[{"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-58":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},2299027,4497,"Chapter 58: The Divine Is Everywhere","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-58",58,"\u003Cp>Ning Zhe sat on the edge of the bed, recalling the ghosts he had encountered these past two days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tai Yi was a hazy wisp of qi, formless and shapeless, neither arising nor ceasing in emptiness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao was an old, yellowed almanac, still tucked in He Nianjun’s arms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Te Rang was a pitch-black, grotesque shadow that always appeared lurking beneath corpses’ feet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ghosts’ forms seemed tied to the rules they represented; taking this as a premise, Ning Zhe tried to roughly sketch the appearance of the ghost Bai Zhi had described.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Omnipresent.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not to be looked upon directly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Those who have looked upon it experience something—something I must be careful of.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each condition was abstract, leaving Ning Zhe baffled—what exactly did this ghost look like? “Bai Zhi,” he asked, “where do you think this ghost came from? We’ve barely left Gu Bei Town, not even five kilometers, and already it’s chasing us. Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe’s implication was plain: he believed the ghost now hunting them was not a rootless wanderer like Tai Yi or the Snake God, but something deliberately unleashed and manipulated—like Te Rang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi nodded: “I also think it’s no coincidence—but it probably isn’t exactly as you imagine.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’ll see.” Ning Zhe glanced at the time: 7:11 p.m. The sun was about to set.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment’s thought, Ning Zhe rose from the bed and walked toward the window.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you doing?” Bai Zhi asked, wary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“While the sun hasn’t fully set, I’ll warn the others at the gas station to get indoors,” Ning Zhe replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s dangerous, and they won’t believe you,” Bai Zhi shook her head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let them believe it or not,” Ning Zhe shrugged. “I don’t care if they live or die—I’m just trying to lighten my own moral burden.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You still have morals?” Bai Zhi frowned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Everyone needs some morals,” Ning Zhe smiled and shook his head. “Even if it’s just pretend.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Otherwise, what’s the difference between you and a ghost?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No sooner had he spoken than Ning Zhe vanished, dissolving into a thin wisp of smoke. A black-and-white magpie hopped onto the windowsill, nudged aside the curtain with its head, and slipped through the gaps in the security grille.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Minutes later, Ning Zhe returned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How did it go? Did they listen?” Bai Zhi asked curiously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not at all,” Ning Zhe landed on the bedside, fluttering his wings before returning to his human form. “You know—gas stations, hospitals, fire stations—they’re essential infrastructure, open 24\u002F7. Do you think I could just walk in and convince them to shut down?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I told you it wouldn’t work,” Bai Zhi said, as if to say, I warned you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Still, I had to try,” Ning Zhe said carelessly. “Whether they listen doesn’t matter. What matters is that I tried.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi puffed out her cheeks: “I just don’t get you…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe always acted in ways that were utterly inscrutable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sun had begun to sink beyond the horizon; the light filtering through the curtains had dimmed. If Bai Zhi wasn’t hallucinating a ghost hunting her due to her paranoia, then something terrifying was about to happen outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two sat side by side on the bed’s edge, silent, waiting for something to occur.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But long moments passed—the room remained quiet, only the rustle of wind through the greenery outside reached them, and the sunset’s afterglow painted the ground in golden hues.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nothing seems to have happened?” Ning Zhe murmured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Maybe it already did—you just didn’t notice,” Bai Zhi said calmly. She clearly trusted her intuition. “Fine, I’ll believe you,” Ning Zhe sighed. Given that she’d accurately described Te Rang’s rules before, better safe than sorry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sun sank lower; a slender crescent moon rose above the foothills. It was now 7:31 p.m. The gas station remained silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps… too silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did you notice?” Ning Zhe whispered again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi tilted her head at him. “What?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe exhaled. “We arrived here at 6:10 p.m. Since then, over an hour has passed—no car has stopped to refuel.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>True, Gu Bei Town was small—not a metropolis where everyone drove—but yesterday’s big news at Bishushanzhuang had drawn more traffic than usual into and out of town.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet now, over an hour later, not only had no car stopped, Ning Zhe hadn’t even heard a single vehicle pass by—quieter than Gu Bei Town on an ordinary day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Bai Zhi had said, something had happened during the sunset hour.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But neither knew what exactly—only a deathly silence filled the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The silence was finally broken by a sharp knock at the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knock knock knock—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Boss Zhang, haven’t had dinner yet? We made some grilled meat and cold beer—want to join us?” The voice outside belonged to the gas station owner, likely due to Ning Zhe’s generous rent payment—he sounded unusually enthusiastic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Knock knock knock—he knocked again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe walked to the door and replied: “No thanks, I’m not hungry. You all eat.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t be so formal,” the owner pleaded. “Even if you’ve got no appetite, at least don’t let that girl beside you go hungry! Young people shouldn’t skip meals. My daughter kept saying she wanted to lose weight—wouldn’t eat this, wouldn’t eat that—ended up ruining her health, messed up her cycle… If a girl’s willing to stick with you, you’ve got to care for her, right, Boss Zhang?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She’s exhausted from the journey and already asleep. Don’t wake her,” Ning Zhe said coolly. “You eat. I’m going to sleep too.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright… I even got some river shrimp from town—you’re missing out…” The owner’s voice faded away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After declining the barbecue invitation, Ning Zhe returned to the bed and sat down. Bai Zhi remained silent, having said nothing since the beginning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did you find him suspicious?” Ning Zhe asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know,” Bai Zhi shook her head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed Bai Zhi’s special ability was limited to sensing the ghost’s existence and perceiving vague rules—anything beyond that was asking too much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two sat quietly for a while; Bai Zhi looked drowsy, her eyelids drooping uncontrollably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe had slept from midnight yesterday until this afternoon—he wasn’t tired. But Bai Zhi hadn’t closed her eyes since being woken by Feng Yu at dawn yesterday. She’d kept watch by his bedside all day, and now that night had fallen, her thin weariness had thickened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you’re tired, sleep,” Ning Zhe said. “I’ll keep watch.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi shook her head without speaking, but her eyes grew harder to keep open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe said nothing more—he knew she couldn’t hold out. If she kept nodding off like this, she’d truly fall asleep… when suddenly, a buzzing sound shattered the room’s silence, jolting her awake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound came from inside her skirt—she pulled out her phone, unlocked the screen, and her drowsy expression turned instantly to shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What is it?” Ning Zhe asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My mom… she replied to me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1157,"2026-06-20T06:29:21.893Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","cd64a0c9e29a4f2f3012ad037ee9002103b67439f50d7621d9ab095a46e4f5b2","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-59","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-57",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]