Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Thinking this way, Wu Su felt that this eerie train could still fulfill his nostalgic cravings, at least it allowed him to play supernatural mini-games again, making the journey not dull but quite fulfilling.

Wu Su skillfully swiped the portraits in the game, lining them up to explode into a blood effect, then failed due to insufficient moves and got stuck once more.

The train attendant suspiciously stared at Wu Su's tense profile, suddenly leaning in, her pale, icy face almost touching Wu Su's skin, and said in a chilling whisper, "Sir, the boxed meal should be eaten while it's hot."

Wu Su looked at her, suddenly shoved the phone into the attendant's hand, "Oh, then you help me play a round. If you don’t, I’ll file a complaint that you didn’t deliver hot food! Who doesn't know that cremation ash meals should be eaten cold?"

The attendant: "?"

It was served cold! The attendant immediately regretted her slip of the tongue, had to take the phone handed by the passenger, and awkwardly swiped the portraits with her fingers.

This level was quite difficult, the female attendant stood in front of the cart full of cremation ash meals and failed several times. Wu Su was satisfied, he wasn’t the only one struggling.

"Where is this train heading?" Wu Su casually asked.

The female attendant, still fully engrossed in the game, answered without much thought, "Peaceful Village."

"Lost again and again, I won't play anymore, don't you dare complain about me!" After several consecutive losses, the attendant hurriedly returned the phone to Wu Su, pushed the cart and quickly left, continuing to peddle her cremation ash meals as she went.

As soon as the attendant left, several passengers in Wu Su's carriage emerged trembling from under their blankets, looking at Wu Su in horror.

"Uncle (guys), you're awesome."

Wu Su looked at them, realizing they were all awake, so he was the last one to wake up? Everyone else was pretending to sleep?

Wu Su glanced around at these people, exactly like the portraits in the stuck game level, well this supernatural game knows how to use its surroundings.

Wu Su saw they were nearly scared out of their wits and felt like laughing, he wasn't that scared.

Since his father was the resident doctor at Chengde Medical Hall, doctors often encounter supernatural phenomena, he often saw his father treat malevolent illnesses when he was young, later when he was the butler at the Shi family, Shi Xuan would run into supernatural trouble frequently, seeing it often made him not afraid anymore.

"Uncle, what should we do? I have no idea what's going on, I just bought the boxed meal when it was offered, ended up eating a mouthful of cremation ash porridge! Will it kill me?" A young man covered his stomach, scared.

"I don't want to ride this train anymore, I want to jump off! I miss my wife and kids."

"I said this train was unlucky, why did I buy this ticket? I didn’t even get a chance to buy ginger slices."

Everyone was panicking, all confiding in Wu Su, a stranger, feeling that this uncle might have some insight.

Wu Su looked at his phone connected to the supernatural network, surprised, "You have no network, no signal?"

A young girl said fearfully, "Exactly, no network, no signal, otherwise we could call the police for help, even if we couldn't call the police, we could connect with Doctor Wu Heng, we wouldn’t be this terrified."

Wu Su was very proud when he heard Wu Heng's name, he couldn't let his son down! Wu Su looked at his phone interface and immediately dialed the police, soon it connected.

The surrounding passengers' eyes lit up, this, this got through?!

The police, please come save us! There are thousands of passengers on train G4044.

Wu Su formally said, "Is this the Huaxia underworld yin emissary office? Please transfer me to Hezipo Town - Nannuo Village's Lai Jun, the yin emissary."

Hearing the eerie 'hello' from the other end, Wu Su immediately said, "Lai Wazi, quickly tell your grandma and Wu Heng, his dad, I’m on train G4044 which has encountered evil, now heading towards Peaceful Village, see if there's a way to save us?"

The yin emissary Lai Yin Chai was originally puzzled who was calling him on the underworld line, hearing the somewhat familiar voice was suddenly startled, 'Uncle Wu Su? How did you know I became a yin emissary after I died?'

Wu Su smiled, he also heard from old lady Lai and his family's old man chatting that Lai Wazi was supposed to die young, Lai Ma Zi forced him to become a guide child's life for this only son to live, at least able to live eighteen more years.

Wu Su figured the guide must be a yin emissary, since yin emissaries are tasked with guiding ghosts and demons. The call was definitely worth it.

The other end acknowledged and the call ended.

Wu Su was greeted with wide-eyed astonishment and excitement. "Is Dr. Wu from Chengde Medical Hall your son, by any chance?"

They’d just heard the location! Everyone in the country knows about Nan Nuo Village now!

"The old Dr. Wu is my dad, and the young Dr. Wu is my son," Wu Su intentionally lightened the mood. "I’m the middle Wu."

No one laughed, though they were still trembling with excitement at finding a mastermind. Wu Su felt troubled. He lacked the medical talent to inherit Chengde Medical Hall; his father took You Jin as a disciple and bluntly told him he could coast on his dad’s success in his youth and later rely on his son.

But growing up around it, Wu Su knew that talismans and anti-evil medicine paled in comparison to one’s own yang energy and moral strength. But with the situation still unclear, he didn’t dare act rashly.

Wu Su turned on his mobile hotspot. "Hop on my hotspot and use the ghost network."

The girl quickly logged into Shark Video Platform, immediately entering the black-and-white live broadcast room of Chengde Medical Hall. Seeing Wu Heng still consulting Sun Zhengtao on screen, she cried with joy, her trembling hands typing out a plea for help, but the message wouldn’t send.

Wu Su said, "We’re alive, and this is the dead’s network—it’s normal for us to be restricted."

One of the men looked discouraged. "Then what’s the point of this network if we can’t even call for help?"

Wu Su’s eyes gleamed with an odd light. "It’s still useful. Do you play King of Glory? Let’s play the underworld version!"

There were six berths in their carriage, with one upper berth empty, leaving just five people—all of whom knew how to play.

The group figured this man was Dr. Wu Heng’s father, so his move must mean something. They muddled into the underworld version of King of Glory to play.

The horror-themed, bloody game interface made them want to scream. Their account avatars were their own black-and-white memorial photos.

Wu Su excitedly operated his phone, saying to a girl who was crying and killing crazily beside him, "Wow, little girl, you’re actually a king! Carry me, this gold player, to victory!"

Few ghosts in the underworld use phones, so the game’s development has been slow. Team games are even tougher, so he usually sticks to single-player underworld games.

After a few rounds, Wu Su saw that they had recovered some yang energy and were not trembling so much. He asked them, "How is it? Still scared?"

Still scared, but not so scared.

Because...

The girl, holding the freezing cold phone, pouted and said, "These ghosts are so bad at playing games. Come again!"

They’re so bad—all they can do is float around and scare us with their bloody faces.

This move indeed had deep meaning. Middle Dr. Wu is also a divine doctor. Chengde Medical Hall is indeed well-deserved!

*

Netizens sighed that the top donor named "Wu Heng’s Dad" finally stopped sending gifts. The ID looked really eye-catching, always feeling like Heng Heng’s rich anti-fan.

"Only refund? Rich people only refund? That’s not good, right? It feels a bit like eating without paying."

"Buying second-hand clothes and only refunding—these two are amazing."

"I don’t quite understand only refunding. If there’s a problem with the item, as long as the other party pays for shipping, I think returning and refunding is appropriate."

"? The platform launched a only refund after-sales mode. What’s wrong with me only refunding? I’m so busy—where do I have time to send the goods?"

"These two are pretending to be rich. They’ve got a problem. Anyway, I don’t sympathize."

Wu Heng directly exposed them, making Sun Zhengtao and his wife very embarrassed. It’s said that birds of a feather flock together. Both of them have this problem—they love to pretend to be rich and create a rich persona. In fact, the gold necklaces they wear are fake.

Sun Zhengtao has requested refunds without returning items from many merchants, so how could Dr. Wu know which one he meant?

Besides, even if he did request a refund without returning the item, why would that make him sick?

"Which second-hand clothing store did you two request refunds from without returning the items, and yet they didn’t argue with you?" Dr. Wu said while taking a spare phone to check the information.

Sun Zhengtao quickly pulled out his phone and scrolled through the orange app, soon spotting a store named "Ping'an Idle Clothes" in the list of refunds. He said, "I remember that after the item arrived, there were a few bloodstains on it, so I requested a refund without returning it."

Bloodstains.

Thinking of this, combined with the recent unsettling events in the world, Sun Zhengtao felt a chill run down his spine. Could it be...

A cold wind blew in through the front door, and Lai Yin Chai was annoyed that all the windows of Chengde Medical Hall were sealed, forcing him to enter through the front door instead of climbing through a window.

Lai Yin Chai looked them up and down and let out a strange laugh. "The living wearing the clothes of the dead—you’re next."

"Could these be... the clothes of the dead?" Sun Zhengtao immediately had a thought, his face pale as he asked.

Dr. Wu nodded.

Wearing the clothes of the dead and then pulling the refund-without-returning trick.

Lai Yin Chai wasn’t interested in Dr. Wu’s patients. He floated over and said, "Your dad called me, saying he ran into something evil on the G4044 train. Can you help him out?"

Dr. Wu frowned. His father, unlike his grandfather, was just an ordinary guy. How did he get involved in such things again?

Was it because he’d been the butler at the Shi family’s haunted place for too long, making him more prone to encountering the supernatural?

Dr. Wu suddenly turned to Shi Xuan, who was leaning on a chair reading a book. Noticing his gaze, Shi Xuan looked up and saw a hint of displeasure in Dr. Wu’s eyes.

Shi Xuan: "?"

Shi Xuan put down the book, stood up, and grabbed the hot water kettle, pushing Lai Yin Chai aside. He asked softly, unsure, "Are you thirsty? Let me get you some more water."

"Wu Heng."

Dr. Wu coughed lightly. It wasn’t Shi Xuan’s fault—he wasn’t the one who hired his father.

"What should I do, Dr. Wu? Can I just send the refunded money back?" Sun Zhengtao was terrified and started brainstorming solutions.

"Dr. Wu, this fur coat I’m wearing... I also bought it from this store. Could it be cursed? Surely not every item in a second-hand store is the clothes of the dead, right?" His wife pointed at her coat and kept talking.

Dr. Wu took the phone Sun Zhengtao handed over with trembling hands and looked with interest at the clothes still listed for sale on the store’s page.

It was winter, so the store was selling winter clothes, from down jackets and coats to fleece pants and out-of-stock snow boots, with prices ranging from high to low, catering to all budgets.

Dr. Wu quickly scrolled through and clicked on the details page, saying, "These are all the old clothes of the dead."

Dr. Wu continued, "Customs vary by region. In many places, some of the clothes of the deceased are burned, while others are thrown away."

"...Holy crap, all of them are from the dead? I know some second-hand clothes are from the deceased or the sick, but not every single one, right? Unless they specifically collect the clothes of the dead."

"Damn, that’s terrifying to think about. If they’re specifically collecting them, what are they up to?"

"Is this lady so scared that she’s still wearing that fur coat?! What was she thinking?"

"Hahaha, it’s like the ghosts are punishing those who pull the refund-without-returning trick."

"Can you share the store’s name so we can avoid it? I’m so scared of buying clothes from there."

Sun Zhengtao's wife, Li Jing, was so terrified that she didn't care about the public setting. She quickly unbuttoned and took off her fur coat, tossing it to the ground like it was burning hot, and stepped back several steps, afraid to be too close.

Wu Heng curved his lips in a slight smile, seeing He Yunxiao constantly tagging him in the group chat.

"He Yunxiao: @Baby Heng Heng, Dr. Wu, a user has been persistently requesting to connect, seemingly in a hurry. Should we allow it?"

Wu Heng glanced at the ID and chose to accept. Immediately, a young woman with a refined, scholarly demeanor appeared on the screen.

She anxiously said, "Hello, Dr. Wu, could I take a closer look at that fur coat? I think it might belong to my friend!"

After receiving a nod, Chen Zhao immediately picked up the phone and zoomed in the camera, focusing entirely on the white fur coat. Upon closer inspection, they noticed a small pink flower embroidered inside.

The young woman's eyes immediately filled with tears as she covered her mouth, "That's my best friend's coat! She bought it as an eco-friendly choice, a faux fur. She accidentally tore the lining, and the repair was expensive, so I helped her embroider a small pink flower! The stitching is definitely mine."

The woman nearly crumpled to the floor. Wu Heng had just revealed that all the clothes in that store belonged to the deceased, which meant her best friend, who had been missing for five years, was already...

Wu Heng picked up the partially consumed cup of honey water, took out a piece of yellow paper, and inscribed a secret exorcism character on it. He then threw the paper into the cup and gently stirred. Oddly, the yellow paper dissolved effortlessly into the honey water.

Wu Heng left his seat with the cup and slowly poured the warm water over the soft, fox-tail-like collar of the fur coat. The faintly yellow liquid cascaded over the pristine white fur, soon staining it, much to the horror of many onlookers.

As the liquid rolled off the coat, the honey water gradually changed color and became more viscous.

Numerous viewers thought their eyes were deceiving them. Without even blinking, they watched as the white fur coat, under the influence of the medicinal honey water, slowly transformed into a viscous, crimson blood, dripping down.

In a flash, the white fur coat was entirely drenched in blood, covering the small pink flower. The once elegant white fur now exuded a horrifying presence.

Li Jing, Sun Zhengtao's wife, stared at the coat she had just worn, still warm from her body, now morphed into this ghastly state. She screamed in terror, and the couple immediately clung to each other, trembling.

"My God, this is terrifying! Could this be the blood from when the woman died, staining the coat?"

"My mom warned me not to watch the Chengde Medical Hall live stream before bed. I should have heeded her advice."

"Collecting and selling clothes from the deceased, what are these people trying to do? Life is already a struggle for us working-class people, why does everyone seem to want our lives?"

The young woman clutched her legs tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Dr. Wu, do you know where she is? I want... I want to bring her back myself."

Wu Heng glanced at Lai Yin Chai, pondered for a moment, and said, "There are few living souls left in that village. I wouldn't advise going."

The woman was silent for a while, then gently bit her lip and said firmly, "I want to bring her back, no matter where she is."

If there was danger, she could hire more masters to accompany her.

She didn't understand why her best friend was in the village, and a strong sense of unease filled her heart, with ominous thoughts.

Wu Heng suddenly asked, "Do you play games?"

The woman was momentarily stunned, not sure how Wu Heng had shifted the topic, but quickly nodded, "Yes, I play games, and I'm quite good at it."

Wu Heng didn't respond but instead removed the woman from the call. Just as she thought Wu Heng had rejected her dangerous request, she received a private message from Chengde Medical Hall.

"You can't disembark from the G4044 train, but you can still board. Sit beside an uncle named Wu Su and play games with him."