Chapter 3: Into the Market
Today, no one knew when on the leaderboard of mobile games in China's mega-city, Shanghai, a strange game called 【Ghost Gate】 came out of nowhere.
It had been almost three days since Hu Feng launched the game. It was hot in summer. At twelve o'clock, the rookies of South Shanghai University didn’t want to go out.
They were all resting in their bedrooms, playing computer and mobile games. A freshman in room 407, Fu Lu was no exception.
"Stupid teammates!" Irritated by his teammates, Fu Lu quit Kings of Glory without reluctance.
He was tired of Kings of Glory, it was now time for a new mobile game!
He checked the latest Android mobile game list right away.
Browsing it, he found that it was filled with old stuff, such as PUBG, Yin Yang masters, Fantasy Westward Journey, etc. It’s really boring.
When he was about to check the next page, a game called 【Ghost Gate】 attracted him.
The game icon looked bizarre. Its background was black and a word ‘ghost’ written in traditional Chinese was in the center.
Looking at it carefully, he found a majestic gate in the darkness. It seemed that it was the legendary ghost gate, and it looked really scary.
It’s the exciting game that I’m looking for!
Fu Lu thought. Interested in it, Fu Lu couldn’t help but click the button to download.
The data size of the game was only 100 megabytes.
Instantly, he had already downloaded and installed it.
Starting the game, a CG video showed up, which mainly introduced the identity of the player - specifically responsible for solving ghosts and Strange Talks in China.
“It looks quite similar to other games. It’s just an RPG game combined with solving puzzles.”
As a senior game player who had played a variety of mobile games on the market, Fu Lu wasn’t surprised at all.
Registering his nickname and skipping the novice training, he entered the game directly.
"Please choose your place of birth, or you cannot create a character, but only play as a visitor."
At this moment, what stunned Fu Lu happened!
A complete map of China appeared on the screen of his mobile phone.
There were numerous large and small towns scattered on the map, such as municipalities, sub-provincial cities, prefecture-level cities, county-level cities, special administrative regions, and coastal ports.
Everything was exactly the same as the real map!
After he gently adjusted the map scale, he found he’s also able to zoom in and out.
At the top left of the map, there was a forum entry; in the upper right corner, there was an in-game map search bar that helped players search for unfamiliar streets, buildings, small towns, towns and others.
Finding his own city, Fu Lu try to zoom in. He was even more shocked! On the map displayed in the game, all the 18 districts of the county of Shanghai were displayed!
Huangpu District, Xuhui District, Hongkou District, Minhang District, Songjiang District... Nothing was missing.
He continued to zoom in.
Street intersections and famous buildings in various districts appeared.
Fu Lu could even find his university. There were cars and pedestrians on the roads and crowds in the university.
It looked like a real simulation of the city, which made him excited! Zooming in to the limit, now he could see even more clearly.
In various streets and famous buildings, there were lots of ghosts in different colors. At the crossroads, several green ghost with broken limbs stared at pedestrians angrily.
They became ghosts due to a car accident, and they seemed to be looking for scapegoats.
Fu Lu clicked on these ghosts, and the system showed that these green ghosts were level 2.
Since he was currently a visitor, he couldn’t attack.
He then checked a crematorium in the suburbs, where there was a pale and gloomy elderly ghost standing expressionlessly.
Clicking on him, the system prompted that it was the white harmless soul of the level one. Since he was currently a visitor, he couldn’t liberate it.
Looking around, Fu Lu also found a black ghost wandering in the middle school teaching building, near the playground. It was level four - lyrical woman in red.
Haunting the underground of the old city, the nocturnal ghosts that liked to eat human flesh were level 3 - the zombies of the Republic of China.
Hidden in a hospital’s gynecologist center was a level 3 aborted baby, a blue ghost that looked like a meat cluster, it was seeking its mother.
As for the Strange Talks, though their levels weren’t shown like the ghosts on the map, they’re also scattered everywhere.
The five in the barren mountain, the eight geeks of the Ghost School, the suicide in the library of university, the cursed camera film, the midnight mirror.
With the insanely scary BGM, Fu Lu was very terrified as he browsed them, but he’s also eager to try.
He wanted to explore and unravel the truth as a player.
Thinking of this, Fu Lu decisively created a character using this place as his birthplace right away.
Soon, an expressionless young man dressed in shroud was born in this area.
Level: 0
Identity: Apprentice
Experience: 0/10
Occupation: Less than 10, no occupation
Practice / Talent / Supernatural / - No
Professional skills: Gray Props: No
Pet servant: No
Money: 0
Qi: 30
Yin: 10
Fatigue: 300 (Whenever you kill or liberate a ghost, the fatigue is reduced by one. When challenging Strange Talks, whether successful or not, the fatigue is reduced by 30. Whenever the player dies, the fatigue is reduced by 5.)
【Fatigue is refreshed every day. Players can also get a small amount of energy from the spoils by killing ghosts, solving Strange Talks, and etc., to use to replenish fatigue.】
Birthplace: Jing'an District, Magic City
Rejecting the novice training again, he chose to skip. Fu Lu controlled the character with his fingers, and start to walk toward his favorite talk -【The five in the barren mountain】!
Along the way, Fu Lu controlled the character across the street, taking a taxi, taking the subway, and then transferring.
Like traveling in reality, he arrived at the place where the Strange Talk took place. Clicking on the talk, he spent 30 points of fatigue to enter.
Suddenly, his mobile phone screen went dark. At the next moment, a video showed up in front of him. There was a steep mountain. In the woods, there was an empty space.
Four tents were placed close to each other. In the center, there was a burning bonfire. Outside the tents, insect repellent powder was sprinkled.
【Purple Mountain, thousands of years ago, it’s the ancient battlefield where the officials in Tang Dynasty had a war. No one knows how many innocent souls were buried in this mountain. When the sun is dim, cries of ghosts can be heard. There were even people who claimed to see mice and foxes married. Purple mountain since became doomed...】
【Legend has it that in order to repel evil spirits, the locals living under the purple mountain constructed a mountain temple on the top of the mountain with the collective investment. They worship the spirits every day. The rituals never stop on the holidays to suppress evil spirits and protect the peace...】
【Time passes by, the mountain temple has long been abandoned, and all kinds of strange and ridiculous legends are gone...】
【One day, you and your girlfriend, who you had been with for three years, climbed the mountain to enjoy the scenery, along with three strange netizens, two men and one woman...】
【At 4 p.m., you had reached the peak and set up the tents, ready to enjoy the spectacular sunrise next morning.】
From the intro video and text, Fu Lu now understood what his identity was in the Strange Talk.
At the same time, all the conditions to pass had been given.
【One, survive until sunrise at 6 a.m.】
【Two, accurately identify the number of non-persons in the team.】
【Three, complete a dance to worship spirits with the length more than 30 minutes in the temple.】
【Four, figure out who is your most trustworthy person】
