Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 234 recounts (a medium-length chapter of 4000 words)
Several more days passed.

To Zhou You's surprise, no one else came to bother him.

Since the attack on the alley, things have been calm and peaceful for the past few days, without any disturbance.

There were no enemies, no attacks, and even the continuous news broadcasts on television had decreased significantly—it was as if the serial killer had vanished without a trace.

However, there have been some changes.

He turned on the tap, splashed cold water on his face, looked at his young but always smiling face in the mirror, pursed his lips, grabbed a towel from the side, and wiped his face haphazardly.

Then he turned his head and greeted the people inside.

"Hey little guy, it's time for us to get going."

No response.

Zhou You scratched his head helplessly and went inside—sure enough, his roommate was intently watching the TV without even blinking.

"Hey"

ignore.

"I said."

The other party still ignored him, as if he were a corpse.

"well."

They completely ignored it, as if it were air.

In the end, Zhou You could only sigh and use his ultimate weapon.

He picked up the remote and, with a 'click,' turned off the TV.

The little ghost girl froze for a moment, then flew into a rage, baring her teeth and claws as she lunged at him.

Faced with the small, blood-red mouth that was biting at him, Zhou You simply used his Jing Shen Bait-eating Spell and then ignored it.

Those pearly white teeth bit down on Zhou You's head, and then...
There was a 'crack' sound.

Zhou You was unharmed, while the female ghost covered her mouth and squatted down with tears in her eyes.

This is an ability that Zhou You has discovered by accident these past few days—as long as he spreads the power of the Jing Shen Food Song throughout his body, he will have an extremely strong defensive ability against Yin and ghost-like creatures. He just doesn't know if this is something he has from his own upgrade or if it was given to him by the ability that was never revealed after bathing in the essence and blood of the corpse of Duo Luo.

However, either way is enough to prevent protests from your roommate.

Zhou You casually stuffed the piece of wood he had chopped down into his pocket, ignoring the little female ghost who had floated over and started gnawing on his head again, before opening the door and walking out.

—Ever since realizing that someone had ill intentions, Zhou You would forcibly take the little ghost with him whenever he went out, whether he wanted to or not.

And all for this purpose is just one thing.

To prevent someone from breaking into the house when he is not there.

The weather outside is still scorching hot. Even though the Mid-Autumn Festival has passed, the temperature seems to be reversing the trend of the A-share market. Instead of dropping at all, it is rising like crazy. Under such extreme heat, those who can take a holiday have basically taken one, and even those who can't stay in air-conditioned rooms or shady places. Nobody wants to go out and wander around.

As a result, there were far fewer people on the streets than in the previous days. Looking around, there were only a few deliverymen braving the scorching sun, still working tirelessly to deliver food.

This time, Zhou You didn't take the bus; instead, he took a taxi. The place he went to wasn't the library he always went to, but another place altogether.

Municipal Archives (Note 1).

the reason is simple.

He desperately wanted to know what had happened to the little ghost girl.

Judging from the little ghost's past, she should be a local and died at least twenty years ago. However, the specific crime scene is impossible to identify, and Zhou You doesn't have the connections to personally interrogate the poisoner at the police station. So, he can only settle for second best and see if he can find clues from other places.

Before long, the taxi arrived at the destination. Zhou You got out of the car and walked into a rather old building with ease. The first thing he saw was a young man lying on a table, fast asleep.

All signs indicate that the young man was completely immersed in a beautiful dream. Even when someone came in, he was oblivious, drooling all over the table. Zhou You called him several times but couldn't wake him up. However, he couldn't do anything because of the glass window, so he turned his head to look at the little ghost girl.

The little ghost girl, still sulking, had a sour face and wouldn't even acknowledge him.

Zhou You sighed softly.

A bag of potato chips.

Do not move.

"One bag of potato chips and two bags of Dove chocolate."

I tilted my ear, but it didn't move.

"One bag of potato chips, two bags of Dove chocolate, and three ice creams—that's my bottom line. If you don't do it, I'll just use my evil spirit to wake him up."

Only then did the little ghost girl float inside with a beaming smile. She simply touched the man's neck with her hand, and the silly smile on the young man's face gradually disappeared, quickly turning into an indescribable terror.

Russian qing.

The man jumped up from the table, screaming in pain.

"A ghost! Aa ...

He gesticulated wildly and howled for a long time before finally regaining his senses. Then, the gaze in his pupils slowly focused and finally settled on someone's face.

"Brother Zhou?"

Zhou You smiled and nodded.

This person was also an acquaintance of his, belonging to his cousin's generation in terms of seniority. However, unlike him, who was unemployed after graduation, this person was arranged by his family to work in the city archives after graduating from high school. Although it was not a formal position, at least he had a leisurely job.

And that's why he made a special trip here—after all, what's that saying again?

—It's easier to get things done if you know someone.

The young man was also a little stunned when he suddenly saw Zhou You.

"Hiss, how long has it been since we last met? We haven't seen each other since Uncle passed away, have we? No, brother, what brings you to visit me today?"

Zhou You simply smiled.

“I don’t have the time to come see you. Actually, it’s nothing much. You remember I studied law in college, right? My professor asked me to find a few criminal cases from the city back then as a research topic, and then I suddenly remembered that you work here, so I suddenly thought of coming to see you.”

Hearing this, the young man scratched his head. "Brother, let me tell you, you know what our archives look like. You could easily find this information online rather than coming here, after all..."

"—A case from at least twenty years ago."

The young man immediately shut up.

In small cities like theirs, cases from recent years can be searched online, but for cases from twenty years ago, basically, apart from the archives of the Public Security Bureau, the only place to find backups is here.

Even so, the young man still showed a hint of hesitation.

"Well, bro, given our relationship, helping you is no problem, but as you know, even though archives aren't strictly managed, there are still rules and regulations; ordinary citizens aren't allowed inside."

Zhou You nodded knowingly, then put his arm around the young man's shoulder and whispered something.

"Look at what you're saying! How could your cousin let you work for free? You'll get your pay when the professor's payment comes through."

The young man, who had been struggling in the insignificant government office, gradually developed a more interesting expression, and finally couldn't help but pat Zhou You on the shoulder.

"Brother, since you've put it that way, I have to help you out today. It's just finding some cases, right? I'll take you inside, and you can pick whatever you like!"

Only the little female ghost floating nearby watched this filthy shady deal with utter contempt.
-
As the old-fashioned padlock fell, a green iron door was pushed open.

A smell of dust wafted over.

As expected of the most neglected administrative unit in the city, this archive has managed to maintain its original architectural structure from decades ago, with numerous cabinets standing separately, containing many dusty files.

The young man coughed as he vigorously swept away the dust around him, then fumbled to turn on the light.

"This is the case file storage area from many years ago—but Brother Zhou, before you look for it, I need to tell you a few things. First, this is just a backup of ordinary cases; don't even think about those politically confidential cases, they're all locked up inside the Public Security Bureau. Second, although those bastards—oh no, I mean my superiors—are all on summer vacation, I still have to guard the entrance to prevent getting caught, so I'm afraid you'll have to find it yourself."

Zhou You nodded in agreement. The young man then reminded him again not to use fire or smoke before pushing open the door and leaving.

Zhou You looked around and then let out a soft breath.

Unlike government departments that have long been equipped with information technology, this archive only stores various backups, so it receives almost no funding on a regular basis. Not to mention monitoring, even the case files are displayed in their most primitive form. Pick one up at random, dust it off, and you'll find that it even has some traces of insect damage.

However, he didn't mind, and instead went to the criminal cases section and started flipping through them one by one.

The little ghost girl watched Zhou You listlessly. However, due to the limited range of movement, she could not go far from the corner of the table. She could only float around aimlessly. Occasionally, she would lift the cover of a case file, but she would quickly put it down because she found it boring.

But immediately, as if she had discovered something interesting, she drifted off to the other side.

And so, time passed silently, little by little.

To be fair, although this place is just a small town, the number of criminal cases accumulated over the years is truly astronomical. Even if Zhou You focuses on finding missing persons and murder cases, he still only sees a drop in the ocean.

Half a day later, Zhou You put down a murder and body disposal case he was working on and stretched his tense body a little—only to find that the little ghost girl had disappeared.

He frowned, about to call out, when he accidentally bumped into the corner of the cabinet.

Steel clashed with flesh—Zhou You was unharmed, but several loosely placed case files fell from the ceiling.

He quickly picked it up—after all, it was an illegal entry, and he couldn't cause trouble for others.

however.

The moment Zhou You touched the case file, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

This thing is completely free of dust.

Due to years of neglect and lack of staff, all the case files in this place were covered in a thick layer of dust—after all, no one would be so bored as to flip through cases from decades ago—but...
These books were surprisingly clean.

Considering how easily they fell over with a single bump, it's clear someone had recently looked through these items and, in their haste, hadn't put them away properly.
But who could it be...? The staff here, or...?
As Zhou You pondered this, he opened the case file.

But to his surprise, it wasn't a missing person or murder case.

It was a case involving a cult.

just
Just as his gaze shifted downwards, another line of names caught his attention.

The cult's name is:
Ascending to Immortality
-
The first page of the case file was quite simple, only briefly introducing the Ascension Gate, saying that it was a cult group that appeared around the millennium, and that it was not large, with only a few dozen people. At first, I even doubted that it was something that some young people had organized on a whim. But from the second page onwards, the style suddenly changed.

That was a self-narration.

A self-narration that shouldn't appear in this type of case file.

"Today's report. I've finally infiltrated this place. Everything's been relatively simple; there's been no danger or anything unusual. The old man is worrying far too much—they seem to be just a bunch of eccentric young people, probably similar to those so-called Satanists and God-Worshippers lately. It's nothing serious."

The handwriting was very delicate, but the tone was lively, suggesting it was written by a young woman.

"Today's report: The old man has always felt this task isn't suitable for rookie police officers; it's too rigid. I wonder if it's menopause or something, because this report almost turned into a diary entry. In short, nothing unusual happened today, except that those guys' erratic behavior has gotten a bit worse."

The subsequent reports were mostly uninteresting, consisting mainly of casual conversation and everyday chatter. However, on the third page, for some reason, the notes suddenly became somewhat disorganized.

"Today's report. For some reason, I've been having nightmares lately, but there are no ghosts or monsters in them, just a disgustingly slimy place. Also, there have been more and more missing women lately. The old man told me that for safety's sake, it's best to terminate the mission for now—just kidding, I'm about to catch up with that cult leader and make a contribution, how could I give up here?"

"Today's report: The nightmares are getting worse. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I can't even distinguish between reality and dreams. And the number of missing women is increasing; even the neighbor's little girl has been grounded by her parents. Those cult members probably noticed my low spirits and brought me a bunch of white powder—do they think I'm stupid? How could I possibly eat that?"

"Today's report: Went to the pharmacy to get my medicine. For some reason, the clerk's face felt very familiar. After taking the medicine at home, I felt much better. The sticky, slippery feeling in my dream finally disappeared, replaced by a warm and bright scene."

Zhou You frowned slightly, then turned to the next page.

however.

On this very page, the text suddenly became jumbled and disordered.

It would look like a madman scribbling randomly on a piece of paper, requiring a lot of effort to decipher.

"Today...someone came to see me today, but who was it again? My memory is a bit hazy. Fellow believers from the cult came again. They said the leader is finally going to see me. This is an unparalleled honor, and we need to be prepared."

"...The church members smiled and asked me to write this down, saying it was to be mailed to someone. Then they led me underground, very deep underground. Then I saw countless corpses, torn to pieces. A little girl, covered in blood, was tied up in the very center. I couldn't recognize her, nor could I tell if she was alive. The cult leader, holding a knife, told me to go forward, and then..."

The narrative abruptly ends on this page.

Turning to the next page, one finds only four words, as red as blood.

"dad."

"Help me."

　Note 1: This is a fictional institution. Just to avoid any nitpicking, I'll clarify first. In reality, archives probably don't store copies of criminal cases; I've never been to one.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)