Though they were words of threat, they seemed to carry a profound meaning, and the “hee” sound was more charming than ever before.
Zhou Qi’an appeared calm and collected, but his mind was racing against time.
[Dream Pen].
A gift from the King of Drama. When activated, it subtly enhanced his persuasiveness. All beings within ten meters were compelled to listen to his voice.
This item was given to him along with the pocket watch. At the time, his first impression was that it was a tool for pyramid schemes and brainwashing, so he didn’t pay it much mind. But it turned out there were no useless items; in a game with millions of possible scenarios, every item had its place.
The only drawback was its one-minute duration.
The more he said, the more likely he was to make a mistake. After making his point, Zhou Qi’an wisely stopped talking.
As his voice fell, the statue’s features became more and more realistic. Its demonic eyes seemed to hold a natural authority.
Zhou Qi’an met its gaze without fear, a hint of impatience in his tone. “Hurry up.”
As he spoke, he held up his hand and started a ten-second countdown.
If the Ghost Market’s administrator didn’t take the bait, he would have to… bite the bullet and offer the incense himself.
He could have his boss step outside for a moment to make the number of people in the temple even.
Before the Newspaper Zombie absorbed the other two heads, it was hard to say who would win in a direct confrontation, but his boss could definitely escape. The zombie’s power was growing daily, but it would be more focused on him, who was carrying the heads, and wouldn’t stray too far from the Ghost Temple.
Although his senses were diminished, Zhou Qi’an could still feel the chilling aura from the bones beneath his feet, rising from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
“Lord, Buddha, God, the Company… protect me.”
He recited a series of protective deities, praying for good luck.
If he could win with his words, he really didn’t want to fight.
The bluff countdown was down to the last three seconds. In his mind, Zhou Qi’an was already cursing the nineteenth generation of the Ghost Market administrator’s ancestors.
Don’t be so rigid!
Take a step back, and we can all be happy.
Zhou Qi’an’s mind was a flurry of activity, and the people around him were no less agitated.
They all held their breath, stunned by the revelation of his restored hearing and the power of the pocket watch, rendered speechless.
Only Shen Zhiyi stood calmly, certain that the Ghost Market’s administrator would compromise.
The incense offering rule was indeed targeting Zhou Qi’an.
The Ghost Market’s administrator would not tolerate a human taking over the business rights of two shops. It had probably been waiting here to reap his life.
To some extent, the administrator was also a staff member and understood some of the game’s operational rules.
If a bug were to occur, it would be the first ghost held responsible.
The final second of the countdown ended. Just as Zhou Qi’an was about to be flexible and bend down to pick up an incense stick to obediently complete the task, the familiar, cold, mechanical voice sounded:
[Your sincerity has moved the gods and ghosts]
[Since you have already offered incense in your heart, why not make a wish on the spot?]
The word “sincerity” was quite subtle.
“Make a wish?”
One could only make a wish after offering incense. This was equivalent to skipping the first step entirely.
Having successfully “greatly moved” the Ghost Market’s administrator, Zhou Qi’an continued to excel, quickly answering, “I know this one! If you have a wish, you must make an offering. The offering must be greater than the request.”
It was a classic trick of evil gods; he wasn’t sure who was copying whom.
His emotions were written all over his face. Beside him, Shen Zhiyi’s expression held a hint of a smile.
Even the dog was better at reading faces than Zhou Qi’an. It flicked its tail, reminding him not to go too far.
Zhou Qi’an just thought the statue had a good attitude, as its expression hadn’t changed.
The hound was silent.
Are you blind? Can’t you see the fists of the six arms behind the statue are clenched tight?!
“About the offering for the wish, can we crowdfund it?” Zhou Qi’an pressed on. “For example, the worshipers could pool their resources. Let’s say you only want ten years of lifespan. There are seven of us, so we can give you fourteen.”
Players: “?”
After waiting for a while, there was no response.
Normally, after making a wish, there should be a system prompt with standard requirements, but now there was nothing.
Shen Zhiyi wrote on Zhou Qi’an’s hand: “It probably thinks all its years of business have gone to the dogs.”
In the end, they were faced with only a silent statue.
Knowing he had reached the limit of what he could get for free, and that crowdfunding was a no-go, Zhou Qi’an’s gaze fell on Qiao Song and the little girl.
The meaning was clear: one of them should make a wish first.
His reasoning was clear. Since the system didn’t make any requirements, and offering incense and making a wish were two separate tasks, it didn’t necessarily have to be the same person.
Neither of them had been to the barbecue shop or the swimming pool, so it was only fair that they contribute now.
In the end, Qiao Song stepped forward voluntarily.
Making a wish was a skill. A wish that was too big would backfire. For example, asking the Ghost Market’s administrator to deal with the newspaper boss was a wish that should never be made, as the price would be far beyond what the players could bear.
Qiao Song stood before the statue, took a deep breath, and silently mouthed his wish:
“Almighty gods and ghosts, please help us find a way to deal with the newspaper boss…”
The ground began to loosen.
Zhou Qi’an was watching both Qiao Song’s mouth and their surroundings. When he saw a pale finger bone about to break through the earth, his earlier ease vanished. His expression changed, and he rushed forward, slapping Qiao Song’s arm hard.
Just mentioning the newspaper boss was enough to trigger a reanimation. If he had finished the wish, they would all probably be sent to the heavens.
The only offering the statue seemed to want was human life.
It was very likely that all wishes would cause the bone pit below to reanimate, the only difference being how many.
Interrupting a wish was also not a good sign. Both Qiao Song and Zhou Qi’an felt the shadow cast by the statue above them deepen, and a strange smile seemed to tug at the statue’s lips.
He had to finish this wish quickly.
Zhou Qi’an frowned. The wish couldn’t mention the newspaper boss, but their target was that ghost. He had to be indirect, find a roundabout way to ask, and narrow the scope of the wish to reduce the cost.
The earth beneath their feet writhed further.
A hand bone, buried for who knows how many years, emerged completely from the ground. Qiao Song frantically smashed it with his equipment, but he couldn’t stop the skeleton from rising.
The players huddled together. Their partially deprived vision made it hard to see clearly. Based on the dense black spots appearing on the bones, they guessed they were some kind of corpse worms.
The reality was that these worms were far more ferocious than corpse worms, with mouths full of sharp teeth.
Qiao Song’s heart tightened. If he had directly wished for a way to deal with the newspaper boss, they would be surrounded by far more than just a few skeletons.
A corpse worm silently burrowed out from the ground and bit through the sole of his shoe.
The players’ reaction times were slowed. By the time Qiao Song noticed, a large chunk of flesh had been torn from the bottom of his foot.
His eyes widened to their limit.
As he moved his injured foot to the side, more corpse worms swarmed up. No matter where he moved, the shadow cast by the statue followed him, and in the shadow, the corpse worms didn’t seem to be growing.
The other players were surrounded by slightly fewer corpse worms, but the situation was still grim.
As the situation became more and more critical, Zhou Qi’an’s expression changed. He suddenly pulled something out of his pocket—
The business license.
This thing, which he had gone to great lengths to find in the newspaper boss’s lair, had to be crucial.
“Could this be the key to dealing with the newspaper boss?”
Other than that, he couldn’t think of any other use for it.
As if to test the license’s special properties, Zhou Qi’an tried to tear a corner, but to no effect. He then tried to bite it and even poked it with his fishing spear, but he couldn’t leave a mark on the slick paper.
Finally, he eyed the hound’s teeth and offered it the other, untouched side. “Try biting it.”
“…”
The hound’s bite force was extraordinary, but it still left no mark.
Suddenly, Shen Zhiyi grabbed Zhou Qi’an’s wrist.
“You want to bite it too?”
“…”
Shen Zhiyi took out his phone, signaling that time was running out. They not only had to make it back by midnight but also before the sales report was due.
Confirming that the business license couldn’t be destroyed by force, Zhou Qi’an looked at Qiao Song and made a gesture.
Qiao Song hesitated for a moment, but tormented by the biting corpse worms, he stopped thinking and immediately completed the wish as instructed:
“Please help us find a way to destroy the business license.”
His voice trembled not just from the difficulty of speaking, but from uncertainty.
A few more skeletons crawled out from the ground. Zhou Qi’an was more concerned with the extent of the reanimation than whether the wish was right.
One, two, three…
The final number of skeletons stopped at thirteen, and the corpse worms grew to the size of a fist before stopping their expansion.
Zhou Qi’an breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s manageable.”
Compared to the countless skeletons beneath the temple, a mere thirteen reanimated skeletons were nothing.
Qiao Song suddenly became very agitated, pointing at his mouth.
Zhou Qi’an stared at his lips, wishing he had a hearing aid.
“Group, fourteenth floor?”
Reading each other’s lips, Qiao Song nodded frantically. The statue had just responded to his wish. The answer was on the fourteenth floor of the Hao Hui Sha Group.
Whether destroying the business license would affect the Newspaper Zombie was unknown.
An ominous wind swept through the cracks. With a creak, Yuan Nianshu, who was closest to the door, stumbled back. The ghost, which had been standing quietly at the door, suddenly started to move… It was pushing the door.
The item the players had used to lock the door hadn’t failed; the Ghost Temple had simply lifted its restriction on the Newspaper Zombie.
As the one who made the wish, Qiao Song was in the worst state, his head spinning as if part of his soul had been sucked away. Fortunately, Chen Su and the others finally showed their worth. Even with their senses impaired, they were more than capable of dealing with the skeletons.
“These damn corpse worms…” Chen Su wanted to use a fire-based item several times, but considering the nature of the Ghost Temple, she suppressed the urge.
Starting a fire in a temple was a major taboo.
After twisting off a skeleton’s head with one hand, Chen Su seemed to notice something.
“We can’t stay in this temple any longer!”
The ash from the broken incense sticks on the ground was constantly drifting onto them. Wherever the ash landed, they lost some control of their limbs and felt an urge to cut them off and offer them to the statue.
She wasn’t the only one feeling this; the others were too.
So even though they couldn’t hear what Chen Su was saying, their breathing became ragged as they tried to dodge the flying ash in horror.
But rushing out meant running into the Newspaper Zombie.
No, the zombie was already about to get in.
The wooden door was shaking violently. Attacked from both front and back, they would surely die if they remained trapped.
Yuan Nianshu used a megaphone and mumbled, “President, you guys go out first. I’ll offer the incense and wish for the newspaper boss to leave temporarily.”
If they could just hold on for a few seconds after getting out, her wish would give them a chance to escape.
However, as the one making the wish, she would most likely die.
The corpse spots on her body were getting worse, and her chances of surviving were slim. Yuan Nianshu thought of Sixth Master’s end and looked at Zhou Qi’an, hoping that he would forgive her for some things in exchange for her sacrifice.
Zhou Qi’an was busy. He caught her hesitant glance out of the corner of his eye and gave her a look that said, “Are you an idiot?”
“…”
It must be a look for an idiot. After all, Yuan Nianshu admitted she had given Yuan the same look when they were discussing age earlier.
“Go.”
Zhou Qi’an made a gesture. He had taken off his backpack at some point and pulled out a deformed ghost head.
The moment they saw the head, everyone was stunned.
One thing after another had happened, and they had almost forgotten that they still had a deal with the Newspaper Zombie! It would take time for the ghost to devour the head, and they could use that opportunity to run back with the other head.
Since it was an exchange of kills, the Newspaper Zombie had to keep its promise and give the players the head of a Hao Hui Sha Group employee.
If it hadn’t killed anyone today, the rules might even force the newspaper boss to go back to the group and reap a head first.
Zhou Qi’an couldn’t help but sigh softly. It was such a simple matter, so why were they still thinking about sacrificing themselves to make a wish?
Him and his foolish team members.
“Is this how the boss usually sees me?”
Zhou Qi’an shook his head, dismissing the thought as impossible.
There was a big gap between theory and practice. They had a way to escape now, but it might not go smoothly.
Zhou Qi’an stared at the door, which was about to open. It wouldn’t take long for the newspaper to devour the head. Escaping back in such a short time was harder than climbing to the sky. This wasn’t Huagu City, where there were arbitrary doors that could freely travel between two points.
“We don’t necessarily have to go back to the group. Maybe if we leave the Ghost Market, the Newspaper Zombie will stop chasing us for a while.”
The situation was urgent. With no better way out, they had to take it one step at a time.
The next second, the players’ eyes widened.
Even the boss’s brow arched slightly.
Sometimes, being in the same team as Zhou Qi’an required an extremely strong mental fortitude, because you never knew what would happen.
After finishing the final preparations, Zhou Qi’an sighed. “Done.”
With a gesture from him, the nearby player removed the item locking the door.
The obstacle in front of it suddenly disappeared, and the Newspaper Zombie, which was pushing the door, paused for a moment. When it slowly raised its arms again, everyone could barely hear anything, but Zhou Qi’an was still mouthing words:
“Your head is here—”
A head was thrown high into the air. In its parabolic trajectory, the eyeballs and teeth all vibrated and flew out.
The head was intact, but some parts had been disassembled.
Yuan Nianshu immediately thought of the dismantled Sixth Master. Zhou Qi’an’s skills were on par with Shen Zhiyi’s.
Just now, Zhou Qi’an had even borrowed some blood from the players. Fresh blood was somewhat attractive to the reanimated skeletons in the Ghost Temple. If the Newspaper Zombie didn’t act fast, the head might be destroyed by the skeletons.
The head was what the Newspaper Zombie cared about most. Sure enough, it immediately went for the head.
Zhou Qi’an rushed out.
Both sides accelerated at the same time, moving like the wind, and performed a perfect pass-by.
The Newspaper Zombie’s speed was actually its weakness. Back at the Hao Hui Sha Group, it had dragged its heavy, slow feet. This situation only improved after it absorbed the first head.
Zhou Qi’an ran for ten meters in one breath. After creating some distance, his five senses were greatly restored.
The players behind him used acceleration items and ran like the wind.
Finally able to speak, Yuan Nianshu panted, “Why did you throw the barbecue shop owner’s head?”
She wasn’t the only one curious about this. Between the two, was the swimming pool manager’s ability more terrifying?
Zhou Qi’an quickly glanced at his boss. “That ghost head was smeared with peppercorns and chili powder.”
It should be quite choking to absorb.
He strongly suspected that his boss had once considered eating the barbecue shop owner and had even prepared some seasonings, but he didn’t know why he gave up in the end.
Yuan Nianshu didn’t know the reason was the boss, and her fear of Zhou Qi’an deepened.
The run back was much better than the way there. Along the way, Qiao Song even quickly set up some traps with his items, delaying the Newspaper Zombie for every second they could.
As they neared the bottom of the mountain, Zhou Qi’an used the shock-absorbing power of his calves to almost directly jump down the last steep slope.
The ominous wind appeared behind them again.
“Whoever is last is unlucky!”
This was more effective than encouragement. No one wanted to be caught by the Newspaper Zombie. They all unleashed their inner sprinters, and in the end, the hound fell to last place.
Dog: “?”
Reaching the bottom of the mountain safely was a great relief for everyone.
They saw a glimmer of hope for survival.
This optimism gradually faded as the chilling wind from behind intensified.
If someone were to look back now, they would see that the sky behind them had turned almost completely black. In the ominous wind, the Newspaper Zombie’s figure seemed to be floating, covering a large distance in just a few breaths.
There was still some undigested brain matter on the newspaper in its hand. Because of the choking seasoning, it hadn’t eaten very cleanly this time.
The distance between the two sides was about to close for the second time.
Zhou Qi’an pointed ahead. The newspaper office was not far away.
The temperature had already dropped below zero, and his newly restored five senses were showing signs of disappearing again. His gestures were a beat slow.
He gestured and deliberately mouthed the words: “Explode the furnace.”
Humans had rules to follow, and so did ghosts. Every ghost-run shop had to offer incense. Zhou Qi’an didn’t understand the significance of ghosts offering incense, but he knew that without a furnace, the newspaper office couldn’t offer incense tonight, and the Ghost Market’s administrator might even punish them for it.
Now they had to do everything they could to create trouble for the newspaper boss.
That was their only hope of escape.
However, before Zhou Qi’an could even gesture, someone had already taken action.
Yuan Nianshu ran straight to the corner, desperately dug out Sixth Master’s remains, and came back holding the head.
The remaining few were throwing items at the newspaper office door, including small-scale delayed explosives. All kinds of items flew through the air in a dazzling display, followed by a series of deafening explosions that almost made Zhou Qi’an trip over his own feet.
The impact was so strong that even with most of his hearing gone, he could still feel it.
A large hole was blown in the door of the newspaper office. The wind blew through, almost creating a fire dragon. If it had been any more serious, the surrounding shops would have been affected.
“…” Brothers and sisters, we just needed to blow up the incense furnace. Was all this necessary?
Yuan Nianshu handed over Sixth Master’s unrecognizable head, meaning she had taken it out as he had intended. They could now disassemble some of his organs and put them in the swimming pool manager’s head, replacing some of the original organs. They were both half-human, half-ghost. Maybe the newspaper boss wouldn’t notice and wouldn’t be able to gain the full power of the swimming pool manager.
Zhou Qi’an was at a loss for words. When did I ever mean that?
Do these people have some kind of misunderstanding about my character?!
Author’s Note:
Zhou Qi’an: Sometimes, I really think this world is quite baffling.
