Volume 6: Days of Being Zapped in the Lab
Teetering on the Edge
Teetering on the edge of seeing ghosts.
It’s here!
Shen Maomao had an “I knew it” sort of feeling.
Shen Wenyu beside her jumped in fright and immediately turned on his phone’s flashlight. The two of them huddled in front of the brazier, the leaping flames providing a reassuring warmth.
He grabbed Shen Maomao’s arm and said nervously, “How… did the power suddenly go out? Sis, are you a little scared?”
Shen Maomao: “…I’m not scared. You’re gripping my arm too tightly, lighten up. It hurts.”
Shen Wenyu immediately loosened his grip. He gave an embarrassed laugh, looked at the light seeping through the crack in the door, and couldn’t help but say, “Um… why don’t we go out and take a look first? It seems like the power isn’t out outside.”
Shen Maomao refused him: “You go find the staff. I’ll stay here with Shen Wenwu.”
Shen Wenyu was shocked: “Since when did you get so close to Shen Wenwu??!!”
Shen Maomao: “…Just get going.”
Shen Wenyu kept looking back as he walked1: “I’m really going out then?”
Shen Maomao: “What? Do you need me to see you off?”
Shen Wenyu opened the main door, and the body viewing hall2 instantly brightened: “Then wait for me, I’ll go ask what’s going on.”
Once his figure disappeared down the corridor, Shen Maomao immediately called Lou Jingmo.
Lou Jingmo had been waiting for her call and picked up immediately: “What happened?”
Shen Maomao: “The power suddenly went out in our hall, but the corridor outside is still lit.”
Lou Jingmo: “She’s started to make her move.”
“What should I do?”
“Meet changes with constancy3. The card is already in your hands, so you don’t have to worry about repercussions4. Try your best not to expose your identity as a game player. Don’t hang up the phone; tell me if anything comes up.”
“Okay!”
A few more minutes passed. Shen Wenyu still hadn’t returned, and the power hadn’t been restored. Shen Maomao squatted in front of the brazier, burning joss paper for Shen Wenwu, and said, “Cousin… now that you’re gone, please don’t come back. We’ll all help take care of Eldest Uncle and Eldest Aunt. If there’s anything else you want, appear in Shen Wenyu’s dreams5. I’m timid, so please don’t come and scare me…”
Lou Jingmo: “…”
Just as she finished that long speech, some strange sounds suddenly came from the body viewing platform in front of her.
The sound was very faint at first, almost completely masked by the crackling of the flames. Later, it grew louder and louder, reaching Shen Maomao’s ears directly, as if someone was moving around inside the glass coffin, preparing to climb out.
“What’s that sound?” Lou Jingmo on the other end of the phone heard it too. Shen Maomao took two steps back, her eyes fixed on the glass coffin: “Shen Wenwu’s reanimated6!”
Lou Jingmo was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted: “Is she planning to scare you away with this method?”
“I think so.”
Lou Jingmo: “Don’t let her get her way. If she doesn’t see the card deck, she’ll probably suspect you and your cousin.”
Shen Maomao whispered, “Okay, I’ll go guard the doorway then. The atmosphere in here is indeed a bit scary.”
The area around the corpse was still making creaking sounds. Shen Maomao stood at the doorway, occasionally darting back to add more paper to the brazier to prevent the flames from dying out, bustling back and forth quite happily.
About ten minutes passed like this. Shen Wenyu came jogging back with a few candles and explained to her, “Sis, I went and asked. The person on duty said the wiring in this room short-circuited. They’ll rush to repair it, it’ll take about half an hour. They said we can use candles for now. They also said if we’re too scared, we can leave the body and wait somewhere else.”
Fang Tian’s family was wealthy. Shen Maomao didn’t know if she had people in the funeral home, or people she had bribed.
Regardless of whether the electrical circuit issue was related to her or not, this half hour was definitely the best time for her to act, and Shen Maomao was even more determined not to let her succeed. So, she said, “It’s not good for there to be no one in the hall. I’ll stay inside and keep watch. If you’re scared, you can go wait somewhere else first.”
Seeing that a girl like her wasn’t scared, Shen Wenyu naturally felt too embarrassed to admit he was actually terrified. He walked through the main door, putting on a brave front, “What’s there for me to be scared of? This is nothing…”
He had barely taken two steps inside when he heard that terrifying sound from within. With a yelp, he rushed out: “F*ck! Wha-wha-wha-what was that noise?! “
Shen Maomao: “…”
Lou Jingmo chuckled in her earpiece: “Your cousin is quite interesting.”
Shen Maomao: “…” So embarrassing.7
Shen Wenyu cowered behind her, muttering nonsensically, “Big Bro, we have no past grievances nor recent enmity, please don’t come for me!”
Shen Maomao rolled her eyes: “Go find someone again, tell them about the situation here, and have them look for the cause.”
“Then… Sis, wait for me, ‘kay? I’ll be right back!!” Shen Wenyu dashed off like the wind and quickly disappeared from her sight.
Lou Jingmo said, “Actually, this plan was quite thorough.”
“First, turn off the lights, then make some noises to scare the two young people holding the wake, then bribe the funeral home staff to suggest they wait elsewhere… Normally, it definitely wouldn’t have such a good effect, but at this particular time, in this kind of environment, and sharing a room with a corpse… Didn’t you see Shen Wenyu, a young lad, was almost scared enough to wet his pants?”
However, Fang Tian probably never expected Shen Maomao to be so bold. Faced with such a situation, she wasn’t scared at all. Not only did she guard the doorway, but she also kept teetering on the edge of seeing ghosts8, leaving Fang Tian no opportunity whatsoever.
Thinking of this, Lou Jingmo felt a little like laughing, and also a little nostalgic.
The Shen Maomao who used to tremble in fear at ghosts and monsters, only knowing to shrink behind her, no longer existed. She had grown, bit by bit, climbed upwards, step by step. Perhaps one day she would climb to the pinnacle of all players, reaching the day she could stand shoulder to shoulder with her.
She eagerly anticipated this, anticipated Shen Maomao catching up to her, even surpassing her.
Shen Maomao covered her mic and whispered, “Can we confirm now that Fang Tian is suspicious? If she wants to get the card, she definitely has to do it herself, but I haven’t seen her at all.”
Lou Jingmo: “That’s why I can’t be sure. Your cousin’s death isn’t necessarily related to her, and she isn’t necessarily a player of the Confession Game.”
As the saying goes, “to catch a thief, you need the loot”9. Even though Shen Maomao was already convinced in her heart that Fang Tian was suspicious, without evidence, she still couldn’t say anything.
Before Shen Wenyu returned, she used her phone as a flashlight and cautiously walked over to the body viewing platform. She looked it up and down several times but couldn’t find what was making the sound, and finally had to give up.
Shen Maomao felt a bit disheartened.
Unless Shen Wenwu revived on the spot and told her why he died in the game, everything would remain an unsolved mystery.
A few minutes later, Shen Wenyu returned with a staff member.
The man was holding a flashlight. The moment he stepped into the hall, all the sounds vanished instantly.
Shen Maomao trailed behind him and walked with him to the vicinity of the body viewing platform. She watched him glance under the cabinet and then say perfunctorily, “It’s probably some insects or mice, right? The funeral home is close to the woods, so this kind of thing happens sometimes. If you’re really too scared, you can come outside with me for a while and come back when the power is restored.”
Shen Wenyu: “It’s been over ten minutes already, the circuit should be fixed by now, right?”
The staff member said, “I’m not sure about that. The wiring is quite old, it’ll probably take a while longer to fix.”
Shen Wenyu was somewhat tempted and couldn’t help looking at Shen Maomao.
Shen Maomao ruthlessly rejected his unspoken suggestion: “No need. The mourning hall can’t be left unattended. You guys should hurry up with the repairs.”
The staff member glared at her, then turned and left resentfully.
Shen Wenyu: “Hey… your wiring problem almost scared my sis, and we can’t even urge you to fix it faster?”
Shen Maomao stopped him: “Alright, don’t bother with him. The lights will probably be fixed soon.”
Shen Wenyu grumbled unhappily, “What kind of person is that? Working in the service industry with such a bad attitude?”
He had barely grumbled a couple of sentences when the incandescent filaments flickered twice, and the next second, the lights came back on, illuminating the entire hall.
Shen Wenyu was astonished: “Holy cow?! Sis, has your mouth been blessed10??”
Shen Maomao ignored him and instead quickly walked to the side of the body viewing platform. She practically prostrated herself on the floor, using the light to carefully examine the situation under the platform.
Lou Jingmo said in her earpiece, “That kind of small device was most likely placed in a crevice under the counter. Just looking with your eyes won’t be enough; you’ll have to feel around with your hands.”
The counter was solid, with only a small crevice underneath. Shen Maomao’s hands were relatively small, but she could only get her fingertips in, fumbling around blindly a couple of times.
Shen Wenyu was completely bewildered: “Sis? What are you doing??”
Shen Maomao searched with a solemn expression. After feeling around for a long time, she finally touched a strange protrusion in one spot.
The protrusion had sharp edges and corners, wasn’t small in area, and had a circular mesh-like structure on top. It felt like a device capable of emitting sound.
Found it!
“It’s nothing, something of mine rolled under there. I’m just looking for it.” She got up and answered Shen Wenyu’s question.
Shen Wenyu’s expression was indescribable: “…” That’s underneath a corpse! Something fell under there and she actually dares to use it again?!
Shen Maomao couldn’t care less what he was thinking.
She had been on edge all night. Now that everything was over, the sleep monster11 had crawled all over her brain, making her wish she could sleep straight through to the next morning.
But sleeping was the biggest taboo when holding a wake; it was not only bad for the deceased but would also affect her. So, she could only sit drowsily in front of the brazier, continuing to chat with Lou Jingmo while burning joss paper.
Fortunately, no more sudden incidents occurred in the latter half of the night. During that time, she even mustered the courage to go to the restroom by herself a few times. When it was five o’clock the next day, just as the sky was dimly lit, Lou Jingmo, who also hadn’t slept all night, rushed over from the hotel to remind her not to fall asleep.
Seeing Lou Jingmo, Shen Wenyu’s eyes lit up. He eagerly sidled up to them: “Sis… is this older sister your friend?”
Shen Maomao gave him a sinister look: “Yeah, what about it?”
Shen Wenyu hadn’t yet noticed his cousin’s expression was off. He looked eagerly at Lou Jingmo: “Miss, do you have a boyfriend?”
Shen Maomao silently took out her phone: “Hello? Second Uncle? I’m reporting something. The Gaokao12 is almost here, and Shen Wenyu is thinking about puppy love13…”
The author has something to say:
First, I want to express my thanks to Huazhao-dada14. The cover art was drawn by Dada, featuring Lou-jie and Maomao 【School Instance】. The shorter one is Lou-jie, and the taller one is Maomao, hahahaha. I’ve posted the high-definition full image on Weibo! Thanking Dada profusely again! Also, I’m still thinking about whether to buy a cover design on Taobao, using Dada’s art as the base image, because the text I added myself is too ugly.
Also, yesterday I said I’d give out 188 red envelopes, but my clumsy hands15 sent them for chapter 185 instead. So, the event is extended by one day. It really ends today; further guesses won’t count. All comments on chapter 188 will get red envelopes, and those who guess correctly will get two! _(:з」∠)_ The reveal should be tomorrow. Quite a few people guessed right, I’m teetering on the edge of bankruptcy16!
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