I Wasn't Born Lucky

Xiao Li’s mouth said so but his hands moved nonstop as he controlled the little man running to the other side of the street.

The hand chasing him could extend infinitely but due to the limitation of the arms, it was caught many times when the small man circled the utility poles or stores several times. It failed to catch the relatively more flexible small person.

One man and one hand chased each other on the side of the road in the game.

Kudo was relieved to see that the small person wasn’t caught. He observed the hand in the game for a while before taking the initiative to ask, "If it can’t catch Wu Gong in the game, do we have to play with it forever? According to Wu Gong’s statement, there is no punishment for death and it will instead return to Wu Gong’s living room..."

"This is more like a warning." Chu He followed Kudo’s analysis. "The game is warning Wu Gong of the possible dangers around him? For example, when walking down the stairs he will encounter the hand. He will also encounter it when staying at home. Even if he leaves the community through the window, he will encounter it at the security guard room..."

Wu Gong immediately cried out, "Then how can I run? Isn’t death everywhere? Hosts, you have listened to so many ghost stories very day. There must be a way to save me, right?"

Kudo looked around Wu Gong’s house before finally stopping on him. "Mr Wu, now isn’t the time to hide you. You really haven’t done any ghosts games? Or you haven’t encountered anything?"

"I really haven’t." Wu Gong scratched his head anxiously and pushed up the hair over his forehead, exposing a too high hairline. "I’m in my house all the time and play games every day when I come back from work? How can I meet a ghost? If I knew then I would tell you!"

Due to this action, Wu Gong’s sleeve fell up, exposing his arms. 10 centimeters from the underside of his shoulder, there was a sharp black and white line on his arm. The skin above was the same as his face but the skin below this line was relatively dark.

Kudo asked, "What’s wrong with you?"

Wu Gong shrugged, "Before, I went to play on an island in the sun and forgot to put on sunscreen."

Chu He wondered, "Then why only one arm? What about the other one?"

The moment his words emerged, it was unknown if it was Chu He’s illusion but the temperature of the entire room seemed to drop 10 degrees. He cautiously took a step back.

Wu Gong didn’t think too much. He also pushed up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing another even-skinned arm. "It is because I applied the sunscreen with my right hand at the time. I applied it to my whole body except for my right arm. Thus, it turned out to be tanned in this funny way.”

Although he explained it this way, Chu He’s hand was still holding onto the life-saving item in his pocket. It didn’t seem like a lie. Qian Zixuan might have obvious clues but no clues had been found on Wu Gong’s side...

Kudo was thinking when he suddenly heard Xiao Li, who had been concentrating on playing the ’chasing game’ with the ghost, open his mouth. "Wu Gong, where did you go on the day you met this hand. Show me where I should go."

The suddenly named Wu Gong was stunned for a moment. "Ah?"

Xie Zeqing gave Wu Gong his seat. He sat in front of the computer screen, struggling to identify the location of the game’s little person. Fortunately, Xiao Li hadn’t run too far. As a local, he could still recognize this specific place.

Xiao Li manipulated the character in the game and bypassed the hand circled around a column. He watched Wu Gong and repeated the question. Wu Gong reached out and pointed on the computer screen to the right. "Go this way. I... my company is here and I drive past every day."

This game was very sophisticated. The pixels might be low but every road in reality was accommodated. It was like a map that had been forced to shrink countless times. According to Wu Gong’s directions, from his house to the company and then from the company to the badminton hall after work, there were many key landmarks such as a commercial centre, a football stadium...

Xiao Li looked at them one by one before finally pointing to an unknown building near the badminton hall. "What is this place?"

Wu Gong scratched his ears. "I... I don’t know. I don’t usually go here because it isn’t a fun place. There wasn’t a name written on it?"

Xiao Li manipulated the little man in the game to move past.

It looked like an old bungalow. The walls were black and the outside was surrounded by dark green vines. The windows were closed and it looked like no one had lived here for a long time. There was no house number on it and the fountain was dry.

Wu Gong touched his mobile phone. "I checked. It is on Luomen Road. Since there is no label... it should be an old house that doesn’t belong to anyone?"

The little man in the game stood at the door of the old bungalow. Xiao Li clicked on the ground of the old bungalow. The little person slowly climbed over the iron gate and stood in front of the fountain.

According to reason, the shadow-like hand should’ve appeared long ago. However, after the little man entered the bungalow, the hand disappeared. The villain had been standing there for two minutes but no hands appeared outside the iron gate.

Just then, Wu Gong grabbed his arm and spoke impatiently, "Do you think the air is getting thinner? Is the window not open?"

The moment he spoke, Chu He found that Wu Gong’s complexion was getting bluer and bluer. Xiao Li released the mouse and stood up from the computer table, looking back at Wu Gong. His face was close to the paleness of the dead man. He leaned against the window, gasping for breath as he pulled the scarf away from his neck, revealing a blue handprint already on his neck.

As early as the first game failure, he was like the character inside and had been strangled to death by that ghost hand. The reincarnators only met Wu Gong after he had already died and forgotten about his death due to some spiritual power.

Xie Zeqing cried out, "He turned into a ghost. No, he is a ghost. Run!"

"Hurry up!" Kudo pulled out a protective pot and smashed it against the ground. He didn’t look back as he ran to the door of Wu Gong’s house.

The rest of the reincarnators were driven by instinct and ran outside. Zheng Yi took two steps before subconsciously looking back at Xiao Li, who was observing Wu Gong. Wu Gong’s head was twisted to one side and his tongue extended out. There was sticky yellow pus flowing out, dripping down his chin onto the rug. He was disgusting and couldn’t communicate.

Without saying anything, Xiao Li hurried to the door and ran out together with Zheng Yi. Wu Gong was slow. By the time he came out of his room, the rest of the reincarnators were in the corridor.

Chu He wanted to go down the stairs when Kudo shouted, "We can’t go down the stairs. There is a ghost there in the game, did you forget?"

Chu He made a sudden stop on the stairs. He looked around and finally came to the escape window in the corridor. He reached out to open the shutter and jumped straight down from it. The people behind him followed suit.

Senior reincarnators often faced the need to escape and they needed enough physical strength. Thus, they usually went to the gym and paid attention to exercising. The low floor plus the help of pipes meant it wasn’t difficult to climb down.

However, for Xiao Li who used outlandish methods, he was slightly worried. If he stepped on empty air then he might fall directly. Compared with this, it was better to walk on the stairs for a while. In any case, he could hide while walking.

Wu Gong came slowly out of the door of his house and moved like a saliva making machine toward the window.

Standing behind him, Shen Chenzhi pressed down on Xiao Li’s shoulder and whispered, "I’ll go down first. You jump down and I’ll catch you."

Xiao Li looked at him. The young man’s eyes flashed with a faint golden light as he held the window and fell directly to the ground. Then he signalled to Xiao Li to jump. The pale yellow pus left water marks in the corridor. Xiao Li no longer hesitated. He held the edge of the window and also jumped down.

The wind whizzed through his ears. Shen Chenzhi caught him easily, arms wrapped around Xiao Li’s waist as he pulled Xiao Li into his arms. They were very close. Due to gravity, Xiao Li had almost crashed into Shen Chenzhi’s arms and his side face was attached to the other person’s neck.

Shen Chenzhi could feel the warm skin sticking to him and asked quietly, "Are you okay?"

His tone was low and now it was even lower, hitting the eardrums.

Xiao Li nodded in a modest way and Shen Chenzhi let him go. Xiao Li took a few steps to the side. He looked up and saw Wu Gong looking down at them, just like Qian Zixuan’s parents.

Kudo didn’t want to disturb Shen Chenzhi but now the timing wasn’t right. He gasped and asked, "Let’s go out first?"

Will said, "Wu Gong is a ghost... will there be a problem with Qian Zixuan? Let’s find another hotel and not go back."

"How can we do our task if we don’t get close to her?" Lin Qili wondered. "During the day, do you want to go see the building in the game?"

In the instance world, every exception couldn’t be ignored. The group walked out of the community. Since there was a ghost in the security guard’s room, they decided not to go through the main door and found a low wall to climb over.

Xiao Li thought about it and asked Kudo, "I remember you had to go out to buy a mobile phone?"

Kudo felt in his pocket. "Yes, in order to contact Qian Zixuan, I bought a telephone card for this world."

Xiao Li stated, "Send her the address and tell her we know in order to test her reaction."

Kudo did as he said.

At this time, Qian Zixuan wasn’t sleeping. It was unknown if she had slept or not but she soon returned a message. "You... how did you find it? It wasn’t told by me, it really wasn’t..."

Kudo wanted to find out a bit more information from Qian Zixuan but Qian Zixuan wasn’t willing to cooperate at all. The moment Kudo made the phone call, Xie Zeqing said, "Wait, Qian Zixuan works in that old bungalow? It isn’t a company at all. What is she doing? A babysitter?"

"Based on her description, I thought it was a multinational big company..." Zheng Yi spat out. "Working in an old house? Isn’t it strange?"

Once Zheng Yi finished this sentence, he belatedly found that he had agreed with Xie Zeqing. He swallowed back his words and turned to look at Xiao Li. Xiao Li finally decided. "Go over there to see the specific situation."

It was early in the morning and Xie Zeqing and Zheng Yi were used to his style, but others didn’t agree.

Lin Qili directly said, "It is better to find a place to rest first and go tomorrow. Now... it is too dangerous."

Xiao Li stated, "The benefit of going earlier is that we can leave earlier. You can go back first. I’ll go by myself."

Kudo pushed up his glasses. "Hercule is right. The tips have been clearly given. If you’re still hesitating, tomorrow night’s live radio broadcast will be a huge disaster. We don’t have time."

Will and the others hesitated for a moment. At such a time, no one would make fun of life. Finally, Chu He and Will chose to find a hotel and look for news while the rest went to the strange old house with Xiao Li.

********

It was only when they stood at the door of the old bungalow that people really understand the difference between this complex and the game screen. It was far more mysterious than it seemed in the game.

It was like the scales of some reptile had covered the shell of the building. The neon of the entire city seemed isolated here. Only the magnified high beam reflected on the vines and the darkness wasn’t deep. It seemed like something was lurking in the darkness to peep at people.

They were now like the little person in the game. They came over the iron gate into the yard of the old bungalow and faced a dried up fountain.

The statue in the middle of the fountain was a small angel carved in pure white marble. He was shot with curly hair and wings behind his back. He wore open trousers and the source of the fountain happened to be the middle of his trousers.

Zheng Yi explored the bottom of the fountain. "The bottom is dry. There is some silt and nothing else."

"Go in and see." Xiao Li touched his flashlight and walked forward.

He had just bypassed the fountain and prepared to enter the old bungalow when the sound of water suddenly entered his ears. It was especially loud in the deserted night. Xiao Li paused and followed the sound of the water. He saw that liquid actually flowed out of the originally dry fountain, constantly flowing to the bottom as the water level continued to rise. Due to the structure of the fountain, this scene looked more like—

Xie Zeqing also associated it with a picture and asked Xiao Li, "Was it so scared by you that it pissed?"

Xiao Li, "........."