Ch108 - Ghost City

(We’re not bad people)

Shen Dongqing had a ‘friendly’ discussion with the drowned ghosts. In the friendly mood, the drowned ghosts were moved in succession, abandoning their plan to drag people into the water and instead assisting the players in leaving the island. 

“Actually, we are all good folks,” Shen Dongqing stated with a smile.

The drowned ghosts nodded, their eyes welling up with tears.

 

 

The ship, escorted by the drowned ghosts, sailed away from the massive island without any effort from the players.

Shen Dongqing sat on the stern, his thumbs and index fingers rose up to form a rectangular frame that encompassed the entire island. 

The island between his fingers shrank and shrank until it was nearly a dark speck.

 

The drowned ghosts couldn’t get too far away from the island and had long since submerged. The only thing swaying on the sea now was a small wooden boat.

Miss Long Skirt had collapsed and was lying on the boat after finally reaching a secure spot.

However, Sister Glasses and Mr. Jacket did not unwind. They were still looking about with vigilance.

 

Sister Glasses: “I keep feeling something is wrong.”

Mr. Jacket silently nodded.

In retrospect, Shen Dongqing also wondered, “Why is there no game broadcast?”

 

The instance would be cleared as long as they left this island, according to the game rules. They were now 800 kilometers away, so why hadn’t their successful instance clearance been announced? 

Shen Dongqing clasped his chin in his hand and glanced at Zhou Wenyan.

Zhou Wenyan gazed down towards the sea.

The sea was peaceful and clear, yet lower down, an existence thicker than darkness seemed to be concealed. It was sleeping quietly and without hostility.

“I guessed wrong.” Zhou Wenyan added, raising his gaze, “We haven’t left the island.” 

“How is it possible!” cried Sister Glasses.

The island of Jörmungandr was merely a green blip in the distance, not covered by the water level, but…completely sunken to the bottom of the sea.

Miss Long Skirt turned white, as if she’d had an idea.

Zhou Wenyan observed: “The World Serpent can form a world from end to end. We have yet to leave this island because… only a portion of it floats in the sea.” 

Shen Dongqing appeared dazed: “Huh?”

“The entire sea area is Jörmungandr,” Zhou Wenyan explained.

 

The World Serpent was large enough to hold the entire planet. Obviously, it would be more than a small island. The entire ocean was under Jörmungandr’s body.

They were still on the island. 

Mr. Jacket stood up, agitated: “Then what shall we do?”

Miss Long Skirt was on the verge of tears.

Zhou Wenyan remained relatively calm: “The World Serpent will roll over according to the drowned ghost. It will undoubtedly leave once it rouses and moves. We will then jump down and leave its body.”

It sounded straightforward, but putting it into action proved difficult. 

After all, the World Serpent and the players were no different than a human and an ant in terms of size. Basically, it didn’t have to harm purposefully. The ant’s life would be taken as long as it was lightly touched.

Mr. Jacket thought it a little odd.

This game instance was a little different than the others. There were no time constraints, puzzles, or even NPCs. The only hazard was a bunch of drowned ghosts, which was utterly unlike the prior cases.

In truth, these players were plain unlucky. 

After nitpicking, the game chose this game instance to trap Zhou Wenyan and Shen Dongqing. It naturally looked for the weird ones. It was inevitable for the instance to be unique.

Sister Glasses: “It’s now up to luck.”

All the players in the boat fell silent.

Shen Dongqing was no different. “I can’t swim,” he puffed out his cheeks. 

Shen Dongqing noticed an extra hand in front of him as soon as he finished speaking, and he looked over in confusion.

“Hold on to me firmly when the moment comes,” Zhou Wenyan said, his fingers extended out.

Shen Dongqing said “oh,” raised his hand, and tightly grabbed Zhou Wenyan’s fingers, and the two were standing next to each other. Shen Dongqing had an inspiration and asked, “How big is this snake?”

“It should be… quite enormous,” Zhou Wenyan speculated. 

Shen Dongqing paused for a time to consider: “Then forget it. If it’s so enormous, it’s probably not very tasty.”

The other players: …

 

The other players relaxed a little after being interrupted like this, waiting for the moment when the massive snake flipped over.

They didn’t have to wait long. A shadow swam slowly past below, and then the entire sea stirred. Countless bubbles emerged from the sea’s bottom and eventually burst on the sea’s surface, as if a fire had been lit underneath to boil the sea. 

The small wooden boat rocked as if in a storm, and one negligent move would break it to smithereens.

The players kept a careful eye on what was going on below.

The island was totally submerged, leaving just a massive vortex. The vortex became larger as it rotated, almost sweeping in the wooden boat.

Only then did the players realize they hadn’t gone very far from the island. 

“Is it time to jump?” asked Mr. Jacket.

“Wait,” Zhou Wenyan murmured, clutching Shen Dongqing’s hand.

This kind of waiting was far too hard.

The python under the sea finally moved after an unknown amount of time. The sea was divided into two portions, just like Moses parting the sea. The waves smashed the small wooden boat into bits as they rose and sank. 

The players were dispersed throughout the sea.

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The sky darkened abruptly at this point. 

When the folks below looked up, they noticed that the sun was obscured by a shadow. After a while, Zhou Wenyan saw it wasn’t a dark cloud, but rather a snake head elevated high. It had only partially risen, but it was enough to press up against the blue dome of the heavens. And there was a lot more beneath the waves.

Zhou Wenyan grabbed Shen Dongqing and swam towards the periphery.

However, after swimming for a long period, he discovered that it was still on the World Serpent’s body.

Shen Dongqing exclaimed, “It’s too huge!” after spitting out a mouthful of sea water with a “ptui.” 

Mr. Jacket swam in the incorrect direction just in time to collide with the python that had turned over. The colossal python did nothing, but he was thrown into the sea and lost consciousness.

Zhou Wenyan paused to assess the direction and drew Shen Dongqing away from its head.

 

It’s only that the World Serpent was far too large, taking up nearly the entire sea region. They couldn’t swim to the extremity no matter how hard they tried.

Shen Dongqing remained positive, saying, “At worst, we’ll be ghosts together…” He then grimaced halfway through, “I don’t like being a drowned ghost. It’s unsightly and stinky, so it’s better to change the manner of death.” 

“Don’t talk rubbish,” Zhou Wenyan remarked sternly.

Shen Dongqing simply muttered “oh” and obediently followed him.

The World Serpent may have only just awoken, and it was moving extremely slowly. It was fully awake now, and the force of its movements was so powerful that whirlpools formed on the sea.

In any event, manpower cannot compete with nature’s might. 

Even Zhou Wenyan couldn’t resist the whirlpool’s pull. “Let go,” he said as he turned his head to look at Shen Dongqing.

Shen Dongqing didn’t know why, but he nevertheless let go of his hand.

Zhou Wenyan propelled Shen Dongqing in the opposite direction as soon as he let go. Shen Dongqing escaped the whirlpool, but he was drawn deeper into it and had no way out.

For a second, Shen Dongqing floated on the sea, stunned. He ignored Zhou Wenyan’s words and swam without hesitation towards the whirlpool. His swimming posture was a little awkward, but it had no effect on his speed. 

Shen Dongqing reappeared, clutching Zhou Wenyan.

“Why did you come back?” Zhou Wenyan was helpless.

“I’m not afraid of dying,” Shen Dongqing spit out a mouthful of sea water. “We’ll be drowned ghosts together at worst.”

In this short amount of time, the two of them were on the verge of being engulfed by the whirlpool. A wisp of white cloud appeared below at this time. 

Poof—

Shen Dongqing wiped the seawater from his face and gazed down as the waves broke.

The large fish they’d seen before swam slowly by, and the two of them rode on it.

Zhou Wenyan and Shen Dongqing, who were completely soaked from head to toe, looked at each other and exchanged smiles. 

Big Fish was enormous, and its swimming pace did not appear to be fast, but it had left the vortex area in the blink of an eye and was heading somewhere else.

“Where is it taking us?” wondered Shen Dongqing, shaking his wet hair.

 

Zhou Wenyan: “The door.”

Shen Dongqing: “Ah?” 

Zhou Wenyan extended his hand and pointed.

Shen Dongqing squinted his eyes, and sure enough, a gate leading to the sky had appeared on the sea level. The door frames on both sides were carved with ferocious-looking ghosts that made one’s pulse skip a beat even at this distance. The door was slowly closing, and threads of black mist were escaping from it.

“The Ghost Gate.” Shen Dongqing stood up and gazed at the ghost gate from afar, “I feel very familiar with it…”

Big Fish swam towards the ghost gate, generating waves in the sea, and flung itself into the arms of the gate at the last moment before it closed. 

Bang—

The ghost gate was shut. The black mist hovered in the air before dissipating.

[You’ve arrived at Ghost City.]

[Please draw your ID card.] 

When the players learned that the ghost city was about to open, they canceled their plans and stayed at the resting location to await the opening of the ghost gate. So the dark plaza was now packed with players, hundreds of people standing there like sardines.

Even if two more people appear in this situation, the others will not notice.

“Boss, I thought you guys couldn’t catch up…” Wu Jia he flashed a furtive glance at the two wet individuals while saying this and showed an ambiguous smile, “Hehe, what have you been doing?”

Zhou Wenyan slapped him right away. 

Wu Jia ducked quickly: “When you weren’t present, the game announced the regulations. We’ll disguise ourselves as ‘ghosts’ and enter the ghost city in search of the Ghost King’s treasure.”

Ghost City, as the name implies, was a city where ghosts resided. Humans entering was akin to a small sheep wandering into a wolf pack. Of course, in order to survive, they had to disguise themselves as “wolves.”

“We’re pulling out our ID cards right now.”

As he spoke, a box suspended in the air shook furiously, and numerous cards fell down and landed in front of each player like a goddess scattering flowers. 

Wu Jia took hold of the card in front of him. Shen Dongqing leaned over and had a look at it. In a dripping font, the words “drowned ghost” were written on it.

Shen Dongqing touched his sleeve full of seawater and muttered, “I suspect the game is aiming to disgust me, and I have evidence.”

 

The little shit created a drowned ghost character for him as soon as he claimed he disliked drowned ghosts.

Wu Jia didn’t comprehend Shen Dongqing’s statements, so he wisely dismissed them and moved on to another topic: “Why don’t you guys have cards?” 

Except for Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan, every player had an ID card in front of them.

It was simply too late to understand the issue. The plaza’s gate was opened, and two guards emerged. One of them was missing a portion of its head and appeared to be a mowed-down ghost, and the other had a long tongue that was almost hanging on his chest. It was a hanged ghost.

The two people…oops! Sorry. The two ghosts were rather impatient. “You can only get in after you queue up for me,” they stated, pointing to the gathering of players.

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The players were afraid to speak up. They promptly formed a queue and entered one by one. 

Because the players were all carrying ID cards issued by the game, the two gatekeepers saw nothing amiss and let them pass.

Wu Jia couldn’t help but be anxious as their turn approached: “Can you enter without ID cards?”

Shen Dongqing: “It shouldn’t be a problem. Their IQ appears to be low.”

Wu Jia: ? 

Wu Jia had no choice but to put his misgivings aside and move forward to accept the examination of the two ghosts after hearing what he said.

“You, you, you, you are a drowned ghost?” stammered Hanged Ghost.

Wu Jia: “Yes, yes.”

Mowed-down Ghost looked up and down for a while, sizing him up, and then stated, “You don’t look like one.” 

Wu Jia was dumbfounded.

So many people had just entered, yet these two ghosts had no questions. Why did they start drilling as soon as it was his turn? He was stumped by the question and couldn’t react in any way.

Fortunately, a hand landed on Wu Jia’s shoulder at this point and pulled him behind: “We are drowned ghosts.”

Hanged Ghost: “You, you, you, you all?” 

Mowed-down Ghost rolled his eyes, looked at the two drenched people who had just been fished out of the sea, and nodded: “Looks like it to me.”

“He, he, he doesn’t look like one,” Hanged Ghost remarked, pointing at Wu Jia.

 

Shen Dongqing explained: “He climbed ashore first and dried in the sun. You’ve heard of Salted Fish, right? That’s him.”

Wu Jia: ? 

Hanged Ghost and Mowed-down Ghost, unexpectedly, accepted these two arguments and opened the door to let the group in.

That’s it?

Wu Jia was still taking it in.

Shen Dongqing gave a “tsk” and shook his head, a look of regret on his face. 

“What are you regretting?” Wu Jia couldn’t help himself and inquired.

Shen Dongqing: “They actually let us through so easily.”

Wu Jia: “…Or else?”

Shen Dongqing: “Otherwise I would’ve beaten them up and come in anyway.” 

He hadn’t eaten or slept well on the deserted island and he was eventually compelled to swim in the sea. Shen Dongqing was already choking on a stomachful of anger, and was just waiting for an unlucky chap to knock on his door. He didn’t anticipate these two ghosts to be so uncooperative and actually let them in.

Mowed-down Ghost and Hanged Ghost shuddered as they stood at the entrance.

Hanged Ghost: “Why, why, why is it a little cold?”

Mowed-down Ghost: “Are you stupid? How can it be cold when you are dead?” 

The two ghosts continued to guard the door after this brief interlude.

Wu Jia averted his gaze.

Oh, brothers, you have unwittingly escaped.

The name Ghost City sounded strange, yet the structures inside were rather modern, almost on par with the third-tier small cities outside. 

Because all of its inhabitants were ghosts surrounded by Yin energy, the structures withered and aged quickly, making the atmosphere eerie when you stepped in.

Wu Jia: “I didn’t expect this place to be so livable.”

 

The Half-body Ghost in front of him had sharp ears. When he heard this, he exclaimed very proudly: “Of course! Our Ghost City is flourishing vigorously under the leadership of the Ghost King!”

Wu Jia’s head was full of question marks. 

How? Hey, could it be that the ghost king was a party member?

Shen Dongqing over there, for some reason, felt the same way: “It’s not bad. The ghosts here are distinct from those found elsewhere.”

Half-body Ghost opened his mouth wide in joy, the corner of his lips almost touching the roots of his ears: “Indeed…”

The Ghost City natives were inexplicably enthusiastic, and after a few phrases about the ordinary, the chatterbox talked as if spilling beans. 

Wu Jia was thinking about finding the ghost king’s treasure, so he discreetly directed the half-body ghost to talk about him.

The half-body ghost was not at all guarded against them: “Oh! Sir Ghost King likes to stay in. We haven’t seen Sir Ghost King in a long time.”

They noticed a building in the center of the ghost city as they looked in the direction indicated by the half-body ghost. They were standing in the outskirts of the city. That area was shrouded in black fog, and everything appeared fuzzy. They couldn’t see it clearly.

The half-body ghost remarked: “You are new here and have to go through the test.” 

Zhou Wenyan: “What test?”

The half-ghost said nothing and stood at the door of a two-story building: “Here we are. You guys can simply stay here for a few days.”

Wu Jia intended to ask more questions, but as he turned his head, the half-body ghost had vanished. There appeared to be only three of them remaining on the street, with no traces of the other players.

When you think about it, it was really bizarre. There were hundreds of players. The outskirts of this ghost city were limited, yet there was no one around. 

Wu Jia was still thinking about this when Shen Dongqing went up to the door and knocked.

Knock, knock, knock—

After a while, the person within quietly opened the door, displaying a half-gray face. For some reason, the NPC inside was so excited to see the three players standing outside that he couldn’t stop drooling.

“Come in, come in!” 

The NPC opened the door and warmly invited them in.

For some reason, Wu Jia kept getting the impression it was a lamb entering a tiger’s lair.

 

It was, nevertheless, unavoidable. Wu Jia could only bite the bullet and enter because the objective was here.

Shen Dongqing waved away the dust in front of him and asked in bafflement, “What are you afraid of?” 

“This NPC doesn’t look normal,” Wu Jia whispered as he looked at the suspiciously acting NPC in front of them.

Shen Dongqing patted Wu Jia’s shoulder and pointed to the person walking in front of them: “He is only one person, er… ghost.”

Wu Jia nodded: “So?”

Shen Dongqing rolled his eyes: “There are three of us. What are you afraid of him for?” 

Wu Jia suddenly saw the light: “…Yeah, that’s right!”

Then he held his head high, puffed out his chest, and followed the ghost in without the slightest fear.

Creak—

Without any breeze, the door closed slowly on its own. 

This little trick, however, was not even an appetizer for the three players there, and they were too lazy to look back.

They were escorted inside a hall by the NPC.

These buildings appeared regular from the outside, but upon entering, you would discover an indescribable stench. It was dark and the ground was sticky. They didn’t know what it was.

The NPC was a lame man with corpse spots on his face, human or ghost unknown. “Do you want to go inside Ghost City?” he asked, opening his mouth and showing his yellow teeth. 

Wu Jia gave a nod.

The lame man explained, “Getting into Ghost City is not that easy. Like us… we can only survive outside. Alright, you find me a few things, and I’ll give you the token for entering Ghost City.”

Shen Dongqing was too preoccupied with pinching his nose to talk.

Zhou Wenyan was surveying their surroundings. 

The interior of this house was narrow and appeared incapable of accommodating guests. It was boxy, which immediately made people think of a coffin—in short, it was a wonderful spot to kill people and hide their bodies.

Because they were ‘busy,’ Wu Jia was compelled to take over the chore of wrangling with the NPC: “What things?”

 

The lame man tapped his leg with his fingers: “I have used this body for several years, but it’s not very useful. I need to replace a few parts, so you can help me find a few things…”

“Eyeball of a Fell-to-death Ghost, arm of a Hanged Ghost, leg of a Unlucky Ghost, and the heart of a Gorgeous Ghost.” 

“Once you’ve found these items, I’ll give you the token to access the inner city.”

Shen Dongqing, who’d been listening for a long time, suddenly asked: “Why don’t you go in by yourself if you have the token?”

The lame man who was questioned: “Uh this… uh…”

Probably no other player had ever asked such a question. He pondered for a long time but couldn’t come up with an appropriate response to this impeccable question. 

Utterly discomfited, the lame man said, “How do I know? Hurry up and look for it and you’ll be done!”

Wu Jia also thought of a problem: “But they are all ghosts. It’s pointless for you to request these things.”

“Those who have been here for a long time will not work, but those who have recently arrived can be used,” the lame man said with a chilly and gloomy smile.

Those who had lived in Ghost City for a long time were naturally the indigenous people, and they were all ghosts, whilst those who had recently arrived were all players. They were simply disguised as ghosts. They were all, in reality, humans. 

Wu Jia was terrified.

Isn’t this blatantly encouraging players to murder one another?

The lame man grumbled impatiently, “You’re still not hurrying up? The amount of tokens available is limited…”

Wu Jia decided to discuss it with his two friends before proceeding. 

Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned his head, he saw Shen Dongqing rushing up excitedly.

“Hey!” Wu Jia subconsciously exclaimed to stop him.

Shen Dongqing hesitated and returned a puzzled gaze to Wu Jia.

“You, are you going to do it?” Wu Jia smiled dryly. 

Shen Dongqing rolled up his sleeves and stated unequivocally: “He stated that he already has a token in his hand, so why continue with the ridiculous task? Simply kill him, and it’s done.”

Wu Jia: …

 

This logic appears to be correct!

Lame Guy had never seen a player play cards like this before, and he was forced to retreat several times, suddenly transforming from a cold and gloomy villain to a delicate and pathetic little white flower. He came to a halt when he couldn’t retreat any further. 

“What, what, what are you going to do?”

The two’s identities were instantaneously exchanged.

Shen Dongqing changed from a pure and kind player to a still pure and kind villain. The corners of his mouth curved, and a small dimple appeared on his cheek, which was quite cute: “Actually, we are not bad people…”

Bang— 

Shen Dongqing casually grabbed something and jabbed it while speaking. It grazed the lame man’s neck and became deeply entrenched in the wall.

“Don’t be scared.” Shen Dongqing tilted his head and said with a smile, “As long as you hand over the token, we are good people. Very kind.”

“Understand?”

He’d be a good man if he handed over the token. What about if he refused to hand up the token? 

The lame man didn’t want to know the alternate ending. He said in a trembling voice, “Understood, understood…”

“Hand it over,” Shen Dongqing said, opening his hand.

Lame Guy: “I, I, I, I don’t have it either.”

Shen Dongqing became angry: “So you’re a white wolf with empty gloves? You don’t have any credit; who will dare to do business with you in the future?” 

The lame man was about to cry.

Naturally, he was merely doing a one-time transaction and scamming the players. If he was trustworthy, who would be the villain?!

Translator:

The anticipated Ghost City arc is here~ 

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