After an Infinite Flow Player Retires

Chapter 26

Late night, in a residential area.

Hu Haoying returned home in a good mood as he carried a grey coloured bag that didn't quite match his suit and leather shoes on his back.

His wife Wang Jie came over curiously, "What is it? Why are you in such a good mood?"

Hu Haoying winked at her mysteriously and said in a lowered voice, "I found a treasure."

He had a hobby of collecting antiques and his favourite activity was to visit the antique market after work to see if he could find some rare antique treasures.

With his rich experience, he knew a lot in this field and would sometimes find something good.

But it was rare for him to be this excited.

Wang Jie was interested, "What does it look like? Show me?"

Hu Haoying carefully placed the grey bag he was carrying onto the table and took out the object inside.

It was a very delicate statue of Guanyin for blessing fertility. (KKnotes: A Buddhist bodhisattva associated with compassion) The white jade looked especially smooth and delicate under the light, and the workmanship was exquisite. One could tell with one look that it was not anything ordinary.

The only strange thing was that while most Guanyin statues would have half lowered eyes as it benevolently looked down over humanity, this one was raised.

Those eyes were very lifelike and the two impurities in the jade were cleverly carved into eyes. Those dark eyes looked like they were alive, looking straight at them.

For some reason, those eyes made Wang Jie feel a little uncomfortable.

Please read this from kk translates

She moved her gaze away from the statue of Guanyin and forced a smile, "What is this?"

"A Guanying statue." Hu Haoying spoke without noticing anything wrong. He bent down and carefully wiped off the dust on the statue with a dry rag and admired it: "I bought it at the second-hand market. Look at the material, the workmanship! It's amazing! It only costed me 800 yuan. I really picked up a treasure this time!"

Wang Jie hurriedly glanced at the jade statue.

The horrible and unpleasant feeling appeared again.

She trembled but, seeing her husband so excited, she in the end didn't say anything about her true thoughts.

Hu Haoying happily placed the Guanyin statue in his room.

At night, after the lights turned off, Wang Jie tossed and turned.

In the dark room, one could vaguely see the faint outline of the white jade statue in the distance. Although the facial features could hardly be seen now, those dark eyes were still very distinct.

Wang Jie hurriedly closed her eyes and turned over. She tried to expel the thoughts which had been invading her mind.

As the night deepened, her consciousness became hazier, and she gradually fell asleep.

The next day, Wang Jie was awakened by her husband's trembling cry.

"A-A'Jie….y….your….."

Wang Jie dazedly opened her eyes. She shrank back a little from the cold and asked sleepily, "What's wrong?"

Hu Haoying clutched the sheets tightly with one hand. His face was as white as paper and his forehead was covered with cold sweat. He stared firmly at Wang Jie's belly with constricted pupils, "Your….your belly…."

Wang Jie followed Hu Haoying's gaze and looked over.

She saw her belly bulging out as if she was ten months pregnant and even her pyjamas were pushed up, revealing the blue and purple coloured belly underneath.

The blood vessels on the belly were bulging as well, looking extremely terrifying, and the skin was so stretched, it was almost transparent. It seemed to be squirming about like there was some kind of terrible living creature in there.

In an instant, all her sleepiness was gone.

Wang Jie cried out in sheer horror, "Ahhhhhhhhh——–!"

Amidst the almost non-human screams, the white jade Guanyin statue for blessing fertility sat quietly on the opposite end of the room. The lips were turned up into a faint smile and the pair of pitch-black eyes silently looked ahead, as if admiring the scene before it.

.

The white jade statue sat on the table, looking completely harmless.

"Brother Wu, what do you think?"

Ke Zheng, a dispatched member of the Combat Division, circled the table and looked up at Wu Su who stood on the side.

"It's probably a cursed item." Wu Su rubbed his beard and shook his head, "But I'm not sure whether it came from there."

After all, the game was just too big and there were too many monsters and fierce ghosts inside. It was impossible for him to know them all.

Wu Su turned and looked at the staff from the logistics department standing next to him, "How is the victim?"

The staff member seemed to be lost in thought. He had his head half tilted and his gaze was fixed on the white jade Guanyin statue as if he was thinking about something.

"Hey." Wu Su called out a little impatiently, "The victim's situation!"

That staff member seemed to have returned to his senses. He slowly turned his head to look in Wu Su's direction.

His hair and eyes were light brown, and his skin was a little sickly pale. He overall looked lazy and listless, "Oh, the victim's condition has stabilised and the phantom pregnancy is also gone."

Wu Su seemed to be even more troubled.

He pulled at his beard and stuffed a cigarette into his mouth but he took it out again when he remembered that smoking was prohibited here, "Do you know the reason for the phantom pregnancy disappearing?"

Of course.

I dealt with it last night.

Ye Jia yawned and shook his head, "Don't know."

Almost a week had passed since the ghost-faced spider incident and life had once again returned to its usual calm state.

Zhao Dong had been discharged from the hospital and once again started to conscientiously bear most of the workload for their department.

Nothing had happened on Ji Xuan's end. Even A'mi remained quiet, as if it had never existed.

Adding to that the extra money he earned from his 'part-time job', everything seemed to be moving in a good direction.

Wu Su fiddled with the cigarette in his hand deep in thought but in the end, he couldn't think of anything. He was a little frustrated but he gave up pursing this further, "Forget it. In any case, this cursed item is very dangerous. Xiao Ke, you should later cover it with the special protective film and then seal it in the treasury. Remember to mark 'high risk' on it so others won't touch it."

Ke Zheng nodded and got to work.

Wu Su sighed and rubbed his temples wearily, "I don't know what's going on. Why are there so many cursed items lately?"

Just as he turned to walk out, he heard a clear voice sound behind him, "Cap Wu." (KKnotes: Captain shortened to Cap)

Wu Su was taken aback. He turned to look back.

He saw that the logistics department staff member had raised his eyes and was looking directly at him. After storing away the absent-minded expression earlier, those light-coloured eyes appeared sincere and clear, "What did you just say?"

"Huh?" Wu Su wasn't able to react for a while.

"Have a lot of cursed items appeared recently?"

"Oh, yes." Wu Su nodded, "It has only been a few days, and this is already the third one. The items have also been different. What's worse is that they're more dangerous than the other."

He rubbed his aching temples, "The one causing the ghost baby last night was still okay, at least the symptoms disappeared after staying away from the cursed item, but the others haven't been that lucky. Even now, they're being supervised on the topmost level of the hospital."

Ye Jia narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

He asked, "Did the victims say where they got the cursed items?"

Wu Su shook his head, "No."

He suddenly remembered something, "Oh yes. I remember the husband of the ghost baby victim mentioning that he bought it from the antique market near the city, but when our people went, we couldn't find the stall."

Wu Su shook his head seemingly disappointed.

Ye Jia lowered his eyes. His long eyelashes concealed the thoughts that flashed across his eyes.

When he raised his eyes again, all his true emotions had once again been hidden away.

"Oh right," Ye Jia suggested, "I remember there seemed to be a library for dealing with cursed items in the bureau. Have you tried searching that?"

Wu Su was taken aback, "You have something like that?"

"Yes. I remember it was built two years ago." Ye Jia bent his eyes into a crescent shape, "Only M City has it."

And it was absolutely accurate.

—-After all, most of the entries in it were previously anonymously contributed by him.

Wu Su's face lit up, "Thank you little brother!"

Ye Jia smiled, "It's nothing. The others would also tell you this if you ask them."

After saying this, he bowed his head, cleaned up the files on the table and turned to leave.

After leaving the room, the smile on Ye Jia's face gradually faded.

Wu Su himself and his team should be able to handle the aftermaths of the curse.

Please read this from kk translates

Right now, he should find the culprit.

—-Coincidentally, Ye Jia knew very well where the other party would be.

.

The rental room was small and cramped and it was filled to the brim with all kinds of strange things. No light was able to enter the room.

The temperature in the room was extremely low. Dust was gathered everywhere and there was a disgusting decaying smell, as if something had died in there.

Countless bottles and jars were stacked in the room with strange body parts floating inside the murky liquid. A shrunken human head the size of a fist covered in black grease quietly stared out at the grey world outside the jar. In addition to that, there were also tattered boxes piled up in the corner of the room. Just looking through the openings in the unsealed boxes, one could see all sorts of strange objects inside —- An old and tattered fan, a doll with a creepy smile, coins covered in dust etc, etc.

In the centre of the room was a table. The table had been soaked in dark oil such that it was a shiny black colour and on it sat a thick pile of money.

"How much did you earn this time?"

Asked a short and fat man sitting behind the table.

He had his legs crossed and was picking at his yellow teeth with a toothpick.

"Not bad, not bad." A tall and lanky man standing on the other side of the table bowed, "There are already four or five old customers who want to continue ordering from us."

"And the thief? Have you found them?"

The tall and lanky man's expression fell. He spoke bitterly, "Not yet….also….I'm also a little worried….."

The short and fat man stopped picking at his teeth and narrowed his eyes, "What are you worried about?"

"W-we….." The tall and lanky man looked troubled, "We won't get in trouble, will we?"

"Tsk." The short and fat man snorted, "What could happen? Our customers are all mid to high end customers and it is promoted through word of mouth. Only a few of them were stolen and accidentally distributed into the market."

"Even if we can't find the thief, how could that bureau find anything to accuse us with?"

The short and fat man was confident, "Those who can capture me….."

"——Haven't been born yet."

A soft laugh suddenly sounded from the darkness in the room. It naturally helped complete that line, "Is that right?"

In an instant, the short and fat man's face drained of its colour.

He stared wide eyed at the place the voice came from with his face pale with fear and forehead covered in cold sweat. His mouth was wide open, but he couldn't make a sound. It was as if he had seen a ghost.

A figure silently appeared.

A pitch-black hood cast a dark shadow over the face, firmly obscuring that person's facial features. All that was revealed was a pale and sharp chin along with a pair of thin lips with graceful contours.

There was a slight smile on the corner of those lips.

"Shorty, do you still remember what I said back then?"

The short and fat man was covered in cold sweat. He subconsciously shrank back, "N-no, you…..you can't be……"

The other party turned a deaf ear to his stammers. He just continued speaking with his usual gentle but lazy tone:

"—–If you do this line of business again, I will cut off your legs, break your fingers and throw you into the ghost-faced spider's nest."