Chapter 82: Supernatural Die

"Right, the Blood Shroud. As long as there's still a breath left—"

The Blood Shroud's rules stated that as long as the wearer didn't suffer a fatal blow, any injury or severed limb would heal rapidly.

That fit perfectly. Old Zhao hadn't taken a fatal wound.

Getting chopped in half at the waist was a mere flesh wound—well within the Blood Shroud's healing capabilities.

It suddenly clicked for Gao Tian. Frantic, he tore off his dress shirt and struggled to strip off the Blood Shroud underneath.

He had worn the Blood Shroud for a while now, and parts of it had already fused with his flesh. Ripping it off by force was no different from flaying half the skin from his body.

Looking at Zhao Zhenjia hanging by a thread, Gao Tian let out a furious shout. Inch by inch, he tore the shroud away, ripping his own flesh with it. Blood instantly sprayed in a torrent.

After peeling off the flesh-bound Blood Shroud, Gao Tian endured the searing agony shooting through his body. Without wasting a second, he clumsily dressed Zhao Zhenjia's mangled remains in the garment.

Ordinarily, a man of Zhao Zhenjia's massive bulk could never squeeze into a regular-sized shroud. But since that demonic palm had obliterated half his body, it actually slid on quite easily.

Once the Blood Shroud was on, all Gao Tian could do was stand aside and wait.

At this point, he had no other options left. He could only pray to the gods that Old Zhao would survive this ordeal.

If even the Blood Shroud couldn't pull him back from the brink, then it truly was hopeless. He had done everything in his power.

His prayers slowly seemed to take effect.

Zhao Zhenjia's remains—which had looked no different from a corpse—actually began to change.

Creak, crack. Eerie sounds echoed as flesh, blood, and bone regenerated at a terrifying speed.

It was unbelievable. The man had been smashed to a pulp, yet the Blood Shroud was actually restoring the bulk of his body.

Only then did Gao Tian find a moment to wipe the heavy sweat raining down his forehead.

It felt exactly like waking up from a nightmare.

In just the blink of an eye, Zhao Zhenjia—who had been reduced to a bisected torso with lifeless eyes—actually regained consciousness. His lower body gradually grew back, rendering him a complete human being once more.

He slowly opened his eyes, struggling to process his current situation. "Where... is this?"

The slap from that demonic palm in the corridor hadn't just obliterated half his body; it had quite literally knocked his entire life flashing before his eyes. Having so much information crammed into his brain all at once caused his mind to blue-screen. It took him a long time to finally remember what had just happened.

Zhao Zhenjia turned his head, gazing into the endless darkness in the distance. "Is this the Mirror World?"

"What are those black things out there?"

Before Gao Tian could answer, Zhao Zhenjia recalled the sheer horror of his near-death experience. "I remember I stayed behind to cover your bastard ass. Didn't I get smashed to death by that ghostly hand?"

"Was your Black Card a fake? Did you get someone to forge one?"

Gao Tian felt incredibly wronged. He started explaining while preparing to strip the Blood Shroud right back off the man. "It's the effect of my Supernatural Item, the Blood Shroud."

"Alright, since you're perfectly fine now, take it off and give it back."

The defensive capabilities of this item were truly game-breaking. It could actually save a bisected corpse. This was Gao Tian's first time viscerally experiencing the Blood Shroud's absurd power.

Having witnessed the Blood Shroud's effects firsthand, Zhao Zhenjia was deeply reluctant to part with it. "Wait, wait, Brother Gao Tian. Don't be in such a hurry to take it back. This thing saved my life. I feel like I've developed an emotional bond with it."

"Sell me this item. Name your price. As long as it isn't too outrageous, we can work something out."

He hadn't expected Zhao Zhenjia to take a fancy to the garment.

Gao Tian blanked for a second. This was his first time attempting to trade a Supernatural Item. "A price?"

"What do you even have to trade with?"

Zhao Zhenjia offered tentatively, "I'll give you the Wind Attendant Buddha, and I'll even teach you exactly how to control it. How about that?"

Gao Tian thought about it for a moment.

Was trading the Blood Shroud for the Wind Attendant Buddha a profit or a loss?

The Wind Attendant Buddha.

As Zhao Zhenjia's trump card, this item's innate properties were far from weak. It could be used to scout out all kinds of Killing Rules.

Not to mention, if combined with the Mirror Ghost, he could enter and exit the Mirror World without any cost. It was essentially like carrying a portable safe house.

While the Blood Shroud was an exceptional defensive item, it came with a strict time limit. If worn for too long, it would permanently fuse with his body, meaning Gao Tian would inevitably have to take it off eventually.

Trading it away now meant he had essentially reaped its benefits for free while scoring an item with even greater combat potential.

Of course, he would definitely have to explain the Blood Shroud's fatal flaw to Zhao Zhenjia. Whether Zhao Zhenjia still wanted a time-sensitive item after hearing that was a different story.

Watching Gao Tian deep in thought, Zhao Zhenjia misunderstood. He assumed the Blood Shroud was too important to Gao Tian and that the Wind Attendant Buddha alone wasn't enough to tempt him.

Zhao Zhenjia gritted his teeth, deciding to go all out today. "Brother Gao Tian, you're being a bit greedy. The Wind Attendant Buddha really isn't weak; it's my ultimate trump card. In what way is it inferior to your Blood Shroud?"

"How about this? I just like this Supernatural Item too much. I'll throw in an extra."

"I'll give you this Supernatural Die to make up the difference. That's two Supernatural Items in exchange for yours."

Zhao Zhenjia pulled a grayish-white die from his pocket. It was lopsided and irregular, with one to six hollowed-out holes carved into its faces. It looked as though it were carved from human bone.

Listening to Old Zhao's explanation, Gao Tian quickly understood why this item was being tossed in as a free extra for the trade.

Every time the user rolled the Supernatural Die, a different effect would trigger depending on the number shown.

Each effect could only be triggered once. Afterward, the corresponding face would shatter, rendering that number unusable in the future.

Rolling a 1 meant instant death for the user, and no item could be used to resurrect them.

Rolling a 2 would duplicate a Supernatural Item, creating a copy with the exact same effects.

(If the original Supernatural Item was a single-use consumable, the duplicate would spawn in an unused, ready-to-use state.)

Rolling a 3 would emit the scent of a living human for 24 hours. This fragrance would attract the covetous attention of nearby Fierce Ghosts.

Rolling a 4 would neutralize a supernatural incident caused by a Fierce Ghost.

(The Fierce Ghost itself could not be eliminated; it would merely be forced into a temporary slumber.)

Rolling a 5 would randomly teleport the user to a Supernatural Zone.

Rolling a 6 granted absolute immortality for a single day.

Seeing the Supernatural Die's very first effect, Gao Tian's eyes widened in shock. Good lord, the first roll alone was utterly broken. No wonder Zhao Zhenjia wanted absolutely nothing to do with it and offered it as a free bonus.

—

The die's logic was straightforward: three numbers had negative effects, and three had positive ones.

An ordinary person couldn't possibly use this thing. Although the odds of a positive or negative outcome were fifty-fifty, the negative effects were far too devastating. Landing on one meant either certain death or plunging into inescapable despair; the positive benefits simply couldn't offset the risks.

But for Gao Tian, this die might actually be useful.

If the numbers on the die were entirely random and based on luck, then he could pair it with his Black Tie. Fusing the two could create an entirely new combo.

Two Supernatural Items in exchange for one Blood Shroud. Looking at it this way, Gao Tian was undeniably profiting. He had no reason to hesitate.

"Deal."

"However, this Blood Shroud does have its flaws. Let me explain them to you first, and then you can decide if you still want to go through with the trade."

Gao Tian honestly explained exactly what happened after wearing the Blood Shroud for an extended period.

He had worn it for less than a month, yet parts of the shroud had already fused with his muscles. Ripping it off by force to give it to Zhao Zhenjia had left behind ghastly, blood-seeping wounds.

Hearing the Blood Shroud's negative effects didn't deter Zhao Zhenjia in the slightest; it only made him more intrigued. "It's that powerful? That's even more useful than I imagined."

"It cancels out damage, and that damage mitigation scales over time. It's truly the ideal defensive item. Even trading the Wind Attendant Buddha for it is completely worth it."

As for being devoured by the Blood Shroud in the future, Zhao Zhenjia didn't care in the slightest.

The average lifespan of a ghost hunter was incredibly short anyway. Who had the luxury of worrying about the future?

Anything that let you survive the present, survive the next Green Text Mission, and survive until tomorrow was a top-tier item.

All in all, both sides walked away highly satisfied with the transaction.

Now that the deal was sealed, Zhao Zhenjia pulled a small black Buddha statuette from his shirt. He began giving Gao Tian hands-on instructions on how to use it to summon a Wind Puppet mimicking his own form. "With this thing, you first need to establish a blood pact. You have to soak it in your own blood every day, and the process takes about two weeks—"

The two of them chatted as they walked past the endless mirrors lining the long white corridor.

Operating the Wind Attendant Buddha wasn't complicated. Gao Tian estimated he'd have more than enough time to master it.

Their current task was to find a suitable Mirror and return to the Third Floor.

The others, including Xia Ta, who had already returned to the lobby, probably assumed they had met with some fatal accident since they hadn't come downstairs for so long.

Along the way, every Mirror they peered into reflected the rooms on the fifth floor.

The Fierce Ghosts on this floor were terrifying beyond all reason. Even while hiding inside the Mirrors—knowing the horrors outside couldn't touch them—just looking at them triggered an overwhelming wave of nausea. Staring for too long brought on a creeping terror that threatened to shred a person's sanity.

It was proof enough that Xia Ta's willpower was forged from steel. She must have endured unimaginable horrors in Room 525, yet she brushed it off lightly with a simple, "It's over."

The Mirrors reflecting the fifth-floor rooms gradually gave way to those of the fourth floor. It seemed that if they kept heading in this direction, they would soon reach the normal Third Floor.

"Hey, how are we supposed to get out later?"

"Since we're both stuck inside the Mirror, can you summon the Wind Attendant Buddha outside, pull it in, and swap us out?"

"We'll give it a try. If it doesn't work, we'll pull Jiang Yang in first, swap him for me, and then I'll summon the Wind Attendant Buddha outside."

"As long as we're not dead and not cut in half, we can always figure something out."

In Gao Tian's hand, the bloody characters on the Gray Card slowly faded away.

The ordeal on the fifth floor had played him, forcibly saving him a Gray Card.

In three months, the timer would trigger its automatic teleportation function to help him escape that preordained fatal calamity.