Chapter 212: Sudden Change
There wasn’t much content on the dry yellow paper.
Right at the top were the words 【Employee List】, and below was only one name.
“Shopkeeper Niu Xiao Er… what a casual name.”
Zhang Qian pointed at the content on the notebook and asked curiously, “Is this person you? If I really join this restaurant, do I have to change my name too?”
If that were really the case, wouldn’t there be a lot of people with the same name in the Ghost Restaurant.
The waiter stuck out his butt and smiled awkwardly, “I’m the second child in my family, so my dad gave me this name. It has nothing to do with the Ghost Restaurant, sir, you don’t need to mind.”
He didn’t mind his own name at all. After all, in his village there were a bunch of names like Gou Dan and Er Gou, so his was already pretty good.
Zhang Qian nodded and said no more, continuing to flip through the content on the following pages of the notebook.
However, except for the first few pages which had writing, everywhere else was blank, with no other clues.
Did he really have to become this so-called branch store shopkeeper?
To be honest, Zhang Qian himself didn’t want to take on such a inexplicable identity.
First, this identity might have some unknown pitfalls. Second, the Ghost Restaurant’s stance was unclear, so it was hard to guarantee it wouldn’t cause trouble because of this identity.
Although the waiter had seemed unrestrained and free on the Ghost Ship for these past few decades, it was mostly due to the Ghost Ship’s influence, not that he himself was so free.
Zhang Qian looked around and finally set his gaze on the waiter, “Are there no other ways to leave or any other clues?”
The environment in the restaurant was plain to see, with nothing special. Perhaps only internal personnel knew the secrets within?
“There really aren’t any.”
The waiter shook his head repeatedly, “Your situation is unique, sir. I’ve never heard of outsiders entering the resting area before, so I really only know the method for employees to leave. I’m not too clear on other things.”
“Then demonstrate it for me, show me exactly how to leave this place.” Zhang Qian said.
He waved his hand, and the Ghost Hand, which had been wandering nearby, immediately received the signal and lightly jumped to land on the waiter’s shoulder.
“Ah!”
The waiter was startled by this action and shot up from the stool, instinctively wanting to swat at that scarlet palm.
However, he ultimately didn’t dare to do so, and instead pleaded with a mournful face, “I’ll fully cooperate, sir, please withdraw your supernatural power.”
The pain the Ghost Hand had brought to the waiter was too profound. Even though it was now just quietly resting on his shoulder, it made him feel uncomfortable all over.
It seemed like the next second it would suddenly act up and take his life.
“It’s just an experiment. Do you have to be so panicked?”
Zhang Qian patted the waiter’s free shoulder to comfort him, “I’m just curious if this Ghost Hand can go to the dining area with you. If it can, that means there’s a loophole in this place’s rules, and I won’t need to be this shopkeeper.”
If it didn’t work, it wouldn’t be too late to look for other methods.
The other Ghost Hand had already begun searching everywhere. Fine cracks appeared on the floor, walls, and even the ceiling, not missing any detail.
However, there were no gains for now. It could only be determined that the surrounding building was unusually sturdy. Destruction might be possible, but it would definitely take a very long time.
“Alright…” The waiter tried his best to ignore the cold sensation on his left shoulder and asked stiffly, “Then should I go to the dining area now?”
Zhang Qian nodded in agreement, then followed the waiter toward the corner of the room.
This was also the direction the waiter had tried to escape in earlier, but he had been caught by the Ghost Hand halfway and hadn’t reached the destination successfully.
The restaurant wasn’t large, and soon the two stood at the foot of the wall.
The white wall paint had turned somewhat yellow, unclear if due to the influence of time or if it had always been that way.
A narrow, long mark was still visible on the wall surface, covered with dense cracks along this track, but only the paint had cracked, with no effect on the dark gray wall body inside.
The Ghost Hand had already probed here and found nothing unusual.
Noticing Zhang Qian’s questioning gaze, the waiter explained, “Sir, you can’t see it, but to me, there’s actually a gap in this place.”
“To go to the dining area, you have to pass through this gap. There’s no other way.”
A gap?
Zhang Qian casually poked the wooden stick over, solidly knocking it against the wall surface.
The knocking sound was very dull, sounding no different from the other walls. It didn’t seem hollow.
“It really can only be seen by employees…”
With no other discoveries, Zhang Qian no longer hesitated and nodded to the waiter, “Begin.”
“Alright.” The waiter said in a deep voice.
He took a deep breath and stared fixedly at that pitch-black opening.
He had clearly done similar things countless times before, but now under Zhang Qian’s line of sight, he surprisingly felt a bit nervous.
“I’m starting.”
After a reminder, the waiter slowly extended his hand toward that opening.
Without any hindrance, his extended right hand silently disappeared into the darkness.
However, from Zhang Qian’s perspective, the waiter’s right hand seemed to be swallowed by the wall, with half of it already embedded in the wall, though without any fresh blood seeping out.
The waiter’s body was still moving forward.
Elbow, right shoulder, head… soon half his body had entered the wall.
For the waiter, this wall seemed like just a texture overlay, unable to affect his actions at all.
But the unexpected happened soon.
When the waiter tried to continue inward, his entire body suddenly seemed stuck, unable to advance even half a step.
The resistance came from the Ghost Hand gripping his left shoulder.
Unlike the waiter’s body, the Ghost Hand was solidly blocked outside the wall. Its finger joints were firmly pressed against the wall surface, unable to enter even a little.
Fortunately, the Ghost Hand was gripping tightly; otherwise, that moment just now would have been enough to fling it off the waiter.
“What a pity.” Zhang Qian sighed.
The identification mechanism at this opening was quite strict. Even a derivative like the Ghost Hand couldn’t sneak in. It seemed that without an employee’s identity, passing through was impossible.
Fortunately, he hadn’t held much hope anyway, so failure was just failure.
“Come out. We have the result.” Zhang Qian called to the waiter.
But whether the waiter didn’t hear or heard but didn’t want to obey, his forward momentum showed no sign of slowing; instead, it became even more forceful.
Under this force, the Ghost Hand was squeezed into a ball, and the gripped clothes were starting to deform, on the verge of tearing.
The waiter seemed to have lost control.
