there was a week with ko-fis that I forgot to upload the normal schedule one, so here you are
“What, what are you planning to do?”
Wu Rong suddenly stopped, and the young man immediately braked as well, looking around anxiously. His voice trembled slightly with fear, a clear lack of confidence as he whispered, “We haven’t reached the place with the densest Yin Qi yet, right?”
The staircase leading to the next floor was divided into two parts, separated by a bifurcation; the lower part had twenty steps, and the upper part had twenty-one. The young man had been silently counting the steps in his mind, and had noticed early on that every time they reached the last step, an additional step would appear above the twenty-first step, turning it into twenty-two steps. It was this additional twenty-second step that was key to their entrapment in this ‘ghost wall’.
The ghost the young man nurtured was a timid
one, which influenced his personality. Although he had known what the key to breaking out of the ‘ghost wall’ phenomenon was, he was also reluctant to take action—besides, it wasn’t necessary yet. Each time they passed a winding step, the Yin Qi in the staircase would increase. The ghost candle was in the place with the strongest Yin Qi, so when the Yin Qi in the staircase was at its peak would be the best time to act, possibly allowing him to find where the ghost candle was directly.
As for Wu Rong, the young man actually liked him quite a bit. After all, most people who raised ghosts couldn’t stand his constant crying and perpetual state of panic and fear—a trait brought on by the timid ghost, and one that could no longer change. But Wu Rong had always been silent. Whether the young man cried or chattered, he never showed a hint of impatience, making him very comfortable to be around.
Just for this comfort, the young man kindly wanted to give him a hint, gently persuading, “We still have plenty of time, we can keep going and see…”
“I’m hungry.”
What?
The young man was stunned. Wu Rong had just popped the last two pieces of gum into his mouth and was chewing them, his eyes narrowing slightly. It might be that the Zhong Gu was about to transform, so it acted like a brown bear voraciously grabbing at everything possible before hibernation, affecting Wu Rong, who was extremely hungry now. The bottle of gum Master Ling Yun gave him was supposed to last five hours, but it was all gone in less than half an hour.
“What’s that?”
Suddenly, Wu Rong pointed to the right, and the young man instinctively looked over in panic, as did the live-streaming paper person on Wu Rong’s shoulder, which turned its camera in that direction.
In those few seconds, Wu Rong’s hand subtly moved.
“Is there something there… Huh?!”
The young man sensed a sudden surge of Yin Qi beside him and reflexively retreated about a dozen steps back, his movements unusually swift, clearly having planned his escape route well. But when he stood still and looked again, Wu Rong was calmly standing in place, seemingly surprised by his actions. The young man felt a bit embarrassed, his face reddening as he returned to Wu Rong’s side, suspiciously and cautiously scanning the surroundings.
With his years of practical experience and strong intuition, the young man swore something had just happened. And now, he saw what was different.
The ghost hiding in the staircase had disappeared!
Now, the staircase no longer trapped them in a ‘ghost wall’; they could ascend to higher levels normally!
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
What is going on?
“Tbe, ktja jgf sbe mtfklcu?”
Xgjvejiis, atf sbecu wjc’r ujhf rtloafv ab Qe Ebcu, mjealberis jrxlcu.
“Xew.”
Qe Ebcu gfqilfv cbcmtjijcais, ajxlcu j ybaaif bo uew ogbw tlr qbmxfa jcv uijcmlcu vbkc ja la, “Kgbqlmji ogela oijnbg.”
“Oh, is that so,” the young man said with a strained tone.
Ciatbeut Qe Ebcu’r fzqijcjalbc kjr ojeiaifrr jcv tf tjv lcvffv yffc mtfklcu uew jii atf kjs tfgf, obg rbwf gfjrbc, atf sbecu wjc ofia ilxf tf mbeiv rff j atlmx, vjgx, afggloslcu rtjvbk fwjcjalcu ogbw tlw—j offilcu tf ijra uba ogbw atf wjvwjc Hlc Hlcu, ktb ilxfv ab jaajmt utbra ilwyr ab tlr bkc ybvs, j agef fmmfcaglm klat ylhjggf ajrafr.
These eccentrics always seem the most normal!
The young man trusted his instincts, and at that moment, Wu Rong made him feel the urge to flee. It was like a sheep facing a wolf; his lower place in the food chain provoked a humble fear in him, making him feel like even Wu Rong’s gaze was laden with meaning, and it filled him with terror.
“Let’s keep going.”
Wu Rong pressed his tongue against his palate. The ghost in the staircase was only at the level of an evil spirit, like a ripe, juicy cherry—sweet and delicious but far from filling. In contrast, the ghost general’s presence within the young man was more like a bowl of sweet, rich mango and coconut milk glutinous rice that could just about satisfy his hunger.
Unfortunately, he was a teammate.
Wu Rong might not have known how his slightly regretful look made the young man imagine all sorts of horrific scenarios, but after saying this, he turned sharply and walked up to the next floor. He could already smell the thickening miasma of Ghost Qi.
If quality was lacking, quantity would have to do.
The miniature Tiankeng, of course, was nothing compared to Tiankeng No. 444—it was merely a five-story shopping mall. However, this mall was filled with hundreds of ghosts deployed by the Ministry of Public Security, and it wasn’t a naturally formed mall-type Ghost Territory but rather a mix of everything, divided into various small Ghost Territories.
At least Wu Rong and the young man had passed areas like ‘Terrifying Water Ghost Market,’ ‘Slaughterhouse,’ ‘Hell Cinema,’ and other distinctly themed zones as they moved upward.
Aside from his dislike for seafood, Wu Rong was quite satisfied with the other areas.
While the young man beside him was nearly scared into depression, the viewers in the live stream also began to sense something was off.
[I’m so scared, what exactly has the host been chewing on all this time QAQ]
[What’s there to be afraid of, it’s just gum.]
[A nuclear-powered gum? He’s been chewing it for so long, that can’t be normal, right?]
[Who said that? Give me gum and I can chew it all day.]
[Isn’t it strange to you all? Why do the ghosts disappear every time the host passes through a Ghost Territory? Has anyone seen him actually make a move?!]
[If I could see the master’s moves that clearly, I’d be a streamer myself.]
[I feel something’s off too, whisper, did you guys hear what the host said when he passed the slaughterhouse just now?]
[He said ‘roast lamb chops’, but didn’t he say earlier that his gum was tropical fruit flavor?]
[You must have heard wrong. I remember when he passed the Water Ghost Market, he frowned and muttered ‘anchovy can’. I was wondering which quirky manufacturer would make anchovy can flavored gum hahaha]
[Wasn’t it a popcorn flavor when he passed through Hell Cinema?]
[This is terrifying when you think about it… Maybe what the host mentioned wasn’t the flavor of the gum?]
[Could it be the flavor of ghosts? The host has a wild imagination, inventing flavors for ghosts hahaha it’s making me hungry]
[A streamer eating ghosts, followed (doge)]
[A streamer eating ghosts, followed (doge doge)]
The chat in the live stream was lively, while in the Public Security Bureau, the technicians monitoring the live feed had complex expressions. The one responsible for Wu Rong shakily reported to his superior, “The live feed from Federal Special Police Wu Rong is too, too gory. Maybe we should blur it out.”
“What blur?!”
Before he could finish, his superior interrupted him harshly, “The audience hasn’t noticed anything yet. By blurring it, you’ll only draw attention!”
After all, netizens who have been wandering around the Internet all year round have an extremely strong interest in things covered by mosaics. If the tech team really blurred Wu Rong’s mouth, the barrage of comments that would follow would not be as minor as it is now. Like in Qin Qing’s live stream, where the gory and thrilling scene of him disassembling a ghost with his bare hands led the tech team to rate his stream as 18+, booting out all underage viewers.
This resulted in the viewership for Qin Qing’s stream doubling as countless viewers rushed in to see the ’18+ streamer’. The sudden spike in viewers even drew attention from the higher-ups, leading to criticism of the monitoring team.
Unless they wanted to repeat the same mistake, blurring Wu Rong’s mouth was out of the question.
“Be vigilant and censor any dangerous remarks.”
The superior advised with a headache, “It’s almost over, everyone pay close attention and make sure nothing goes wrong at the last minute.”
It’s almost over.
When Wu Rong reached the fifth floor, he glanced at the prominently displayed clock on the wall. It had a faint golden glow, with no minute or second hand, just an hour hand. Wu Rong remembered that when he first entered, the hour hand pointed at five. Since then, it had moved counterclockwise, and now it pointed at one.
More than half of the designated five hours had passed, leaving just one hour remaining.
It was time to find the Lantern Ghost King’s candle.
Wu Rong felt a subtle sense of regret in his heart, similar to a person who had been starved for three days and was then taken to a lavish buffet, only to be told halfway through that the dining time was almost over. In order not to attract attention and minimize the impact, Wu Rong had chosen to discreetly deal with less powerful ghosts throughout his journey, managing to silently eliminate them in one strike.
Although this approach was covert, it left him feeling as if he had eaten a menu full of diet salad leaves—completely unsatisfying and devoid of any substantial “meat”.
He was still hungry.
Towards the end, he even used the young man beside him as a cover to consume a few resentful ghosts. Judging by his demeanor, he seemed to have noticed but inexplicably pretended not to. Wu Rong couldn’t be bothered to figure out why and simply used him as a shield. But now, with time running out, Wu Rong could no longer afford to waste it.
“Let’s go.”
This time, Wu Rong didn’t linger on the fifth floor but headed straight for the elevator.
“To where the candle is.”
After overcoming the pressure exerted by the Lantern Ghost King, encountering its candle would mean passing the test. However, the candle wasn’t located on the top floor of the shopping mall.
Entering the elevator with the compliant and timid young man, Wu Rong transformed his left arm into a ghostly hand and swept it over the floor selection panel. Immediately, a new floor button appeared beneath those for floors one to five. It looked old and dull, marked with a bloody fingerprint.
-3F
Wu Rong pressed it, and the elevator began descending. The confined, slightly weightless space of the elevator sometimes triggered claustrophobia in people, especially when the elevator’s interior was dimly lit and its walls were not shiny metal but resembled the shabby wooden boards of a freight lift.
Or when the elevator suddenly malfunctioned and stopped halfway down, followed by knocking sounds from above and a polite male voice.
“Excuse me, could you give me a lift?”
Author’s note:
In the mountains of Shang Rong’s ears—
A polite male voice: Hello, your delivery has arrived.
Click ❤️to favorite and see the streamer with his blurred mouth❤️ ❤️
Editor: Cloud Chip Cake
Not the ghost self delivering itself to our hungry Shen Rong 😂😂😂
Thanks for the chapter!!! ❤️❤️❤️
At least he got different flavors for each floor.
I kinda wanna see him chewin now 😂😂😂