After an Infinite Flow Player Retires

Chapter 11

Because of that school incident, Liu Zhaocheng finally showed some compassion and gave Ye Jia the paid leave he dreamed of.

And it was for a whole week!

Ye Jia looked at Liu Zhaocheng who stood next to his hospital bed with an extremely touched expression, "Thank you Head Chief!  You are simply a living Buddha who rescues the suffering…."

Liu Zhaocheng, "…..Say one more word and your leave would shorten by another day."

Ye Jia: !

He immediately stopped and made a gesture of zipping his lips.

Liu Zhaocheng snorted and threw a box onto the hospital bed.

Ye Jia reached over and tested the weight of it, "What is this?"

"Phone." Liu Zhaocheng said expressionlessly.

Ye Jia: "Chief, you already know that I'm not very good with these kinds of electronics…."

"Without a phone, we cannot contact you. Recently, there has been a shortage in manpower. Don't think that you don't need to work overtime if you don't have a phone." Liu Zhaocheng sneered, "I'll give you seven days to learn how to use it. If you don't do it by then, your workload will be doubled when you return."

Ye Jia: "……."

Not waiting for Ye Jia's response, Liu Zhaocheng rushed out of the room like a gust of wind and before he left, he even slammed the door shut.

The ward returned to silence.

Ye Jie sighed and looked down at the phone in his hand with worry.

Rounding it up, he had been in the game for a total of twelve years.

In the game, the age of all the players was stopped from moment they entered.

It was just that almost none of them could gather ten million points and be given the chance to leave the game.

Before Ye Jia entered the game, everyone used the bulky flip phones but when he came back out, everyone was using thin and light smartphones.

Although he still looked like a young man in his twenties, his soul was very different.

It took Ye Jia a long time to adapt to the city that had changed greatly due to technology. Only the mobile phone was a hurdle he had been unable to overcome.

There was also a communicator in the game but using the communicator also meant that there was a risk of being exposed. As someone at the top of the leaderboard and also as the only owner of a special weapon, Ye Jia had always been the target of envy. To him, humans held more threat than fierce ghosts but, unfortunately, this instinctive resistance in using a communication device still remained even after returning to the real world.

The feeling of being able to be found by others at any time made him feel unsafe.

The small black hand poked out from his shoulder and looked curiously at the box in Ye Jia's hand, "What is this?"

"Phone." Ye Jia replied.

The small black hand moved closer and looked at the shiny screen with great interest, "What is a phone?"

Ye Jia narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the hand thoughtfully.

Suddenly, he raised his hand without a warning and threw the phone over to the small black hand.

Small black hand was startled. It hurriedly tried to catch it, but its thin wrist sank slightly due to the heavy phone, making it look a little awkward.

"I'll give you five days to learn how to use it." Ye Jia smiled and said, "Or I will eat you."

Small black hand: "…….."

I shouldn't have spoken so recklessly. I regret it now.

And wasn't it seven days?! Why did it become five days now?!

The small black hand wanted to cry without tears. It had no one to ask for help.

It could only swallow down its regrets and accept the exploitation.

Ye Jia got off the hospital bed refreshed and then activated his ghost domain and stepped in.

A minute later, he silently appeared in a ward.

The curtains were drawn, and a deep blue sky could be seen from the gaps. The sun was about to break through the clouds, bringing light to the world.

On the hospital bed laid an unconscious young girl. Her soul lingered by the bed.

The moment she saw Ye Jia, Sun Jiale's eyes lit up: "Big brother!"

She pointed at the surrounding environment and spoke as if she was offering a treasure, "It's all back to normal here!"

Indeed, the numerous ghosts that were gathered in the ward earlier were all gone. It was as if everything was just a dream.

Sun Jiale asked hopefully, "C-Can I return to my body now?"

"Of course." Ye Jia rubbed her head, "But I still have something I need to confirm. Can you wait a little longer?"

Sun Jiale was a little confused but she still obediently nodded, "Okay."

Ye Jia approached the bed and lifted the blanket. The dark marks on the girl's ankles were disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye. It should soon return to normal.

He fell into deep thought.

At the school earlier, a combat personnel had reported the situation to him. Except for Sun Jiale who fell unconscious, the other children were pulled into a 'nightmare' and the states of those victims were in line with how Suckers typically hunted —- Once marked, the marked individual would attract the ghosts around them, and the Suckers would then absorb their life energy when their spirits are weakened. This method was naturally more lethal in the game. Since it could only attract wandering spirits in the real world, it only resulted in a 'nightmare'.

Please read this from kk translates

So why was Sun Jiale different?

At this moment, the small black hand hiding on Ye Jia's shoulder suddenly leaned over and whispered, "There are some yin on the child's neck, but I can't tell if its good or evil……"

Ye Jia was taken aback for a moment. He raised his eyes and looked at where the small black hand was pointing at.

He hesitated for a moment and then reached over to pull out a small pendant she wore around her neck.

It was a jade pendant. It was very exquisitely designed but the surface was covered with web-like fine cracks, as if it would shatter the next second.

Sun Jiale exclaimed behind him: "Ah! That, that's something my mummy left me……"

Ye Jia was startled.

Seeming to have thought of something, he injected some energy into the pendant resting in his hand.

There was a faint fluctuation in the air.

The next second, a pale-faced woman slowly appeared before him. She wore a surgical gown and the hem of her blood-soaked clothes dripped with blood.

Her face had already become blurred, and one could only see a vague outline. Her expression was stiff and sluggish, as if her consciousness had faded over time.

In her arms, she held a faint and indistinct dark mass.

That mass was already much fainter than earlier and seemed to be slowly disappearing over time.

This was the woman Ye Jia saw in the corridor when he first arrived at the hospital.

Ye Jia's gaze fell onto the calf of the dark mass.

A dark handprint flitted in and out of view.

It was as if Sun Jiale was struck by lightning. She seemed to be in complete disbelief and only dared to let out a weak cry, "Mummy?"

A complex look flashed across Ye Jia's eyes.

He now knew the reason.

When he first arrived, the yin air around the ward had already gathered so there shouldn't have been so many ghosts left wandering around in the corridor. He had originally thought that the ghosts were going in the direction of the ward but they were in fact chasing after the mass in this woman's arms —- For some reason, she was able to share a part of the curse brought about by the mark on Sun Jiale's body and she then instinctively lured the ghosts away from her daughter.

Ghosts are lingering obsessions. They remain as wandering ghosts mostly due to hatred, pain, and unwillingness to leave.

But this small soul remnant left on the jade pendant was left behind to protect.

The yin energy was too weak and carried very little malice. Even the small black hand who was similarly a ghost couldn't detect its existence.

Sun Jiale's eyes widened blankly. She stumbled over, stretched out her hand and then retracted it before calling out both cautiously and expectantly, "Mummy, i-is that you?"

The woman didn't answer.

She stared blankly in the distance. Standing in the centre of the ward in silence, she looked like a walking dead.

Tears burst out uncontrollably. Sun Jiale did her best to suppress her sobs and raised her hand to hold the hem of the woman's clothes, "Mummy…..You don't recognise me anymore?"

Ye Jia silently sighed.

A soul's consciousness would only stay for a short period of time and it was even shorter for a soul with no malice. What's more, she had also shared a large part of Sun Jiale's curse and is probably currently on the verge of disappearing.

He stepped forward wanting to say something but, unexpectedly, the woman in front of him moved.

Her eyes moved down with difficulty, as if struggling to break free from the broken body.

Her gaze changed. Seemingly recognising the person in front of her, it turned soft and loving and it also carried a hint of sadness.

With difficulty, the woman raised her hand slightly and touched the little girl's cheek, "Don't………cry….."

She spoke each word with great effort, "Won't…..look…..good….."

The gushing sorrow could no longer be suppressed. Sun Jiale gripped the corner of the woman's clothes firmly and sobbed a few times before turning into a howling cry.

The woman raised her eyes and looked pleadingly at Ye Jia who stood behind the little girl.

Ye Jia nodded silently.

He quickly walked up, placed his hand on Sun Jiale's shoulder and gently pulled her back.

The little girl's soul floated up and then slowly fell back onto the hospital bed, overlapping with the empty body on the bed.

She went to sleep.

The woman's soul before them seemed to have finally reached its limits and cracks spread rapidly across the body.

She raised her eyes to look at Ye Jia and slowly smiled. Some of the gentleness and beauty from when she was alive seemed to have returned to her.

She bowed to Ye Jia, "….Thank you."

Her figure disappeared.

Only peaceful silence remained in the ward.

The sun penetrated through the clouds, dispelling away the darkness. Soft, golden light quietly poured in through the gaps between the blinds, gently stroking the little girl's scattered long hair and bringing along with it a trace of warmth.

Please read this from kk translates

A new day had begun.

.

Sun Jiale opened her eyes. For a while, she didn't know where she was.

She got up with some difficulty and realised that she was lying on a hospital bed.

What……happened?

She was at a loss.

Through her blurred vision, she saw the door of her ward being pushed open and a man covered in stubble rushed in anxiously, "Lele! You're awake!"

The man's footsteps stopped. He was a little at loss, "Why are you crying……."

Crying? I'm not crying.

Sun Jiale was a little confused.

She raised her hand and touched her cheek and felt something cold and wet. Tears were still gushing out and large ones rolled off her face onto the bed.

The man cautiously approached her and held the crying little girl in his arms. He softly coaxed, "What's wrong? Do you feel uncomfortable? Tell your daddy, okay?"

Sun Jiale buried her face in her father's shoulder and shook her head vigorously. Her voice was a little hoarse and nasal, "No……."

"I seemed to have had a dream……"

"I was cold and scared at first……but then……"

She raised her head and showed a tearful smile, "I-I dreamt that mummy came to see me."

Unnoticed by the others, there was an unopened cup of jelly sitting on the bedside table.

It was the type specially provided by a hospital, but the label on it showed that it came from a different hospital.

It was placed in the centre of the table like it was a gift.

.

In a scarlet ghost domain, pale white bones were piled up into something that resembled a throne.

"King………"

A large fierce ghost covered in abscesses slowly climbed out from a pool of muddy gunk, "Do you remember the human organisation called the Paranormal Investigation and Management Bureau?"

Dead silence followed.

The fierce ghost carefully raised its eyes and glanced upwards.

The man sitting on the throne of bones was expressionless. His pale fingers were slightly bent and they were gently rested on a skull. With his pair of scarlet eyes, he looked down at the fierce ghost from above with a scrutinising gaze.

The fierce ghost's body trembled. It hurriedly lowered its eyes and stammered out the rest of its report, "A-According to a subordinate who have infiltrated them, the name of the person you're looking for has appeared in a report there——-"

The pale fingers resting on the skull moved slightly but it was so slight, it could easily be overlooked.

"Where?"

His voice was very calm, like a breeze blowing across a plain.

But the fierce ghost below trembled even more. It shrunk its body as much as possible.

"M-M City."

It gathered its courage and continued, "Do you need me to send someone to verify……"

Its trembling voice was unexpectedly interrupted.

"No." The man's red eyes darkened a few shades, and it was now the colour of half coagulated blood.

He casually tapped at the bones under his hand with his finger and spoke with a chilling voice, "…….I will go there personally."