Chapter 5

An abandoned tunnel.......

Zhang Yuanqing looked around in some panic, suddenly finding himself in a strange environment, which would make anyone feel disoriented and helpless.

"Tunnel? Is this the She Ling Tunnel from the ghost stories?"

As a native of Songhai City, he naturally knew about the She Ling Tunnel, one of the top ten ghost stories. When he was a child and misbehaved at night, his grandmother would scare him with these ghost stories.

However, leaving aside the fact that ghost stories are just vague tales, even the She Ling Tunnel itself, Zhang Yuanqing had passed by it just a few days ago when he returned to his hometown to pay respects to his father.

The real She Ling Tunnel isn't like this, so old and dilapidated.

"Right, this is a spirit realm, not the real She Ling Tunnel."

The cramped environment made him uneasy. Zhang Yuanqing cautiously moved forward, hearing only the lonely sound of his footsteps.

As he walked, he pondered his situation and the information given by the voice in his head.

Without a doubt, he had encountered a supernatural phenomenon, being brought into a ghost story to complete a task assigned by a mysterious force.

"That voice gave me two tasks: survive for three hours and explore the spirit realm. The difficulty level is S, and it's a single-person death type... This death type is making me very anxious."

Surviving for three hours means there will be great danger.

Exploring the spirit realm... it probably means exploring this tunnel, which implies that the tunnel is very dangerous.

He tensed his nerves and, at the same time, a question flashed through his mind: What reward will I get for completing the tasks?

Since it's a task, there must be a reward, right?

"According to the attribute panel just now, my profession is a Night Walker, but my level is 0, not 1. Becoming a Night Walker should be one of the rewards, but what is a Night Walker?"

"Bro Bing was right; this black card will change one's life, but I overlooked the second half of his words. This thing is hard to control, referring to the level of danger?"

Zhang Yuanqing analyzed the known information silently.

At that moment, the old xenon lamp beside him flickered a few times, the light alternating between bright and dim. In the flickering light, Zhang Yuanqing vaguely saw a figure wearing a miner's helmet standing under the lamp.

Damn... He jumped in fright, his train of thought instantly interrupted, and he ran forward like a frightened deer for a distance.

Looking back, the xenon lamp continued to shine steadily, no longer flickering.

The black figure wearing the miner's helmet seemed to be an illusion.

After this scare, Zhang Yuanqing didn't dare to stay in this eerie place and quickly headed out of the tunnel.

Tap, tap, tap... The sound of his footsteps echoed in the quiet tunnel. Zhang Yuanqing didn't dare to stop, and he walked briskly for about five to six minutes. The old xenon lamp with the arched dome flickered again, but this time, no figure wearing a miner's helmet appeared.

"Didn't follow me?"

He felt a bit relieved but didn't dare to stay, and he walked quickly with his head down. Suddenly, his gaze, fixed on the ground, caught a detail that made his heart skip a beat.

The orange xenon lamp stretched his shadow long, and next to his shadow, there were several other shadows.

They have been following me all along?

A chill ran from his feet to his head, making his skin crawl, and Zhang Yuanqing's face turned pale. He ran frantically, his footsteps echoing loudly.

Finally, the tunnel entrance appeared ahead, and outside the tunnel, the moonlight was as cold as frost.

Zhang Yuanqing rushed out of the tunnel, bent over, and panted for breath.

After catching his breath, he looked around. The full moon hung in the night sky, making the stars pale in comparison.

The dense forest bathed in the moonlight cast large, dark shadows.

He found himself in a desolate mountain area.

The xenon lamps in the tunnel flickered a few times and then went out completely. The large tunnel entrance was pitch black and quiet, like the mouth of a beast ready to devour someone.

"Got to leave quickly..."

Zhang Yuanqing's scalp tingled, and he started climbing the rugged mountain path.

After taking a few steps, he turned back and saw a row of figures wearing miner's helmets, dressed in tattered clothes, and with their heads bowed, standing at the tunnel entrance.

They stood in the shadows where the moonlight couldn't reach, silent, as if seeing him off.

Zhang Yuanqing was so frightened that he took a few steps back and turned to run up the mountain.

The trees on both sides of the mountain path were lush, and the moonlight filtered through, providing enough light for Zhang Yuanqing to see the path.

The mountain was eerily quiet, with no sounds of insects or birds, making Zhang Yuanqing's footsteps sound particularly loud.

"It's too quiet, there's no way there wouldn't be any insect sounds in the mountains this season."

He looked around. The full moon hung in the sky, and the tree shadows swayed, making him feel as if something in the darkness was watching him.

After walking for a long time, until a layer of sweat broke out on his body, Zhang Yuanqing finally emerged from the dense forest, and his field of vision suddenly opened up.

The moonlight was like water, and the surroundings were deathly silent. At the end of the rugged mountain path stood an abandoned ancient temple.

It stood quietly in the darkness.

This ancient temple had been abandoned for many years. The door in front of the temple was covered in peeling black paint and riddled with holes. The lanterns at the eaves had fallen to the ground, leaving only the bamboo frames.

The plaque was still there, covered in spider webs, hanging diagonally from the eaves, but the light was too dim to read what was written on it.

The steps in front of the temple were cracked, with weeds growing in the crevices.

In this desolate mountain area, with no villages nearby, how could there be a temple?

Wait... a temple?

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly realized, and the voice from the spirit realm information echoed in his ears:

"Do not enter the temple, do not enter the temple..."

"Following the strange voice's advice, I shouldn't enter the temple, but that's not right. I've already come out of the tunnel, which means I truly need to explore this dilapidated ancient temple."

After hesitating for a long time at the temple entrance, Zhang Yuanqing cautiously took a step forward, walking towards the ancient temple standing in the darkness, stepping over the broken threshold.

What met his eyes was a spacious front courtyard, with waist-high wild grass growing inside. A half-rotten, man-high incense burner lay in the grass, having been exposed to the elements for many years.

The path under his feet was paved with blue stone slabs, with wild grass growing in the cracks between the slabs.

Following the undulating grass, he looked towards the end of the blue stone path, where there was a dilapidated main hall. The foundation was high, and the steps leading up to it were six in number. A dim light could be seen through the latticed doors of the main hall.

"There's a light?"

The surroundings were silent and desolate, and the bright moonlight did not bring any warmth to Zhang Yuanqing in this environment. Instead, it made him feel even more terrified.

Rustle, rustle...

Stepping on the withered wild grass, he kept his guard up as he walked towards the main hall. In the open space, his footsteps were particularly clear.

Rustle, rustle... Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing's ears twitched, and he heard another set of footsteps behind him. Something was following him.

He turned his head abruptly.

The night was like water, and the grass was lush, but there was nothing behind him.

"Am I hearing things?"

Zhang Yuanqing stood there, heart pounding, for a moment before moving forward again.

Rustle, rustle...

The footsteps came again, and this time he heard them clearly. Something was really following him.

... Can it be this eerie? Encountering something sinister as soon as I enter the temple? He didn't dare to look back and quickened his pace.

The footsteps behind him also quickened.

Zhang Yuanqing couldn't hold it in any longer. His skin crawled, and he started running, dashing towards the main hall.

The footsteps behind him followed closely.

In the chase, Zhang Yuanqing quickly emerged from the wild grass and approached the main hall. He leaped up the six steps in two bounds and, with a loud bang, burst through the latticed doors of the main hall.

The footsteps behind him suddenly disappeared.

"Huff, huff..."

He panted heavily, finally daring to look back. The moonlight bathed the courtyard, the wild grass, and the stone path, creating a silence that was terrifying, but there was nothing there.

"Thank goodness it didn't follow me."

After catching his breath, Zhang Yuanqing gently closed the main hall doors, as if shutting out the fear.

Then, he surveyed the scene inside the main hall. On a high stone base, a statue of a lady was enshrined, draped in a fur cloak and dressed in splendid attire. Her face was round, with long, fine eyebrows, exuding a sense of benevolence.

This lady held a duster in one hand and a gripping gesture with the other, as if she had been holding something, but now it was empty.

On either side were a child holding a sword and a maid holding a book.

In front of the base was an offering table covered in dust, with a candle holder on it. A twenty-centimeter-long, infant-arm-thick candle burned silently.

The candlelight dispelled the darkness and seemed to ease Zhang Yuanqing's fear, making him feel more stable.

On the left wall, two faded and cracked wooden boards hung, covered in regular script.

Zhang Yuanqing walked to the wall and, with the help of the dim candlelight, focused on the text. The style of the regular script was classical Chinese.

His Chinese was quite good, and through a mix of guessing and reading, he gained a clear understanding of his environment.

This mountain is called Sandao Mountain, and the temple enshrines the mountain deity, Lady Sandao.

This mountain deity was a native of Song Prefecture during the early Ming Dynasty. She practiced in Sandao Mountain, was proficient in talisman techniques, and knew the art of alchemy. She could pray for rain and drive away ghosts, ensuring a good harvest and protecting the people, thus being revered as a deity.

After her ascension, the local government built this temple on Sandao Mountain, naming it "Lady Sandao Temple," and appointed her successor to manage the temple and serve as the priest.

"This temple from the early Ming Dynasty, it's been around for five or six hundred years." Zhang Yuanqing muttered.

At this moment, he couldn't help but glance at the bottom of the offering table, and his heart suddenly tightened.

A black shadow lay in the darkness under the table.

Earlier, he had been too frightened and the candlelight was dim, so he hadn't noticed it immediately.

Zhang Yuanqing steeled himself and approached, only to see a skeleton lying there.

Zhang Yuanqing was both frightened and relieved. Compared to the eerie mountain temple, the skeleton was less terrifying.

Taking a few more steps, he saw the clothes on the skeleton by the dim candlelight, a labor protection suit covered in dust.

A worker?

"Is this from the construction team back then? So I really have entered the world of the ghost story."

Just as Zhang Yuanqing made this guess, he thought of a more terrifying possibility: perhaps the construction team, like him, had mistakenly entered this place.

Thus, the urban legend was born.

If it was the former, this so-called spirit realm is a scene generated based on the ghost story.

But if it was the latter, it means the ancient temple has always existed, and both the construction team and he himself are victims.

Based on the historical background of the mountain temple, Zhang Yuanqing leaned towards the latter.

"An entire construction team died in the temple, with only one survivor. This place really can be deadly... Now I'm in this temple, and I could face unknown dangers at any time..."

He drew a sharp breath, his emotions tightening again, and he subconsciously looked around.

Then, he suddenly realized a terrifying detail.

This ancient temple is from the Ming Dynasty, with a long history. How could the candle still be burning? Who is replacing the candles in the main hall?

The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became. Even the benevolent statue seemed to take on a sinister and eerie aura in the candlelight.

The three clay statues, though covered in dust, were lifelike, with every detail intricately carved, especially the eyes.

They stood on the base, staring down at Zhang Yuanqing from the dim candlelight.