In a way, this skill basically granted Wu Xiaoming things he kind of already knew. Because ultimately, he was not a character inside of the game he was developing, he knew more than the scope of knowledge and skills in the skill panel. Though, to be honest, he knew a lot of the folk rituals from this very skill tree only on a superficial level, anything deeper, his knowledge became lacking.
For example, he knew that in traditional folklore, black dog blood and male virgin urine had very strong evil repelling properties, but he had not seen either work in actuality. And with this skill, similar to the hand-to-hand combat experience and knowledge from the Arhat skill, information and knowledge about these simple rituals were revealed to him.
"Black Dog Blood: dogs were creatures of intense Yang energy, and black dogs are often the ones with the highest intensity. Legend says that black dogs, especially dogs of pure black fur with no spots, are blessed with the aura of Xiaotian Quan, thus their blood can make demons and evil spirits flee in fear."
"Male Virgin Urine: it is said that as each male baby was incubated and given birth, a trace of 'Original Heavenly Yang Qi' comes with him. This trace of Qi will remain in the body until it dissipates from the first sexual encounter. For a boy and a man with this trace of Qi intact, the excretion of bodily fluids carries the trace amount of pure Yang energy, powerful enough to devastate and despell evil forces."
"Raw Sticky Rice: sticky rice was once considered the 'Prime' of crops. It was also the designated tribute to ancient gods of mountains. Till this very day, sticky rice still carries the blessed properties that could alleviate and dispel sickness, curses and poisons. It is especially effective against necro-creatures like Jiangshi."
"Raw Egg: eggs are said to be in a perfect yet fragile balance of life and death - not yet alive, but not dead. Thus, they are sensitive to the energy of liveliness in the environment. Many conjurers and folk exorcists learned to take advantage of this property. By placing raw eggs in corners and paths where energy flows or Fengshui spots in different locations for a whole night and breaking them in the morning, one can easily tell if the locations are tainted by foul and evil energy by the color of the egg white and yolk. If what comes out is black, beware."
Wu Xiaoming shook his head and let out a long exhale. Everything was quite helpful, but the most helpful rituals/items were somewhat out of reach. There was simply no way to easily find black dog blood or male virgin urine. Hell, he could use his own pee if he traveled here with his own body, but for the previous Wu Xiaoming, that ship had long sailed. A point of both a little envy and frustration.
As for sticky rice, it shouldn't be that hard to find, there were a lot of Asian grocery stores everywhere. But just like the revealed information said, it was mostly effective against Jiangshi and curses, probably would not be as effective against regular demons and ghosts.
And raw eggs, this seemed like a really good trick, but he had one very obvious question: this Sproutlinger Hotel was a big one, there was no way there weren't any raw eggs in this place; if this place was as full of negative energy as he thought, how could the eggs not go bad? Maybe it should be eggs prepared by him? But what kind of preparation did he need?
Probably he needed more time to dive into it - life was not a game, after all. Just because he had some related skill point it did not mean that he could just do things.
He closed his eyes and rested without falling asleep for a few hours. Then around 7 or 7:30 in the morning, an alarm sounded, Leslie McKinsey awoke and stretched in his chair.
"Alright, folks, let's go have breakfast. I know a good spot around here. My treat." The director yawned and woke everyone up.
"Okay. Just let me check the data backup." Jake the sound guy was apparently their IT guy as well. "... alright, everything's backed up on the cloud and protected by authentication. Let's go."
The whole group went out of the hotel. The early morning wind was chilly, yet the light smell of urine and weed was indeed a ruiner of appetite.
Uncle Jack's Bistro, a homey small place with tight windows and a heavy door blocking the street smells. The director ordered an omelette, Tammy ordered sausage and mixed fruits, Jake the sound guy ordered some eggs and bacon, and the cameraman, whose name was probably Jeremy or James, ordered a sandwich. Wu Xiaoming did not really know what to order, so he just picked the item he had eaten before at home: a breakfast steak with eggs. And of course, there was coffee for everyone
"Good work yesterday." Leslie McKinsey nodded at everyone as he laid back on the booth chair: "Now, today we can take a break during the day, then we can think about how to shoot the Room of Wandering Dream."
"How about I just stay there for the night?" Wu Xiaoming asked.
"Of course, that's good. But the thing is, how do you even shoot a dream?" Leslie McKinsey shook his head.
"Hmm." Wu Xiaoming nodded. He was not a professional behind the camera or in front of the editing screen, he indeed hadn't thought about this.
"Yeah, probably best to just stay there for a night and then just tell everyone we didn't have the dream." Tammy shrugged: "I mean - it's always the back up option, right? We still have the recordings of knockings."
Wu Xiaoming thought for a moment, then asked: "Did the cameras catch anything in the room last night? You know, aside from the 'thank you'."
"What do you mean?" Tammy asked.
"I just mean - I mean - why did the ghost woman say thank you?" Wu Xiaoming had to find a reason to seem less suspicious: "I was wondering if something happened to trigger that, and if we get it on camera - "
"We can take a look during editing." Leslie McKinsey waved his hand: "But for Room 127…"
"I think I got Xiaoming's point." Before Wu Xiaoming could say anything, Jake the sound guy raised his hand: "Correct me if I'm wrong, Xiaoming, you were saying that IF we caught something in the camera when the dead woman said 'thank you', this means there's some kind of 'aftermath' after our encounter. If this is true, we can try to keep filming in the room after Xiaoming has the dream and see if we can catch anything new or never been told before."
"Yes, yes, exactly, thank you, Jake!" Wu Xiaoming nodded.
"That's a good point, we can still keep filming until the next day comes." Leslie McKinsey snapped his fingers: "I mean - we could even film the place around the rooms if Andria allows it."
"Did you ask her about the dead woman?" Tammy asked.
"Do I look stupid? " Leslie McKinsey chuckled and shook his head: "Not until I have some proof and a good chance that she will still sign the release."
"But still, wandering dream it is." Wu Xiaoming chuckled: "Can I get some notes? Not general ones, as detailed as possible."
"Sure, I can get you when we get back." Tammy giggled.
The detailed notes were not that different from what Andria already shared with him and the rest of the crew: some of the guests, as they went to sleep in that room, would find themselves trapped inside of a building with traditional Fujianese - Taiwanese style interior. Many of them would try to find their way out of the building in their dreams, but weren't able to do so. Almost coincidentally, many guests who had the dreams would suffer sickness or bad luck after their stay. Everything started from the curious missing guest who was never found.
There was more information, or should Wu Xiaoming say, gossip, about who the missing guest was - some said the guest was someone from Thailand and was consumed by a cursed artefact he brought with him, some said he was a person from mainland China who attended a dead wedding - a wedding where at least one party was a dead body, and was thus cursed, some said the guest was simply here to do drugs and was not able to handle his high.
But the dream itself was definitely more interesting - most of the guests could not remember many details aside from the style of the interior. But a few of them mentioned that when they were in the buildings, they felt they were being stalked by something.