"It hurts like hell."
Jiang Jiuguo woke up, clutching the back of his head in pain.
But before he could worry about the pain, he recalled what happened before he lost consciousness.
Before blacking out...
As usual, after finishing his university classes, Jiang Jiuguo had gone out to work his part-time job. He had finished earlier than usual because he was going to celebrate a birthday with his parents and sister. Today was the whole family's birthday; all of them were born on the same day.
However, on his way back after buying the cake...
A group of people appeared out of nowhere. Their leader blocked him and asked a question.
"Do you believe there are ghosts in this world?"
"There are no ghosts."
Seeing that they had the advantage of numbers, Jiang Jiuguo chose to follow his gut and give that answer.
And then, there was nothing.
His memory before losing consciousness stopped right after his answer. It felt like he'd been struck by a blunt club on the back of his head, knocking him out until now.
"Was I kidnapped?"
Jiang Jiuguo looked around at his surroundings.
He found that he was no longer on the road home, but inside a room.
The room was very bright, entirely white, and very clean. It was about a dozen square meters in size, no different from an ordinary room.
The only peculiarity was that both the walls and the floor were wrapped in very soft leather, much like an isolation cell in a psychiatric hospital, designed to prevent patients from harming themselves by banging their heads against the walls.
Besides that...
The room was completely enclosed, with a single door as the only Entrance.
There was a small glass window on the door, and a smaller slot below it, resembling a prison cell where the slot is used to pass food trays to inmates.
"I haven't run into some perverted organization, have I? Are they going to use me for human experimentation?"
It wasn't that Jiang Jiuguo was overthinking it.
It was that when he went to the glass window in the door to look out...
Outside the window was a pristine white corridor.
On both sides of the corridor were doors marked with numerical IDs, and every door had a glass window.
Jiang Jiuguo saw that at the glass windows of some doors, people were looking out just like him.
"Are they people who were captured just like me?"
Observing the situation of the room he was in again...
Jiang Jiuguo was certain he had been kidnapped, and it wasn't as simple as human trafficking.
Because...
If it were human trafficking or organ harvesting, there would be no need to lock them in such comfortable, clean, and hygienic rooms. They should have just been thrown together like trash.
Just as Jiang Jiuguo was about to continue his observations, a teasing voice suddenly came from behind him.
"New guy, you're pretty calm."
Huh?!
The hair on Jiang Jiuguo's neck stood up, and he spun around abruptly.
"Who's there?"
His pupils constricted instantly.
At some point, an extra person had appeared in the corner of the room behind him, leaning there, grinning as he stared straight at Jiang Jiuguo.
"How did you get in?" Jiang Jiuguo subconsciously scanned the walls of the room.
The room wasn't large to begin with; it could be seen in its entirety at a glance. There was only one main door, and everywhere else was soft padding. If this person wanted to enter, they could only come through the main door. But Jiang Jiuguo had been standing right by the main door; if this person had entered, it was impossible for him not to have seen them.
Is there a secret door?
But... even if there was a secret door, the room was only this big. It had taken Jiang Jiuguo less than a few seconds to walk to the door, and the corner had been in his blind spot for at most a second. How could anyone manage to sit down so silently in just one second?
But if there was no secret door...
How did this person get in?
Jiang Jiuguo frowned. When he first woke up, he had observed the room, and at that time, he was the only person in it.
"Get in? I've been in the room the whole time."
The person in the corner grinned as he watched Jiang Jiuguo's appraising gaze.
"From the moment you were unconscious until now, I've been in the room. Are you thinking 'impossible' right now? How could you not have noticed me? You clearly didn't see me when you looked around just now."
Jiang Jiuguo remained silent.
This was indeed what he was thinking.
"I can tell you quite clearly: I was in the room. As for why you didn't see me, it's simply because you overlooked me. Looking at your expression, are you thinking I'm messing with you? How could a big living person like me be overlooked? But that's the truth."
"New guy, you don't need to worry about whether there's something wrong with your eyes. I can tell you for sure that your eyes are fine, very healthy. Anyone sent in here—let alone eye diseases—even if they have a physical disability, they'll be cured before being sent in. It's a bit troublesome to explain, though. Just watch."
The second after he finished speaking...
Jiang Jiuguo's expression changed drastically as an amazing yet horrifying scene unfolded.
In front of him...
The person in the corner vanished right before his eyes. It was as if they had disappeared into thin air, leaving him alone in the entire room.
"Now, new guy, do you still think you were the only one in the room just now?" A voice came from the empty corner. "There's nothing wrong with your eyes."
Jiang Jiuguo was incredibly familiar with this voice.
It was the voice of the person who had been in the corner earlier.
Then, the person in the corner appeared once more.
He patted his rear as he stood up, walked over to Jiang Jiuguo, and reached out his hand. "Let's introduce ourselves. My name is Zhou Fengchun. And you? Actually, never mind the introduction, I know what you're called. They told me when they sent you over. You're Jiang Jiuguo, right? That's quite a rare name."
Feeling the warmth from Zhou Fengchun's palm...
Jiang Jiuguo was certain the other party was human, not some 3D projection or special effects trick. He was even more shocked for a moment.
A person disappearing and reappearing right before his eyes.
Superpowers?
Aliens?
Amidst his racing thoughts, Jiang Jiuguo also responded.
"It is quite rare. My grandfather gave it to me; he said he asked an old fortune-telling master to pick it."
"I thought your parents picked it." Zhou Fengchun sat back in the corner, as if only the corner made him feel comfortable. "Anyway, let's not talk about that. Are you curious why you were captured and brought here?"
Zhou Fengchun was wearing white hospital-style clothes and sitting in the corner of the room. At any other time, Jiang Jiuguo would have just taken him for a mental patient.
But after the miraculous scene shown earlier...
Jiang Jiuguo immediately nodded in response. Even if the other person was a mental patient, they were no ordinary one, and they certainly knew something about this place.
"The reason you were captured is related to the question you answered before you were caught," Zhou Fengchun said.
"?"
Jiang Jiuguo hesitated before speaking. "You mean... that question asking me if 'there are ghosts in the world'? Wasn't that just a code or signal for kidnapping someone?"
"Of course not. That was the key to catching you," Zhou Fengchun said with a grin. "Because the people who caught you want to turn you into a ghost."
Jiang Jiuguo's first reaction upon hearing this was that Zhou Fengchun was crazy.
But he quickly recalled the miraculous scene from earlier.
His brow furrowed, but in the end, he said nothing and chose to continue listening to Zhou Fengchun's explanation.
"Your reaction is better than my last roommate. The last guy who came was so scared he pissed his pants. This room smelled like urine for days; it was disgusting."
Seeing Jiang Jiuguo's quiet reaction, Zhou Fengchun huddled in the corner while his slightly hollow eyes rolled, and he slowly asked a question.
"Aren't you afraid? The people who caught you want to turn you into a ghost. You should be able to imagine that they'll at least do something to your body. That's very dangerous; no matter how you look at it, your life could be at risk."
"I'm afraid. I'm actually about to piss myself right now, but I'm trying hard to hold it in."
As he spoke, Jiang Jiuguo simply sat down as well, then continued.
"However, as for the human experiment to turn me into a ghost—let's call it a human experiment for now—you must have been experimented on too, right? And since you had a previous roommate, you must have been here for a while. Yet you've gone through the experiment and are still alive. Since you could survive, I should have a chance to survive as well."
"Exactly. I've also been experimented on, and I'm currently still alive," Zhou Fengchun answered very bluntly.
"Then can I ask a question?" Jiang Jiuguo didn't continue listening to Zhou Fengchun's narrative. Based on the current information, he seemed safe for the time being.
"Ask away."
"You said you've been experimented on too. So, are you a human or a ghost right now?" Jiang Jiuguo stared into those hollow eyes...