Chapter 21: Reminisce
Source: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1388844.html
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
Shu Yushuang kept flipping through the notes.
"This time, the prize money's actually 100,000 yuan. I'll transfer 10,000 to Shuang'er. If I send too much, she'll chase after me asking why. But if I die in the next round... what should I do with the rest of the money? Sigh, such a hard decision."
"I'm so stupid. I just need to open a bank account, deposit all the money, and leave the card and password for Shuang'er. Shuang'er, if you're seeing this, you must've already found my bank card. The card's easy to find. If you can't even grasp this simple fortune, then I might as well not give it to you. The bank card password is: xxxxxx."
Seeing this, Shu Yushuang couldn't help but smile, even though tears were still in her eyes.
Shu Ya's bank card—of course, Shu Yushuang had already found it. It was placed together with that "Comprehensive Guide to Ghost Hunting."
Back then, she hadn't gotten Shu Ya's phone yet, and she didn't think anything would happen to Shu Ya, so she hadn't paid much attention to the bank card.
Could she really find Shu Ya?
Shu Yushuang wiped away her tears forcefully and closed her eyes.
One year ago, in another space, Qin Su watched in boredom as the executor in front of her ran around in panic after being scared by her.
"These executors are getting more and more cowardly. They're nothing like the first batch. Why are they so easy to scare?"
Qin Su stretched her body and restored her original appearance.
When she had just regained consciousness, Qin Su hadn't fully understood what had happened to her, so she had taken a wait-and-see approach.
But as time passed, she realized that all she had to do was take beatings and scare people.
This goes on, day after day.
She quickly realized that she was not always able to scare people whenever she crawled out of the pit. Sometimes, there was nothing in front of her at all.
However, most of the time, those executors would appear before her.
At first, Qin Su was afraid of scaring them, so she tried to wait until her appearance had returned to normal before showing herself.
But later on, she found this way too boring.
Gradually, she started learning how to scare people and began enjoying the thrill of watching others panic because of her.
Yet, life was still just as dull.
Qin Su didn’t know when days like these would end or when she’d finally be free.
That day seemed just as ordinary as any other. She was woken up again by the usual beatings from her fellow prisoners.
As she stayed conscious for longer, she gradually regained some sensation, and enduring the beatings started to hurt more.
She held back the pain without making a sound. She didn’t want the other vengeful ghosts to know she could feel again.
That afternoon, she thought she’d crawl out of the pit where she’d been buried, just like always. If she was lucky, she might scare a few people and get a little amusement out of it.
However, what she didn’t expect was that after crawling out of the pit, she found herself in an unfamiliar place.
"Ah!!! It really came! A ghost! A ghost! It’s really here! Ah!!!"
The terrified scream nearly made Qin Su fall over. She steadied herself and realized she was in a rundown room, with seven or eight people scrambling to escape in panic.
To be honest, she was even more confused than they were. She had no idea where she was.
But soon, a line of text appeared before her: "You have been temporarily loaned to the 'Ten Ways to Summon Ghosts' instance. Please cooperate with the regulator here and complete your primary task—killing."
Temporarily loaned? Regulator!
Seeing the word "regulator," Qin Su could not help but get excited, completely forgetting about the rest of the message.
The regulator must know how she could escape this predicament.
Qin Su followed the fleeing executors, floating after them excitedly. The executors thought she was chasing them, which only made them hide in terror.
But Qin Su had no interest in them right now. After floating out of the room, she found herself in a long corridor with countless doors on both sides. At the end of the corridor, there was a staircase.
The entire corridor, the doors to the rooms, and the staircase were all in a state of extreme dilapidation as if this place had been abandoned for many years.
Qin Su floated down the stairs to the first floor, only to find that the lobby was completely different from the upper floors.
Bright lights illuminated the space, and the interior was lavishly decorated.
Near the staircase, a large silver screen stood, with several rows of chairs arranged in ascending order in front of it.
Is this… a movie theater?
A woman sat in the central chair, leaning against the backrest while reading a newspaper with full concentration.
Qin Su's intuition told her that this woman was the regulator.
She floated toward the woman, noticing a refreshing scent emanating from her—a woody fragrance of some kind. The scent gave Qin Su a long-forgotten sense of warmth.
At first, the woman remained completely unaware. But after a few minutes, she shivered slightly and finally looked up.
Frowning, she asked, "Do you need something?"
"Can you help me escape this life?"
"Did you come from another dungeon, or from that place?"
Qin Su didn’t know what "that place" referred to, but she did know she’d come from another dungeon.
"I came from another dungeon."
The woman set down her newspaper and carefully examined Qin Su.
"Why’re you asking me this?"
"You're a regulator, right? I heard you're really powerful."
The woman frowned again. "Who told you that?"
"An executor I met before."
The woman lowered her head in thought, but it wasn’t long before she looked up again.
"I don’t have that kind of ability. If you wanna leave your dungeon, you’ve gotta rely on a medium’s power."
"A medium?"
To Qin Su, this was yet another unfamiliar term.
"Mm. Mediums only appear among executors. You fierce ghosts have a special sense for mediums. If you’re lucky enough to meet one, you’ll recognize them instantly."
Qin Su thought for a moment before asking, "If I meet a medium, what should I do to leave the dungeon with them?"
"First, you need to help the medium clear the dungeon. After that, you just have to possess any part of their body. But remember, following a medium out of a dungeon is only temporary. You haven’t truly escaped 'its' control. If you enter another dungeon afterward—any dungeon—there’s a chance it’ll find you. So if you want true freedom, you have to completely break away from this entire game."
These words filled Qin Su with even more questions.
"What is 'it'? How do I fully escape this game? Once I leave, can I reincarnate?"
The woman shook her head regretfully. "Sorry, I don’t know. There’s never been a case like yours around me. Everything I told you, I just read in books."
"Is that so? Still, thanks. What’s your name?"
"Fang Xiqiong."
Many years later, even after Qin Su had completely escaped the game and regained her freedom, she still felt grateful to that woman named Fang Xiqiong—the woman who bore a curse yet still thought about helping others.
After thanking her, Qin Su asked, "Is this a movie theater? Can I watch a movie?"
Fang Xiqiong looked apologetic. "Sorry, you can’t. Only... those guests are allowed to watch movies here."
Qin Su was disappointed and didn’t understand what she meant by "those guests," but she didn’t ask further. She just nodded in understanding.
She was about to head back upstairs when Fang Xiqiong called out to her, "I hope you can spare those executors."
Qin Su smiled at her. "I’ve never hurt anyone on purpose."
For the next two days, Qin Su didn’t see those executors again.
Source: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1388844.html
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
She knew she should go find them, but remembering her promise to Fang Xiqiong and her own long-held beliefs, she decided to just explore the building instead, adding a bit of color to her dull life.
Qin Su pretended to search for the executors, but in reality, she was just strolling around.
Having finally left the prison that had trapped her for decades, of course, she wanted to have some fun.
During this time, she gradually became familiar with Fang Xiqiong.
Fang Xiqiong told Qin Su that her entire family was a puppet of "It," and everyone in the Fang family was cursed.
There were two other regulators like her, but she had never seen them and had no idea who they were—only that they were also from the Fang family.
"Who exactly is 'It'? Or what is 'It'? Why does It have such immense power, controlling so many vengeful spirits and your entire family? What is ‘Its’ purpose?"
But Fang Xiqiong couldn’t answer Qin Su’s string of questions.
She sighed and shook her head. “If I knew, I wouldn’t be at ‘Its’ mercy.”
Qin Su didn’t know she could only stay there for three days.
When the time was up, she was immediately sent back to the prison.
Lying on her bed, Qin Su sighed to herself. She hadn’t even had the chance to properly say goodbye to Fang Xiqiong and had no idea if she would ever get the chance to go back.
Life remained as dull as ever, but Qin Su kept Fang Xiqiong’s words in mind and continued searching for the medium she had mentioned.
But Qin Su never encountered the kind of person Fang Xiqiong had described. She never felt any special connection to any of the Executors.
She didn’t know if it was because mediums were too rare or if Fang Xiqiong had simply lied to her.
Though she didn’t think Fang Xiqiong had any reason to deceive her, what if that woman had just been too bored?
So Qin Su stopped obsessing over finding a medium among the Executors.
She had already suffered quite a bit for getting too close to them.
Whenever she approached an Executor, she would get hit by the strange objects they threw at her—objects that brought a pain that pierced deep into her very soul.
Qin Su had always feared pain, even in death.
So she decided that unless absolutely necessary, she would never go near an Executor again.
After that, she continued her monotonous routine, all the while hoping she could visit Fang Xiqiong again.
And this opportunity came again after a year had passed.
On yet another ordinary day, Qin Su opened her eyes and found herself back in that same dilapidated room.
Standing in front of her was a tall girl.
Naturally, the first person Qin Su noticed was the one closest to her.
"So beautiful…"
She couldn't help but marvel to herself.
There was no denying that Qin Su herself was also beautiful, but she and this girl were two completely different types.
The girl's expression was serious, her brows and eyes carrying a coldness, exuding an air of aloofness that kept people a thousand miles away.
Qin Su, on the other hand, had been someone people naturally wanted to get close to in life.
Back then, she always had a smile on her face and rarely refused when others asked her for favors.
Perhaps, in a way, that very trait had played a role in the misfortune that befell her.
Qin Su didn’t know what she looked like in the eyes of others after her death.
After all, the most common comment she had heard since dying was, “She’s so scary.”
Shu Yushuang saw a rotting, festering face appear in the mirror and immediately dropped the comb in her hand.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she turned and ran out of the room.
Even though she had volunteered to take on the task when no one else was willing, that didn’t mean she was ready to die in vain.
