Chapter 46 Entering the Ghost Market

In this way, the group of people, under the silent gaze of many people, walked to the front of the black cloth, quietly queued up, and waited.

I took a quick look and saw that there were about 100 people in plainclothes, and I didn’t know what they were doing there.

They stood there waiting, and in less than two minutes, a man in a black robe came up and examined them one by one, handing out a pill after each examination and whispering something.

The black-robed man who went up was Feng Wei! I stood in the crowd watching him, and he seemed to sense my gaze. Suddenly, he turned his head and smiled at me, his eyes clearly not friendly.

I didn’t know how he could see me in the crowd in an instant, and I was a little shocked. But when I faced his gaze, I didn’t dodge at all, but went straight up to him. He looked at me like this, and I looked at him calmly.

I guess he didn’t expect me to be so bold. Feng Wei’s face twitched slightly, and a hint of anger appeared in his eyes. But at that moment, another person walked up. I looked, and it was the old man who was the gatekeeper!

He walked up to Feng Wei and whispered something in his ear. At the end, Feng Wei’s face turned ugly, and finally he turned to look at me and snorted.

The old man then reached into his chest with one hand and rubbed it, as if he were rubbing dirt off his body. Then he looked at me and smiled, his eyes full of meaning. This made me a little confused.

This pantomime was quite interesting. I couldn’t figure out the connection, so I didn’t bother to think about it anymore. I stood there lazily, took out a cigarette from my pocket, and lit it. This was also a way of announcing my attitude. Who cares? I’ll do whatever I want.

Soon, Feng Wei finished checking the people in plainclothes, handed out the pills to everyone, and left. He didn’t look at me again from beginning to end, and I was curious about what the pills he handed out were, but the answer soon appeared in the discussions of the people around me.

“It’s done. How many more ‘carriers’ will die this time?”

“This kind of thing is a matter of willing to fight and willing to suffer. What can we do about it? It’s true that the life-saving pills they give to the ‘carriers’ are just so-so. If you say it’s a ginseng pill, it can still save your life.”

“Okay, ginseng pills? That would be too expensive. Come on, stop talking about it. I think they’re about to enter the market.”

This discussion is simple, but I still heard that the people in white robes were the so-called messengers, and the pills Feng Wei gave them were originally for life-saving. I vaguely knew what was going on in the ghost market, and I couldn’t help but feel a little strange. What kind of messengers were these? Why were they willing to intervene in the transactions of the ghost market as ordinary people?

But I couldn’t think too much about it. Soon, someone came forward and opened a hole in the black cloth, and the people in plain clothes slowly walked in one after another. I clearly saw that several of them had scared expressions on their faces.

After the black cloth was lifted, I could clearly feel a surge of evil spirits, as if there were a lot of “human voices” mixed in. At that moment, I knew that my “good brothers” had arrived, and that the black cloth was not simple. It was probably part of a formation, and it served to isolate.

After the last person in the plainclothes entered, a few more people like the manager followed, and the black cloth was quickly lowered. Everyone was waiting quietly, and it was only a few minutes before 12 o’clock.

After a few minutes of silence, a man in black walked to the front and said loudly, “I’m sure many of you old friends know the rules of the ghost market, but I want to make it clear that there will always be new friends, so I’m going to explain it to you. The entrance fee to the ghost market is 3,000 tickets! Don’t say we’re black, I just want to say that the cost of each messenger will not be less than 20,000. Don’t tell me that you can trade without a messenger. Everyone is a capable person. If you destroy a “good brother” in a fit of anger, it’s not a happy thing. “Good brothers” also have great abilities. If they get angry and get involved with everyone, it’s not a happy thing! Besides, ordinary people also participate in our ghost market… I won’t say any more nonsense. Everyone has experienced the various benefits of the messenger. Okay, the ghost market is now officially open.

After saying that, the man in black left, and soon a fee-charging stool and chair appeared in front of the black cloth. Everyone outside quickly formed a line with the help of the people maintaining order, and began to enter one after another.

Chengxin stood behind me and whispered, “Chengyi, this is too much. If we both participate three times, it will cost 18,000 yuan. I’m afraid I don’t have enough money on me.”

I was also quite worried, scratching my head and saying, “That’s right, I only brought 10,000 yuan. Who knew that it would cost so much to participate in this ghost market?”

“I’ve brought about the same amount. If it’s really not possible, I won’t participate in the next two times. It’s enough for the two of us to send a representative.”

“Hmm.” This is really the only way now.

Just as I was discussing this with Brother Chengxin, our turn came up quickly. We were already standing relatively close to the front, so we naturally got in line relatively close to the front. After the person collecting the money took our 6,000 yuan, he yelled into the crowd, “Is the first batch of 1,000 people here?”

“No, there are still 200 people missing.” A voice quickly replied from inside.

I didn’t expect that we were so far ahead, there were still 800 people ahead of us. The person collecting the money heard the answer and responded, then tore two blue tickets for us: “Hurry up and take your time, each batch only has one hour. After an hour, someone will come to clean up the first batch of people with blue tickets.”

“Why are there separate batches? Only one hour?” Cheng Xin couldn’t help but ask curiously.

“What else? Ten thousand people crammed in there and it’s a mess? You’re lucky to be in the first batch. At dawn, even with the protection of the formation, many of your “good brothers” will leave, leaving only a few! These people in the back may or may not participate at that time. By the way, I’ll say one thing, you have to keep your tickets because if you don’t participate in the first round, you won’t be eligible for the next two rounds. Because those who got the blue tickets today will have to wait in the back tomorrow according to the rules. The man said a few words to us and waved his hand to let us in.

There is no absolute fairness in this world. They can come up with such a way to ensure the integrity of the transaction and the relative tribute is not bad.

Without any unnecessary nonsense, I and Cheng Xin entered the back of the black cloth. As soon as we entered, both of us couldn’t help but shiver. It wasn’t because it was cold inside, but because of the layout and atmosphere, it made people feel oppressed.

It turned out that this was not a layer of black cloth at all, but behind the black cloth, there was a circle of black cloth surrounding something similar to a tent, and the top was also covered with black cloth. On these black cloths, there were strange totems mixed with patterns, which looked messy and strange.

I understand that most of the people here are insiders, using totems to conceal the patterns, probably for fear that someone with the heart to see the mystery of the patterns.

In addition to this, everyone who enters here is very quiet, almost silent and walking around in silence. There is no light in the entire black tent, only white candles in many places, which are lit by the light of the candles.

What’s even more eerie is that, unlike the stalls in the human trading market, there are piles of triangular grass sheds painted black inside, which at first glance look like grave mounds.

Whoever sees this strange scene for the first time will feel a chill in their heart.

Similarly, there were yellow lines, and the black-clad people walked within the yellow lines. From time to time, someone would go into the straw huts. After we got used to it, we walked in. Because the light was dim inside, we walked in, and after a brief look around, we discovered a few distinctive corners.

For example, there is a place called “house in the house,” which means a tent inside a tent. There is also a fee for it.

For example, there is also a place where twenty people in plain clothes are standing inexplicably, quietly and motionless, and I don’t know what they are doing…

All of this is very fresh and strange, but we really can’t afford to waste an hour. I said to Brother Chengxin, “Let’s split up. I’ll go find what Master Liu needs, and you go find something we can use. If we keep going like this, we won’t have enough time.”

Cheng Xin Ge responded, and then we began to split up in this ghost market.