Salted Fish Zombie

“I don’t know who they’re trying to deceive.” Zhu Shuangshuang blinked her eyes and said, “It can’t let her go, it has merged with her and is hiding under that red hood.”

Ning Su made a grunt in response.

He turned to look at the child, who was still staring at him intently.

The little pig extended its white and pink pig’s foot and touched the crack on his forehead.
The child’s eyes lit up with uneven stars.

Chen Tian wasn’t as sentimental as Zhu Shuangshuang, and he was concerned about something else.
“The system hasn’t notified us of completion yet.”

“We’ve already said that the black dog, Snowball, is the ghost master,” Chen Tian asked, “Who else could it be?”

They were standing just outside the slaughterhouse door, and they could see the butcher standing there staring at the bride in the red wedding dress as she walked away.

While all four players were staring at the butcher, the little pig jumped down from Su Wangsheng’s arms.

The child naturally followed suit.

Ning Su made a little pig grunt, which drew the attention of the four people.

He tapped his pig’s foot on the child’s half-shadow and pointed to the child’s two eyes of different colors and slightly different half-faces.

The little pig kicked open a gap between the child’s two halves.

No one understood his comparison the first time, until the second time when the little pig’s foot landed on the child’s half-shadow again.

Following his gestures, Su Wangsheng murmured, “Half-shadow, half-human and half-ghost…”

The little pig’s foot pointed to the child’s two uneven eyes.

“Half-human and half-ghost, half-yin and half-yang,” Su Wangsheng said.

“Half-human and half-ghost, half-yin and half-yang,” he repeated this phrase several times, then suddenly opened his eyes wide, “This Huaiyang Village exists as two worlds, one inside and one outside.
It’s actually the world of the living and the small underworld of the dead, two sides of Yin and Yang, half-yin and half-yang…
The ghost child created this, or rather, it is his creation!”

The other three were shocked as they looked at this little fool, who didn’t even know how to run.

Chen Qing suddenly realized something, “Does he live in the slaughterhouse? Ning Su and I asked the butcher why he could travel between two worlds.
The butcher said he got lucky, and at that time, he seemed to have glanced at the ghost child.”

Zhu Shuangshuang also remembered something: “When the child confronted Scarface, black lines appeared on his face, and the ground cracked and shook.
Those ghosts sensed it and chased us all the way.
They wanted the child to let them out of that hell!”

Su Wangsheng said, “When the incinerator exploded, the child fell to the ground and a crack appeared on his face.”

The four of them stared at the child with a mixture of realization and disbelief in their eyes.

It turned out that the ghost master had appeared when they first entered the instance.

Chen Tian asked, “May I ask what your name is?”

The child’s dark eyes looked at them, and those eyes seemed to be able to suck people into a black abyss.

He really possessed that abyss.

The four of them panicked in their hearts, as if they were already in an endless abyss, unable to see or hear anything, and the whole world was a crazy void.

Suddenly, this feeling disappeared.

A little pig’s foot hooked around the little gray-white, fleshy hand of the child.

The child lowered his head, and a chilly, fragile, and immature voice came from somewhere.

“Gui Sheng.”

Chen Tian said, “Gui Sheng is the Ghost Master.”

The system still did not respond.

The five players were bewildered and unresponsive time and time again, inevitably making people impatient.

Besides the child, who else could it be?

Zhu Shuangshuang watched as the ghost child just stood there, sticking to the little pig without any care.
Suddenly, an idea popped into her head, “Could there be two ghost masters? Snowball—the one controlling this world and Gui Sheng — the one who created it?”

“Congratulations to players Ning Su, Zhu Shuangshuang, Su Wangsheng, Chen Tian, and Chen Qing for successfully passing the level.”

“Player performance and reward statistics are being compiled.”

“Players will soon be transported out of the game ‘Ghost Animal’.”

Ning Su saw his own distinct knuckles once again, no longer a short lump.

The moment he turned back into a human, he was hugged tightly by the child’s small legs.

The child looked up at him with pure black eyes that were filled with endless emptiness.
But now, that emptiness had ripples.

The first time he tried to enter the inner world, the unhappy child pulled him out.

The child didn’t want him to go to the inner world to solve the mystery and leave here.

At the incinerator, Ning Su leaned over to the child’s gray-white ear and said, “Child, if you want, I can take you with me when I leave.”

Ning Su picked up the child who was holding onto his leg and hurried towards the red wedding dress bride who hadn’t gone far.

He didn’t say anything, just silently held the child’s hand and walked quietly behind her.

Accompanying her through a dark road.

The other four, who were ecstatic, also followed.

They followed the bride in the darkness, not knowing where they were going.
When they turned a corner and saw the moonlight shining slightly brighter, they saw the rusty iron gate of a villa and realized that the screams and howls were no longer there.

The entire Huaiyang Village was deserted.

Looking from afar, in the desolate village, only one or two lights glowed weakly in the darkness, making it even more lonely.

Looking around, there was no trace of any living beings.
The villas were all abandoned, making it a truly desolate ghost village.

“This is?” Zhu Shuangshuang exclaimed in surprise.
“The real Huaiyang Village five years later, which is now?”

In this silent and deserted village, a black dog led the way, while a bride in a red wedding gown slowly walked alone.

Nobody knew how long she would walk or where she was going.

But she was always in this Huaiyang Village.

In the dark village, a never-ending source of light moved slowly, like a lone star in the black night sky.

[Teleport countdown ten, nine, eight…]

As they were about to leave, the bride in the red wedding gown turned around to face them.

Her pale hands twisted together, and something seemed to be looking at a certain spot among them through the red veil.

Ning Su opened his mouth and hesitated for a moment before changing what he wanted to say.

“Goodbye, the only Ghost Master.”

The bride in the red wedding gown remained silent, and the night wind gently brushed her light yet heavy veil.

She slowly turned her stiff neck and continued walking her path.

As they were about to leave, Ning Su waved to her.
His arms and hands were so bright in the darkness that they were as dazzling as his eyes.

“After this dungeon instance is played a few more times, and the world of Huaiyang Village is further developed, I will bring the child back to travel here.”

He looked up at the blood moon in the night sky.
“Can I still stay at the Lily Flower Villa, then?”

“…”

【Congratulations to player Ning Su for successfully completing the game.】

As Ning Su was being teleported, he heard a familiar voice in his head.

On the ghost bus, the player’s data was only partially broadcast before the “alarm” went off, followed by the disappearance of system 9277.

【Now announcing player Ning Su’s “Ghost Animal” game results and rewards.】

【The player’s score for this round of the game is as follows:】

【System rating: A.】

【Core NPC rating: SSS (with commentary: he’s the best).】

【Overall rating: S+.】

【The player’s rewards for this round of the game are as follows:】

【Yin-Yang Realm: defense and storage items.
The player can have a small underworld in the back of the real world, capable of storing all living and non-living things, can be used as a defense tool, and the items can be upgraded.】

【Total points earned: 192,390.】

【Congratulations to the player, keep up the good work.】

Upon hearing his earned points, Ning Su’s beautiful peach blossom eyes lit up.

He calculated in his mind how many buns he could buy with so many points.

Little did he know that after system 9277 formally announced his achievements and rewards, it began to settle accounts with him.

The first thing it said was: 【You’re not human!】

Ning Su: “…”

9277: 【What are you then?】

Ning Su really wanted to stay here, where there was food, lodging, and fun, and he didn’t want to be sent back, so he honestly confessed: 【I’m not human, I’m a zombie.】

The system fell silent for a moment.

9277: [Just an ordinary zombie?]

Ning Su nodded lightly.

9277 seemed to let him go.

[Re-scan player data.]

[Player Name: Ning Su]

[Player Age: 23]

[Stamina: 32/100]

[Attack: –/100]

[Intelligence: 87/100]

[Health: 0.1/100]

[Sensitivity: 91/100]

[Agility: –/100]

9277: [……]

[Charisma: –/100]

9277: [……]

Ning Su: “…”

Ning Su’s mind was plunged into a terrible silence.

After the silence, came an outburst.

9277: “Are you really just an ordinary zombie? How come there’s a lot the system couldn’t detect?”

Ning Su looked guilty and said, “Ah.”

He was indeed an ordinary dark zombie.

He could absorb all dark things and convert them into his own energy and strength.
The dark places were like his world.

That’s why he could temporarily absorb the child into his body and take it out.

9277 remained silent for a long time.

Ning Su: “Hey, 77, are you okay?”

9277: “…”

Ning Su thought the matter was over, since 9277 didn’t respond.

However, when he was transported out of the instance and just landed at the entrance to the game base, he heard a string of 9277’s indifferent voices in his head.

[Notification received.
Player Ning Su brought out the core NPC from the instance without permission.
All player points and items in this round of the game will be deducted from Ning Su as compensation.]

[Player scores and rewards are being updated.]

[Player Ning Su’s score for this round is as follows:]

[System rating: F.]

[Core NPC rating: SSS (with the comment: he is the best).]

[Overall rating: B.]

[Player rewards for this round are as follows:]

[Gui Sheng: The only half-yin and half-yang, half-human and half-ghost existence in the world.
Please explore and nurture it on your own.]

【Total points earned: 0.】

Ning Su: “…”

He looked down at the child, who was holding onto his pants and looking up at him.

The child seemed to sense danger and immediately hugged his leg, and then took out an eyeball and held it up, using the black and round eye socket to face him.

 

It was a commonly used trick called a beauty trap.