Leave Chen Behind, Will You!?

Everyone who heard this was horrified.

Because this isn't the zombie-like monster they've encountered before, the raw horror can be dealt with using various methods.

This kind of chilling, slowly seeping terror is irresistible, impossible to refuse, and can even lead to self-doubt, such as "Am I still myself?"

Lin wiped a bead of cold sweat from his temple. "I can't refute you, so..."

He reluctantly added the second half of the sentence: "Actually, each of us could be one of those who were missed in the count."

Carlos's expression was also grim. "At different points in time, everyone could be quietly replaced by their counterpart from another timeline. It's possible that one of those timeline versions of yourself is the one who died and became a ghost."

Then, after a while, the dead self may be replaced by the living self.

Therefore, it's pointless to dwell on who the ghost is. Apart from Unica, who has indeed altered their perceptions, hidden herself from the beginning, and now unleashing intense malice, everyone else could become a ghost on another timeline at any moment.

Or, like the bespectacled man, unknowingly, appearing simultaneously with another version of himself from another timeline.

"Damn it, how could this happen?" Master Li was devastated by this conclusion. "There must be a condition for this to happen; it couldn't have started as soon as we entered Heavy Yin Mountain."

His voice stopped abruptly, and the image of the twelve corpses hanging neatly on the trees in the Bird Corpse Forest flashed through his mind.

Long hair, white burial clothes—this was the most complete and ceremonial "death" their team had ever had.

Could it have started around that time?

"Master Li, think about it again." Yu Xing could guess what he was thinking just by looking at his expression. Yu Xing had made this guess as well, but quickly dismissed it. "There were only twelve corpses at the time, but there were thirteen people in our team. This means that when the corpses were being hung up, there were already ghosts in the team besides Unica who would have been missed in the count."

"Go back further?" Carlos rubbed his temples. "Going back further, it seems like there's nothing particularly special that everyone has experienced. San, you met up with us at the shrine, and after that..."

"No need for that later," Yu Xing interrupted, chuckling lightly. "Don't use your own timeline to judge whether everyone has experienced something; just think about whether something is special."

Carlos frowned slightly. "Um, sorry, my thinking isn't quite ready for multi-line reasoning yet, especially..."

Two seconds later, he had an idea.

Ancestral hall!

A black coffin.

San once lay down inside; if anything is special, nothing could be more special.

"Yes, the black coffin." In Yu Xing's eyes, the phantom of the black coffin seemed to gradually become clear. He recalled the eternal loneliness he felt lying in the coffin, and the blurring of his concept of time.

He felt like a very long time had passed, but Carlos said only three minutes had elapsed.

What if his feeling is correct?

He really did experience a very long time, but not on the timeline he remembered, but on another timeline that he couldn't currently perceive.

Furthermore, time diverged from here. The real Yu Xing, who was stepping into Heavy Yin Mountain for the first time, stayed in the coffin for a long time, and Carlos also waited for a long time. But the Yu Xing who came out in three minutes was already a "copy of another timeline".

Therefore, the tearing sensation in the coffin can also be explained; it wasn't his legs or his soul that were being torn apart, but rather his time.

Therefore, despite the intense tearing sensation, he found no wounds when he climbed out of the coffin.

"What black coffin?" Lin asked. "The large coffin in the ancestral hall?"

Master Li also asked, "Is there something wrong with the coffin?"

"That's right," Carlos cleared his throat, "Before we met up, this horror painter named San threw the hunchbacked man who was lying in the coffin to feed the fish, as you all know, I've mentioned it to you."

Master Li: "And then?"

Carlos: "And then there's what I haven't told you guys: he went to lie in his coffin and experience life as a ghost."

Forest:"..."

Master Li: "..."

Shi Jiu in the Earpiece: "..."

I don't really know what to say, it's pretty outrageous.

"It's hard to describe how I felt after I went in, but it wasn't a good feeling. I suspect that I was cursed or something in the black coffin, and after I came out, I started jumping between different timelines." Yu Xing took two steps and looked at the mute ghost tongue.

"Well, we haven't been inside either," Lin said, then stopped mid-sentence.

He understood.

What if... in some other timeline, they're lying in coffins?

"Our group went inside to investigate when we passed by the shrine," Carlos said. "I haven't lain in the coffin, but perhaps I have. If I've lain in at least one of the coffins across all the timelines, then this is a valid point."

Unbeknownst to them, one of them, for various reasons, lay in a coffin, thus opening Pandora's box.

This has led to the current situation where the timeline is in disarray.

"Anyway, let's all be careful. Even though we can now be fairly certain it's a matter of time, looking at the glasses, we can also see something." Carlos pointed to the wound left by Yu Xing's Tang sword on the bespectacled man's body. "It seems that different timelines can still influence each other."

"Not only that, but I can't trust anyone anymore. What if I turn into a ghost the next moment?" Master Li was incredibly annoyed. He pulled out another cigarette and put it in his mouth. "Damn it."

"Fuck you."

Suddenly, a voice that was neither human nor ghostly echoed a phrase.

Everyone paused, and simultaneously looked towards the source of the sound. They saw a ghostly tongue swaying slightly, betraying its companions and becoming the first to break away from the mute group.

"Why is it moving?" Master Li drew his knife. "What's underneath?"

Yu Xing silently took out the unlocked Sheqing Dreamscape.

The dagger vanished from the Persona Mask and moved to his palm. The cool touch brought him complete peace of mind. A faint blue mist lingered around his wrist, then, as if realizing that there were others around, it completely disappeared.

Yi Qing's almost transparent shadow floated out, gently enveloping Yu Xing. Yu Xing looked up, but before she could speak, she heard Yi Qing's gentle voice. "Don't worry, this deduction doesn't restrict me. Making myself invisible and inaudible to others is quite easy."

Yi Qing had thought things through very thoroughly, so Yu Xing had nothing more to say.

To be Yu Xing, Yi Qing's cyan color is one of the few colors Yu Xing likes during his deductions, and in his dream, it was Yi Qing who broke through the system's limitations to remind him.

Yu Xing had gradually gone from being wary of Yi Qing to becoming accustomed to and trusting him, to the point that she still missed him a little after not seeing him for a long time.

He was curious to know what Yi Qing had been doing all this time while he was away, whether he had gone back to Sheqing Bar to continue organizing his ghostly carnival Yugi.

Most importantly, Yi Qing is not here; he has lost a very useful tool.

This is intolerable.

"Interesting, the flower field is quite pretty. It would be even better if these flowers were blue."

While Master Li and the others nervously probed towards the ghostly tongue that had made the sound, Yi Qing, as if on a picnic, floated above Yu Xing's head and made sarcastic remarks.

"Hey, what do you think of the suggestion to change the flower field to blue?" Yi Qing said smugly, taking advantage of Yu Xing's inability to answer him.

Yu Xing: "..." Tsk, I really want this ghost to shut up.

If Yi Qing were to truly turn the Ghost Tongue blue, it would be essentially useless, and the Flower Field hurdle would be overcome directly. This demonstrates the power of the Sheqing Ghost.

Ke Yiqing couldn't possibly do that; the system would definitely warn him and make him stop.

Yu Xing thought, so this old ghost is just talking nonsense, taking revenge on me for being locked up for so long.

On the other end, Oster Company.

The tomb passages are mottled and old, and the interconnected passages have become three-dimensional, making it difficult to distinguish left from right. There are also stairs leading up and down and mechanisms that can open up two passages at any time.

The group moved forward in silence, the atmosphere much colder and more somber than that of Carlos's team. The group of people in work clothes acted as if they were strangers to each other, rarely exchanging words.

Alice was second to last, her round, baby-faced appearance making her seem quite harmless, if one ignored the indifferent expression she wore in front of Brother Sun's team.

"Where to go next?" she heard her colleague, who was walking in front, ask succinctly.

Although they are called colleagues, they are not really familiar with each other. There are quite a few people in the zombie department, and the people they are assigned to each time are different. Some are destined to work together, and may work together three or four times in their careers. Others are not destined to work together, and may never meet again after the mission ends.

Some were simply not assigned to the same group, while others... died on some unknown mission.

Therefore, people in the zombie department are more indifferent than those in other departments of the company. If they invest their emotions but find it difficult to get a good return, most people will choose not to invest at all.

Like Alice, she prefers to show some kindness to people outside the company so that she can maintain some normal social interactions after work. As for her colleagues, well, forget it, they're all seasoned pros at taking advantage of each other.

After the colleague in front asked the question, everyone else looked towards the back.

They weren't looking at Alice, but at the man walking last behind Alice.

Ling Heng, who was in the middle of the group, also looked back. He had been in a state of extreme excitement since entering the tomb. The more ghosts and monsters there were, the happier he became.

Because he knew this was the closest he had ever come to reviving Chen Jiu.

Gui Chen Wood, the core of the Ghost Tree, is the essence of all power. If you obtain it, not only will you be able to revive Chen Jiu, but Chen Jiu will also become an extremely powerful diviner.

The demon daoist's tomb is truly a wonderful place...

If only there weren't so many people competing with him for the Gui Chen Wood.

A dark cloud rose in his eyes as he stared at the indifferent man in the trench coat who was last in line. The man seemed to have caught a glimpse of the murderous intent that flashed through his eyes. His dark eyes flickered, and he glanced at Ling Heng. An endless chill instantly enveloped him.

Ling Heng felt a cold sweat break out on his back. He abandoned the idea of confronting the other party head-on and turned back.

"Chen, what do you mean?" His colleague urged again, and only then did the man take his hand out of his coat pocket and push up his silver-rimmed round glasses.

The man had an unreal, exquisitely beautiful face, more like a doll, and his voice was cold and clear. "Left."

"Go left." The colleague in front led the way, also taking on the role of someone handling the paperwork.

The others followed, observing their surroundings, eliminating any deadly dangers, and also checking for any hidden doors that might have been missed.

The new colleague named Shen, although it was his first time participating in a mission for the zombie department, was appointed as the deputy team leader. Apart from the team leader, everyone had to listen to him.

In fact, the team leader always consults Shen's opinion when making decisions, and Shen's role in the team seems to be closer to that of a strategist.

For example, now, deciding where to go depends entirely on Chen, who is at the back, giving the instructions.

Alice was closest to Chen, and she could sense the dangerous aura emanating from him most clearly. She noticed that he had no expression, unlike the cold faces of his other colleagues; his coldness seemed to penetrate to the very soul.

When he stares at a person, that person will feel as if they are being "seen" by the doll, thus experiencing a great sense of dread due to the Uncanny Valley effect.

He doesn't look like a living person at all.

Alice didn't know where this person came from. She only guessed that he should have some connection with the Ghost Tree, or perhaps he was someone who had studied the Ghost Tree for many years, even though he looked to be only in his early twenties.

They relied on each other to avoid many unnecessary dangers, even several time traps. They should have been very dependent on each other, but because of that sense of danger, no one dared to talk to him.

Suddenly, Alice stepped on a very well-hidden stone square. She froze, then calmly said, "I think I stepped on something."

Her voice carried through the silent corridor. No one panicked; the team members had all experienced the frustration of not clearing all the mines before.

Shen glanced at it, a dark line flashing in his eyes for a moment, then said, "It's alright, it's a spatial mechanism."

Spatial mechanisms are the least offensive type of mechanism; they only open a passage, causing the person who steps on the mechanism to fall into another room or be pulled behind the stone walls on the left or right.

It's a bit troublesome, though. The spatial mechanism can only be used once, which means that if someone wants to find the person who triggered the mechanism, they'll have to take a long and roundabout route.

If you pull the person who stepped on the mechanism away the moment it's activated, there's a chance you can avoid trouble.

Alice was relieved to hear that. "It's alright then, Chen... can you pull me up?"

The lowered position should make it easier to pull her out.

After listening, Shen did not refuse, but silently took out a pair of gloves from his pocket.

Everyone: "..."

I almost forgot, this person has a severe case of mysophobia (obsessive-compulsive disorder) related to cleanliness.

It's not about dirt; dirt can probably be overcome with time. His obsession with cleanliness is just too obvious.

"Alice, let go," a colleague said.

Alice was certain that Hen's hand could grab her at any moment, so she confidently lifted her leg.

The mechanism clicked, the sound of machinery turning echoed through the passageway, and the ground beneath Alice's feet opened up instantly.

She reached out her hand.

Only...

Shen tried to grab her hand but didn't touch her because... the mechanism was a bit too large.

In the blink of an eye, Alice and Shen disappeared into the darkness below.

Others: "...!?"

Wait, leave the sinking part for us?!