Judge of Souls - Chapter 43

Sun Lei wasn’t a local from A City. After showing the equipment to Chu Xuanliang for confirmation, he didn’t dare keep it with him and left it in B City. He said he would go home quickly to get it.

The next morning, Jiang Feng’s home received two visitors: Zhang Yangyang and his roommate.

The roommate had witnessed Zhang Yangyang’s streak of bad luck and had met Jiang Feng several times. He wasn’t a particularly outgoing person, but he was loyal. Standing on the side, he would occasionally chime in with a couple of witty remarks.

Jiang Feng saw them carrying a box of drinks and a bag containing some blocky objects. “You guys are here… for something?”

“It’s almost the New Year, right? Our class monitor started this initiative to care for the masses, so we came to check on you, you lonely old man.” Zhang Yangyang lifted his right hand and said, “This is homemade rice cake from my family. Eating this during New Year is our tradition. My mom told me to bring some over. I figured you couldn’t eat too much by yourself, so I just brought a little.”

Jiang Feng had saved him several times before—although they still didn’t know if those incidents were because of being around Jiang Feng—but at the very least, he was a benefactor. Jiang Feng spending New Year alone was such a lonely and helpless situation, so Zhang Yangyang wanted to come and offer some comfort.

He happened to mention it while chatting with his roommate, who also wanted to come, so they came together.

As the two walked in, they saw Jiang Feng soaking wet and asked, “In this weather, what are you doing?”

Jiang Feng: “The toilet was clogged, and it made the floor dirty. I was just cleaning up.”

Zhang Yangyang: “This broken-down place really is… full of old problems. You should move somewhere else. Aren’t there student apartments nearby? The price isn’t much higher. I’ll ask if anyone is looking to break their lease, and you can move there.”

“I was just thinking about breaking my lease.” Jiang Feng shook his hand, uncomfortable, and said, “You guys sit first. I’m going to take a shower.”

Zhang Yangyang and his roommate sat in the living room watching TV. Jiang Feng told them to make themselves at home; there was food in the fridge and the small storage room.

Shortly after he went in, there was another knock at the door.

When Sun Lei saw a stranger open the door, he immediately became cautious. “You guys…”

Zhang Yangyang touched his own face, feeling this person’s reaction was a bit strange.

Not to this extent, right?

“We’re Jiang Feng’s classmates.”

Sun Lei relaxed. “I’m here to deliver something to him.”

Zhang Yangyang asked, “What is it?”

Sun Lei: “A VR headset and computer. You must hand these to him personally, and don’t damage them.”

“Wow!!” Zhang Yangyang’s eyes lit up with excitement. “A VR headset! And the whole computer too? Now that’s a true bro!”

Behind him were two more people, carrying a VR treadmill.

Jiang Feng’s place was too small. Even after pushing the coffee table aside, there wasn’t much space. Finally, after rearranging things by the entrance, they managed to set everything down.

Sun Lei thought to add, “Oh, if it gets dented, that’s fine. I’ve dropped it several times myself. Just don’t completely break it.”

“Got it, got it!” Zhang Yangyang said, “Bro, you’re so generous!”

Sun Lei’s life was hanging by a thread, which had nothing to do with generosity. He nodded and said, “I’ll be going now.”

Zhang Yangyang hurriedly tried to keep him. “Hey, bro, come in and sit for a while. Jiang Feng will be out after his shower. It should be quick, just a matter of minutes.”

Sun Lei: “No thanks, I need to go to the temple.”

Right now, he just wanted to be as far away from the headset as possible. He practically fled in panic.

Zhang Yangyang didn’t pay attention to his behavior, assuming he had urgent business. Carrying the equipment back, he said, “So he’s one of Jiang Feng’s Taoist friends? Are Taoist priests recruited based on looks these days? None of them dress like Taoists.”

Roommate: “But they all look genuinely rich.”

Zhang Yangyang used to be a hardcore gaming enthusiast. Back in his senior year of high school, he survived on his mother’s strategy of “One hour of studying, ten minutes of gaming.” Seeing equipment he hadn’t played before, he was tempted and couldn’t resist.

Seeing that Jiang Feng had been in the bathroom for a long time, he walked to the bathroom door and asked, “Hey Jiang Feng? Are you coming out?”

Jiang Feng said: “The drain is clogged. Let me try to clear it once more!”

Zhang Yangyang asked, “Can I borrow your computer to play a VR game?”

“Oh.” Jiang Feng didn’t hear clearly, just catching a few keywords: “Whatever.”

So when Jiang Feng came out with his clothes, he saw Zhang Yangyang playing with the VR.

Jiang Feng: “What are you doing?”

“You’re out?” Zhang Yangyang, “Didn’t you say I could borrow it for a while?”

“…” Jiang Feng, “I thought you meant an online game.”

“No, I meant this.” Zhang Yangyang said, “Let me play for a bit, this thing is so high-tech. Okay?”

Jiang Feng said, “I don’t know how to use it. It’s not mine.”

Zhang Yangyang said, “The person delivered the computer to you, and the drivers and games are already installed. Just turn it on. There’s a remote control, right? Play around with it, and you’ll figure it out.”

The drivers were installed on this computer, but there was only one paid game left. That’s the one he was playing now.

Jiang Feng walked around and stood next to the computer with the roommate, watching the game interface.

Zhang Yangyang: “Hey, I must say, this game looks so realistic! Is it using real maps to load?”

Jiang Feng looked at the screen showing various high-rise buildings and familiar but empty streets, feeling something was off, and asked, “What map is this?”

“The department store? The commercial area in the city center, where I often shop.” Zhang Yangyang continued to marvel, “The map is so extensive! It’s completely intact all the way down. The details are impressive; even the trees don’t look like flat images up close. This game is so amazing!”

Jiang Feng started searching for information about this game on his phone, but stopped halfway.

The roommate leaned over to read from Jiang Feng’s phone screen. “Hospital, dungeon, cemetery, wilderness… the game designers don’t have a mall map?”

Zhang Yangyang: “The wiki info must be outdated. This must be a newly updated feature, right?”

Jiang Feng warned him. “There might be ghosts inside.”

Zhang Yangyang: “Obviously! What’s the point of playing this game without ghosts? Wow, I’m telling you, this is so exciting!”

Jiang Feng asked. “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

Zhang Yangyang said, “Comfortable! Mentally and physically comfortable!”

They clearly weren’t on the same wavelength.

Roommate said, “He hasn’t played games for quite a while. Now that he’s fully revived, he might be able to pull an all-nighter without issues.”

Jiang Feng emphasized again. “There are real ghosts inside.”

“I know—” Zhang Yangyang was saying when his brain cells finally kicked in, and he visibly stiffened. He pushed the headset up and asked with feigned calmness. “Do you mean that literally or…?”

Jiang Feng met his eyes. “After the last incident, I thought you would have learned your lesson.”

“Holy crap!” Zhang Yangyang immediately jumped up, but he didn’t dare drop what was in his hands. “Seriously?”

Jiang Feng said, “The person who sent the game over thought it was haunted, which is why he brought it to me to check. I thought it would take a day or two. I didn’t expect it to arrive so quickly.”

Zhang Yangyang anxiously asked, “So what will happen to me?”

Jiang Feng briefly recounted Sun Lei’s experience. Although his calm tone greatly reduced the horror of the story, it couldn’t prevent Zhang Yangyang from shedding remorseful tears.

Zhang Yangyang wanted to hug his roommate and say goodbye to life.

Jiang Feng suddenly asked, “Did you just die?”

Zhang Yangyang’s panting abruptly stopped, and he looked at the two with terror, cautiously asking, “Am I already dead? I feel fine though?”

The roommate stood up, pointing at him and said, “Zhang Yangyang, last month you secretly wore my underwear and promised to wash my clothes for three months—don’t you forget!”

Zhang Yangyang, red-faced with anger, shouted, “You’re talking nonsense! I didn’t! I have a whole box of unopened underwear!”

The roommate calmly sat back down and said, “Still him, hasn’t been replaced.”

Zhang Yangyang: “…”

Zhang Yangyang said tearfully, “I’ve seen through you now! If I ever lose my memory, you’d definitely take my life!”

Jiang Feng: “I was asking if you just died in the game?”

“I did.” Zhang Yangyang was on the verge of tears. “Am I… destined to encounter ghosts? What do we do now?”

The roommate once again displayed his humanitarianism, comforting him. “Don’t be too scared. It sounds like this is a gradual process. From the initial anomalies to full-on development, there should be some time. That Sun Lei is still alive, so you can’t possibly die that quickly. Besides, it won’t appear if there are people around, and school starts soon, so there will be people in the dorm.”

Zhang Yangyang accepted it rationally but found it emotionally difficult. Emotionally, he just wanted to slap his past self from ten minutes ago.

Roommate: “Maybe you should stay with Jiang Feng for a while.”

Zhang Yangyang: “Do I want to die faster? And bring someone down with me?”

Roommate: “No, if Jiang Feng really attracts ghosts, then if you two stay together and a ghost comes, it would definitely go for Jiang Feng first!”

Zhang Yangyang hesitated. “That’s true?”

The roommate looked at Jiang Feng. “And if even such powerful Taoist priests come to Jiang Feng for help, you must have some superpower to protect yourself, right?”

Jiang Feng: “I definitely can’t die.”

Roommate: “That’s all we need then?”

Jiang Feng took the headset from Zhang Yangyang and tried it on.

As soon as he connected, it didn’t jump to a selection screen but went straight into loading. After quickly loading, he entered the city map.

His starting point was exactly where Zhang Yangyang had logged off.

Zhang Yangyang and his roommate watched the situation on the computer.

Roommate said, “What’s going on with this game? Is this a save file or what? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Zhang Yangyang bitterly said, “Would it be called a paranormal game if it were normal?”

Jiang Feng hadn’t played VR before and couldn’t adjust immediately. He looked back and saw an enlarged face rushing towards him.

Three seconds after logging in, Jiang Feng was killed.

Zhang Yangyang: “…”

The character quickly stood up again, back at the original position. Jiang Feng quickly ran forward and, before the opponent could turn towards him, delivered a powerful collision.

Zhang Yangyang shouted. “Holy crap! Don’t!”

But it was too late. Jiang Feng had directly crashed into the TV in front, and after several loud crashes, the scene was in shambles.

Zhang Yangyang covered his eyes, unable to bear watching. Jiang Feng took off the headset and stood up.

Roommate remarked, “This game… is it designed to be fatal?”

Zhang Yangyang: “I realized what was wrong… you didn’t get on the treadmill. How did you not see such a big thing?”

The TV screen was already broken. It was a second-hand LCD TV from who knows where, with a thin screen, strange colors, and frequent unexpected issues during playback, depending on the day’s luck.

Now it had lost its status as an old appliance and completely fallen to the rank of junk.

Jiang Feng suddenly realized that VR games really did pose significant risks.

Looking at the TV, he didn’t feel like cleaning up right away. He called Sun Lei again to inquire about details.

“A map of downtown A City? No, when I played, it was just a normal game map.” Sun Lei said nervously, “You don’t think it… evolved again, do you?”

Jiang Feng said “it’s nothing” and hung up.

Zhang Yangyang asked: “What did he say?”

Jiang Feng: “He said there is one, this is normal.”

Zhang Yangyang sighed in relief. “That’s what I thought.”

This time, Jiang Feng stepped onto the treadmill, put the headset back on, and began experimenting.

Without a doubt, this game had issues, but the trigger conditions weren’t as he expected.

It encompassed virtually every street in A City, with details that matched exactly.

He continued along Zhang Yangyang’s path. After dying seven or eight times and destroying various items in the living room, night finally fell. By then, the standing point was very close to A University, but he was a bit tired and didn’t want to continue playing.

Apart from the strange map, no horrifying phenomena had occurred.

The roommate was still unnerved by the incident. Watching the character on screen repeatedly being killed and possessed, just the realistic and bloody scenes gave him psychological trauma. He decided to head home while there was still some daylight to provide a sense of security.

Zhang Yangyang called his parents on his phone to let them know he’d be staying at a classmate’s place tonight and got scolded severely. How could he trouble others so directly?

That night, the game headset sat quietly in the living room with no sign of the phenomena Sun Lei had described.

Zhang Yangyang barely slept all night. Every time he closed his eyes, he had nightmares and immediately woke up. For the latter half of the night, he simply kept his eyes open, waiting for the legendary headset to make its move.

Usually, he had the courage of a fearless newborn calf, but once doubt entered his mind, he became a complete coward.

In the morning, Jiang Feng contacted Sun Lei again, confirming that he had also passed the night safely without encountering danger or unusual situations.

At noon, Zhang Yangyang went home to get a change of clothes. Jiang Feng cleaned up the entire living room, discarding the broken TV to the old man collecting scraps downstairs, who bought it by weight. He set up the equipment and prepared to play the game again.

Before he could start, Officer Ye called.

“Jiang Feng? Earlier, Chu Xuanliang asked me to look into XX Network Co., Ltd., the company that makes those game software programs.”

Jiang Feng: “I know.”

Officer Ye: “Hmm, I checked it out. The company itself doesn’t have any issues, and there aren’t any rumors of paranormal events or records of unusual deaths internally. One of the founders did pass away from normal organ failure. They’re apparently preparing to go public soon, and their reputation and reviews are quite good. Are you sure you haven’t made a mistake?”

Jiang Feng: “I understand. I’ll look into it more.”

Officer Ye said, “My colleague is currently sifting through forum posts. Too many posts have been deleted, and he’s quite busy, so he doesn’t have the capacity to investigate thoroughly. If there’s no new development, he might have to put it aside for now. So, be careful, and contact me if anything seems off.”

Jiang Feng: “Okay. Thanks.”

Jiang Feng hung up the phone and put on the headset.

This time, there was only him in the room.

In the game, it was nighttime.

Jiang Feng reappeared at the first intersection to the left of the street in front of A University’s gate. Once he could move, he immediately ran towards the school. Looking back along the way, he noticed that the ghost shadow that had been following him closely was nowhere to be seen.

An NPC shouldn’t suddenly change its behavior pattern.

Previously, the ghost in the game moved very quickly, sticking close behind him. If the character managed to lose the ghost and make it disappear from view, this NPC would randomly appear on the protagonist’s escape route and launch an attack.

However, even after rushing through the school gates, he didn’t encounter any attacks.

To conserve energy, Jiang Feng began to slow down.

He walked into a study room and pushed the light switch by the door.

The classroom was empty, with several stacks of books left on the desks, presumably used to reserve seats.

Jiang Feng picked up a book and flipped through it. The title page had a public email for a major course. Judging by the numbers in the account, it probably belonged to a junior student. He noted down the major and name, planning to check other classrooms.

Though there was no wind, a cold sensation spread through the classroom.

Jiang Feng raised his head and, through the reflection in the glass, saw a shadowy figure floating behind him.

Perhaps due to the angle, the figure became unclear above the white collar of its shirt, like a headless ghost. As for himself, only a pale face was clearly reflected, with no visible parts below the neck.

Jiang Feng didn’t turn around. This ghost felt very different to him, unlike any previous game. He sensed an undisguised threat and killing intent from it.