“Zhang Wei, what are you yelling about? Why did you call me over early in the morning? What’s the matter?” Yang Jian called out.
Hearing someone shouting for him, Zhang Wei looked up, saw Yang Jian, and immediately smiled with relief, “Yang Jian, I’m over here. Excuse me, everyone, please make way. Let’s put today’s matter aside for now.”
He then pointed at someone and said, “It’s not that I’m afraid of you, or trying to escape. It’s just that I don’t want my friend to see my cruel side. Consider yourself lucky today.”
“Who are you fighting with? It looked like it was about to turn physical. What happened?” Yang Jian asked.
Zhang Wei snorted, “Some middle school kid had a terrible attitude, daring to cut in front of me in the ice cream line. I was just teaching him what adult ruthlessness is all about.”
“…”
“Forget it, let’s not talk about it. Come on, let’s sit down in that café over there. I actually have something to discuss with you,” Zhang Wei said.
After the two sat down in the café.
“What have you been up to lately? Are you still working at that mall? I went there yesterday. I heard there was a murder case, and it’s completely sealed off now. The boss is called Tang’an, right?” Zhang Wei asked.
“How do you know so much about it?” Yang Jian asked, surprised.
“That mall was built by my dad. I asked him about it before. Come on, tell me straight—isn’t that place haunted?” Zhang Wei said.
“You guessed right; it was indeed haunted,” Yang Jian said.
“Damn, I knew it! Places that suddenly get locked down and put under martial law are almost always haunted. The school was like that, that residential area was like that, and now the mall is the same… I’m feeling like this Earth is no longer fit to live on. If there was a chance to migrate to Mars, I’d sign up first,” Zhang Wei said, shivering in shock.
“However, there’s no problem now. The situation there has been settled. By the way, what did you want to talk to me about?” Yang Jian asked.
“Actually, I wanted to ask you about something,” Zhang Wei said.
“What is it?” Yang Jian said.
Zhang Wei furrowed his brows deeply, a serious expression on his face, and said in a low voice, “Last night, while I was playing ‘Chick Dinner’ on the computer, a supernatural event occurred. I think it might be haunted, possibly linked to some horrible curse similar to those stories on your forum.”
“Can you be more specific?” Yang Jian asked.
“It must have been the final circle. I survived until the end… The top-right corner showed that there was no one left, but suddenly I died mysteriously, and the screen showed ‘Chicken Dinner Failed.’
“If it happened just once, it could be explained away, but it happened three times in a row. Do you think there might be a ghost playing the game? I got so scared I couldn’t sleep all night, and now I can hardly keep my eyes open, which is why I wanted to buy some ice cream for a pick-me-up,” Zhang Wei asked earnestly.
Yang Jian said seriously, “I don’t think you’ve encountered a ghost, but instead, you’ve come across…a cheat.”
“No way,”
Zhang Wei looked at Yang Jian in surprise, “Is it really a cheat? Could it possibly be a ghost?”
“You’re overthinking it. There’s absolutely no chance. It was a cheat; you got killed by the cheat three times,” Yang Jian said.
“So that’s it… I thought I had run into a ghost,” Zhang Wei fell into deep silence.