Manual for Survival in a Strange World

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Gu Yunqing?

Wasn’t he dead?

Who got hold of his phone?

Is the person on the other end of the line human or a ghost?

Several thoughts quickly flashed through Zhang Yangxu’s mind. He decisively turned off the screen and ended the call.

Outside the wall, the sound of footsteps grew louder and more frequent.

Zhang Yangxu had learned a bit about the mansion with the ‘He Mansion’ plaque. It belonged to a wealthy family, with numerous servants and maids employed in the house. The elderly master was always surrounded by people when he went out, and when he returned, he was accompanied by a crowd.

Hearing the footsteps move toward the front gate, Zhang Yangxu, still holding his phone, walked toward the side gate. He wasn’t the type of person to act without thinking. Since he couldn’t find Ye Miaozhu, he decided not to look for her anymore. Even if this hot-headed woman were willing to cooperate with him, it would probably be more trouble than it was worth.

After walking for a few steps, his phone vibrated again.

This time, the vibration was short and abrupt. It wasn’t a call, but a new message notification. Zhang Yangxu unlocked the screen and looked down, seeing that he had just received a new text message:

Sender: [Gu Yunqing]

Message content: [Do you really think I’m dead?]

Immediately, another message was sent:

[You’ve been played by Ning Zhe.]

“Gu Yunqing isn’t dead?”

“I’ve been played by Ning Zhe?”

Looking at the two messages on the screen, Zhang Yangxu’s expression darkened.

Given that there was a ‘ghost’ wandering in Hejia Village, a being capable of stealing others’ identities and disguising itself as a living person, Zhang Yangxu didn’t easily believe these two short messages, even though they were startling. He remained highly cautious.

While keeping an eye out for the person—or ghost—on the other end of the line claiming to be Gu Yunqing, Zhang Yangxu also tried to recall his interactions with Ning Zhe and others.

“These two messages are certainly suspicious, but isn’t Ning Zhe suspicious too? At least, I’ve never actually seen Gu Yunqing’s corpse. The claims that Gu Yunqing died, just like Xie Sining, at the riverbank… I’ve never seen that for myself.”

Once a seed of doubt is planted, it begins to take root and grow.

With one hand holding the phone and the other lightly resting against the wall, Zhang Yangxu continued walking forward, recalling the events surrounding his communications with Ning Zhe and the others.

“Ning Zhe is untrustworthy. He’s suspected of causing Lin Zhiyuan’s death and hiding his body. Even if I try to think well of him, assuming that he didn’t kill Lin Zhiyuan, Ning Zhe is at least someone who has no respect for human life. He would use another’s death without hesitation to achieve his own goals. He’s a madman.”

And a madman with an alarmingly high IQ.

“Feng Yushu, this woman, I know a little about her. She was kept in seclusion by her family when she was young, pampered by her husband after marriage, never having faced much hardship. She’s lived a life of luxury, like a canary that’s never left its cage. She would easily submit to real violence. So, Feng Yushu’s words can’t be trusted. This woman has already been tamed by Ning Zhe, obeying him without realizing that she’s being subtly trained, like a dog.”

Neither Ning Zhe nor Feng Yushu could be trusted. What about Ye Miaozhu?

Ye Miaozhu’s strong emotional reaction to Gu Yunqing’s death didn’t seem fake. Such distress would be entirely natural if a beloved family member or close friend had passed away, but the issue is…

“Was Gu Yunqing really that close to Ye Miaozhu? So close that she would give up on her own life after his death?”

Zhang Yangxu couldn’t be sure, as they were both strangers who had merely met by chance. From what he knew, Gu Yunqing and Ye Miaozhu were simply classmates from the same medical school who had come to the countryside for internship qualifications.

They might have been a couple or something else, but if they were merely a couple or classmates, then Ye Miaozhu’s extreme emotions seemed somewhat exaggerated—like a delicate youth crying and shouting for an emergency appointment at a top-tier hospital just because of a minor scratch.

So…

“Should I trust Ye Miaozhu? Or should I trust this ‘Gu Yunqing’?”

Zhang Yangxu hesitated.

He knew clearly that the person on the other end of the line might very well be the vengeful ghost adept at disguising itself as a human to lead others to their deaths. It could even be Ning Zhe, using Gu Yunqing’s phone to set a trap. Yet, there was still a slight possibility, however small, that this was truly Gu Yunqing.

At that moment, his phone vibrated again, a new message arrived:

[I can probably guess what you’re worried about. You’re worried that I’m the ghost impersonating Gu Yunqing.]

[Your concerns are not unfounded, but time is running out. We can’t delay any longer.]

[You can ask me questions to test my identity, but hurry.]

[Because the Snake God is about to go crazy.]

“What?!” Zhang Yangxu’s nerves immediately tensed. He quickly typed back: [What do you mean? The Snake God is going crazy?]

There was a silence of about two minutes before a new message arrived:

[Let’s first confirm our identities.]

[You suspect I’m the ghost pretending to be Gu Yunqing, but aren’t I just that?]

Zhang Yangxu didn’t hesitate any longer. He quickly composed a few questions and sent them over.

Based on his previous experience communicating with the ghost impersonating Xie Sining, Zhang Yangxu’s questions were designed to be ones that “I believe Gu Yunqing should know the answer to, but I don’t know the answer myself.” When responding to such questions, the ghost impersonating Xie Sining had shown signs of “glitching” like a computer program freezing.

Thus, Zhang Yangxu asked a few clinical medical questions, while Gu Yunqing sent back questions about the real estate field.

Both parties quickly gave their answers.

Although Zhang Yangxu couldn’t verify the correctness of Gu Yunqing’s answers due to the different fields of expertise, the smoothness of the responses was enough to prove the identity of the person on the other end.

“He should really be Gu Yunqing.” Zhang Yangxu let out a breath and texted: [What does it mean for the Snake God to go crazy? Tell me more about the situation.]

Gu Yunqing: [Let’s meet and talk.]

Zhang Yangxu: [Alright, where are you?]

Gu Yunqing: [Outside the He Mansion, just walk a little further, and you’ll see me when you open the door.]

So close? Zhang Yangxu felt puzzled. Since the distance was so short, why was Gu Yunqing using such a cumbersome method of communicating through calls and texts? It would have been far more convenient to meet directly.

But then again, as Gu Yunqing said, he suspected him to be a ghost—so wasn’t that true on both sides?

With this in mind, Zhang Yangxu quieted his footsteps, carefully walking along the wall to the side gate of the He Mansion. He gently knocked three times on the door.

Knock, knock, knock—

There were three knocks in response from the other side.

Zhang Yangxu breathed a sigh of relief, opened the door, and saw a young man soaked through with water, standing at the doorway, holding a similarly drenched phone.

“Mr. Zhang, it’s a pleasure to see you again.” Gu Yunqing smiled and said.