CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER 44: SEEING GHOSTS

One o’clock in the middle of the night.

The second floor corridor of the silent hotel was pitch dark.

Carrying a faint sense of eeriness.

An eerie figure paced continually in the corridor.

His whole body was covered in blood, his blue-white face like that of a corpse bore a hint of confusion.

Where is this place?

Who am I?

He seemed to have no memory of anything prior.

He wandered back and forth, looking around bewilderedly, it took him quite a while to realize he was in the hotel’s corridor.

He felt his thoughts were sluggish, many things he couldn’t remember.

He also felt very tired, very weak, he needed a good night’s sleep.

He stepped forward towards his room, mimicking the action of opening the door, then walked inside.

In fact, he passed through the door as if his body had become phantom-like.

The room was a double room, besides him, there was also a colleague.

Suddenly, he remembered that he was a mechanical engineer, here in Dongning City with the company’s old master because their company’s machinery had problems, here to inspect for the client.

The colleague was still awake, tossing and turning in bed, apparently struggling with insomnia.

As he looked at the colleague, gradually, for some reason, a strong resentment arose within him.

His calm face became twisted and hideous.

...

"Ghost!"

A sharp scream echoed throughout the corridor.

Following it, the door was flung open with a bang: "Help, someone come quickly!"

Chen Shouyi was abruptly awakened from his sleep by the scream.

The Shell Lady curled beside him was also stirred awake, squinted at Chen Shouyi, and then turned to continue sleeping.

What happened?

He hesitated for a moment, quickly dressed.

Picked up his phone and turned on the flashlight.

Once the door opened, he keenly sensed a vague chill in the air as if cold air was blowing.

But it lasted only a moment before these cold breaths dispersed from around him.

A short distance away, a fifty or sixty-year-old man collapsed to the ground, apparently terrified, clutching his head and trying to shrink towards the wall.

He was speaking in a tone of fear, his voice trembling and his whole body shaking.

"Please, don’t come over!"

"Xiao Zhang, grievances have heads and debts have owners, it wasn’t me who killed you, I’ll definitely burn incense and kowtow to ask for forgiveness when I get back."

"I didn’t help you, but I have elderly and young ones to care for, I’m scared too!"

In the eerie cold night, the man’s voice was exceptionally creepy.

...

But what made Chen Shouyi feel strange was that he couldn’t see who the elder was talking to, as if there was an invisible figure before him.

By this time, plenty had already opened their doors a crack, peeking towards here.

After a while, perhaps seeing Chen Shouyi standing in the corridor unbothered, a few, eventually with some courage, ventured out, whispering and pointing at the old man.

"Isn’t this person the colleague of the one who died earlier?"

"Seems like it, has he gone mad? Ghost, what ghost? Why haven’t I seen one?"

"Maybe he’s done something guilty!"

Every time there’s no shortage of spectators for a spectacle, soon the corridor became gradually lively, yet none dared approach the old man, only observing from afar.

Better to believe it exists than to not believe, is the common thought among most.

Honestly, faced with such an eerie event, Chen Shouyi also felt a bit unnerved.

Since the extraordinary change last night, the world began becoming somewhat different.

Luckily, this fear was only a smidgen, as he’s killed more than a dozen Barbarians himself, even carrying bodies, his courage was naturally not comparable to ordinary people.

Chen Shouyi gritted his teeth, braved himself, walked towards the elder, wanting to see what this ghost was like?

Fear stems from mystery, someone like him who often appears in strange worlds will need to face such things sooner or later.

Besides, he believed even if there were ghosts, with the current low density of the Mysterious Force Field, strong ghosts couldn’t appear, especially one that had recently become a ghost.

"Young brother, don’t go over there, in case there really is a ghost," a young man nearby kindly warned as Chen Shouyi prepared to go over.

"No worries, I haven’t seen a ghost from childhood, I’ll check it out," Chen Shouyi smiled and said.

Ignoring further warnings, he walked forward.

As he approached, the chilling breath dispersed rapidly.

His qi and blood surged all over, to these chilling breaths, he was like the blazing sun.

Not even reaching the elder,

He felt slightly disoriented mentally, the next moment, he faintly heard a scream filled with resentment and despair.

Uh, seems it’s gone!

The corridor was still the original corridor, just seemingly lacked its eerie and grim atmosphere, gaining some liveliness.

When he originally came over, his spirit was tense, his heart fluctuating.

Who would’ve thought it was as easy as pie, didn’t even exert effort, and the other party just fell.

"Old man, are you alright?"

He patted the trembling elder who emitted the smell of urine, evidently having been frightened into peeing himself.

"Don’t... don’t kill me!"

"Old man, did you have a nightmare? Ghost, what ghost?"

The elder heard Chen Shouyi’s voice, after a while, raised his head cautiously, looking around with some neurosis.

He was slightly overweight, with heavy bags under his eyes, unhealthy puffiness on his face as if he hadn’t slept for several days.

...

After a bustle, Chen Shouyi returned to the room.

Checked the time; it was already half past one in the morning.

He looked at the Shell Lady still calmly asleep and chuckled at his earlier tension.

Compared to the other world, such ghosts were probably not even worth mentioning.

He guessed that even if he hadn’t gone over, probably it couldn’t harm people.

But he was puzzled why the elder could see it while he and others couldn’t?

For some reason, he recalled rumors online about people prone to seeing ghosts.

Though mostly groundless, two points applied to the elder.

Such as the weak and ill elderly, and those often troubled with insomnia, the elder matched both, plus the ghost targeted him, so this might be why he could see it.

Anyway, no point overthinking!

Continue sleeping.

...

A night without words.

The next day Chen Shouyi woke, found the power still out, signals and network still interrupted.

He went to the bathroom with some heaviness in heart to wash up.

Returned dressed, packed Shell Lady in the briefcase, and left the room.

Cars continued to clog the streets, a night passed and roads showed no signs of clearing.

Chen Shouyi noticed many workers repairing lines beside the road.

Besides police, the streets were also filled with armed soldiers.

A grave atmosphere, akin to the oppressive feeling before a storm.

Carrying his briefcase, Chen Shouyi walked heavily, not long after reached a newsstand.

Without the internet or TV, information could only be accessed through newspapers.

A usually quiet newsstand now had a rare long line.

Everyone exchanged rumors and speculation, each more imaginative than the last.

Some said underground giant Spatial Passage interfered,

Some claimed solar flare storms,

while others even prophesied the apocalypse.

Chen Shouyi listened in while queuing, waited several minutes, finally bought the day’s newspaper.

Yet after skimming through, he found no useful information.

The paper simply mentioned power outages and network breaks, and reported urgent repairs underway to ensure public welfare.

No specific timeline was given, nor any mention of Dongning’s status beyond.

Large portions were devoted to assuring adequate supplies citywide, independent emergency power activated at water plants, securing resident water use, urging the public against panic and hoarding.

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