Chapter 105: Rules and Solutions

Under the moonlight, he pushed open the door before him and walked into the night. The stadium lights blazed like the midday sun.

"You cannot blend in with them, but the way to enter here is to imitate them."

He chuckled softly, shaking his head. "If it weren’t for the smelling salts at the door, who knows how long I’d have to study this."

He pushed the door open, but the room behind him was utterly empty—no sign of Zhang Lan’s corpse or Jiang Wan’s body.

They remained in the present world, in the main room, along with the pendant hanging over Chen Qing’s chest.

Although Bu Zhaozhao couldn’t directly touch them, he could still protect and interact with those extraordinary objects to some extent.

He stepped outside, took a deep breath, and began to recall everything that had happened earlier.

“The route wasn’t the problem,” he murmured. “We made mistakes, and many of them.”

"When we left the back room, we didn’t see any shrine or anything resembling it."

He spoke quietly, taking each step toward the stairs. Upstairs, the doorway once pried open by the burly giant had been restored. Inside, the scattered droplets of blood on the floor had already dried.

"Not much time has passed in here," he whispered, pulling a slip of paper from under the table, from the same spot as before.

“Do not disobey the leader’s words;

All orders from the leader must be obeyed;

Anyone who disobeys will be punished by death.”

The handwriting on the note was far more formal now. He flicked the paper lightly and approached the head table. Shaking the drawer, he pulled hard. With a clatter, the drawer opened, and a group of translucent figures began to enter.

They moved to their workstations, pulled out chairs, and sat down in perfect unison.

He watched as their bodies gradually solidified, their faces slowly taking shape.

The two leading figures were unfamiliar faces; the two in the middle were Chen Qing and Jiang Wan; the last two faces were rotten, disintegrating visages.

Though their features were indistinct, it was clear these were no human faces.

Just as he was about to examine the contents of the drawer more closely, a noise came from outside.

The sound grew louder, approaching the door. A hand pushed the doorframe open, just as before.

“Who are you?”

It looked at Chen Qing, who sat in his seat without a word.

Chen Qing did not answer but averted his gaze, his eyes resting on the items in the drawer.

A passbook, a roster, a piece of chocolate, and a pen.

Here, this was everything that existed in this world.

“Get down! I said get down!”

But Chen Qing ignored the voice, turning the pages of the roster. There, a few lines were recorded.

“Supervisor: (redacted) Kritz

Employee: (redacted) Gongsun Fu

Employee: (redacted) Duan Liuji

Employee: Fu Jia

Employee: Fu Le

Employee: Fu Lu

Employee: Fu An”

He smiled softly, murmuring, “Not to be discovered, not to blend in with them.”

He looked at the handwriting on the roster, and the pen in his hand quietly fell.

At the doorframe, the giant’s shout grew louder. It hurried forward two steps, but those two steps froze instantly; its outstretched hand hung suspended in midair.

“Be quiet.”

It heard Chen Qing’s command. The suspended hand had nowhere to go. Whether shocked by Chen Qing’s reply or for some other reason, it fell silent and obeyed.

Slowly, it lowered its hand, placing it upon the two employees seated at the front, as if using them as a humanoid crutch.