Whatever the thing in the car had been before, it now believed it was human. It was Chen Xing, so it wouldn't readily think of itself as a ghost. Instead, after hearing that story, it was screening its companions as a human, trying to determine whether they were human too.
It was absurd, but there was another thing that proved it: Zhang Anzai had just told him to stay in the car and not move. Since then, he really hadn't reacted at all.
Even though he'd encountered plenty of supernatural things since joining the company, this still dealt a heavy blow to Zhang Anzai's worldview.
Then came a surge of belated fear. Thank goodness I didn't do anything reckless just now. I didn't act rashly...
Looking back, Zhang Anzai realized that Chen Xing hadn't only been imitating things like the footage. He'd clearly been learning from other people too.
The clerk had died too quickly for him to learn much. Maybe all he'd picked up was the act of looking at a phone.
But there was no doubt that Zhang Anzai had played a part in how quickly his intelligence had grown.
From drinking water to using a phone, and even listening to a ghost-story broadcast on the drive from the intersection to the gas station, Chen Xing had learned all of it from Zhang Anzai.
"This instance is way too messed up!"
Zhang Anzai realized that if he'd buckled under the pressure at any point before this and tried to attack Chen Xing, the monster would have killed him in an instant.
He sat in the chair and took a while to calm down. Then a huge question welled up inside him.
"If this guy can actually count as my teammate now, who trapped me here in this endless loop?"
"There's something else in this instance!?" Zhang Anzai realized, and fear and unease flooded over him once again.
Once he'd thought of that, he didn't wait around. He grabbed his things, walked out, hopped over the counter, and pushed his way out of the gas station.
The first thing he did outside was look toward the car. He still couldn't make out the figure clearly, but from its outline, Chen Xing was indeed sitting quietly inside.
Zhang Anzai didn't dare leave him now.
If his guess was right, then staying beside Chen Xing might actually be the safest way to survive this instance.
For one thing, as his friend, Chen Xing wouldn't hurt him. He might even protect him out of friendship.
For another, only by staying at his side and trying to guide him, or even keep him in check, could Zhang Anzai prevent him from learning something else and turning into something different.
"It's me!" After opening the car door, Zhang Anzai promptly showed him his heels, planted firmly on the ground, one on either side.
Then he got into the car. Before setting his things down, he hesitated for a moment, then reached out toward the presence beside him.
The gas station lights couldn't fully reach the passenger seat on the road-facing side, and Zhang Anzai still didn't dare look over there. But after a brief silence, Chen Xing took his hand.
Zhang Anzai breathed a sigh of relief. Chen Xing's hand was still warm.
"I know it's you." Chen Xing had clearly grown. He even seemed to speak more smoothly now.
"Do you need to check that it's me?" Chen Xing asked after letting go. He even copied Zhang Anzai, stomping his feet inside the car.
Seeing the clumsy way he moved, Zhang Anzai felt an absurd sense of relief.
"It's okay. I know it's you too. My friend, the kindhearted Chen Xing." Zhang Anzai spoke with meaning behind his words.
Once he'd more or less confirmed his theory, he immediately understood how important the guy beside him was—and that Chen Xing still needed guidance.
Chen Xing's condition had gradually stabilized. For quite some time now, he hadn't conjured up burnt paper scraps out of nowhere, created a knife from nothing, or altered Zhang Anzai's memories—in short, he hadn't affected reality like that.
But Zhang Anzai suspected that he still had those abilities. Chen Xing still wasn't exactly a normal person, so Zhang Anzai had to be careful around him.
"Kindhearted..." Chen Xing repeated, turning the word over in his mind.
Zhang Anzai explained, "Being kindhearted means you don't hurt people for no reason, especially friends like me.
"When something happens, you don't act rashly. You think it through before you do anything. Basically, you need to know how to think. You need to use your brain."
Chen Xing fell silent. With his current intelligence, he probably couldn't fully understand all that yet, but Zhang Anzai figured it might still help.
He sorted through his belongings, putting away the True-Form Scissors—which, once taken out in the instance, couldn't be put away again—along with his hammer and notebook. Then he took out his phone.
"Chen Xing, there's something important we need to deal with!" Zhang Anzai said solemnly.
"We're on Highway 44 now. That sign we saw earlier should have been for Highway 45, but we've driven around several times and we're still on Highway 44."
Zhang Anzai still didn't dare turn to look at Chen Xing. Even knowing what was going on, it was hard not to feel that uncanny-valley unease around a being who'd been a monster not long ago and was still learning and evolving.
Still, he did his best to explain what was happening. "Remember when we were kids, and we went with Grandma to burn paper offerings, then you went into that alley by yourself?"
From the corner of his eye, Zhang Anzai saw Chen Xing nod.
"I suspect we're trapped by a ghost now, just like we were back then," Zhang Anzai said.
Chen Xing very clearly spoke in a frightened voice. "Th-then what do we do?"
Zhang Anzai wanted to say, Buddy, if you hadn't started thinking of yourself as human so quickly, you could probably take out the ghost in a flash.
But by now, Chen Xing's way of thinking had become fixed. He'd fully absorbed both his own story and the idea from the second story that humans had a hard time dealing with ghosts. Clearly, he couldn't do that anymore. Zhang Anzai could only keep trying to guide him.
"Of course there's a way to deal with ghosts, but first we need to confirm something."
Zhang Anzai took out his phone. "Remember the video I recorded earlier? It might have caught the ghost."
That was right. He believed there was another ghost in this instance, whether it was one Chen Xing had unwittingly summoned before he'd fully evolved, or some other ghost native to the place. Either way, there should be something out there.
"Let's watch it together and make sure. Don't worry, though. If there really is a ghost, it should be near the Highway 45 sign."
As he spoke, he opened the video.
Night surrounded them. Beyond the water-streaked, grimy windshield, the road slowly slid backward. The Highway 45 sign vanished the moment the car passed it.
Zhang Anzai watched it once, opened the editing mode, slowed it down several times, and watched it again.
This time, just as he expected, Zhang Anzai saw a patch of eerie black mist enveloping the sign. A shadow stood within the fog, flickering in and out of view.
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