CH 129

(Paranormal)

Hearing this, Shen Dongqing hurried over to the window and squeezed next to Zhou Wenyan, looking out at the city ablaze with lights. “It feels quite normal,” he said, resting his elbows on the window sill and propping his chin. 

But, as the brat claimed, it was only normal when they were present, and when they were not, the entire city came to a standstill.

That’s why they didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

“Oh, it’s like a game,” Shen Dongqing concluded. He pondered for a minute before correcting himself, “It’s exactly like playing a computer game. Only when the player enters will all NPCs move.”

That’s correct, this city appeared to be a playground tailor-made for the two of them, entirely serving them. Everything was available, whether it was good food, games, relatives, or friends. In other words, the service was simply fantastic. 

I’m afraid they wouldn’t have questioned the authenticity of this world if it hadn’t been for the brat stating what he did.

“I think it’s rather enjoyable here,” the brat shook his short legs.

“How do you know this?” Zhou Wenyan asked.

In light of the “once you take advantage of someone, you’re hesitant to speak up” argument, the brat stated frankly, “Because I’m not a player.”

The brat was once the little boss defending Ghost City, but Shen Dongqing brought him out due to the cheating plug-in. His identity was awkward. He was no longer a boss nor a player; he was somewhere in the middle. He was an unfixed bug in the game.

In the viewpoint of the game, he “doesn’t exist,” so he could see things that Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan couldn’t, and those NPCs wouldn’t start performing in front of him.

“That game truly lost a lot of money,” Shen Dongqing sighed with feeling.

The game faithfully recreated a real city, complete with everything except demons and ghosts. It was simply too thoughtful. 

But…

“What is the game’s scheme?” Shen Dongqing wondered, his head cocked.

Zhou Wenyan lowered his sight and gazed at Shen Dongqing’s wrist, which carried the jade gourd.

Controller. 

Shen Dongqing had used the controller in this world, and now the surface of the jade gourd was dull and riddled with dents, as if the spiritual energy within had been drained.

Shen Dongqing seemed to sense something and slightly raised his hand: “This?”

“The controller cannot be used,” Zhou Wenyan nodded.

When they originally came out, no one suspected that this world was created by the game rather than the real world. Their goal was obviously to resolve the game issue, thus after discovering the mainframe of the game, the first thing they did was use the controller. 

They thought they could relax, but they had no idea the game would dig another pit.

According to Shen Dongqing, the controller could only be used once.

As a result, the game robbed him of this opportunity.

“It’s not a big deal,” Shen Dongqing said, turning the jade gourd. 

“Didn’t you say the controller could only be used once?” Zhou Wenyan asked.

“That’s right, but…” Shen Dongqing blinked, “I never said there could be only one controller.”

If the game had been present, its entire face would have been filled with question marks.

What do you mean, there are multiple controllers? How many exactly do you have? 

Ktlr kjr jirb j defralbc qbrfv ys Itbe Qfcsjc.

“Aera bcf, yea atlcur ilxf mbcagbiifgr mjc yf yelia jujlc,” Vtfc Gbcudlcu rjlv.

“Tbe wjvf la?” Itbe Qfcsjc lcdelgfv.

Vtfc Gbcudlcu: “Yo mbegrf! Pa’r bcis atja vblcu la lr j ilaaif vloolmeia, rb kf cffv ab ufa bea bo tfgf olgra, yea…” Lf tfrlajafv yfobgf jvvlcu, “Pa’r rb wemt oec tfgf, vbc’a sbe kjca ab qijs obg j ktlif?” 

This was his usual heartlessness.

Zhou Wenyan had become accustomed to it and responded helplessly, “Fine.”

Shen Dongqing happily resumed gaming once more, and it appeared that the brat also wanted to participate, so the two individuals, one grown and one young, sat on the carpet, staring straight at the TV screen with identical expressions.

Zhou Wenyan sat on the sofa and watched for a while, a smile forming on the corner of his mouth. 

Shen Dongqing finally accomplished the task after playing until midnight. When he saw the word “cleared” appear on the TV screen, he suddenly thought of something: “If this is a game, how do we clear it?”

Every game had level completion requirements such as locating something or solving a riddle. But when they arrived in this world, there was no audio broadcast, no supernatural events, and not even the vexing game system made an appearance.

So, how do they pass the level?

“Oh… visit Xingyue Bay again?” said Zhou Wenyan when he was eventually asked. 

No matter how you looked at it, Xingyue Bay was an odd place.

Not only was its energy evil, but the fake game mainframe was also chosen to be placed in Xingyue Bay. There had to be something remarkable there.

Shen Dongqing nodded and again got engrossed in gaming.

The rain had stopped the next day, leaving just the loose leaves that had been blown down by the downpour. A gust of wind blew across their faces, chilling them. 

Shen Dongqing sneezed.

Zhou Wenyan’s hand reached out from behind him and placed a jacket on him, saying, “Put it on.”

Shen Dongqing obediently put on the jacket and followed him out with a small tail hanging behind them. The trio arrived at the Zhou family’s old home in Xingyue Bay.

“The fengshui here isn’t very nice,” the brat said as soon as he stepped in. He sniffed, “But where are the ghosts? It’s so clean.” 

“I’ve already recited this line,” Shen Dongqing said, holding his shoulders with both hands.

The brat: “Oh, oh… But it’s so strange. Isn’t this yin land? It ought to be crawling with ghosts.”

Shen Dongqing had a certain purpose in mind and headed to the basement first.

However, the basement task was accomplished, and it reverted to its normal state. When he unlocked the door and entered, it was simply another ordinary room, and the game’s mainframe that had previously appeared here had long since vanished. 

“The two of us will go up, you go in and have a look,” Zhou Wenyan said as he stood at the doorway, looking at the dusty room and murmuring irresolutely to himself.

“Me?” said the brat, pointing to his own nose.

Zhou Wenyan: “Obviously.”

This city ran normally when they were present. Would it be possible to get a glimpse of the truth when they were not around? 

Zhou Wenyan and Shen Dongqing went upstairs, leaving the brat in the basement by himself.

After a few minutes, they heard footsteps moving up from downstairs.

The brat came upstairs, skipping two or three steps at a time, and reported: “There’s nothing.”

Zhou Wenyan: “Go check the other rooms.” 

The brat left again to inspect the other rooms as instructed. He visited every corner of the Zhou family’s old house on his short legs, but he gained nothing and instead grew dizzy.

He slumped on a stool: “I really can’t walk—”

Shen Dongqing shot him a glance: “Can’t walk?”

The brat turned his head, met Shen Dongqing’s smiling face, and trembled as if by conditioned reflex. He quickly reversed his position, rising up and shouting, “I can still walk!” 

Thump, thump, thump! He raced away after saying that, as if there was some terrifying monster chasing him.

Shen Dongqing was perplexed after witnessing the brat’s reaction: “I wanted to point out that if you can’t walk, you should eat first. Why did he run away?”

Zhou Wenyan: “…You scared him.”

Shen Dongqing: “Isn’t my smile kind?” He even stretched out two fingers and pulled the corners of his mouth, tearing out a bright smile. 

“It’s not kind,” muttered the death-seeking Zhou Wenyan.

Shen Dongqing narrowed his eyes at him: “What?”

“It’s cute,” Zhou Wenyan said as he leaned in and kissed him.

The two adults who exploited child labor were sticky with sweetness. The brat, on the other hand, made a concerted effort to walk the length of Xingyue Bay. He was stuffed with dog food after dragging his legs and eventually returning. 

Brat: I’m going on strike!

But all he could do was yell. He was instantly cowed when he met Shen Dongqing’s stare.

“There’s nothing,” the brat said.

There were no people, no animals, and definitely no ghosts. 

‘Nothing’ was the worst situation. That meant they couldn’t get information or learn secrets. This city was like a warm birdcage, trapping them.

Zhou Wenyan pondered for a while before calling the secretary.

The secretary’s voice came over the phone, sounding rather normal: “Young Master Zhou, what can I do for you?”

“Help me find some paranormal incidents,” Zhou Wenyan requested. 

The secretary hesitated: “Paranormal incidents?”

It has to be said that although these folks were NPCs, they were incredibly humanized and had their own thoughts and emotions. They were not at all like NPCs at all, but rather genuine humans.

The secretary even hesitated because this order did not fit Zhou Wenyan’s personality.

Zhou Wenyan: “I’ve been interested in this recently.” 

Secretary: “From this city?”

Zhou Wenyan: “Yes.”

The secretary agreed and took over the task.

“Since the supernatural happening does not come to us, we can only go hunting for it,” Zhou Wenyan remarked to Shen Dongqing as he hung up the phone. 

“Makes sense,” Shen Dongqing said, nodding.

Even if the secretary was an NPC, his work abilities should not be underestimated. The secretary zipped and emailed all the paranormal stories in the city before Zhou Wenyan’s car went back to the apartment in the city center.

Shen Dongqing opened the email and discovered hundreds of incidents. Most of them were tasteless urban legends, such as the mop woman in the school dormitory, buns and broth made from human flesh, building-jumping ghosts that couldn’t bend down, corpses that disappeared from the morgue, and so on.

He pointed to the rumor about the human-flesh bun, and said, “I seem to have seen this just now…” 

Zhou Yan took advantage of the stop light’s gap to glance at it, and they had indeed passed by this address just now.

“Do you want to go over and have a look?”

Shen Dongqing: “I want to eat buns.”

Zhou Wenyan spun the steering wheel and drove back the way they came, as if he’d lost his mind. He saw a shop with the words “Laozhong Baozi Shop” written on it appear in front of him in less than three minutes. 

It was not the time for breakfast, so the bun shop was not busy. One pot-bellied cook sat on a small bamboo stool near the door, shaking a cattail-leaf fan. There was a steamer basket on the table next to him, and the white and fat buns inside could be seen through the half-open lid.

When the cook noticed a customer approaching, he stated carefully, “The ones stuffed with tofu and dried plums are sold out.”

Shen Dongqing promptly asked, “Are there any with meat stuffing?”

The cook’s expression darkened, and a pair of small eyes stared coldly at the visitor. Even the cattail-leaf fan stopped fanning and landed with a clatter. 

At this explosive instant, the cook roared, “What do you mean? We are a regular business! We sell pork buns and no other meat!”

“Wrong.” Shen Dongqing retorted seriously, “There’s also beef.”

Cook: ……

“It’s written on it,” Shen Dongqing said, raising his hand and pointing to the signboard above the door. 

That was correct. In addition to pork buns, there were beef and radish fillings.

For a brief moment, the cook was stunned, and the stifling momentum he had vanished. He took up the cattail-leaf fan and began fanning once more: “Okay, okay, you young people believe any rumors, how can anyone be selling human flesh buns nowadays? Stop talking nonsense. Are you still buying buns?”

Shen Dongqing: “Two beef stuffed ones, and two salted egg yolk lava ones.”

The cook rose to his feet and handed him the four buns. 

Shen Dongqing clasped a nice and warm bun and took a bite.

Yum… It goes without saying that little shops in streets and alleys always have a distinct flavor. The buns’ skin was thin and soft, while the filling was a beef and radish mixture. The crispy radish balanced off the oily flavor of the meat, and it didn’t taste strange at all.

He was taking his meal seriously when a delivery boy arrived on a battery scooter. “Boss, X group takeaway!” he said as he pulled over outside the bun shop.

Cook: “Coming, coming.” 

While the cook was preparing the order, the delivery boy noticed Shen Dongqing and said in surprise, “It’s you?”

Shen Dongqing raised his head and said, “It’s me,” as he continued to devour the bun.

The delivery boy turned out to be Fang Qi.

He worked as a delivery boy in his spare time after school. This bun shop was near Fang Qi’s college, which was quite a coincidence. 

Fang Qi hesitated before speaking, but said, “Since the last time I saw you, I’ve always thought you look very kind. Have we…met before?”

He heard Shen Dongqing say to the handsome and tall man next to him as soon as he finished speaking: “Did you hear what he said? He said I’m kind!”