Chapter Ten: Have You Ever Seen a Solid Magic Wand?
Zhao Mingyue casually tossed her backpack onto the table, turning herself into a lazy lump on the couch, resembling a salted fish basking in the sun.
She fished her phone out of her pocket and opened her social media app.
If it were someone else, they’d be chatting with family or friends, but her chat list had a message from three days ago—a classmate asking for homework answers.
Just as she was about to swipe away, her phone suddenly buzzed with a new message.
[Lu Liangting: Mingyue, whatever you hear tonight, DO NOT go outside!!!]
“Eh? Can’t you be a little clearer? Why shouldn’t I go out? Not that I actually feel like going out in the first place.” Mumbling, she replied with an “Mm” and a cute cat nodding emoji. Tilting her head, she caught a glimpse of a pale face reflected on her phone screen.
“Ah!”
Startled, Zhao Mingyue looked up to find Bai Yu had somehow appeared behind her, half her body poking out of the wall like a ghostly jack-in-the-box.
But, not gonna lie, she looked kinda cute like that—at least to Zhao Mingyue.
“Oh, it’s just you. You scared me to d*ath.” She scooted over a bit, patting the spot beside her. “Come sit here.”
Bai Yu’s pale face and the black crack-like patterns on her skin sent a shiver down Zhao Mingyue’s spine, but there was something comforting about her presence too.
She was an evil ghost, and here Zhao Mingyue was, just a regular human.
Just like Bai Yu had said, she had been sucked into this whole otherworldly mess thanks to the little mission from that black phone last night. So, did that mean she regretted it?
Probably not.
Bai Yu straightened herself against the wall, then floated out from behind Zhao Mingyue.
“Get out the black phone.”
“Sure thing!”
Knowing Bai Yu couldn’t touch the cursed object, Zhao Mingyue laid the phone flat on the coffee table. “What’s next?”
“It turns out the power of this phone is far greater than you think, but I need to tell you, it can’t help you directly find your family.” Bai Yu’s voice was as ethereal as the wind. She knew what Zhao Mingyue wanted.
“The truth is, if you’re hoping this will lead you directly to your sister, better forget it.”
Zhao Mingyue fell silent for a long moment, her eyebrows furrowing cutely in thought. She wanted to say something but the words danced on the tip of her tongue without ever escaping. Instead, she just stared into Bai Yu’s dark, abyss-like eyes. “Why mention that?”
“I don’t want to lie to you or play you. Listen up; we need to collaborate here, mutually beneficial and all that. I just told you this phone can’t help you find your sister, but it can help you become stronger.” Bai Yu kept her cool while still locking eyes with Zhao Mingyue.
“If you want to find your family, you need to make yourself strong first. Otherwise, no one can help you, got it?”
“There will be tasks to complete, and some of them are dangerous, maybe even deadly. But don’t worry, none of them are designed to be guaranteed fatal; if you can succeed, there will definitely be rewards.”
“Last night was just the warm-up; tonight’s the real deal. I tell you this to reveal the truth—Lu Liangting is also part of this game. He knows how horrifying it is, which is why he doesn’t want you getting involved.”
That was her style. She didn’t want to manipulate Zhao Mingyue or act like a noble savior. She just laid everything out on the table: it was time to cooperate, and if you couldn’t handle it, just back out.
But since Zhao Mingyue had the guts to take on that game all alone, Bai Yu believed she wouldn’t bail out.
“If you’re ready, just find the app from last night to accept tonight’s task.”
After Bai Yu’s speech, Zhao Mingyue could tell she was serious. Glancing at both the black phone and Bai Yu, she finally moved her finger to tap on the task acceptance app.
“I’m ready! I know my sister’s disappearance is no simple matter, and with you helping, what could possibly go wrong? Time to accept the task?”
“Yep.”
“Alright!”
The app opened, and sure enough, the contents had changed.
[Tomorrow’s Apartment (Three Stars)]
Task Content: Room 6, Faces carved in the walls, Soul Fire, People walking backwards, Stench
Did you know this place used to be called Tomorrow’s Apartment? After that huge fire, everything changed. Here’s a tip: At midnight, walk backwards up to the fourth floor until you pass the thirteenth step, and you’ll see ‘them.’
[Dongcheng No. 13 Middle School (Three Stars)]
Task Content: Eyes in the toilet stalls, Meat aroma from the Midnight Canteen, Red dancing shoes, Statues without heads in front and back of the door
……
[Lantern Resort (Four Stars)]
……
Multiple tasks suddenly appeared, but Zhao Mingyue’s attention fixated on [Tomorrow’s Apartment]. If she wasn’t mistaken, that’s what tonight’s task was going to be. Just reading the task details sent chills down her spine.
This task was definitely not going to be as simple as last night!
“Accept the Tomorrow’s Apartment task.”
“Got it.”
[You have accepted the task: Tomorrow’s Apartment]
[Please arrive at Tomorrow’s Apartment before midnight, survive until dawn, and your task completion rating will improve based on your actions.]
As the task prompt popped up, Zhao Mingyue felt her heart race, her palms slightly sweaty. “Should we prepare anything?”
The girl in the white dress was an evil ghost, but she was also the only one Zhao Mingyue could lean on right now.
Looking at the time on her phone, it was only eight o’clock, so she had a full four hours until midnight.
“Just prepare a handy weapon.”
“A handy weapon…” Zhao Mingyue pondered, what kind of weapon could take on ghosts? “I don’t have anything that battles ghosts! Is it too late to buy some black dog bl**d and a peach wood sword?”
Hearing that, she was dead serious, leaving Bai Yu speechless.
“Honestly, ghosts don’t need you battling them. What you think works against ghosts is actually useless. Instead, you’d be better off preparing a weapon to deal with humans.”
“A weapon for humans? Aren’t we supposed to be facing ghosts tonight?”
“No, sometimes humans can be far scarier than ghosts.” Bai Yu’s words hinted at hidden meanings, and after pondering for a bit, Zhao Mingyue finally pulled a kitchen kn*fe from the kitchen.
One kitchen kn*fe wasn’t enough, though. Suddenly, she seemed to remember something, dashed into her bedroom, and rummaged through her things, eventually pulling out a “magic wand” that looked like a pickaxe.
Yup, Bai Yu was sure that was a solid magic wand!
It was pink, about a meter long, with a rounded red cone at the top that resembled an eagle’s beak, solid and bigger than a fist. Behind it were two white cartoon-style wings as decoration.
Disregarding its adorably cute appearance, this thing was definitely a “weapon.”
One whack to the head, and it would split open like a watermelon.
