[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world":3,"chapter-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-102":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Survival Guide in a Mysterious World",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2299071,4497,"Chapter 102: Listening to Yao","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-102",102,"\u003Cp>Ning Zhe put on his coat, transformed into a bearded, downcast middle-aged man, stuffed cash into his pockets, and slipped into the alleyways of Yundu City’s old district, entering a cybercafé.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Places still calling themselves “cybercafés” are rare now; most have been replaced by larger, more upscale e-sports cafés. Only a few hidden black-market cybercafés cling to the old model, their main clientele being underage students denied entry to legitimate cafés for lacking ID cards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And people like Liu Hongzhi—unemployed, broke, societal drifters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe walked in, rented a machine, and the net admin took his cash without looking up, silently returning change. The greasy hair, unkempt beard, deep dark circles, and sallow, emaciated look didn’t earn him a single word—the man was utterly unremarkable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Customers didn’t complain about the low-end machines or poor environment; the admin had no reason to care about the customers’ shabby appearances.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sitting down, the faint odor of e-liquid hit him. Ning Zhe pressed the power button. The Windows logo spun for minutes before the desktop finally loaded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following memories he’d recently acquired, Ning Zhe created a blank document in the file manager and swiftly typed a strange web address—starting with ‘s’ and ending with ‘l’—on a keyboard caked with cigarette ash and potato chip crumbs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the access address for the Ascension Network, as known by Lan Shiwen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hit Enter. The address, typed into the blank document, auto-redirected without a browser, opening a 720×720 standard window. The monochrome interface was starkly simple—no clutter, rigid text layout, default black font, evoking the feel of an old-school online forum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Logging in with Yu Zi’s remembered username and password, a new pinned post appeared at the top of the window.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Remnants of the Yin Family Appear in Yundu City】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe moved his cursor beneath the title, expanding the post. The poster was Lan Shiwen. The content was brief: photos and personal details of several confirmed Yin family descendants, warning Ascenders near Yundu to stay alert.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lan Shiwen stated in the pinned post that any Ascender encountering a Yin family member listed could kill them outright—he would ask no questions about what they took from the corpses, and would arrange for specialists to clean up afterward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He needed only one thing: confirmation that the Yin family remnants were dead. Nothing else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though pinned, the post had few replies—evidently, Ascenders had little desire to communicate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe scrolled to the bottom, finding only scattered comments discussing the aftermath of Wu Tong’s death, and angry rants about how these aristocratic brats were like cockroaches—killed for decades, yet never wiped out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He collapsed the pinned post. A prominent dot glowed beside the blank avatar in the upper-right corner—unread messages from when Yu Zi hadn’t logged in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe opened the unread messages: several private notes sent to Yu Zi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Fú Niè】: 【Qinzhou’s folk are fierce. Watch yourself.】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Duo A】: 【Do me a favor. Deputy head of the Yanzhou Merchants’ Alliance. He has intestinal cancer. To stay alive, he’s allied with foreign powers.】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Ting Yao】: 【Ning Zhe, please help me!】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...?” At the sight of the last message, Ning Zhe’s pupils contracted violently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He checked the message again. Every character was standard Hanzi—clear, unambiguous Simplified Chinese. “Ning Zhe” and “Ye Yao” weren’t homophones easily confused by typos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ascension Network user named “Ting Yao” had sent Yu Zi a message that literally meant: “Ning Zhe, please help me!” What was going on? Had his true identity been exposed?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe quickly reviewed his connections. Only two people knew he was linked to Yu Zi: Feng Yu and Bai Zhi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Yu was bound by a thought imprint—she could never voluntarily reveal anything about him. Bai Zhi was a near-zero-social recluse, tormented by years of nightmares into a nervous wreck—she wasn’t even a normal person capable of smooth communication. If someone had extracted information from her, they likely had mind-reading abilities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...Do rules exist for reading others’ thoughts?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Possibly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Snake God influences fate. Lan Shiwen foresees the future. Wu Tong resurrects the dead... If a thought imprint forcing belief can exist, what can’t a ghost do?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps nothing. The rules might be omnipotent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After careful thought, Ning Zhe sent a private reply to “Ting Yao”:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Ye Yao】: 【Who is Ning Zhe?】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe waited at the computer for over ten minutes. No reply. Ting Yao was probably offline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll check the Ascension Network again at this time tomorrow...” He sent neutral, unremarkable replies to “Fú Niè” and “Duo A,” closed the window, deleted the document, and launched a WWII-themed FPS game Yu Zi liked—leaving it running on the desktop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn’t even entered a match when Yu Zi’s phone rang. Caller ID: Zhang Hanying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who’s this again?” Ning Zhe scratched his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>=9+Book_bar\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He answered the call, hearing a sobbing voice through the speaker: “Zi Qian! You finally picked up... waaaah...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe remembered now—Zhang Hanying was the older twin sister among the pair who always accompanied Yu Zi. What was the younger one’s name...? Ning Zhe never paid attention to such trivial details.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sobbing on the other end quickly became two voices—the sisters’ whiny, pitiful cries grated on Ning Zhe’s nerves. He wanted to hang up and block Zhang Hanying’s number, but he knew it was pointless. As long as Yu Zi’s thought imprint on them remained, they’d keep obsessively clinging, desperate to return to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Maybe I should just kill them both.” Ning Zhe thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No. Perhaps I could implant a thought imprint in Zhang Hanying: ‘I don’t love Yu Zi’—to counter the original. But would it work? Would two opposing imprints cancel each other, or drive the person insane?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He rejected the idea within seconds. Even if it worked, the simulated rules he could mimic couldn’t stand against true thought imprints. Fake was fake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So killing them really is simpler? ...No. Killing innocents isn’t Yu Zi’s style. Murdering two women close to him would draw attention from other Ascenders.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ting Yao’s message suggested his identity might be exposed. Ning Zhe didn’t want to add more risks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he pondered, the sisters on the phone kept sobbing: “Zi Qian, where are you? Can... can we come find you? Is it the pressure of marriage? We won’t marry then, we won’t—please don’t leave us...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So annoying.” Ning Zhe hung up, slumped back in the cybercafé chair, staring blankly at the flickering game screen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1069,"2026-06-20T06:29:21.893Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","4a8b5bf929c458a9fc4fbec84dfb00317d3b737e18f1b61fd72093cbb539c957","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-103","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-101",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]