2: Chapter 2 The Mysterious USB Drive, "Mysterious Domain," Connects Us Everywhere
"Cosplay?"
The Cat-faced Old Lady froze for a moment, then let out a cackle.
The raspy, shrill voice was instantly jarring and incredibly eerie.
The way the corners of her mouth split open was especially unnatural.
More importantly, Chen Yichuan noticed that the Cat-faced Old Lady in front of him was actually—hovering?
There were no wires attached to her, and looking at that incredibly realistic cat face!! Chen Yichuan's hair stood on end, and he was struck with horror.
At this moment.
A ghost!
A terrifying thought clearly emerged in his mind.
The Cat-faced Old Lady in front of him seemed able to see through Chen Yichuan's heart, as her shrill, raspy voice slowly rang out:
"Young man, do you believe there are ghosts in this world now?"
The raspy, high-pitched voice made Chen Yichuan's eardrums feel like they were exploding.
The next instant.
Chen Yichuan's expression froze; his feet wouldn't move, no matter how hard he tried.
Only his hands could still move.
As the Cat-faced Old Lady leaned closer and closer, Chen Yichuan subconsciously touched the small knife in his pocket.
"Young man, you believe there are ghosts in this world, right?"
Hmm?
The Cat-faced Old Lady kept repeating this sentence, could it be...?
Suddenly... at this moment, Chen Yichuan recalled some third-rate novel: as long as you don't admit a ghost is a ghost, you'll be fine.
Chen Yichuan gritted his teeth, enduring the pain in his eardrums, and 'forced' out a stiff smile:
"Old lady, you're addicted to cosplay. Your awareness needs some work; how could there be ghosts in this world? Where's the ghost?"
Hmm?
Chen Yichuan maintained his playful smirk; although his body was trembling, he was still talking tough.
Then.
The Cat-faced Old Lady's wide-split grin stiffly retracted, her face pale and bloodless.
"Cosplay? Young man, you think I'm wearing a mask? Fine, I'll take it off right now."
"Hehehe."
The hair-raising laughter echoed around them.
The next moment.
The Cat-faced Old Lady's pale, bloodless hand slowly reached toward her withered cat face.
Rip!
The withered cat face was torn off, revealing a bloody, blurry face underneath.
"Holy shit, you're not even pretending anymore," Chen Yichuan shouted in terror.
Since he couldn't run, he might as well go for broke.
He pulled out the knife hidden in his pocket, gritted his teeth, and threw it forward with all his might.
Swoosh!
The knife's aim was precise, flying straight into the center of the Cat-faced Old Lady's forehead.
Puff~
The knife passed cleanly through the Cat-faced Person's forehead... However, the expected spray of blood did not appear—the knife passed through her skull as if she were a phantom, causing her no harm at all.
Intangibility.
Chen Yichuan's expression became even more terrified, and he cursed in fear, "This is cheating! What kind of intangible granny is this?"
At this moment, his fear of the Cat-faced Old Lady reached its peak.
The Cat-faced Old Lady stopped pretending and stopped asking.
With her bloody face and shriveled hands, she approached him step by step.
Hehehe...
The eerie, raspy laughter was punctuated by occasional cat cries from the surroundings.
Chen Yichuan was filled with despair; although his feet wouldn't move, his powerful survival instinct drove him to use his hands like feet to scramble away.
However, this speed was ultimately futile in front of the Cat-faced Old Lady.
Red cat fur and a bloody hand had already grabbed Chen Yichuan's collar.
Right then.
"Oi."
A greeting rang out, accompanied by a bright light shining on Chen Yichuan.
"Young man, what are you doing lying here in the middle of the night? The ground is cold, go back to sleep, or you'll get a kidney deficiency." A middle-aged man wearing a security uniform appeared beside Chen Yichuan.
"There's a ghost, Uncle, run..." As soon as the words left Chen Yichuan's mouth, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
There was nothing in front of him.
Let alone the Cat-faced Old Lady.
There wasn't even a single cat hair; it was as if none of it had happened, as if it were a hallucination.
However, the blood splattered on the ground proved that the Cat-faced Old Lady had indeed existed.
"Ghost? What ghost?" The security uncle frowned and looked around, saying with displeasure, "Young man, don't go around lying in the middle of the night."
"Hmm? Who spilled paint on the ground? It smells a bit fishy... Old Lady Li is really something, not sweeping up such a mess. I'm going to complain tomorrow."
After a round of complaining, the security uncle urged Chen Yichuan to leave quickly.
Seeing this.
Chen Yichuan swallowed what he wanted to say and glanced fearfully at the nearby bushes.
He put on his straw sandals and bolted, fleeing the street.
...
Back home.
Chen Yichuan closed the doors and windows, making sure everything was tightly sealed.
Whoosh.
He dove under the covers, wrapping himself tightly, performing the 'Bedsheet Sealing Technique'.
'Did the Cat-faced Old Lady have a change of heart and let me go? Or did the security uncle's sudden appearance interrupt her?'
'Forget it, I'll deal with it tomorrow. Sleep.'
At this moment, his heart felt only two things regarding the Cat-faced Old Lady: relief and luck.
Unable to figure it out, Chen Yichuan simply forced himself to close his eyes and sleep.
After a night of trembling, Chen Yichuan fell into a deep sleep.
...
The next morning.
Chen Yichuan was woken up by thirst. He checked the time; it was only a bit past six.
When he wanted to go back to sleep.
Hmm?
Something was bulging underneath him.
He snapped his eyes open and felt his pocket with his right hand.
"What is this? A USB drive?"
The USB drive had a very strange design, with ancient black patterns. If one looked closely... it seemed to be emitting a faint black smoke.
Deep and mysterious.
That was Chen Yichuan's first impression of this USB drive.
And...
He remembered very clearly that before he went to sleep last night.
Even though he was terrified, he was certain... he definitely didn't have such a USB drive on him.
He didn't have time for breakfast.
He got up, turned on his computer, and plugged it in.
With a 'ding'.
The computer actually recognized it successfully.
There were only two items in the USB drive.
A folder named "Xuan Yu" and a string of unintelligible gibberish.
$H*&jd#$ioDa
Xuan Yu?
Seeing this folder, Chen Yichuan was stunned.
He had some impression of Xuan Yu.
It seemed to be an online game still in the closed beta stage, known by very few people.
The reason Chen Yichuan knew about it was that the gold-farming game he was supposed to interview for yesterday afternoon was called "Xuan Yu".
To secure this job.
Chen Yichuan had specially looked into it.
The official information was very sparse; all that was known was that it was a masterpiece game combining Wuxia and Xuanhuan elements.
There were only fifty thousand slots for the first batch of testing.
Since he was already here.
Chen Yichuan clicked on the "Xuan Yu" folder.
Inside was only one game executable, Xuan Yu, with a sentence attached behind it.
Young man, do you want to possess power? Click it!!
"Holy crap?"
"Are game companies' marketing methods so aggressive and unrefined nowadays? Who the hell would click that? So low."
Click.
Click successful.
The program ran.
After what happened last night, Chen Yichuan firmly chose to click it; it was just that simple.
The "Xuan Yu" page quickly popped up.
There were no messy ads or 'click to win' prompts, just a solitary login interface.
Without hesitation.
He copied the disorganized sequence from outside and clicked login.
Following the prompts, he went step by step.
Until finally, a page popped up.
"The game helmet will be delivered in five minutes. Players can enter Xuan Yu by putting it on. (Note: The serial number is a unique ID and affects the player's talent.)"
Talent? Game helmet?
Chen Yichuan was stunned, his mouth twitching: "A game helmet delivered in five minutes? I haven't even filled in my address. You're joking."
Shaking his head, he ignored the crappy game and flopped onto his bed.
He might as well look at the news about that lunatic's 'self-explosion' yesterday.
Keyword search.
However, Chen Yichuan was dumbfounded. The news headline read:
'Mental Instability, Suicide with a Miniature Bomb'.
A dozen or so words instantly settled the matter.
"Damn, isn't this nonsense?"
Miniature bomb?
Wang Li didn't even have a fuse on him, how could he explode?
Sigh.
The same old official explanation.
As Chen Yichuan was listlessly scrolling through his phone.
Suddenly.
Knock knock.
The sound of knocking on the door rang out.
"Na Dou Tong Express."
"Mr. Chen, your package is here."
A package?
(Add to bookshelf, add to bookshelf)