Chapter 34#
Zhao Xing wasn’t afraid of ghosts. Really.
He’d even once rented out an entire movie theater to treat his underlings to a horror film.
Everyone else was screaming in terror, but he remained calm and composed.
Sure, occasionally some shocking scene would make his spine chill, but overall, he kept his cool.
He perfectly maintained Brother Zhao’s aloof, domineering, and cool exterior image.
His underlings were in awe of him.
Zhao Xing sneered, “What’s there to be afraid of? There are no ghosts in this world. If there were, and we live underground, wouldn’t we be occupying their eighteenth level of hell?”
Obviously.
Zhao Xing wasn’t afraid of ghosts on one condition—
He firmly believed there were no ghosts in the world.
Now, this unwavering belief had been ruthlessly shattered.
Zhao Xing’s mind went blank. For the first time in his life, he was so cowed that he hid in someone else’s arms like an ostrich.
He thought his life was about to end abruptly today, but after a long while, his ears remained quiet, with no sound at all.
Zhao Xing cautiously lifted his head and opened one eye.
Where was the female ghost?
There was only an empty, clean cave and D066, staring at his own hand, lost in thought.
Zhao Xing’s racing heartbeat slowly returned to normal.
Even though cold sweat still trickled from his palms, Zhao Xing cleared his throat and nonchalantly stepped back from D066’s embrace. But his dry, hoarse voice betrayed his nervousness: “…Where’s the ghost?”
D066 corrected him, “It’s a Yīnlíng’er.”
“It’s a ghost,” Zhao Xing retorted. “That thing was wearing a white dress, had black hair, floated in the air, and only appeared at night… That’s a ghost. A female ghost, at that.”
D066: “…The ghost is dead.”
Zhao Xing froze.
A ghost… can die? How?
But he didn’t ask that question out loud because he didn’t need to.
In almost the blink of an eye, another Yīnlíng’er, as if sensing something good, drilled into the cave and lunged at Zhao Xing with a sinister grin!
Zhao Xing’s whole body stiffened. Before he could react, he saw D066 reach out and grab the Yīnlíng’er by the neck.
Zhao Xing watched with his own eyes as the Yīnlíng’er grew terrified, then quiet, then transparent, then dissipated under D066’s hand.
D066 slowly lowered his now-empty hand, clenching it into a fist at his side.
This time, he made a conscious effort to control himself and didn’t emit that untimely white light. But…
He turned his head to look in Zhao Xing’s direction, saying nothing.
Zhao Xing also said nothing. He was stunned.
A full thirty seconds passed before Zhao Xing snapped out of it.
He stared intently at Luo Mingshan’s right hand, his eyes gradually lighting up. He couldn’t help but ask, “…You… where did you buy your gloves?”
D066: “…?”
Zhao Xing couldn’t resist reaching out, carefully cupping D066’s right hand in his own, and scrutinizing that seemingly ordinary glove.
D066 tensed up slightly, his fingertips curling.
At first glance, D066’s gloves looked utterly unremarkable. Upon closer inspection, they still looked utterly unremarkable.
The only thing special about them might be that they made D066’s hands look exceptionally long and elegant.
Maybe there was some kind of black technology inside that Zhao Xing didn’t know about.
After all, it could even physically eliminate ghosts.
Zhao Xing suddenly felt that ghosts weren’t so scary anymore.
No, wait.
It was a Yīnlíng’er.
Anything that could be destroyed by a pair of gloves didn’t deserve to be called a ghost.
With D066’s glitch-level gloves, Zhao Xing gradually felt more at ease.
However, after two more Yīnlíng’er died, Zhao Xing suddenly remembered something.
He looked at D066 with a serious expression, “Does your glove also run out of power?”
D066 paused for a moment, then nodded.
To be honest, it was fine at first, but after killing the third Yīnlíng’er, he started to feel a bit tired.
Zhao Xing asked nervously, “How do you recharge it? It’s not as insane as Su Ye’s laser gun, is it?”
D066 hesitated for a few seconds before nodding again.
It was about the same—both required physical rest and recovery.
Zhao Xing’s heart sank.
They couldn’t keep going like this.
Once D066’s body couldn’t take it anymore and the gloves ran out of power, they’d both be done for.
Just then, another suicidal Yīnlíng’er excitedly drilled into the cave.
Just as D066 reached out to deal with it like the previous ones, Zhao Xing spoke up first, “Wait! Try to grab it, but don’t kill it.”
D066’s fingertips had already touched the Yīnlíng’er’s neck. Hearing this, he immediately withdrew his hand.
But even with just a second of contact, the Yīnlíng’er’s face was already filled with terror. It frantically tried to escape, but D066 tightly gripped its arm and pulled it in front of Zhao Xing.
The Yīnlíng’er looked at D066, panic-stricken, “You… who are you? You’re—”
“No questions allowed,” D066 interrupted coldly.
The Yīnlíng’er shivered all over, shut its mouth, and dared not make another sound.
D066 turned to Zhao Xing, his tone softening, “What do you want to do?”
“I want to understand this thing,” Zhao Xing said eagerly. “I can’t just rely on you to fight.”
On one hand, they needed to conserve the glove’s power.
On the other, Zhao Xing had never been protected by others in his life and didn’t like being protected.
Zhao Xing walked up to the Yīnlíng’er and tentatively reached out a finger to touch it.
But his finger passed right through.
Not just his finger—all the ropes, daggers, and even a pebble couldn’t touch it.
The only thing in the cave that could touch it was D066’s gloved hand.
Zhao Xing gave D066 a meaningful look, signaling him to force the Yīnlíng’er to its knees. Then Zhao Xing sat on a rock opposite it, staring down at it with a dark gaze. “Starting now, I ask, you answer. Got it?”
The Yīnlíng’er nodded frantically.
After more than ten minutes of questioning, Zhao Xing finally understood what a Yīnlíng’er was.
Turns out, he couldn’t really blame himself for mistaking it for a ghost. These things really weren’t unrelated to ghosts.
Yīnlíng’er were native creatures of Blue Star, feeding on the “intelligence” of living beings. Any creature they fed on would become irritable, manic, and lose its mind.
Their true form was a floating, translucent, gray-silver mass that could change shape at will. Originally, they all looked bizarre and were all different. It wasn’t until over three hundred years ago, when humans appeared on Blue Star and brought horror movies…
Zhao Xing: “…”
Zhao Xing asked with difficulty, “So you thought ghosts looked a bit like you, but their image was trendier, so you deliberately turned into that form?”
The Yīnlíng’er nodded.
Zhao Xing: “…”
Zhao Xing gritted his teeth, “Change back!”
The “female ghost” pinned down by D066 immediately “swoosh” turned back into its true form—
A floating, oval-shaped object with nothing but a big mouth on top of its head.
Like a balloon.
Zhao Xing: “…”
He had been scared by this thing into throwing himself into someone’s arms?!
Zhao Xing closed his eyes.
Trying to forget his embarrassing past.
Zhao Xing asked again, “Is there any way to touch you all?”
The Yīnlíng’er’s fluffy body squirmed a bit before reluctantly saying, “…Pollen from the Yuè Sàn flower.”
Almost every surface-dwelling human knew that the pollen of the Yuè Sàn flower allowed people and objects to touch Yīnlíng’er.
Out in the open, Yīnlíng’er never dared to be so rampant, because Yuè Sàn pollen was readily available everywhere.
But for the sake of the show’s effect, F101 had a strict rule: all members of groups A, B, C, and D were forbidden from bringing Yuè Sàn pollen onto the island and had to seek shelter from the White Tower.
Zhao Xing couldn’t help but glance at D066’s gloves.
It seemed his gloves didn’t have that pollen on them—probably some other high-tech.
But he could tell that D066 didn’t want to talk much about his gloves; it was probably some personal secret or family heirloom.
So Zhao Xing didn’t press him.
Zhao Xing: “Isn’t that Yuè Sàn flower on the island?”
The Yīnlíng’er said quietly, “Yuè Sàn flowers usually grow in the southern hemisphere. This is the northern hemisphere.”
Seeing the Yīnlíng’er hesitate, Zhao Xing knew there had to be more to it. He asked impatiently, “So is there one or not?”
D066 also cooperatively tightened his grip.
The Yīnlíng’er: “…There is… there is! I’ll take you there.”
The Yīnlíng’er led them for over an hour before they reached their destination.
Staring at the patch of blue flowers hidden in the cave, the Yīnlíng’er was too scared to float even a step closer. “It’s… right here. This is the only place on the island with Yuè Sàn flowers. Because it’s so hidden, no other contestants know about it.”
D066 kept control of the Yīnlíng’er while Zhao Xing walked into the cave.
When he came back out, Zhao Xing’s hands, the daggers on him, the bullets in his magazines… all were thickly coated with Yuè Sàn pollen.
Zhao Xing even specially emptied a few magazines and stored plenty of pollen inside.
He handed two magazines to D066. “Use these too. Don’t waste your glove’s power all the time. It’s bad for your body.”
D066 nodded.
Zhao Xing took the Yīnlíng’er from him and tested the effect of the Yuè Sàn pollen. Satisfied to find it wasn’t lying, he then pulled out his own pollen-coated elastic chain, bound the Yīnlíng’er tightly, and held the other end in his hand.
Mm. The oval-shaped Yīnlíng’er, tied to the chain and floating in the air, looked even more like a balloon.
Zhao Xing patted its head. “Be good. Just be a balloon. I’ll let you go when it’s dawn.”
On the way here, Zhao Xing had noticed that as long as he kept this Yīnlíng’er hostage, the others wouldn’t come looking for trouble. It was much quieter, and D066 wouldn’t have to work so hard.
The Yīnlíng’er whimpered but dared not speak.
D066 kept his head down, smearing Yuè Sàn pollen onto his gloves. His movements were a little slow, and he was quiet, not saying a word.
Zhao Xing looked at him. “Are you a bit tired?”
D066’s voice was slightly hoarse. “…Yeah. Sleepy.”
Zhao Xing frowned and looked around. In the end, he found that the cave hiding the Yuè Sàn flowers was the safest place he could find at the moment.
He tied the chain holding the Yīnlíng’er to the cave entrance, gathered some dry grass to spread on the ground, and then pulled D066 down to sit with him.
Zhao Xing said, “Let’s make do for the night. You sleep first. I’ll keep watch.”
D066 seemed really sleepy. Without a word, he leaned against Zhao Xing’s shoulder and fell asleep, his breathing evening out.
Zhao Xing was stunned for a moment. He gently nudged D066. “…Lie down. How can it be comfortable sleeping sitting up like this?”
Instead of waking up, D066 nuzzled into Zhao Xing’s neck and fell into a deeper sleep.
He must have overused his body to recharge the gloves and hurt himself.
Zhao Xing frowned with worry and didn’t dare disturb his sleep anymore.
He originally planned to stay awake until the middle of the night and then wake D066 to take a shift. But he hadn’t slept in two days either, and he’d spent the entire day in a dangerous, unfamiliar environment. Now that they were temporarily settled, he was both exhausted and sleepy, his eyelids drooping.
He managed to hold on for over two hours, but in the end, he couldn’t keep his eyes open. He closed them and fell asleep.
D066 woke up suddenly in the middle of the night.
When he woke up, he found himself and Zhao Xing sprawled crookedly on the ground.
Zhao Xing was lying on his back, arms and legs spread wide, his handsome brows tightly furrowed, still exuding an air of ferocity even in sleep.
As for himself, he was lying on his side next to him, tightly hugging Zhao Xing’s waist and stomach, his cheek pressed against Zhao Xing’s neck.
D066 paused for a moment, then couldn’t help but cautiously lean in and rub his cheek against Zhao Xing’s.
He didn’t get the sensation of touch he expected. Frowning, D066 remembered he still had his mask on.
He instinctively reached up to take it off, but his fingertips paused when they touched the back of his head.
He turned his head and saw that his hair, which he had cut short, had somehow grown back.
Soft, jet-black, satin-like long hair lay quietly over his back.
D066—Luo Mingshan—furrowed his brows tightly. Carefully moving away from Zhao Xing, he prepared to go outside and secretly cut his hair short again.
Cheng Yu was a staff member of F101. After Luo Mingshan had taken him hostage, he used his identity to sneak onto the island.
After getting down, Luo Mingshan destroyed a few surveillance cameras, killed the D066 who had been coveting his identity, cut his hair short, and took his place.
Then he immediately rushed to find Zhao Xing.
Luo Mingshan originally hadn’t planned to meet Zhao Xing using this identity.
He still preferred to be Luo Mingshan, openly and proudly by his Ah Xing-ge’s side.
So, he had intended to secretly follow behind Zhao Xing, ensuring his safety, and preferably keep everything in the shadows without Zhao Xing noticing.
But he hadn’t expected that as soon as he found Zhao Xing, Zhao Xing would be in deep danger.
And someone even dared to point a laser gun at Zhao Xing.
Luo Mingshan had no choice but to show up and kill those people.
Since he was already exposed, and since Zhao Xing hadn’t recognized him, he had taken advantage of the situation and become Zhao Xing’s teammate…
Luo Mingshan walked out of the cave. The Yīnlíng’er tied at the entrance immediately tensed up. “…G-Great One!”
Luo Mingshan stopped, looked at it, and said nothing.
The Yīnlíng’er wasn’t stupid. It naturally guessed that Luo Mingshan’s initial ban on questions was only to avoid revealing his non-human identity in front of that human.
Now that the human wasn’t around, it grew bolder and asked respectfully, “Great One, could you tell me… what kind of existence you are? I have never seen a power that makes me feel such sincere awe…”
Luo Mingshan lowered his eyes. “What if I say… I don’t know either?”
The Yīnlíng’er: “Ah?”
Luo Mingshan ignored it, picked up a dagger, and went further away to cut his hair.
All surveillance equipment on the island except for the White Tower’s had entered hibernation mode after sunset, so Luo Mingshan had no qualms about taking off his mask directly by the lake.
But just as he put the mask down, a voice rang out from above—
“Ah, I caught you.”
Luo Mingshan immediately looked up, his expression icy. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”
A rustling sound followed, and suddenly a figure jumped down from the tall tree.
It was a young man with wings, wearing a custom high-end suit completely out of place among all the contestants. He had no contestant number on him.
He landed lightly on the ground, folded his wings, and walked step by step toward Luo Mingshan, his tone frivolous and casual:
“Little Earth Spirit, why did you come up from underground?”
He sighed, as if deeply worried—
“The surface is very dangerous. You’re not an adult yet, and you’re injured. What if you die?”