Chapter 10 : Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Have You Ever Seen a Solid Magic Staff?
Zhao Mingyue casually tossed her backpack onto the table, then collapsed onto the sofa like a salted fish, leaning back lazily.
She took her phone out of her pocket and opened her social media app.
If it were someone else, they might chat with family or friends or make a phone call. But in her contact list, the most recent conversation was still from three days ago—her classmate asking for the answers to the homework.
Just as she was about to swipe through it casually, her phone suddenly vibrated.
A new message appeared.
[Lu Liangting: Mingyue, no matter what you hear tonight, do NOT go outside!!!]
“Huh. He doesn’t even explain why I’m not supposed to go out. But honestly, I don’t really want to go out anyway.”
She muttered to herself while replying with a simple “Mm” and a cat-nodding emoji.
Tilting her head, she suddenly saw a pale face reflected in the phone screen.
“Ah!”
Zhao Mingyue jumped in fright. Looking up, she realized Bai Yu had appeared behind her at some point.
Half of her body was sticking out of the wall.
That said… she actually looked rather cute like this. At least, Zhao Mingyue thought so.
“Oh, it’s you. You scared me.”
She shifted slightly and patted the spot beside her.
“Come sit here.”
Looking at Bai Yu’s pale, bloodless face and the black crack-like patterns on her body, Zhao Mingyue herself wasn’t quite sure what she was feeling.
Bai Yu was a fierce ghost.
And she herself was just an ordinary human.
Just as Bai Yu had said, Zhao Mingyue had only come into contact with this world because of the small mission from that black phone last night.
Did she regret it?
Regret playing that game?
Regret encountering ghosts?
Probably not.
Bai Yu placed her hands against the wall and straightened her body. After merging back into the wall, she stepped out beside Zhao Mingyue.
“Take out the black phone.”
“Oh, okay.”
Knowing Bai Yu couldn’t touch the phone herself, Zhao Mingyue unlocked it and placed it flat on the coffee table.
“Then what?”
“The power of this phone is far greater than you think,” Bai Yu said in an ethereal voice. “But I can tell you one thing—it cannot directly help you find your family.”
She knew exactly what Zhao Mingyue wanted.
“That’s the truth. If you’re hoping this phone will directly locate your sister, you can forget about it.”
After those words, Zhao Mingyue fell silent for a long time.
Her pretty brows furrowed. She seemed to want to say something, yet the words stuck in her throat. She could only stare into Bai Yu’s abyss-like eyes.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t want to lie to you, and I have no interest in using you. The truth is, we have to cooperate from now on. Mutual benefit.”
Bai Yu remained calm as she met Zhao Mingyue’s gaze.
“I said the phone cannot directly help you find your sister, but it can help you grow stronger.”
“If you want to find your family, you’ll have to rely on yourself. But first, you must become stronger. Otherwise, no one can help you. Do you understand what I mean?”
“The phone will release missions. These missions are dangerous—there’s even a risk of death. Still, none of them are impossible to complete. As long as you succeed, there will always be rewards.”
“Last night was just a warm-up. Tonight is the real beginning.”
“I’m telling you all this so you know the truth. Lu Liangting… he’s also a participant in this game. He knows how terrifying it is, so he doesn’t want you to get involved.”
That was simply Bai Yu’s personality.
She didn’t want to manipulate Zhao Mingyue.
She wouldn’t hide the truth until the last moment and then suddenly reveal everything while pretending to be a saint who had done it “for your own good.”
Instead, she laid everything out clearly from the beginning.
If Zhao Mingyue wanted to cooperate, then they would cooperate.
If she couldn’t accept it, she could quit.
But since Zhao Mingyue had dared to play that game alone, Bai Yu believed she wouldn’t back down.
“If you’ve made up your mind, open the app where you accepted the mission last night and take tonight’s mission.”
After listening to Bai Yu’s serious explanation, Zhao Mingyue looked at the black phone, then at Bai Yu.
Finally, her finger moved toward the mission app.
“I’ve decided. My sister’s disappearance definitely isn’t simple. And besides, you’re helping me. What’s there to be afraid of?”
“Should I accept the mission now?”
“Mm.”
“Alright!”
She opened the app.
Sure enough, the contents had already changed.
[Tomorrow Apartments (Three Stars)]
[Mission Content: Room No. 6, a face carved into the wall, spirit fire, a person walking upside down, foul stench]
[Did you know? This place used to be called Tomorrow Apartments. After that great fire, everything changed. Let me teach you a method—at midnight, start from the fourth floor and walk upstairs backward. When you reach the thirteenth step, you will see “them.”]
[Dongcheng No. 13 Middle School (Three Stars)]
[Mission Content: Eyes in the bathroom stall, the scent of meat from the midnight cafeteria, red dancing shoes, the headless statue in front of the door]
[...]
[Lantern Resort (Four Stars)]
[...]
Several missions had appeared at once.
Zhao Mingyue’s gaze locked onto [Tomorrow Apartments].
If she wasn’t mistaken, this would be tonight’s mission.
Just reading the mission description made her spine tingle.
This mission was definitely far more dangerous than last night’s!
“Accept the Tomorrow Apartments mission.”
“Alright.”
[Mission Accepted: Tomorrow Apartments]
[Please arrive at Tomorrow Apartments before midnight. Survive until dawn. Mission completion will increase depending on your actions.]
When the prompt appeared, Zhao Mingyue felt her heartbeat quicken.
Her palms grew slightly sweaty.
“Do we need to prepare anything?”
The girl in the white dress beside her was a fierce ghost—and currently the only one she could rely on.
She glanced at the time on her phone.
It was only eight o’clock.
There were still four full hours until midnight.
“Just prepare a weapon you can use easily.”
“A weapon I can use…”
Zhao Mingyue frowned.
What kind of weapon could deal with ghosts?
“I don’t have anything that can fight ghosts. Is it too late to go buy something? Maybe black dog blood or a peachwood sword?”
She said this with a completely serious expression.
Bai Yu was speechless.
“You don’t need to deal with ghosts. The things people think are effective against ghosts are actually useless.”
“Instead, you should prepare a weapon that can deal with people.”
“A weapon for people? Aren’t we dealing with ghosts tonight?”
“No,” Bai Yu said meaningfully. “Sometimes humans are far more terrifying than ghosts.”
Zhao Mingyue thought about it for a long time before going to the kitchen and returning with a kitchen knife.
But one knife wasn’t enough.
Suddenly remembering something, she rushed into the bedroom and rummaged through several boxes.
Finally, she came out holding a “magic staff” shaped like a pickaxe.
Yes.
Bai Yu was certain it was a magic staff.
And a solid one at that.
It was entirely pink, about a meter long. The head was a red cone shaped like an eagle’s beak—solid and larger than a fist. Behind it were a pair of white cartoon-style wings used as decoration.
If you ignored its cute appearance…
This thing was absolutely a weapon.
If someone took a hit to the head with it, their skull would split open instantly.