"I wonder how Maki is doing?" the boy muttered dejectedly. "It's my fault for not protecting her!"
Chisato immediately stepped forward and patted the boy's shoulder reassuringly, "It's not your fault, don't blame yourself. Besides, Maki is so athletic, who could have guessed that such an accident would happen?"
Cheng Shuang lagged behind the two, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper. Why did she feel that the two shadows reflected on the floor were getting longer and longer...?
She suddenly looked up at the ceiling, and something seemed to be swallowed up by the yellow-orange light and then disappeared in a flash.
The little girl's face darkened, and she instantly thought of the flat, smooth top of that artificial hill...
There's no doubt they're being targeted by something!
As they walked through the corridor, the inn's guests were still laughing and joking around the campfire, unaware of the accident at the hot spring. Cheng Shuang thought for a moment, then told Qianli, "I left something in the hot spring. You guys go back first!"
Qianli opened her mouth, wanting to go with Cheng Shuang, but then she glanced at her classmate beside her with her head down, and could only call out to the girl who had already walked away, "We'll wait for you!"
Cheng Shuang waved her hand and quickened her pace. She held a cool mint in her hand. Since she couldn't use the card, the mint was especially important. Even though it couldn't see through the illusion like the Black Cat Card, it could keep her mind clear when she was tired.
Waiting for ghosts to come to her door is fine, but Cheng Shuang doesn't want to be too passive. There are too many ghosts and monsters, and she's not arrogant enough to wait for them to gather together and cause a chaotic mess.
Since we have suspicions, we cannot let them go.
The challenge will not be a simple battle between station chiefs. If that were the case, the Gate of Reincarnation could open up a completely new space and put the station chiefs in there to fight each other. Whether they win by forming an alliance through personal charisma, or by relying on their brains or brute force, it would all be clear and easy to see.
If you want to test the stationmaster's abilities, then internal strife through backstabbing is the most foolish approach. The Gate of Reincarnation wouldn't be unaware of this. If it were truly so cold-blooded as to rely solely on strength and data, why would it bother 'distributing' cards and pills, giving weaker maintainers room to survive and grow?
Cheng Shuang walked to the entrance of the women's bathhouse, calmed herself down, and lifted the curtain. She saw the proprietress with a tense expression hanging a sign on the artificial hill. The sign read: "The hill is slippery. Do not climb."
The sign didn't look newly made; the paint on it showed signs of age.
"Why are you back?" The landlady looked over when she heard the noise, her face immediately darkening as she shooed them away unhappily, "You children are too naughty, go back now! Otherwise, your teachers will worry!"
"I dropped something, so I had no choice but to come back!" The girl took a few steps closer, slightly raised her chin, and said maliciously, "Otherwise, who would want to come to a filthy place like yours, where my friend fell and got a bloody head injury!"
The proprietress's face turned pale instantly. She gripped the hammer tightly and snapped, "What nonsense are you spouting! How dare you slander someone at such a young age! You were just being naughty and climbing the artificial hill. You bumped and bruised yourselves. Whose fault is that?" She held up the sign and leaned in front of her. "Look," she said, "if it weren't for your ignorance, why would I have stayed here and damaged the integrity of the artificial hill!"
"Was this sign really made on the spot? Ha, you know best whether it's a frame-up or not! I saw it myself, my friend clearly didn't fall down by himself..." She chuckled calmly, her eyes darting around, "Tell me, if everyone knew your hotel wasn't clean, would anyone dare to come here!"
The proprietress panicked for a moment, but quickly regained her composure. "I'm deeply sorry your classmate was injured, but don't try to extort money from us. I'll discuss everything regarding compensation with the teacher and parents." She turned around and continued hanging the sign, her tone tinged with schadenfreude. "Kid, you'd better mind your own business. If anything happens outside my premises, it's not our responsibility!"
Cheng Shuang shrugged. "Just pretend I wasn't here! But it's okay if I came to look for something, right?!"
"Hurry up and find it, don't delay my work!" The landlady turned around again in a bad tone, staring intently at her, urging her silently.
Cheng Shuang calmly jumped into the pond and searched for a while, then went around to the back of the artificial hill and stretched out her arms to feel around. She sighed helplessly, "What should I do! I can't find it!"
"Go back if you don't find it. If I do find it, I'll hand it over to your teacher!" the landlady said menacingly, gesturing for him to proceed.
Cheng Shuang smiled good-naturedly, waved her hand, and turned to walk out of the women's bath.
Once the footsteps faded into the distance, the proprietress composed herself and retraced Cheng Shuang's steps until she pulled a yellow talisman from the artificial hill.
The proprietress examined the talisman closely, her face turning ashen as she tore it to shreds, grumbling, "You meddlesome brat!"
After leaving the hot spring, locking the door, and putting down the "Closed" sign, I hurriedly went up to the second floor.
After she disappeared around the corner, a little girl emerged from the corner. She touched the small pedometer on her wrist. Normally she wouldn't notice it, but in this death zone where skills and cards couldn't be used, the special item's function suddenly became apparent.
She could easily hide in the corner, thanks to her little cowardice.
Little Darling is a consumable item; every time it's used, its battery level drops by one bar, and now she only has three bars of battery left on her wrist.
Of course, if the battery runs out, she can get a new one at a convenience store, provided she can return safely.
Cheng Shuang stayed here not to upset the landlady, but because she had seen the landlady tearing up the yellow talisman. This confirmed her suspicion that a ghost was hiding in the artificial hill in the women's bath, and the landlady definitely knew about it.
Unlike the doll spirit in another hotel who secretly did bad things, the landlady of this hotel was permissive; otherwise, that sign should have remained up all this time.
Clearly, she wouldn't bother to warn others until something bad happened, let alone remove the artificial hill or completely close off the women's bathhouse and relocate it!
The talismans placed behind the artificial hill were just a decoy; the real talismans were pasted on the door frame by the little girl.
Since the ghost chose to linger by the artificial hill, after committing its evil deeds, it must want to return to its lair.
Cheng Shuang placed the ghost-suppressing talisman not to avenge Zhenxi and make the ghost suffer, but to directly eliminate it. Even if she couldn't eliminate it, she wanted to leave the ghost helpless in this battle, and ideally, she would win by a small margin.
This wasn't out of competitiveness, but rather to ensure a more secure victory in the challenge.
She quietly walked into the corridor, and Qianli, who was waiting there, breathed a sigh of relief and grinned as he waved to her.
The three of them then turned back. When they reached the hotel entrance, the teacher rushed over and, seeing them, asked with a smile, "Why are you so slow!"
Cheng Shuang tilted her head. "I'm sorry, teacher. I left my things at the hot spring. Qianli and the others are waiting for me."
"Is that so! It's alright, did you find the item?" The teacher smiled gently, the worry in her eyes fading away. Clearly, Maki's accident had made her more cautious.
"Found it!"
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