Chapter 96: Supermarket
The people in the portrait stared out. Gao Ming called his parents. Soon came the knocking. Gao Ming opened the door. Beyond the door was the shadow world. Before the ghost mother spoke, he entered the shadow world and closed the door behind him. Using the power of the portrait, Gao Ming came to Building 4 of Min Long Street in the shadow world.
He appeared without warning that he frightened the two villagers on guard duty. One of them reacted quickly. He grabbed the rope on the wall and shook it. The bell chimed loudly. Footsteps came from upstairs. Darkness spread. Wei Dayou, holding a weapon, rushed over with the other villagers.
“Calm down. It’s one of us.” Wei Dayou didn’t relax when he saw Gao Ming. After asking a few questions and confirming it was really Gao Ming, he finally approached.
“The fuck. You scared us!” Wei Dayou gave Gao Ming a fist bump. “This place is beyond scary. You sure chose a good home for us!”
“Where is the blind brother?” Gao Ming realised the villagers respected Wei Dayou a lot.
“He’s resting.” Wei Dayou had the two villagers return to guard duty. He led Gao Ming and his parents with the cakes to the fourth floor. “There’s no need to bring cake with you! But we do lack food and water.”
An An’s home was turned into the command central by Wei Dayou. A hand-painted map hung on the wall. It was marked with various info. The supermarket near Building 4 was circled.
Closing the door when there were only Gao Ming and Wei Dayou in the room, Dayou showed fear and worry. “Brother, it’s not looking good.”
Wei Dayou pulled out a list from the drawer. “There are 67 survivors in Building 4. 32 of them are from Bo Wan Villager, 5 homeless people, 20 students, and 10 investigators. Half of them have been infected by the shadow and can’t leave the shadow world anymore.”
“Infected by the shadow?”
“Once you stay long enough in the shadow world or have been touched by a ghost, it will happen.” Wei Dayou pulled up his sleeves. There was an inconspicuous ghost tattoo on his arm. It looked like a giant ghost. “This is an example. The blind brother planted this in me. It is his protection for me.”
“Continue.” Gao Ming studied the map.
“If people die here, they will morph into shadows and join with this world. To survive here, we have been trying to find food and water.” Wei Dayou pointed at the supermarket on the map. “There are too many living humans. Therefore, we targeted this supermarket yesterday night to scavenge for supplies.” “Are there ghosts there?”
“Yes.” Wei Dayou said in fear. “The supermarket is a ghost! A giant ghost who eats people! Everyone who went on the supply run didn’t come back!” Wei Dayou took some time to calm down. “Every building here is unsafe. It looks peaceful, but once you trigger something, you’ll die. We are currently trapped here because no one dares to leave. With so many survivors, if we don’t find supply soon, we’ll die.”
The villagers and students were treated as sacrifices. They were infected by shadows. They couldn’t return to the real world but had a hard time surviving in the shadow world. Their ending was determined. As the tragedy struck, more people would become like this. The dark darkness expanded in the room. A giant dog crawled out. His dark eyes stared at Gao Ming. The voice came from his stomach. “This place is more dangerous than where I stayed. Just yesterday night, seven survivors melted into the shadow world.”
“I’ll figure out how to deal with the supermarket.” Gao Ming sat down. “I have a question. Does the thing here correspond to the events in the real world? If I move the things on the shelves in the real world, will the things on the shelves here move too?”
“No. The shadow world appears to be frozen on the night of the Hungry Ghost Festival. I do not know why. The night appears to influence the two worlds.” Big Dog used his heart to observe the world. He could see things others couldn’t. “Unless the two buildings are fully united, or else they won’t be affected the way you said.”
“A circular repetition?” Gao Ming remembered this for later. “I have some cakes here. Eat these first. About the supermarket…” At that moment, a scream came from the supermarket in the middle of Min Long Street.
He and Wei Dayou looked at each other and saw the shock.
“Did someone enter the shadow world?”
“It should be the investigators from Li San Center. I saw them around the supermarket before I came here.” Gao Ming grabbed the big dog’s fur. “Should we go take a look?”
“What does this have to do with me?” The dog shook his head.
“You don’t need to do anything. I only need you to be my escape vehicle.” Gao Ming leaned on the dog. “Everyone is on the same boat. No one can escape.” With Gao Ming’s hounding, Big Dog finally agreed.
“I’ll get a few clever people to go with you.” Wei Dayou ran out to summon two newbies and two experienced investigators from the east city. The seniors were infected by shadow. “After Qing Ge was killed, they wished to atone. I want to give them this chance.”
“Okay.”
They prepared and left Building 4. Min Long Supermarket was just a street away. From the surface, the supermarket looked normal.
“I’ll go in first.” Gao Ming put the death portrait in his pocket and approached the front door. He could hear the screams, but standing outside, everything looked normal.
“This supermarket is not huge. If the investigators didn’t have their movement limited, I should be able to see them running.” Gao Ming took a deep breath, gave the Big Dog a signal and entered the supermarket.
After he entered the building, his vision darkened like the sky went dark. The sound of clock ticking entered his ears. Gao Ming looked around. The only light came from the fluorescent lights and a 25-inch monitor on the ceiling.
The monitor had a blood-red sentence displayed on it, please enter the employee break room in the next minute.
“I should follow the instructions for now.” Gao Ming ran through the supermarket. Everything was arranged orderly. There was no blood or even signs of fighting. Where was everyone? After 10 seconds, Gao Ming found the break room. He tried the doorknob and realised the door was locked. Time ticked. Gao Ming knocked on the door. “Who is in there?”
Gao Ming glanced at the monitor. He didn’t have time to hesitate. He kicked the door. Eventually, the door was opened from inside before Gao Ming could destroy it. The newbies from Li San Centre looked at Gao Ming outside the door. They were ready like Gao Ming was an enemy. Gao Ming relaxed. These newbies who didn’t even have the black band once entered the anomaly with him. It was the Fear Illness Anomaly. Now, they were in another anomaly with him.
“It’s you! Why are you here?”
Zhu Suisui, who hid behind the door, walked out with the axe. She recognised Gao Ming. She was there to ambush the ghost once the door opened.
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