CH 1

Su Rong was pushing a shopping cart in the large supermarket outside the happy home community, carefully selecting from the food section. Her goal this time was to stock up on at least two months’ worth of goods so she could spend summer vacation without worry.

The world was so chaotic now. Although home was not completely safe, storing some food at home was always an extra security.

In these troubling times, there were not many people in the supermarket. They were picking out their goods in twos and threes. Everyone’s hands were in a bit of a hurry, as if they were being chased by something.

The LED lights of the supermarket were dazzlingly white, shining on bodies so that everyone seemed to be covered with a miserable layer of paleness.

Su Rong turned her head to look out of the glass windows, her originally calm expression suddenly broken.

At some point, a thin layer of mist had risen outside the window. The trees behind the mist were blurred, dark and long, like distorted limbs. The concentration of fog increased at a speed visible to the naked eye, and in a blink, the distant scenery could no longer be seen clearly.

She was not the only one who noticed the problem: a large auntie next to her had a frightened expression, her voice shrill with a faintly detectable tremor. “Dear mother, what is that fog outside?”

As she spoke, Su Rong was already pushing her cart and rushing to the cash register ahead of everyone else.

However, the cashier who was there had disappeared at some point.

Not only that, looking out the glass doors, there was also a milky white fog outside, tightly blocking the door.

”It appears we have been selected by a ghost talk.” A male voice stated definitively, an imperceptible heaviness in his tone.

Su Rong turned around to see a tall, middle-aged man in a gray sweater with a strong stature standing behind her on her right. He was carrying a shopping basket in his hand and also staring outside at the thick fog.

”How do you know?” She asked, but deep inside she was already almost convinced of his judgment.

Sure enough, the middle-aged uncle sighed, “Because I once encountered a ghost talk. It was like this. It was foggy outside, and no matter how we walked we would eventually return to this place. Unless we can clear this ghost talk, we will either be contaminated by “Him,” or be trapped here forever.”

By this time, the middle-aged uncle had several people surrounding him: a girl in a yellow dress who was pushing a shopping cart like Su Rong; the auntie who had discovered the fog; a beautiful long-haired woman carrying a shopping basket; and a young man with overly fashionable green hair, holding two bags of potato chips and a package of hair dye.

Of course, the youngest here was Su Rong. She had just recently passed her 18th birthday, but she’d already completed her college entrance exams. She even got into the best school in the country, Q University.

”Is it the truth just cause you said so?” The green-hair scoffed with the characteristic arrogance of a small gangster. “Who knows, maybe this fog was caused by you?”

The middle-aged uncle glanced at him. “Then you can just assume that what I said is wrong and try it out for yourself. “

After finishing speaking, he no longer cared about him and continued. “Everyone has read the “General Rulebook of Ghost Talks,” right?”

“Yes.” The crowd answered in unison, including the green hair just now. Although he liked to provoke, he still had the IQ of a normal person in the end. He didn’t really try to go out and offer up his own neck.

The “General Rulebook of Ghost Talks” was a guide published by the Global Ghost Talk Research Association. Published after countless revisions, it was applicable to almost every rule of the horror stories.

Since the first ghost came to earth ten years ago, numerous stories with rules have come one after another over the years. And every time they came, it represented the demise of countless lives.

During this time, it was naturally impossible for human beings to go down without a fight. The “General Rulebook of Ghost Talks” was what they came up with to increase the survival rate of humans.

In addition, humans also found that these so-called ghost talks were just “His” game. As long as you found the correct rules to clear the ghost talk, you could leave alive. If you could eliminate “His” doppelganger, the source of contamination in the ghost talk, then you could end the ghost talk completely.

Ten years of experience helped everyone to stop being helpless. When one encountered this kind of thing, they may secretly curse their bad luck, but at least they would not directly collapse.

The middle-aged uncle nodded and pulled out a green ID card from his inner pocket, indicating his military status. “My name is Wang Jianguo. I am a retired soldier who once entered a ghost talk.”

Two short sentences left everyone in awe. If he entered a ghost talk and could still appear in front of them now, he must’ve cleared the story. No matter how tragic the outcome of that game may have been, simply surviving was worthy of respect.

Not to mention he was also a soldier, so his character was guaranteed. Everyone immediately gave him seven points of respect and three points of trust, at least superficially.

”So far no one else has gathered, so it seems only six of us were selected for this ghost talk.”

Su Rong noticed that the eyes of the girl in the yellow dress were already red and she kept wiping away her tears with her hands. Not just her, but everyone else’s expressions were also very sour.

Even Su Rong herself couldn’t help but sigh.

How could it be that she was chosen?

Wang Jianguo also knew how unwilling everyone was, but there was nothing he could do. Sometimes fate was so unreasonable. “Be happy, friends. After we get out of this ghost talk and report to the authorities, you will all become investigators!

“Investigator” was the collective term for all humans who had passed at least one ghost talk. After reporting, the government would gift these investigators very generous treatment and subsidies. Some investigators could even be invited to join the “Ghost Talk Investigation Bureau” and work their way to the top of the ladder.

Thinking of such a bright future, everyone’s expressions looked a lot better. At least for now, no one felt certain they were bound to die.

”If you’re here, then you’re safe. Since it’s come to this, let’s introduce ourselves first.” Wang Jianguo looked around the crowd and pointed to green hair. “Starting with you.”

Green hair scowled. After hearing Wang Jianguo’s identity, he actually regretted running his mouth earlier. Seeing the other man singling him out first, he was even more sure that he had offended him.

“Just call me Zhao Peng. I work in a hair salon. Alright?”

After he finished speaking, the wavy-haired beauty next to her brushed back her hair. Su Rong was behind her and could smell a strong fragrance of shampoo and a hint of coffee.

”My name is Min Jingyi. I’m currently starting my own business and opening a coffee shop. If I can survive this time, I will treat everyone to free drinks.”

When she said this, the originally gloomy atmosphere eased a bit.

Getting out alive was the common dream of these six people.

”I’m Li Hui, a resident of the community. I’m 50 this year and just retired. I used to work in a factory.” The slightly round aunt introduced herself with a downcast gaze.

It was hard to be in good cheer for someone who had just retired and could finally enjoy the happiness of family life but was suddenly pulled into this crappy place.

Next was the girl in the yellow dress. She wore a pair of rimless glasses, but she took them off as she wiped her tears. Her red eyes were cute like a rabbit’s. “My name is Huang Tao. I’m an elementary school teacher in training.….. I just came to buy cat food, why am I so unlucky!”

Her shrill crying made the whole supermarket look even more horrible. If it was any other time, other people would probably still have the leisure to feel pity for her. But in this kind of place, everyone was too busy taking care of themselves. Naturally, no one wanted to care for her.

The green-haired Zhao Peng was full of annoyance. He rubbed his face and opened his mouth, cursing, “Can’t you stop crying? We’re not dead yet, don’t cry yourself to death!”

Huang Tao hiccuped in fright but she really stopped crying. She shrank aside and sobbed softly. But such a voice was also very likely to make people irritated, so Min Jingyi hurried over to comfort her.

Sighing, Su Rong opened her mouth to attract everyone’s attention. “My name is Su Rong. I’m a student who just finished summer vacation. I’m going to university soon.”

In truth, she was also a time traveler.

The unspeakable “He” only liked people over the age of 18 to play with “Him.” The unlucky original owner just finished her college exams not too long ago and encountered a ghost talk at home.

Not surprisingly, the original owner died quietly at home. Su Rong, who had crossed over from another world, came back to life in her corpse and inherited her memories.

The good thing was, because the original owner was already dead, the ghost talk had concluded. Otherwise, Su Rong would have to face a ghost talk as soon as she crossed, and it was estimated she would probably follow in the steps of the original owner.

As for herself, she was a detective before she time-traveled. Unlike most private investigators in this world who could only be used for shady investigations, in her world, detectives were honorable, legal and a much-needed profession. In addition to receiving private commissions, good detectives could even receive commissions from the police.

Obviously, she was an excellent detective who often received official commissions and worked together closely with the police.

When cooperating with the police to arrest a criminal, she and her partner were trapped in a house buried in explosives in order to save a little girl. Then, the two were killed together in accident.

Without waiting for her to reminisce more, Wang Jianguo continued his speech. “Everyone calm down. Our primary goal now is to find the rules of this ghost talk. After you find it, please don’t hide it and inform us directly. Hiding secrets in this kind of place will not do you any good and will harm other people. Understand?”

He said these words with great severity, his eyes stern with fierceness and the aura of a soldier that could be felt at a glance. Everyone nodded their heads one after another, no one daring to say no.

”That……” Su Rong raised her hand suddenly, picking up a piece of paper from the cash register. “I think, I have found the rules.”

Just now, when others were introducing themselves, she incidentally observed the nearest cash register. Her excellent detective’s observation ability allowed her to quickly discover a piece of paper pasted by the staff.

The top of the page had big bold letters—

“Anle Supermarket Shopping Guide”

Seeing the piece of paper she picked up, everyone immediately converged.

Wang Jianguo took the paper and read it in a loud voice. “Anle Supermarket Shopping Guide. In order to ensure that customers can buy what you want smoothly and safely, please be sure to comply with the following regulations.…..”

”.…..We wish all customers a safe and joyous time in the Anle Supermarket. A quiet and happy time, forever.”

Su Rong’s pupils trembled, looking at the rules that had turned inexplicably red on the rule sheet. She suddenly realized that the system notification that sounded in her ear that day might not have been fake.

It seems she really could see the wrong rules!