Chapter 34: Ten Ways to Summon Ghosts (13)

Source: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1388844.html

But after Shu Yushuang entered the room, she found that the awkward feeling was gone. Liang Qi was asleep, and Deng Yue was just sitting by her side, quietly watching her.

When she heard the door, Deng Yue didn’t look up. She only whispered to Shu Yushuang, “Keep it down. She’s asleep.”

Shu Yushuang nodded and closed the door softly.

She sat on a chair and started looking through the newspaper she had borrowed from Fang Xiqiong earlier.

From some of the news in the paper, Shu Yushuang could tell that this place should also belong to the real world somewhere.

Of course, it could also be some parallel world. Otherwise, why would there be so many ghosts?

While Shu Yushuang was reading with focus, Deng Yue spoke again, “I’m sorry for before.”

Shu Yushuang looked up, a little surprised at Deng Yue. After a few seconds, she smiled and said, “It’s okay. It’s already over.”

“After that…” Deng Yue hesitated, not knowing how to put it into words.

Deng Yue hesitated, not knowing how to say it.  

“Don’t worry. If I still have strength, I’ll help her for sure. But I can’t promise that she’ll safely live through this dungeon.”  

“It’s fine. Just do your best.”  

While one human and one ghost were talking, neither noticed the tear slipping down from the corner of Liang Qi’s eye.  

The rest of this game, they all passed in peace.  

When it was time to part.  

Liang Qi held onto Deng Yue, not willing to let go, but she couldn’t stop Deng Yue’s body from slowly fading away.  

Deng Yue smiled and left her last words: “Qiqi, live well.”  

At the same time, both Shu Yushuang’s and Liang Qi’s phones rang. But Liang Qi had no heart to check her message. She only stared blankly at the place where Deng Yue disappeared, saying nothing.  

Shu Yushuang took out her phone. The details of the fifth ghost-summoning game had already been sent.  

“Ten Ways to Summon Ghosts, Part 5: Summon the Pen Fairy”

This task requires two Executors.  

The two Executors must enter Room 201 at midnight. In the room, paper and pen have already been prepared for summoning the Pen Fairy (The various characters needed for the Pen Fairy's answers have been written on the paper in advance, and it is strictly forbidden to change them at will).

The two Executors must sit on opposite sides of the desk, each extending one hand to hold the pen together, and chant the spell until the Pen Fairy is summoned. The spell goes as follows:  

‘Pen Fairy, Pen Fairy, you were my past life, I am your present life. If you want to continue fate with me, please draw a circle on the paper.’

Note: You can ask the Pen Fairy any questions, but after you are done, please send it away respectfully.

This game also needs two people working together. But seeing Liang Qi’s state, Shu Yushuang secretly sighed.  

If Liang Qi couldn’t adjust her mood soon, tonight’s game would be troublesome.  

“Can you let me be alone for a while?”  

Liang Qi finally spoke, but her voice was especially dry.  

Shu Yushuang was just about to go out when she suddenly thought of something. She turned back and said to Liang Qi: “Don’t do anything stupid.”  

“I won’t.”  

Since she got Liang Qi’s promise, Shu Yushuang didn’t say more.  

Time quickly went to 11 p.m., Shu Yushuang walked to the door of Room 201. What comforted her was that Liang Qi was already waiting there.  

As soon as Liang Qi saw Shu Yushuang, she said impatiently: “About tonight’s game, I want to discuss something with you.”  

Shu Yushuang nodded: “Me too.”  

“This Pen Fairy game is very famous. You must have heard of it, right?”  

“I’ve heard of it.”  

“Then you should know, after calling the Pen Fairy, you can’t ask about the Pen Fairy’s cause of death, and you also can’t ask about your own cause of death.”  

“I know.”

“So even though the task details say we can ask the Pen Fairy anything, we must not ask those two questions.”

“I understand.”

Seeing Shu Yushuang cooperate like this, Liang Qi nodded with satisfaction.

But soon, she said, “But how should we send the Pen Fairy away? Online there are many ways to send it off, and the task details don’t say which exact way.”

Shu Yushuang frowned. She took out her phone again and checked the task details carefully.

“Send it away respectfully… what exactly counts as respectful?”

Shu Yushuang and Liang Qi looked at each other, and Liang Qi also frowned.

“This should be the trap in this game.”

Shu Yushuang lowered her head again and read the task details word by word.

After finally finishing, she asked, “If our attitude isn’t respectful enough, or we use the wrong way to send it, will it stay and hunt us?”

Liang Qi opened her mouth, but she couldn’t say anything.

Her memory went back to freshman year, when she and Deng Yue invited the Pen Fairy.

Of course, that game ended in failure for her and Deng Yue. That made her even more sure there were no ghosts in this world, but now…

Shu Yushuang cut off her thoughts: “Actually, don’t you feel like the dungeon details at the start were already hiding a lot of information?”

“Of course. The dungeon details are the most important thing in any dungeon.”  

Shu Yushuang pulled out the dungeon details for Liang Qi to see.  

“What do you think it means here when it mentions the ritual?”  

“Ritual… could it be that the whole point of these dungeons making us summon ghosts is for some kind of ritual?”  

Liang Qi had survived this long, so she wasn't stupid. She quickly understood the key point.  

This group of executors was being forced into ghost-summoning, all for the sake of some ritual.  

They did not know what kind of ritual it was, but Shu Yushuang and Liang Qi both understood one thing clearly: a ritual completed through summoning ghosts could never end well.  

Liang Qi gave a bitter smile.  

“Even if we know the dungeon has bad intentions, what can we do? We have to finish the task, otherwise we die right now.”  

“But this also means every single game is guaranteed to summon a ghost, without exception. Which means, no matter how we try to send the Pen Fairy away, it will never leave.”  

Liang Qi froze for a few seconds before saying, “Then… fine. Let’s just prepare to run from the start. As soon as the Pen Fairy appears, we won’t ask anything. We’ll just run.” 

Shu Yushuang shook her head.  

“I feel like there has to be another way. If we really summon all ten ghosts and complete the ritual, our ending will be horrible.”  

“You think there’s another solution?”  

“I don’t know.”  

“…”

Liang Qi rolled her eyes and did not want to say anything more.  

Shu Yushuang lowered her head again and carefully studied the dungeon details.  

But even until the final moment came, she still found nothing.  

The two of them walked into Room 201. The setup of the room had changed again.  

The room was not big, but right now it looked strangely empty. Other than a single table in the middle and two chairs, there was nothing else inside.  

On the table lay a sheet of paper and a pen. Shu Yushuang was the first to walk over and pick up the paper.  

On it were the words “Yes,” “No,” “Male,” “Female,” and the Chinese numbers from one to ten.  

At first glance there was nothing unusual, but every word looked like it was written in fresh blood.  

Just looking at it gave a feeling of discomfort.  

Liang Qi went to the other side of the table. She only gave the paper one glance before quickly looking away, as if something on it scared her.  

Shu Yushuang noticed this too and asked,  

“What is it? Did you see something about the paper?”  

Liang Qi spoke uneasily,  

“Red… red is taboo. Outside the dungeon I do not care about these things, but here…”  

Hearing Liang Qi’s words, Shu Yushuang instead let out a breath of relief. She rarely offered comfort, but this time she said,  

“Don’t worry. The game is already dangerous enough. Doing this kind of thing is just a trick to scare us.”  

Liang Qi wanted to say more, but Shu Yushuang had already gripped the pen.  

Liang Qi had no choice but to stretch out her hand too, holding the pen together with her.  

The two of them paused for a few seconds in sync.  

Then, at the same time, they spoke the incantation.

“Pen Fairy, Pen Fairy, you were my past life, I am your present life. If you want to continue fate with me, please draw a circle on the paper… Pen Fairy, Pen Fairy, you were my past life, I am your present life. If you want to continue fate with me, please draw a circle on the paper…”  

While chanting, Liang Qi counted silently in her heart. She had already said it seven times.  

Source: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1388844.html

All of a sudden, Liang Qi felt her hand start to move on its own. Even though she tried her best to resist, she still could not stop the pen from drawing a circle on the paper.  

She lifted her head in horror and looked at Shu Yushuang. But she saw that Shu Yushuang still had no expression on her face.  

Then, the force controlling Liang Qi’s hand vanished. At the same time, Shu Yushuang let go of the pen.  

Liang Qi was shocked and angry.  

“Are you crazy? How dare you let go at this time? You don’t want to live, but I still want to live!”  

But Shu Yushuang only sat there with a heavy expression, saying nothing, letting Liang Qi shout at her.  

When Liang Qi finally finished venting, she suddenly realized she should be running away.  

But then, why was Shu Yushuang still sitting so calmly in her seat?  

It was because of that calmness that Liang Qi herself did not run right away.

Shu Yushuang, who had stayed silent all this time, finally spoke:  

“It’s safe now.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“The Pen Fairy won't come.”  

“But the pen clearly already moved… was it you who did something?”  

Shu Yushuang didn't want to explain too much, so she only nodded.  

“But how did you do it? How can you be sure the Pen Fairy won’t come?”  

Shu Yushuang sighed. It seemed that if she didn’t give at least some explanation, Liang Qi would not calm down.  

“In the rules, it only said the pen must draw a circle. It never said it had to be the Pen Fairy itself that moved it. If the pen moves, the ritual is counted as complete. In other words… the executor can also take the place of the Pen Fairy.”  

That was Shu Yushuang’s plan. The hand that drew the circle was not controlled by the ghost at all, it was her.  

And since nothing strange had happened afterward, it proved she had succeeded in replacing the Pen Fairy. That murderous spirit was never summoned at all.

But Liang Qi did not stay relieved for long. Another question came to her mind.  

“Isn’t the dungeon asking us to summon all the fierce ghosts? And since we didn’t follow the task steps completely this time, will something bad happen?”  

“First of all, the dungeon only asks us to complete ten ghost-summoning tasks, but it never says the ghosts must really be summoned. Second, it does not matter if the steps are not followed exactly. Back in the hide-and-seek game, Yang Zeng also did not follow the steps.”  

“Really?”  

Only then did Liang Qi realize that from the very beginning, she had been misled by the dungeon.  

But now another question rose in her heart.  

“The condition for this ritual… is it to complete ten summoning tasks, or is it to summon out ten ghosts?”  

Shu Yushuang narrowed her eyes. At this moment, she truly suspected that when Deng Yue left, she had taken Liang Qi’s brain with her.  

After a while, Shu Yushuang looked at Liang Qi’s hopeful gaze, waiting for an answer. In the end, she unwillingly spoke:  

“I think it should be to summon ten ghosts.”  

But Liang Qi still pressed on:  

“Why?”  

“… I guessed.”  

Finally, Liang Qi noticed Shu Yushuang’s impatience. She spoke in an embarrassed tone:  

“One last question.”