CH 3

Ming Jingyi was trying to see if there was a hidden passage in the clothing area. If she could discover a hidden passage, it could be the key to their customs clearance.

As she walked, she vaguely felt that there was a sense of discord. Min Jingyi stopped and pondered for a while, then suddenly realized where the sense of wrongness came from.

——The sound of Huang Tao’s footsteps disappeared!

The clothing area was not too big and pretty empty. Before, she could always hear Huang Tao’s footsteps. But now, her voice was the only sound left in the entire clothing area.

Did Huang Tao encounter the situation mentioned in the rules?

Min Jingyi didn’t dare to call out to the other party rashly in this strange place for fear that Huang Tao would be tricked by her influence. She quickly walked out of the clothing area and waited anxiously at the entrance.

While waiting, Min Jingyi looked at her watch. The clothing area was quite far from the cash registers. If Huang Tao didn’t come out by 5:20, she would have no choice but to leave her and go back alone.

Although the two were now a team, they were essentially strangers. She did not yet have the intention to abandon the larger group for a stranger.

Fortunately, footsteps finally sounded from the clothing department at 5:15. Huang Tao’s figure emerged from among the many mannequins and walked out swiftly.

She was the same as before she went in. She exclaimed meekly, “Sister Min! I just encountered the situation mentioned in the rules. A mannequin suddenly appeared in front of me, and it was really scary! But fortunately, I followed the rules. I closed my eyes and counted for ten seconds. When I opened my eyes, I was completely safe.”

”Why is your face a little red?” Min Jingyi queried suspiciously. Shouldn’t her face be pale if she was frightened? But Huang Tao’s face healthily flushed, which looked very strange.

Huang Tao showed an innocent expression. “Maybe the blood rushed to my face due to being scared?”

This seemed to make sense, but it was still a bit odd. It tugged at the back of Min Jingyi’s mind for a bit before she continued. “Since you’ve encountered weirdness in the clothing area this time and nothing happened while acting in accordance with the rules, then that proves the rules are correct.”

Behind Min Jingyi, a strange smile appeared on Huang Tao’s face. The smile gradually stretched bigger and bigger, eventually surpassing the arc that normal people could make. The corners of her mouth cracked all the way to her ears.

”Yes. This is a rule that everyone should follow.”

**

”We can’t wait any longer.” Wang Jianguo declared decisively at 5:25. “Grab the things you bought earlier. We’ll head to the daily living department first.”

If the two did not return for so long in this dangerous ghost talk, it was highly likely they were in danger.

Just as they were about to leave, two figures suddenly walked over from a distance. It was Min Jingyi and Huang Tao. Holding hands, the two girls trotted over. “We’re back, sorry for the lateness.”

Seeing them return, the crowd couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Wang Jianguo asked, “What happened? Why are you guys back so late?”

Huang Tao took the initiative to speak and described the oddly dressed mannequin she met in the clothing area. That she was safe after closing her eyes according to the rules. She concluded, “So the third rule is correct. I don’t think we need to be afraid of the clothing area.”

Hearing her words, Su Rong’s eyes flashed and she couldn’t help but glance at the white paper with the rules on it again.

In bold letters, [Please close your eyes for ten seconds. After ten seconds everything will be back to normal.] This sentence was clearly as bright red as blood.

According to her original speculation, if the changes on the rules paper were truly caused by the [Contamination Alert], then the red words were polluted by “Him”.

But now, according to Huang Tao, the red words were true. Could it be that the crimson letters on this paper really were a hallucination induced after being contaminated by “Him”?

Su Rong didn’t want to jump to conclusions. Firstly, she had no reason to be polluted as soon as she entered the ghost talk. Secondly, when she crossed over, she truly did hear the sound “[Contamination Alert] has been bound.”

Compared to what happened while inside the ghost talk, Su Rong was more willing to believe what occurred outside in reality.

Assuming the hints given by the [Contamination Alert] were correct, you should not close your eyes and pray when you encounter strangely dressed mannequins in the clothing section. Did that mean Huang Tao was lying?

But why would she lie?

Su Rong didn’t think that a girl as timid as a mouse would lie about this matter. Unless, Huang Tao had already been polluted by “Him” because of her wrong methods of dealing with the weirdness, and her cognition had changed.

Considering this, Su Rong shuddered and she became vigilant. Regardless of whether there was a problem with Huang Tao, the most important thing was to confirm Min Jingyi’s credibility. This related to whether she would have to defend against two people, or just one.

“Sister Min, did you see the mannequin mentioned in the rules?” Su Rong asked suddenly.

“Me? I was lucky not to meet one.” Min Jingyi shook her head happily. Even if she knew the solution, she didn’t want to encounter any weirdness in the ghost talk.

Hearing this, Su Rong breathed a sigh of relief. As a detective who often discerned lies, she could tell whether Min Jingyi was lying or not.

But strangely enough, it didn’t seem Huang Tao was lying either.

Aunt Li urged anxiously, “Let’s discuss later once we go to the daily living area. Or we’ll be late and die here together.”

After saying that, she immediately spat out three times. “Heavens, what am I saying!? This mouth of mine!”

Older people always believed metaphysic disasters came from the mouth.

Wang Jianguo nodded without further delay. “Let’s go. Go to the daily living area together.”

Su Rong pushed her cart filled with only a bag of rice and a case of mineral water, following the large group to the daily living area.

To get from the checkout counters to the daily living area, they had to cross through the food section and then pass through an open space. Su Rong and Zhao Peng had already described in detail the abnormalities that would appear in the food area while they waited for the others. As long as they were not frightened, there was no danger at present. The group passed through without any incident.

The daily living department was a bit far from the registers, but luckily they left early and arrived on time before six o’clock.

There seemed to be a new room here, with towels and pillowcases and other supplies placed on the shelves against the left wall, and toiletries placed on the shelf next to the door. Additionally, there were pots and pans. It was worthy of being the daily necessities area.

As stated in the rules, there were six beds in the center of the room. The wooden brown bed frame was layered with a thick, light-colored bedding. The edge of the bed was surrounded by thick wooden planks of the same color as the bed frame base. The overall shape seemed to be a coffin, specially tailored for the six of them.

”This…… is too unlucky, isn’t it?” Aunt Li expressed what several people had in their mind.

Zhao Peng frowned, tousling his green hair. “There isn’t anything wrong with the bed right? It’s designed to look like a coffin, isn’t this just cursing us to die?”

He grumbled and walked over to touch the mattress inside the bed. “At least the mattress is not too bad.”

Because Zhao Peng had berated her once before, Huang Tao, who was afraid of him, made a suggestion in a quiet voice. “The style of these beds is terrible. Why don’t we sleep on the floor?”

Aunt Li, who originally thought this kind of coffin bed was very unlucky, was won over by this suggestion deep inside her heart. “I think we should! Isn’t there bedding on the shelves? If we directly lay it on the ground, shouldn’t it be alright?”

Wang Jianguo stared at the rule paper he brought over. “But the rules specifically mention the trial bedding. I think it may have an effect.”

”What effect can it have?” Aunt Li immediately retorted. “Aren’t there also false rules? Maybe this broken bed is a trap set by ‘Him’ for us.”

Now Wang Jianguo also hesitated, unsure whether he should sleep in the bed. Without enough information, the six coffin beds did look a bit weird.

While they were conversing, Su Rong was surveying the area. The LED lights on the ceiling over the beds were very bright, but they were not as pale as outside, infused with a warm yellow glow. Except for these beds, the overall appearance was mostly normal. There was no strangeness

Suddenly, she noticed a corner of white paper at the back of the shelves. You wouldn’t notice it without looking closely. She went to pick it up and unfolded it. It turned out to be another sheet of rules!

”Look! There are rules here!”

“Rules for the Daily Living Area“

The rules in the daily living area were a little less than those in the entire Anle Supermarket.

What caught Su Rong’s attention the most was that, compared to the text in the “Anle Supermarket Shopping Guide“, this “Rules for the Daily Living Area” had a total of only two sentences marked in red.

——[The power will never be cut off.]

——[You can remove the boards around the bed.]

Su Rong eyes drifted to the coffin-like beds again. Although sleeping in a coffin was indeed unlucky, what if this design was to protect them? If the surrounding wooden boards were removed, would the protective device be destroyed, giving “Him” an opportunity?

As she thought about it, the others also gathered around because of this new discovery. Min Jingyi pat Su Rong’s head. “Su Rong, you’re amazing! You discovered the rules twice.”

Su Rong pretended to be embarrassed and smiled. “In fact, these two pieces of paper were placed on the table. It’s not difficult to find them, I just happened to see it first.”

”Oh, how come there’s another rule?” Aunt Li frowned, “I can’t even understand one of them, what’s the point of having another one?”

At the edge of the crowd, Huang Tao bit her nails nervously. It was unknown what she was thinking.

Wang Jianguo picked up the piece of paper and examined it carefully. He made a decision after a while. “We’d better sleep in the bed at night.”