Chapter 223: Pen
With a loud bang, the pitiful Ghost Hand slammed onto the table, struggling for a moment under the palm like withered branches, then stopped moving as if dead.
Not even a few seconds later, the Ghost Hand turned into a puddle of pus and scattered, flowing everywhere.
“So fierce?” Zhang Qian’s eyelid twitched.
Although ordinary Ghost Hands are very weak, this Ghost Hand had been strengthened by the Severed Limb Ghost, and under the influence of the Dining Area, it should be even stronger.
Yet even so, it couldn’t even withstand one move under this withered hand.
More crucially, Zhang Qian himself hadn’t issued any attack command; this counterattack was entirely the withered hand’s instinctive reaction, not under Zhang Qian’s control.
A bit dangerous, better not to play around…
Zhang Qian lost interest in continuing to observe it, and with a slight mental move, he wanted to make the arm pressing on the table retreat.
Still no unusual feeling, but the arm on the table did move, slowly lifting and then retreating back into the darkness.
Fortunately, until it completely disappeared, no accidents occurred.
“Are you okay?” the Waiter asked uneasily.
It wasn’t worried about Zhang Qian’s safety, just afraid for its own life.
If even that guy Zhang Qian encountered danger here, it meant the Dining Area wasn’t as safe as it had imagined.
The Waiter didn’t know this movement was caused by the withered hand; after all, it had never thought of making a withered hand in the past—didn’t dare in human form, only wanted to eat in ghost form, unlikely to act so recklessly.
“Not bad, didn’t die anyway.” Zhang Qian responded casually.
He glanced sideways at the Waiter; the guy was still lying honestly on the ground, not secretly prying away the Ghost Hand or making any other abnormal moves.
Maybe those two unexpected attacks weren’t a bad thing?
At least it made the Waiter restrain himself a lot, not daring to be as rampant as when ordering dishes before.
Operations like forcing a table of Manchu Han Imperial Feast upon disagreement, it probably wouldn’t dare to do anymore.
“Although I can’t fully control it, being able to summon these withered limbs means I still have some privileges, but as Shopkeeper, there should be more abilities than just this, right?”
Retracting his gaze, as Zhang Qian was thinking of trying other permissions, a rustling sound came from the darkness.
Like something crawling on the ground, and definitely not few in number, from all directions, almost surrounding Zhang Qian.
However, Zhang Qian wasn’t overly alert; instead, he lifted his eyes and quietly watched into the distance, waiting for those things to approach.
Finally, a palm was the first to enter his line of sight.
Then a second, a third… until palms were all around, they slowly stopped.
Bloody small wounds crawled over the pale palms; undoubtedly, these were all the Ghost Hands Zhang Qian had released before.
“The command I gave them was to keep going forward; why did they crawl back on their own?” Zhang Qian was puzzled.
The nearest Ghost Hand immediately moved, jumping onto the table for him to observe closely.
“From the appearance, no signs of corrosion…”
With a mental move, the Ghost Hand in front of him immediately turned into shadow and dispersed.
“No signs of losing control either.”
Zhang Qian swept his gaze and lightly counted the number, finding it matched the total he had released earlier.
But there was one small problem.
“At that time, six Ghost Hands were released to the left, five to the right, but now it’s reversed?”
Not just left and right, even the front and back Ghost Hand numbers were inverted.
Or rather, what was inverted wasn’t the number, but the positions of the Ghost Hands.
“I thought this space was infinite, but there are still boundaries…” Zhang Qian sighed.
But this boundary wasn’t a solid wall or barrier, but spaces connected to each other.
Approaching the boundary would, like a Ghost Wall, unknowingly appear at the other end of the Dining Area; without the central table as reference, one might walk to death without realizing they were going in circles.
However, the idea of finding an exit through the boundary could now largely be ruled out.
Casually summoning a Ghost Hand, making a mark on it, Zhang Qian threw it into the darkness, planning to verify this guess later.
He himself began to explore other things, trying to find a way to leave.
“If I remember correctly, you seemed to say in the Resting Area before that you could leave here to recruit shop assistants on the Ghost Ship?” Zhang Qian asked the Waiter on the ground.
As a customer, not being able to leave wasn’t a big problem; worst case, leave using the shop assistant method.
And the Waiter seemed to know the conditions for that method.
“Uh…” The Waiter stiffened for a moment, then hesitantly said, “Don’t know?”
Before Zhang Qian could get angry, it immediately explained, “That guy said that only because the Boss mentioned it; but that guy never tried it himself, so I’m not clear on how to leave either.”
“But it’s certain there’s some way to leave.”
“Don’t know again…” Zhang Qian was already too exasperated to complain about this know-nothing guy.
The cowardly Waiter in the Dining Area was waste enough; thought turning into a Fierce Ghost would improve it, who knew this guy was just a good-for-nothing too.
Fortunately, confirming there’s a method was enough; trying slowly would eventually work it out.
“I want to leave?”
Zhang Qian silently recited in his mind, but there was silence all around, no change.
So he repeated it aloud softly, but still failed.
“Looks like it’s not that simple…”
Checking his own condition, Zhang Qian felt the opportunity to leave might not be on himself.
Because there was no excess supernatural power in his body, nor any sense of control over the Ghost Restaurant; even wanting to leave, he was powerless.
So likely some item could open the exit passage.
There weren’t many things in the Ghost Restaurant branch store; besides table and chairs, only the bill, notebook, and pen were somewhat special.
“First, the bill can be ruled out?”
This thing was now stained with some stains, seeming really just a tool the Waiter casually drew for keeping accounts.
And the notebook…
Opening the notebook, the contents inside showed no change.
It still only had the notes left by himself and the Waiter, and it was already at the end after just a few pages, not looking like it hid some clue.
Zhang Qian looked at the ordinary brush pen, “Then the most likely is this thing.”
