The wind died down, and the rain ceased.
Shen Zhiyi was still carrying out his thirty-thousand methods.
As soon as they confirmed the rain had stopped, Zhou Qi’an and Chen Su simultaneously hurried upstairs, back toward the newspaper office. The other players didn’t move; they hadn’t collected all five clues and hadn’t received a system prompt. Rushing over rashly could lead to misfortune.
The iron door was ajar. The walls of the corridor were mottled and peeling, and the light was even dimmer than before.
Chen Su took the initiative and pushed the door open.
The newspaper employees were neatly dressed, bustling about. Everything seemed the same as their first visit.
Chen Su whispered, “A few employees are missing.”
Zhou Qi’an had noticed it too. Although there was no sign of a fire now, the employees who had died in the previous time loop were truly dead.
The system gave no further prompts. The only sounds were the occasional rustling of paper as the employees organized their manuscripts.
Though their hands were busy with work, their unfocused eyes never left the doorway, staring in a way that made one’s skin crawl.
Chen Su frowned. “It’s like they’re waiting for something.”
All the employees had an air of eager anticipation.
Zhou Qi’an’s eyes were icy. “The newspaper boss.”
The employees had said the Newspaper Zombie hated rainy days. Now that the rain had stopped, it would likely be back soon.
They had to hurry, but the only problem was, they didn’t know what they should be hurrying to do.
They decided to split up, each checking a different area. The “spot the difference” task from before might have been a hint, so they started by examining the newspaper office’s environment again.
They had seen this scene countless times already and were on the verge of visual numbness. Zhou Qi’an wished his eyes could turn into lasers, scanning the room with a rapid da-da-da.
“Hello.” At the front, the man in the mask picked up the red phone on the desk. “Chief Editor, someone is here to see you.”
He stared at the two moving figures, his tone heavy. “If you can, you must come back quickly.”
He enunciated every word with heavy emphasis.
Unfazed, Zhou Qi’an continued to scrutinize the scene with a “spot the difference” mindset.
The noise in the room grew louder as the employees began to chat and discuss loudly.
Chen Su stood by a pillar. The distractions didn’t bother her, but the thought of the boss returning at any moment increased the pressure. Soon, her temples were soaked with cold sweat.
After a short while, Zhou Qi’an suddenly walked over and whispered, “Found it.”
Chen Su looked at him, astonished.
How long had it been? It felt like they hadn’t even been inside for forty seconds!
Before her look of pleasant surprise could fully blossom, Zhou Qi’an added, “I’ll go first, you cover the rear.”
“…”
When Zhou Qi’an said he’d do something, he did it without hesitation.
He sprinted towards the wall, using a chair as a stepping stone to launch himself into the air. Without a moment’s pause, he snatched something from the wall with lightning speed. “Go!”
The gust of wind he created was so strong it messed up Chen Su’s hair.
The young man fled the scene of the crime with slick precision. After a brief moment of stunned silence, the newspaper employees all stopped their work and charged after them with ferocious expressions.
Chen Su gritted her teeth. Zhou Qi’an must have taken something important. Now, she had no choice but to cover the rear.
Speed was always an advantage.
Zhou Qi’an had already burst out the door, the sounds of a fight erupting behind him.
“Just as I thought, in a crisis, you have to trust your comrades to watch your back.”
Luckily, Chen Su didn’t hear that, or she might have had a heart attack.
He leaped down the stairs in just a few bounds. Other players were waiting outside to support him. As he crossed the threshold, Zhou Qi’an let out a slight sigh of relief.
He steadied himself, looked up, and saw Shen Zhiyi.
The man’s clothes were soaked from the rain, but aside from his shoes, there wasn’t a speck of blood on him. His long, powerful fingers seemed to spell out the words “spotlessly clean.”
Zhou Qi’an asked, “Where’s that scoundrel, Sixth Master?”
Shen Zhiyi replied, “After he vomited up a few things, Sixth Master was so filled with remorse for his actions that he bit his own tongue and ended his life.”
“…”
Shen Zhiyi added, “Of course, it’s also possible he was frightened by Miss Yuan’s methods.”
Yuan Nianshu’s lips moved, but she couldn’t utter a word.
When she had arrived, she had been shocked by Sixth Master’s惨状 (miserable state). All that was left was a writhing mass of flesh. The monster’s powerful regenerative abilities had become Sixth Master’s nightmare. His entire skin had been peeled off, yet he couldn’t die.
There was no blood on Shen Zhiyi, but there was on his shadow.
“A man lives for his face, a tree for its bark. That’s what the books say, I believe.”
It was the first time since entering the instance that this man had spoken to her directly. His brow was etched with a chilling frost. “He didn’t want his skin. There was nothing I could do.”
Sixth Master’s throat was so mangled he could barely speak. A mess of flesh in his throat spasmed as he unconsciously repeated a single phrase in his mental breakdown.
Yuan Nianshu heard it clearly—
The Whaler’s Association.
A chill ran through her entire body.
Was Sixth Master connected to the Whaler’s Association, or was he a member?
Whatever the case, his fate was laid bare before her.
Yuan Nianshu didn’t dare to even look at Shen Zhiyi now.
The other players were more concerned with what Zhou Qi’an had brought out. They immediately crowded around. Just then, Chen Su also came down, followed by the sound of scattered footsteps.
The newspaper employees’ masks had come loose during the chase, revealing their disfigured lower faces.
Chen Su got out first. The pursuing employees all stopped at the entrance, as if permanently bound to that space, unable to take a single step further.
A dozen charred arms stretched out, grasping madly, trying to drag the people outside back in.
Ignoring the resentful, twisted faces, Zhou Qi’an took two steps forward and unfolded the item he had taken—a business license.
Having built two shops from scratch, he was subconsciously most attuned to anything related to business rights.
When he first visited the newspaper office, this license hadn’t been on the wall.
The paper wasn’t laminated and had a strangely slick feel. The seal in the bottom right corner was a vivid red, stamped with four blurry characters: Fengdu Ghost Temple.
Everyone’s eyes were glued to the seal. Qiao Song suddenly shivered.
The temperature in the street had begun to drop further, becoming comparable to a mountain night.
Zhou Qi’an seemed to realize something and decisively put the license away. “Let’s go, the newspaper boss is coming back.”
Despite his words, no one moved immediately. Should they go back or stay in the Ghost Market?
If they went back, it was still far from closing time. They couldn’t just lock themselves in the staff dorms.
Staying in the Ghost Market was extraordinarily risky.
As the de facto leader, Zhou Qi’an had become the team’s backbone. Everyone naturally looked to him.
“To the Ghost Temple,” Zhou Qi’an decided quickly.
Everything else on the license was normal, except for the jarring Ghost Temple seal. It was undoubtedly a breakthrough point.
And…
“It’s daytime. Better to explore the Ghost Temple now than at night.”
He looked up into the distance. On their first day in the Ghost Market, Shen Zhiyi had mentioned a ghost temple being built in the mountains.
Everyone subconsciously followed his gaze toward the distant black mountain. A strange thing happened. Although there was a considerable distance to the mountain, they could clearly see a red dot on it.
The temperature on the street dropped lower and lower. The employees crowded at the newspaper office entrance showed looks of joy on their half-hollowed faces.
Without any need for communication, everyone was certain the newspaper boss was nearby. They started running in unison towards the mountain.
Zhou Qi’an ran the fastest. He wasn’t foolish enough to try and battle the Newspaper Zombie now, like his boss had that night.
He was carrying two heads. If they confronted it, the Newspaper Zombie would show no mercy.
And…
The entire world was slowly mutating. He had a premonition that the newspaper boss’s power was growing with time.
Passing a corner, Zhou Qi’an glanced and saw only a pool of blood on the ground. Sixth Master’s body was gone.
Shen Zhiyi said in a timely manner, “I buried him.”
Of course, being buried and resting in peace were two different things.
He could ask for details later, after they safely escaped the Ghost Market. For now, Zhou Qi’an was leading the charge at the front.
The shops on both sides were all completely closed. Besides them, there wasn’t another soul on the street.
“Ah!” A scream came from behind.
Chen Su, who was running, heard Yuan Nianshu’s voice and instinctively turned her head.
“Don’t look back!” Zhou Qi’an shouted.
The Newspaper Zombie’s paper only worked when it made direct contact with a player. Since they were running for their lives, it was best not to look back, no matter what.
Realizing there might be a “look back and die” trap, the players shivered and mechanically sped up, rushing forward frantically.
The whole way, the hound ran second, and Zhou Qi’an ran first.
Even with his formidable physique, a three-thousand-meter run left him panting. They were finally getting closer to the mountain. Zhou Qi’an checked his phone and cursed.
The minutes were ticking by faster than he was running.
Once they entered the mountain, they might not be able to get back in time.
“Faster.”
There was no other way. They just had to run for their lives.
After the sky darkened another shade, the group finally entered the mountain!
The ground was covered in dead leaves and branches. Zhou Qi’an suddenly noticed something, and his breathing became slightly unsteady.
The sound.
The sound of his feet on the leaves was very quiet, far lower than it should have been.
“Something’s wrong…” This time, it wasn’t the environment. It was him.
Zhou Qi’an tried to speak, but no sound came out. Not only could he not hear, but he couldn’t make a sound either.
After devouring the head of the “Experience Hall” owner, the Newspaper Zombie had inherited the ability to strip away the five senses.
Could it have been faking Yuan Nianshu’s voice earlier? Trying to lure Chen Su into looking back.
Zhou Qi’an gritted his teeth. He had been through so many instances, but he had never encountered such a treacherous ghost.
Fortunately, the zombie’s powers seemed to be suppressed during the day. It hadn’t completely stripped their senses right away, or they would have died horribly.
Before long, his vision started to blur as well.
As luck would have it, the moment his vision worsened, a rock jutted out from the ground, and Zhou Qi’an stumbled forward.
Could he be this unlucky?
A hand grabbed him in time. Shen Zhiyi appeared beside him.
“Careful,” Shen Zhiyi mouthed.
Players with unbalanced data were more easily targeted by the instance, not to mention Zhou Qi’an was now the future owner of two shops.
The shop owners in the Ghost Market were ghosts.
This world would also subtly try to turn him into a ghost.
Everyone’s voice was the first to go. Their hearing and vision were now at less than sixty percent and still declining.
Anxiety filled everyone’s hearts.
Reaching the Ghost Temple didn’t mean they were safe. On the contrary, they had no idea what awaited them there. With their senses diminished, their ability to react to any tasks would be greatly reduced.
Because their sight and hearing were impaired, and they couldn’t look back, they couldn’t pinpoint the Newspaper Zombie’s exact location.
After their sense of touch also started to delay, a winding mountain path appeared ahead. Zhou Qi’an sprinted along it, running until the end. Finally, just before his senses weakened further, he stumbled into the temple in front of him.
Thump, thump.
His heart was about to beat out of his chest. The last person to enter had the presence of mind to quickly shut the door.
Zhou Qi’an gestured with his hand, a clear gesture for a dog.
The hound hesitantly approached him.
Zhou Qi’an crouched down, squinting to look at one of its eyes. After confirming he didn’t see the reflection of the Newspaper Zombie behind them, he turned around.
All the players were alive, but each was in a worse state than the last.
Because she was at the back, Yuan Nianshu was the first to be targeted by the Newspaper Zombie. Her sense of touch was the most delayed. After running in with her last breath, she collapsed to the ground, struggling to even stand up.
She looked up, and her face changed drastically.
The Ghost Temple’s door still had paper-covered windows, and a blurry black shadow stood outside.
From the silhouette, it was clearly the Newspaper Zombie.
It didn’t come in, just stood outside, its figure swaying with the ominous wind.
Like Yuan Nianshu, Zhou Qi’an’s heart also sank. But he quickly determined that the Newspaper Zombie couldn’t get in for the time being, or it wouldn’t be lingering at the door.
He belatedly looked up and surveyed the Ghost Temple.
It was hard to imagine this was the lair of the Ghost Market’s administrator. It was too desolate and dilapidated, with broken incense sticks scattered on the ground. On the temple’s altar stood a statue with an obscured face.
Shen Zhiyi touched Zhou Qi’an’s arm and, in front of him, snapped one of the incense sticks on the ground.
The stick was much thicker than a normal one, a complete piece of shoddy work. The cross-section didn’t even need to be lit; ash started to fall on its own in the wind.
Zhou Qi’an rubbed his eyes, his face almost pressed against the incense before he saw some deep white fragments inside.
Just then, the hound started digging with its front paws, unearthing some skeletons from a corner. More and more bones were dug up, covering a larger and larger area. Everyone was certain that a mass grave lay beneath the temple.
[You have discovered a temple]
The system prompt suddenly arrived:
[Light incense in temples, bow to all statues. Bow to gods in yang temples, bow to ghosts in yin temples.]
[Side Quest–Offering Incense has been activated.]
[The shop owners who open at night on Fengdu Street all continuously offer incense for blessings. Do as the locals do, and please offer incense respectfully.]
[Incense Offering Rule 1: Humans first.]
When this rule appeared, the dog, Shen Zhiyi, and the boss were pushed back slightly by an invisible force.
Because Sixth Master had previously infiltrated the team, the other players didn’t overthink this first rule, assuming it was a precaution against potential traitors among the players.
[Incense Offering Rule 2: The number of incense sticks must match the number of worshipers.]
This rule made everyone frown.
Offering incense.
An odd number for gods, an even number for ghosts.
The incense sticks lit at the entrances of the shops in the Ghost Market were also in pairs. If they were to offer incense to the statue of the Ghost Market’s administrator, it had to be an even number.
There were only seven players now.
Qiao Song wrote on the ground, his wrist struggling to apply force. He finally managed to write: “Does the dog count?”
All things are equal. A dog is a living being, so it should count.
But Yuan shook her head and wrote a few words: “It has no soul.”
This revelation surprised everyone. This dog seemed smarter than a person, so why would it have no soul?
Was it a puppet?
Before they could ponder the truth, everyone’s expressions soured.
The number of incense sticks for a ghost must be even. If they offered an odd number, the result would surely be bad.
Without the hound, there were only seven worshipers. Unless one of them disappeared immediately… The players grew wary of each other, fearing a backstab.
[Incense Offering Rule 3: Must be a virgin boy or girl.]
In their apprehension, everyone looked at Yuan.
A virgin boy or girl.
All the focus seemed to fall on her.
Yuan quickly wrote: “My age is not what it seems.”
It sounded like an excuse to avoid offering incense, but after a moment of silence, everyone mostly believed her.
A child of eleven or twelve in an instance was even more absurd than a player in their fifties or sixties. During the game, Yuan hadn’t shown any particularly astounding intelligence.
Yuan: “…”
Why are you all looking at me like I’m an idiot?
She had only recently turned into this form due to an accident.
Zhou Qi’an had a bad feeling, and it had nothing to do with Yuan. This side quest was aimed squarely at him.
Shen Zhiyi sighed softly and wrote in his palm: “Business rights.”
Zhou Qi’an understood immediately.
The shops in the Ghost Market were meant for ghosts to run, and he had taken over two. The letter to the future museum owner had repeatedly emphasized: “If you are still alive then.”
Now, it seemed it wasn’t a threat, but a prophecy.
The will of the entire world seemed to be trying to force him into becoming a ghost.
That’s why even the incense offering rules were coming out one after another, as if determined to send him to his doom.
The hound suddenly barked twice at the statue.
The previously faceless statue now had six arms growing from its back, and two eyes appeared on its face. They were cold, long, and without pupils. It looked down from above, its skin unnervingly smooth and moist, making the players’ scalps tingle.
In just a few seconds, the statue had changed so drastically.
Everyone gasped. There was no time.
They had to choose someone to offer the incense quickly.
Based on age, there were definitely no virgins among them. To be precise, it would be hard to find such a player in the entire game.
However, in the study of yin and yang, another interpretation of a virgin boy or girl was a man or woman who had never had sexual relations.
Qiao Song immediately made a swearing gesture and shook his head to indicate he wasn’t. The others also shook their heads. Most players lived for the moment.
Sex was undoubtedly a way for them to release the stress of the game.
The boss scribbled three words on the ground with his shoe: “No impression.”
His memories of the past were muddled. As long as it didn’t affect his work, it was fine.
“…” Can you even forget something like that?
Although Zhou Qi’an also had memory loss, he was certain he was a virgin because the balance in his bank account, aside from fixed deductions, never decreased much each month.
With a mortgage, living in an old residential complex, and having never spent much money on anyone, what else could he be but single?
Shen Zhiyi nodded slightly, a deep look of regret in his eyes as he looked at Zhou Qi’an, and then indicated that he was also a virgin.
Zhou Qi’an: “?” Why are you looking at me with regret?
The others were shocked. These two, who looked the most perverted, had never enjoyed the nightlife?
Another five seconds passed, and the statue’s nose and mouth were about to appear.
Zhou Qi’an fell silent.
He figured the choice of the incense offerer was likely between him and Shen Zhiyi. “Humans first.” Shen Zhiyi’s previous claim of being the oldest made him very unconfident about his race.
The others were also looking at Zhou Qi’an, but no one dared to pressure him into offering the incense. They could only watch anxiously.
The person offering the incense would face multiple dangers:
First, what good could come from offering incense to a ghost? Being the closest, they would be more likely to suffer misfortune.
Second, the area beneath the Ghost Temple was full of bones. The unusually thick incense seemed to be made of bone ash. Once lit, it could very well cause the corpses to reanimate, with the incense offerer bearing the brunt of it.
Third, the Newspaper Zombie was locked outside, but their five senses were still slowly deteriorating.
What if the bones reanimated…
The consequences would be unimaginable.
The atmosphere grew incredibly tense. Everyone’s hands and feet were cold as they cursed the instance for its numerous traps.
Wasting more time would only put them at a greater disadvantage. Zhou Qi’an lowered his head in silence for a moment, then suddenly moved. He walked to the base of the statue, but he wasn’t holding an incense stick.
An exquisite pocket watch dangled from his slender fingers, swaying tantalizingly.
Zhou Qi’an’s strangely colored eyes flickered, and he said with a faint smile:
“It can turn back time.”
Every word carried a strange power:
“Believe it or not, if time is reversed to before your damn incense offering rule came out, there will be no virgins here…”
Shen Zhiyi froze, his eyelashes trembling slightly.
Every word that came out of Zhou Qi’an’s mouth was incredibly persuasive, clearly reaching the ears of everyone present, human and ghost alike.
The other players were stunned. Someone blurted out, “Our senses are restored?!”
But because of their hearing loss, their words were slurred, unlike Zhou Qi’an, whose every word was clear and articulate, making people want to listen uncontrollably. And the content was explosive!
In the urgency of the moment, no one had noticed before, but now they saw that Zhou Qi’an and Shen Zhiyi had swapped clothes.
Zhou Qi’an looked up at the statue, tilting his head. “Hey, have you ever tasted the feeling of being torn apart?”
All games had to be designed with at least one way for players to survive. If, when the rule came out, no one met the criteria for the first incense offerer, the side quest would have a natural bug.
“I’ll give you a chance. Come up with a new rule, an easier one. Otherwise…”
Zhou Qi’an let out a low laugh.
In reality, he was bluffing.
The Ghost Market’s administrator, who ruled a street full of fierce ghosts, must have some discernment. It should be able to see the value of the pocket watch, and he was using special means to increase his persuasiveness.
He just didn’t know how much the other party could see, as the watch could only turn back time by one minute.
What could you do in one minute? Not even a whale was that fast.
It was unwise to lie to the Ghost Market’s administrator, so he only emphasized “turning back time,” not for how long.
He had to play the part of a madman perfectly, so crazy that the statue wouldn’t dare to call his bluff.
At this moment, the young man did indeed look quite mad. His smiling eyes were cold, and his smile widened, as if he couldn’t wait to see the Ghost Market’s administrator break the rules.
“Hee.”
He let out the same laugh he had used when confronting the newspaper boss in the company bathroom.
The statue was silent.
It felt a strange magnetic field, and below, besides the speaker, the shocked expressions on many faces had not yet faded.
Their faces all screamed, “Our senses have all been weakened, so why can we hear someone speaking so clearly?”
This young man, who had to look up to speak to it, had clearly broken some kind of rule.
On the other side of the door.
A human-like look of confusion appeared on the Newspaper Zombie’s stiff face.
Where was that laugh coming from?
And why did it sound so insane?
Author’s Note:
Ghost Market Administrator: In all my life, I have never been so threatened by a human.
Newspaper Boss: Is there any news? Let me in on the gossip.
