[{"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-93":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},2299062,4497,"Chapter 93: Ten Deaths, No Life","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-93",93,"\u003Cp>In the center of Yunmeng Lake lie several islets, their pavilions and statues of Confucius already hundreds of years old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pond in Juxian Garden resembled a miniature version of Yunmeng Lake; at its clear, bottom-visible center stood a tiny pavilion, inside which rested a stone statue carved with sharp, chiseled precision—its appearance strikingly familiar, identical to the Three Immortals of Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity they had seen before:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the robed and splendid Ziwei Tianzun, Lord of Boundless Blessings,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the small-statured Wenshang Dijun, Eternal Lord of Sustenance,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the hunched Nanji Xianweng, Immortal of Unending Longevity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pedestals beneath the three statues—old, middle-aged, and young—were fused together, evidently carved from a single massive stone and placed within the pavilion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright… where would Ji Baichang hide his money?” Ning Zhe approached the pond, standing beside a cluster of ornamental bamboo, gazing ahead at the crystal-clear water, utterly devoid of fish, revealing only a layer of smooth, round pebbles on the bottom—unusually charming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He crossed his arms, leaning against the bamboo beside him, his gaze fixed on the face of the Ziwei Tianzun in the pavilion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Careful.” A hand gently pressed on Ning Zhe’s shoulder; Lan Shiwen’s voice came from behind: “Don’t move.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe stayed still. “What is it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Stand straight before you speak.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe straightened up and turned—Lan Shiwen stood directly behind him, one index finger silently pointing at the bamboo Ning Zhe had just leaned against.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following Lan Shiwen’s finger, he saw a circular hole, bored by insects, on the dark green-yellow bamboo node; dry bamboo fibers extended upward and downward from the hole in two perfectly straight cracks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This bamboo will split under your weight in eleven seconds,” Lan Shiwen said. “A sharp sliver will fly outward from the fractured node and, by inertia, pierce straight through your heart from behind.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What the hell.” Ning Zhe clicked his tongue. “Thanks.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No need. I saw you die—and then come back to life.” Lan Shiwen spoke flatly. “Let’s go. We should look for clues first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe nodded and walked with him toward the pavilion at the pond’s center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To find Ji Baichang’s hidden death-money, we must first ask ourselves one question,” Lan Shiwen said as they walked. “Imagine—if you were Ji Baichang, where would you hide your inheritance?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, I think we should rephrase the question.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe shook his head. “Before searching for the inheritance, I need to know this first—if you were Ji Baichang, why would you hide your inheritance at all?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he had money, why not spend it to buy his life? Why hide it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because he can’t afford it,” Lan Shiwen mused. “Ji Baichang has bought his life from the God of Wealth more than once. You know—only the first time one meets Him can one trade at a 1:1 cost. Every subsequent transaction doubles the price.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji Baichang had served as the God of Wealth for forty years and undoubtedly hoarded vast wealth—but his rate of accumulating death-money fell far behind the exponential rise in transaction costs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In other words,” Lan Shiwen concluded, “the same sum of money in Ji Baichang’s hands might not buy him a single life—but in the hands of a new customer who has never met the God of Wealth, it might be enough to bankrupt Him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His explanation was logical—but Ning Zhe didn’t want this explanation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You know that’s not what I meant,” Ning Zhe sighed. “As you said, Ji Baichang is a self-destructive old madman. He has no future himself, so he wants to drag everyone in Yun Capital down into hell with him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ji Baichang’s character can be summed up in one phrase: ‘After I die, let the floodwaters rise.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How could such an extreme narcissist leave behind an ‘inheritance’? Who would he leave his hoarded death-money to?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lan Shiwen did not answer. Instead, he silently raised a hand to stop Ning Zhe from advancing further. “What is it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“One more step and you die.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fuck.” Ning Zhe laughed. “How this time?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know.” Lan Shiwen’s expression was strange. “I only saw you die right before me—no contact, no injury, no warning. You just dropped dead on the spot.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He added: “After you died, your pistol fell to the ground, discharged, and shot me dead—right through the head.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Impossible,” Ning Zhe shook his head. “My pistol’s safety should be locked. Even if it fell, it wouldn’t fire.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lan Shiwen smiled. “Why not check?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe pulled out his pistol—sure enough, the safety on the right side was open. “How…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You thought you locked it. You forgot,” Lan Shiwen said, pulling out his own 2011 and checking its safety. “Keep going.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe hesitated for a few seconds, then stepped forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were ghosts in Juxian Garden. They had known that already.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>=9+ Shu _ Ba\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In just a few minutes inside this mansion, Ning Zhe had died twice—once from a bamboo sliver piercing his heart, once from inexplicable spontaneous death—and even Lan Shiwen had been killed by the accidental discharge of Ning Zhe’s fallen pistol, precisely a headshot…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything was too coincidental, radiating an inexplicable sense of dread.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had it not been for Lan Shiwen’s precognition, which had repeatedly averted disaster, anyone else—even another Ascended—entering Juxian Garden unprepared would have met only death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Does your precognition have a usage limit?” Ning Zhe asked as they walked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their ability to stroll through Juxian Garden as if at ease relied entirely on Lan Shiwen’s foresight. But Ascended used rules at a cost—even with Taiyi’s mental imprint stabilizing his self, Ning Zhe dared not wield Taiyi’s rules recklessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other Ascended were the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Lan Shiwen, bound by his rule’s flaw, could no longer foresee danger, they would be left groping blindly in chaos, like blind men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This seemingly tranquil Sihe courtyard had begun to reveal its terrifying, brutal true nature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t worry,” Lan Shiwen smiled at Ning Zhe. “I know my limits.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fine, I trust you,” Ning Zhe said, taking off his wool coat and laying it on the pond’s bank. As he undressed, he stepped into the water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you doing?” Lan Shiwen froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Today is auspicious for bathing,” Ning Zhe unbuttoned his shirt, the icy pond water cascading over his defined torso. “A bath brings good luck.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1047,"2026-06-20T06:29:21.893Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","a2b04a1f654c879c990e43094dfaa6211813114d5287d356c20a859f5b639ece","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-94","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-92",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]