Free Web NovelAfter Lu Yibei left, Professor Ma remained in the research lab, repeatedly examining the bamboo slips, his mood complicated.
“Sigh—! Why didn't I want to show Lu Yibei the original bamboo slips when she came? I should have shown them to her!”
Professor Ma held his forehead, staring at the bamboo slips and muttering to himself. As if an illusion, the special characters on the bamboo slips suddenly moved, like small figures with contorted postures, dancing around something.
Their dance seemed to possess some kind of mesmerizing power, making it impossible for Professor Ma to look away.
In a daze, that nauseating stench invaded his nostrils again. This time the smell was very close, as if an invisible rotting corpse was placed right in front of him.
“Ugh—!” Professor Ma covered his mouth and nose, letting out a muffled groan, his face showing an expression of extreme disgust.
The stench broke him free from the bamboo slips' magic, and he instantly snapped back to reality. He glanced at the time on his watch; it was already 7:30 PM, and the sky outside the window had almost completely darkened.
“No, no, it's time to go home, or the old lady will start nagging again.”
Professor Ma mumbled, quickly put the bamboo slips back into the wooden box and returned them to the storage room. Then, he packed his briefcase and left the research lab.
After locking the door to the research lab, he turned around and immediately frowned. The stench in the corridor was much stronger than inside the research lab, as if an invisible river of rot was slowly flowing down the corridor. In unseen places, faint, low chants could be heard.
Professor Ma stood in the corridor, looking left and right. The corridor was dimly lit under the night sky. Although he could see the end with a single glance, it gave him an uneasy feeling. His intuition told him that in some unseen corner of the corridor, something that would bring him danger was lurking.
“Hmm... hmm...”
Professor Ma pondered for a few seconds, then reached into the pocket of his suit jacket, fumbled around for a bit, and pulled out the shiny copper coin. He could faintly see the small characters “Kaiyuan Tongbao” embossed on it.
This copper coin, from over 1,300 years ago, was accidentally acquired during an excavation. Because it was too worn to have research value, he bought it out of his own pocket from a local villager as a collection piece.
Since then, he had carried this copper coin with him, tossing it when he was unsure about something.
When faced with choices, people always hesitate. If the two choices are very similar, it is even harder to decide.
Professor Ma did not think that tossing a copper coin was superstitious. He only felt that it was helping him overcome his decision-making difficulties and also brought good luck.
“Clink—!”
Professor Ma flicked the copper coin into the air with his thumb, caught it with the back of his hand, and mumbled, “Heads go left, tails go right.” After speaking, he opened his hand, took a look, and turned to walk to the right.
Just as his figure disappeared into the stairwell on the right side of the corridor, a red shadow flashed across the corridor on the left. From its outline, it looked like a blood-red lantern.
...
When the sky completely darkened, the campus of Huacheng Institute of Technology was already sparsely populated. On the empty Sakura Avenue, only the autumn wind danced with fallen leaves.
At this moment, a young girl wearing a black and white baseball Coat and a sun hat walked from a distance, carrying a metal baseball bat on her shoulder. Her legs, encased in black stockings, stepped on a pair of short boots, making crisp sounds on the withered leaves.
Finally, the system complained about Gu Qianqian's flashy appearance, “Gu Qianqian, can't you be a bit more low-key? We are sneaking in ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) right now.”
“Huh?! Didn't you say that the enemies have temporarily left and the protagonist should be tough? You told me to be high-key, and now you're telling me to be low-key. I really don't understand what you systems are thinking!” Gu Qianqian said dissatisfiedly.
“I... I did tell you to be tough, but we are acting like thieves now. Don't you like watching historical dramas? Have you ever seen a thief in a historical drama running on the eaves wearing jade clothes and luxurious robes?”
“Hmm...” Gu Qianqian thought for a moment, then nodded and said, “What you said makes a lot of sense.”
As she spoke, she took out a plastic Sailor Moon mask from her Coat pocket and put it on her face.
“I'll cover my face. This should be fine, right?”
System, “...”
“Wearing this **Sailor Moon** inferior mask, doesn't it make you more conspicuous? Also, why do you carry this kind of thing with you?”
“Didn't I go to the small commodity market to stock up during the day? I bought five hundred of them, planning to sell them at the school anniversary flea market.”
“Hey, just don't worry about it, you can trust me to make money!” Gu Qianqian patted her chest.
Tsk, look at this vulgar bust size!
After glancing at Gu Qianqian's two dazzling lumps of flesh, the system spat in contempt in its heart. Then it saw her confident face and felt a moment of reluctance.
It still couldn't bear to tell her that those inferior masks, which cost fifty cents each, would definitely result in a loss!
Gu Qianqian argued with the system for a while, and before she knew it, she had arrived near the back door of the Faculty of Arts Experimental Building.
She looked left and right furtively, and under the system's guidance, she avoided the surveillance cameras. Then her toes suddenly pushed off the ground. With a slight pop, she leaped up, drew an arc in mid-air, and landed steadily by jumping through the window into the fourth-floor corridor.
The first thing Gu Qianqian did upon landing was to adjust the mask that had been blown askew by the wind. Immediately after, she quickly got up, leaned against the wall behind the load-bearing pillar, and peeked out with half her head, observing the situation in the corridor.
Seeing that the corridor lights were dim and there were no people, Gu Qianqian slightly frowned and softly called out, “System?”
“Understood! Starting to detect Spiritual Energy fluctuation response on the current floor. Progress 10%... 20%... Detection complete!”
“Gu Qianqian...”
“Hmm?” Hearing the system's somewhat heavy tone, Gu Qianqian tilted her head and asked, “What's wrong?”
“Things are a bit bad!” the system said.
“Are there many enemies hiding in the dark?”
“Not just many, but way too many!”
As soon as the system finished speaking, a faint suona sound echoed in the empty corridor. The suona started, followed by gongs, drums, flutes, pipa, sheng, and yu, all playing together.
The music was a festive sacrificial tune, but for some reason, the melody was quite strange, as if mixed with silent sighs and ancient sorrow, sounding like a funeral dirge.
Immediately after, a red light appeared at the end of the corridor. Blood-red lanterns lit up from far to near, and in an instant, the dimly lit long corridor was illuminated in blood-red.
A thick mist gathered in front of the door of the Special Character Content Research Lab. The grayish-white mist twisted into a surging vortex, swirling like a door leading to another world.
Seeing this, the system said, “This is a bit troublesome now. Gu Qianqian, I'll just give you a mission.”
After all, it was dangerous to go there, and it felt a bit inhumane not to give Gu Qianqian some reward.
“Hmm? Don't you have any inventory left? You were indeed lying to me before, weren't you?” Gu Qianqian narrowed her eyes and said.
System, “...” Can't you stop focusing on such strange things? You're making me very awkward!
“Didn't you go to the small commodity market? Are you the only one allowed to stock up, and I'm not?”
The system grumbled, and immediately a mechanical prompt sounded in Gu Qianqian's mind.
【Mission: Under the siege of ghost lanterns, come into contact with the 《Mangshan Chronicle Fragment》 and withdraw within five minutes! Complete the mission to receive one thousand cheap masks from the small commodity market.】
“One, one thousand? System, you're not honest. You actually stocked up on so much behind my back?”
System, “...” Although I don't think highly of your little business, since the cost is so cheap, I might as well get some. What if you make a profit? What if!
“Priced at two yuan fifty cents each, assuming I can sell eight hundred, I can earn sixteen hundred. After deducting labor costs and transportation fees, the net profit is one thousand five hundred seventy-two yuan fifty-seven cents...”
“Motivation is suddenly surging!” Gu Qianqian did a simple calculation, the corner of her mouth slightly curved upwards, and she swung the metal baseball bat in her hand, making a “whooshing” sound.
She let out a soft cry, “Kuafu's strength, move mountains and fill seas!” A dazzling earthy yellow light rose around her, and a heavy Spiritual Energy like a mountain swept out. The phantom of a giant appeared behind her.
“Bang—!”
With a slight pop, Gu Qianqian charged forward, holding the metal baseball bat.
Sensing the intrusion of an outsider, the scarlet lanterns all trembled. The red light flashed continuously like an alarm, and faint, angry, and resentful whispers echoed in the air.
Innumerable foul-smelling limbs extended from behind the lanterns, waving menacingly, crawling along the walls, leaving dense scarlet handprints on the white walls.
For a moment, the corridor, which was frequented by students and Teachers during the day, seemed to have turned into a hell filled with aliens, a sacred place for the revelry of countless vengeful spirits.
Seeing such a terrifying scene, Gu Qianqian felt a chill in her heart, swallowed hard, and silently pushed the mask on her face up, covering her eyes.
Seeing this, the system panicked and said anxiously, “Are you an idiot? You covered your eyes, how can you fight...”
“Puff! Puff! Puff—!”
Before it could finish speaking, the sound of flesh and blood bursting echoed in the corridor. As the red light flickered on and off, the baseball bat in Gu Qianqian's hand was like a sharp meat grinder, shredding the attacking limbs. Then she stepped on the ground and instantly flew several meters.
In this sacred place of vengeful spirits' revelry, Gu Qianqian was mixed among them, looking even happier than the vengeful spirits.
“Well fought!”
The system, which had been a little startled, changed its tone and couldn't help but praise, thinking that it had indeed not misjudged the person. Although Gu Qianqian was a bit simple-minded and greedy and stingy with money, her combat talent was truly first-class.
How many Psychic could easily find flaws and kill enemies just by judging their location based on Spiritual Energy fluctuations?
While the system was thinking, Gu Qianqian had already fought her way through half the corridor and arrived before the Special Character Content Research Lab. Facing the swirling grayish-white mist, she took a step forward and surprisingly passed through the security door without any obstruction, entering the lab.
As soon as her feet touched the lab floor, the sound of musical instruments playing in the corridor and the flashing scarlet light disappeared. The blood-red lanterns dimmed one by one, and the blood-red handprints on the four walls seemed as if they had never existed.
The corridor regained its tranquility. In the darkness, nocturnal creatures made some rustling sounds, looking as if no one had ever been there.
Inside the research lab, the system's voice sounded in Gu Qianqian's mind.
“Gu Qianqian, did you bring the knife I told you to bring?”
“Of course I did. Didn't you say to keep it as small and portable as possible?” Gu Qianqian replied. She rummaged around on herself for a while and pulled out a box of brand new nail clippers.
System, “...”
Fine, nail clippers will do! As long as I scrape off a little debris, it will... freeweɓnovel.cøm
“Click—!”
As the system was thinking, a crisp sound suddenly echoed in the lab. Following the sound, Gu Qianqian was holding the bamboo slips in one hand and nail clippers in the other, and had already clipped off a small piece from it...
