Chapter 18: Playing a Game

The soup tasted utterly ordinary, no different from what one might find at any normal street stall. Yet, strangely enough, for some reason it carried an indescribable sense of nostalgia. At first, Zhou You merely sipped it slowly with a spoon, but before long he could no longer resist wolfing it down. In the blink of an eye, the entire bowl had disappeared into his stomach.

At the same time, the mechanical female voice sounded beside his ear.

“Congratulations, player, for completing the side quest: Drink the Soup.”

“Player has received a special reward: Warmth.”

“Effect: The player’s stamina recovery speed will increase within this scenario, and the player will no longer need to consume any other food in order to remain full.”

“The relationship between the player and the Weird Stall Owner is: Friendly. Information may be obtained from him later.”

“Player has obtained a green consumable item: Shop Sign.”

“Effect: After use, you may temporarily summon ‘Weird Entity: Stall Owner’. You cannot communicate with this weird entity and may only have it block enemies on your behalf. This item can only be used once within this scenario. Death will not reset its usage count.”

“Please note, due to the special restrictions of this scenario, the number of questions the player may ask the stall owner is limited to: 3.”

Hold on, if the relationship was already Friendly, why was he still limited to only three questions?

Before he could think further, however, the stall owner suddenly spoke again.

“This recipe was taught to me by my mother. It may not be some rare delicacy, but it suits local tastes fairly well. It’s a pity I don’t make it often anymore. Next time you come by, I’ll give you a larger serving.”

Apparently seeing how quickly Zhou You had eaten had made the man quite happy. Even the layers of wrinkles on his face seemed to relax considerably.

“If I get the chance, I’ll definitely stop by again,” Zhou You replied with a smile. Then he hesitated briefly before continuing. “By the way, I’m really sorry, but may I ask you a few questions?”

It was an entirely ordinary sentence.

Yet after hearing it, the stall owner’s face gradually darkened.

Then he suddenly closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time. At last, as though making up his mind, he said,

“You’ve helped me so much that I can’t possibly refuse. But remember this carefully. After you’ve finished asking your questions, if anything abnormal happens to me, run immediately. And under no circumstances come back. Do you understand?”

Why?

The question never left Zhou You’s mouth.

Because the answer had already appeared in the other man’s eyes.

Only this must not be asked. If you ask it, both you and I will die.

So Zhou You remained silent.

Sitting on the greasy stool, tapping his knee, he pondered carefully for a long while.

The other man offered no urging whatsoever and simply waited quietly.

After some time, Zhou You finally asked his first question.

“For the difficulties I’ll encounter later, do you have any solutions or advice?”

He did not ask what dangers he would face, nor how many ghosts he would encounter. Instead, he bundled as many possibilities as possible into a single question.

In this way, he could conserve his limited opportunities to ask.

The stall owner understood this as well. He nodded approvingly before answering.

“I don’t know much about things too far ahead. But in the alley up ahead, you’ll find some children. Just play games with them. However, remember two things. First, no matter what game you’re playing, you must follow the nursery rhyme they sing. Second, you absolutely must not force your way through, run away, or do anything that might harm them. Otherwise, your death will definitely be even worse than theirs.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the owner’s face began rapidly rotting away. Half the flesh on his face fell directly onto the chopping board with a wet Splat.

Zhou You frowned and was about to say something, but the owner waved a hand immediately.

“Don’t mind it. I’m fine. At worst, I just won’t be able to run my stall for a while. That might even be a good thing. So don’t waste time. Keep asking.”

“...All right. Second question.”

“Regarding this world that I’m patrolling, what do you know about it?”

“...I don’t know much either. I only know that this world has been forcibly divided into two lines. Those of the night cannot travel into the day, and those of the day cannot travel into the night. Unless you’re a special existence like yourself, or you’ve received permission from Him.”

Day and night could not interact?

A certain face suddenly appeared in Zhou You’s mind.

But he immediately cast the thought aside.

The stall owner’s body had already begun rotting more and more severely. An ominous crimson hue had started appearing in his eyes. It looked as though he could not hold out much longer.

“My final question. I’ve repeatedly seen mention of a wealthy tycoon in the local newspaper. Is he a key figure in this world?”

Upon hearing that, a look of madness suddenly appeared in the owner’s eyes.

He looked on the verge of completely losing control.

Yet in the end, he still gritted his teeth and spoke each word distinctly.

“He is the one who started all of this. You cannot possibly meet him right now, but never go looking for him either. For your own safety, remember this. The farther away you stay from him, the better!”

By the final few words, he was nearly roaring.

But at that very moment, a pair of hands suddenly emerged from the pot that had been boiling human heads.

The hands seized the stall owner tightly.

The brother’s head rose from the pot. While dragging back his out-of-control sibling, his mouth opened and closed in silent warning to Zhou You.

You’ve already used up all the questions you could ask.

Now... run!

After putting a considerable distance between himself and the stall, Zhou You turned back.

The fluorescent lamp above the stall had quietly gone out.

That spot had completely sunk into darkness.

Although the system offered no notification this time, Zhou You could roughly guess that even if he later used his resurrection coin reset trick, he probably would never see that lamp shine again.

Letting out a silent sigh, he could only switch on his flashlight and continue walking toward the unknown ahead.

Not far beyond the stall lay Mountain Locust Alley.

The place itself was not particularly unusual. It looked much the same as alleys found throughout cities, counties, and towns across the country. The only difference was that every wall in the alley was covered in deep black ash, as though the area had once been scorched by extreme heat.

At the entrance stood a notice.

The contents roughly stated that a fire had occurred there several years ago. The cause remained unknown to this day. Although the area’s richest man, Mr. Liu, had funded repairs, the overall structural integrity of the buildings had already been compromised. Anyone wishing to proceed was advised to take a different route through another district.

The notice was brief.

Yet Zhou You still noticed something rather strange.

“This richest man... his surname is Liu? If I remember correctly, the person in charge of the sanitation company was also called Liu Shang. What relationship do they have? Or could they actually be the same person?”

Silently committing the matter to memory, Zhou You stepped toward the alley.

However, the instant he took his first step, he felt his arm suddenly being grabbed.

Turning his head, he discovered that among the ashes, a charcoal-like little face had suddenly emerged.

It was not a figure of speech.

It was the literal truth.

Every bit of flesh on that face had been completely burned away. Only a layer of blackened carbonized tissue remained attached to the skull. The lips and eyelids had been destroyed, leaving behind only two bloodshot eyeballs that rolled constantly in their sockets.

Then the child opened its mouth, revealing an oral cavity and throat that had been entirely blackened by smoke.

Using a voice that sounded innocent yet incomparably cruel, it asked,

“Uncle, want to play a game?”