"Um... Ning Zhe? Are you listening?" In the surveillance room, looking at the pitch-black screen before her, Feng Yushu felt somewhat uneasy.
"I'm here." Ning Zhe's voice remained as calm as ever. Though devoid of emotion, it brought reassurance. "Auntie, I'm going to shut off the breaker now. Leave the surveillance room immediately. We're going to the second floor to find Bai Zhi. I've found the solution. In a bit, cooperate with me and we'll kill that ghost."
"Eh? Already...?" Feng Yushu was surprised. She felt as if she had done nothing, yet Ning Zhe had already solved all the puzzles. A true speedrun.
But after thinking for a moment, Feng Yushu ultimately decided to trust him. "Okay, I'll go find her now. You be careful too."
With that, she cut power to the surveillance room and quickly left holding her umbrella.
Ning Zhe stuffed security guard Old Li's phone in his pocket, looked at the well-sealed electrical box embedded in the wall, then looked at Old Li lying paralyzed on the ground with all four limbs broken, barely breathing more out than in. From Old Li's memories, he had dug out some interesting things, like discovering a joke book in a school's long-abandoned reading corner. It would come in handy later.
Ning Zhe closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"All right. Let the game begin."
In the first-floor changing room of the castle, Xie Yaoan and Liu Yunzhi waited tensely. Weak light filtered through gaps in the curtains. Not moonlight. The shrouded Jade Water Bay Manor had no moon. That was from lampposts on the distant lawn. Outside the door in the corridor, hazy crystal lamps emitted ambiguous halos.
But soon, even this last light disappeared completely. As power was cut, the entire castle plunged into an ink-thick pool of darkness.
"Brother Li really shut off the breaker." Xie Yaoan's voice carried some excitement. Though unclear on the specific principles, she still knew the most basic rule: hiding in darkness could avoid being found by that ghost.
Now the entire manor was pitch black. One could say Old Li had manually expanded the safe zone to encompass the entire castle.
Only the outdoor grid hadn't been shut off yet. That was Tian Chengyun's responsibility.
"Wonderful. We can leave soon..." Xie Yaoan leaned against the wall, pressing her phone to her chest.
Watching her enthusiasm, Liu Yunzhi couldn't help but frown.
Xie Yaoan wasn't very old. Like Tian Chengyun, she was a recent university graduate who hadn't found work. But the difference was that Tian Chengyun had taken a security job to get by waiting for death, while Xie Yaoan stayed home studying for civil service exams. Not that she had passed.
Eventually both ended up at the same destination, both working at Jade Water Bay Manor. One as a front desk receptionist, the other still as security.
Unlike Xie Yaoan, a young woman who hadn't truly experienced society, high school graduate Liu Yunzhi had changed jobs many times. Though similar in age, her personal experience was broader, her personality more stable, and her mind very meticulous.
Liu Yunzhi pushed Xie Yaoan's relaxed shoulder and said quietly, "Don't you think something's strange?"
The other woman looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Liu Yunzhi shook her head and showed her phone screen to the other woman. "Look for yourself. During the time we've been hiding in this changing room, I've made many calls to family outside the manor. WeChat, QQ, text messages... I've tried every method, but nothing works. Calls won't go through, messages won't send, and there's no network."
"Maybe the signal is blocked." Xie Yaoan pondered. "I remember a few rooms deep inside the castle have small-range signal jammers. Something about the big boss's business meeting area. Installed for confidentiality."
Maybe someone accidentally increased the signal jammer's power in the chaos? Or perhaps it was deliberate.
"That still doesn't make sense." Liu Yunzhi shook her head. "Have you forgotten you just finished a phone call?"
Xie Yaoan's expression immediately froze. "Oh right..."
Earlier her emotions had been extremely panicked. When she saw Brother Li's incoming call, she felt only excitement. In her excitement, she had preemptively overlooked this detail.
"Why can't our calls go out, but Brother Li could call me?" Xie Yaoan really couldn't figure it out.
"Let me call you." As Liu Yunzhi spoke, she dialed her number.
A moment later, Xie Yaoan's phone rang.
"It actually works?" Surprised, Xie Yaoan quickly hung up and tried calling her family outside, but it showed no signal. This made her deflate again. "What's going on? Inside the manor we can call and message normally, but we can't contact the outside world?"
Add to that the light-seeking invisible ghost, and the entire world seemed to be tilting toward the supernatural.
Thump, thump.
Suddenly, a crisp knocking sound broke the changing room's tranquility. Both women's nerves tensed simultaneously. Xie Yaoan covered her face with both hands, curling up in the corner, shoulders beginning to tremble slightly. "What's that sound..."
Liu Yunzhi's expression was grave. She dimmed her phone screen and, borrowing the weak light filtering through the curtain gaps, looked toward where the sound came from.
It was a wide mirror wall. The entire wall was one enormous mirror, like the large mirror wall in a ballet classroom.
The sound had just come from the mirror wall's direction.
Xie Yaoan crouched on the ground, face buried between her knees, not daring to move. But Liu Yunzhi knew avoidance was useless. Earlier when being hunted by the ghost, if she hadn't followed Tian Chengyun to find this dark safe room and instead crouched in place like a turtle, she would already be dead.
But what could she do now? Go out? No... That might lead to faster death. Tian Chengyun hadn't shut off the outdoor grid main breaker yet. Castle exterior lampposts still shone. Outside might be even more dangerous.
Liu Yunzhi tentatively half-stood, directing her gaze toward the mirror wall. Nothing was there. Just the blurred shadows of herself and Xie Yaoan reflected on the wall.
Her reflection in the mirror also crouched halfway. But for some reason, this vague human figure reflected in the dim environment always gave her an indescribable eerie feeling, as if it were some kind of strange psychological suggestion.
Liu Yunzhi didn't dare look longer. She already knew what she needed to do.
She carefully moved to the bedside and completely closed the curtains that had been left with a crack. Immediately, the changing room plunged into complete darkness, and the reflection in the mirror disappeared as well.
That eerie feeling also melted into the darkness, no longer perceptible.
At the same time, on the other side of the mirror wall, Ning Zhe silently withdrew his gaze from the one-way mirror before him.
He wore a brand-new men's suit. The fabric was good, but the loose tailoring didn't fit his frame.
Ning Zhe fished several crisp bills with ink fragrance from the suit pocket and stuffed them into his pants pocket. He then removed a jade-and-gold watch from the suit's owner, a portly man collapsed on the ground, and put it on his own wrist. The pure gold watch face edge was covered with fine scratches.
"Such good luck. Successfully obtained a life." Ning Zhe wore the ill-fitting suit and the watch completely unsuited to his temperament, lightening his steps to leave quickly.
The process of stealing Liu Yunzhi's identity had been extremely smooth, flowing like water, achieved in one step. His luck had never been this good before.
Believing in the Snake God truly worked.
Today's Fortune:
[Auspicious: Marriage, Earthwork, Planting, Acquiring Clothing, Gaining Wealth]
[Inauspicious: Drinking Alcohol, Making Fire, Cutting Wood, Building Embankments, Constructing Houses]
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild