Chapter 165: Doors And Doors
“Ka—”
The handle, covered in bright red rust, trembled slightly but showed no sign of opening.
Probably because the fierce ghost inside was even more terrifying, the ghost ship’s seal still existed within this room, making it impossible to easily open the door.
“The ghost ship’s room needs supernatural power to open. You can treat it as your attack target and channel the fierce ghost’s strength onto the door lock.”
The mannequin glanced at the map and reminded: “But before that, you’d better think it through clearly before opening the door, so you don’t waste your strength in vain.”
At least seven doors needed to be opened, likely confronting seven fierce ghosts. Saving a bit of energy was naturally the best.
“No need to consider. This path should be the optimal solution right now.” Zhang Qian said decisively.
“Most rooms on the path are in semi-gray, and none are as dense as black. There shouldn’t be any problem.”
After confirming the map once more, he rolled up the ancient leather and put it away.
If he really encountered a fierce ghost, holding this thing would be a bit restrictive.
“Treat it as an attack target…”
Gripping the wooden stick in his hand tightly, Zhang Qian hesitated no longer and smashed it onto the door lock.
The deep red long stick infused with true qi collided with the door, but it made a dull sound. It was as if this strike hadn’t hit metal, but instead smashed into a mass of flesh and blood.
But regardless, after one strike, the door did open a slight crack.
A strand of dim yellow light shot out from the door crack, shining on the mannequin’s somewhat dazed face.
Zhang Qian was about to reach out to push the door, but the mannequin he was holding took the lead, placing its slender arm on the door handle.
“Click.”
The door lock, which should have been damaged, seemed to recover again. After a crisp sound, it locked the room once more.
Facing Zhang Qian’s puzzled gaze, the mannequin just shook its head: “All we need to do is open the door. We don’t need to go in, and we don’t need to figure out how to deal with the fierce ghost inside.”
“This works too?” Zhang Qian asked suspiciously.
The door just now hadn’t even fully opened, only slightly ajar with a narrow crack. The gap was so small that even the situation inside the room couldn’t be discerned. Could this satisfy the killing pattern?
However, the mannequin had more authority on such matters. Since he had decided to follow the killing pattern provided by the mannequin, Zhang Qian naturally wouldn’t refute it.
But he had some doubts in his heart and asked during the interval while heading to the next door.
“Then this doesn’t seem that difficult. Can’t we just close the door the instant we open it?”
“If it’s that simple, why could you only open to the third door before?”
The mannequin’s mouth opened and closed, somewhat exasperated. “Don’t be ungrateful. Without that map, are you sure you could always open doors to non-dangerous rooms? Once you encounter those terrifying rooms, the door isn’t something you can close just because you want to.”
Although fierce ghosts all acted according to killing patterns, these killing patterns varied, and their trigger difficulties naturally differed.
In outward manifestation, some fierce ghosts were relatively lazy, not even bothering to act when people were right in front of them.
But such cases were generally rare. Most killing patterns were within a relatively easy-to-trigger range.
And the fierce ghosts the mannequin encountered were exceptions.
Perhaps it was unlucky. Every time it opened a door, before it could do anything, the fierce ghost inside would charge out snarling.
Moreover, these fierce ghosts seemed to have ghost domains, instantly blocking the doorway, not even giving a chance to close the door.
“The difference is actually this big…” Zhang Qian nodded, then sighed, “You’re really quite unlucky. Pure black rooms are rare on the map, probably considered rare even on the entire ghost ship.”
To force away a mannequin that controlled three or four fierce ghosts, the things in those rooms definitely weren’t simple. Even in the Republic of China era, they should be considered rare.
After all, the ghost controller who survived from the tattoo parlor back then had only controlled three fierce ghosts, though their strengths weren’t easy to compare.
As he spoke, they had already arrived in front of the second door.
If the map was correct, this door should be the simplest.
“Click.”
With just a slight press on the handle, the door opened with a response.
Based on past experience, such a room should contain a fierce ghost similar to a supernatural item.
Even ignoring possible dangers, it was a powerful supernatural item.
Although he didn’t know what the items in previous rooms were for, the ghost map that could guide and the jade pendant that could point out ghosts had both given Zhang Qian considerable help.
“Forget it. I already have enough items on me now, and I don’t temporarily need abilities in other aspects.”
“Greed is endless like a snake swallowing an elephant. Who knows what dangers these items have. Carrying too many might even be dangerous.”
After a slight hesitation, Zhang Qian gave up the idea of entering the room to search. He just stood at the door and glanced inside with his peripheral vision.
The layout inside was no different from a normal room, with nothing worth noting.
Another relatively small thing, or rather, one that was gone?
With Zhang Qian’s thought, the iron door closed again.
The door panel and door frame fit together tightly without a single gap, not even allowing light to penetrate.
Shaking his head, Zhang Qian dragged the mannequin along as they walked diagonally across.
“The third door…”
Judging by the color, this was the most dangerous room among the seven rooms.
Once successfully passing this one, it would be equivalent to clearing the entire path.
He hadn’t encountered a fierce ghost so far, but here, contact with a fierce ghost was almost inevitable. The only difference was how strong the fierce ghost was.
After all, it wasn’t fully black, so it should still be acceptable.
Feeling the current posture inconvenient, Zhang Qian thought for a moment, switched the mannequin to his left hand, then swung the wooden stick a couple times with his right.
The tip of the wooden stick tore through the air, bringing a sharp whooshing sound.
The previous wounds hadn’t affected Zhang Qian’s performance, but there was no happy expression on his face.
Instead, he frowned, looking at his own arms.
There were cracks generated from the severed limb ghost’s corrosion, but according to previous observations, these cracks had already begun healing.
But this process seemed hindered somehow, or rather, the lingering power of the cracks had reached some balance with the true qi in his body.
Scarlet red net-like patterns wrapped around his arms like dense blood vessels, but they felt flat to the touch.
Not wounds, more like some kind of brand.
Noticing Zhang Qian’s action, the mannequin on his other hand hurriedly raised both hands in surrender: “It’s got nothing to do with me. If you want revenge, go find that fierce ghost in the room over there.”
As for whether Zhang Qian could find the severed limb ghost from a room that had already refreshed, what business was that of its?
