Chapter 23: The Strange Bodhisattva

Zhou You’s backside immediately clenched.

“Seriously? You’re putting a jump-scare trap here? This place is barely bigger than a closet. How the hell am I supposed to play a ‘game’ in here?”

Yet after standing on guard for quite a while, the burned child showed no intention of moving.

It merely raised its small head and ‘looked’ at Zhou You with its cracked and splitting face for a long moment before suddenly turning around and walking toward the door.

“This is... not planning to play a game? Wait, it seems like it’s telling me to follow it...”

After thinking it over, Zhou You decided to follow the monster.

After all, he was completely in the dark about this place. Rather than waste time searching room by room, it would be better to follow this seemingly friendly child and see what it wanted.

Of course, the main reason was that he still had plenty of revival tokens. Even if he died here once, it wouldn’t matter.

Looking on the bright side, it would even reset the daytime segment.

The child did not walk quickly, but its figure flickered constantly.

Unlike the things he had encountered at night, it seemed unable to fully solidify into a physical form. Especially under sunlight, its entire body would suddenly disappear, only to reappear elsewhere after quite some time.

It led Zhou You through the two doors and all the way up to the second floor.

Yet it did not stop at any room.

It did not even spare a glance toward suspicious locations such as Employee Dormitory, Archive Room, or Director’s Office.

Instead, it walked directly to the deepest part of the corridor and stopped before an utterly ordinary wall.

Then the charred figure halted, raised its head, and stared at Zhou You.

“You mean for me to go inside?”

There was neither confirmation nor denial.

Only silent gazing.

Zhou You could only investigate on his own.

As usual, he knocked on the wall first, but heard nothing unusual.

Then he searched the surrounding area and likewise found no mechanism capable of opening it.

It looked like an entirely ordinary wall.

But Zhou You did not give up.

After pondering briefly, he suddenly turned and walked several steps to a window that had long since burned away.

Leaning his body outside, he examined the building’s exterior once more.

Several seconds later, an amused smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

The wall’s dimensions were wrong.

Compared to the apparent endpoint of the corridor, there was clearly a large section of unused space visible from outside.

Unless the building’s architect had been insane, no normal structure would be designed that way.

There was only one possible conclusion.

“There must be a hidden room here. Or perhaps an interlayer.”

After realizing this, Zhou You’s search became far more meticulous.

He even searched several nearby rooms.

Only after more than ten minutes of investigation did he finally discover a concealed mechanism beneath a desk.

Reaching into the narrow gap and pulling it down with considerable effort, he heard a dull rumble.

The wall slowly opened.

After climbing out covered in dust, Zhou You glanced once more at the silent ghost.

Seeing that it still showed no reaction whatsoever, he could only shake his head lightly before stepping into the hidden room.

At first glance, it was merely a tiny chamber a little over two meters across.

Dust filled the room just as it did outside.

Unlike the rest of the building, however, there were no traces of fire damage here.

Only the lighting remained as dim as ever.

Zhou You switched on the flashlight he carried with him and shone it inside.

The next second, his gaze was drawn toward a single object.

It was a statue of a bodhisattva.

Yet unlike the bodhisattvas commonly seen in temples, this clay figure displayed not the slightest trace of mercy or compassion.

Him sat cross-legged upon a lotus pedestal.

His face was twisted and insane.

His right hand rested upon His knee, fingers touching the ground in a Buddhist demon-subduing gesture.

Yet beneath the pedestal were not demons or monsters.

Instead, countless souls writhed and struggled within a sea of blood, endlessly wailing and screaming.

At that moment, Him simply gazed at Zhou You.

As though looking at a sacrificial offering laid upon an altar.

There was no emotion within that gaze.

Only pure hunger.

Then, right before Zhou You’s eyes, the clay statue opened its mouth.

A piercing Buddhist chant rang out.

“Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Amitabha Ayiside Hum She.”

Each syllable entered Zhou You’s ears.

In a daze, he saw the bodhisattva covered in blood.

All the souls struggled endlessly within the crimson sea.

They begged for release.

What they received instead was the despair of never being reborn.

Amid the countless howls, the bodhisattva’s face became increasingly savage.

Spiral-like fangs grew from His throat.

Just as He was about to swallow Zhou You’s head whole,

“I... fuck... your... mother!”

At the very instant he was about to be devoured, Zhou You gritted his teeth and activated Selfless Meditation.

His rapidly plummeting Sanity finally stabilized.

Then all the scenery receded like a falling tide.

When he looked again, the bodhisattva statue remained hideous.

But there was no sign of movement.

As though everything that had happened moments ago had merely been an illusion.

“You have discovered an Erosion Point.”

“You have received a reward of 70 Soulstones.”

“Current Soulstone count: 260.”

“You have discovered a key aspect of this world. A hidden story has revealed a corner of itself to you. Please note that if you uncover the complete worldview of this scenario before it ends, you will receive an additional reward.”

Only then did Zhou You wipe his forehead and realize it was covered in sweat.

Ordinarily, no matter how terrifying a ghost might be, he would never react like this.

But what he had just experienced was completely different.

Completely different.

Facing that statue, Zhou You had felt like a mouse being watched by a cat.

It was the absolute suppression of a natural predator.

There had been no possibility of resistance.

The only option had been to close his eyes and wait for death.

Even now, lingering fear remained in his heart.

Fortunately, Zhou You possessed remarkable adaptability.

Or rather, exceptional self-regulation.

Closing his eyes, he adjusted his breathing for a moment.

When he opened them again, all unnecessary emotion had vanished.

“At this point, it looks like this strange bodhisattva is another key element of this scenario. I don’t have direct evidence, but it should be closely connected to that wealthy man surnamed Liu. As for its exact nature...”

Lowering his head, Zhou You noticed several lines of small text carved into the lotus pedestal.

“The good belong to the day; the bad belong to the night.”

“The living belong to the day; the dead belong to the night.”

“The unformed belong to the day; the formed belong to the night.”

“Those not yet mad belong to the day; those already mad belong to the night.”

“Use life as the sacrifice; use death as the ritual.”

“To obtain one’s desire, offer one’s heart.”

It was neither poetry nor a sacrificial prayer.

Not a single line rhymed.

The language itself was awkward and uneven.

It felt as though an illiterate person had desperately tried to sound cultured.

Yet these few lines revealed an enormous amount of information.

So much information that only a final few pieces seemed missing before all the clues could be connected.

After contemplating for a while, Zhou You suddenly revealed a peculiar smile.

Then he stopped looking at the bodhisattva and turned toward the burned child.

From the moment the hidden room had opened to the moment the illusion appeared, the spirit had never moved even once.

Only now, when Zhou You turned around, did it seem to have completed its task.

Slowly, it dispersed beneath the sunlight.

Zhou You remained silent for several seconds.

Then he let out a soft sigh.

Turning around, he left.