He had originally just been trying his luck. Zhou Qi’an’s eyes lit up. A kindred spirit! Finally, someone, no, a ghost, appreciates my music.
He was humming the most primitive lullaby. He didn’t know if the Saintess had ever hummed a song to her unborn child, but the effect was very good. Along with the gentle humming, the ghost baby’s screams turned into sobs.
Zhou Qi’an thought for a moment, bent down and opened his arms, proactively picking up his little audience member, and patted it soothingly.
The ghost baby was surprisingly easy to soothe and soon stopped crying.
Its facial features were not fully formed, its eyes were a thin layer of skin. When it was quiet, it looked like it was sleeping.
[00:05:20]
Holding the ghost baby, Zhou Qi’an raised his eyes and carefully surveyed the lifeless Fengshui Village.
There was no one to lead the way this time, so he couldn’t be sure where the channel was.
Fortunately, he already had some experience. The escape channel was most likely set in the place where the monster’s obsession was deepest before its death, just like how Jin Zhi had led him into the university.
Due to the limited countdown given by the game, the channel wouldn’t be set too far away.
He was currently in the village, far from the back mountain and the church, which would take more than ten minutes to run to.
After some thought, Zhou Qi’an quickly locked onto two places: the Saintess’s former home and the village entrance.
The softly sung lullaby echoed in the empty village. The young man carrying the terrifying-looking child shuttled between the brick houses, the scene incomparably strange. Even though he was extremely cold and his arms holding the ghost baby were about to go numb, he persisted in humming a few more lines.
It wasn’t until he walked to a familiar brick house that Zhou Qi’an took a light breath, and the singing stopped.
“I hope it’s here.” The unlocked door was easily pushed open, and the smell of dampness and dust wafted out.
The light behind the door was directly exposed to his field of vision.
However, when he eagerly walked over, the white mist was also moving forward.
“How could it be…”
Not believing it, he took two more steps. He was always just one step away from the mist. It wasn’t until his straight nose was about to hit the wall that he still couldn’t get close.
Being too close to the wall, the ghost baby in his arms grunted uncomfortably.
“Could it be related to this child?”
The countdown flowed like water. Zhou Qi’an quickly walked to the bedside. The moment he was about to put the ghost baby down, the infant in his arms seemed to sense something. Its unformed fist managed to separate two fingers, a bloody mucus sticking between them, and tightly gripped his wide sleeve.
Zhou Qi’an’s movement paused slightly. As he bent down to release his arm, he gently patted the child. “I…”
I’ll be right back would probably be a dark joke.
Zhou Qi’an sighed lightly, not caring if the child could understand. “If we have a chance to meet again, I’ll treat you to something good to eat.”
I hope you can slowly grow teeth, open your fist, and grow to an age where you can eat and drink.
Of course, he also knew that this was a blessing that could never be realized.
Zhou Qi’an began to hum the lullaby again. The small hand gripping his sleeve loosened a little. The baby returned to its curled-up posture, which seemed to give it an extra sense of security.
After a final look at the child, Zhou Qi’an pulled away and walked straight towards the white mist.
This time, he was not rejected by the white mist.
Without a doubt, after passing through the mysterious white mist, the world’s situation changed for the third time.
Zhou Qi’an was gradually getting used to it. Just as his body had regained some sensation, a shattered newspaper came flying at his face.
“Holy crap!”
I’m not used to it at all!
What kind of real door-opening kill is this?
The sudden attack startled Zhou Qi’an so much that his blood ran hot, and he narrowly dodged it.
Where he had been standing, the newspaper zombie was now holding up a newspaper with a ferocious expression. Its throat was slit, its head tilted, and not a single piece of good flesh could be seen on its entire body.
That newspaper, which could strip others of their abilities, was now like something fished out of a paper shredder. The re-pasted newspaper had its text all jumbled.
The newspaper had been used by his superior to wipe his shoes at the end of the instance, so it had likely lost its original ability, but Zhou Qi’an didn’t dare to bet on it.
The newspaper zombie attacked straight ahead for a second time.
There was no emotion on that face. Towards Zhou Qi’an, the newspaper zombie only had an instinctive killing intent.
Zhou Qi’an quickly glanced at both sides of the street. The place he was in was very easy to recognize: the Ghost Market.
“As expected, I didn’t pass through Huagu City.”
While coaxing the child in Fengshui Village, Zhou Qi’an had already considered the possible situations he might encounter later.
First time’s a stranger, second time’s an old friend.
This time, he did not hesitate and directly charged towards the Gluttony BBQ shop.
The newspaper office was too far from here. The exit couldn’t be set there.
What you can’t have is always the best.
The newspaper zombie had always coveted the other three shops, among which the most profitable was the Gluttony BBQ shop. The swimming pool was poorly managed and on the verge of bankruptcy, and the ‘Others Experience Hall’ had a limited number of customers each night.
The newspaper zombie chased frantically behind, the paper in its hand making a sound like a bellows, whooshing.
“…It’s fate, I guess.”
Zhou Qi’an rushed forward rather helplessly. Every time he encountered the former boss of the newspaper office, he was either on the run or on his way to run.
The chill behind him was still approaching. The BBQ shop was not far from here. Zhou Qi’an was already very familiar with the layout of the Ghost Market. In less than two minutes, he rushed to the rather antique-style building with ease.
Zhou Qi’an first looked at the window above. Assuming he had guessed wrong, he could only jump out the window and make another choice.
He rushed into the BBQ shop. There was no mist on the first floor.
Not caring at all about the stairs made of coffins—he had even lain in a coffin not long ago—this time, without the white silk sash paving the way, Zhou Qi’an ran upstairs without stopping.
The newspaper zombie pursued relentlessly. Halfway, the distance shortened, and its long, green nails directly drew a bloody gash on the thin back of the person in front.
Zhou Qi’an immediately gasped in pain.
[Dàláng, it won’t poison you to death.]
After finally running to the corner between the second and third floors, in the place that had trapped many players, he saw the familiar floating white mist.
The newspaper zombie’s killing intent was far stronger than imagined. Seeing that Zhou Qi’an was about to rush into the thin mist, it almost leaped in a pounce, its arms about to strangle the target’s neck.
At the critical moment, Zhou Qi’an abruptly grabbed a nearby flowerpot, turned around and smashed it forcefully. “Pah!”
In this entire escape channel, you are the most disappointing.
The newspaper zombie was chasing very closely. The already damaged newspaper was blown by his breath and almost stuck back onto its own face.
The flowerpot further smashed into its shriveled chest, slowing its movement by half a beat.
Zhou Qi’an seized the opportunity and rushed through completely.
The moment he passed through the white mist, he quickly thought.
The last one would be the world of Cyclamen Hospital. The possibility of encountering Dr. Z was not high, as Dr. Z was essentially human. He would probably encounter the female patient, and the escape channel should be set in the wilderness.
All judgments flashed through his mind in an instant. The white mist dissipated. Zhou Qi’an stood firm and looked up.
A warm orange light reflected in his eyes. Ahead, the wind blew unrestrainedly.
The female patient stood opposite, holding a torch, her back looking exceptionally tall.
“…”
This time, it was Zhou Qi’an’s turn to be silent.
What a coincidence?
The female patient did not turn back. As if she knew he was coming, she just strode forward.
Zhou Qi’an quickly chased after her.
When he finally reached about the same horizontal line as the female patient, Zhou Qi’an fell silent for a few more moments.
The female patient appearing here meant that she was also dead.
All the patients at Cyclamen Hospital were destined not to live long. She should have died not long ago. Her malnourished face had a bit more stiffness, but she had not yet completely lost her emotions like Jin Zhi.
Occasionally, when the wind blew past, the female patient would even squint her eyes in enjoyment.
The countdown had a little over two minutes left.
Zhou Qi’an did not run anymore. For the only time in the channel, he walked extremely quietly.
The path the female patient walked easily avoided the swamps on the ground. The two of them were like taking an occasional after-dinner walk, rarely so calm.
Zhou Qi’an, even more rarely, did not look at his surroundings from an observer’s perspective, but purely enjoyed the scenery.
The sky, the wilderness, the gentle breeze…
He finally understood Shen Zhiyi’s sentence, ‘Your probability of success is greater than that of failure.’
The death rate of the [Universal Door Card] was ninety-nine point nine percent. The biggest reason was that the relationship between players and monsters was often an irreversible one of life and death. If one encountered monsters like the newspaper zombie several times in a row, without being able to use equipment, one would simply not be able to last until the end.
The end of the road was not a white mist. That blood-red door reappeared.
The entire world suddenly darkened a lot. The wind blowing past his cheeks was no longer gentle, carrying a stimulating stench of decay.
The countdown was almost up. Zhou Qi’an quickly walked to the door. However, the moment he pushed the door, he suddenly thought of something and frowned.
The Universal Door Card was a one-time consumable. Would this temporarily constructed escape channel be permanently stuck in the relic world after he left, or would it disappear completely?
Just as Zhou Qi’an was about to turn and ask, a cold voice sounded from behind.
The female patient had fallen half a step behind him at some point. “Don’t look back.”
She said coldly, “Go back to your human world.”
For a few silent seconds, Zhou Qi’an froze in the motion of pushing the door.
Seeing this, the female patient finally added one more sentence: “It’s the same everywhere.”
The obsession of her true form was fading bit by bit. It was only a matter of time before it completely dissipated. Before long, this last bit of her consciousness would also completely disappear. It made no difference where she died.
Not just her, but everything in the channel was the same.
This was the final end that no dead monster could escape.
[10s, 9s, 8s…]
In the last few seconds, Zhou Qi’an closed his eyes. The palm touching the door pressed a little harder. “Thank you.”
Deep in his heart was an indescribable regret and helplessness.
The ghost baby and the female patient clearly retained more consciousness than Jin Zhi. If he could have taken them to Huagu City, perhaps there was a slight possibility of restoring more of their consciousness through a suitable theatrical performance. He had been so focused on escaping before, he should have actually read his script to Jin Zhi.
In that script, she had a relatively good ending.
And the girl who was forcibly transplanted with the Soul-stealing Bell… Zhou Qi’an couldn’t even see her one last time.
The darkness and yin wind flowing around disappeared. The moment he entered the door, Zhou Qi’an’s figure gradually became transparent. Resisting the urge to look back one last time, he took the final step out of the escape channel.
…
[Congratulations, you have successfully escaped]
[You have successfully viewed the exhibit…]
The prompts came one after another. Zhou Qi’an was a bit dazed. In the outside world, it was still raining in Silent Town. The slanting rain hit his body, the cool feeling reminding him that he had left the relic world.
The rain amplified the smell of blood in the air.
The bloodstains left by the golden-threaded figure on the ground had long been washed into the soil. The fresh bloodstains all came from Lu Yiyuan.
This once arrogant leader of the association had spat out several mouthfuls of blood. The wound on his broken arm, which had just started to get better, was now tearing open again, fresh blood dripping wildly from the severed limb.
The other hand he used to cover the wound was filled with blood between the fingers.
At this moment, Lu Yiyuan was more like a piece of porcelain on the verge of shattering.
He no longer had his usual composure. The extra things in the relic world caused the two forces to constantly clash.
About to be broken down by a forcibly inserted escape channel, Lu Yiyuan stared intently at Zhou Qi’an.
The most frustrating thing was that, until now, he didn’t even know what the other party had done.
A strong sense of confusion was stuck in his throat. Constrained by the small town’s rules, he couldn’t even speak coherently to ask. Lu Yiyuan’s already bloodshot eyes looked even more terrifying for a moment.
Zhou Qi’an was expressionless. That calm gaze was as if looking at a piece of worthless trash.
At first, he had looked at the other’s face, but his gaze quickly fell to the ground.
Lu Yiyuan subconsciously followed and lowered his head slightly.
In the puddle on the ground was reflected his current broken image: the self-control he was probably proud of had collapsed, and his face was filled with an obvious distortion and venomous resentment.
The same expression, no different from those monsters in the game.
The stark contrast made his eyeballs feel like they were burning, and he quickly looked away.
Before he could admire the sorry state of the villain boss for too long, Zhou Qi’an’s peripheral vision swept over and found that the corpse tide that had surrounded them earlier was gone. The reanimated corpses had been cleaned up.
A few familiar figures stood to the side—
Shen Zhiyi, the university student, Ying Yu, his superior…
Each of them was holding something strange: a jar, a magic mirror, a coin sword, and so on.
What’s going on?
Before Zhou Qi’an could react, Lu Yiyuan suddenly made a move again.
Just now, when he turned his face away from looking at his reflection in the water, he turned his head and directly met a pair of cold, grayish-white eyes.
His brain inexplicably froze for a moment. An indescribable sense of crisis made him want to look away, but he couldn’t.
The next second, a cold voice sounded in his mind: ‘Pull us into the relic world.’
It was clearly a command, yet it was more powerful than the Soul-stealing Bell. Lu Yiyuan actually couldn’t muster any thought of resistance. His subconscious was refusing, but his body subconsciously acted according to the other’s words first.
The relic world within his body projected a red light again. Everyone except Zhou Qi’an, who had just viewed the relic, entered the range of the red light’s radiation.
Due to the restriction of not being able to speak, Zhou Qi’an had no time to write and ask. Their eyes met, and Shen Zhiyi gave him a look to signal not to worry.
He probably guessed what this stubborn but soft-hearted young man had encountered after using the Universal Door Card, and what he would regret.
So he first gathered everyone and went to the Ridie Pavilion.
The relics there were all magical artifacts for subduing demons and monsters. But from another perspective, many of the artifacts could actually be used to seal souls, just like the Blood Coffin.
If they can be sealed, they can be released again.
They could use them to bring out those souls destined to dissipate.
A second before being pulled into the relic world, Shen Zhiyi nodded slightly at Zhou Qi’an and mouthed the words, “Wait for me.”
Whatever you want, I will bring it back to the human world for you.
