Chapter 180: Problems Right After Entering the City?

The sky was cut into a fine grid by crisscrossing power lines.

Rainwater had carved deep grooves into the bluestone-paved alleyway, where patches of moss stubbornly pushed through the cracks. Low, single-story houses lined both sides. Their gable walls were mottled from years of disrepair, exposing dark red bricks beneath the peeling surface, while thick layers of dust and fallen leaves piled up along the foundations.

Flights of steps—some high, some low, some wide, some narrow—were built from bluestone, cement, or brick. A few had only three or four steps, while others climbed as high as seven or eight.

Looking up, one could see old towels and faded floral shirts draped over clotheslines, swaying gently in the wind.

The finger bone on the compass in his hand pointed steadily toward the Hanged Man. When they had first entered the Old District, it had spun wildly, but now its swinging had noticeably slowed.

It seemed the Hanged Man had stopped its initial high-speed movement and settled into a small, fixed location.

The Old District was very quiet. Only the occasional clatter of a spatula against a wok or the muffled dialogue of a television drifted out from behind closed doors.

An old lady sat on a small stool against a wall, a calico cat curled up at her feet. She waved a palm-leaf fan, her eyelids drooping as if she might fall asleep at any moment. Nearby, two middle-aged men who looked like local neighbors squatted on the steps, murmuring to each other. One held an enamel mug, while the other clamped a cigarette between his fingers. A yellow dog lay prone beside their feet, its ears completely still.

The old lady was the first to open her eyes. Her cloudy gaze traveled down the stone path, paused on Gao Tian's shoes for a second, and then slowly rose, sizing him up from his trouser legs all the way to his face. She didn't speak, but she pressed her fan against her leg and leaned forward slightly, as if trying to get a clearer look at the newcomer.

The two men squatting on the steps also straightened their backs. One crushed his cigarette butt against the stone, while the other nudged his enamel mug aside to clear some space, a hint of scrutiny and speculation in his eyes. The yellow dog woke up too. It stood, shook out its fur, and tipped its nose in Gao Tian's direction, but it didn't bark, just stood quietly behind its owner.

"Outsiders?"

The question was probing, thick with a heavy rural accent.

The Old District had been isolated from the world for over a decade. To the "people" living inside the district, it had been more than ten years since any outsiders had visited.

Everyone here was an old neighbor, and every household knew each other. It was as if time had frozen after a certain night—no one ever left, and no one ever came in.

"Are you siblings? The older brother looks about ready for college, and the younger sister must've just finished middle school."

The man with the cigarette, wearing a white tank top, looked them up and down, taking in Gao Tian and Qin Zhuguang, who was hiding behind him.

"Dog Two, don't scare them. They're just kids.

"Don't mind him, you two. It's been a long time since we've seen any fresh faces in this little town, so everyone's a bit curious.

"Whose family are you looking for? Old Yu's? If you can't find the house number, just say the word, and I'll take you there."

The man behind him smiled and gave him a nudge before turning to speak to Gao Tian.

Gao Tian felt Qin Zhuguang gently tug at his hem from behind.

Then came a voice that only he could hear. "My social skills are zero.

"If I open my mouth, I'll definitely blow our cover. Please do the talking."

He hadn't expected Qin Zhuguang to have social anxiety.

Gao Tian replied carefully and politely, "We're just passing through.

"We'll be leaving right away. We won't trouble you, Uncle."

Fortunately, the old neighbors at the alley entrance didn't intend to make things difficult for the "siblings."

They truly hadn't seen new faces in a long time. They were just casually asking.

The rules the big shot had set for this ghost town had been operating quite stably. Without any external interference, the town might not "expand" for another ten years.

Watching the retreating backs of the "siblings," the old lady in the bamboo chair gazed up at the sky and muttered to herself, "Come to think of it, I don't even know how many years have passed. Nothing here seems to have changed at all.

"Is that normal?

"Maybe I should head out of the city tomorrow and visit some distant relatives. These old bones haven't moved in a long time."

The deeper they ventured into the Old District, the more warning signs they encountered. Bizarre and conspicuous notices appeared in such overwhelming numbers that it was impossible to guard against them all.

No dancing.

No bicycles.

No rolling on the ground.

No smiling.

No eavesdropping. No loud noises.

Every rule corresponded to a death scenario or a Killing Rule.

Up ahead, several local children who had been chasing and roughhousing suddenly quieted down, inexplicably dropped to their stomachs, and began to crawl forward.

Not daring to make a mistake, Gao Tian and Qin Zhuguang immediately dropped to their hands and knees and mimicked them, slowly worming their way along the wet bluestone slabs.

Sure enough, less than half a kilometer later, a square sign reading "No Walking" appeared.

These children had "lived" in the Old District for who knew how many years. They were already intimately familiar with where every warning sign was placed.

Once they were far enough from the "No Walking" sign, the kids climbed back to their feet and happily jostled each other as they ran ahead.

At the next alley intersection, the path on the right was pitch-black and extremely narrow. Yet, a group of Old District residents stood in a long line, waiting to exit the alley that way, completely ignoring the wide, empty stone boulevard to the left.

Gao Tian and Qin Zhuguang obediently queued up with them, not daring to take a left turn onto the other street.

Just as expected, as the line moved forward, they spotted a relatively hidden sign erected behind the wall:

No Left Turn.

Once they reached a slightly more deserted area, a sudden, bizarre idea popped into Gao Tian's mind. He turned to Qin Zhuguang, who was still clutching his hem, and asked, "I have a question—

"Though it might sound a bit weird."

Qin Zhuguang said, "Tell me."

Gao Tian asked, "Could I take one of these warning signs with me?

"Even though this whole district is filled with all sorts of bizarre prohibitions, I don't think there's a single rule that says you can't take the signs."

The main reason was that he had just seen the "No Smiling" sign.

Gao Tian had his eye on it.

The signs were effective against Fierce Ghosts. As long as a ghost was within the rule's range, it had to obey.

In theory, "No Smiling" might not completely lock down the Smiling Man, but it would at least suppress him.

Hearing Gao Tian's words, imaginary black lines of speechlessness seemed to drop down over Qin Zhuguang's head.

"I couldn't come up with something like that even if I were trying to pick a fight.

"Gao Tian, are you seriously trying to fleece a ghost?"

Gao Tian said, "No, think about it.

"The original purpose of these rules was to suppress the Fierce Ghosts in the district and stop them from rioting once they remembered what they were.

"Now that the Old District has been dragged into the Inner World, suppressing them is meaningless.

"If we just leave the signs here, wouldn't it be a waste of good resources and a betrayal of that senior's lifelong efforts?

"As the younger generation, it's only right that we conveniently salvage a few of these warning signs. You could even say we're passing on the spirit of the ghost hunters from generation to generation."

Qin Zhuguang rolled her eyes at Gao Tian.

What was wrong with this guy?

However, thinking about it carefully, his logic was actually quite hard to refute.

It would be a waste not to take one.

Still, it just felt a bit wrong.

Qin Zhuguang's left and right brain fought it out for a good while before she finally, extremely reluctantly, said, "Fine—

"Two seconds before we're ready to evacuate the Old District, we can snatch a few warning signs and run.

"But don't do anything reckless right now.

"We're both still inside the district, and I have no idea what might happen if we grab one."

The compass in his hand pointed forward with increasing stability. It seemed the Hanged Man was not far away.

Gao Tian was quite curious about how the people in the Old District would react to a corpse impaled on such a massive cross.

Even though they were all ghosts, the people in the Old District still perceived themselves as human. The old neighbors in the district, the traffic cops on the street, the small shop owners along the road, the students and teachers in the schools—they all looked and acted like perfectly normal, ordinary people.

Such a monster entering their district would definitely trigger a riot and draw a crowd, right?

Even when Gao Tian and Qin Zhuguang, two outsiders, slipped into the alleys of the Old District, quite a few of the old neighbors had frequently turned their heads to stare at their unfamiliar faces.

While Gao Tian was still lost in thought, he noticed a filthy, ragged beggar half-kneeling beneath a high wall up ahead. A pair of glasses with only one lens hung on his face. At his feet lay a black mechanical device with a protruding lens—it turned out to be a camera.

As if sensing someone approaching, the beggar struggled to raise his head. Upon seeing Gao Tian and Qin Zhuguang's unfamiliar faces, the beggar—with his broken glasses and discarded camera equipment—underwent a gradual change in expression.

It shifted from confusion and bewilderment to shock and disbelief, immediately followed by uncontrollable, ecstatic joy. After taking a second look to confirm what he was seeing, a hint of deep-seated terror even mixed into his nervous excitement.

"Outsiders. People from the outside world."

Leaning against the wall, the beggar stood up and shouted at Gao Tian and his companion, "Everyone in this town is dead! They're all ghosts! Do you know that?

"Hahahahaha! They think they're still alive! They pretend to be normal people, mimicking the motions from when they were living! Eating, cleaning, going to work, going to school! In reality, no one in this whole town needs to eat, and none of them can die! Hahaha, isn't that hilarious?"

He laughed and laughed until tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. "How did you two get in? Help me! Take me out of here, please?

"I've taken so many photos here. If you just take me out, I'll definitely go viral! There'll be so much traffic! I'll make a ton of money, and I'll split it half-and-half with you, okay?

"I'm begging you, don't leave me behind. Oh, right, I also know why this district turned out this way—the exact reason that made them like this—please, just take me with you—"

What on earth was wrong with this beggar?

He fired off his words like a cannon, pairing them with loud shouts and spitting out a massive torrent of sentences in just a few seconds. They didn't even have time to stop him.

When he roared that "everyone here" was dead, Gao Tian's heart nearly leapt out of his chest.

Right at that moment, a few middle-aged women who had been grocery shopping stepped out onto the street opposite them.