Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Chapter 420: I Want Nothing More Than To Leave This Place

Zhao Youyue was most certainly very corporeal. She was certain of that, at the very least. She also most certainly could not deny the foul stench that she was releasing. She looked like a typical vagabond, so it was understandable if these sheltered modern folk avoided her against their wills.

Even if she was a ghost, she would not blatantly take lives. She was content to remain an onlooker

Wait a minute…since she had inherited the abilities of those character cards, how could she have forgotten about her innate “passerby attribute?” This allowed her to steer clear of the spotlight!

It was better to depend on that ability. No matter, what she would be unable to explain her origins to the group. Did you expect her to say that she came from another world, and that her soul was just paying a visit?

As no one moved in to question her, she pretended to be a silent, expressionless, uncongenial girl, and went with the flow, stroking the black cat in her arms. Fortunately, it was currently daytime and they were all under the brilliant sun. If not, her appearance might have created a very strange atmosphere.

Zhao Song was relieved when he saw his black cat being so intimate with this skinny girl. His two eyes confirmed that the girl was not some sort of ghost. How else could she be in such close contact with a black cat?

At that moment, Zhao Song decided to give up on the trip altogether. Something bugged him. His senses told him that something would happen on that night. These suicidal guys had already caused trouble, and they had not even carried out their plans of playing spiritualism games and telling campfire ghost stories at night. They were insane

He hesitated no more. Using his phone, he sent his sister a signal that was only known to the two of them. Not long after, his phone rang. Upon answering the call, he responded with a volume that was just enough to be heard by everyone, “What? Dad’s sick again, and you need me to go back? Okay, I’ll most definitely be back within these two days!”

On the contrary, Zhao Song’s father was in the pink of health. But it could not be helped. He had to find for himself a reasonable excuse to get himself out in the crucial moment.

His ‘father’s sickness’ excuse had worked, every single time

After Zhao Song hung up the phone, he gave everyone an apologetic gaze, and said, “Something happened back home, I must go. Please forgive me.”

“Are you actually afraid?” That well-dressed, rebellious girl quipped. This supernatural genre writer of certain renown was truly a coward. He had been tiptoeing about since the beginning of their journey. Let’s not even get started on his superstitions and weird rituals. He was far too deep in this ghost culture!

Zhao Song refused to be provoked by her verbal attack. He had driven here by himself. It had already become second nature to him. He packed his luggage up in silence. Of course, he considered the black cat to be his most important possession, which he treated like his own ancestors.

If he planned on leaving with the cat, he certainly had to take Zhao Youyue along

Zhao Youyue got into the car. She watched helplessly as Zhao Song drove up and down the small road within Feng Men Village, drawing the attention of some villagers. The villagers were old, but they did not age like regular humans. Their faces were riddled with wrinkles. It was a bizarre sight.

They stared at the high-end SUV with grins on their faces. It seemed to be a source of great humor, as if they were saying ——

Did he expect to leave after the doors of this village had already been sealed?

Zhao Youyue finally blurted out, “Hey, if you continue to drive like that, the car will run out of gas.”

At that moment, cold sweat flowed all over Zhao Song’s body. Before the girl had managed to remind him, he had already driven onto the provincial highway. The next moment, it was as if a veil had been lifted off his eyes. He would jolt up from his stupor, only to catch sight of some very archaic houses on both sides of the road. If only they had been well-maintained, this place had the potential of being a nice tourist attraction. But now, they gave Zhao Song nothing but the chills.

As one who had encountered several ghosts in his lifetime, he was all too aware of this so-call “ghost wall.” But the sun was up high above the clouds, and the “ghost wall” blanketed the entire village. What sort of scary ghost was this?

He’s doomed. After all his narrow misses, this might be the one that does him in. The other end of the spectrum would be him producing another piece of interesting supernatural genre work this time according to his personal experience. Even the outline of the entire plot was in his mind.

This doorway was not affiliated to Feng Men Village in any way. It was the doing of the legendary “Wicked Zombie.” The throne was actually the center of the bewitchment. It was also the point where most of the evil energy converged. Therefore, anyone who got in contact with the chair would get affected by the evil energy, and encounter strange things.

Maintaining the seal required continuous sacrifices. But with the arrival of the new era, superstitions and the fear of the ethereal was slowly dying out. As a result, the seal had weakened considerably. Due to groups like these who often sought death, travelers were dying gruesome deaths, one after another

“Wait, when did you get in the car?” Zhao Song wiped away the cold beads of sweat. Zhao Youyue sat on the back seat, hugging the black cat. Who knew if she suddenly turned into some “faceless ghost” and granted him a gruesome death.

“I followed you when you got into the car,” Zhao Youyue answered. It was the whole truth. She even hoped that Zhao Song would be able to transport her back to the civilized world.

“If you had not said a word, I wouldn’t have noticed you being there for the rest of the trip! Who are you, actually?”

“I just want to leave this place.”

“So do I!”

Zhao Song had the imagination that one would expect of a writer. By then, he had started assuming that this girl might have been caught up in some dirty, human-trafficking business. She was most certainly not some adopted future daughter-in-law either. All the people in this village were basically old people, of the extremely odd variety. Were they actually thinking of using some sort of beautiful virgin as a sacrifice for the scary ghost? It was all for them to extend their pathetic lives of hardship for just a little longer

His ancestral black cat was being particularly friendly with this girl. It was enough for him to have a somewhat favorable impression of her. At the same time, her reminder just now had been most helpful. If not, he would have been thoroughly lost in the illusion that he had left this place, and was currently driving on the provincial highway!

Zhao Song truly wanted to leave this place. Zhao Youyue shared the same desire, but she was not as worried. She could return to the modern world anytime she wanted. She was not afraid of death at all, not in this world at least. Her black cat clone did not fear ghosts either.

Still, she would not spring into action, as she was curious to see what happened next

Coming from a world without ghosts, she wanted more than anything to know how ghosts killed humans. She actually hoped that she got to witness such a gruesome scene.

Zhao Youyue may seem callous at that moment. It was as if she did not treat the inhabitants of this world as real humans. She treated them just like NPCs. From another perspective, you could say that she had the heart of a lioness!

No player was afraid of death. In order to explore the easter eggs, they would stop at nothing! The issue now was that this ‘game’ had not assigned her any missions, and it had left her momentarily aimless.

Now, she did not need to actively seek trouble, while coming upon an opportunity to watch something interesting. It was a win-win situation

Translation Note:

[1] Ghost wall – Used in superstition to mean getting lost in the evening, and always coming back to the former place. Used as a metaphor to refer to an obstacle put up secretly. (ED: An example would be the Mist in the Silent Hill movie)