Chapter 109: Shuangxi Town (III) Soul-Suppressing Coffin

The players gathered around Qi Si, their gaze fixated on the phone screen.

It was their first time encountering a smartphone-like item in an instance. If they hadn’t considered the potential danger, they would have already reached out to touch it.

The phone had no lock screen password. Qi Si swiped his finger, and it opened.

The apps inside were even cleaner than a factory reset, leaving only Phone, Messages, Browser, and Camera.

Shang Qingbei, who was closest, saw Qi Si skillfully tap into the phone app and navigate to the contacts page.

There was only one record, noted as 【Xu Wen】.

The young man’s pale fingers hovered over the dial pad, seemingly wanting to try pressing it.

God knows what would happen if he just dialed randomly… Shang Qingbei held his breath.

Fortunately, his finger moved away a few seconds later, then swiped to the messages interface and opened the only historical message:

【Xu Wen: Come to Shuangxi Town, save me! (2008/8/15)】

The time displayed on the phone was 【5:39 PM, August 17, 2008】. It seemed that after receiving Xu Wen’s distress signal, the group only made some brief preparations before rushing over without delay.

Du Xiaoyu muttered softly, “Two days have passed. If she was in real danger, she’s probably already dead, right?”

“If she’s already dead, then we’ll take her corpse with us.” Qi Si showed what could be called a gentle smile, then opened the camera album and pulled up a strange photo.

The main subject of the photo was an entirely black Coffin, taken from an overhead perspective. The straight wooden Coffin looked like a standing person at first glance.

The surface of the Coffin was carved with intricate runes, and a long nail was hammered into each of its four corners, making it look particularly menacing.

After staying on the photo interface for a while, the phone actually operated automatically, selecting the image, using the browser to identify it, searching, and clicking on the top entry.

【Soul-Suppressing Coffin: With soul-suppressing nails at its four corners, it can ward off evil spirits and suppress yin souls. A fierce corpse is suppressed within the Coffin, its resentment lingering. Once the Coffin is opened, a great catastrophe is inevitable.】

Qi Si glanced at the system interface; no corresponding text had refreshed there.

Did this mean players had to memorize the term clues themselves? Or did it think that since there was a phone, they could check it anytime, so there was no need for extra effort?

The screen flickered twice, exited the search interface, and returned to the album.

Blood had seeped out from under the Coffin in the photo at some unknown point, forming a thick puddle.

The nails at the four corners of the Coffin seemed to have been pried off by an external force, hanging loosely on the wood.

A thin crack had appeared between the Coffin lid and the Coffin body, a faint light visible through the darkness, as if something inside was peering out through the crack.

Qi Si calmly swiped the interface to the right.

It didn’t swipe. There was only one photo in the album.

In the silence, the incoming call ringtone suddenly rang, a crisp wind chime sound, eerily chiming.

The caller ID clearly displayed the two characters 【Xu Wen】.

Xu Wen? The person the main quest required them to find, who sent a distress message two days ago, had been out of contact since, and was most likely dead?

Shang Qingbei recalled a pile of horror stories about vengeful phone calls and was about to speak up to stop him when he saw Qi Si decisively hang up the phone.

His multitude of words were stuck in his throat, turning into a single, “Huh?”

Qi Si stroked his chin, reasoning with a serious air, “Being able to hang up means that answering the phone doesn’t involve a death point, and even the information the call is about to tell us isn’t key to unraveling the world view.”

Under the players’ strange gazes, he counted to three, called back, and after the call connected, he decisively turned on the speakerphone, aiming for equal sharing of information and risk.

At the same time, everyone heard a weak, trembling female voice speak rapidly from the phone: “I’m lost and can’t get out. You must ensure your own safety first, don’t trust anyone in Shuangxi Town, they are all Ghosts!

“I take some photos every day and sync them to this phone in your hand. You must be careful, they are all coming out…”

The voice sounded half-dead, exhaling more than inhaling, as if it would completely die the next second.

“Xu Wen?” Qi Si tentatively called out.

After receiving an affirmative reply, he asked, “Is it very cold where you are?”

“Yes, it’s very cold, like winter…” Xu Wen said, “I only have seven days left. You settle down today, and come find me quickly tomorrow…”

“Do you know your approximate location? Can you send a location pin?”

“I can’t get a location, Shuangxi Town doesn’t exist on the map…”

“Is that so—” Qi Si drew out his words, “Then how do you know we’ve arrived?”

The voice on the other end of the phone abruptly stopped, not even a breath could be heard; it was eerily quiet.

Qi Si continued to ask, “Are you human? Can we trust you?”

He waited for a few seconds, composed, but received no response. The call was hung up from the other end, leaving a one-minute call record.

He dialed back again, but this time, after a long wait, he only got the electronic female voice saying, “The number you have dialed is not answering, please try again later.”

“Being able to respond to my questions shows that the other end of the phone isn’t a pre-recorded message; Xu Wen still has self-awareness.”

Qi Si tossed the phone to Du Xiaoyu, sat down on the innermost bed, and patiently analyzed, “She called to tell us three important pieces of information:

“First, this is a Ghost town with a ghost-blocking wall; you can’t leave by normal means. Second, the anomalies in the photos will manifest; the longer we stay, the more anomalies we’ll encounter. Third, she subjectively feels very cold.”

He paused, then looked around at the players, “Do you feel cold now?”

“Not cold, I’m even a bit hot.”

“It’s alright, normal temperature.”

The players shook their heads one after another.

Qi Si continued, “There are two possibilities: either she’s unwell, injured or has a fever, which is why she feels cold; or, she’s not in the same place as us.

“Furthermore, judging by her reaction when she hung up, she’s likely hiding a lot from us, and her calling us over might not be with good intentions.”

With his methodical reasoning and calm demeanor, the players basically believed it: this player, who called himself “Qi Wen,” was definitely a big shot, someone they could rely on to lead them all through the instance.

Liu Bingding hesitated, “Then what about the main quest? She has ill intentions, but we have to save her. Isn’t that contradictory? What if she backstabs us midway? Wouldn’t that be the end?”

“Didn’t I say before? If she doesn’t cooperate, we’ll take her corpse with us.” Qi Si smiled, a bright yet cold smile. “I’ve cleared so many instances; my item reserves are decent. Killing an NPC isn’t difficult.”

Now that they were official players, the consensus among most was that an NPC’s life wasn’t a life, especially when that NPC had the potential to bring danger.

However, for Qi Si to speak such stark words so naturally, as if saying, “I’ve had breakfast,” still sent a chill down their spines.

Shang Qingbei hugged the English dictionary in his arms even tighter. If he had harbored some doubts about Qi Si claiming to be an old player from the nineteenth instance before, he was now seventy to eighty percent convinced.

It was said that as the number of instances cleared increased, many players’ psyches would become more distorted, even approaching that of Ghosts.

Looking at “Qi Wen’s” mental state, he was definitely a veteran player… “What are you thinking?” Qi Si glanced at the stiff expressions of the others, clicking his tongue lightly. “That’s a last resort. As for items, I still want to save them…”

“Ah!”

A scream erupted without warning, interrupting his words.

Du Xiaoyu had been engrossed in fiddling with the phone since he got it. Now, he suddenly jumped back with a look of horror, throwing the phone onto the bed as if electrocuted.

The phone bounced twice, landing face down on the bedsheet, with only a faint red glow visible through the gap.

Du Xiaoyu looked at Qi Si, stammering, “I… I just saw that this phone seemed to have internet access, so… so I just searched for something randomly, and I didn’t expect that thing to pop up…”

Qi Si picked up the phone, which had gone black, and turned it on.

What came into view was a figure in a bright red wedding dress, standing in a decorated courtyard. A red veil covered her head, tassels scattered on both sides of her shoulders, and greenish-black hands were exposed from under long sleeves. Her red fingernails were long and sharp, clearly not belonging to a living person.

These hands were twisted and stretched forward. Whether it was the camera angle or some other reason, it gave people the illusion that it could claw through the screen at any moment, sending shivers down their spines.

Qi Si clicked on the search bar, deleted the two characters “Beauty” (Beauty) that Du Xiaoyu had entered, then typed in “Eerie Game” and pressed the search button.

The result that loaded was still that same picture.

It seemed that, except for specific keywords, the results were the same no matter what was searched.

Qi Si pondered for a moment, then heard a suppressed, gurgling sound beside him, like phlegm caught in a throat.

He looked up, following the horrified gazes of the players.

Outside the dusty glass window of the wing room, a figure in a red wedding dress stood at some unknown point, pressing her entire body against the glass, as if trying to get in… “Ding-a-ling… ding-a-ling… ling…”

In the almost frozen silence, the distant wind carried the faint sound of bells, crisp and serene, growing closer.

Sister Xu’s soft voice drifted, “Xier, why did you come out? Go, go back to your room!”

The casual tone, like shooing away a kitten or puppy, made the bride, red from head to toe, who was clinging to the window, slide back half a step in response, then slowly turn around and sway unsteadily towards the western half of the courtyard.

Only then did the players notice that the bride’s exposed arms were a rosy flesh color, indicating she was not dead.

“And she said not to offend her, but who’s offending whom now?” Du Xiaoyu spat at the bride’s retreating back. “Like a Ghost, scared me to death…”

He didn’t continue.

Sister Xu’s face, covered in white powder, closely followed the bride, pressing against the windowpane like a ghost, her cloudy eyes staring at the five players sitting in the room.

“Honored guests, I hope I didn’t scare you?” She forced a kind smile and tapped the back of her head twice with her right hand. “Xier has a little problem here, it’s congenital.”

She bent at the waist, circled past the window, and approached the door. Her left hand held a wooden bucket of food, and her right hand made to push open the slightly ajar door. “You must all be hungry, right? My old woman’s cooking can’t compare to your big city restaurants; you’ve been wronged, sirs.”

Qi Si noticed that Sister Xu had a string of thumb-sized black bells hanging from her waist. They seemed to be made of copper, engraved with strange patterns, and at first glance, they looked chilling and utterly bizarre.

“Not at all, thank you for taking care of us, old one.” He casually picked up his phone, smiled as he went to meet her, and made to take the wooden bucket from Sister Xu’s hand.

His hand brushed against the old woman’s wrinkled, soft skin, feeling a coldness like ice.

Sister Xu walked steadily. Seeing Qi Si’s attempt to take the bucket, she quickly switched the handle to her other hand. “You are all guests; just sit there.”

Qi Si had no intention of exerting himself, so he nodded in agreement, returned to the bed, and sat down. “Sister Xu, the string of bells on your waist is quite pretty. I’d like to buy one of a similar style as a souvenir, if possible?”

“You can’t buy them; these are my old woman’s family heirloom!” Sister Xu walked to the wooden table by the window, took out the dishes from the wooden bucket one by one, and arranged them on the table.

Qi Si persisted, “Why did you suddenly decide to wear them? I remember you weren’t wearing them when you came to pick us up.”

“I’ve always worn them, you must be mistaken.”

The dinner dishes weren’t extravagant, but they had both meat and vegetables: braised pork, stir-fried greens, and white steamed buns. Outwardly, they looked no different from ordinary farmhouse dishes, and the quantity was generous, more than enough for five people.

Eating in an instance was a delicate matter, especially in longer instances lasting more than three days.

Aside from extreme cases of starving to death or fainting, even mild hunger leading to dull thinking and low blood sugar could indirectly cause death at critical moments.

instances generally wouldn’t be so boring as to play tricks with visibly harmless food. The players picked up their chopsticks one after another and started putting food into their bowls.

Because the food was plentiful, there was still some courtesy and order.

Sister Xu stood by the door, holding the wooden bucket, smiling amiably as she watched the players eat.

Qi Si looked up at her, “Sister Xu, have you eaten? Would you like to join us?”

Sister Xu chuckled, “No, I haven’t eaten. I, this old woman, don’t eat. I’m waiting here to clear the table.”

Upon hearing this, the players exchanged glances.

Qi Si silently put down his chopsticks, grabbed a white steamed bun, and sat back on the bed, beginning to… peel the bun skin.

He deliberately slowed down his movements. By the time the players had mostly finished eating, he had just finished peeling the bun skin, then he began to nibble at the snow-white bun, one small bite at a time.

While there might be a limit to speeding up eating, if one wanted to delay, there were a myriad of ways to prolong the eating time.

If peeling the bun skin wasn’t enough, Qi Si could even peel off several layers of the bun’s soft interior.

After Sister Xu finished clearing the bowls, chopsticks, and leftovers from the table, her gaze lingered on Qi Si, who was still dawdling, in a sticky, slippery way that was very uncomfortable.

Her sharp voice rang out eerily, “Just waiting for you…”