Chapter 1 An Abandoned Tunnel

A deserted tunnel…

Zhang Yuanqing looked around in a panic. Anyone would be flustered and helpless if they were suddenly brought to an unfamiliar environment.

"A tunnel? Is this the Sheling Tunnel from the ghost story?"

As a native of Songhai City, he certainly knew about the Sheling Tunnel, one of the city's top ten ghost stories. When he was a naughty child who wouldn't sleep at night, his grandmother would scare him with ghost stories.

However, aside from the fact that ghost stories were just ethereal tales, Zhang Yuanqing had passed by the Sheling Tunnel a few days ago when he returned to his hometown to pay respects to his father.

The real Sheling Tunnel wasn't like this at all. Why was this one so old?

"That's right, this is a Spirit Realm, not the real Sheling Tunnel."

The cramped environment made him uneasy. Zhang Yuanqing cautiously walked forward, the only sound being his own lonely footsteps.

As he walked, he pondered his situation and the information given to him by the voice in his head.

There was no doubt that he had encountered a supernatural phenomenon and had been brought into a ghost story to complete a mission issued by a mysterious power.

"That voice gave me two tasks: survive for three hours and explore the Spirit Realm. Difficulty level S, single-player death type… this 'death type' thing makes me very uneasy."

Surviving for three hours meant there would be extreme danger.

Exploring the Spirit Realm… should mean exploring this tunnel. In other words, the tunnel was dangerous?

He quietly tensed his nerves. At the same time, a question flashed through his mind: What would be the reward for completing the task?

Since it was a mission, there must be a reward.

"Hmm, according to the attribute panel just now, my profession is Night Wanderer, but the level is 0 instead of 1. Becoming a Night Wanderer should be one of the rewards, right? What is a Night Wanderer anyway?"

"Brother Bing was right, this black card really does change your life, but I ignored the second half of his words. This thing is hard to control. Does that refer to the level of danger?"

Zhang Yuanqing combined the known information and analyzed it silently.

Just then, the old-fashioned xenon lamp beside him flickered a few times, seemingly due to unstable circuits. In the interplay of light and shadow, Zhang Yuanqing vaguely saw a figure wearing a miner's hat standing under the lamp.

Crap… He jumped up in fright, his train of thought instantly broken. Like a startled deer, he ran forward for a distance.

Looking back, the xenon lamp continued to shine steadily, no longer flickering.

The shadowy figure wearing the miner's hat seemed to have been his illusion.

Startled by this scare, Zhang Yuanqing didn't dare to stay in this ghostly place any longer and quickly headed towards the tunnel exit.

Clack, clack, clack… The sound of footsteps echoed in the quiet tunnel. Zhang Yuanqing didn't dare to stop for a moment and walked briskly for five or six minutes. The old-fashioned xenon lamp on the arched ceiling flickered again, but this time, no figure wearing a miner's hat appeared.

"It didn't follow?"

He felt slightly relieved, but not daring to linger, he kept his head down and walked quickly. Suddenly, his gaze fixed on the ground, catching a detail that made his heart stop.

The orange xenon lamp cast a long shadow of him, and beside his shadow, there were more than a dozen other shadows following along.

They've been following me all along?!

A chill ran from his feet to his head, raising goosebumps all over his body. Zhang Yuanqing's face paled with fright, and he started to run wildly.

Finally, the tunnel exit appeared ahead, with the cold moonlight outside like frost.

Zhang Yuanqing rushed out of the tunnel in one breath, supporting his knees and bending over to catch his breath.

After regaining his breath, he looked around. The round moon hung lonely in the night sky, its brilliance eclipsing the stars.

The lush forest bathed in moonlight, casting large swaths of deep shadows.

He was in the middle of a desolate mountain range.

The xenon lamps in the tunnel flickered a few times and then went out completely. The large tunnel entrance was dark and silent, like the mouth of a beast waiting to devour.

"Gotta leave quickly…"

Zhang Yuanqing's scalp tingled, and he began to climb the mountain along a rugged path.

After walking a dozen steps, he looked back again and saw a row of figures standing at the tunnel entrance, wearing miner's hats, dressed in tattered clothes, and with their heads lowered.

They stood in the shadows where the moonlight couldn't reach, not saying a word, as if they were seeing him off.

Zhang Yuanqing took a few steps back in fright, turned around, and ran up the mountain.

The branches and leaves on both sides of the mountain path were lush, casting fine and fragmented moonlight, enough for Zhang Yuanqing to see the road clearly.

But the silence in the mountains was terrifying. There were no insects or birds in the forest, which made Zhang Yuanqing's footsteps sound particularly loud.

"It's too quiet, it's impossible for there not to be even insect noises in the mountains at this time of year."

He looked around. The round moon hung high, the shadows of the trees swayed, and he felt as if something in the darkness was watching him.

He didn't know how long he walked until his body was covered in a thin layer of sweat. Finally, Zhang Yuanqing walked out of the dense forest, and his vision suddenly widened.

The moonlight was like water, the surroundings were silent, and at the end of the rugged mountain road was a deserted ancient temple.

It stood quietly in the darkness.

It was unknown how many years this ancient temple had been abandoned. The paint on the front door was mottled and black, covered with holes, and the lanterns on the eaves had fallen to the ground, leaving only the bamboo frame.

The plaque was still there, covered in cobwebs, hanging askew under the eaves, but the light was too dark to see what was written on it.

The steps in front of the temple gate were cracked, and weeds grew in the cracks.

This was a wilderness, with no villages or shops in sight, so how could there be a temple here?

Wait… a temple?!

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly reacted, and the voice from the Spirit Realm information introduction seemed to echo in his ears:

"Don't enter the temple, don't enter the temple…"

"According to the hint from that strange voice, I shouldn't enter the temple. No, I've already left the tunnel, which means that what I really need to explore is this dilapidated ancient temple."

After hesitating for a long time at the temple gate, Zhang Yuanqing cautiously moved his steps and walked towards the ancient temple standing in the darkness, stepping over the broken threshold.

What came into view was a wide front courtyard, with waist-high weeds growing inside. A rotten, half-person-high incense burner lay overturned in the grass, having been exposed to wind and rain for countless years.

Underfoot was a path paved with bluestone slabs, and weeds also grew in the gaps between the slabs.

His gaze followed the undulating, decaying grass and looked towards the end of the bluestone path, where there was a dilapidated main hall, the foundation of which was very high, with as many as six steps. From within the latticed doors of the main hall, a dim yellow light shone out.

"There's light?"

The surroundings were silent, desolate, and dilapidated. The bright moonlight shone down, but in such an environment, that faint halo of light did not bring Zhang Yuanqing a trace of warmth.

It even felt more terrifying.

Rustle…

Stepping through clumps of withered yellow grass, he walked cautiously towards the main hall, his footsteps particularly clear in the empty environment.

Rustle, rustle… Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing's ears twitched, and he heard an additional footstep behind him, as if something was following him.

He turned his head abruptly.

The night was like water, the weeds were lush, but there was nothing behind him.

"An auditory hallucination?"

Zhang Yuanqing stopped for a moment, feeling frightened, and then started walking again.

"Rustle, rustle…"

The footsteps came again. This time he heard it very clearly. There really was something following behind him.

…Could it really be this strange? Did I encounter something dirty as soon as I entered the temple? He didn't dare turn around to look, and he quickened his pace.

The footsteps behind him also quickened.

Zhang Yuanqing couldn't hold on any longer. As goosebumps rose, he sprinted towards the main hall with all his might.

The footsteps behind him followed like a shadow, chasing after him.

During the chase, Zhang Yuanqing quickly rushed out of the weeds and approached the main hall. He leaped up the six steps in two strides, and finally, with a loud "bang," he burst open the two latticed doors of the main hall.

The footsteps behind him suddenly disappeared.

"Huff, huff…"

He gasped for breath, finally daring to look back. The moonlight shone like water on the courtyard, the weeds and the bluestone path were frighteningly quiet, but there was nothing there.

"Luckily, it didn't follow."

After catching his breath, Zhang Yuanqing gently closed the door of the main hall, as if blocking the fear outside.

Then, he surveyed the scene inside the main hall. On a high stone base, a Niangniang (female deity) was enshrined, wearing a fur cloak and magnificent clothes. Her face was round, her eyebrows and eyes were slender, and she exuded an air of charity.

This Niangniang held a horsetail whisk in one hand and made a grasping gesture with the other, as if she had been holding something, but it was now empty.

On either side were boys holding swords and maids holding books.

In front of the base was a offering table covered in dust, with candlesticks placed on it. A candle twenty centimeters long and as thick as a baby's arm was burning quietly.

The candlelight dispelled the darkness and seemed to dispel the fear in Zhang Yuanqing's heart. He felt much more stable.

On the left wall hung two faded and cracked wooden boards, covered with inscriptions in regular script.

Zhang Yuanqing walked to the wall and stared at it in the dim candlelight. The style of these regular script characters was classical Chinese.

His Chinese was pretty good, and by half-guessing and half-reading, he gained a clear understanding of his surroundings.

This mountain was called Three Paths Mountain, and the mountain deity enshrined in the temple was called Three Paths Mountain Niangniang.

This mountain deity was a native of Song Prefecture in the early Ming Dynasty. She cultivated on Three Paths Mountain in Song Prefecture, was proficient in talisman techniques, understood the art of alchemy, and could pray for rain and exorcise ghosts, protecting the local area and ensuring good weather. Therefore, she was revered by the people as a deity.

After her ascension to immortality, the local government built this temple on Three Paths Mountain, named it "Three Paths Mountain Niangniang Temple," and it was managed by the Niangniang’s successors, who served as temple priests.

"A temple from the early Ming Dynasty, that's five or six hundred years ago," Zhang Yuanqing muttered.

At this moment, he couldn't help but cast a glance under the offering table, and his heart suddenly tightened.

A black shadow lay in the shadows under the table.

He had been too panicked just now, and the candlelight was dim, so he hadn't noticed it right away.

Zhang Yuanqing steeled himself and approached, taking a closer look. It turned out to be a corpse, nothing but a skeleton.

Zhang Yuanqing was frightened but also relieved. Compared to this eerie mountain temple, a skeleton was not so terrifying.

Taking a few steps closer, he saw the clothes on the skeleton in the dim candlelight: a dusty set of work clothes.

A worker?

"Is this the construction team from back then? So I really have entered the world of the ghost story."

As soon as Zhang Yuanqing made this guess, he thought of an even more terrifying possibility: perhaps the construction team from back then, like him, had strayed into this place by mistake.

That's why the urban legend was left behind.

If it was the former, then this so-called Spirit Realm was a scene generated based on a ghost story.

But if it was the latter, it meant that the ancient temple had always existed, and the construction team, like him now, were victims.

Based on the historical background of the Mountain Deity Temple, Zhang Yuanqing was more inclined to believe the latter.

"An entire construction team died in the temple, with only one survivor. People can really die here… Now I've also entered this temple and will face unknown dangers at any time…"

Hiss… He gasped, his emotions tensing up again, and he subconsciously looked around.

Then, he suddenly realized a detail that was terrifying to think about.

This ancient temple dated back to the Ming Dynasty, a long time ago, so how could the candle still be burning? Who was replacing the candles in the main hall?

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he felt. Even the kind-faced sculpture seemed to exude an eerie and sinister aura in the candlelight.

Although the three clay sculptures were covered in dust, they were lifelike, with every detail carved in a vivid and realistic manner, especially the eyes.

They stood on the base, staring down at Zhang Yuanqing in the dim candlelight.