Chapter 7

San value reset to zero on the spot.

A chill rose from the base of his spine, shooting up to his brain, and Zhang Yuanqing, like a cat with its fur standing on end, leaped high in place, a string of curses spilling out of his mouth:

"Damn it!"

This was an instinctive reaction to intense stimulation or shock.

He finally understood why his shoulders were so sore and why the corpse by the window carried a bronze mirror.

It was to check if a vengeful spirit was clinging to his shoulder.

When did it cling to my shoulder, when I entered the quadrangle or when I entered this room?

Who gave me the courage to explore outside, Liang Jingru?

His mind felt like a pot that had exploded, various thoughts popping up in an instant, and a wave of terror swept over him.

Although he knew the temple was strange and terrifying, and he had mentally prepared himself, facing a ghost directly still filled him with indescribable panic.

Right, I have a talisman... Zhang Yuanqing, trembling, pulled out the yellow paper talisman from the left pocket of his jacket and, treating a dead horse as if it were alive, pasted it on his shoulder.

Slap!

The corpse-restraining talisman was slapped on his shoulder, and he lifted the bronze mirror, cautiously looking into it. The man with a pale face, black lips, and lifeless white eyes was still clinging to his shoulder.

It didn't work, this thing isn't a corpse or a yin entity... the last bit of hope was gone, and Zhang Yuanqing felt his shoulders becoming increasingly sore, his hands and feet turning cold.

These weren't illusions; they were real signs of yang energy loss.

At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing thought of the corpse under the main hall's table and the senior who died by the window. Next, he might die here just like them.

A bone-chilling coldness surged in his heart.

"Tap tap!"

Suddenly, at this critical moment, light footsteps were heard from the corridor outside.

The footsteps were light, but in the silent night, they were very clear.

... Zhang Yuanqing's heart tightened, and he quickly squatted down next to the corpse by the window.

The footsteps sounded familiar, similar to what he heard when he entered the temple.

"Tap tap tap..."

The footsteps grew closer, heading this way. Zhang Yuanqing dared not breathe, his body tense, and he could faintly hear his own frantic heartbeat.

When the footsteps passed by the window, Zhang Yuanqing couldn't resist and glanced at the floor of the room. The moonlight shone in, forming a grid of shadows on the ground.

The window wasn't high, only reaching the waist, and with a normal person's height, passing by the window would definitely cast a shadow on the ground, but he saw nothing.

This meant that whatever passed by the window had no body.

Fortunately, the footsteps passed by the window without stopping and didn't enter the room, gradually fading away.

Phew... Zhang Yuanqing silently exhaled, focusing on the receding footsteps, hearing them step into the courtyard, making a "rustling" sound as they trod on the overgrown grass.

Then they stopped. A few seconds later, the footsteps resumed.

This time, the footsteps weren't just walking; they had a certain rhythm and pattern.

What is it doing in the courtyard?

Zhang Yuanqing, supporting his icy body, struggled to stand up and, through the broken window paper, stared outside.

Under the moonlight, in the overgrown grass, a pair of brand new, Western-style red dance shoes were tap-dancing in the night.

Under the moon, in the desolate temple, the red dance shoes danced alone.

This scene looked both absurd and eerie, and there was a sense of... loneliness?

How could there be a pair of Western-style dance shoes in a Ming Dynasty mountain god temple?

This temple is getting stranger... he quietly squatted back down, patiently waiting.

Time passed, and the vengeful spirit on his shoulder continued to drain his yang energy, making his body increasingly stiff, and the soreness in his shoulders turned into a sharp pain.

He felt that if this continued, he would either die from the loss of yang energy or from a broken shoulder bone.

In the midst of his suffering, the dance in the courtyard disappeared.

Zhang Yuanqing still didn't dare to show himself, waiting a bit longer before cautiously peering out the window.

The courtyard was filled with moonlight, and the overgrown grass stood still. The eerie dance shoes were gone.

"Phew..."

He exhaled a heavy breath, just as he was about to stand up, his knees gave out, and he fell to the ground.

After the tension eased and the adrenaline subsided, he realized his condition was worse than he thought.

His shoulders burned with a sharp pain, his bones felt like they were about to crack, his knee joints were stiff, and his blood seemed to have congealed.

He shakily picked up the bronze mirror, and in the dusty surface, he saw his own pale, listless face with dull eyes. He looked like a sick, withered person, not a normal one.

On his shoulder, the vengeful spirit with black lips stared at him eerily and silently.

If this continued, he would surely die, but what could he do? He couldn't touch the vengeful spirit on his shoulder.

The intense pain in his shoulder forced him to lean against the wall for support.

He glanced at the corpse of the worker, and their positions were identical.

"So that's how it is..." Zhang Yuanqing smiled bitterly.

He seemed to see his own fate, hearing the sigh of death.

But Zhang Yuanqing didn't give up on the desire to live. His mind was still active, like an overloaded CPU, searching for hope in the dire situation.

In a flash, the corpse under the main hall's table flashed through his mind amidst the chaotic information.

"The shoulder fractures of the two corpses are different. The shoulder injury of the corpse in the main hall wasn't fatal. Did the vengeful spirit let him go? No, the spirit wouldn't show mercy..."

"Why did he hide under the table..."

"The red dance shoes followed me secretly when I entered the temple, but when I entered the main hall, it left..."

At this thought, the dullness in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope.

Back to the main hall, immediately back to the main hall!

He immediately stood up, staggering out of the room, each step difficult, as if carrying a mountain.

"Thud!"

He fell in the courtyard, landing in the overgrown grass, unable to stand up.

Zhang Yuanqing's teeth chattered, making a "clicking" sound, feeling as if he were in a bitter winter.

The "cold" stole his warmth and eroded his will.

Zhang Yuanqing crawled toward the main hall, using all his strength, keeping his head up to always see the outline of the building in front of him.

This way, the hope in his eyes wouldn't fade.

The walk from the main hall took about a minute, but now it felt like a journey to the ends of the earth.

Finally, as he crawled into the eaves of the main hall, a phantom scream echoed in his ears, and the weight on his shoulder lifted, the cold, dizziness, and stiffness instantly disappearing.

Zhang Yuanqing tumbled onto the base, staggered around to the front of the main hall, pushed open the lattice door, and fell inside the threshold.

The candlelight, like a bean, dispelled the darkness, bringing a warm, spring-like comfort.

He lay on the ground, chest heaving, panting heavily, lying there for a few minutes before feeling he had truly come back to life.

"It was too terrifying, too terrifying... my guess was right, the main hall is a safe haven."

Based on the different shoulder injuries of the two corpses, he deduced that something must have stopped the vengeful spirit from pursuing the person inside the hall.

The worker curled up and died under the table, which fit the psychology of someone hiding in extreme fear.

In the worker's mind, the main hall was safe.

The red dance shoes giving up the chase indirectly confirmed this guess.

For the rest of the time, Zhang Yuanqing stayed in the main hall until the pain in his shoulder subsided and his body temperature returned to normal.

Indeed, he encountered no further danger.

"If the main hall is a safe house, my chances of survival will greatly increase. Even if the vengeful spirit drains my energy, I can escape back to the main hall. But if I encounter the vengeful spirit and the red dance shoes, I doubt I can make it back to the main hall."

"Moreover, the most eerie and terrifying source in this temple is definitely not just the vengeful spirit..."

He didn't feel triumphant for resolving a life-threatening crisis; this ancient temple was not that simple.

After all, an entire construction team died here before him.

After resting for a long time, he gradually put aside his fear and hesitated about whether to continue exploring outside.

The voice in his mind sounded again:

[Main Quest 1: Survive for three hours (completed)]

[Main Quest 2: Explore the 0079th spirit realm, progress: 20%]

[Prime Deity, congratulations on completing a main quest, rewards are being settled...]

[Obtained item/equipment: Corpse-restraining talisman (viewable in the inventory).]

[Obtained experience: 15%]

[Inventory unlocked.]

[You will have 36 hours of rest time, 0079th spirit realm next opening: 35:59:40.]

The scenery in the main hall distorted, like the surface of water disturbed by the wind.

When the scene cleared, Zhang Yuanqing saw the bright energy-saving lamp, the spacious bed, the desk, the PS5 game console, and the open window, with the wind blowing in, causing the curtains to flutter slightly.

He had returned to the human world.

"Back?"

He looked around in shock, confirming he was really back in his room, then his knees gave out, and he fell onto the soft bed.

Taking a deep breath, he found the air sweet.

Being alive is great, the human world is great.

After a few minutes, Zhang Yuanqing sat up, unzipped his jacket, and found the corpse-restraining talisman was indeed gone.

Zhang Yuanqing naturally had the thought of "retrieving items," and the next moment, a grid of fluorescent blue appeared before his eyes.

There were five slots in total, and in the first slot lay the yellow paper talisman.

It was a strange experience; once the inventory was unlocked, this function became instinctive, and he naturally knew how to open the inventory without needing to learn it.

"Besides the corpse-restraining talisman, I also gained 15% experience, but my level is still zero, meaning I haven't become a night wanderer and am still an ordinary person."

"Surviving for three hours almost killed me, how can I complete the second task? This is S-level difficulty..."

Zhang Yuanqing felt more and more desperate, feeling he had been tricked by the soldier.

This card could indeed change his life, but it was also difficult to control.

He was very self-aware; he was just a college student who had never even killed a chicken, and it would be hard to survive the second task on his own.

As a good, red-blooded socialist youth, he should rely on the state and the government at this time.

So he took out his phone, intending to call his cousin, but his finger paused as it touched the screen.

Because Zhang Yuanqing thought he might have a better option.

He immediately got out of bed and found the business card left by the man with the crew cut in the desk drawer.

The card had the man's name and contact information.

Tonight's experience made him think of the soldier's mysterious disappearance. If he couldn't get out alive, he would also disappear mysteriously.

It was clear that the soldier had already been in contact with the so-called spirit realm, and his disappearance might be because he entered a spirit realm.

Based on this, the investigator from the Public Security Bureau was trustworthy.

He chose to contact the man with the crew cut for another reason: the man had said he might also disappear, hinting that he would enter a spirit realm.

Considering that his cousin was unaware, Zhang Yuanqing had reason to believe that the three men were special personnel handling such events.

After thinking it through, Zhang Yuanqing dialed the number on the business card.

The phone rang for a few seconds, and then the call was answered by a mature, deep male voice:

"Who is this?"