CH 2

When she had just crossed over, Su Rong heard a strange, mechanical voice. “[Contamination Alert] has been bound.”

But it only spoke this sentence. No matter how she prompted again, it did not make a sound. Besides, Su Rong had just awakened at that time and soon forgot about this little episode.

Just now, when she saw part of the rules turn red, she was suddenly blessed with fresh memories.

Could it be that the notification was real?

[Contamination Alert], could it warn her of contaminated rules?

Su Rong looked at the rule paper in disbelief and couldn’t help but ask Aunt Li next to her. “The words on this paper…”

She deliberately trailed off, not wanting to directly expose her ability. Whatever it was, it would be beneficial to hide it for the time being.

The black letters turning into red was miraculous in itself, but if the auntie could also see it, she would definitely follow those words.

However, it was clear the aunt didn’t comprehend Su Rong’s meaning and believed she meant the rules were difficult to understand. “Girl, you don’t understand the rules either, do you? What ‘open mouths on the bags’ and ‘two pairs of sleeves on the clothes’? How can there be such things in a normal place?”

”But this is not a normal place, right?” Su Rong replied subconsciously, still pondering over the golden finger she had suddenly gained.

This time the aunt did not say anything. She thought of her current situation again, not in the mood to spit any words out.

Su Rong’s brow furrowed as she suddenly thought of another possibility. What if she had actually been tainted by “Him”, and what she saw now was all fake?

There are degrees of “His” pollution. Generally speaking, mild contamination would lead to some hallucinations and tampering with certain perceptions. But as long as they were discovered in time and you did not continue to step into the trap, there was still a chance to clear the ghost talk.

When the contamination was moderate, there were sanity and cognitive problems. Everything you could see and hear was affected by “Him,” and you could only rely on the help of your teammates to pull you out of the ghost talk and then receive treatment.

As for severe pollution, you were already completely bewitched, reduced to “His” minion and becoming “His” nourishment.

So in her case, she may be lightly polluted.

But the ghost talk had just begun, how did she already get polluted? If there was no violation of the rules, it stood to reason that “He” could not have polluted herself.

Or, was this really her golden finger?

The more she pondered it, the more her head ached. Su Rong stopped thinking about it for the time being and decided to ignore the scarlet letters. She could verify whether it was true or otherwise later. There was no need to blindly trust it or to deny it completely.

After giving everyone ample time to think, Wang Jianguo finally opened his mouth. “There is a clock on the wall here. I have been watching it just now. It flows at the same rate as the watch I brought with me. So far, it seems this ghost talk has not tampered with the time. But we can’t take it lightly, because it may not be the same afterward.”

At these words, the crowd was stunned. One of the rules in the “General Rulebook of Ghost Talks” was [Please make sure you have the correct time in the ghost talk. It can help clear up your cognition.]

But because it was everyone’s first time to be selected into a ghost talk, no one remembered it under the duress.

Now that Wang Jianguo said it, they suddenly remembered it. If it wasn’t for him, perhaps they would have doubted time in the beginning, leading to a loss of cognition.

Finally feeling the benefits of having a veteran around, everyone trusted Wang Jianguo a little more. In their view, Wang Jianguo was the most likely person to take them out alive.

Wang Jianguo nodded in satisfaction, seeing what he just offered got immediate good results. He knew that in such a crisis-ridden ghost talk, if the humans themselves had internal strife, it would inevitably lead to the destruction of the group.

So it was very important to have one person establish absolute leadership first.

”According to the known information, there are seven areas in this supermarket: the checkout area where we are now; the daily living area; the food area; the clothing area; the fresh seafood area; the bathrooms; and the warehouse. It says in the rules that non-staff are not allowed to enter the warehouse, so let’s exclude it for now. The remaining six places, should the six of us explore them one by one?” Wang Jianguo asked.

”No!” Huang Tao, who was the least courageous, was the first to scream and object. Seeing that everyone was staring at her, she said weakly, “If we move around alone in this kind of place, no one will know if something happens.”

She had a point. Even Zhao Peng, who hated her very much before, nodded his head. He didn’t want to wander alone. In a dangerous place, it was human instinct to stick together in a group.

“Then it’s best to move in groups of two.”

If everyone explored together in a group, the efficiency would be too slow. In ghost talks, the more time passed, the stronger “His” contamination would be, and the harder it was to leave.

In order to solicit opinions from the crowd, Wang Jianguo looked at the rules. “Which of these six locations do you think we should explore first?”

If they worked in groups of two, they could explore a total of three locations.

”The food area must be explored,” Aunt Li said immediately. She firmly believed that people depended on food and that the rules of the food area had to be confirmed first.

After thinking, Su Rong offered two exclusions. “We don’t need to go to the daily living area and the toilet, because we will all go there in the end. The bathrooms are also over there.”

Then the three places to be explored were determined: the food area; the seafood area and the clothing area.

The next step was to divide the group. Aunt Li was the first to rush to Wang Jianguo’s side, faster than ordinary elderly people. “I am an elderly person who really needs to be taken care of. Jianguo, can you help me?”

Wang Jianguo, who respected the elderly and loved the young, could only agree.

Huang Tao also found Min Jingyi immediately. Min Jingyi had comforted her before, and her first impression was not bad. The most powerful Wang Jianguo had already been claimed first, and it was more reassuring to have her in the same team.

Min Jingyi, who was pulled by the arm, glanced at Su Rong apologetically, then nodded and agreed to form a team.

In fact, she had wanted to be in a group with Su Rong. After all, Huang Tao’s first impression had been quite unconvincing. But the girl had already approached her pitifully, and Min Jingyi’s upbringing did not allow her to refuse cruelly.

The remaining Su Rong and Zhao Peng automatically became a group.

Su Rong was not very satisfied about teaming up with Zhao Peng, but there was no other way. She took the initiative to fight for her own interests. “Since we are the last to form a team, can we choose where to explore first?”

Upholding the principles of fairness and justice, Wang Jianguo naturally had no objection. The Huang Tao duo also felt guilty for leaving behind Su Rong, a little girl, and chose to agree.

”Good going!” Zhao Peng didn’t expect Su Rong, a female student, to allow him to choose the place to explore with just two sentences. His attitude towards her immediately became much better. “I want the food section.”

His concern was just to eat and drink.

Su Rong had no objection and nodded.

After they made their decision, the remaining two locations were quickly divvied up. The girl’s group went to the clothes section while Wang Jianguo and Aunt Li went to the seafood section.

”By the way, what about the items we shopped for initially?” Su Rong suddenly remembered that she still had something in her hands— her cart.

Wang Jianguo hesitated for a moment. “Wait until we finish exploring, then put them in the daily living area.”

After speaking, he began to emphasize the precautions. “The rules say we should rest in the daily living area at night. We can’t be sure when the so-called ‘night’ will start. So to be on the safe side, gather here at 5:30 and we’ll go there together. It’s 4:00 now, you all have your watches, right? Don’t forget the time!”

Ever since ghost talks came to the world, the government has emphasized that everyone should wear a watch at all times. So all the six people present had a watch on their wrist. Comparing with each other, their times were the same.

The food area was the closest to the cash registers. As Su Rong and Zhao Peng walked in, there were rows and rows of brands they had never seen before. The good thing was, the packaging was the same as ordinary bagged potato chips packaging. There was nothing strange in particular.

Ignoring Su Rong’s obstruction, Zhao Peng casually opened a bag and took out a potato chip, stuffing it into his mouth. He said while chewing, “What’re you scared of? There’s no other food here, you’ll have to eat it sooner or later. “

To survive in this ghost talk, they would have to come to the food section frequently to obtain food. That was also the reason why they came here to check. If they kept being hesitant or timid, sooner or later they would have a big problem.

Passing by a row of shelves, a bag of potato chips placed in the second row suddenly opened its mouth full of fangs when the two passed by as if trying to eat them.

“Ah!” Su Rong was startled, let out a small cry and stepped sideways in apprehension. If she were to step backward, she may bump into the shelf behind her instead.

Frightened by her scream, Zhao Peng quickly turned his head and saw the mouth on the shelf trying to bite them.

He gulped, “This thing…should be the expired food, right?

”It should be.” Su Rong nodded, some fear in her heart. “We better stay away from it. If it suddenly pops out, we will definitely get hurt.”

The two hurriedly scanned the entire food area again, then scurried back to the registers. Not long after, Wang Jianguo and Aunt Li also returned. They did not encounter the two situations mentioned in the rules as stated in the seafood area.

”Where are Jingyi and the others? Why haven’t they come back?”

**

Min Jingyi and Huang Tao took a brief look after they arrived at the clothing section. There were a lot of white mannequins in the clothing area, placed in different poses.

Each mannequin faced the entrance of the clothing area. Although they had no facial features, Huang Tao had a feeling that they were all watching her.

As the rules said, these models had intact clothing, but they were in line with the aesthetics of normal humans. The only thing was those life-like poses gave people a very strange feeling.

”You go over there and have a look. I’ll look over here.” Min Jingyi reminded, “Don’t forget the rules: close your eyes for ten seconds.”

Although it looked a little weird here, Huang Tao was not so nervous because of the beautiful clothes. After hearing Min Jingyi’s order, she held back the fear in her heart and walked to the right in order to prove herself. “I remember, Sister Min. You should also be careful.”

There seemed to be no problems on her side. After exploring two rows, Huang Tao was ready to go out.

As soon as he turned around, her pupils constricted violently and her heart almost burst out of her chest.

She didn’t know when, but at some point, there was a pure white mannequin at the end of the aisle!

The mannequin faced her in a hugging gesture. The clothes on its upper body were bulging and the skirt on the lower body was upside down, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. The clothes were styled on the model in a way that did not conform to the common sense of physics. Very strange.

It was the situation mentioned in the rules!

The sudden appearance of a mannequin startled Huang Tao, but she instantly judged it and closed her eyes. Praying that nothing would happen, she kept silent for ten seconds.

”Ten, nine……”

It should be fine, right? After all, the rules already gave them the solution. As long as she followed the rules, she’d be okay. Surely, there would be no problem!

She thought this but subconsciously slowed down her counting.

”Eight, seven……”

There was no sound around, even the sound of Min Jingyi’s footsteps had disappeared. Only the violent “pounding” heartbeat from her own chest remained. Beads of sweat rolled down from her temples and slid down her cheeks.

Ba-thump… Ba-thump… Her heart beat violently.

”Six, five, four……”

Wasn’t the air conditioning too strong? Why was she shivering from the cold now? Huang Tao swallowed, rubbing her legs together and began to count down from three in her mind.

”.…..Three, two, one.”

Opening her eyes, there was really no one in front of her. Huang Tao breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave.

And the moment she turned her head, a completely empty face, though absent of any facial features was just like a real person’s, suddenly occupied all of Huang Tao’s vision.