Chapter 13: Summon Ghosts
The box felt slightly heavy in her hand, and touching it seemed no different from an ordinary wooden box, but Lu Jinzhao hadn’t forgotten how it had just devoured a person’s flesh and blood entirely.
The bloodstain on the knife had already vanished without a trace, perhaps completely consumed by the box along with the blood flow, not leaving a single drop.
Greed was Lu Jinzhao’s most vivid impression of this box.
At the same time, she also realized one thing from Lin Shuyue’s outcome: never casually initiate a transaction with the box.
Because it’s hard to grasp the price you need to pay for this transaction; one misstep, and you might end up like Lin Shuyue.
After putting the items away, Lu Jinzhao checked the time again; it was approaching three o’clock, the train was about to arrive, and she needed to hurry to the station.
The place where the train arrives would be at the place where they got off, not far away, just about ten minutes walk, the problem is
What then?
How many people would already be waiting there?
Or rather, how many ghosts had already arrived?
Lu Jinzhao knew in her heart that the most severe trial was only just beginning now.
More than two hours earlier, at the crossroads.
Zhou Wenbo came here alone with bowl and chopsticks, food, and a candle.
His body was trembling, lips pale, and the person grouped with him was nowhere to be found.
Perhaps Zhou Wenbo knew, which was why he looked so grief-stricken at this moment.
Time was about up; he arranged the bowl full of food and the empty bowl properly, lit the candle, took a few deep breaths, and then began tapping the empty bowl with the chopsticks.
It was very late at night, the crossroads was empty with no one around, no vehicles, and because the place was too small, there wasn’t even a single traffic light, only two streetlights from different intersections.
The streetlights and the candlelight in front of him prevented the surroundings from falling into darkness, which gave Zhou Wenbo a faint sense of security.
When the time came, no matter how unwilling he was, he could only pick up the chopsticks and start tapping the empty bowl in front of him.
“Will doing this really summon ghosts?”
The ding-ding sounds echoed continuously in the night, and the empty crossroads seemed to be filled only with these crisp tapping sounds.
Although Zhou Wenbo was thinking this in his heart, he was almost certain that doing this would definitely summon ghosts.
The terror in his heart accumulated with each tap of the chopsticks.
How long was he supposed to keep tapping?
The food in front of him showed no change, which made Zhou Wenbo feel fortunate yet uneasy at the same time.
“The ghosts haven’t come yet?”
“What should I do? The book only said not to interrupt the tapping during the process, so is now during the process or hasn’t it started yet?”
Zhou Wenbo kept thinking in his mind; he even wondered if he could just tap a few times to complete the mission and then stop immediately.
That way, if the ghosts weren’t summoned, he would have still performed the see a ghost ritual, would that count as exploiting a bug?
But… he didn’t dare to do that.
He was always mindful of what the book said about not interrupting the tapping; what if it started from the first tap, then his little intelligence would get him killed!
“I’d better just tap honestly.”
His other idle hand wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, then vigilantly looked around during the tapping process.
Although he couldn’t see ghosts, seeing no change in the surroundings would slightly ease his mind.
But as time passed second by second, and he had been tapping the bowl for about ten minutes with nothing happening, Zhou Wenbo started to feel something was wrong.
“…What’s going on?”
“The ghosts still haven’t come?”
“Or did I do something wrong?”
While tapping the bowl, he carefully checked the setup.
No problem, it was prepared strictly according to the book.
“Could it be… I’m lucky?”
He began to let his thoughts run wild; at this point, a hint of joy appeared on his face, but he quickly suppressed it.
—Ding ding ding
The sound of chopsticks tapping the empty bowl kept ringing at the crossroads; Zhou Wenbo’s fear gradually faded step by step along with his patience’s warning, and he started to feel restless, turning his head left and right no longer cautiously, even occasionally thinking in his mind if he could leave.
Anyway, there seemed to be no ghosts.
He didn’t notice that in the distance of the crossroads illuminated by the streetlight, a thick fog covered it, the fog seeming alive as it slowly devoured the lights and air on the four roads, gradually approaching him.
Zhou Wenbo’s mind had already started to wander.
He had been repeating the action of tapping the bowl for almost an hour!
No matter how patient a person was, they would be impatient by now.
Besides, he wasn’t someone with great patience to begin with.
Moreover, he hadn’t encountered any danger, nor had he truly seen ghosts with his own eyes.
Even though the atmosphere inside the platform had scared him badly before, the fact that his mission was turning out so easy gradually relaxed Zhou Wenbo.
“Nothing has happened; maybe there are no ghosts here at all.”
“Actually, some missions have ghosts, some don’t?”
“Or is the train deliberately trying to scare us, making us deceive ourselves?”
Like fighting wits with air and ending up harming oneself?
Zhou Wenbo felt he might have seen through the truth, but he still didn’t dare to act rashly, only letting his mind wander with wild thoughts.
He didn’t have the guts to actually do what he was thinking.
The fog was approaching step by step; in the darkness, the fog seemed to outline shadowy figures that couldn’t be seen, drawn by Zhou Wenbo, slowly closing in on him, but he was completely unaware.
The streetlight dimmed a bit, the candle flame stuck in the ground suddenly flickered, startling Zhou Wenbo who had relaxed, making him shiver.
“Is it windy?”
It seemed not; he hadn’t felt any wind blowing.
Just a small mishap; he immediately regained his vigilance, staring at the food in front of him again.
The brought food had long gone cold; it was casually packed anyway, all things he didn’t like to eat, and after cooling too long, the dried oil made it look especially greasy.
But for some reason… these originally tasteless dishes suddenly became fragrant.
Zhou Wenbo swallowed his saliva, thinking that tapping the bowl here for too long had made him tired and hungry.
His stomach didn’t growl from hunger, but Zhou Wenbo couldn’t stop his gaze from constantly shifting to the few bowls of food.
The streetlight grew dimmer, the light as if obstructed by something, unable to illuminate this dim crossroads anymore, but Zhou Wenbo was oblivious, his eyes glued to the food, unable to look away.
“So fragrant.”
The candle flame flickered again, as if an invisible figure walked past the candle, bringing a slight breeze.
The ding-ding-ding sounds gradually slowed; the look in Zhou Wenbo’s eyes as he stared at the food was already off.
When he came back to his senses, looking at what he was doing, his brain was blank, unable even to think.
The chopsticks that had been tapping the bowl had at some point reached into the cold food, picking up a piece of meat and sending it into his mouth.
He ate it, the food prepared for the ghosts.
