1TWITF[C Chapter 38

Chapter 38

“Qingqing, what’s wrong with you?” Yun Qian noticed that her best friend was acting strangely today.

This wasn’t like her at all.

Wen Qing still looked terrified. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but she bit her lip and shook her head, not saying a word.

Seeing her like this, Yun Qian felt bad too. She reached out and held her hand, which was incredibly cold. “Let’s walk home together after school, okay?”

“No, no need,” Wen Qing shook her head again. “I have something to do.”

Seeing Wen Qing hesitate, she shook her arm. “Please? Oh, wait a minute, you…”

“Nothing!” Before Yun Qian could finish her question, Wen Qing’s expression changed drastically, and she quickly clutched her backpack.

“There’s nothing in it!”

What exactly was Wen Qing going to do? Would she do anything dangerous?

Finally, Wen Qing boarded a bus with only a few passengers. Yun Qian had just followed when she was discovered.

“I, I was just worried about you…”

Yun Qian knew that no one liked being followed. She nervously gripped the hem of her shirt, looking embarrassed.

“Sigh, forget it. Let’s go back together after I take care of things.”

“Okay, okay. By the way, Qingqing, what exactly are you going to do?”

Wen Qing lowered her head, and a tear fell. “Xiao Mi is dead. I’m going to bury her.”

“Ah? Ah?”

Yun Qian didn’t know whether to be sad about Xiao Mi’s death or to ask why she had to bury her in such a remote place. She had always seen how much Wen Qing cared about that cat. After thinking for a long time, she squeezed out a dry sentence: “My condolences, don’t be too sad…”

“By the way, why did Xiao Mi… was it your dad?”

Unlike his daughter, Wen Qing’s father had always hated cats, especially black cats. He was in business and always felt that black cats were unlucky and would ruin his fortune. Yun Qian had heard them arguing about the cat a few times when she went to her house, and her father had even threatened to buy rat poison and kill the cat in a fit of anger.

Even because Wen Qing insisted on keeping the cat, she wasn’t willing to have it fostered at her grandmother’s house, so Wen Qing’s father let her and the cat live at her grandmother’s house together.

“It wasn’t him. My dad went on a business trip a few days ago and hasn’t returned yet.” But she shook her head again, unwilling to say who did it.

Yun Qian belatedly realized that the strange smell in her backpack might be…

Thinking of this, she shuddered and subconsciously moved away from her backpack. Coming back to her senses, she felt she wasn’t loyal enough, and reached out to hold her cold hand, asking softly, “Then why do we have to go so far? By the way, where are you going?”

Yinming Road was located on the southwest edge of their city. It was already remote. It was said that they originally wanted to plan to build a station in that area to boost economic development, but accidents always happened after construction started. The worker mortality rate was abnormally high, including the contractor. Whoever took over would die. Later, they didn’t know what master they invited to come and changed the station into an ordinary road, but they used such a weird name. No one raised any objections, and the name Yinming Road has been called that ever since.

“Just don’t worry about it.” Wen Qing thought of that person’s reminder. “Let’s take Xiao Mi over there quickly, and nothing will happen.”

“Okay.” Hearing Wen Qing say this, Yun Qian had no choice but to relax.

Watching the bus get farther and farther away from the main road, and the surrounding scenery becoming more and more desolate, she couldn’t help but feel a little scared.

“Yinming Road has arrived.” The bus slowly stopped, and the driver said in a hoarse voice.

Besides the driver, there were only two girls on the entire bus.

Yun Qian and Wen Qing got off the bus one after the other, shivering from the cold wind. Yun Qian looked around. “So this is Yinming Road. It’s really desolate.”

All the trees had lost their leaves, and the entire space was silent, empty, and dead. There wasn’t even a bird. Besides a road that had been repaired, the surrounding area was all exposed yellow earth. The air was cold, but dry and uncomfortable.

Wen Qing: “No, we have to walk a little further.” With that, she walked forward with her backpack. Yun Qian quickly followed.

The sky gradually darkened.

It seemed to get dark earlier here than elsewhere, and it was colder than elsewhere.

In the distance, an SUV drove over with four people inside.

*

Just then, his leg was nudged by something soft.

There was a lost cat poster on the telephone pole in front of him, and the cat on it looked exactly like it.

Lu Yanli tentatively called out, “Xiao Mi?”

Who knew that the cat would nod its head like it understood, and then it jumped. Lu Yanli subconsciously reached out to catch it. The cat jumped into his hand and dropped the item it was biting, then scampered onto his shoulder.

It seemed that this girl was the black cat’s owner.

Lu Yanli wasn’t that kind, and plus, this matter seemed strange no matter how he looked at it. He turned his head, just wanting to refuse, when he met the black cat’s eyes.

He nodded, agreed, and found Wen Qing’s home address.

Wen Qing wasn’t home. There was only an old woman there. She was very welcoming. After Lu Yanli said goodbye to her, he inadvertently looked back and saw the cat on the balcony, its eyes filled with complicated emotions.

It didn’t look like a cat. Those eyes looked like… a person.

*

“I didn’t expect that we still have to return to Yinming Road to do this game.”

Inside an SUV sat four people, three men and one woman. One of the men, sitting in the back seat, said this.

Shi Yan took over the topic: “But looking at it this way, it should be very safe there.” Since they returned safely yesterday, then today should… nothing unexpected will happen, right?

Ye Shengke nodded. “Hopefully.”

In the end, it became increasingly cold, and the front became increasingly dark. It was almost impossible to see one’s hand in front of one’s face. Even the car lights seemed to be swallowed by the heavy darkness.

They came to a place they hadn’t explored deeply last night. After reaching the intersection, they bumped into something as soon as they turned a corner, but they didn’t care. None of the four people suggested getting out of the car to take a look, and the car continued to drive forward.

After continuing to drive for a while, there was an abandoned building.

“This is it.”

Shi Yan carefully looked at the building in front of her, sighing, “It’s really gloomy.”

Decayed, dilapidated, it was simply a natural haunted house. Even when illuminated by the car lights, it was difficult to feel at ease. It always felt like there was something extremely evil inside.

Not to mention that in a little while, they were going to play the legendary summoning ghost game inside.

“Speaking of which, the game that the mission arranged for us to do also exists in our world. I can actually search for it in this world. But if it were in the past, I would definitely think it was a scam.”

“It would be great if it were really a scam. We wouldn’t have to be like this now…”

“Forget it, what’s the use of saying this now? Let’s first confirm the game steps for later.”

The mission required one hour. After one hour, they could leave. The four people carefully looked at the building in front of them. Unfortunately, it was too dark inside the building, and they couldn’t see anything.

“Let’s go down and take a look first. At least first determine which room to play in later,” Chu Xiu said.

Saying this, he was the first to get out of the car, holding a flashlight in his hand, standing by the car.

Seeing Chu Xiu get out of the car, the others also unfastened their seat belts and got out of the car one after another, each holding a flashlight, standing beside him.

Facing this building directly, they realized an extremely cold and eerie aura that they couldn’t feel when they were in the car. Just looking at it made them tremble.

However, no matter how scared they were, they still had to do the mission. Chu Xiu said lightly, “Let’s go, we’ll come back later.”

The four people walked side by side, approached, and pushed open the door of the small building on the first floor.

The door was made of iron, with rusty spots all over it. The paint that had been applied had long since peeled off. It took a lot of effort to push it open, making a long creaking sound that made their teeth ache.

Immediately after, the scene on the first floor appeared before their eyes.

“I heard that they wanted to build a station here before, but it had to be abandoned because of frequent accidents not long after construction started. Now it seems that this building may be what the workers built at that time.”

“Are we playing in this lobby?” Shi Yan asked.

There was too much dust in the lobby. She asked this question with her mouth covered.

“Yes, right here,” Chu Xiu said.

Now the others were puzzled. “Why?” Nie Yunzhen asked.

Although it couldn’t guarantee that no ghosts would appear at all, reducing some probability was better than nothing.

The other three understood and naturally had no objections. They walked around the room, noted the time, and then checked their watches.

In order not to die muddle-headed in the mission because of time issues, they basically spent a lot of money to buy the most accurate watches. Each person’s watch was luminous, and the two hands emitted green light in the dark.

It was now 11:25. It took them about twelve minutes to walk around once.

In other words, they should hear a cough once every twelve minutes. Counting the fact that they deliberately delayed and slowed down, it would be at most fifteen minutes.

They had to walk at least four rounds in one hour.

After that, the four people returned to the car and waited quietly.

Time passed by minute by minute. Soon, the hour hand pointed to the twelve o’clock position.

Midnight, arrived.

The four people got out of the car again.

In the rules of the game, no light was allowed, so they didn’t even bring flashlights. After getting out of the car, the car lights were turned off. There was not a single bit of starlight or moonlight tonight. The entire forest was soaked in heavy darkness.

The door was still open. They slowly walked in and then closed the door.

“Now, find your positions according to what we just discussed,” Chu Xiu said softly. As soon as he finished speaking, he walked towards the diagonal position.

“Is everyone ready?” Chu Xiu asked.

“Ready.”

“I’m here.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, everyone look at the watch on their hand, cover it with their sleeve, and in three seconds, it officially begins,” Chu Xiu said.

Three…

Two…

One.

The game began.

Chu Xiu walked along the wall in a clockwise direction.

It was said that a lack of vitamin A in the human body could lead to night blindness, making it difficult to see things at night.

For the convenience of doing missions, the four of them had long trained their night vision abilities and reached the peak of their personal qualities, but it was useless. In a space without any light, no matter how good their night vision was, they couldn’t see anything.

Chu Xiu could only walk straight down along the wall.

His light footsteps sounded in the darkness.

After walking for about five minutes, he vaguely sensed that there was a person in front of him at close range.

Judging by the position, it was Ye Shengke.

He was much luckier, because the first floor lobby of this building was not a square, but a rectangle that was wide horizontally and narrow vertically. In other words, the road he had to walk in the first round was not long.

But he still slowed down a bit.

The two people in the other corners counted the seconds in their hearts, estimating the time. Sure enough, after nearly five minutes, the footsteps from the first time stopped, and then the footsteps of a second person, different from the ones that had just sounded, appeared in the lobby.

Ye Shengke couldn’t see anything in front of him. Opening his eyes was no different from closing them. He tried to walk in a straight line, moving forward step by step in the dark.

Darkness could devour a person’s will. As he walked, Ye Shengke couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild. One moment he worried that a female ghost would suddenly pop out in front of him, and the next he worried that the person who took over from him when he reached the next corner wouldn’t be his senior. Just as he scared himself with his messy imagination, the next corner… arrived.

There, stood a person, and he could vaguely sense the temperature on the other person’s body, as well as a bit of female fragrance.

It was Senior!

Shi Yan gave him a position, turned around, and walked forward step by step.

The section of road she had to walk was relatively special, as it would pass by the door. After walking for a while, Shi Yan estimated that she had reached the door.

There, came a cold, metallic sound that belonged only to metal.

Her footsteps hesitated for a moment. She couldn’t wait to open the door and run, but Shi Yan thought about the consequences of not completing the mission and gritted her teeth and continued to move forward.

When the other three heard Shi Yan’s footsteps pause slightly, they all thought something had happened, and their hearts skipped a beat. Fortunately, the footsteps quickly adjusted again. Ye Shengke comforted himself in his heart. Maybe she just tripped.

Soon, Shi Yan walked to Nie Yunzhen’s position.

Nie Yunzhen sensed a person walking towards him. He could feel the heat source moving towards him, and he stepped back to make way. Then, he also turned around and walked clockwise towards the next corner.

Under normal circumstances, the next corner should be empty now. He needed to cough once and then walk to Chu Xiu’s position.

Would it really be empty?

What if… what if there was something there, what would it be?

Nie Yunzhen took a deep breath, but he wasn’t particularly afraid.

He had specially changed into clothes with large pockets. Now, his pocket contained the statue.

What did it matter what he believed in? He had prayed to gods and Buddhas so many times, which god had protected him? As long as he could save his life, he didn’t care whether he believed in ghosts or evil gods.

Wait, wait…

Where was the statue?!

Nie Yunzhen reached out to touch it, but didn’t find it. He was shocked, and cold sweat broke out all over his body.

He clearly… clearly put the statue in his pocket and carried it with him. When did it disappear? How did it disappear?

Could it be… that the three of them stole it?

Just then, he walked to the next corner.

There was no one there.

Nie Yunzhen breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he coughed heavily a few times. Immediately after, he started to walk forward.

Hearing the cough, the other three also breathed a sigh of relief.

In the first round of the Four Corners Game, there were no ghosts.

But just as Nie Yunzhen took his first step, he suddenly thought of something, and suddenly, his limbs became cold.

Why, why did it sound like someone was coughing with him just now?!

He only coughed three times. Where did the fourth sound come from?

Already… a ghost had already mixed in!

And it was now, very, very close to him.

Where did that ghost go now? Would it still be following me?

No… no!

Why didn’t it go to someone else?!

Strange, why did Nie Yunzhen’s speed suddenly increase? Chu Xiu quickly thought of this question, and then was startled by the answer that emerged in his heart.

Could it be that something unexpected had happened?

Not long after, Nie Yunzhen arrived. Chu Xiu could also sense the aura of a living person on him, and relaxed slightly. Then, he lifted his leg and walked towards the next corner.

Nie Yunzhen stood in the corner, facing the wall. He thought that the “thing” had left with Chu Xiu, and relaxed slightly.

But what he didn’t expect was that after a while, someone gently blew on his neck.

His whole body stiffened, like a piece of wood. His mind was full of the gentle breath just now, but it was so cold that it chilled his bones.

Everyone couldn’t make a sound, so Chu Xiu didn’t notice the desperate expression on Nie Yunzhen’s face at all. Even if he did, he couldn’t help him.

Footsteps sounded again.

He didn’t know how long he had walked, or how many circles he had walked. When Chu Xiu continued to walk forward and reached the next corner, he suddenly thought of a question—it had been a long time since a cough had sounded!

So, now there was a person standing in each of the four corners.

Chu Xiu’s heart beat wildly.

Which corner would the extra thing be in?

Chu Xiu had no way of knowing. He could only continue to walk down according to the rules.

The next corner still had a “person.”

If viewed from above, it could be found that they were walking around and around, almost dizzying themselves. Just like Chu Xiu just now, he clearly remembered the number, but he was bewitched by an unknown thing, forgot how many circles he had walked, and forgot to remember how long he had walked.

“You’re finally out.”

Seeing a figure come out of the door, Shi Yan breathed a sigh of relief and quickly whispered to him.

There was a period of time just now when there was no cough, so they must have attracted something unclean. It was better to leave quickly.

Chu Xiu nodded and got into the car.

Nie Yunzhen said, “Quick, fasten your seat belts, let’s go back now.”

What they didn’t know was that in that building, the real Chu Xiu was still walking around and around.

He was still accompanying three unknown things, continuing to play the Four Corners Game.

“Where are we going now? Why don’t we go back to the hotel?” Nie Yunzhen suggested. “Anyway, we haven’t checked out yet.”

He couldn’t find the statue, and he was anxious, wondering if he had left it at the hotel.

“Okay.” Before Shi Yan and Ye Shengke could object, Chu Xiu, who was sitting in the passenger seat, nodded and agreed.

Nie Yunzhen glanced at Chu Xiu gratefully. The car started and drove towards the hotel at high speed.

On the other side of the city, Lu Yanli arrived at a hotel and checked in.

He always felt like he had forgotten something. The smile on the front desk clerk’s face was sweet, but it gave him a sense of incongruity.

Behind him, was another clerk who looked at a loss.

The elevator doors slowly closed, stopping at the number 1, but then, it opened again, and then… the numbers on the display dropped wildly.