"You died." "Your death was still worthwhile." "The path to escape has opened before you. Once you finish patrolling this final stretch, you will claim the ultimate victory two days from now." "Since your death rating was above average, you will receive extra Soul Stones." "Your current Soul Stone count is: 110." "Your remaining revives: 10." "Merchant entity: Gui Po has died." "Gui Po's main shop is closed. You can no longer buy any items associated with her."
Zhou You reentered the game, and the crossroads appeared in his pupils once again.
Although he now had what he needed to clear the game, he didn't rush to choose a path. Instead, he pulled out the face skin, eyeball, and incense, compared them carefully, and only then made his choice.
He didn't choose the path with the Faceless Ghost, which he was somewhat more familiar with. Instead, he took the path with the Eyeball Ghost.
Since he was paying special attention, he sensed something chilling crawl onto his back as soon as he entered the path. It wasn't an eyeball, but a light, childlike figure. The thing rested its ruined head against his shoulder. If he looked back or turned around, he'd collide with it at once.
Zhou You promptly used the eyeball.
The system's instruction had been to crush it.
The murky orb shattered in his palm, its sticky, skin-crawling sensation spreading across his hand. But in the next instant, the strange chill behind him vanished, too. Zhou You cautiously glanced over his shoulder and saw a translucent figure desperately trying to stuff something into its empty eye socket.
He also saw that it was the eyeball he had just crushed.
"So that's what these three special items do? They replace the body parts the ghosts are missing with fake ones, buying time... But why is the third one incense?"
Zhou You only entertained the thought for a moment before giving up on guessing. While the figure was still struggling, he hurried forward. After all, he had no idea how long Gui Po's trick would fool it. If it figured things out before he left the crossroads...
Then "lashing out in humiliation" wouldn't begin to describe what happened.
Whether Gui Po's goods were just that reliable or Zhou You was simply lucky, he made it to the end of the path without incident. But there, something unexpected happened.
At the end, the road split in two.
One path was undoubtedly the destination of this trip: Chang Song Slope. The other was a narrow trail that had never appeared on the patrol map. It was dark and gloomy, and led to who knew where.
Clearly, this was another choice between two paths to explore.
If Zhou You had only had a few lives left, or had obtained just one item from Gui Po, he would have ignored the suspicious trail without hesitation and headed straight for the end of his patrol route. But...
Zhou You looked at his ten coins, then at the remaining face skin and incense. After hesitating for only a few seconds, he turned and took the narrow trail.
In a typical RPG, branching paths like this usually had treasure hidden along them.
Besides, the system probably hadn't gone out of its way to open up a new path for no reason.
With his way back secure, why not take a chance?
The trail's surroundings were fundamentally different from the scenery around it.
During the past several days and nights, Zhou You had seen nothing but scenes from a modern city. Even when they were old and battered, they were still jungles of concrete and steel built in the technological age. But here, the surroundings abruptly changed to a wasteland overgrown with wild grass. Here and there stood low shrubs, almost all of them completely withered, with only a few dead branches and leaves remaining.
The streetlights had vanished. Now, only a crescent moon hung high in the sky.
But compared with the apartment buildings covered in ghost faces, this kind of desolate wilderness, so common in ghost stories, actually put Zhou You at ease.
He walked through the empty countryside for who knew how long before he finally spotted a building.
It was a temple.
The temple was small, the kind you could take in at a glance. It looked as though it hadn't been repaired in ages: half its walls had collapsed, and the exterior was covered in layers of green vines. The vermilion doors were mottled with weather stains. Only the plaque above remained relatively intact, but so much of the lettering had fallen away that it was impossible to make out what it said.
Still, Zhou You immediately thought of the news he'd seen earlier.
"A temple... Could this be Sanhuamiao Temple? The one that's about to be demolished?"
Zhou You walked around the temple entrance, offering an offhand assessment as he went.
"No wonder they're demolishing it. It's almost a condemned building. But could there be clues to the scenario here?"
He first glanced at the copper bell on his wrist. When it didn't ring, he cautiously stepped inside.
...Nothing sinister jumped out at him.
The interior was just as dilapidated as the exterior. Weeds grew tall everywhere, and a single Buddha statue stood in the very center of the temple. But when Zhou You looked up at it, his eyes suddenly narrowed.
The temple didn't enshrine that sinister Bodhisattva. Instead, it held a statue of Guhyapada Vajra, a protector deity.
Thanks to a relative who was devoutly Buddhist, Zhou You knew that Guhyapada Vajra was a Buddhist guardian deity, renowned for driving out evil spirits and protecting the Dharma. But this statue had clearly been defiled—
No, "damaged" wasn't the right word.
The statue itself was intact, but its body and limbs were covered in countless bloodstains. Even from a distance, they emanated a chilling aura. Though the temple had fallen into such ruin, the blood had never dried. Every inch of it looked as fresh as if it had just been smeared on.
On closer inspection, the bloodstains could even be seen constantly changing into one word after another, carving desperate curses deep into the statue's clay body.
Clearly, this Buddha statue had been defiled.
By something vicious and cruel, at that.
"Is this... the seal mentioned by that devout believer in the supernatural?"
Zhou You tore off a piece of his clothing and tried to wipe away the bloodstains. The instant he touched the statue, the bell on his wrist rang out sharply!
Without hesitation, he threw the cloth aside and flipped backward, landing several meters away!
When he looked up again, he saw the piece of cloth disappear silently into the statue's body, as if it had been swallowed.
"...Seriously? Another instant-death trap? Looks like I can't break this seal, either. Could there be some other clue or mechanism?"
Zhou You looked around the ruined temple. It didn't seem to hide any other clues, and he was scratching his head when the system's notification suddenly came.
"Player has reached a hidden location: Sanhuamiao Temple's Weituo Zuntian Dharma Protector Temple." "Conditions for triggering this hidden location: Complete the side quests 'Play Games' and 'Drink Soup' before the third day, find the clue to 'Jixiang Jimiao Guimu Bodhisattva' in the orphanage, and have at least 7 revives remaining." "Scenario completion has increased greatly." "Each Sanhuamiao Temple you find will greatly increase your scenario completion." "Player has received 50 Soul Stones. Current Soul Stone count: 160."
"So that Bodhisattva was called 'Jixiang Jimiao Guimu Bodhisattva'? I've never heard of such a thing."
Looking at the statue, Zhou You tapped his arm and murmured to himself.
"Looks like the three paths each lead to a temple, and every temple grants a big boost to scenario completion."
"But that raises another question..."
"Why does the system only tell me to find the temple, when this huge seal of filthy blood is right in front of me? It doesn't mention the filth on the statue at all, or even give me a quest for it."
After thinking it over for a while, Zhou You wore a thoughtful expression, but didn't look into it any further. Instead, he headed back the way he'd come.
"Forget it. I'd better finish this patrol mission first. At least I'll secure my own safety. As for what comes after... I'll think about that later."
Before you continue