Urn

Gao Tian remembered before that some members of this group called the "Jialan Society" would occasionally send out "red packets."

However, the red packets they sent were all black, like coffins, filled with an ominous aura, and were jokingly called black packets. Gao Tian had seen them several times before, and each time he tried to open one, the system would ask him if he wanted to pay a certain amount of lifespan. As a result, Gao Tian had never actually claimed a black packet.

Thinking about it now, these black packets were his only lifeline before he drowned.

Black packets must represent items related to the supernatural, otherwise, why would they require payment in living lifespan? Like that cursed black packet sent by Ghost Cave, it caused the recipient to be haunted by a Vengeful Ghost, which was not a good thing, so the lifespan required was zero.

Lifespan, for a young person like Gao Tian, was quite abundant. But this chat group was full of ghosts, and ghosts have no lifespan. To them, lifespan is more precious than gold.

Under what circumstances would a ghost exchange lifespan, which is more valuable than gold and diamonds, for the items in these black packets?

Gao Tian wasn't sure if his reasoning was correct, but his life was now on a countdown, and he had to try anything, even a long shot.

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As for paying a few years of lifespan, at this moment, it became a negligible price. If he couldn't survive tonight, what would be the use of living a long life in the future?

Gao Tian scrolled up through the chat history at lightning speed. Occasionally, he saw black packets sent by other group members before. Either they were claimed by others using lifespan, or they had expired and become invalid.

He finally found a black packet that hadn't been claimed. It was sent by a group member with the ID [Burning Death Ghost].

He also left several messages below, each accompanied by a grinning emoji:

This is the supernatural item I've recently developed.

It's very effective for dealing with certain ghosts.

Brothers and sisters, does anyone have some free time recently? Help this little brother take it out and test it on some lonely ghosts. I'd be extremely grateful.

He seemed to have very poor social skills. The black packet had been in the group for two weeks, yet not only had no one claimed it, but no one had even replied to him.

One thing was very suspicious. Everyone in this group should be a ghost, so why would [Burning Death Ghost] say things like "this supernatural item is very effective for dealing with specific ghosts"?

Would ghosts specifically develop and research things to deal with their own kind? Isn't that contradictory?

The situation was urgent, and Gao Tian had no other choice. He couldn't afford to ponder this peculiarity and could only brace himself and press it.

The familiar warning popped up on the system again:

Are you sure you want to claim the black packet [Urn]?

Claiming this black packet requires paying 1 year of lifespan.

Gao Tian didn't hesitate and clicked confirm.

Suddenly, whether it was a psychological illusion or not, he felt his body loosen, as if something intangible had been drawn out of him.

Gao Tian stood in place, waiting quietly for a long time.

Nothing happened.

After accepting the Black Packet called [Urn], nothing unusual had happened to his real self.

The Red-eyed Person hadn't come looking for him, and the Supernatural Item called [Urn] hadn't been delivered to him.

Except for the one year of lifespan that was taken, everything remained unchanged.

Gao Tian slumped back onto the bench. The surroundings were quiet, with only the wind whistling through the sparse woods, like the mocking laughter of nature.

The swing opposite swayed again with a creak in the breeze, with no one on it.

Nothing had happened, and Gao Tian wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

He was covered in sweat, his nerves stretched to the extreme, and he leaned back against the chair, as if the last bit of strength to stand up had been drained away.

He didn't want to move anymore. Forget it, if he was going to die, he'd die here, at least it would be peaceful. If he ran around, he might end up harming more people.

The starry sky tonight was clear of clouds. If he could forget that he was about to become a dead man, the scenery here was truly beautiful.

Bang, bang, bang.

As if someone was knocking on a door, Gao Tian suddenly felt a silhouette standing behind him, tapping on the back of the park bench.

Immediately, a muffled voice, indistinguishable as male or female, sounded:

"Your delivery has arrived.

"Please sign for it."

Gao Tian could see the tall, dark shadow cast down, its broad shoulders far exceeding those of a human, blocking out half the light from the streetlamp. Because of its appearance, the park path seemed to have darkened a bit.

With a thud. The sound of a package landing on the soft grass. Gao Tian forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart, slowly turning his head inch by inch. Even if he was going to die, he wanted to die knowing why, to see clearly what was standing behind him.

When he had turned halfway around, he saw that there was no one behind him. There was only a square delivery box placed on the empty grass behind the bench.

The enormous black shadow had vanished instantly after delivering the item, as if it had never appeared.

The [Urn] he had exchanged for one year of his lifespan in the strange chat group had been delivered in such a bizarre way in less than five minutes.

A ghost delivery? Interesting. Faster delivery than JD.com. If I could leave a review, I'd give it five stars.

He listened to his heart pounding in his chest, grabbed the armrest of the chair, and stood up. He walked to the cardboard box, wanting to tear it open with his bare hands.

Because his hands were shaking so badly, several times Gao Tian not only failed to tear off the transparent tape but also dropped the cardboard box on the ground. The wooden box-like item inside, stuffed with crumpled paper, made a muffled sound.

Gao Tian thought he would never be able to open this paper box. Before he could, the Red-eyed Person, long gone, would suddenly appear with a face exactly like his, kill him, and the new "Gao Tian" would take his delivery.

But the Red-eyed Person never showed up. Gao Tian's hands, slick with cold sweat, finally managed to tear open the cardboard box, albeit crookedly, like a dog had gnawed at it.

Inside was a small, dark red box, about the size of his palm. It had a slot for a black and white photo of the deceased.

It was just a very ordinary urn, no different from those sold on the market.

Gao Tian's trembling hands turned it inside and out, hoping to find a sliver of hope for survival. For a moment, he even suspected he'd been swindled. This was just a regular urn, and that bastard named [Burning Death Ghost] had cheated him out of a year of his life, sending him a broken box.

It wasn't entirely useless, though. At least, after Gao Tian died, his ashes would fit perfectly in this box, saving the undertaker the trouble of buying one online for him.

Just as Gao Tian was about to fall into complete despair, he suddenly felt something white fall. He quickly picked it up. It was a small card that had been wedged between the seams of the box, covered in dense text. It had fallen to the ground when Gao Tian was examining the urn earlier.

Gao Tian clutched the small card tightly and immediately returned to the center of the road, illuminated by the streetlight, and began to read by its light.

It was a small instruction manual:

[Usage Guide]

Applicable Range: For those being hunted by a Vengeful Ghost and unable to escape.

Risk Level: Extremely High. Use with extreme caution.

Usage Method:

When under a curse and continuously pursued by a Vengeful Ghost, the user can carry this urn to the location of the first crime scene and await the appearance of the pursuing Vengeful Ghost.

When the Vengeful Ghost appears, all of its killing patterns will temporarily become invalid. Then, the urn will force the Vengeful Ghost to play a random game with you.

In this game, human and ghost are equal, relying entirely on the luck, strategy, and mindset of both parties.

If you win, the Vengeful Ghost will be sealed within the urn. Not only will it be unable to continue hunting humans, but conversely, the owner of the urn will gain the Vengeful Ghost's killing patterns.

If the Vengeful Ghost wins, the human will not only die. Even after death, their soul will be bound by the urn, becoming the Vengeful Ghost's puppet. They will be at the Vengeful Ghost's beck and call, enduring endless suffering day and night, unable to even dissipate into nothingness.

Therefore, before using this urn, please be sure to thoroughly read the rules and consequences.

Note:

As the urn is a newly developed Supernatural Item, it is extremely unstable in use.

The game between human and ghost is completely random. What game will be played at the time depends entirely on your luck, and even the designer cannot predict it.

Number of Ghosts Contained:

One ghost.

The urn can only seal one ghost at a time.

If you want to seal a new ghost, you must release the previous ghost and let it regain its freedom.

Of course, the designer does not recommend you do this. Because the first thing the ghost previously sealed in the urn would likely do upon regaining its freedom is kill you.

Of course, if the urn falls into the hands of a ghost, there is no upper limit to the number of humans it can enslave.

The instruction manual ends here.

The designer of this Supernatural Item wrote a lot of rambling text. Gao Tian summarized it.

It means to take this box and play a random game with the Red-eyed Person.

If you win, the Red-eyed Person goes into the urn, and you gain its killing pattern.

If you lose, you enter the urn yourself, facing a fate worse than death.

What is the game? The designer doesn't even know; it's entirely up to luck.

No wonder no one wanted this thing. Although the rewards are great, the risks are even greater. The losses upon failure are unimaginable.

Under the game rules of the urn, if you lose, it's truly better to have been killed by the Red-eyed Person from the start.

Strangely, after he obtained the urn, the Red-eyed Person who had been haunting him incessantly also seems to have not appeared for a long time.

He wonders if the mechanism of this urn is so insane that even ghosts are unwilling to come out and play with it?