[{"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-288":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},2299257,4497,"Chapter 288: Setting the Trap","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-288",288,"\u003Cp>“Huh? But…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The case is still under investigation… why suddenly…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are we giving up the operation? But not everyone’s arrived yet…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I thought I just heard gunshots—did something happen…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officers began whispering among themselves, all reluctant to leave. The man in the leather jacket frowned, about to fire a warning shot, when he caught Mei Lin’s glance—clearly telling him not to act rashly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mei Lin stepped forward, speaking calmly: “I’ve secured special funding from the county police department. After you return, your overtime allowance for this field operation will be paid as usual, and you’ll each receive an additional week of full-paid leave.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At once, the officers who had been hesitating erupted into cheers of “Hooray!” Whistles rang out in waves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Vanessa Castle needs to be cleared immediately,” Mei Lin sighed. “Will you please cooperate with us?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officers smiled, giving Mei Lin the OK sign, and walked toward the castle gates without another word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So they were just worried about not getting overtime pay if they left before finishing the investigation,” Ning Zhe couldn’t help laughing. So that’s why they’d been reluctant to leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe was hesitating—whether to follow the group out of Vanessa Castle and sneak back in later, or simply find an excuse to stay—when his peripheral vision caught the female officer who’d spoken to him earlier, Su Xi, not joining the evacuation. Instead, she was walking against the flow, heading back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hm?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why are you still here?” Mei Lin frowned, her gaze sharp as she watched the female officer approach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The investigation team’s eyes flicked to Su Xi’s right hand—five fingers intact. The tension eased slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Xi glanced at the leather-jacketed man’s gun and said carefully: “My brother, Su Nak, is also an officer on this field operation. We agreed to meet at the open ground in front of Zhong Lou, but when we assembled, I didn’t see him…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mei Lin checked the duty roster—Su Nak was one of the three missing officers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The officers were deployed in teams of three; all three members of Su Nak’s team were now missing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chief Ebunick and several other investigation team members were rechecking each officer as they exited through the castle’s main gate. Mei Lin closed the roster and asked: “When was the last time you saw your brother?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Su Nak and I were in different teams—we split up as soon as we entered Vanessa Castle,” Su Xi said, pulling out her phone and opening a social app. She showed Mei Lin the chat history: “His last message came about half an hour ago, followed by a phone call.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mei Lin took the phone and examined it—the chat contained both voice and text messages. The siblings had casually discussed what to buy for their parents when they visited after work, ordinary family talk mixed with a few work-related remarks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several text exchanges, Su Nak sent a two-second voice message. Mei Lin played it: “Oh, my team leader’s calling—I’ve got to go.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“About seven to eight minutes after he was called away, he called me again,” Su Xi opened her call log and continued. “But when I answered, there was no sound on the other end. After a pause, the call ended. I’m worried—maybe something happened to Su Nak and his team?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mei Lin scrolled back—the final messages were from Su Xi asking what the earlier call meant. No reply came.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this point, Mei Lin was nearly certain: Su Nak’s team was likely dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All other officers had been evacuated. The investigation team and Chief Ebunick returned to the front of Zhong Lou. Mei Lin handed the phone back to Su Xi and said to the leather-jacketed man: “This woman’s brother and two other officers are missing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The leather-jacketed man crossed his arms, his expression grim: “It seems the situation is far more serious than we imagined.” The Fandaike family had only recently noticed strange disturbances in Vanessa Castle. They rushed here, mobilized police forces to seal the area, and confirmed the situation—but they were too late.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now it appeared Vanessa Castle’s condition was worse than they’d feared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The ‘Necromancer’ buried deep underground has likely escaped. His power is already leaking from the seal, influencing the real world,” Mei Lin turned, gazing at the towering Zhong Lou: “Worst case… the Devil’s power has already been mastered by this unwelcome intruder.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The leather-jacketed man understood: “If that’s true, then at least one of us will die here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Fandaike family would never allow an outsider to steal the ghost from their ancestral home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nor would that outsider, who had mastered the Necromancer, spare them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For an Ascended, once you know their core rule, you are locked in mortal conflict.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The leather-jacketed man snatched the phone from Su Xi’s hand. The investigation team members passed it among themselves, quickly scanning the siblings’ chat logs, then returned it to Su Xi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The four male investigators drew their guns. The leather-jacketed man patted the bewildered female officer Su Xi on the shoulder: “Your brother’s last known location was the third floor of Zhong Lou. Come with us—we’ll find him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Take me too,” Chief Ebunick drew his gun. “As their commander, I can’t let any of my officers suffer further losses.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not a single word was out of place!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“More hands, more strength,” the leather-jacketed man did not refuse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pu Lumeiyia, in a black dress with a large overcoat draped over her shoulders, stood silently before the chessboard, offering no opinion—only quietly stepping to the opposite side and pushing a piece carved with a “Rook” forward two spaces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the time the investigation team evacuated the officers, she had done nothing but play against herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mei Lin stood beside her, effortlessly unfolding a black umbrella to shield them both.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Miss Mei Lin, our safety and the Princess’s are in your hands.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The leather-jacketed man spoke those words, then led the team across the first-floor entrance, guns drawn, into Zhong Lou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The afternoon sun blazed at three o’clock, the sky clear and cloudless. The evacuating officers did not notice that one person was missing from the bus Mei Lin had chartered for them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mei Lin, holding the umbrella beside Princess Pu Lumeiyia, did not notice either: along the flowerbed path connecting the laundry room to the scripture hall, roses bloomed, leaves lush and green; a long-tailed tit fluttered lightly over the wall—and vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Flap-flap—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe beat his wings, flew past windows and balconies, landed in a second-floor room, and reverted to human form. He silently rolled up his sleeve to check his smartwatch:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>3:27 p.m.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the time he’d seen on Su Xi’s phone just now was clearly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>3:11 p.m.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So that’s how it is…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1125,"2026-06-20T06:29:22.815Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","49b2199b206f7b9158a45d5cfbb24367c4185afd3b6ba4c5b41e719d8765187b","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-289","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-287",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]