Snakewood Ghost

In a jungle so dense it blotted out the sky.

Towering trees and thick shrubs filled the land.

Xin Yang stayed on high alert as he moved forward slowly.

The ground was blanketed in thick layers of fallen leaves, accumulated for who knew how long. Walking on them felt like stepping on a soft, springy carpet.

Though it was clearly noon, the moment he entered this mountain forest, the cold felt as though he had stepped into the dead of night.

Sunlight could not penetrate the layers upon layers of leaves. The woods were dim and silent, permeated everywhere by an eerie atmosphere.

The deeper Xin Yang went, the stronger the chill became.

Rustle—

Suddenly, a gust of sinister wind blew over.

Xin Yang quickly held his breath and ducked beneath a large tree, pressing his back against its trunk and using its shadow to conceal himself.

Then he heard a hissing sound from afar. Immediately afterward, a layer of green mist spread before Xin Yang.

And the green mist continued to expand.

Before long, Xin Yang was enveloped by it. His nose twitched, and he caught a bitter, astringent smell within the mist.

Poisonous!

That was right—this green mist actually contained toxins!

But Xin Yang was not afraid...

Not only did he not immediately leave the mist's range.

He instead stood amid the green fog, taking deep breaths. As he inhaled, he called out in his heart:

"Brother, there's work..."

Meanwhile, the ghostly being secretly observing Xin Yang from atop a lush tree was dumbfounded by what he did.

If this ghost had possessed intelligence...

Then at this moment, it would definitely have thought:

Was this human brain-dead?

[You have been killed by the eighth-tier Calamity Ghost Snakewood Ghost]

[Extracting a random reward from the opponent]

[Attribute gained: Strength +1]

Xin Yang "died."

"Brother" woke up.

At that moment, the temperature in the forest suddenly plummeted, as though it had become an ice cellar.

Xin Yang's brother slowly began to regain consciousness.

At the same time, a plaintive, resentful sound arose beside Xin Yang's ear.

It was so close that it seemed to be pressed against him, and he could even feel an icy breath against his neck!

"Brother" opened his eyes.

He looked at the ghost before him, neither snake nor wood. Unlike an ordinary snake, it did not have scales; its body was covered in rough, uneven Tree Bark.

"Brother" showed an interested look.

Snakewood Ghost could not understand why Xin Yang's brother had come back to life.

But with its limited intelligence, it naturally could not comprehend it.

After merely looking twice, Snakewood Ghost immediately twisted its wooden body. It shook all over, and a vine rapidly grew from its Tree Bark, dropping to the ground.

The instant the vine touched the ground, it began to grow and tremble.

Soon, vine after vine sprouted and wrapped around Xin Yang's brother, attempting to strangle him.

[You have been killed by the eighth-tier Calamity Ghost Snakewood Ghost]

[Extracting a random reward from the opponent]

[Attribute gained: Flexibility +1]

"Brother" revived once again.

He tore the vines off his body.

Snakewood Ghost's hairs stood on end, even though it had no hair.

Its body could not help going limp.

The next instant, it viciously flicked out its tongue, its body turning into a wooden arrow as it tore through the air.

Rip—

It bit down on Xin Yang's chest and injected poison with all its strength.

[You have been killed by the eighth-tier Calamity Ghost Snakewood Ghost]

[Extracting a random reward from the opponent]

[Ghost skill gained: Poison Mist]

[You have been killed by Snakewood Ghost three times. Further kills will not grant rewards.]

After reviving for the third time.

Xin Yang's brother patted Snakewood Ghost on the head.

"Come work for me..."

Snakewood Ghost did not understand what "Brother" meant.

It continued spraying poison mist at Xin Yang.

"A ghost without intelligence? Forget it, then."

Xin Yang's brother grabbed Snakewood Ghost by the tail, ghostly energy beginning to coil around both his hands.

Like spinning a top, Xin Yang's brother used Snakewood Ghost as a whip, slamming it into the surrounding trees again and again.

Smack...

Smack...

Smack...

Snakewood Ghost's body was smashed into four or five pieces.

But even broken into four or five sections, Snakewood Ghost still was not dead, because no kill notification appeared in Brother's mind.

Xin Yang's brother searched for a while.

At last, beneath a large tree, he saw Snakewood Ghost's head desperately burrowing into the dirt.

Xin Yang's brother picked up the snake head, wiped the dirt from it on his clothes, and took a bite.

"Not bad. Tastes like chicken. Nice and crunchy."

He chewed and swallowed.

After Brother spat out the bones of Snakewood Ghost from his mouth.

The kill notification finally appeared.

[You have killed the eighth-tier Calamity Ghost: Snakewood Ghost]

[Companion Ghost: Dream Origin has been upgraded]

[Dreamsource Ghost's current level: third-tier Calamity Ghost]

Xin Yang's brother continued toward the depths of the forest.

On the pitch-black path at night, Xin Yang's brother wandered without purpose.

At last, distant lights seemed to flicker, and wisps of cooking smoke rose into the air. Xin Yang's brother finally saw signs of human life.

Xin Yang's brother sat at the entrance of the village. Before him was a huge bonfire that had just been lit.

Around the bonfire were probably more than a hundred freshmen like Xin Yang's brother.

The students around them spoke quietly.

"Classmate, where is this?"

"I don't know either. We just ended up here while walking."

"Everyone, don't worry. My father once entered a ghostly checkpoint. He told me that humans in ghostly checkpoints are neutral. As long as we don't anger them, they won't hurt us."

"Classmate, what major are you in? Can we be friends?"

"Hello, I'm in Ghostly Item Management."

The student who had just asked the question fell silent upon hearing that the student whose father had entered a ghostly checkpoint majored in Ghostly Item Logistics Management.

That was because graduates of Ghostly Item Logistics Management basically never entered ghostly checkpoints again. Instead, they went to small cities to coast through life managing logistics.

Among the hundred-odd people around them, not a single one came over to speak with Brother.

Because at that moment, "Brother" had an unmistakably unapproachable air.

Xin Yang's brother surveyed the village.

The village was surrounded by a ring of wooden fences over a person's height.

Inside the fence stood several wooden watchtowers five or six meters tall. Muscular villagers dressed in gray cloth stood guard atop each of them.

Strangely, "Brother" did not sense the aura of Companion Ghosts from any of these people.

Through the wooden fences, Xin Yang's brother could see that this was an ordinary village, similar to the ancient villages described in history textbooks on Earth in his previous life.

The village was not large. Along both sides of the stone-paved paths stood scattered houses with gray-tiled roofs and mud walls.

Dense rice paddies had been cultivated around the village, and faint croaks of frogs could be heard...

Under the moonlight.

Occasionally, two or three children passed through the village entrance with local dogs. Whenever those dogs saw the gathered students at the entrance, they would bare their teeth and bark fiercely before finally leaving.

Before Brother could observe more closely, the wooden fence creaked open.

An old man in gray cloth appeared before the students. He was thin, with graying hair, and looked to be sixty or seventy years old.

Brothers, take a guess—how exactly are ghostly checkpoints formed?