Chapter 108: The Crucial Fourth Player

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Through the wishing fish, Shi Xianyu saw a place—a school where students were all gathered in the cafeteria. But the "location function" of the guardian deity was never entirely accurate, so she felt she must be somewhere near that school.

The sky was gloomy, and the surrounding streets seemed drained of color, everything appearing bleak and gray. She walked slowly along the empty street; her footsteps were not hurried, yet they sounded unusually loud, stirring a nervous tension, as if afraid her steps might disturb some unspeakable presence.

It couldn’t be... it couldn’t be...

Shi Xianyu thought silently: she hadn’t even met the wisher yet; surely she wouldn’t fail on her very first day here.

Crossing the road, the air was cold and damp, creeping into her bones like walking through a rainy day. In the middle of the intersection lay a ceramic bowl. Though plain and dull in appearance, its placement right in the center of the crossroad seemed unsettling, drawing an involuntary second glance.

Before coming, Shi Xianyu had done her homework. She knew that bowls placed at intersections were meant for wandering spirits and ghosts. Sometimes paper money was placed inside, sometimes incense oil, sometimes white rice... Whatever was inside, living people must not touch it. Accidentally disturbing the contents meant being haunted by ghosts demanding debts, never finding peace again.

So Shi Xianyu only glanced at the bowl, not even seeing what was inside clearly, and hurried past.

Not far ahead, she noticed an old woman dressed in black by the roadside. The woman was stooped, her head bowed low. Her clothes were an unnaturally heavy, ink-black mass, sticky and thick as if oozing downward, forming a pool of black sludge at her feet that seemed to slowly spread, blocking the path ahead.

Shi Xianyu’s scalp tingled. She considered stepping over it, but after a few tentative steps, she turned aside, choosing another route. Not wanting to take risks, she avoided it if she could.

Ahead was a slope. Shi Xianyu thought that going higher might help her spot the school. Just as she was about to climb the stairs, a dusty old leather ball rolled unexpectedly by, brushing her ankle, tumbling onto the sidewalk, bouncing back off the closed metal shutters lining the street, and slowly rolling back to her feet.

Shi Xianyu was speechless.

She scanned her surroundings and finally noticed a small boy across the street behind her—a child no older than five or six, with deeply sunken eyes devoid of whites, his dark pupils filling almost the entire sockets. He stared fixedly at her, as if waiting for her to return the ball.

She had heard this urban legend before.

On deserted streets, if you see a rolling ball, never pick it up, or you will be trapped by a little ghost into playing games until death.

Of course, Shi Xianyu would not pick it up. She glanced once more, pretended not to see, and silently climbed the stairs.

Behind her came the sound of the ball being bounced.

Thump, thump...

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Thump, thump...

The sound was not loud but close, as if the ball was bouncing right behind her heels.

Shi Xianyu gritted her teeth, refusing to listen, look back, or acknowledge it—pretending none of it existed—and pressed on with all her might.

Perhaps sensing her resolve, the bouncing finally ceased after a while. Shi Xianyu breathed a sigh of relief.

But no sooner had she relaxed than she realized something was wrong. The stairway looked to have only about fifty steps. Why had it taken so long to reach the top?

She recalled another folk saying: when climbing stairs late at night, never count the steps. If you do, you may find an extra step that no matter how you try, you can never pass.

She wasn’t sure if this was that situation, but recalling Shen Xiao’s advice, she knew she had to stay calm and steady.

She continued climbing at an unhurried pace, pretending nothing was wrong.

Clink!

Clink, clink, clink...

The sound of a coin dropping echoed crisply in the silent street. Shi Xianyu could clearly hear the coin bouncing on the stairs before coming to rest.

Normally, hearing such a sound would make anyone instinctively turn to look.

But in this eerie setting, Shi Xianyu dared not move rashly. She carried no coins, and there was no one else around. Where had the coin come from?

She forced herself to ignore it and kept climbing.

“Could you please help me pick it up?”

Suddenly a young man’s voice came from behind, light and casual. Shi Xianyu nearly turned to greet him, but thinking that since he was behind her, the coin must have fallen somewhere lower, so why would he need her to pick it up?

It felt odd.

Considering what kind of world this was, Shi Xianyu found it hard not to doubt—was the person behind her really human?

“Please help me pick it up,” he repeated.

Shi Xianyu replied vaguely, “Sorry, I’m in a hurry.”

“Oh, no problem,” the man said kindly. “Where are you rushing off to?”

“I’m going to the school,” she answered honestly.

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“To the school? Then you’re going the wrong way,” he said. “The school is down there.”

For a fleeting moment, Shi Xianyu wanted to turn back, but she forced herself not to and replied, “I’ve already started going up, so I’m just getting some exercise.”

The man fell silent.

After a moment, he chuckled softly. “You look a bit familiar to me.”

Shi Xianyu thought: Changing tactics, huh?

“How could I look familiar? You can only see the back of my head,” she answered.

He said, “Turn around and let me have a look.”

Shi Xianyu thought: Every sentence is telling me to turn around. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t dare.

She stayed silent. The man urged, “Come on, turn around and let me see. Maybe you know me.”

Frowning in discomfort, she couldn’t pretend not to hear him. She forced out, “I can’t turn around. How about you come in front of me, so I can see you?”

“Why can’t you turn around?” he asked.

Shi Xianyu said, “I have a stiff neck.”

“...”

The top of the slope seemed near. She stopped pacing back and forth.

A thought stirred in her mind: It seems this ghost’s power isn’t limitless. After holding someone captive for a while, it must get tired too. As long as I hold on, it looks like he can’t do much to me.

With that in mind, she quickened her steps.

Just as she was about to step onto the last stair, a sudden chill surged through her foot and ankle, freezing her as if gripped by the coldest ice of winter. She couldn’t move!

At that moment, the man behind spoke again: “What’s wrong with your foot?”

Shi Xianyu thought bitterly: What’s wrong with my foot? Shouldn’t you be asking that?

He said, “Look down. What are you stepping on?”