Chapter 7 - Return
Sanity dropped to zero instantly.
A chill crept up Zhang Yuanqing's spine and shot straight to the crown of his head. Like a startled cat, he leaped high on the spot and a curse burst from his lips:
"Fucking hell!"
It was the instinctive outcry of a person under intense shock or fear.
He finally understood why his shoulder was so sore, and why the corpse by the window had a Bronze Mirror with it.
It was for checking if a resentful spirit was perching on one's shoulder.
When had it latched onto me? When I entered the Siheyuan or the moment I stepped into this room?
Who gave me the courage to venture out? Was it Fish Leong?!
His mind was a boiling pot, with all sorts of thoughts bubbling up in an instant, and panic swept over him like a tidal wave.
Although he knew that there were strange and terrifying things in this temple and was mentally prepared, facing the ghostly entities head-on still filled him with an indescribable terror.
That's right, I have a talisman. Zhang Yuanqing's hands trembled as he pulled out a yellow paper talisman from the left pocket of his windbreaker jacket, desperately slapping it onto his shoulder.
Slap!
The Corpse Suppression Talisman hit his shoulder, and he raised the brass mirror cautiously to look. The man with deathly pale skin, black lips, and a pair of lifeless white pupils was still lying on his shoulder.
Useless. This thing isn't considered a corpse-like specter. His last sliver of hope vanished, and Zhang Yuanqing felt his shoulder growing more sore and painful, his limbs turning cold.
This wasn't an illusion; it was the tangible loss of his vital yang energy.
At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing thought of the corpse under the table in the Main Hall, and the predecessor who died miserably by the window. He might very well end up dead in this place just like them.
A bone-chilling coldness surged in his heart.
"Tap tap!"
Suddenly, at this critical moment, light footsteps came from the corridor outside.
The footsteps were light, but in the dead of night, they were crystal clear.
Zhang Yuanqing tensed up, quickly crouched down beside the corpse under the window.
The footsteps sounded familiar, similar to what he had heard when he entered the temple.
"Tap tap tap"
The footsteps drew nearer, heading in his direction. Zhang Yuanqing dared not breathe too hard, his body tensed, and he could faintly hear his own frantic heartbeat.
As the footsteps passed by the window, he couldn't help but glance at the room's floor. Moonlight streamed in, casting a grid-like shadow on the ground.
The window wasn't high, just waist-level, so anyone passing by outside would be cast upon the floor by the moonlight, but he saw nothing.
This meant that whatever was passing by the window had no body.
Fortunately, the footsteps passed by the window without stopping or entering, gradually fading away.
Zhang Yuanqing silently exhaled, his focus catching the receding sound of the footsteps as they stepped into the courtyard, creating a "rustle" as they trod on the overgrown grass.
Then they stopped. A few seconds later, the footsteps resumed.
This time, the footsteps were not simply walking; they had a certain rhythm and pattern.
What was it doing in the courtyard?
Zhang Yuanqing, supporting his cold body, stood up with some difficulty and, peering through the tattered window paper, looked outside.
Under the moonlight, in the midst of the overgrown grass, a pair of brand-new, Western-style Red Dancing Shoes were tap dancing.
Moonlit night, desolate temple, red dancing shoes, a solo dance.
This scene was both absurd and eerie, tinged with an inexplicable... loneliness?
How could there be a pair of Western-style Dancing Shoes in a Ming Dynasty Mountain God Temple?
The temple was getting weirder by the minute... He quietly crouched back down, waiting patiently.
Time ticked away, second by second, the resentful spirit on his shoulder continued to drain his yang energy, and the stiffness in his body grew more severe, the soreness in his shoulder turning into a piercing pain.
He felt if this continued, he would either die from the depletion of his yang energy or from his shoulder bone shattering from the injury.
In the throes of agony, the dance in the courtyard vanished.
Zhang Yuanqing still didn't dare to show his face, waiting another moment before carefully peering out, gazing through the window into the yard.
The yard was bathed in moonlight, the wild grass stood silent and still, and the eerie Dancing Shoes were gone.
"Phew"
He let out a breath of turbid air, relieved, just as he tried to stand. His knees buckled, and he fell to the floor.
With his nerves no longer taut and the adrenaline fading, he realized his condition was worse than he thought.
His shoulder burned with pain as if his bones were about to split, his knee joints were stiff, and his blood felt like it had solidified.
Shakily grasping the Bronze Mirror, its dusty surface revealed Zhang Yuanqing's ghastly pale face, a defeated look in his eyes. He looked less like a living person and more like a sickly, wilting plant.
On his shoulder, the resentful spirit with its blackened lips watched him silently.
He knew he would surely die if this continued, but what could he do? He was unable to touch the resentful spirit on his shoulder...
The intense pain in his shoulder forced him to lean against the wall for support.
He glanced at the corpse of his former co-worker, their positions mirroring each other.
"So that's how it is," Zhang Yuanqing managed a bitter smile.
He could almost see his own end, hear the sigh of the Grim Reaper.
But Zhang Yuanqing didn't give up his desire to live. His brain was still active, like an overburdened CPU, searching for hope in a desperate situation.
In a flash, the corpse beneath the table in the Main Hall flickered through the chaos of his thoughts.
"The two bodies have different degrees of shoulder bone fractures. The injury on the corpse in the Main Hall wasn't fatal. Did the resentful spirit spare him? No, it's not like a spirit to show mercy."
"Why would he hide under the table?"
"The Red Dancing Shoes had been following me stealthily as I entered the temple, but they left when I entered the Main Hall."
With this thought, a glimmer of hope lit up in Zhang Yuanqing's dim and murky pupils.
Back to the Main Hall, he must return immediately!
He got up and left the room, staggering with every step, each movement as burdensome as carrying a mountain.
"Thump!"
He fell in the courtyard, collapsing into the overgrown grass, unable to stand up again.
Zhang Yuanqing's teeth chattered, clicking together, as he felt like he was in the depths of a bitter winter.
The "extreme cold" stole his warmth and eroded his will.
Inch by inch, he crawled towards the Main Hall, mustering all his strength, keeping his head up to ensure the silhouette of the building ahead was always in his sight.
This way, the hope in his eyes would never extinguish.
What was normally a minute's walk from the Main Hall now seemed as distant as the ends of the earth.
Finally, as he crawled under the eaves of the Main Hall, phantom screams echoed in his ears, the weight on his shoulder lifted, and the cold, dizziness, and stiffness vanished in an instant.
Zhang Yuanqing rolled and scrambled onto the pedestal, staggered to the front of the Main Hall, pushed open the lattice doors, and flung himself over the threshold.
The candlelight was dim but dispersed the gloom, bringing a warmth as refreshing as a spring breeze.
He lay spread-eagled on the floor, his chest heaving, gasping for breath. After lying there for a few minutes, he finally felt alive again.
"It was terrifying, but my hypothesis was correct---the Main Hall is indeed a sanctuary."
Judging from the different injuries on the two skeletons' shoulders, he deduced that something had stopped the resentful spirit from harming the person inside the hall.
The worker had died curled up under the table, which matched the instinct to hide in extreme fear.
In the mind of his predecessor, the Main Hall was safe.
And the Red Dancing Shoes abandoning their pursuit was indirect confirmation of his guess.
For the time that followed, Zhang Yuanqing remained in the Main Hall until the pain in his shoulder lessened and his body temperature returned to normal.
Indeed, he encountered no further danger.
"If the Main Hall serves as a safe house, then my chances of survival have undoubtedly increased. Even if a resentful spirit were to drain my essence again, I could still escape back to the Main Hall. But if I were to encounter a resentful spirit and be chased by the Red Dancing Shoes at the same time, I doubt I could make it back.
"Moreover, the most eerie and terrifying source of this temple must be more than just resentful spirits."
He didn't become complacent because he had resolved a life-and-death crisis once; this ancient temple wasn't so simple.
After all, an entire construction crew had died here before him.
After resting for a long time, his fear gradually subsided, and he hesitated whether to continue venturing out to explore.
That voice in his mind rang out once again:
[Main Quest One: Survive for three hours (Completed)]
[Main Quest Two: Explore Spirit Realm 0079, Progress: 20%]
[Yuanshi Tianzun, congratulations on completing a Main Quest, calculating your rewards.]
[Item/Prop acquired: Corpse Suppression Talisman (can be viewed in the inventory).]
[Experience Points gained: 15%.]
[Inventory unlocked.]
[You will have 36 hours of rest time, Spirit Realm 0079 will reopen in: 35:59:40.]
The scenery within the Main Hall twisted as if the surface of water rippled by the wind.
When the picture cleared again, Zhang Yuanqing saw the bright energy-saving lamp, the spacious bed, the desk, the PS5 gaming console, and the open window through which the breeze entered, slightly moving the curtains.
He had returned to the human world.
"Back?"
He looked around in shock, confirming that he had indeed returned to his room, before his knees gave way and he collapsed onto the soft bed.
He took a deep breath and found even the air tasted sweet.
It's good to be alive, it's good to be human.
A few minutes later, Zhang Yuanqing sat up, pulled down the zipper of his windbreaker jacket, and discovered that the Corpse Suppression Talisman was indeed gone.
The thought of "accessing an item" naturally came to him, and the next moment, a luminescent blue grid appeared before his eyes.
There were five slots in total, and in the first slot lay the yellow paper talisman.
It was a strange experience; once the inventory was unlocked, this function seemed to become instinctual. There was no need to learn how to use it; he naturally knew how to open his inventory.
"Apart from the Corpse Suppression Talisman, I also gained 15% Experience Points, but my Level is still zero, which means I haven't become a Nighthaunt yet, still just an ordinary person."
"Surviving three hours was already a near-death experience. How am I supposed to complete the second task? Is this what S-Level difficulty is?"
The more Zhang Yuanqing thought about it, the more despondent he felt, believing that Brother Bing had set him up.
This wretched card could indeed change one's life, but it was also incredibly difficult to master.
He was well aware that as a university student who had never even killed a chicken, he would struggle to survive on his own in the subsequent second quest.
As a good young man steeped in socialist values, it was definitely time to rely on the state, on the government.
So, he picked up his phone, intending to dial his cousin's number. His finger paused on the screen, suddenly hesitating.
Because Zhang Yuanqing thought that he might have a better option.
He immediately got out of bed, found the slicked-back hair man's business card in the desk drawer.
The business card had a name and contact information.
Tonight's ordeal made him think of Brother Bing's bizarre disappearance. If he hadn't made it out alive, then he too would have vanished without a trace.
It was certain that Brother Bing had already encountered what they called the Spirit Realm, so perhaps his disappearance was related to entering a certain Spirit Realm?
Following this line of thought, the investigators from the Public Security Bureau seemed credible.
He decided to contact the slicked-back hair man for another reason: the man had hinted that he might also disappear, which seemed like an implication that he would enter the Spirit Realm.
Combining this with the fact that his cousin was unaware, Zhang Yuanqing had reason to deduce that those three were special agents dealing with similar incidents.
After thinking it through, Zhang Yuanqing dialed the number on the business card.
After a few seconds of dial tone, the call connected, and a mature, deep male voice asked:
"Who is this?"