Chapter 104: A turning point

Getting lost is a common thing, because there is a mouth under the nose. Can’t you ask if you can’t find it? But in this new city, there is no such possibility.

All you see are a bunch of ‘madmen’ who need to vent their hatred. Who are you going to ask?

For the first time, I realized that it was also painful not to have anyone looking for trouble. Getting lost in a city like this was like pouring oil on the fire.

But Xiao Chengqian was not nervous. He just kept urging me, “Chengyi, think of a way quickly. The main purpose of coming here is to solve the problem of Hucun, the second purpose is to find the clues left by your master, and the third purpose is to find the clues left by your master. You know that!”

“I know, do you need to remind me over and over again?” I was in a bad mood.

“Nonsense, reminding you is to tell you that not to mention doing these things, if we don’t know what to do next, we will be trapped in this city and eventually become vengeful spirits or evil spirits, it’s hard to say.” Xiao Chengqian squatted down in a building that looked like an inn, and he spoke with a somewhat solemn expression.

“Didn’t I say that everyone shouldn’t rely on me too much, and that I would let everyone fly?” I was so angry that I probably provoked Xiao Chengqian.

“Don’t make excuses. What I mean is that you still have to lead everyone, but you don’t have to do everything yourself. You have to trust…” Xiao Chengqian guessed that there were still two characters left to say, but at this moment his expression had changed, looking towards the building opposite him.

This ghost town is very strange. Although the streets and alleys are full of groups of mad spirits, the buildings in the city are full of ancient style, and there are many functional buildings. There are also many places similar to residential buildings. Xiao Chengqian is opposite a residential building.

The residence is not tall, just a three-story wooden structure, and it is consistent with the style of this ghost town. It is all black, and Xiao Chengqian’s gaze fell on such a residence.

“Is he trying to distract me from arguing with me?” I didn’t understand what Xiao Chengqian meant by his sudden silence, but a feeling of hope arose in my heart. Could it be that this kid really found something?

Thinking this way, my gaze also followed Xiao Chengqian’s gaze to the residential building. At the entrance of the residential building, there were three or five fierce ghosts fighting senselessly or howling in pain, no different from the other fierce ghosts on the street. The second floor was not clear, but on the roof of the third floor was a small figure.

It looked like a child of about ten years old, sitting on the roof in such a lonely way.

From a height of about ten meters, I could clearly see that, unlike the crazed, painful and red eyes of the ghosts, the eyes of this child were filled with loneliness and helplessness, mixed with a slightly painful look.

To be more precise, its eyes show that it is much more lucid than those evil spirits.

Ghosts are the most adept at lying when they have a purpose. They will trick you into becoming a substitute, trick you into dying to redeem their hatred. If that doesn’t work, they will deliberately create non-existent horrors to torture you.

But in the absence of a clear purpose, ghosts are the most sincere kind of existence, because any of their emotions, even their every move, comes from the depths of their soul, and in a city like Xincheng, where people are so ‘naked’ and unrestrained, there is no need to hide it at all.

“You found it too?” Xiao Chengqian looked at me seriously, and I nodded.

In a world of vengeful ghosts, it is a strange thing to suddenly see a relatively clean, sober ghost that is not controlled by resentment. Perhaps our turning point lies in this child.

“Hey, can you come down and talk?” I shouted at the child, but I didn’t want to attract the attention of the few evil spirits in front of the residential area. According to the rules of the place, they didn’t hesitate to pounce on us.

I didn’t move, just watching the child, while Huigen and Xiao Chengqian moved their hands. Huigen had a string of prayer beads in her hand, and Xiao Chengqian had a magic sword made of copper coins. In just a moment, the ghosts retreated screaming.

They were irrational, but their souls were hurt, and they still knew how to retreat. After all, even if they were controlled by resentment, they were a hundred times smarter than animals.

Xiao Chengqian and Huigen didn’t kill either. They had just found a glimmer of hope, and no one wanted to ruin the situation that was still peaceful for the time being.

After I shouted, the child first looked at us indifferently. That kind of indifference made people feel hopeless in their bones. It was a kind of look that was no longer interested in anything, including hatred. If people lived like this, what kind of life would it be if it wasn’t a hopeless life?

But this indifference did not last long. After Xiao Chengqian and Huigener made a small move, the look in its eyes when it looked at us became a little more exploratory, giving the impression that its entire ghost had a little bit of vitality.

“Wait for me, I’ll be right down.” Finally, its voice drifted down from the roof, not the voice of a child as we had imagined, but the voice of a middle-aged man, which sounded strange no matter how you listened to it.

However, we didn’t show it on our faces. After all, this is the world of ghosts, and it doesn’t have the same restrictions as when it has a human body. It can appear in any form and speak in any voice it wants.

We would not let our guard down just because the ghost appeared as a ten-year-old child.

After the child answered our question, he slowly jumped from the third floor roof into the window, and then we couldn’t see his figure anymore. I was also used to the fact that the ghosts here were restricted by the city, just like the child wouldn’t float down directly.

It’s a very illogical thing to say, but how could ghosts fall from a building and be bloody? They don’t have a physical body! But that’s the way it is in this city. Whether you jump off a building or commit suicide, it’s the same effect as in the human world. The only difference is that here it’s all “acting,” with only the effect and no consequences!

Well, there are no consequences of death!

This is a city that tries its best to imitate the world of the living. For example, the inn behind us. I really can’t think of what its existence means.

Just as I was thinking about it, the door opened with a creak, just like the outside world, a small building in some ancient town, opening its own wooden door, just like that.

I thought to myself, who built this city and made such a complicated fantasy? It’s obviously a ghost, why do they have to follow the rules of the living world? It’s as meaningless as farting with your pants off.

“Are you new here? Are you here to talk to me? I can tell you’re lonely and uncomfortable here. If you want to talk quietly, come inside. There are too many crazy people on the street.” We didn’t say anything, but the child spoke to us again in the middle-aged man’s voice.

I heard clearly, two questions, followed by a few sentences that seemed polite but actually made a decision for us.

It was more enthusiastic than we thought. I could tell it must have been very lonely.

But it is also more experienced than we thought. Although the words were plain, who couldn’t hear a sense of helplessness and sadness?

“Shall we go in?” Cheng Xin walked over to me and whispered, and everyone’s eyes turned to me.

Is there a reason not to go in? I looked at the child and said, “Then we’ll bother you. Can we all come in and chat with you?”

“Come in.” The child nodded decisively and then said, “I’m already dead anyway, and as a ghost I have nothing to lose. I’m not afraid of dying again.”

As it spoke, it turned and went upstairs, and I hurriedly followed.

Its footsteps made a “gurgling” sound on the narrow wooden stairs. In this city, this is a perfectly normal thing. Wooden stairs in the world of the living make this sound, and the stairs here naturally make this sound as well.

I could tell that it was trying to keep its footsteps as light as possible, but I didn’t know why.

But when I was about to go up the stairs, it suddenly turned to me and said, “Be quiet. Everyone on the first floor is out, but there is a very powerful guy on the second floor who is sleeping and digesting. Don’t wake him up, or you won’t be able to leave this room.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

The child sighed and said, “You’re new here, so it’s normal that you don’t understand. Just be quiet, and we’ll talk about everything inside the house.”