You made all the streamers on the internet kneel before you when you were asked to make a game.

Professor Chen's analysis enlightened the more than 30 million viewers in the live broadcast room.

[Holy crap! So that's how it is! No wonder Seafog Town felt so oppressive!]

Civil Engineering vs. Marine Engineering?

[Professor, you're awesome! A single conversation with you is worth more than ten years of ghost stories!]

Just then, the bus slowly came to a stop.

We've arrived at our final destination, Haiwu Town.

Without the slightest hesitation, Professor Chen straightened his clothes and was the first to get off the car.

When that familiar, damp, cold air, mixed with the smell of the sea and mildew, rushed towards me.

He not only didn't feel uncomfortable, but instead took a deep breath and a look of ecstasy appeared on his face.

"This is the taste..."

"A hundred years ago, the coastal areas of Haiyun Prefecture had a unique 'sea salt flavor'."

He bent down, dipped his finger in the puddles on the ground, and smelled it.

"That's right, it's also mixed with 'corpse alkaloids' produced by the decomposition of corpses, and the smell left behind by a large number of aquatic creatures that have died."

"Students, this is a 'system' with a huge amount of information!"

The viewers in the live stream were completely dumbfounded by Professor Chen's excited expression, as if he had discovered a new continent.

[Wait... Professor, are you sure you're playing a horror game?]

Why does it feel like the professor is strolling through a farmers' market?

[Ecosystem? All I see are death traps everywhere!]

This is probably the difference between top students and struggling students... We see the ghosts, while professors see the facts.

Professor Chen ignored the comments.

He stood up, his gaze sweeping over the strange shops and the "townspeople" walking on tiptoe on both sides of the street, his eyes gleaming with a thirst for knowledge.

"Alright, students."

"Next, I will begin today's fieldwork."

Our first task is—

He paused, adjusted his reading glasses, and said, word by word.

"A Comparative Study of the Behavioral Patterns of 'Water Ghosts' After They Come Ashore' and Their Differences from those of Bound Spirits on Land."

After saying that, he actually took a step and walked towards a female "townswoman" wearing a cheongsam who was wandering on the street.

The female "townswoman's" back was completely rotten, and you could even see the bones that had turned white from being soaked in water and some seaweed clinging to it.

Her body leaned slightly forward, maintaining an eerie posture.

Professor Chen walked steadily and slowly behind her, stopping about three steps away.

This is a very subtle form of social distancing.

It showed respect without appearing overly distant.

In the live stream, all the viewers were dumbfounded, not knowing what Professor Chen was going to do.

Professor Chen simply stood there quietly, carefully observing the female ghost before him.

He noticed that the female ghost's body was swaying slightly in a very regular pattern.

Moreover, coming from her direction, there was a series of rustling sounds, like someone gnawing on something.

"Students, please observe carefully," Professor Chen said in a low voice.

"Let's call this sample 'the lady in the cheongsam' for now."

"Her actions at this moment are not meaningless; she is...eating."

"Listen carefully, everyone. What she's eating isn't meat, but moss and barnacles on the wall."

"This shows that after the 'water ghosts' came ashore, their diet changed from absorbing the yang energy of living people to consuming 'plants' in the environment that are rich in yin energy and moisture."

"This is a major discovery!"

Professor Chen's tone was full of the excitement of an academic researcher.

The audience is numb.

[Major discovery? That's not the point at all!]

[Please, Professor, turn around and look! There's another one coming up behind you!]

[Oh no, the professor's going to be surrounded and punished!]

Sure enough, just as Professor Chen was concentrating on "teaching"...

At the other end of the street, a male "townsman" wearing a mandarin jacket and carrying a dripping birdcage also drifted over.

Its target also seems to be Professor Chen.

One was in front, and the other was behind, and they were about to form an encirclement.

Professor Chen, however, seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, remaining in the same posture without even turning his head.

He simply and slowly took something out of the pocket of his Zhongshan suit.

It was a small square wrapped in red paper.

He carefully unfolded the red paper, inside which was a small clump of dried black soil.

"This is a special 'hometown delicacy' that I prepared for myself," Professor Chen explained.

"In our folk customs, a traveler who dies far from home needs a handful of soil from his hometown to be laid to rest peacefully and for his soul to return to his homeland."

"The same applies to these 'water ghosts' who have been trapped in foreign lands for a hundred years."

After saying that, he reached out and gently sprinkled the small handful of soil on the ground in front of him.

Then, he slowly spoke to the cheongsam-clad female ghost who was still gnawing on the wall, in a very formal and respectful ancient Haiyunfu dialect.

"Excuse me, miss."

"My name is Chen Keji. I come from the East and am passing through this place. I would like to ask you about something."

"I wonder if your household has any surplus grain? Could you... spare a meal?"

This series of actions completely stunned everyone in the live stream.

【？？？？？】

[Holy crap! What is the professor doing? Is he begging from ghosts?]

The moment Professor Chen spoke those words in the ancient dialect and sprinkled "hometown soil" on the ground.

The cheongsam-clad ghost, who had been gnawing on the wall, suddenly froze.

She slowly turned around.

A face, swollen and pale from being soaked in seawater, with its features somewhat blurred, appeared in front of the camera.

Her eye sockets had no pupils, only two dark, hollow holes.

But those two holes were staring straight at Professor Chen.

And the clump of dirt at his feet.

She seemed to... understand.

The male ghost carrying a birdcage, who had approached from behind, stopped five steps away from Professor Chen.

It also "looked" at the soil on the ground and stopped moving forward.

for a long time.

The ghost in the cheongsam made a "hoho" sound from her throat, like a leaky wind.

She raised her stiff hand and pointed to the end of the street.

Then she and the male ghost slowly made way for Professor Chen, one on the left and one on the right.

【Ding! 】

You have successfully passed the "asking for directions" test.

Your exploration progress in "Sea Fog Town" +5%

[You have acquired a temporary status: Friendly Passerby (In this status, you will not be perceived as a threat by non-aggressive townspeople).]

Professor Chen looked at the system notification and nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright, students, has everyone memorized the first key point for today?"

"When facing these 'earthbound spirits' that still retain a trace of 'humanity,' violence is always the least effective solution."

"Respect and rules are the keys to opening up new possibilities."

"Let's move on."