Chapter 4: Local Supernatural Occurrence

Sitting in the office, Wang Xiaodian felt that something was different.

He didn’t know if it was psychological. In the real world, a place where someone died was just that—a place where someone had died. But in the Inner World, a place where someone died… well, that dead person might just show up again.

The entire Delicious Food Company complex was styled like something from thirty or forty years ago. There was no air conditioning; a few old-fashioned ceiling fans hung from the concrete ceiling. One was positioned directly above him and Little Li.

Wang Xiaodian tilted his head back and stared blankly. If that woman had hung herself here, she would have been suspended right between him and Little Li. A gentle breeze would have set the fan turning, and the woman’s body would have turned with it.

The mental stability he’d barely managed to maintain all morning began to crumble. Wang Xiaodian shivered involuntarily. He didn’t dare think about it anymore, but the image wouldn’t leave his mind.

“Little Li.” Wang Xiaodian glanced around. Seeing no one was paying him any attention, he leaned forward and called out to the person at the desk in front of him in a breathy whisper. He called two or three times, but the person in front didn’t react. Left with no choice, he stretched out a leg and kicked the other’s chair.

“L-Little Wang…”

“I… I’m sorry I scared you. Are you okay?”

Little Li’s voice trembled, his face was ashen, and he looked utterly terrified, his soul seemingly scared right out of him. He really didn’t look okay at all.

Little Li didn’t answer his question, only muttering absent-mindedly, “Little Wang, don’t you think it’s really cold?”

“Cold?” Wang Xiaodian only felt a chill in his heart. Little Li’s state was seriously wrong.

“I feel so cold, especially my back. Little Wang, can you check for me? See if there’s something on my back.”

Wang Xiaodian met Little Li’s fearful, desperate eyes. His throat tightened, and he was speechless for a moment. He quickly glanced up at the ceiling fan, made sure nothing was there, and then said decisively, “No, there’s nothing. Your back might feel cold because a window isn’t shut tight. Don’t let your imagination run wild!”

“Really? Is there really nothing? I don’t know why I think this way, Little Wang. I… I’m really scared.”

Wang Xiaodian was scared too, but he was very clear about their current situation. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Look at them. Aren’t they just a bunch of corporate slaves who slack off? And look at my Shifu and Brother Zhang, they’re pretty nice, right?”

“Remember what Sister Ning said? If you want to survive, you absolutely must stay calm.”

“I understand. Thank you, Little Wang. I’ll remember that.”

Wang Xiaodian breathed a sigh of relief. Shifting his gaze, he noticed Xu Xiye staring at him. He stiffened and reflexively tried to appease him, “Shifu! I wasn’t slacking off, I swear! I just wanted to help him out so you and Brother Zhang can both get the 200-yuan bonus. Don’t worry, I’ll get started on that new product promotion plan right away.”

Xu Xiye seemed fairly satisfied and nodded slightly before turning back around.

A disciple could share the workload and the pressure. If at first it was just about the 200 yuan and a bit of novelty, now he truly felt that having a disciple was pretty good.

That afternoon, the Supervisor came by to check on them twice more. They were also forced to work two hours of overtime. By the time they finished, it was already dark outside.

Xu Xiye stretched his stiff body, ready to go home. As he was about to leave, he remembered the junior disciple he was mentoring. “Little Wang, it’s time to clock out. What are your plans for the evening? Want to go out for a stroll with me?”

Wang Xiaodian sat in his seat with his arms crossed, his eyes not daring to wander. Ever since it got dark, the “people” in the office seemed less and less human.

As for exactly how they weren’t human, Wang Xiaodian couldn’t put his finger on it. He could only describe it as a feeling, something as elusive and metaphysical as a magnetic field.

His Shifu, however, didn’t seem to have changed much.

Wang Xiaodian looked up, about to reply, when he saw a long-haired woman diagonally ahead of him shove her head straight into a computer monitor. His mouth opened, a scream about to burst out, when the woman seemed to notice him. Her body turned, half her head still stuck in the computer, and her eyes stared straight at him.

Ah!

Wang Xiaodian didn’t scream. At the critical moment, he suppressed it.

Xu Xiye noticed his abnormal reaction, followed his gaze, and met the female colleague’s eyes.

The air was silent for a few seconds. The female colleague gave an awkward smile and quickly packed up her things and left.

Xu Xiye looked at Wang Xiaodian disapprovingly. “What are you doing? She’s just nearsighted.”

A common failing of Outsiders. No matter how many good qualities his disciple had, he couldn’t seem to shake these bad habits.

…Nearsighted? Fine, he’d call it nearsightedness. Wang Xiaodian made a mental note. He couldn’t panic.

“Forget it, let’s not talk about that. You guys must be bored just staying in the dorms. You could come crawling outside with me tonight to relax. The locals all love this activity.”

Wang Xiaodian was confused. “Crawling?”

Xu Xiye sighed, thinking to himself how these Outsiders just couldn’t keep up with trends. “Haven’t you heard that saying? By day, barely maintaining human form; by night, creeping and crawling in the dark.”

Wang Xiaodian: “…” Huh?

Of course, he’d heard similar sayings. Didn’t they refer to mental and emotional states? No one actually meant for you to go crawling!

Oh, right, you guys are anomalies. It’s normal for you to crawl.

The moment he realized that all those things—(screaming), (twisting), (flicking tongues and crawling onto the ceiling), (glaring with wide eyes and crawling back down), (roaring), (continuing to crawl wildly)—would become reality here, Wang Xiaodian felt completely unwell.

An old woman walking on all fours, a woman in red dragging her child by an umbilical cord… he couldn’t possibly endure a night like that.

“Honestly, with our Supervisor’s style, it’s impossible not to feel pressure. Going out for a crawl can really help you unwind. So, what do you say, coming or not?”

“No, Shifu,” Wang Xiaodian declined his enthusiastic invitation. “I don’t like going out at night.”

Xu Xiye was a bit disappointed, but he had heard that Outsiders liked to stay home and sleep at night. He really wanted to find someone to go with him. Even though everyone went out at night, everyone’s habits were different. Take him and Brother Zhang, for example.

Brother Zhang liked dark, lightless places, while he himself liked clean, bright, reflective things.

“Crawling” was just a general term. Finding a compatible partner wasn’t easy.

After Xu Xiye walked calmly out of the office, Wang Xiaodian finally breathed a sigh of relief. He called out to the dazed Little Li, and the two of them went to another office to find Jiang Wuning.

Jiang Wuning, Li Qing, and Lu Neng were already waiting in the corridor outside. Wang Xiaodian hurried over and greeted the three of them.

“Little Li, holding up okay?” Jiang Wuning asked with a concerned smile.

Little Li clenched his fists, subconsciously avoiding Jiang Wuning’s gaze. He said nothing, just nodded.

“You need to steady yourself. As long as you maintain your identity, there’s no direct danger in the Inner World. Most of it is psychological.”

“Mm.” Little Li nodded again.

“Sister Ning, where do we go next?” Wang Xiaodian asked, breaking the slightly somber atmosphere.

“To eat.”

“Looks like the food here is really edible.” Wang Xiaodian felt relieved.

But Jiang Wuning added, “Edible, yes, but it contains anomalous energy. It has a certain effect on the psyche.” She looked at Little Li as she spoke. “Unless you’re so hungry you absolutely have to eat, you’d better avoid it tonight.”

With that stipulation, edible or not, everyone finished their dinner as quickly as possible. Not asking to be full, just not hungry was enough.

To avoid misjudgments due to his own inexperience, Wang Xiaodian reported everything he had learned, including all the gossip Xu Xiye had mentioned.

“Did you see any anomalous phenomena?”

“Anomalous… does a woman shoving her own head into a computer count? But my Shifu… I mean, Xu Xiye, said she’s just nearsighted.”

“No,” Jiang Wuning explained. “These anomalous phenomena are targeted at us. We can all see anomalous phenomena, but the time we see them may differ. It depends on your Sanity Value. The greater the fluctuation in your Sanity Value, the more you’ll see. Anomalies can’t see these things.”

She glanced at the watch on her wrist. It displayed only three values: one was the time, one was the Contamination Level, and the other was the Sanity Value.

They had monitoring chips implanted under their skin. The watch only displayed the values; it wasn’t a detection instrument in itself.

“Anomalous phenomena are definitely linked to the Pollution Source. This is how it spreads its pollution. Once you see it, a drop in Sanity Value is inevitable. Again, try your best to stay calm.”

Wang Xiaodian shook his head. He hadn’t seen anything like that.

Jiang Wuning wasn’t surprised. She looked at Little Li. If any of them were going to see something first, it would definitely be him.

This was evident without needing an instrument to test.

Little Li also shook his head. “I just feel a chill behind me. I… I didn’t see anything else.”

Jiang Wuning smiled. “No rush. It’s only the first day.”

The others: “…” No one really wanted to see anything.

“A woman hanging dead from a ceiling fan… this is very likely one of the anomalous phenomena. If you are able to see her, I hope you can clearly see her face, remember her features, and then find her.”

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“Yes, it means exactly what you’re thinking. She’s in the company, clocking in and out just like everyone else.”

Wang Xiaodian gasped.

He knew there were many things Jiang Wuning hadn’t yet told them about the Inner World, about anomalies and the Pollution Source. Wang Xiaodian didn’t press for answers right away. For now, he just needed to know what to do.

However…

“What exactly does ‘Pollution Source’ refer to?”

“A collapsed anomaly,” Jiang Wuning said. “Alright, the Q&A ends here. Now, back to the dorms. No matter what you hear tonight, do not open the door.”

While the Outsiders lay in their dormitory beds sleeping, the local anomaly Xu Xiye began his nighttime activities once more.

The glass flower house, the one his embrace had been interrupted in last night, was firmly claimed by Xu Xiye tonight. It was a very satisfying feeling. A shame he couldn’t move it back home.

Diagonally opposite the flower house, about two blocks away, was a high-end hotel. Xu Xiye had been there before. It was beautiful, with large floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper floors. But late at night, it was usually pitch black. Now, however, one floor was lit up.

Xu Xiye lay on the rooftop. The black, ink-like, unknown substance slowly contracted, revealing the glass flower house again. The black blob twisted at the top, transforming into various shapes. In a few leaps, he had climbed up to the hotel’s floor-to-ceiling window.

It was so spacious inside, with all sorts of exquisitely styled lamps. That bed also looked big and soft. Xu Xiye had never stayed in such a luxurious hotel. No, scratch that, he’d never stayed in any hotel at all.

An envious expression appeared on Xu Xiye’s face. Too bad his salary wouldn’t allow him to splurge on such a large expense all at once.

As Xu Xiye was pondering this, a man walked out. He was wearing soft, long trousers, and a dress shirt loosely fastened with a few buttons. Barefoot, his hair slightly damp, it seemed like he had just stepped out of the shower.

Xu Xiye’s gaze met the man’s instantly.

Silver-blue eyes. It was the first time Xu Xiye had seen eyes of this color. He wanted them, very much.

During the day, he worked diligently, but at night, he could afford to be a little more willful. He could find a way to make them his own.

Gouging them out wouldn’t work; they would lose their luster. Then he would have to take the person home. But if he didn’t lock him up, the man would run away. If he did lock him up, the eyes might become dull.

Shut-ins were an exception.

So, first step: confirm whether or not this guy is a total shut-in.