[{"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-51":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},2299020,4497,"Chapter 51: Wu Kong Sheng Mie","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-51",51,"\u003Cp>Ning Zhe’s shadow was cast on the wall by the flashlight’s beam, curvy and alluring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bishushanzhuang required a college degree even for security guards, and naturally had standards for waitstaff appearance; Liu Yunzhi and Xie Yaoan’s figures and facial features far exceeded the average, and with just a bit of makeup and a beauty filter, they could go live-streaming to lure rich men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the corridor, the electrician’s corpse, slumped on the ground, rose straight up without using its hands or legs—like a city gate lifted by ropes—standing rigid as a spear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ghost turned its head silently, its lifeless gaze sweeping over Ning Zhe’s shadow, then lingering for several seconds on Feng Yu’s flashlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Ning Zhe had observed earlier, when too close to the light source, the ghost moved cautiously and slowly—it feared light, but why?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was precisely what Ning Zhe wanted to understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, the ghost was only a ghost, not Taiyi, who possessed human identity and memory; after a brief pause, it followed its rules and acted, leaping high into the air before crashing down, its nailed boots striking the floor with a sharp thud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thud—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe stood not far from the corpse, just a few steps away; the ghost’s leap covered most of the distance, leaving less than a meter between them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At such close range, Ning Zhe and Feng Yu could see the electrician’s face—his expression focused, as if intensely studying something, or nothing at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Yu gripped the flashlight tightly, eyes locked unblinking on the rigid corpse before her, afraid to miss even a single frame of its movement and overlook any detail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under Feng Yu’s gaze, the ghost leapt again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This leap carried it from the corridor’s darkness into the flashlight’s beam, casting a thick, ink-black shadow onto the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The electrician’s body was not tall—under 1.7 meters—but the shadow beneath his feet was monstrous and grotesque, far exceeding any normal distortion from light angle; it stretched across the wall as a deep, inky mass, its jagged, terrifying outline utterly mismatched with the corpse’s posture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was not the electrician’s own shadow—it resembled a ferocious demon crouched on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The flashlight’s beam originated from Feng Yu’s body and shone forward, yet this demon’s shadow extended not along the direction of the light, but like a barbed, ink-black arrow, precisely pointing at Ning Zhe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More accurately, it pointed at Ning Zhe’s shadow on the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then the ghost leapt again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spear-straight corpse leapt high and crashed down, its tightly closed legs like the tip of a lance, piercing a patch of darkness on the floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ghost stepped on Ning Zhe’s shadow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is this how the ghost kills? Step on someone’s shadow and they die?” Feng Yu’s heart jolted; without hesitation, she turned off the flashlight. The corridor plunged into darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thud—the body of Ning Zhe collapsed. Liu Yunzhi’s soft frame leaned against the wall; her waitress uniform vanished instantly, the sheer flesh-toned stockings on her legs reverted to Ning Zhe’s long pants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ning Zhe, are you alright?” Feng Yu asked urgently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lost one life—that’s all. What’s the big deal?” Ning Zhe pushed himself up with both hands, but as soon as he rose, he collapsed again: “Ah, damn…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Yu looked panicked, watching Ning Zhe’s clearly abnormal state, then couldn’t help glancing again at the electrician’s corpse, still standing motionless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ghost was still there. It hadn’t left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe struggled, still not rising.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Yu was utterly confused: “Ning Zhe, what—what’s wrong with you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m fine. Just… side effects. Taiyi’s side effects.” Ning Zhe gasped. “I need a moment to recover… just a moment. Auntie, go kill that ghost. End this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh… huh?” Feng Yu froze. “Me? Kill the ghost? Are you serious?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Serious. While it hasn’t left—time doesn’t wait.” Ning Zhe’s voice grew weaker. “Go. Kill it. Use the way it killed me…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It… killed me how?” Feng Yu still couldn’t grasp it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ever played step-on-the-shadow?” Ning Zhe’s voice was faint, trembling. “Two kids each lift one leg, hop on the other, trying to step on each other’s shadows.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whoever’s shadow gets stepped on—dies. That’s the ghost’s rule. Doesn’t it sound insane? It’s that simple.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Simple enough to die trying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But…” Feng Yu opened her mouth to ask again, but this time, Ning Zhe didn’t answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The corridor fell silent—so quiet you could hear your own heartbeat. Ning Zhe leaned against the wall, unconscious. The ghost stood motionless by the wall. Only Feng Yu remained, flashlight in hand, utterly lost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time slipped away second by second. The ghost was about to leave. Her window was closing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Yu bit her lip, trembling, placed the flashlight on the windowsill, and turned it on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment the white light shot out, the monstrous demon reappeared on the wall. It seemed to sense something—its vast, hateful form shrank violently the instant the light flared, as if retreating beneath the electrician’s feet—but it was outmaneuvered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A pre-planned setup could move faster than the ghost’s instinctive retreat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the ghost vanished, Feng Yu’s feet stomped down on its head—like a lance piercing armor, piercing through that thick, ink-black night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that instant, time seemed to freeze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vast, grotesque black shadow writhed and spasmed beneath Feng Yu’s feet, its limbs twisted into inhuman shapes—like a living snake nailed to the wall, or perhaps screaming a shriek no human could hear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scene before her was absurd, eerie, yet carried an unspeakable sacrilege and grotesquerie that left Feng Yu utterly motionless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The demon writhing beneath her feet resembled a god undergoing torture…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Yu didn’t know why this thought suddenly surfaced in her mind—there was no reason—but it was there, crystal clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The flashlight’s light spilled across the silent corridor. Feng Yu saw her own shadow slowly fading beneath her feet, on the beautiful marble floor, dissolving like bubbles in water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The demon beneath her feet also ceased its struggles, gradually regaining its monstrous, terrifying form. Its feet merged with Feng Yu’s, its grotesque limbs mimicking her posture, as if it had truly become her shadow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ghost was dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the instant the ghost died, Feng Yu learned its name: “Lei Te…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What a strange name.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ning Zhe!” Feng Yu hurriedly knelt, cradling Ning Zhe’s face, desperate to check on him—but the next moment, a horrifying sight appeared before her eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe’s face was someone else’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhang Yangxu?” Feng Yu recognized the features: full forehead, flat cheekbones, sharp, dignified features—it was Zhang Yangxu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the next instant, his face changed again—from the stern middle-aged man to a gentle, feminine visage: Liu Yunzhi’s face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Liu Yunzhi came Old Li, then another person Feng Yu didn’t know—different faces flashed across Ning Zhe’s body in rapid succession, his physique and appearance shifting violently, like a glitching film reel reversing endlessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shattered pixels drifted from Ning Zhe’s body. Feng Yu screamed—then noticed green-black snake scales covering his neck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Snake God?” Feng Yu’s voice trembled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next instant, the scales dissolved into a hazy mist—formless, shapeless, wu kong sheng mie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe’s facial features kept shifting; curved horns grew from his scalp. His left hand was thick and dark like a man’s, his right hand pale and delicate like a woman’s—feminine grace and masculine hardness coexisted on him, chaotic, noisy, without center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A genderless, hoarse voice emerged from Ning Zhe’s mouth, as if spanning millennia: “I… who am I?”—Volume One: The Ascending Guest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>End.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1248,"2026-06-20T06:29:21.893Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","f558b52fc59415fa147cc08dabf3a6c0b39d553763b421f18b5dbc3095a16318","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-52","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-50",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]