Chapter 155 - 143: Ancient Abyss’s New Protagonist

Early on the morning of August 4th, Bai Qiang finally woke up from a night of endless, looping nightmares. Her body was stiff and freezing cold, as if she had been dead for quite some time.

Her eyes were red and swollen, and her pillow was completely soaked in tears. Her chest ached as if someone had smashed it with a hammer.

Bai Qiang leaned against the headboard and took a deep breath. Last night, she had been trapped in the summer of her senior year of high school, dreaming about He Qing.

She knew He Qing was going to die. She tried every possible method to save her, but she failed every single time, always falling just a little bit short. Because of this, she continuously looped through that summer, repeating it over and over, constantly witnessing the heart-wrenching scene.

The bedroom curtains were drawn tight. Bai Qiang turned her head and saw the pale, gray female ghost standing at the foot of her bed, looking at her with a sorrowful expression. The ghost’s body was much more solid than when they had first returned yesterday.

"Can we negotiate a bit?" Bai Qiang asked. "From now on, I’ll pick a fixed time every night to cry until you’re satisfied. Just don’t torment me while I’m sleeping, alright?"

Blood went DRIP DROP from the female ghost’s wrists. She didn’t respond.

Bai Qiang sighed, got out of bed, and went to wash up.

Upon entering the living room, Bai Qiang saw Yin Zhen sitting at her dining table, eating breakfast he had bought from outside. Her portion was already laid out.

"Are you treating my home like your own now?" Bai Qiang grumbled playfully, turning her head to look around. "Have you seen my cat?"

Yin Zhen’s expression remained unchanged as he replied, "I saw it slip away through the garden when I arrived."

"Then why didn’t you help me catch it?"

Yin Zhen pulled a tissue to wipe his hands. "Tabby cats belong in the wild. They aren’t suited to be kept as house pets."

"Nonsense! The little guy was incredibly happy when he was with me. He even brought me presents. I’m his family!"

"It’s still warm. Use it to compress your eyes." Yin Zhen handed a boiled egg to Bai Qiang, changing the subject.

Bai Qiang sat down and peeled the egg. "Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you something last night. I brought that ghost back with me. The strength of the Red Corpse Blood Clan was at least isolated on the Character, so why did this ghost directly bind to my soul?"

Yin Zhen had pondered this very question yesterday. "The Blood Clan’s strength is hidden within the blood, making it physical. A ghost is a mutation of the soul. We travel between the two worlds through our souls, so if a ghost binds to your soul, it will naturally follow your main body. This might also be an indication of the game’s increasing difficulty."

Bai Qiang sighed. "I wonder if we’ll be able to find a way to painlessly unbind them in the future."

"That might be the problem the main plot of the next world requires us to solve. This situation also implies that once Players from Ancient Abyss become Sealers, it’s equivalent to helping the other world bring supernatural power into Ancient Abyss. The changes that have already occurred in Ancient Abyss cannot be erased. If we want to prevent Ancient Abyss from being destroyed by supernatural power, we must kill their protagonist as soon as possible."

Yin Zhen took out a notebook and a smartwatch, sliding them across the table. "The notebook contains the intel I handwrote last night. Wei Yang is an intern investigator who has just entered the supernatural circle, so the information he knows isn’t comprehensive, nor is it necessarily all accurate. You’ll have to use your own judgment to distinguish the facts."

Bai Qiang nodded, then asked, "Why give me a kids’ smartwatch?"

"Currently, only children’s smartwatches on the market come with cameras. I installed a Mini Program in it. Your Ghost Device requires you to know a person’s name to use it. When you wear this watch, if the camera frames the person’s face, it will display their name."

The watch had been modified by Lucy. After Yin Zhen returned home last night, he had Lucy install the Mini Program. In modern society, everyone has undergone facial recognition and ID card verification in various applications. For Lucy, writing a program to retrieve names was not difficult at all.

"You practically handcrafted a cheat device for me!"

For Bai Qiang, writing down symptoms and treatment methods wasn’t the hard part—she was a top student, after all. The real difficulty lay in obtaining someone’s real name.

Bai Qiang immediately picked up the watch and pointed it at Yin Zhen. However, on the watch’s screen, every time Yin Zhen was scanned, a different name popped up.

Bai Qiang pursed her lips. "You didn’t install any eavesdropping programs in this watch, did you?"

"No. It is inherently a normal smartwatch. Besides the facial recognition program, it only has an SOS function. In the event of a severe impact, or if you long-press the side button for three seconds, the watch will send your location to me and open a voice channel. If I’m nearby, I’ll come to save you as fast as I can."

Bai Qiang didn’t say anything. Saying something felt like raising a death flag, though she wouldn’t use this function lightly anyway.

"Once the official game begins, I’ll find a way to hack into their residents’ database over there. When the time comes, I’ll give you another identical watch that can be used in that world," Yin Zhen added.