CH 40

(Part 1 – Walking in Circles)

Edited by Silver Wind 

The female ghost was at a loss. “I don’t know.”

No one had asked her that question before and she had never actively thought about that question.

Now that she was trying to recall her memories all of a sudden, she came to the sharp realisation that it was completely blank.

Zhou Wenyan stopped enquiring. “I understand now.” 

Thus, as the female ghost was contemplating this issue, she floated out absentmindedly.

Before she left, Shen Dongqing said: “Don’t forget the words I said.”

The female ghost’s complexion changed, becoming firm and persevering.

No matter how she was in the past, she needed to have goals in the future; she could not go on in a muddle headed and ignorant manner, she had to be a ghost with her own ideas.

“Rest assured, I will definitely hurt people properly!” She clenched her fists and spoke with a tone brimming with lofty aspirations and high ideals.

Blueberry was already too powerless to ridicule.

How did she become hot-blooded again?

After the thoroughly reformed female ghost disappeared, Zhou Wenyan murmured a sentence: “This shouldn’t be the case.”

Shen Dongqing questioned idly, “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Wenyan said: “The ghosts here seem to emerge from nothing, they don’t have the slightest grudges.”

According to the game’s setting, it had always been that way; ghosts had to have grudges. 

Shen Dongqing: “There exists those who have survived for so long that they forgot what grudges they had.”

For example, he had lived too long and he had forgotten all of it, which was one of the contributing factors as to why he could not reincarnate. Fortunately, he had seized the chance to occupy a dead body, or else he would never have become a human again.

However, he still repudiated himself, “But these ghosts don’t look like they’ve lived for very long.”

Zhou Wenyan held his own chin, thumb brushing across his lips. “I’m thinking about a matter.” 

Shen Dongqing: “En?”

“Perhaps the clearance method is not mutually slaughtering each other.”

Blueberry spoke with much caution: “But when we entered the game, the system broadcasted it as such.”

Zhou Wenyan hooked up his lips: “Then do you still remember how the system said it?” 

Blueberry recollected it carefully.

But she could only remember a rough section of the words.

Shen Dongqing said: “I remember it said this game is in battle royale mode, real time broadcasting of the surviving players: 21 surviving players currently.”

After he finished speaking, he looked at Zhou Wenyan, distinctive eyes sparkling as if he was seeking praise. 

Zhou Wenyan rewarded him with pats on his head. “You got it right. The system’s words did not explicitly state the clearance condition, nor did it say that you could clear it by killing everyone.”

Blueberry blurted out, “What the fuck.”

Circumspect thoughts were exceedingly dreadful.

The system used the two words ‘battle royale’ to directly mislead all the players. 

Zhou Wenyan said: “Which is why I’m thinking, is the clearance condition to discover the reason why these ghosts appeared?”

When his voice landed, the room rang out with the game’s begrudging and unwilling voice:

【 Player Zhou Wenyan has solved 30% of the World Outlook, solving it by 100% is equivalent to clearance 】

Vtfc Gbcudlcu kjr mbcoerfv. “Dea ktfgf mbeiv atfrf utbrar mbwf ogbw?” 

Lf mbeiv cba mbwqgftfcv la.

Itbe Qfcsjc mbeiv cba gfrlra atf eguf ab qlcmt tlr mtffx. “Pa’r olcf, pera ifa wf tjcvif la.”

Vtfc Gbcudlcu: “P kjca ab tfiq abb.”

Dijwf tlw obg ilnlcu obg abb ibcu, tf kjr ubbv ja erlcu obgmf cba tlr ygjlcr. 

Zhou Wenyan made an incoherent noise before he said, “You can help.”

Shen Dongqing: “How do I help?”

Zhou Wenyan tapped his chin. “Kiss me.”

Shen Dongqing showed no hesitation as he went up to kiss him. 

Feeling something soft brush past his lips, Zhou Wenyan laughed lowly, “Not enough.”

Shen Dongqing tilted his head. “Do you want more?”

“It’s okay,” Zhou Wenyan said, “Keep it, I’ll ask for it after we clear the instance.”

Tattoo did not plan to sleep tonight.

For one, his Little Brother had died so there was no one to keep watch at night and two, he wanted to wait for news about the death of the two players who had slipped out of his net last night.

But as he waited and waited, the urge to sleep suddenly rose and he fell into deep slumber.

Ding ling ling— 

The ear-piercing ringing of a phone sounded.

Tattoo woke up in fright.

This sound was very close, as if it was right by his ear.

After a period of disorientation, he woke up and his sweaty hair stood on its ends. 

What was going on? He obviously threw his phone away a long time ago.

However, the ringing of the phone did not seem to be fake; it was clear, melodious, and audible.

Tattoo flipped his body and got off the bed. The lights were not turned on, but he gave a sweeping glance to every corner in the room by borrowing the moonlight trickling in from the window.

Finally, he homed in on the dustbin in the corner. 

He walked over and opened the dustbin to take a look then found a landline telephone lying at the bottom.

Due to the appearance of the ghost call phenomenon, Tattoo had pulled out the landline telephone and threw it into the dustbin the moment he entered the house.

In spite of that, the ringing continued ceaselessly.

Tattoo felt a little cold, so cold that his legs were frozen and stuck to the ground, refusing to move. He could only look at the telephone as it continued ringing with wide eyes. 

“No, how is this possible…”

This was obviously his card, it should be listening to his commands to kill other players, why was the usage being directed at him?

Tattoo did not move.

Alas, after the phone rang for a time, a formless hand seemed to pinch the telephone receiver and pick it up. 

Tattoo took a step back and he swallowed his saliva quickly, “Don’t, stop messing around, come back now!”

No one spoke on the other end of the phone.

There was only soft breathing.

After a process of cautious discriminating, Tattoo realised that the breathing was not coming out from the telephone receiver, but…. from behind him. 

His neck went stiff and he dared not turn around.

A huff of cold air brushed past him.

Tattoo heard a voice sound from behind him: “I’m back…”

【 Player Tattoo, Cause of Death: Ghost Call 】 

Near the dead body of Tattoo, the System issued its cold notification.

The third morning.

The surviving players became fewer and fewer with only twelve people remaining, and it was highly probable that over the next two days, the player count would drop to a single digit. When that time came around, the remaining players were bound to become fiercer. 

Zhou Wenyan: “It would be better for us to crack the World Outlook earlier.”

Shen Dongqing gazed at him with wide eyes, “Are there any leads?”

Zhou Wenyan thought about it before he said: “Check the recent local news.”

Swiftly, Shen Dongqing downloaded a news application, opened, and browsed through it. The news listed were minor matters akin to chicken feathers and garlic skin, there was nothing pertaining to any supernatural incidents. 

“An electric car lost…”

“The electrical appliances in a rented house are in poor condition…”

“A famous internet writer accepting an interview…”

Shen Dongqing flipped through them one by one before he eventually gave up and said: “There’s nothing.” 

Blueberry inserted, “Generally speaking, supernatural accidents usually don’t go on the news, right?”

Zhou Wenyan replied, “We’ll take a walk around and ask the people nearby.”

Thus, the three exited their apartment.

Probably because most of the players had died, the corridor was deserted and not a sound could be heard.

It was only when they rode the elevator down that they found some hint of human life.

The elderly men and women were out for a stroll, the working people were rushing out of their door, while the little children were crying and kicking up a fuss because they did not want to go to school…

As a lady, Blueberry was more sociable and she walked over to strike up a conversion with the residents in the small community, wanting to obtain some information covertly. 

However, the elderly men and women seemed unaware of any supernatural occurrences, and they even introduced Blueberry to a possible partner happily.

“Hm, there’s a brat in our building that is quite compatible with you, the one from the second unit on the 14th floor, and his house is quite close to yours too.” The elder woman pulled Blueberry and said: “Do you want me to introduce you to him to get acquainted?”

Blueberry: I never thought that I would still be urged to marry after I entered the game.

She forced herself to maintain her smile: “I just moved here and I’m not familiar with anything, maybe we should talk about this after I’m fully settled in.” 

The elder woman shook her head, “That brat is becoming more capable, once you miss the chance, it’s gone.”

Meanwhile, Blueberry was constantly trying to pull the topic back to the supernatural and ghostly aspect, but she repeatedly failed as it would be brought back to the conversation of love and marriage again.

The elder woman continued to praise the brat nonstop: “That child is someone I’ve watched grow up from a young age, and after he graduated, he became a recluse at home so I would barely see him come out of his house once in an entire year. Everyone initially thought that he was without prospects but unexpectedly, that boy, he directly published a book and became a big writer.”

No matter how well she praised him, it was not possible for Blueberry to become – or dare to be – interested in a character in the game. Thus, she could only make up a false excuse before she bid the overly enthusiastic elder woman farewell. 

Blueberry: “I didn’t find any clues.”

Zhou Wenyan stood up, “It’s fine, let’s get some food first.”

The group went to the nearby shopping mall to eat.

After they finished their food and wandered out, Blueberry saw that pair of mother and son again. 

“Huh.” Blueberry stopped in her tracks.

Zhou Wenyan’s gaze followed where she was looking and saw the same pair of mother and son walk into a clothing store, their appearance denoted them as ordinary people.

Blueberry shook her head: “Maybe I’m thinking too much.”

Zhou Wenyan said, “Talk about it.” 

“I think he looks familiar,” said Blueberry.

She pointed at that emaciated otaku.

Shen Dongqing had the same feeling. “I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

He ruminated about it briefly before he took out his phone and searched for the news application before entering it. Then, he pointed at a particular piece of news and said: “Here.” 

The news title was, Famous Internet Writer Accepts An Interview….

A sudden realisation struck Blueberry. “I saw him on the entertainment news before.”

Stretching out his hand, Zhou Wenyan stated, “Let me take a look.”

Shen Dongqing handed it over. 

Zhou Wenyan proceeded to read through the entire article but he did not manage to find what kind of book this famous internet writer wrote.

Hence, he shut off the phone, choosing the most convenient and fast method.

“Let’s go and ask the writer himself.”

However, when he lifted his head, that pair of mother and son had already vanished into thin air. 

Blueberry said, “He lives in the same small community as us, we should be able to find him after some searching.”

Back at the small community.

At this time, all the residents had scattered and not a single person could be seen. 

They, however, were not without leads. Blueberry recalled what the elder woman previously said: “He should be staying in the second unit of the 14th floor.”

There was not a high possibility of there being two famous writers in the entire small community after all.

Zhou Wenyan pressed the up button of the elevator.

But even after a long time, there was no response from the elevator, and its lights were not even switched on. 

Shen Dongqing asked: “Is it out of service?”

Zhou Wenyan searched around the area before his eyes landed on the swinging door that was hidden in the recesses of the first floor.

On top of the big door was a shining green sign that read “Safety Exit”.

“Use the stairs,” he said. 

The 14th floor was not too high, and they would reach the floor after some time on the stairs.

Due to the fact that the high-rise building had an elevator, the stairs were used infrequently. Therefore, even though the light sensors were spoilt, no one came to fix it, and the lack of windows only made the situation worse.

Shen Dongqing pulled out his phone and used the weak flashlight to shine his way.

First floor, second floor, third floor… tenth floor, eleventh floor… 

The floor number was written on the wall of each floor staircase and it was written with red paint. In this sort of environment, it need not be said that it was quite odd. In order to ensure that he would not miss the floor, Shen Dongqing had to use his phone to illuminate the wall every time he passed one floor.

Twelfth floor, thirteenth floor, thirteenth floor, thirteenth floor…

When he passed the thirteenth floor for the third time, Shen Dongqing finally reacted.

“Are we walking in circles?” 

His voice echoed in the stairway.

There was no reply, and it was like he was the only one in the stairway.