Chapter 221: True Culprit
Awakening from a near-dead shutdown slumber, the waiter didn’t think much and instinctively opened his eyes.
In just one glance, it clearly saw a grayish-white fierce mask hanging not far above its head.
“Bang.”
Without even a chance to react, the waiter’s head, which had finally managed to lift up, ultimately smashed powerlessly back to the ground.
The back of his head made intimate contact with the ground; if it were anyone else, they would probably swell up with a big bump, but it was a fierce ghost.
“Attacked again?”
Seeing the waiter fail to play dead, Zhang Qian immediately sprang up, stood to his feet, and observed the nearby situation.
His alert line of sight immediately swept toward the surrounding space, but failed to discover any traces of abnormality.
The ghost hands around him also stirred under his control, restlessly wandering around on the ground, some even leaping into mid-air by stepping on the ground, wanting to pounce on some invisible figure.
However, neither the eyes nor the ghost hands discovered anything.
Even Zhang Qian’s own perception couldn’t sense any other things.
Either that thing ran fast enough, or it simply didn’t exist…
Looking at the waiter’s miserable state on the ground, Zhang Qian suddenly felt like he had discovered something.
Seven orifices bleeding—this death seemed a bit familiar?
“Earlier during the meal, the waiter stayed in the darkness for so long without being attacked, which means the dining area was safe at that time.” Recalling the previous situation, Zhang Qian said thoughtfully.
“After that, at my instruction, it entered the dining area alone. Although it had the intention to escape into the dining area, there were no signs of injury after being pulled out…”
On the contrary, not long after he entered the dining area with the waiter, the waiter shut down unknowingly.
Was the problem really on him?
Zhang Qian tentatively lifted his hand, but his fingertip couldn’t touch his cheek; instead, it was blocked by a layer of hard thing.
“So it’s the influence of this thing? After all that, it turns out I’m the only threat here.” Zhang Qian shook his head somewhat helplessly.
The ghost mask’s indiscriminate killing ability was indeed terrifying; it would spontaneously attack those who satisfied the pattern even without his control.
It was just that he hadn’t expected the waiter to be able to see the ghost mask, so he hadn’t considered that aspect.
Trying to communicate with his true qi, Zhang Qian wanted to disperse the ghost mask on his face.
However, this portion of true qi seemed to have lost control; not only could he not control it, he couldn’t even sense it—it was as if it had gone out of control.
But calling it out of control wasn’t quite accurate, after all, they were just staying obediently on Zhang Qian’s face without any intention of harming him.
“Is this the influence of the dining area? It’s indeed a bit eerie.” Zhang Qian thoughtfully checked other parts of his body and confirmed there were no other strange changes.
He did know that fierce ghosts would manifest, but earlier when looking at his arms, he hadn’t discovered any traces of the ghost hands, making him think he was a special case where the fierce ghosts on his body wouldn’t be affected.
But the ghost mask on his face wasn’t a real entity; it was still just a phantom formed by true qi, possessing the supernatural power of the ghost mask.
“After all, I’ve already swallowed the ghost mask; even if this ghost restaurant wants to separate it out, it would probably be quite difficult.”
But why was only the ghost mask affected, while the arms showed no change?
At least now Zhang Qian’s hands just looked a bit pale, not yet reaching the pathological extent of the ghost hand.
“Is the ghost hand too weak, or is the fierce mask too strong?”
Shaking his head to put the question aside, Zhang Qian reached out to the waiter again.
Having found the cause of the illness, the difficulty of treatment should drop sharply.
……
The waiter felt like he had a dream, but the content of the dream wasn’t very pleasant.
Being a dog under someone else’s hand with no ability to resist—how could that be pleasant?
After all, it wasn’t like that waste outside, who could casually act like a dog for others without a care.
Even if he really had to give up the shopkeeper position, he had to be an employee with dignity and a bottom line, not letting Zhang Qian order him around at will.
He had thought that without the constraint of being a guest, he could have a real fight with that kid Zhang Qian.
Although Zhang Qian was a so-called ghost controller with extra supernatural power boost, the waiter felt he wasn’t bad either; at least after eating so many dishes, his strength had significantly improved.
Even if not a match, he at least had to show his strength and strive for negotiation qualifications.
Saying he wasn’t scared would be fake, and the best way to close the strength gap was naturally a sneak attack.
So after being pushed into the dining area by Zhang Qian, not only did the waiter not get angry, he even felt some anticipation.
Entering first meant he could strike first, then land a hit while Zhang Qian was distracted.
Unfortunately, the waiter’s plan was wrong from the start.
After all, waiting by the side of the cave entrance, he didn’t wait for Zhang Qian at all, only for a fierce ghost with its body hidden under a long robe.
He didn’t even have time to look closely at the fierce ghost’s appearance before his vision blurred and he lost consciousness.
Until a somewhat icy cold airflow appeared in his body, startling the waiter awake from slumber.
Unfortunately, upon opening his eyes, he saw the thing he least wanted to see in this life—that fierce ghost had stretched its face over again, instantly killing him once more.
Until an unknown amount of time had passed.
In a daze, the waiter heard a familiar voice, as if calling him, “Wake up quickly…”
This is…
Before the waiter could think much, the voice changed tone and continued, “…If you don’t get up, I’ll make your head explode.”
Startled, the waiter didn’t dare delay; his consciousness gradually returned to his body, and he instinctively opened his eyes.
By the time he realized something was wrong and prepared to wait for death, he found that the expected attack didn’t happen.
The surrounding environment was pitch black for some reason, but the faint stinging pain around his eye sockets told him he had awakened.
“Oh? Awake now?” Seeing the waiter’s body move, Zhang Qian knew this guy was fine.
The life force of fierce ghosts was indeed tenacious; even though the waiter wasn’t a complete fierce ghost, he could easily withstand several attacks unscathed.
“Zhang Qian?” the waiter asked in a strange tone.
Although Zhang Qian hadn’t introduced himself, the waiter had seen the contents of that notebook and naturally knew Zhang Qian’s name.
“Who else?”
Seeing he was fine, Zhang Qian stood up and looked at the surrounding darkness, asking, “Didn’t you say that without the resting area’s isolation, I could leave directly? Why after so long is there still no movement at all?”
