Chapter 6: Fierce Ghost, Fierce Ghost, What Time Is It (Part 6)

◎ Threatening a Chicken and Troubling You ◎

In this world filled with ghostly shadows, outside, there were not only the slender ghost but countless resentful spirits. The only safe place was this Building 18.

Yu Qing did not dare to pick up her shoe or run outside. She could only crouch under the window and look out.

Under the bright moonlight, not far away, the slender ghost was wandering in the night. Its huge shadow stretched by the moonlight extended over ten meters long, casting straight onto the window behind Yu Qing. The ghostly shadow swayed inside the window. The scene was indescribably eerie and terrifying.

Yu Qing heard the wailing screams of the resentful spirits and the crunching sounds of chewing.

Yu Qing finally understood what it was eating. The slender ghost’s huge ghostly hand grabbed a resentful spirit. The resentful spirit turned into a ball of black mist, stuffed into the gaping, serrated mouth. Then came the creaking sounds.

This kind of scene Yu Qing had only seen in ghost films. For an ordinary person living in the normal world, everything was too stimulating.

Time passed bit by bit.

If that slender ghost came back to eat her, Yu Qing could only race against life and death. If there were a chance to escape, Yu Qing would surely rack her brains to run away. But outside Building 18 were all resentful spirits. That terrifying slender ghost occasionally glanced at the hall with its crimson eyes as if checking whether Yu Qing was still obediently staying in place.

In reality, Yu Qing at the moment could only be afraid while crouching under the window, watching the big ghost eat the little ghosts.

Mentally, Yu Qing was very frightened.

Physically, Yu Qing’s legs were numb from crouching.

Yu Qing carefully adjusted her posture and continued watching. But perhaps after watching this horrific scene for too long, once fear reached a certain point, one would start having random thoughts. As Yu Qing watched, she suddenly remembered the pet-eating videos she had saved before.

Because she had no money to eat big meals, her greatest hobby was watching eating broadcasts, especially large dog eating broadcasts.

When the slender ghost chewed with its sharp serrated teeth, it was a bit like a fierce wolfdog. Ferocious, but eating very heartily.

The creepy creaking sound outside the window was somewhat like chewing something crunchy and chewy. Similar to chewing pickled chicken feet or spicy preserved vegetables.

It sounded delicious and spicy.

Yu Qing was hungry from listening.

After being chased by a ghost the entire night, her lunch had long been digested.

Yu Qing hesitated for a moment and took out two packs of soda crackers from her bag.

Maybe… eat dinner first?

Yu Qing felt she could be considered a hostage or a reserve food for the slender ghost. Obviously, with plenty of food now, the other party was not planning to eat her right away. But the slender ghost clearly had a special possessiveness over the food and would not allow her to be eaten by other ghosts.

Yu Qing hesitated for a long time and realized she could do nothing. After all, Building 18 was the safest place. Let alone escaping, just crossing the threshold would get her dragged away by other ghosts.

Yu Qing thought her most confused time should have been when she graduated and looked for a job. Unexpectedly, even in a tense and exciting ghost story, she felt quite idle.

She noticed that her crouching posture looked a bit like a street loafer.

Continue crouching?

Yu Qing hesitated. Maybe she should sleep?

She retrieved her shoe and found a hidden wind-sheltered corner in the hall. She took off her coat to use as a cushion and lay down.

Yu Qing thought she would not be able to sleep. After all, outside were ghostly wails, howling wind, and crashing ghostly shadows. But this narrow corner actually felt quite safe. It was said that the best sleep environment was when there was a storm outside while you were nestled safely inside a small room.

Yu Qing fell into a sweet, dark dream.

After a long time, footsteps sounded again.

A tall figure came to the small corner and saw Yu Qing lying unconscious on the ground.

The ghostly hand poked her. No reaction.

Fainted from fright.

So pitiful.

The slender ghost had no facial features. The split mouth looked especially bloody and ferocious, but one could still tell a bit of schadenfreude.

During the Ghost Festival, this place would remain sealed for half a month. This unlucky little human could only stay here, spending each day in fear and dread.

But he was still kind-hearted.

When the place reopened after half a month, he would throw this frightened and pitiful human out.

…

The next day, when Yu Qing woke up it was already daylight.

She instinctively touched her neck. Thank heavens, her head was still there.

Yu Qing cautiously walked out of Building 18.

At dawn, everything in this place fell into slumber. The ghostly shadows vanished. Only a dead silence remained. This place once again became an abandoned, unfinished building.

Along the way, Yu Qing did not encounter any resentful spirits.

The sky in this ghost tale was bluish green, exuding an old and worn feeling.

Yu Qing ran all the way to the community entrance. That familiar road still did not appear.

She opened her phone, and the time still remained at 1:30.

Yu Qing finally had no choice but to face reality: she could not get out, temporarily trapped in this strange world of ghost tales.

Yu Qing’s steps grew heavy.

However, Yu Qing had not suffered any harm in this ghost tale; the greatest loss was that her nail split when she got up in the morning—if she were to sue this ghost tale, at most she would get a bit of compensation for emotional distress.

So overall, although Yu Qing felt heavy-hearted, her mood was relatively stable.

She held the iron rod and wandered around the community, poking and searching everywhere, trying to find some food and water.

Yu Qing did not dare to go deep into the dark areas of those unfinished buildings. She only searched where the sunlight reached. Compared to struggling to survive in a ghost story, the dusty Yu Qing felt more like a scavenger picking up junk.

Huangquan Community had been an unfinished building for twenty years. There were no small supermarkets or the like here. Only in the security room were there still some traces of human life.

Yu Qing did not find any food, but she did find a rusty pot and several pairs of disposable chopsticks.

Yu Qing continued walking along the greenbelt^[1]A strip of grass and trees in an urban or developed area—not wild nature, but not completely artificial either. further inward. Unfortunately, she only found a little bit of wild Chinese chives. Fortunately, there was a peach tree in the greenbelt. The fruits were sour and astringent, but they could barely stave off hunger.

In this ghost tale, night fell very quickly, and the residential compound was especially large. After picking about a dozen peaches, Yu Qing did not dare to linger outside any longer.

On the way back, Yu Qing discovered a row of old-fashioned sinks under Building 17.

She turned one on to take a look, and sure enough, what flowed out was a rushing stream of red liquid.

Given that this was a ghost tale, it was probably blood.

Yu Qing thought for a moment and did not turn off the faucet.

As a pragmatic person, after last night’s fright, Yu Qing had already accepted the existence of ghosts in this world and quickly integrated her past education with this new worldview.

Yu Qing believed in the law of conservation of mass.

A person’s blood volume was usually 4000 milliliters. Even if turned into a ghost, it was unlikely to produce several tons of blood.

After letting it flow for half an hour, Yu Qing peeked in. Sure enough, the water in the faucet was now clear and transparent. Even the bloodstains on the faucet had been washed away.

Yu Qing let it run a bit longer. Once she confirmed that there was no trace of a bloody smell, she began to wash the pot and boil water.

She picked up a few bricks and built a simple stove near the corner where she had slept the previous night.

There was no shortage of flammable materials in the unfinished building. It was just difficult to start a fire by rubbing sticks together. After rubbing for a long time, her hands were about to blister before she finally managed to create a few sparks.

Every month, when it was nearly time to repay her loan or pay rent, Yu Qing would imagine going back to the mountains to live like a wild person countless times. Every day, she would not have to worry about rent or where the next meal would come from. Anyway, she did not eat much. Just picking mushrooms and wild vegetables by the roadside would be enough to live well.

If she worried about malnutrition, she could carry a chicken with her and wait for it to lay an egg each day.

But this was not a resource-rich primeval forest. The small sour peaches were tiny and not filling. Yu Qing was so hungry that her head was spinning. Looking at the bubbling pot, she sighed.

If she could not find a new food source tomorrow, she might starve to death before being eaten by the slender ghost.

The sky gradually darkened.

There were rustling sounds coming from the grass. Yu Qing immediately extinguished the fire.

Sure enough, the brief daytime outside the window had ended.

Night descended. The full moon rose high.

The wandering resentful spirits crawled out from underground once more. In the entire ghost tale, only the area outside Building 18 remained a complete vacuum.

…

As usual, the giant in the dense forest awakened.

The slender ghost carried a bloodstained wild chicken in its hand.

Slowly, it walked toward Building 18.

As it walked, blood dripped all along the way.

The scene was extremely terrifying.

The main door opened. The ghost hand placed the wild chicken at the base of the wall.

After thinking for a moment, it also left a large bloody character on the wall as a threat and warning.

…

Once those heavy footsteps completely disappeared, Yu Qing finally poked her head out from the corner.

She saw a large bloody character on the wall: Die.

Below it was a chicken that had died with its eyes wide open.

Yu Qing looked at the character on the wall and then looked at the chicken on the ground.

Although the scene was very frightening, it was indeed a chicken.

Under the moonlight, the vague, tall ghostly figure was wandering below. Just like yesterday, it was eating resentful spirits and did not seem to notice this side.

Yu Qing poked her head out to take a look. She carefully picked up the chicken from the ground. Sure enough, nothing happened.

Outside was filled with ghostly shadows. The ghost moon hung high.

Being threatened by that slender ghost was very frightening. Yu Qing fearfully roasted the threatening chicken.

Mainly, she had no seasonings or a knife, so stewing it would not taste good.

Looking at the fragrant roasted chicken in her hand.

Yu Qing felt something was strange.

Actually, when her shoe was thrown back yesterday, she had already felt that strange sense.

Yu Qing poked her head out to look at the slender ghost outside.

She fell into deep thought.

She decided to test it a little.

…

When it returned, the slender ghost saw a line of small characters below the large bloody character:

Next time, please help pluck the feathers. Thank you.