After an Infinite Flow Player Retires

Chapter 32

Carrying two cups of milk tea, Ye Jia pulled open the car door and got in.

He handed one of them to Cheng Cezhi and then asked casually, "So, what happened to that villa?"

Cheng Cezhi: "…..Brother Ye, you didn't read the report again?"

Ye Jia act of inserting the straw paused. Without a change to his expression, he said, "Too long."

Cheng Cezhi: "……."

As expected of you.

Forget it. He was used to it anyway.

He heaved a sigh and said, "It's a villa in the suburbs. It seemed to have been sold a long time ago, but no one moved in. Having been left vacant for about seven or eight years, it is almost completely deserted."

As Ye Jia drank his milk tea, he sighed, "Rich people."

To be able to buy a villa and never live in it. As expected of the rich.

"That's not it." Cheng Cezhi nodded in agreement with his sentiment but continued:

"Recently, the residents nearby have been reporting strange noises coming from that deserted villa as well as seeing strange figures at night, but it would be completely normal during the day with no signs of anyone living in it. As a result, that villa became a rather well-known haunted house. There happened to be residents in the area who had some contact with the Bureau, so they submitted an application to us."

Upon receiving a request from the public, the Bureau generally goes through three steps:

Firstly, staff from the Logistics Department are dispatched to carry out inspections with relevant equipment to assess the danger level of the phenomena.

If it was found that that there are really ghosts involved, personnel from the Combat Division would be sent out.

Once the clean-up has been completed, members of the Logistics Department would then come again with their equipment for final data collection and to close the case.

—-In fact, this task originally shouldn't have been done by them, but the Logistics Department was already short in manpower and Zhao Dong had only just been discharged from hospital, so all that was left was the salted fish Ye Jia and Cheng Cezhi who had only recently joined the Bureau.

Ye Jia had carried out inspections like this many times.

In fact, most of the reports made had nothing to do with paranormal events. Sometimes, they were just strange noises caused by uneven heating of the underground pipes, or strange sights caused by light and shadow changes, so 99% of them would be not proceed onto the second step and require the Combat Division to be involved.

Ye Jia was also too lazy to write the reports.

So every time he was sent out to the field, even if it really was a paranormal event, he would solve it himself and then report it as if nothing was wrong.

—–That way it would save him a lot of trouble.

Ye Jia lowered his head and took another sip of his milk tea. He looked out at the passing scenery with half narrowed eyes.

Based on his past experiences, this task would probably be resolved within two days.

But at this moment, a strange voice cried out from the back seat of the car.

"Mmmmmmm!!!"

Ye Jia's expression remained the same, as if he hadn't heard anything.

Cheng Cezhi looked up and glanced at the rear-view mirror. His expression changed into one of hesitation, "That….."

Ye Jia: "Hm?"

"W….what's wrong with it now?" Cheng Cezhi retracted his gaze with a complicated expression

On the back seat of the car, the small black hand was tied into a knot and then tied to a seatbelt. A couple of small fingers waved about desperately, trying to get the attention of the people sitting in the front seats, "Mmmmmm!!"

Ye Jia calmly drank his milk tea, "The process of recovering from internet addiction is always painful."

—–Especially after he recently discovered that the small black hand had secretly spent a large part of his savings.

He lowered his eyes and slowly sighed, "I really have to change the payment password."

Cheng Cezhi noticed something and turned his head and asked, "What……was your previous password?"

"123456." Ye Jia answered.

Cheng Cezhi: "…….."

Why was he not surprised at all?

The car gradually drove out of the city. The further it went, the more desolate the surroundings became. After driving for three full hours, they finally arrived at the suburbs indicated in the report.

It did seem like it had been deserted for a long time

Passing through the tall metal gates, one could see the villa in the courtyard. It had a total of three floors. From the outside, you could see the intricate designs and the thought put in when it was built, but unfortunately with time, the surface had become mottled, exposing the dark wall underneath. The metal gates outside were also covered with traces of rust and they were loosely held shut with two thick chains roughly looped around it a few times but there was still enough space for a person to fit through.

Ye Jia and Cheng Cezhi got out of the car and looked into the courtyard.

Inside the metal gate, the vast courtyard was covered by weeds that almost reached their waist. It looked extremely barren and desolate.

From a distance, one could see the dirty windows of the villa that were covered with grime. There were no traces of light through those dark holes. It really did seem like no one had lived here in a very long time.

"Mmmmm!"

The small black hands muffled cry sounded from the back of the car.

Ye Jia lazily glanced at it. He finally found his conscience and undid the knot.

The small black hand sobbed as it crawled back onto Ye Jia's shoulder.

Ye Jia was merciless, "Your in-game expenses for next month is gone."

"!!!" The small black hand was shocked. It's entire ghost body wilted. It clutched onto Ye Jia's collar and cried even more loudly, "Wuuuuuu……."

It had picked up a seed but lost an entire watermelon. What a loss!!

Rubbish game, ruining my ghost life! Why did it have to release those skins at that time?!

Please read this from kk translates

Cheng Cezhi opened the trunk and took out some portable testing equipment. He then turned and said to Ye Jia, "Let's go!"

The two people squeezed through the gap between the metal gates one after another and then entered the courtyard covered in weeds.

The weeds here were actually very fierce. It poked at the exposed skin, irritating their arms and calves.

Every now and then there would also be strangely shaped tall shrubs. As soon as they entered the courtyard, their vision was almost completely blocked and all they could see were the dilapidated tiles on the roof as well as the dark windows on the uppermost floor.

While he advanced forward with difficulty, Cheng Cezhi complained in a low voice, "Although I know that M City is humid, but isn't it too extreme for the weeds to grow this much?"

Ye Jia narrowed his eyes slightly and suddenly silenced him, "Shh."

Cheng Cezhi was taken aback. He quickly stopped and listened with a bated breath.

There were faint whispering sounds ahead, as if someone was speaking in a low voice, or as if it was just the rustling of the grass.

Cheng Cezhi's heart was instantly tense.

Could it be that…..this villa really had a problem?

But Ye Jia only narrowed his eyes and walked towards the source of that sound.

"Hey!" Cheng Cezhi called out in a suppressed voice. Seeing that the other party was about to disappear into the grass, he gritted his teeth and, no longer caring if there were ghosts or monsters waiting ahead, he hurriedly chased after Ye Jia, "Wait for me!"

After a few steps forward, his vision suddenly cleared up.

Cheng Cezhi only now saw that there were five young people standing at the entrance to the villa. They were huddled together seemingly discussing something.

Three men and two women. They appeared to be in their early twenties and were dressed very stylishly. One of them carried a strange looking dark equipment in his hand as he scanned the front door with a serious expression.

Seeing Ye Jia and Cheng Cezhi emerge from the grass, they all seemed taken aback.

Very quickly, the leader recovered from the shock and came to greet them, "You guys also came to explore after hearing that this place is haunted?"

He enthusiastically stretched out his hand, "I am Guan Tianyi."

Cheng Cezhi: "….."

Oh, that.

He settled his emotions and asked in disbelief, "You're….here to explore?"

"Yeah." Guan Tianyi nodded as if it was natural, "Isn't this the famous haunted house?"

The other boy behind him made a scary expression and leapt forward, scaring the other two girls who then turned around and angrily hit him. The others watching on laughed.

Cheng Cezhi: "………"

Don't you think that you're like those people who end up dying in standard horror movies?

He pulled his thoughts back and sternly warned, "This is not a place you should be. You better…."

Before Cheng Cezhi's words could be finished, he was suddenly interrupted by one of the girls.

She had short hair and looked very lively and cheerful. She looked curiously at the equipment in Cheng Cezhi's hand, "Huh? What's that?"

Another boy's eyes lit up, "Are you one of those professional ghost hunters?"

Guan Tianyi was also excited. He quickly speculated, "Ahh! Or could you be from some kind of secret government agency—–"

Seeing that he was going to continue talking, Cheng Cezhi hurriedly interrupted him, "No, w-we…….."

He gritted his teeth and forced out, "We are just fans of paranormal activities."

"Haa." Guan Tianyi looked away with disappointment. He shrugged, "Isn't that the same as us? Why don't we go in together?"

Cheng Cezhi was already overwhelmed by how this conversation was going at this point.

He could only stiffly nod, "…….Alright."

A long haired and seemingly quiet and delicate looking girl spoke, "My name is He Lian. What are your names?"

Her gaze drifted towards Ye Jia who stood on the side.

Since the beginning, this young man who stood on the side hadn't spoken a single word, as if it didn't involve him. He had his head raised and eyes slightly narrowed as he looked at the deserted villa before him and seemed to be quietly thinking about something.

The afternoon sun fell onto him from the side, coating his light brown hair with a light gold sheen which helped accentuate the youth's pale profile and straight figure. He looked as if he was a handsome character who had just walked out from a virtual world.

A faint blush formed on the girl's fair face. She suggested shyly:

"Let's get to know each other. We may end up being friends."

Ye Jia retracted his gaze and smiled at her, "Ye Jia."

Seeing Ye Jia so cooperative, Cheng Cezhi could only also reluctantly report his name.

Guan Tianyi turned around and reached out to push open the door of the villa.

The door wasn't locked. The rusty hinges let out a low groan before slowly revealing the darkness inside.

The smell of damp wood and dust rushed out, causing the two people standing at the forefront to sneeze a few times.

Only after the dust settled could they finally see inside more clearly.

The house was very dim. Faint sunlight spilled in through the grime covered windows, barely dispelling some of the darkness in the hall.

The living room on the first floor was very large. There were several pieces of furniture scattered around but, based on the layer of dust gathered over it, they had clearly been left here for a long time.

There were also several photos hanging on the wall. The pictures in them were already faded and only a faint outline was left.

The entire villa was gloomy and quiet. Although it was summer, the temperature here was very low. It was so low that the cold sensation invaded their bones, making them shiver.

"Wow." Guan Tianyi who was silent for a long time slowly exclaimed in awe.

He turned and looked at the friend behind him, his eyes glowing with excitement, "Isn't the atmosphere here amazing?!"

Cheng Cezhi silently rolled his eyes.

He pulled Ye Jia's arm and whispered in his ear, Let's go to the second floor and use the equipment."

Turning on the equipment in front of these youngsters would just bring them trouble. He didn't want to see a headline tomorrow saying something like "Secret Government Agency Dealing with Paranormal Cases Appeared in M City", so he felt that it was best that they acted separately.

Ye Jia shrugged and looked away from the device in Guan Tianyi's hands.

The seven of them walked towards the living room one after another. With the door open behind them, the bright sunlight entered from outside, drawing a clear boundary at the door. Past that was the cold and abandoned villa and outside of it was a sunny midsummer afternoon.

One of the boys lowered his voice and moved next to the two girls.

"Did you know that the former owners here were a married couple? The wife went mad because of her husband's infidelity, and she killed her two children by strangling them, stabbed her husband to death and then hung herself. Since then, their tormented souls have been trapped inside this house, waiting for others to enter through the door……."

His voice got lower and lower.

Both girls had pale faces as they pressed close together. They were both excited and scared listening to the horror story.

Cheng Cezhi who had heard the whole thing remained expressionless.

——All bullshit.

Before coming, he had read the report of this building. Since it was built, no one had lived here so something like a terrible murder case involving the deaths of four people had never happened.

If something like that really did happen, there wouldn't be two logistics staff standing here.

It was because this place didn't seem dangerous, and no lives were lost so the Bureau had assigned it as a low-risk case.

Cheng Cezhi revealed a professional fake smile:

"Let's do this. You guys can look around down here first, and we'll take a look upstairs."

"U-um." He Lian glanced at Ye Jia, her cheeks red, "Actually, I want to go to the second floor too…."

Cheng Cezhi turned and looked at Ye Jia. His eyes seemed to be saying: You caused it so you take care of it.

Ye Jia smiled and lowered his eyes. That look made him seem somewhat deceptively gentle, "Since no one has been living here for so long, the stairs may have aged. Let us go up first and if there is no danger, we will call you up. After all, we wouldn't want a young lady like you to get hurt."

He Lian's face turned even more red.

She nodded in a dazed state, "O-oh, okay."

This time, no one stopped them. The two of them were able to go upstairs without much trouble.

The steps below them creaked and the voices of the people down on the first floor gradually grew smaller.

Cheng Cezhi looked at Ye Jia in amazement, "Brother Ye, amazing."

He signed enviously, "There should be a lot of girls pursuing you?"

The small black hand on Ye Jia's shoulder muttered quietly, "Hah, you stupid humans who are deceived by his appearance."

—-Only it knew this person's real face!

Ye Jia: "………"

His eyelids twitching, he raised his hand and shoved the small black hand back before revealing a perfect smile, "Didn't you say you wanted to check this floor?"

"Oh."

Cheng Cezhi nodded. He set up the equipment on the floor of the corridor and then looked down at the readings reported.

The concentration of yin energy was much higher than normal, but it just happened to be stuck at the place just shy of being dangerous.

Cheng Cezhi frowned. He looked at the equipment in his hand in confusion, "This….."

Was it normal or abnormal?!

Ye Jia had his arms crossed as he leaned against the door frame watching this like he was just a bystander.

When Cheng Cezhi tried again, he narrowed his eyes and idly stared into the distance.

There were indeed ghosts in this villa.

—-And they also came out from the game.

This was a D-level ghost called the Scare Spirit.

Most ghosts feed on a human's negative emotions but these scare spirits fed on something extremely specific, a player's fear.

They enjoyed scaring people and would often appear in some low-level instances. They alone weren't very dangerous so unless you lived with them for a very long time, they weren't life-threatening.

And those reports of strange sounds coming from the villa and the strange figures….What they heard and saw was probably done by these scare spirits.

Ye Jia's focus was on…….that device Guan Tianyi was holding.

—–If he wasn't mistaken, that was actually a prop from the game.

It was a ghost detection device that allowed a player to perceive the arrival of danger in advance. Its level wasn't too high, and it could be exchanged for using four or five hundred points at most, but the accuracy was better than any of the equipment used by the Bureau.

He should've realised this earlier. Since there were people who would smuggle out cursed items from the game, the other props in the game should be no exception. These things may even have begun to circulate the black market.

If they traced it back to the source, it should be possible for a considerable number of game props to be seized.

—-And he might be able to find a better use for these props.

Ye Jia lowered his eyes thoughtfully. His gaze fell onto the dusty ground as he seemingly examined the crevices.

Downstairs.

The five of them split up and slowly wandered around the villa. They were half excited and half scared as they explored the rooms.

The floor under their feet let out a low creak from their weight. The air was damp and filled the smell of decaying wood, and the paint on the walls had mostly peeled off.

"Thud." The sound of something heavy fell onto the ground upstairs.

"Clatter, clatter, clatter." Something seemed to be rolling across the floor.

Please read this from kk translates

Guan Tianyi raised his head and glanced up.

The two people upstairs probably knocked something over.

He didn't pay it much attention. He lowered his head and carefully examined the piano which had one of its legs bent crookedly. The keys were covered with a thick layer of dust to the point that it was almost impossible to see the original black and white colours.

He tentatively reached out and pressed a key.

A low sound rang without warning, breaking the silence in the room.

The short-haired girl glared at Guan Tianyi, "Hey, stop scaring people!"

Guan Tianyi smiled and raised his hands as if begging for mercy, "Sorry, sorry, I was wrong….."

He turned and walked towards a wall.

Just as he was looking at the paintings on the wall that were no longer distinct, the piano behind him suddenly rang again.

"Hah." Guan Tianyi laughed and turned around, "You think I will be scared by tricks lik….."

"Have you had enou…" The others also turned around angrily.

Their voices all stopped at the same time. They looked at each other as if they didn't seem to expect the other party to react like this.

All five of them looked at the piano.

The piano leaned against the wall with its keys covered with dust. There was no one beside the piano.

Guan Tianyi broke into cold sweat. He pretended to be calm and nervously spoke up, "Haha, nice job. If I hadn't used this trick before, I probably would've really been scared by you."

The faces of the other four were also a little pale. They looked at each other in suspicion and seemed to be unsure if it was a prank done by one of their friends.

"Thud." The sound of a heavy object falling onto the ground sounded again. It was very soft, almost inaudible from the other end of the room.

But this time it came from the first floor.

Something round rolled out from the darkness, hitting one of the boy's feet.

The boy was taken aback for a moment. When he lowered his head and looked down, he saw a grey marble by his feet. It seemed to be covered in dust.

He felt a little uncomfortable inside.

This uncomfortable feeling even made the hairs on his body stand.

The boy swallowed nervously. He slowly moved back, trying to distance himself from the marble.

But as soon as he lifted his foot, the marble suddenly turned in his direction, revealing an eye—-

"Ahhhhhhh!!!" The boy screamed and stumbled back. His back hit the corner of the table with a loud thud and his entire body fell to the ground.

The others hurried over, "What's wrong?"

The boy pointed to the marble in shock. His voice was trembling, "That…..that….."

The short-haired girl followed his gaze and looked over, and then boldly used the tip of her shoe to move the marble.

It rolled a short distance, revealing the black and white intertwining lines hidden under the dust.

It seemed to be a decorative piece that had fallen off from the stair railing.

Everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The short-haired girl scoffed, "You scared us earlier but look at you now. You're even more frightened than the rest of us."

The boy remained sitting on the ground in shock. His face still pale, his gaze fell back onto the marble. He couldn't seem to figure out what he saw just now. Was it all just his imagination or was it real?

He Lian shuddered, "This place makes me feel uncomfortable. Why don't we just leave….."

The sky outside the window had slowly darkened and the inside of the villa was only very faintly lit up by the remaining rays of sunlight. In a gloomy and silent living room, even the most courageous of people would feel uncomfortable.

Guan Tianyi swallowed and nodded, "Then, since you don't want to stay anymore, why don't we…."

Before he could finish speaking, the device he was carrying suddenly made a loud noise.

"Beep beep beep beep beep——-" A sharp noise resonated through the villa, making one's eardrums hurt.

Guan Tianyi fumbled around with the device, muttering in a low voice, "This….how to turn this off…"

At this moment, he suddenly felt the air around him change.

Guan Tianyi looked up.

He saw that the other four in front of him were all extremely pale. One slowly raised their hand and fearfully pointed behind Guan Tianyi.

At that very moment, a chill ran down his spine.

Guan Tianyi's face was frozen stiff. He slowly turned and looked back.

On the wall behind him, at some point in time the figures in the originally unclear paintings had gradually turned clear—-It was a woman's pale face. Her features were blurred but her pitch-black and lifeless eyes stared at the five people standing in the room.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!"

When Ye Jia and Cheng Cezhi heard the commotion, they quickly packed up their equipment and rushed downstairs. What they were met with was this scene.

The five of them were crowded at the door, desperately twisting the door handle, but it was as if the door was welded in, and it wouldn't open. Every one of them looked pale and frightened. Their device that had been thrown to the floor in the distance continued to beep loudly as they struggled at the door.

All the noise made one's head hurt.

Ye Jia frowned.

At this moment, he heard a small voice sound above him, "Ah, look. The handsome guy came down."

"Should we scare him too?"

The small voice seemed a little conflicted, "But he looks so good. I'm a little reluctant…."

"Jeez, you don't understand. Handsome guys look even better when they're helpless and in fear!" The other voice came closer. It almost seemed like it came from above him as well, "He has a nice smell…."

"Yes, yes! And his figure is good, legs are long and his skin is so pale! I really want to know if he has any abs….." The voice whispered, "Hey, do you think it will be possible for him to take off his clothes while in panic?"

"Dream on!" Another tiny voice interrupted it, "How can someone undress themselves after being frightened?!"

"Oh, you're right….." The voice above his head silently sighed, as if it were very disappointed in the fact that they couldn't see the other party undressing.

It said:

"T-then, should we forget about it?"

Ye Jia who heard their entire conversation: "…….."

???

W-wait a minute. Why was the style of these ghosts so strange?