CH 53

Here’s a list of names, in case someone couldn’t remember them:

Level 10 team

Chen Changdong (leader)

Liu Xing (twins)

Liu Yue (twins)

Yuan Jin (man with slightly long hair)

Ma Ming (a short guy)

Dong Xu (a tall guy)

At 1.00 pm, it should be the brightest time of the day, but the atmosphere around the square is overcast. The 5 newcomers are about to cry in fright. They hid on the side and shivered, but did not dare to make a sound.

Pedestrians are walking around the square, and quite a few people are coming in and out. Everyone observed for a while and found no abnormality so Chen Changdong walked into the plaza first.

Lou Fan followed behind and saw that Chen Shuyang is reading a book. Throwing a curious glance at it, he saw the title of the book - The Most Powerful Exorcism in History.

Lou Fan: "Shuyang, what kind of random thing are you reading?"

"Exorcism." Chen Shuyang added, "Wen Lang gave it to me and I saw that it is quite interesting. There are a lot of exorcism incantations written in it. The book even said with a single recitation, demons and monsters would not dare to approach."

Lou Fan patted Chen Shuyang on the shoulder and said solemnly, "Then we’ll count on you when we encounter demons or ghosts."

Chen Shuyang hehe-ed and said, "Brother Lou, I'm just joking. It’s not harmful to learn more, what if it's useful?"

"The Hell it’s useful?" Lou Fan patted Chen Shuyang's head, "Don't learn from Wen Lang. he is unreliable. Be careful that he pit you so badly that your father can’t recognize you."

Wen Lang immediately said while holding his heart, "Brother Lou, it hurts my heart too much for you to say that."

Jiang Dong leaned over, "Do you need me to soothe your heart?"

"Frick!" Wen Lang shrugged his shoulders, "Go away, it's disgusting."

Jiang Dong seemed to have found something interesting about it, and leaned nearer again, "Come on, I'm the best at appeasing young men's hearts. Brother Lou, leave it to me."

When Wen Lang heard this, he make random noises and ducked to the back.

Lou Fan burst out laughing. These 2 national treasures are quite interesting.

Chen Shuyang raised his glasses and sighed woefully, "Those stupid humans ah!" But then Lou Fan glared at him just after saying a word, so Chen Shuyang immediately stopped talking. He put away the book about exorcism and followed behind Lou Fan.

Lou Fan said with an elderly tone, "Shuyang, I have high expectations for you. Maybe your book would be the first spirit weapon to upgrade in our team. You work hard and don't learn from Wen Lang ah."

"Yes, I will definitely live up to Brother Lou's trust in me." Chen Shuyang replied, full of confidence as if he had been injected with chicken blood/adrenaline.

…

The flow of people in the square is not as deserted as they imagined. A lot of people mean it's more difficult to find someone. Chen Changdong suggested that everyone separate and familiarize themselves with the environment. It doesn't seem to be dangerous at this moment.

Other than the villagers from Lao Ye Temple village, this is the first time Qin Tan’s team had come to a spiritual world with so many people inside. However, they are familiar with the location distribution based on the map drawn by Chen Shuyang before this, so now they are going to go to the 4th and 5th floors to take a look, which is the place where accidents often happen.

Chen Changdong took his team members and the 5 newcomers to check the floor plan of the square.

The tall Dong Xu said, "Captain, that Qin Tan looks good."

Chen Changdong nodded, "Qin Tan should have a solid foundation. The one named Lou Fan is not weak either with a bow. You have also seen that he has a pet. This is the first time I have seen a living creature in Lazuli, so be careful."

Liu Xing grinned and interjected, "The other 3 are not weak too, Captain."

Chen Changdong smiled, "Generally speaking, the quality of the lower team is good this time. We’ll see their performance later. It is best if they could be recruited into the organization. It has been a long time since we accept new people."

…

The newcomers followed the team of 6 people, not knowing where they are going. Their task is to survive in the plaza for 12 days, but it is not easy to survive in such a place.

Ma Ming is a little troubled and didn't know how to place them. "Captain, what about the newcomers? We can't take them with us all the time."

The 1st floor is the hall, the hall is surrounded by booths, and there are 4 security exits. After observing for a while, Chen Changdong decided to place the newcomers near an exit, so that they could escape in case something bad happened.

The newcomer's mood has stabilized now. One of them, a man in a suit organized everyone to sit together, and then asked the newcomers to take out their money to buy backpacks. The remaining money is to buy food and water[1]. The newcomers each held their backpacks and looked around vigilantly. The nervousness and anxiety of suddenly coming to a strange place are written all over their faces.

Chen Changdong took the team members to see the floor plan of the plaza. Liwan Plaza is a circular building with two symmetrical sides. The sides are connected to the residential area. In the middle is the commercial plaza, which is full of shops and crowded.

Qin Tan’s team went up to the 4th floor, which is like a dividing line, dividing the flow of people below. As soon as they reached the 4th floor, they immediately sensed that the aura here had changed significantly. Unlike the flow of people below, there are few people on this floor, and those who occasionally pass by are as silent as ghosts. The shops are open but the owner inside is sitting stiffly, with no expression on his face. Only the pair of eyes are staring straight at the person who came in, causing one to feel a chill coming from the soles of their feet to the back of their head.

Chen Shuyang rubbed the goosebumps on his arms and muttered something silently in his mouth. Then he said, "Their eyes are too scary. Not the scary type, but creepy."

Although Lou Fan isn't afraid of ghosts or the like, he felt a little unnerved by the expressions this kind of person made. You think he should be human, but his facial expressions and movements are not like a human being. However, Lou Fan can't simply shoot an arrow at the owner. He is from a society ruled by law, so there is still a psychological barrier to attacking a human like this.

After walking around the circular path, Qin Tan’s team found nothing special so they are going to go up to the 5th floor to have a look. When the elevator opened to the 5th floor, someone can be seen standing alone on the railing opposite. Then he jumped without hesitation...

Qin Tan’s team watched helplessly as the person flew down.

BANG!

A loud noise that would make their teeth hurt sounded. Lou Fan leaned on the railing and glanced down. Then he immediately retracted his gaze and looked at the opposite side.

Qin Tan squinted his eyes and looked at it carefully for a while, but found nothing unusual. Then, his sleeve is pulled, and Lou Fan whispered in his ear, "I saw a shadow on the opposite side just now, and it disappeared after a flicker. It must be a ghost."

Qin Tan nodded and turned to ask Jiang Dong, "Is that person still alive?"

Jiang Dong shook his head, "No. Look at his posture, his skull head-first on the ground and his cervical vertebra is broken. He can't be saved."

Qin Tan acknowledged with a sound and said, "Get ready with your weapons, let's go to the opposite side."

The team looked at each other and understood something, immediately clenching their weapons. Chen Shuyang is surrounded by his team members in the center, holding the immobilizing amulet tightly in his hand. If there is any danger, he would immediately tear it.

As soon as the loud noise sounded, the Level 10 team rushed to the open space in the center of the plaza. This man fell from a height and slammed hard on the marble floor of the circular atrium below. Blood splashed everywhere, and the bright red blood pooled on the ground.

Chen Changdong looked up. Qin Tan was looking down at that moment so he shook his head at Chen Changdong and pointed with his chin towards the direction where the person jumped down.

…

This floor is even gloomier than the 4th floor. There are only a few shops open and there is no one inside. The lights overhead dimmed occasionally and in dead silence, only the slight footsteps of 5 people could be heard. Not sure if it's because of the light, there seemed to be many figures swaying around in the shadows, but they can't see clearly. Lou Fan rubbed his eyes and looked again at the place where the fallen man was standing.

A shadow stood there, unable to see his facial features, but Lou Fan could clearly feel that the shadow is smiling at him. However, when he looked again, there is no shadow there. Lou Fan pursed his lips and didn't tell the others. The next time the shadow comes out, he will serve it with an arrow.

Going to the opposite side, Lou Fan is about to walk forward but Qin Tan had already stepped forward, leaning on the railing to look down. Suddenly, Qin Tan shook his head, feeling like he is in a trance. A voice said to him, "Go up and jump down, then all your troubles will be gone... Go up..." A hand behind him gently pushed him. Qin Tan’s hands and feet seemed to be under control as he lifted them up stiffly...

Almost immediately, Lou Fan noticed that something is wrong with Qin Tan. Without hesitation, he raised his bow and pulled it gently, and a spiritual arrow flew towards the back of Qin Tan's head. Before the arrow could touch Qin Tan, a wave of ripples spread out in the air, and the spiritual arrow disappeared behind Qin Tan. Next, there is a small pool of black liquid on the ground behind him.

At the same time, Qin Tan slashed with a backhand motion, as if he is slashing in the air, but he felt a slight resistance - something got slashed.

A shrill and short hiss sounded in everyone's ears, it was extremely harsh. Invisible airflow swept past the 5 people but they couldn't see anything at all. Lou Fan is very sure that it must be the dark shadow he saw just now, and the shadow escaped, unfortunately.

"Are you alright?" Lou Fan's eyes swept over Qin Tan. When he found that there is no problem, he raised his head and said, "Let's go down first, and discuss with Chen Changdong."

Just as they are about to leave, Chen Shuyang said, "Brother Lou, I just saw a slightly different shop. There is a yellow talisman pasted at the door."

"Are you sure?" Lou Fan asked with a frown, "Where?"

Chen Shuyang stretched out his hand and pointed at the half-circle where they walked past just now, "I was just thinking to check if other shops have the same thing before telling you guys, but I didn't expect this to happen. Shall we go and have a look?"

Lou Fan looked at Qin Tan, "What do you think?"

Qin Tan pondered for a while, "Go down first, we don’t want to stand out. It's not a good thing if we got targeted."

Lou Fan thought so too, and the team walked downstairs together. The elevator has unknowingly stopped working. Wen Lang walked in front of Jiang Dong, trembling with fear. He turned around and is about to talk to Jiang Dong when he saw a dark shadow behind Jiang Dong.

"Duck!"

The moment the word fell, a poker in Wen Lang’s hand flew out. Jiang Dong ducked and avoided the poker. The poker seemed to hit something, and a puff of black smoke came out. Then the thing disappeared.

They just said that it’s not good to be targeted, but the shadow came again.

Qin Tan immediately said, "Speed up and be careful behind you."

Immediately, the team quickly ran down to the 3rd floor. The voices in their ears made them feel the heat around them. But there is nothing behind them, just people who came and went.

After meeting with Chen Changdong in the atrium downstairs, Qin Tan talked about what happened upstairs, emphasizing the yellow talisman that Chen Shuyang found.

It was not long after someone jumped down, Chen Changdong didn't expect that Qin Tan’s team would encounter a ghost.

Qin Tan: "That thing should be very important, but we're afraid we won't be able to deal with it, so we decided to tell you first."

Anyway, Qin Tan’s task is to stop the 8th person from dying and to find the eminent monk. The evil ghost has nothing to do with them for the time being. If it comes to the point they need to get into battle, they will talk about it later.

The corpse on the ground is already covered with a piece of cloth. A large group of NPCs gathered around, and there are constant discussions.

"The first of this month! What a tragic death."

"I don't know when it will stop."

"I heard that the boss found an eminent monk to subdue demons and exorcise them."

...[1] Can you spot the plot hole? ... No? :v It's the money. Since they are in a different world, how can their money still usable in this world lol? _(;3/