Chapter 247

At this moment, Li Yi looked at the old messenger named Wang Chuan and cautiously observed the qipao-wearing woman who had no heartbeat. However, what he couldn't understand was why Guo You, who should have come to the second floor after delivering the third letter just like him, was mixed up with these two people.

Although messengers couldn't be considered enemies, in a ghostly place like the post office, human hearts were unpredictable, and it was very difficult to truly trust others.

Perhaps noticing Li Yi's vigilance, Guo You immediately walked over and said, "Li Yi, don't be nervous. Wang Chuan and Liu Qingqing are both messengers on the second floor. Especially Wang Chuan; he has been on the second floor for a long time and is a very senior messenger. Just earlier, he explained a lot to us about the Ghost Post Office, which is very helpful for our letter delivery and survival."

"And they have no ill intentions. After all, the number of messengers on the second floor isn't large, so everyone won't have conflicts over fighting for rooms. Moreover, after the screening on the first floor, the survival time of messengers on the second floor is relatively long. Under these circumstances, messengers generally won't offend each other."

Guo You had already lowered his guard. After all, as a newcomer who had just arrived on the second floor, he had nothing worth being plotted against for. Furthermore, letter-delivery missions were often unrelated to each other. On the contrary, if everyone shared information, it could increase their chances of survival.

Li Yi's expression was calm, but his inner vigilance remained. His gaze was fixed on the woman named Liu Qingqing.

To him, ordinary messengers were naturally no threat, but Ghost Controllers were different. He currently had no ability to counter supernatural power. If he had a conflict with a Ghost Controller, the only way was to strike first and kill them before they could use that supernatural power.

"You don't need to be afraid. Although I am a Ghost Controller, I won't take action lightly." Liu Qingqing also noticed Li Yi's guard and spoke coldly: "Every time a Ghost Controller uses supernatural power, it causes supernatural erosion. If it happens too many times, or if too much supernatural power is used at once, that power will spiral out of control. In the end, the ghost within the body will revive, and not only will the person die, but it will also cause a serious supernatural event."

"My supernatural power must be reserved for use during letter delivery; I won't waste it for no reason."

Li Yi was somewhat surprised upon hearing this: "Ghost Controllers have such restrictions?"

He hadn't been clear about this point before.

"The more powerful the supernatural power, the higher the price that must be paid. Ordinary people who ascend to the heavens in one step and obtain unimaginable power naturally pay an incomparably heavy price," Liu Qingqing said.

"That actually makes a lot of sense."

Li Yi nodded. He had been somewhat puzzled before. People in this world didn't need to cultivate; they could obtain supernatural power just by controlling ghosts. And any random supernatural power could easily kill a master of the Spirit Perception Realm like him. If there were no price, the Ghost Controllers of this world would have been invincible long ago.

"Haha, if you have anything to say, come inside. It's not easy for anyone to stay alive. In a place like the Ghost Post Office, it's naturally better to cooperate. Your name is Li Yi, right? Being vigilant is correct. After all, you've just experienced the three-letter mission on the first floor and don't understand the situation on the second floor. But it doesn't matter; I will explain it to you slowly."

That Wang Chuan spoke up. He smiled and signaled for them to enter the room to talk.

Li Yi thought for a moment. Under his spirit perception, he didn't detect any malice from this person, nor was there any warning of danger. He then nodded calmly.

Soon.

The group returned to the room.

Only, when Li Yi passed by Liu Qingqing, the cold, eerie aura on her body was even heavier. At the same time, he smelled a faint, strange odor. It wasn't something emitted by a human body, but rather like something emitted by a certain object. He couldn't help but take a few extra looks.

The room on the second floor was relatively spacious, and the light was much brighter. It was a bit less moldy and damp, but still oppressive and not very comfortable.

Li Yi scanned the room casually and saw many wine bottles, food, water, and some clothing on the floor. It looked like this messenger named Wang Chuan had lived here for a long time.

"Li Yi, I said before that your luck is good. According to time estimates, I might receive the third letter in these few days. By then, you will have one more opportunity to choose." Wang Chuan sat down, opened a bottle of beer, gulped down a few mouthfuls, and then let out a very satisfying, long sigh.

"What do you mean?" Li Yi asked.

Wang Chuan said unhurriedly: "Let me tell you about the letter-delivery rules within the Ghost Post Office first. No, it should be called the unspoken rules, or perhaps loopholes. On the surface, we messengers who enter the Ghost Post Office need to deliver one letter after another, then continuously complete letter-delivery missions, and then slowly climb from the first floor to the fifth floor, until the final letter is completed, after which we can leave the Ghost Post Office."

"However, after exploration by batch after batch of messengers, some people have gradually mastered some loopholes in letter delivery. Take you, Li Yi, for example. You should have delivered the final letter before. After that letter was delivered, you entered the second floor. But have you ever thought about what would happen if that letter of yours was obtained by someone else, and that other person successfully delivered it?"

Li Yi's expression tightened upon hearing this.

He hadn't thought about this question before, but being reminded by this Wang Chuan, he immediately understood: can letter-delivery missions be intercepted?

"You mean to say that if a letter is intercepted, once that person successfully delivers it, they will be grasped by the Ghost Post Office, judged as being them, and they will go to the second floor?" Li Yi wasn't stupid and understood immediately.

Wang Chuan smiled and nodded: "Your comprehension is very strong. Correct, that's exactly it. This is a loophole. If you are in a hurry to go upstairs, intercepting the third letter can let you go upstairs directly."

"What will be the outcome for the messenger whose letter was intercepted?" Li Yi asked.

Wang Chuan said: "They will be judged by the Ghost Post Office as a newcomer and will start over by delivering the first letter, but the floor they are on remains the same."

"Why do you know this so clearly?" Li Yi was very surprised.

Wang Chuan took a sip of beer and said: "Because I have done this before. I have delivered the third letter more than once. Several messengers were sent to the third floor by me, so I have stayed on the second floor for a very long time."

"Hmm?" Li Yi's eyes shifted slightly: "Why would you do this? Doesn't this mean you're trapped on the second floor?"

"This is my choice. The second floor is not like the first floor. Messengers on the second floor only have a letter-delivery mission almost once a month. I can rest for a month after delivering one letter. Moreover, I am very clear about my own abilities. It's almost impossible to walk out of the Ghost Post Office alive because the higher you go, the more difficult the letter-delivery missions become. I don't have the confidence to deliver letters on the third or fourth floors," Wang Chuan said with a self-deprecating smile.

He had accumulated rich letter-delivery experience on the second floor. Although every time was risky, it was at least within a controllable range. If he went to other floors and the difficulty suddenly increased, he might die immediately.

"So that's how it is." Li Yi understood, and then asked again: "If it's one letter a month on the second floor, then how long is it on the third floor?"

"One letter every three months," Liu Qingqing, who was on the side, said.

"Are you sure?" Li Yi asked.

Liu Qingqing said coldly: "I have a friend who is currently a messenger on the third floor. I have his contact information, so I can be one hundred percent sure."

Li Yi's gaze flickered at this moment.

If it were one letter every three months on the third floor, then if he could go to the third floor, it would mean he had completely escaped the control of the Ghost Post Office, because the cross-dimensional gate would open in a little over two months, and he could slip away. He wouldn't need to deliver letters at all.

On the contrary, if he stayed on the first floor, he would have to deliver at least two letters, and if his luck were worse, perhaps even three letters...

"I've heard there is also a red letter. The entire floor has to participate in the letter-delivery mission. Once completed, everyone can go up one floor directly." Wang Chuan shook his beer bottle and smiled: "It's a pity that I haven't seen this so-called red letter until now. The most special one I've seen was a blue letter, but unfortunately, the person who delivered it didn't return, so the intelligence was cut off."

"Besides delivering letters, there is also an extreme way to complete letter-delivery missions."

As soon as these words were spoken, Guo You, who was on the side, immediately asked excitedly: "What way?"

"Tear up the letter." Wang Chuan took another gulp of beer and said: "Tearing up the letter is equivalent to destroying this letter-delivery mission. However, there is a price, which is that it will attract an attack from a ghost. If you can survive the attack from that ghost, then the Ghost Post Office will judge that you have successfully completed the letter-delivery mission."

"Tear up the letter and attract a ghost attack?" Li Yi's hair stood on end as he listened: "This is even worse than delivering the letter. Delivering the letter doesn't necessarily mean you'll encounter a ghost, but tearing up the letter means you will definitely be targeted by a ghost."

"That reasoning is correct, but if you can find some special methods to avoid the ghost's attack, then the cost-effectiveness of tearing up the letter is very high. I once came into contact with a city supervisor who told me that in their Ghost Controller headquarters, there is a type of supernatural item called a 'Substitute Doll,' which means it can die in your place once. If you use the Substitute Doll and then tear up the letter, the ghost won't attack you, but will attack the Substitute Doll instead."

"After the Substitute Doll dies, the ghost's attack also ends, and you have successfully delivered the letter."

"Substitute Doll? There are such supernatural items?" Li Yi felt very amazed. This world indeed had many strange and bizarre things, each one revealing eeriness and evil.

Wang Chuan said: "What I said is just one possibility. There are other methods similar to this to avoid ghost attacks. For example, if you have money, you can use gold to build a safe house. After tearing up the letter, hide inside the safe house. You just need to wait until the ghost's attack time ends. After all, gold safe houses have now become a very simple and effective life-saving method in the supernatural circle."

"Gold safe house?" Li Yi heard another very useful piece of intelligence.

Using gold to build a safe house—how much money would that cost?

No wonder the price of gold in this world had risen so fiercely; it turned out it was all being used to build houses.

The price of gold in his own world wasn't high, and it was getting lower and lower. If he could cross back, he would also go and build a safe house to avoid having nowhere to hide when encountering a ghost. But he wouldn't need a safe house if he really went back; after all, the ghosts in this world were special.

In his own world, even if there were ghosts, they could be easily killed.

"Besides avoiding ghost attacks, there is also a more 'hard' method, which is to confront the ghost." Speaking of this, Wang Chuan glanced at Liu Qingqing: "Ghost Controllers possess supernatural power, and supernatural power can counter ghosts. If you can repel the attacking ghost after tearing up the letter, then you can also complete the letter-delivery mission."

"However, this depends on your personal ability. It is said that the more times you tear up a letter, the more terrifying the attacking ghost will be."

Liu Qingqing said: "I haven't torn up a letter until now, but if I have the opportunity, I will try the method you mentioned."

She had the confidence to confront ordinary ghosts and believed that tearing up a letter wouldn't be a difficult task.

"By the way, besides these, you must grasp every letter-delivery opportunity when you are on the first and second floors, because the letter-delivery missions on the first and second floors are still relatively simple. During this time, you must find ways to obtain supernatural items, or even supernatural power, during the letter-delivery process. If you reach the third floor and still don't have any supernatural items to save your life, then once the difficulty of letter delivery increases, the messenger will be in trouble."

Afterward, Wang Chuan gave everyone another piece of advice.

Li Yi remained silent, because Wang Chuan was right. He had already had this suspicion before. There were some hidden benefits in the early letter-delivery missions. If one could obtain them, it would be beneficial for subsequent survival. He had obtained a bottle of corpse water during his first letter-delivery mission, and through the corpse water, he could see some invisible ghosts.

However, the second letter was a letter to pull people into the Ghost Post Office, so there was no opportunity to obtain supernatural items.

It was the third letter delivered to that Ghost Controller named Song Jin... Li Yi felt that he should have missed some things.