Escape from the Thriller World – Chapter 14

Volume One: The Old Corpse in the Mountain Village

The Night of Returning Souls

A black cat suddenly jumped out from the staircase entrance.

Xie Wu was secretly watching them and stopped at a paper effigy shop. He noticed a new triangle-shaped charm on their necks.

【Received a game solo mission】

【Loot other players’ items, bonus: 100 points.】

He could easily complete the task given by the game system by finding a way to take their resources.

Xie Wu was not foolish. He knew to escape this scenario (instance/dungeon), he needed to earn more points to exchange for charms that could protect him from ghosts.

As it got later, they walked through a narrow alley back to the Tong Lau. A tall, dark shadow was invisibly watching them from behind.

Shen Qingyou, who had strong counter-surveillance skills, had already noticed someone deliberately following them.

Shen Qingyou whispered to Ning Lan, “Let’s split up, we have a tail.”

Ning Lan glanced back and nodded, saying, “Okay, be careful.”

Ning Lan was not worried about Shen Qingyou, as she knew Shen Qingyou was a police officer and also an agent of the National Security Bureau, so her skills should not be lacking.

The two of them quickened their pace as they talked, and Shen Qingyou chose to stay behind to confront the follower.

Xie Wu lost track of them halfway, and after wandering through several streets, he couldn’t find them anymore.

While Xie Wu was bewildered, looking at the bustling street, someone tapped his shoulder.

“Xie Wu, are you looking for me?” Shen Qingyou’s cold voice came from behind.

Xie Wu turned around and immediately tried to grab the triangle charm on her neck, but Shen Qingyou caught his arm, swung him over her shoulder, and slammed him to the ground.

Xie Wu pulled out a spray from his pocket and sprayed it in Shen Qingyou’s face, saying, “I knew I couldn’t beat you, so I was prepared!”

The air was filled with a light tea scent, and Shen Qingyou lost consciousness after inhaling it.

The spray was designed to temporarily blind and knock Shen Qingyou out, so she wouldn’t wake up for a while.

Xie Wu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with a sneer, got up, and tore off Shen Qingyou’s triangle charm.

Xie Wu stuffed the triangle charm into his jacket pocket and said, “Sorry, but this little master need to earn some points.”

Shen Qingyou fainted just like that on the street.

Two hours later.

Exactly 10 o’clock.

Ning Lan returned to the 18th floor of the Tong Lau, stretching her tired legs and taking off her coat to put it on the sofa.

She sat on a chair and made herself a cup of iced lemon tea, a habit she picked up after drinking it for several days in this instance world.

In the summer, drinking iced lemon tea is refreshing and thirst-quenching.

Ning Lan glanced at the time on her phone screen and murmured, “Officer Shen hasn’t come back yet?”

She walked around and noticed that she hadn’t entered the study room in this house.

Ning Lan opened the study door and saw the walls covered with certificates of excellence for a little girl named Jiang Mengjia.

Jiang Mengjia, awarded first place for Children’s Creativity in May 1973.

Jiang Mengjia, awarded the Class’s Outstanding Student at the end of the year.

Jiang Mengjia, awarded the Class’s Three-Good Student (a term in Chinese education referring to students who are good in moral, academic, and physical aspects).

…

Certificates of achievement were hung on the wall. This little girl named Jiang Mengjia must be the pride of the family.

A family photo was placed alone on the third shelf of the bookcase in the study, and everyone’s faces were filled with happy and contented smiles.

Ning Lan followed the row and noticed a red notebook that caught her attention.

The red notebook seemed to have something written on it, like a “Spectral Spirit Notebook”.

The writing was neat and clear, appearing to be written by a woman.

Curious, Ning Lan opened the notebook, which had written on it:

March 2, 1972. As soon as our family moved into the 18th floor, a series of strange events occurred. There were thumping sounds from upstairs and the sound of marbles dropping.

April 5, 1972. Friends visiting our home felt a chill and experienced some unlucky events. This went on for a month.

May 15, 1972. My daughter woke up crying, saying there was a long-haired lady in the corner of her room staring at her, wanting to play with her.

June 5, 1972. I was nearly driven to a mental breakdown by that thing, almost losing my job at the big textile factory. My husband told me I was just too stressed.

August 5, 1972. A woman’s face appeared in the mirror, on the TV, and in the glass door. She looked exactly like me, drenched in water, telling me she wanted to take me away…

December 15, 1972. We borrowed money from Master Wei Jinye, unable to pay it back. Out of desperation, I had to submit to Master Wei Jinye. After my husband found out, we fought daily, and my daughter kept crying, saying something strange was bothering her.

May 23, 1973. Our whole family’s mental state changed. Jiajia also had a shadow in her heart, very resistant to staying in this home. We decided to move out.

The diary stopped here; the woman didn’t continue writing.

The truth about the 18th floor was that a ghost was watching them, and in desperation, they begged Master Wei Jinye for some money.

Ning Lan found a pile of psychiatric treatment bills in the desk cabinet; the whole family had been to the psychiatry department.

“So that’s it, the money Master Wei Jinye talked about being extorted was all used for medical treatment,” Ning Lan said, holding a thick stack of bills.

Master Wei Jinye, who valued money like his life, must have felt that this family was like vampires sucking his money dry.

Was it really as Master Wei Jinye said, that the family left the city and never came back?

They were trying to escape that thing, the “it” in the Tong Lau’s rules.

Ning Lan felt something was off; the logic of the situation seemed to be missing something.

The diary didn’t continue after this, and Ning Lan noticed a few red blood stains on the notebook.

A bloody handprint appeared in Ning Lan’s vision, growing larger. On the windowsill of the study, a pair of bloody hands were resting there, with blood-red eyes staring intently at her.

That “ghost” was watching Ning Lan.

Just as Ning Lan was about to leave the study, her phone rang.

Ning Lan received a call from a kind-hearted citizen in Hong Kong. Among the few contacts in Shen Qingyou’s phone, why was only hers dialed?

Ning Lan felt puzzled.

“Hello, are you a friend of Miss Shen Qingyou? She is unconscious in the hospital. Could you come and take a look?” said the kind-hearted citizen on the other end of the phone.

The kind-hearted citizen also found this lady strange. While unconscious, she said her name was Shen Qingyou, and several warm-hearted people helped dial the number she mentioned.

Shen Qingyou, being a special police officer, really is different. She can memorize an ordinary phone number?

Ning Lan nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll come over right away.”

Ning Lan went back to the living room to grab the coat from the sofa. The blood-red eyes staring at her from the windowsill slowly faded away.

Ning Lan put on the coat, and as a gust of wind blew in from the windowsill, she shivered, muttering to herself about having closed the curtains before leaving.

Ning Lan walked to the windowsill and pulled the curtains shut again, discovering the bloody handprint in the corner of the curtain once more.

A chill of fear ran through her—could it be that the thing really had been here?

Was everything written in that woman’s diary true?

Ning Lan didn’t dare to think further. She put on her coat and rushed out the door.

Hong Kong, People’s Hospital.

Shen Qingyou lay in room 420, resting her leg on the white hospital bed. A nurse was stitching and applying medicine to the back of her head.

Ning Lan hurriedly asked the front desk nurse and came over, saying, “Officer Shen, are you feeling better? Even you have people you can’t handle, huh?”

Why did Ning Lan’s concern carry a hint of teasing?

The nurse finished treating Shen Qingyou, and Shen Qingyou, holding her head, said, “Xie Wu ambushed me. The triangle charm was also taken.”

Ning Lan shook her head and said, “That guy Xie Wu has always been against us. His ambush was really clumsy.”

Shen Qingyou sighed deeply and said, “The game forces us four to survive; otherwise, I would have shot him already.”

Ning Lan shook her head and said, “I know you feel uneasy about it, but now is not the time to get rid of them. Let’s act when the time is right.”

Shen Qingyou, with a soldier’s spirit in her veins, naturally couldn’t swallow this frustration.

The game rules don’t clearly state that you can’t kill teammates.

There’s a rule in the Hell Game she forgot—failing to kill a player results in losing points.

Ning Lan went to the front desk to get a cup of hot water from the nurse, who was reminding Shen Qingyou about the dosage of her medication.

“Take the medicine with warm water quickly,” Ning Lan said, holding a few capsules in her palm and handing them to Shen Qingyou.

Shen Qingyou took the medicine and said, “I owe you for this trip again. I, Shen Qingyou, owe you two lives now. Put it on the account.”

Ning Lan smiled teasingly and said, “Officer Shen, you’re too polite. We’re allies now, helping each other is what comrades do.”

Shen Qingyou swallowed the medicine and said, “I remember, I owe you twice.”

Shen Qingyou was taking it seriously, and Ning Lan waved her hand, saying there’s no need to keep track of it.

They were just teammates who had met by chance in this instance game world. Now, thinking about it, surviving and getting out is what matters!

Ning Lan stayed with Shen Qingyou as she got her medication at the hospital. The nurse reminded Shen Qingyou to come back in a few days for more medication and prescribed some anti-inflammatory drugs.

Shen Qingyou nodded and grabbed the medicine, and the two didn’t linger but headed back to the Tong Lau.

A few beams of white flashlight light shone over, and Ning Lan raised her hand to block the light.

Downstairs, Xu Sanduo was leading the security guards on patrol. Holding a flashlight, he looked at them and said, “You two are really brave. It’s 11:20, and you’re still wandering outside. Hurry up and go upstairs!”

The rules of the Tong Lau suddenly popped into Ning Lan’s mind.

【Do not go out after 11 o’clock】

Ning Lan was startled and said, “What? It’s past 11! Officer Shen, let’s go!”

She turned her head, and Shen Qingyou was nowhere to be seen.

Ning Lan used her phone’s flashlight function to search everywhere for Shen Qingyou. In a blur, she saw a figure heading to the 11th floor.

Unknowingly, Shen Qingyou was drawn to a ghostly fire on the 11th floor of the Tong Lau. After going upstairs, she followed the fire.

On the 11th floor, there was an old woman burning paper. The iron basin was full of burning yellow paper.

From a distance, she was seen bowing her head, burning paper, and muttering, “Ah B, may your family rest in peace. I’ll burn more paper for you.”

The old woman’s shadow stretched long, and a black cat darted out from the staircase.

The piercing meow of the black cat brought Shen Qingyou back to her senses a little.

Shen Qingyou shook her head and stepped forward to look, but the old woman had vanished…

In front of the iron basin was an ancestral tablet, and inside the basin, there was some yellow paper that hadn’t finished burning.

Two bowls of white rice had two white candles stuck in them.

Today was the seventh day since Ah B died, the night of the soul’s return (a belief in some Chinese traditions that the spirit of the deceased returns on the seventh day after death).

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