Chapter 54: The Resentment of the Death Curse (IV)

Duizhan Qibing took the folder, thanked the guard, and casually glanced at the dispatch date on the folder—it was exactly three days ago.

Just as he was about to drive off, the long-haired girl in the back seat, Jingzhe Xiazhi, suddenly rolled down her window and asked the guard: "Hello, may I ask what time you usually finish work? If we arrive here two hours from now, will you still give us this document?"

In this context, these words seemed bizarre and impolite, as if questioning the guard's professionalism.

The guard's face darkened with anger, and he shouted: "What do you mean? I still have an hour left on shift—even if I don't get to you today, I'll find a way to deliver the package tomorrow."

As the guard grumbled, the car started and drove forward. Xixi sat in confusion, unaware of what had just happened, while Li Cheng narrowed his eyes and understood Jingzhe Xiazhi's intent.

The first-stage task gave a two-hour time limit; according to the original scenario of the vehicle plunging into the river, the group walking to the TV station fit within that timeframe.

It was Duizhan Qibing who used his special skill to digitize the vehicle and pull it back onto shore, allowing them to arrive at the TV station early, retrieve the disc, and unlock the next stage of the task.

"Assuming the video's content is true and credible, Ishikawa Kenichi said that anything touched by the curse, and anyone killed by the curse, become new mediums."

Xixi, stunned beside them, froze for a moment before snapping to attention, quickly climbing into the driver's seat, frantically opening the water-jing city map sent by Duizhan Qibing on her phone, and heading toward Chengdong.

After completing all this, Jingzhe Xiazhi remained calm, moved to the front passenger seat, tied her shoelaces, and said to Xixi: "Get in. You drive."

【Task Objective: Find Suzuki Kazuya, Suzuki Yūko, Sakai Yoshimi, and Ishikawa Kenichi in Water Jing City—four people total. Ensure at least one survives within 24 hours. Do not leave Water Jing City during this period.】

Water Jing City Police Station was not far from the TV station; Duizhan Qibing walked there. As the team's highest-ranked member, he voluntarily took the disc, which could bring danger.

Anyone can become a multi-skilled person if they know how to explore and have the perseverance to learn.

It was evening; many colleagues stood in the hallway chatting: "So annoying—thunder's starting again outside, and my laundry's still hanging in the yard."

These people, directly or indirectly, had all encountered the Death Curse. Ultimately, everything began with the family massacre 25 years ago in the fourth house of San Dingmu, and the chain of deaths that followed.

The Kill Notification sounded at the right moment; all four players simultaneously felt a chilling sensation crawl up their necks, a strong sense of being watched.

Jingzhe Xiazhi, no longer hiding her awareness of the task's danger, narrowed her eyes and explained: "Do you remember the rules of the curse?"

"Anything touched by the curse, and anyone killed by the curse, become new mediums."

Xixi, deeply shaken, asked cautiously: "May I ask—what do you do in the real world?"

"What's wrong with Master Pi Fu?"

During the script task, players cannot add each other as friends or use the system's built-in friend communication function. They can only use walkie-talkies, phones, or similar means.

"Uh"

Li Cheng glanced at the back seat through the rearview mirror—Jingzhe Xiazhi had barely spoken since entering the task, only finally speaking as the car was about to leave and time was running out.

Boom!

Otherwise, we haven't even started looking for them, and these four suddenly die—that wouldn't make sense. So right now is actually the best time to search for them and gather clues."

He sat in a study room; through the open window, he could see the tall buildings outside.

The disc had become a medium, meaning Ishikawa himself had been tainted by the curse. Hence his disappearance.

————

After a smooth, fluid car-breaking process, she slipped nimbly into the vehicle, pried open the front seat panel, connected the starter wire and ignition wire, and successfully started the car.

"Hey, you two want to grab a drink after work?"

He handed the disc to Li Cheng, who took it, stuck his right index finger through the center hole, held the disc high above his head, then slapped its edge with his left hand—like spinning a bamboo helicopter—to make it rotate.

He pushed open the room door and stepped out first from the TV station building.

"Online self-study."

Xixi asked, naturally clueless, then suddenly remembered something: "Oh wait—why are only the two of us going to find Sakai Yoshimi, while Master Pi Fu has to find Suzuki Kazuya and his wife? Shouldn't it be two people each?"

Duizhan Qibing was surprised; from his perspective, this Lv2 Master Pi Fu's clothing, behavior, and speech were all strange—either mentally ill, faking insanity, or a lunatic from the 【Crazy Circus】.

Saying this, he stood up and walked toward the camera, turning it off.

Boom—

He had to take out the disc, scan its contents with his glasses, but got no results; he turned to his teammates and asked: "Do any of you have a way to repair the disc?"

"Besides the connection point, the curse has two other elements—medium and amplifier. Anything touched by the curse, and anyone killed by the curse, become new mediums. As for the amplifier, it's some kind of thing that amplifies the curse's power—Xixi Xixi Xixi Xixi."

Earlier in the staff lounge, Master Pi Fu had first tested that the disc had become a curse medium, deduced that the folklorist Ishikawa was infected, then destroyed the projector.

The thunder rumbled, dark clouds covered the sky, and heavy rain was coming.

【Task Time Limit: 24 hours】

To better explain, he picked up paper and pencil, poked a hole in the paper with the pencil, then held the paper in front of his face, staring intently through the hole at the camera.

The image suddenly stuttered and pixelated. It took over ten seconds to return to normal.

"I'll try." Li Cheng raised his hand.

"I am Ishikawa Kenichi. When you see this disc, I may already be dead."

The minivan the group arrived in was handed over to Master Pi Fu to drive, so he could quickly reach the relatively distant Chengnan.

The system imposed many hidden restrictions on players' inventory slots—for example, you cannot store items too large, items not belonging to you, living things, or key task items.

"You?"

Her tone carried calm composure, as if stating something perfectly ordinary.

"Suzuki Kazuya is the only son of the deceased Suzuki couple; he lives in Chengnan with his new wife, Suzuki Yūko. Sakai Yoshimi is the younger sister of Sakai Hara, a high school student temporarily staying at a classmate's house in Chengdong. I've sent you the exact addresses."

Duizhan Qibing immediately tapped his glasses' frame, captured the tall buildings in the image, cross-referenced them with online data, and concluded—the video was filmed at Ishikawa Kenichi's residence.

She paused, then said no more.

The four players, not wanting to draw attention, did not stop to chat with colleagues; they turned straight into an empty staff lounge, locked the door, took out the disc from the folder, and inserted it into the projector.

Thunder still rumbled; Jingzhe Xiazhi, having tied her shoelaces, browsed known clues on her phone, her gaze sharpening, lost in thought.

Then she threaded the shoelace through the sealant strip, slid it inside the car, looped it into a slipknot around the door handle, and finally pulled both ends upward with both hands, yanking the handle open.

Four days ago, on May 16, Sakai Hara, a real estate salesperson at Water Jing City's Yuzhu Commerce Company, jumped to his death. Before dying, he stabbed his wife to death at home.

61.223.152.198

This is easy to understand: imagine a player locked in a cell, needing a key to escape. If there were no restrictions, the player could simply pack the cell's iron door into their inventory and walk out freely.

"You all felt it, didn't you? The task has officially begun."

Li Cheng nodded and said, "That's right. Considering Ishikawa Kenichi has already mailed the disc, the ownership has conceptually transferred—I'm leaning toward the second possibility: the disc itself is flawed, perhaps already become the medium of the curse mentioned in the video."

Jingzhe Xiazhi rattled off a long list of titles, leaving Little Red Riding Hood stunned, "Of course, there's also the player identity."

"Heh, that's because Duizhan Qibing has already realized Master Pi Fu isn't a player of this level—or doesn't possess the awareness or abilities a player of this level should have."

Duizhan Qibing pressed the rewind button on the projector, jumping back to the stuttering segment where Ishikawa Kenichi spoke about the curse amplifier, but the image remained just as torn.

"Even so, the rain this month has been far too frequent—I heard there's going to be a downpour tomorrow."

Duizhan Qibing rubbed his throbbing temple, sighing inwardly at how unreliable his teammates were, then casually explained, "Generally speaking, yes—in horror films, splitting up might literally mean heading to the grave. But this mission gives us a 24-hour limit, so we'll definitely have a safe window in the first few hours to search."

"The term 'curse' refers to the intense resentment and fury left behind by someone who died unjustly. Under extremely rare circumstances, this emotion erodes a hole into the real world."

???

"Alright, don't break it."

Heroes don't ask about origins; rogues don't ask about age. Once you become a player, infinite possibilities open up.

He pulled three cell phones from his inventory slot and handed them to his three companions. "These are Whale Song's standard-issue gear—they maintain communication even in complex electromagnetic environments. Use these to stay in contact."

I'll go to the Shuijing City Police Bureau and look up the murder case records mentioned in the video—this part isn't available online."

Duizhan Qibing spoke quickly: "Master Pi Fu, you find the Suzuki couple. Jingzhe Xiazhi and Little Red Riding Hood, you find Sakai Yoshimi. Try to persuade them; if you can't, use force to take them away and concentrate them under protection."

【Reward 2: 500 Game Coins】

【Reward 4: Random Skill Scroll ×1, Quality Depends on Mission Rating】

【Reward 1: 300 Experience Points】

On screen was a middle-aged man in his thirties, his expression weary, wearing a hat made of crumpled aluminum foil, and over his white shirt, another coat of the same aluminum foil material—strangely styled, it was the folklorist Ishikawa Kenichi.

Japan's administrative divisions consist of to, do, fu, and ken, along with two lower levels: shi and machi/mura. Shi are smaller than ken. Because Shuijing City is economically developed, its television station, though small, has all the essentials.

He smoothed out the curled paper scraps around Kong Dong, covering the hole.

At the same time, he kept one eye closed, staring at the underside of the disc, making a mechanical "ssss" sound.

This Miss, despite being an official of the Japanese Bureau of Anomalous Affairs, was as timid as a mouse. Has it really come to this—so short-staffed over there? Or were they never properly trained?

"People's physiques can't be generalized. Once, when my home computer broke and I was utterly furious, I rewrote a Windows operating system in one night using only the 0s and 1s from my landline phone."

Li Cheng made up an excuse, removed the disc from his fingers, and returned to normal speech: "I just tried—I can't put this disc into my inventory slot. This usually has two possibilities: one, the item has a clear owner, and the ownership relationship is definite."

As the disc began spinning, the old CRT television screen glowed green, and after a delay, a normal image appeared.

【Reward 3: Random Item ×1, Quality Depends on Mission Rating】

If the group had walked here, the gatekeeper would have already clocked out, and no one would have handed them the disc—would the system still issue the same mission?

Or was seeing the disc's content a day early a reward from the system, meant to get them to the TV station sooner?

If you think about it, that's interesting—the killing ground is hinting that the key to this mission lies in seizing time.

"Every curse has a connection point—a house, an object, or even the deceased's pet. Through this connection point, it draws power from beyond the real world and exists within it. Lose the connection point, and the curse weakens until it dissipates. Like this."

As Li Cheng spoke, he unplugged the power cord, reached into the projector, gently pried something loose, destroyed the machine, and snapped off the metal prongs of the plug. "My personal suggestion: let's split up and move quickly—find these three people first."

"Well, it's the rainy season, after all."

The item itself has anomalies."

This mission requires us to protect four people within 24 hours. Aside from the missing folklorist Ishikawa Kenichi, who's been gone three days, the other three—based on their names—should be relatives of the deceased Suzuki couple and Sakai couple."

"I bear an irrevocable responsibility for these events. So I must go—end this."

The other three stared blankly. Duizhan Qibing blinked, then snapped back to reality, his eyelids twitching violently: "Wait—you're cosplaying a DVD player? Don't mess around!"

It seemed part of the content had been skipped. Ishikawa Kenichi didn't continue discussing the amplifier. Instead, he pulled out several newspapers and held them up to the camera: "May 1st: Suzuki couple, aged nearly sixty, residing in the fourth house of San Dingmu, Shuijing City, drowned separately in the kitchen sink and bathtub."

Jingzhe Xiazhi shrugged casually: "It's the 21st century—there's every kind of tutorial online. Interrogation techniques, weapon assembly, hazardous chemical synthesis, bomb-making, armed helicopter piloting, art forgery—even building a nuclear reactor in your garage."

"A curse isn't a ghost born after death. It's like a toxin—without self-awareness, intelligence, or concepts of hatred. It instinctively attacks anyone who approaches, spreading malice outward from the deceased. Many famous mass murder cases, large-scale disappearances, and serial killings throughout history were caused by the power of curses."

【Failure Penalty: Erasure】

"I am a folklorist. After years of research and fieldwork, I am certain this world has no gods or spirits—onmyoji, shrine priests, exorcists—they possess no supernatural power. But one thing is real: the 【curse】."

As for Jingzhe Xiazhi, at a parking lot surveillance blind spot, she picked a nondescript locked car, removed her shoelace, tied a slipknot in the middle, then pried up the corner of the door.

Perhaps sensing the atmosphere in the car was too solemn, Little Red Riding Hood bit her lip and volunteered: "Um… where did you learn that car theft technique? Not that it's bad—I just think your movements were clean, cool."

Wasn't that Lv7 Duizhan Qibing once just an ordinary programmer?

As for the other one, Master Pi Fu…"

Hearing Li Cheng's words, Little Red Riding Hood grew even more nervous, stammering: "Eh?! S-split up? But in horror movies, splitting up is dangerous!"

On May 7th, the mortician who prepared the Suzuki couple's bodies died in the funeral home—cause of death: cardiac arrest. The next day, his two friends vanished.

"Me? A mere detective, genius, Level 8 fitter, Master Chef, Senior Lawyer, Beauty Blogger, Stock Expert, Network KOL."

The disc's content ended here.

Duizhan Qibing snapped to attention: "You mean—"

Proving she had deliberately concealed her analytical abilities.

The vehicle entered the parking lot; everyone got out and headed to the third floor of the television station.

Clearly, he had realized the curse's power might have entered the projector through the disc. If a TV station employee used the projector, they could be killed by the curse's influence, becoming part of the malice—increasing our mission difficulty.

To have this awareness, he must be either very intelligent and perceptive, or he's already encountered supernatural events and understands the rules—or both."

(End of Chapter)