word games. “For the later swimming pool or barbecue restaurant, let me take over.”
The boss said faintly: “I’m not good at this either.”
Zhou Qi’an nodded.
He could tell, after all, it was something that didn’t even understand the Labor Law.
Suddenly filled with anger, Zhou Qi’an shamelessly looked at his boss as if asking for credit: “I’ll go.”
On the other side, the old man looked at Shen Zhiyi and said with a smile, “Mr. Shen is a teacher, very knowledgeable, so he should be good at these, right?”
Shen Zhiyi: “Of course.”
Old and shrewd, he complimented him right on the mark.
Of course, the real reason he went was because of Zhou Qi’an.
Ultimately, the spots for the paid experience were confirmed: Zhou Qi’an, Shen Zhiyi, Yuan, and Qiao Song.
The others temporarily went to investigate information about the Newspaper Zombie. If they could figure out the grievances between the newspaper owner and other ghosts, it might help them clear the instance.
Only four people and one dog remained in the shop.
As the tape played its last word, a red silk cloth slid down from the cabinet, revealing a black box underneath.
On the box, written in red paint: Automatic Payment Box, 50 yuan/person/time.
Players stepped forward one by one to pay.
The game prompt sounded again:
[Congratulations, you have triggered the eligibility to play at the Other’s Experience Hall.]
[Please catch the “mouse” within the time limit. When you find its hiding place, the mouse will lose mobility for ten seconds.]
[Game Countdown: 00:29:59]
Everyone first looked at the dog. There was no “no pets” sign in the store, nor any extra charge, so it seemed the game tacitly allowed dogs to participate.
The moment the countdown began, the inner room, also separated by a white cloth curtain, began to billow without wind, as if inviting them in.
Through the gap, the inside was pitch black; nothing could be seen.
Next to the cloth curtain was a thoughtfully carved wooden sign that read [Hide-and-Seek Area]. To find the mouse and end the game, they had to go inside.
This time, the hunting dog actively took agile steps. Scouting was its forte.
The cloth curtain slowly lowered.
It was clearly just an ordinary piece of cloth, but the moment it fully descended, it seemed to be welded in place, and the inside became a completely sealed space.
After half a minute, the little girl suddenly took a step: “Something’s not right.”
Regardless of whether there was danger inside, the hunting dog wouldn’t have no reaction at all.
Her footsteps paused at the entrance. Yuan saw the small flower embroidery on her sleeve turn black, indicating that the yin energy inside was heavier than expected.
The entrance was surprisingly narrow, even smaller than a coffin’s width. At most, only one person could pass through at a time.
Zhou Qi’an: “Two by two, let’s go in sideways.”
“…”
The little girl and Qiao Song tried to enter in the most straightforward way first.
The cloth curtain was as heavy as a thousand pounds and wouldn’t budge.
Zhou Qi’an sighed. It seemed it wouldn’t work.
The little girl said decisively, “I’ll go in by myself.”
Zhou Qi’an: “Good. Squeak when you’re in.”
The little girl’s eyelids twitched. She turned and walked in.
A moment later, Zhou Qi’an was silent: “Did you hear a squeak?”
The answer was no.
He turned his head: “Mr. Qiao, you must squeak for me to hear.”
Qiao Song smiled without humor: “I’ll try my best.”
Facts proved that the man’s words couldn’t be relied upon; he didn’t squeak either.
Zhou Qi’an’s expression gradually became serious. Shen Zhiyi softly said, “You go first.”
The first and last often faced greater risks.
Zhou Qi’an wasn’t pretentious either.
After the little girl and Qiao Song went in, he didn’t need to cover up and directly used the holy artifact. He first used one end of the harpoon to lift the curtain, but unfortunately, the light could only penetrate a few inches into the darkness.
It wasn’t very useful, so he simply put it away. For now, he could only take it one step at a time.
The moment both his feet stepped into the darkness, Zhou Qi’an felt a wave of dizziness, followed by his body feeling as if it were suspended in the clouds.
It was very quiet, eerily quiet.
He didn’t make a sound to call out to others; no one knew what dangers might be lurking in the darkness.
The curtain behind him disappeared. Zhou Qi’an discovered something horrifying: he couldn’t hear his own breathing.
In an extremely silent space, breathing should be amplified.
After two seconds, he confirmed that his hearing was problematic.
Perhaps the blackness before him wasn’t absolute blackness… it was partial blindness.
Hearing, sight… Zhou Qi’an suddenly had an ominous premonition. He tried to bite the tip of his tongue but couldn’t feel much pain.
The experience hall couldn’t be built in the clouds; he couldn’t even feel the ground beneath his feet. His body and soul, at this moment, were like kites with broken strings.
His sense of touch was dull.
Zhou Qi’an, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief. At least his sense of touch hadn’t disappeared, otherwise he would probably be paralyzed here waiting to die.
However, even this faint sense of touch, along with the other four senses, was gradually diminishing.
“Go to the lost and found first.”
The game prompt said that if important items were unfortunately lost, they could be found here. Zhou Qi’an’s mind was clear; he had to get his rapidly fading five senses back first.
The problem was, where was the lost and found?
Groping around was impractical. Who knew how big this space actually was, and would there be a ghost wall? The holy artifact’s light was almost completely swallowed up, and taking out the [Lighthouse] would probably be the same.
Finally, Zhou Qi’an had to take a risky move and pulled out a stack of money.
Before his vision got even worse, he still had a chance to gamble.
Whoosh!
He elegantly scattered it into the air: “I dropped my money. Has anyone seen my money?”
The tape automatically played, the red cloth automatically flew out, the curtain automatically lifted… The owner of the experience hall seemed to be able to control things with his mind.
Important items lost by customers could only be retrieved at the lost and found. So, there was a certain possibility that the owner could manipulate these banknotes to be sent to the lost and found.
There was only one chance. He hoped his luck wasn’t too bad.
Zhou Qi’an summoned the harpoon again. The light, illuminating a range of one or two inches, was fleeting.
“I saw it.”
Although it was only for a moment, the banknotes were flying towards the southeast!
He immediately took big steps, moving in the same direction in the darkness.
Rules prohibited it. The light that the holy artifact could emit became increasingly faint. Zhou Qi’an had to rely on feeling to move in that direction.
In such a space, it was quite easy to lose one’s sense of direction. He tried to concentrate several times, but as time passed, his breathing became increasingly rapid, and he felt a little dizzy.
His steps quickened, and his body muscles involuntarily tightened.
“What other tricks are you pulling?”
Cold sweat constantly oozed from Zhou Qi’an’s forehead. Suddenly, his footsteps paused. He thought of a possibility, a rather terrible possibility.
Almost at the same time, the system prompt, unaffected by the space, sounded in his mind:
[Big Brother, you can finally poison others.]
Bone Poison was activated!
Zhou Qi’an immediately took out his cane, but his weakened sense of touch made him lose control, and he didn’t grasp the equipment tightly for a moment.
It was impossible to seize the opportunity to grab the shop owner.
Zhou Qi’an gritted his teeth and said, “Why bother?”
He must be injured, and severely so.
If it weren’t for this ability, he probably would have died silently without knowing.
“You hurt me, and you’ll feel the pain,” even though he couldn’t hear his own voice, he spoke persistently to the void darkness, “Even the ghost market administrator might not be able to withstand my poison.”
A resentful gaze was cast from somewhere within the secret room.
If Zhou Qi’an could see, he would find that the lurking ghost was trembling with pain, just as Zhou Qi’an himself was now physiologically shivering, and his body was spasming.
One person and one ghost shivered at each other from a distance.
Zhou Qi’an had shivered enough and was the first to take a step, gritting his teeth and continuing forward. After an unknown amount of time, he bounced back from an obstacle.
[Congratulations, you have found the Lost and Found.]
[Please note: You can retrieve one lost item every ten minutes.]
[Please choose from the following lost items: choose one of the five senses; or retrieve the lost currency.]
“I want my sense of touch back,” Zhou Qi’an said without thinking.
Currently, the most important senses were sight and touch. However, the former might lead to a trap, for example, after regaining sight, he might find that the space itself was quite dark.
[To prove you are the owner of the sense of touch, identity verification will now be conducted.]
[A touch-and-guess game has been activated for you. Please note that there is a box in front of you. Please guess what is inside the box by touching it.]
[Do not withdraw your hand during the guessing period. You have three attempts. If you fail, you will permanently lose this ability.]
“…”
Is it sick?
He’s about to lose his sense of touch, and it still wants him to touch things.
Zhou Qi’an put in a great deal of effort to barely feel the edge of the box.
Touching to guess, it was actually an old-fashioned game of guts, the difference being that there was a real possibility of touching deadly objects inside this box.
To be safe, he first summoned the white silk ribbon to wrap around his palm.
The next moment, a new generation of Iron Sand Palm fearlessly reached into the box.
The box felt like a third dimension. Zhou Qi’an shook his head. After his entire palm went in, half of his arm completely lost its sense of touch.
He couldn’t feel where his hand was. All the signals being transmitted to his brain seemed to be lost.
No information at all. He wasted a minute feeling helpless.
[White silk ribbon damaged by 3%]
[White silk ribbon damaged by 5%]
Zhou Qi’an tried to stay calm. He was already having trouble standing. He quickly took a [Small Health Pill] to restore health, but unfortunately, this item was not as good as the [Large Health Pill], and its effect was quite ordinary.
If he couldn’t rely on perception, he could only rely on guessing.
“This thing must be from the shop, and it can attack.”
There was no dead end in the game. It was impossible to put something completely unrelated in here. Maybe he had even seen it before.
“Chicken,” Zhou Qi’an said.
[Guess incorrect. You have two attempts remaining.]
[White silk ribbon damaged by 7%]
It seemed that the only living things were chickens. A moment later, Zhou Qi’an frowned and said, “Hunting dog.”
[Guess incorrect. You have one attempt remaining.]
He didn’t know how badly he was injured before. The small health pill also didn’t make up for the deficit caused by excessive blood loss. His thoughts became increasingly blurred. Zhou Qi’an tried to clench his other fist, and his eyes darkened.
Everything that had happened since entering the shop flashed before his eyes. He suddenly paused. Could it be that thing?
Time ticked away second by second. Continuing to waste time would only damage the white silk ribbon, with no meaning.
Zhou Qi’an took a deep breath and firmly uttered two words: “Incense burner.”
An incense burner wouldn’t attack a person, but if it was burning special incense for ghosts, it might cause damage to the white silk ribbon.
He recalled that there didn’t seem to be an incense burner at the entrance of this shop, even though all the closed shops outside had incense burners and chicken cages during the day. However, Zhou Qi’an couldn’t be sure, as everyone’s attention was on the curtain at that time.
The short few seconds felt like waiting for a century’s judgment.
[Guess successful.]
Almost instantly, Zhou Qi’an clearly felt his arm, pressing against the edge of the iron box.
His sense of touch had returned.
Good.
Touch was the prerequisite for everything. With his sense of touch back, he had absolute confidence in finding the shop owner, that big mouse.
Zhou Qi’an immediately withdrew his hand.
The long-held breath finally released. The wound on his back had only recently stopped bleeding. The moment he relaxed, Zhou Qi’an felt a little weak.
Someone had already reached out to support him.
The person was holding him by the waist, but this time it was to avoid the wound.
“Shen Zhiyi?”
For some reason, this name instinctively surfaced in Zhou Qi’an’s mind.
He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, his strength was constantly decreasing, and he couldn’t even feel the presence of the person beside him.
After walking for some distance like this, Zhou Qi’an’s physical condition oddly improved slightly. At least the feeling of wanting to vomit from severe injury disappeared, and his heart seemed to be continuously overworking to supply blood to other parts of his body.
It wasn’t an illusion.
The arm supporting him did feel somewhat illusory, like a mass of air supporting him.
In the darkness, this mist, almost merging with the darkness, suddenly stopped.
It took Zhou Qi’an’s hand and solemnly placed it into the long, slender hand of a figure in front of them.
Zhou Qi’an: …
Forcibly injecting power into the Nightmare Heart, which was in a dormant state, Shen Zhiyi’s face was now slightly pale. With his cold fingertips, he wrote two words on the back of the young man’s hand, answering his previous question: It’s me.
Zhou Qi’an: “What??”
__
Author’s Note:
Zhou Qi’an: Let me sort out the relationships.
P.S.: Small Health Pill is in Chapter 116.
