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Chapter 30: We have a Chinese saying, called ghosts hitting the wall.
Wu You was originally following Yang Erci and Josh, looking for clues in an office on the first floor.
The office was larger than he had imagined—a suite inside and out. He had initially hoped to find useful information, but there was just too much paper documentation. He couldn’t understand why there were still so many useless paper records in the digital age.
While he was complaining to himself, a strange ringing sound came from outside the door.
Very crisp.
The ringing repeated, getting closer and closer. Wu You felt something was off, so he put down the documents in his hands and walked out of the room.
Whether it was the building itself or the result of a security system collapse leading to a sealed state, this containment center had no windows.
Wu You cautiously approached the door, not immediately stepping outside. He felt that perhaps it was an NPC playing tricks in this game. He listened carefully to the direction of the ringing, planned an escape route, and prepared to shout for Yang Erci and Josh to flee. Wu You finally tilted his head to the right, toward the source of the sound.
It turned out to be that unruly Taoist…
A false alarm.
The Taoist grinned, “Little friend, why do you look so disappointed?”
He was dressed in strange worker’s clothing but held a copper bell in his hand. The top of the bell had a handle shaped like the character “山” (mountain), and the bell itself was engraved with strange totems.
“Why are you ringing the bell?” Wu You’s guarded expression did not waver. He never thought this Taoist was a good person. “Where did the bell come from?”
“Of course, I brought it in myself.” The Taoist continued to smile, shaking the bell in his hand. “This is called the Sanqing Bell, an important artifact in our Taoist tradition. The Taiqing Jade Book says, ‘In the Taoist tradition, the hand holds the Emperor’s bell, throwing fire for ten thousand miles and flowing bells for eight charges…'”
Wu You felt he was talking nonsense and decided not to engage. He turned and walked toward the left side of the corridor. However, the Taoist persisted, following him while rhythmically shaking the bell.
“Don’t underestimate our Sanqing Bell. It’s a great tool for exorcism. The sound is so crisp and pleasant to your ears, but in the ears of those evil spirits, it can torment them to death.”
Whether it could torment evil spirits or not, Wu You didn’t know. He only knew that he was being tormented by this talkative Taoist.
Forget it, I’ll find an excuse to shake him off at the corner.
As he babbled on, Nan Shan almost chased after Wu You, like chasing a duck. Suddenly, Wu You stopped.
His expression was puzzled as he stared ahead and then looked back.
“What’s wrong?” Nan Shan shook his bell again.
Wu You didn’t say anything and took a few steps forward, even running.
Nan Shan ran after him, but in no time, Wu You stopped again and turned to look behind.
“Do you notice anything strange?” Wu You asked Nan Shan.
Nan Shan didn’t speak, just shaking the bell again.
Talking to himself, Wu You said, “The ‘corner’ in front never seems to arrive… No matter how long I walk, it always stays in the ‘almost there’ state.”
A mysterious smile appeared on Nan Shan’s face.
“You’re very clever to notice it so quickly.”
He folded his hands behind him, still speaking in the same eccentric manner.
“We have a term in China called ‘ghost hitting the wall,’ which means no matter how you walk, you’re always going in circles.” He shrugged. “I just shook the bell because, as soon as I passed the corner, I realized something was wrong.”
Nan Shan also looked back and said to Wu You, “No matter how many steps I take forward, behind me is always the previous corner.”
Wu You frowned.
“But your bell couldn’t break through this ghost wall,” he remarked.
Nan Shan smiled, “Indeed, but I managed to lure you into it.” He shrugged. “Before you saw me, I was already wandering around here alone for at least half an hour.”
Wu You felt a chill down his spine.
“No one accompanied you? I clearly saw you with Wujiu-ge before.”
“Wujiu-ge?” Nan Shan was surprised by this address. He thought this little brother, who seemed neither big nor small, had a cold demeanor towards everyone.
“Oh yes, we were initially studying the safety evacuation route map. Later, we found it strange that the map didn’t show elevators or stairs, so finding a way upstairs became a big problem. We decided to split up to find stairs and exits.” Nan Shan shook his head slowly. “But that green-eyed guy seemed not to like me. No matter what, he wouldn’t let me team up with An Wujiu.”
Wu You listened and showed an expression that said, “I knew it.”
“He said he was afraid of ghosts and needed someone to accompany him. I told him I could exorcise ghosts, but he said he would have nightmares if he saw someone with a bun head.” Nan Shan touched the bun on his head and said, “He’s a really strange guy.”
“That’s just how he is,” Wu You said.
Given the situation, it seemed like the two of them would have to find a way out of this maze-like corridor. After thinking for a moment, Wu You asked the Taoist, who seemed no more reliable than Shen Ti:
“Is there any way to break through this ghost wall?”
“There is a way.” Nan Shan turned around with his hands behind his back and then looked back. “Regarding the ghost wall, if it’s not a spatial illusion, there’s the possibility that an evil spirit is creating a hallucination. The Taoist technique of Qimen Dunjia can also create illusions and break them. There’s some certainty in using a trick to break the trick.”
“Originally, I didn’t bother to use it.”
Wu You furrowed his brow. “You have a method but chose not to use it? What are you thinking?”
This strange Taoist.
“I’m usually already annoyed dealing with these mystical spells, and now I have to chant spells in the game too.” Nan Shan grinned at him. “Moreover, I was alone just now. Casting spells is so boring without an audience.”
Wu You’s face fell.
He wants an audience…
Does he think he’s putting on a peacock display?
“Besides, the conditions here are limited.” Nan Shan paused, reached for his back, and fumbled for a while.
Wu You stared at him.
Don’t tell me you’re scratching an itch.
Fortunately, Nan Shan did eventually pull something out of his back. It was a wooden-carved longsword.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring my top-quality peach wood sword. I only brought this one I carved to deceive children. I don’t know how effective it will be.”
Wu You: “…Are you really a serious Taoist?”
“Of course, I am a reputable and upright disciple.” Nan Shan blew on the peach wood sword and then slowly took out a yellow talisman, examining it from left to right.
“At this speed, can we catch ghosts before we die?”
“No hurry, no hurry.”
Nan Shan walked a few meters away from Wu You in the open corridor, stopped in the middle, and drew a nine-square grid on the ground with the wooden sword.
What surprised Wu You was that this seemingly shabby and completely non-majestic sword could actually draw black lines on the ground out of thin air.
Next, Nan Shan filled in the numbers in the grid, but the way he filled them seemed to have no rhyme or reason.
4_9_2
3_5_7
8_1_6
Nan Shan stood facing the grid, tossed the yellow talisman into the air, and the yellow paper floated and hovered in front of him.
This time, Wu You believed that this guy was not just a paper-mache Taoist.
But the next moment, he became even more puzzled.
Why could the Taoist’s techniques work in a virtual game like Holy Altar?
Shouldn’t such abilities be impossible to achieve?
Or is it that Holy Altar is not just the virtual game he imagined…
While he was contemplating, he heard Nan Shan say a sentence.
“Disciple is bothering you.”
His peach wood sword flew out of his hand, circled a few times on the ceiling, and then dove straight down.
“To the southeast.” Nan Shan’s smile disappeared, and he became unusually serious.
As the words fell, the diving peach wood sword flew above the number 6.
He placed one hand behind his back, the other hand with a palm placed on his chest, and chanted, “Respectfully following the heavenly gate, I invite the Jade Maiden, True Immortal of the Six Dings. Drawing the earth layout, leaving the heavenly gate, entering the earth door, closing the golden gate, riding the jade carriage with Jade Maiden, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Gou Chen, Teng Snake, Six Harmonies, Six Jia gods, gods and generals, following me and patrolling left and right…”
As he chanted, the peach wood sword traced lines on the ground in a certain order, with the red lines piercing through each palace and number.
6-7-8-9-5-1-2-3-4-5
“Gentlemen see me and rejoice greatly…”
In the palace with the number 5, the sword lingered for a few seconds.
It seemed like an evil wind was stirring within the nine palaces, and the peach wood sword trembled, swaying in the air about three inches above the ground.
Nan Shan’s stray hair flew up, just two or three meters away from him. Despite being separated by a grid, Wu You felt no breeze.
Two seconds later, Nan Shan sternly spoke the final sentence.
“All wicked spirits, those who see me shall perish.”
The peach wood sword stabilized again, moving from the paused 5 to the initial 6 palace.
With a loud noise, a golden light flashed across the nine palaces, then vanished into nothingness.
Wu You, still frowning and shielding his eyes from the light, turned his face to look at the ground where the grid had been drawn. He then turned his head to glance around.
“Did it work?”
The peach wood sword was now back in Nan Shan’s hand. He walked with the sword behind his back, heading in the direction they had just come from.
“It’s hard to say.” He reverted to that frivolous and unreliable tone. “Let’s walk and see.”
Wu You could only follow him. As they continued forward, he couldn’t help but feel that there was no difference, as if they were still near the corner.
However, he felt the temperature was not as low, even a bit warm.
As they walked, the leading Nan Shan suddenly stopped, reaching out one hand to press against the wall.
“What’s wrong?” Wu You, finding his movements strange, went over and also touched the wall.
It was scalding hot.
He pulled his hand away. “Why is the wall so hot here?”
“That’s the strange source.” Nan Shan placed the talisman on the wall where he had touched, and strangely, as the intact and continuous wall turned into ashes, a steel door appeared at the spot where the talisman was affixed.
Similar to the room doors they encountered before, it was made of the same material.
The only difference was that this door had a display screen, showing a nine-square grid.
“Did you do this transformation?”
Nan Shan shook his head slightly.
This was intentionally set up to lure him here.
He extended his index finger and lightly scratched the blade of the peach wood sword. Surprisingly, it cut, and blood oozed out. With the blood, Nan Shan drew the Nine Palace sequence on the screen, just like he did with the Jade Maiden’s reverse closing layout.
A symmetrical bloodline diagram appeared on the Nine Palaces.
The door opened in an instant, and with just a crack, Wu You was almost burned by the scorching airflow rushing out. A strong smell of burning protein made him cough uncontrollably.
Nan Shan pulled him behind him. “Be careful.”
Avoiding the hot stream, Wu You unintentionally glanced at the display screen on the door, only to find that it was no longer showing the grid, and the bloodstains were gone. Instead, a new line of text appeared.
[Welcome back, E07.]
Could this be…
Nan Shan’s workplace.
“You are E07, right?”
“Yeah.”
Suddenly, both Nan Shan and Wu You raised their hands to touch their ears because they heard a “beep” sound. After that, the words they spoke to each other seemed to inexplicably overlap in their ears, which felt strange.
Wu You glanced to the side and noticed a black dot on Nan Shan’s earlobe. He reached out and touched it. “It seems to be some kind of intercom.”
Nan Shan also saw it on Wu You’s earlobe.
He extended his hand and tapped twice on the raised dot on his own earlobe. The overlap disappeared. “Because we are near each other, the signals overlap after connecting.”
“Probably.” Wu You thought for a moment. “I wonder if we can contact others.”
“Let’s check inside this strange house first.”
Despite being fully prepared, Zhong Yirou was still startled by the simultaneous sitting of the children. At the same time, she noticed that the lullaby that had been lingering throughout the containment facility abruptly stopped.
The children on the beds were calling out “Sister, sister…” in succession, each of them stiffly attempting to get off the bed.
Seeing those pale little hands and feet about to step onto the floor, Zhong Yirou, frozen in place, immediately reacted.
Is it the temperature?
Enduring the strong odor, she rushed to the console placed there and frantically clicked on the panel, lowering the temperature.
10, 9, 8, 7…
Faster.
Suddenly, she felt something grabbing her ankle, but she didn’t look down.
What was there to look at? At most, it’s just a creepy child grabbing onto her leg.
“Don’t tear my stockings!”
She finally adjusted it back to the previous 3 degrees, and then without looking back, she ran toward the door. Zhong Yirou felt something entwining her leg, but she didn’t care. Once she left the sleep room and saw An Wujiu outside the door, she took a deep breath, reaching for the white button.
The door closed suddenly, leaving nothing behind.
“It closed just like that?”
Zhong Yirou couldn’t believe it. It was at this moment that she remembered something had grabbed her ankle just now. Closing her eyes, she vigorously shook one of her legs.
“What happened to you?” An Wujiu asked. “Is there something on your leg?”
Zhong Yirou suddenly stopped and looked down at her legs. Indeed, there was nothing on them, and her stockings were intact without a scratch.
“What’s going on?” She crouched down to inspect. “There was something just now.”
Finding it unbelievable, she stood up, feeling a bit excited. “Did you see inside? That scene just now, Wujiu, this place isn’t a place for children to sleep together at all; it’s a morgue!”
An Wujiu’s face showed a puzzled expression.
“How could that be? When you went in just now, they were all sleeping.”
“I was outside talking to you, remember? Keep your voice down; high heels might wake them up.”
Zhong Yirou was stunned.
She couldn’t believe it was her imagination, so, summoning up courage, she pressed the white button again.
The door opened once again, and the strange purple light in the room turned back to the warm, milky yellow. There was no foul smell, only a faint, soothing fragrance. Each child slept peacefully in their small beds, their chests gently rising and falling with each breath.
Everything was lively and peaceful.
They had turned from corpses back into living children.
A beep sounded in her ear, followed by some noise.
An Wujiu behind her said, “Are you too nervous?”
“Maybe we shouldn’t search here first. It’s normal to contain all the children. I saw the work log in an office just now; it requires your permission to open. Let’s go check that first.”
“Oh, okay.” Zhong Yirou closed the door to the sleep room again, still feeling a bit shaken.
Could it be that only she could see it, just like the permissions?
“It’s really strange. If you don’t believe it, we can come back later.”
Suddenly, the earpiece that had just beeped went silent, and then a familiar voice came through.
[Yirou, I just realized our right ears have a device with intercom functionality installed. Did you go out on your own? Don’t get separated. Do you want to come over now and join us? We are at the southeast corner on the first floor.]
Zhong Yirou, who had been silently following An Wujiu, suddenly fell silent.
[Can you hear me? This is Wujiu.] —
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I KNEW IT I KNEW IT WASNT AN AN