Chapter 313: You’re Not Getting Away After Showing Up!
Zhang Yangqing really couldn’t have cared less. Who spoiled you lot? Buy it or don’t, it’s all the same to him.
You want to make things difficult for me? Fine. Watch closely, and I’ll show you what real difficulty looks like.
This is what they call “treating others the way they treat you.”
Don’t think that just because I don’t have a heart right now and my strength has dropped significantly, you stand a chance against me.
Because honestly? You’re not even qualified to fight me.
The eyes of the two female apparitions nearly popped out of their sockets.
They hadn’t expected this shop assistant to flip the script so suddenly.
And what’s with tossing the items on the floor—are you looking down on us?
But the ones who really couldn’t hold it together were, of course, the audience watching on the big screens.
They felt that familiar vibe—the one and only Heavenly Master Zhang was at it again.
They’d seen Zhang Yangqing act recklessly plenty of times, but rarely did they see him go this hard right from the start.
“As expected of Heavenly Master Zhang—while other Chosen Ones are getting tortured left and right, he’s treating apparitions like his personal playthings.”
“My god, Heavenly Master Zhang really dares to go this far! He’s forcibly turning his own conflict into a conflict between the two of them. Of course, whether the two female apparitions buy into it is another story.”
“This is what they call ‘skilled people have guts.’ Honestly, Heavenly Master Zhang is holding back because of his position. I think if he weren’t a shop assistant, he’d have just struck one down with lightning, and the second one wouldn’t dare act up.”
“I can tell from Zhang Yangqing’s sleepy expression—he truly isn’t afraid.”
“What are you even saying? In this round, the ones who should be scared are all the creatures in the entire Horror Tale World.”
Most of the audience were just there for the entertainment, but many were genuinely worried that Zhang Yangqing was being too reckless.
This was only the beginning, and he was already throwing the rulebook out the window. Who knows what kind of accidents might happen next?
Inside the dimly lit general store, with candlelight flickering all around, Zhang Yangqing’s expression didn’t look too great either.
But he genuinely didn’t care. You dare get mad at me?
It doesn’t matter if you’re furious—even if you explode with rage, I couldn’t care less.
Other Chosen Ones are careful not to offend even one party, trying their best to please everyone.
Zhang Yangqing? He offends both. That way, you two are even, right?
If we’re talking about wiping out other apparition creatures, Zhang Yangqing could only do it with brute force.
But when it comes to dealing with these demons and monsters, Zhang Yangqing has a hundred ways to kill them a thousand times over.
This is his specialty. These ghosts have no idea they’re barking up the wrong tree.
The only reason Zhang Yangqing hasn’t blown his cover is that he’s trying to run a business.
Otherwise, if word got out that there’s a Heavenly Master in the store, which demon or monster would dare step through that door?
In the eyes of these fiends, even black dog blood isn’t as terrifying as a Heavenly Master.
Zhang Yangqing’s actions had the two female apparitions absolutely seething.
They weren’t the type to start fights easily, and they also sensed they probably couldn’t take this shop assistant.
So they hurled a few curses under their breath and turned to leave.
But before they could take a second step, they froze in place.
It felt as if something utterly terrifying had locked them down.
It was a fear that came from the depths of their souls, a suppression that stemmed from their very bloodline.
The candle flames flickered incessantly.
In this dimly lit store, Zhang Yangqing’s shadow loomed massively, casting an overwhelming pressure on the two female apparitions.
“Ladies, since you’ve come to my shop, surely you’re not leaving empty-handed?”
The two female apparitions: “…”
The audience: “…”
Both the short-haired and long-haired apparitions were stunned.
Wow, so we walked into a shady business?
Sure, the store didn’t exactly look reputable to begin with.
But what kind of rule is this—you have to buy something just because you walked in? Why don’t you just rob us?
Regular viewers who knew Zhang Yangqing well realized that he could actually rob them, but the latter half of Rule 4 restricted him—he couldn’t take too much or too little.
Since he still didn’t know the clearance conditions, he couldn’t go completely wild.
Instead, he was operating within “reasonable” bounds to start setting his own rules.
Otherwise, Zhang Yangqing really would have just robbed them.
Other Chosen Ones couldn’t get away with this, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t.
After all, this wasn’t his first time pulling something like this.
In other Chosen Ones’ eyes, they didn’t know the environment well, and the rules were indeed there to protect them from being harmed by apparitions.
There were certainly limits to what apparitions could do to Chosen Ones as well.
But for Zhang Yangqing, who was fighting on home turf, his interpretation of the rules had already left even the expert panels outside scratching their heads.
The two female apparitions were boiling with resentment inside, but they lacked the strength to do anything about it. So, like other Chosen Ones, they could only swallow their pride and compromise.
If we can’t afford to offend you, we can at least avoid you, right?
So they each grabbed a burial shroud from the shelves, paid at the counter, and fled the Yin-Yang General Store without looking back.
After that initial scare and a small hurdle at the start, the Chosen Ones slowly began to find their footing.
Of course, some Chosen Ones made one wrong move and kept spiraling from there.
The audience watched with bated breath, deeply worried.
At this stage, wind chimes kept ringing as guests in various outfits streamed in.
Mostly dressed in black, gray, and white.
Chosen Ones like Rahman and Miller started getting the hang of handling apparition customers’ requests.
Their strategy was simple: try not to offend anyone and just point them to whatever they asked for.
And the guests were fairly disciplined about paying up.
So far, no one had overpaid or underpaid.
Rahman and Miller felt like this was the calm before the storm.
While they were preparing themselves, viewers from some countries couldn’t stand watching anymore.
The Chosen One from Maple Leaf Country had completely deviated from the correct approach right from the start.
He thought that as a store clerk, his job was to be “fair.”
Whenever guests got into disputes, he’d handle them based on his own judgment.
He’d make one party happy while sending the other storming off.
He thought he was doing the right thing, but according to the experts, he was stacking up death flags left and right.
The creepy thing about this Horror Tale World was that, so far, no apparition guest had dared to cause trouble directly inside the store.
So these Chosen Ones who’d strayed from the “correct answers” had no clue they were doing anything wrong—they were even feeling pretty pleased with themselves.
Right from the start, many Chosen Ones had already been marked with the “death” label.
Still, the pace of this Horror Tale World was relatively slow, giving the Chosen Ones a “chance” later on to find a way out.
Whether they could figure it out and react in time depended on whether they could gather useful intel.
After all, as Zhang Yangqing put it, no matter how hard the first level is, it’s still just a beginner’s stage. If you can’t even survive this, how can you face bigger challenges later?
Time moved slowly in the Horror Tale World.
Many Chosen Ones were already starting to feel exhausted, even though only two hours had passed.
It was currently midnight.
In other words, the true night was only just beginning.
During those two hours, some Chosen Ones had been genuinely diligent.
They recorded every apparition guest that came in, jotting down their numbers and even noting their distinguishing features.
It seemed like most guests were fairly reasonable and easy to deal with.
Apart from a few special cases, most Chosen Ones were trying to keep track of time.
The rules didn’t provide any hints, but the Chosen Ones were putting their brains to work.
Miller, the Chosen One from Eagle Country, noticed an hourglass near the counter and started counting seconds in his head.
He realized that each time the hourglass emptied, an hour had passed.
Every time it was about to run out, he’d flip it over again.
The hourglass became his timekeeping device.
Quite a few Chosen Ones used similar methods.
You had to keep a close eye on the hourglass to make accurate judgments.
At this stage, the Chosen Ones were still highly focused.
Hardly anyone dared to doze off, fearing something unexpected might happen.
Rahman came up with a cleverer method. His country also used incense sticks for various purposes, and he knew they burned very slowly, making them decent timers.
So he rummaged through the store and found a bundle of thick, long incense sticks used for timekeeping.
Each section of these sticks had markings indicating how many hours it would take to burn to that point.
He lit a stick marked for four hours using a candle flame to track time.
Granted, the burning speed was affected by factors like airflow, but it was generally accurate.
One important thing to note: the incense couldn’t be placed near flammable materials—just stick it in the incense burner nearby.
As for how Zhang Yangqing kept track of time? He nearly fell asleep.
He was the only Chosen One in this terrifying world daring enough to catch a nap.
He was basically a walking, talking timer himself.
But this laid-back attitude made the audience feel like he was in serious danger this round. Even as the home player, you can’t let your guard down like this! What if something catches you off guard?
Even if you’re powerful, without enough intel, you can’t clear the level!
To be fair, Zhang Yangqing was only facing the weakest apparitions so far.
He had a natural advantage against these things.
To put it bluntly, even if Zhang Yangqing were badly injured, these shadow ghosts, gray ghosts, and white-clad ghosts couldn’t even scratch him.
How could he not get sleepy?
If it weren’t for the sales quota, Zhang Yangqing would’ve found a spot to lie down long ago.
But just as he was getting drowsy, his eyes suddenly snapped open.
Because there seemed to be a sneaky set of footsteps approaching from outside the door.
At midnight, on a mountainside deep in the wilderness, if there was no moonlight, you literally couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
Clatter!
A faint collision sound came from outside the door, jolting the other Chosen Ones awake too.
It sounded like something had bumped into the firewood pile next to the door, causing some logs to fall to the ground.
Something was definitely approaching.
Normally, apparition guests would come through the front door without stepping on that pile.
This sound seemed like someone peeking through the door and accidentally kicking the pile because it was too dark to see.
By now, the Chosen Ones had seen plenty of terrifying apparitions.
They’d grown somewhat composed, thinking, “What else could there be that I haven’t seen?”
But this sudden scare genuinely made their hearts jump back into their throats.
“Who’s there?”
A bold Chosen One called out directly.
Most of these Chosen Ones were superhumans, so having some real skills gave them the confidence to speak up.
Ordinary Chosen Ones, on the other hand, just stared fixedly at the door.
But then, a pair of glowing green eyes emerged from the pitch-black darkness beside the door, locking eyes with the Chosen Ones out of nowhere.
It was enough to make your skin crawl.
It was as if some creepy thing was peeking at you from the doorway.
Even the superhumans in this round were taking deep breaths to calm their nerves.
At the same time, rapid, heavy breathing could be heard from outside.
The eyes disappeared, only to reappear in another spot.
It seemed to be constantly observing the Chosen Ones.
In other words, was there something inside that scared it?
Or was it nervous too?
At this stage, Rahman, who was relatively daring, was about to speak when he suddenly clamped his mouth shut.
Because he’d thought about the rules and spotted a trap!
Rule 5 had a clear warning:
【Rule 5: When a guest wearing yellow or cyan clothes comes to buy something, if they ask for something you have, nod; if you don’t, shake your head. Never speak to them.”
This “person” outside had only shown their eyes, right?
But we don’t know what color clothes they’re wearing.
If they are wearing yellow or cyan, then asking them what they need would break the rule, since speaking to them unprompted still counts as “talking.”
As long as he didn’t ask, the thing would just linger at the door.
Or maybe it was deliberately playing up a timid, pitiful act.
Making the Chosen One subconsciously think it wasn’t very dangerous.
Wasn’t this baiting them into speaking?
And for the past two hours, the Chosen Ones had only encountered guests in black, gray, and white—they’d gotten into the habit of chatting with customers.
Some of the bolder ones even said things like “Welcome” and “Thank you for your patronage.”
It wasn’t that they’d forgotten the rules—it was that they’d started treating the store as their safe haven.
But not a single rule said the store was actually safe.
Those two hours had made them forget the sense of danger.
The Horror Tale World had set up this trap so subtly that it was almost impossible to defend against.
After all, the rules explicitly told you not to speak to guests in yellow or cyan. If you didn’t look carefully and just blurted something out, you couldn’t blame the rules for not warning you.
Even Rahman had nearly fallen for it, and he was deeply shaken.
He strongly suspected this guy was a yellow- or cyan-clad guest.
And he was absolutely right.
On about sixty Chosen Ones’ screens, fierce battles suddenly broke out.
Thirty of them had taken the initiative to speak, violating the rule.
Because after they asked, the guest outside replied, “Boss, I’m hungry. Do you sell any food here?”
Even if the Chosen One didn’t speak first, the guest would have asked that same question from the doorway, luring them into responding.
Honestly, if that question came up, it was almost certainly a trap.
And the thirty who actually answered—especially those who carelessly responded—were even more doomed than the ones who spoke first.
After two hours of dealing with ordinary apparition customers, many Chosen Ones simply didn’t react in time and answered automatically.
At that point, those who realized their mistake looked like they were facing certain death.
Some, still slow on the uptake, thought the guest had come to the wrong place and even warned, “This is a general store—we don’t sell food.”
The guest outside grinned wide and said, “I think you look pretty tasty.”
Then, a figure in yellow clothing appeared before the Chosen Ones.
A cruel smile spread across its face, and it emanated an overwhelming ghostly aura.
Illuminated by the flickering candlelight, it looked absolutely terrifying.
Paired with the pitch-black, bottomless void behind it, it was as if the gates of hell had opened, ready to drag you straight into the eighteenth level of the underworld!
At that moment, even an idiot knew they’d broken the rules.
The thing had just been tricking you into speaking.
Once you talked, it could make its move.
The most unexpected victim was Miller from Eagle Country.
He was a “superhuman” and feeling a bit cocky, so he’d asked first.
The moment he saw the yellow clothes, he didn’t hesitate—he used his invisibility technique and bolted.
At this stage, most superhumans got caught because of overconfidence!
Fights broke out instantly, with crashing sounds echoing through the stores.
Quick-thinking superhumans grabbed bone knives from near the counter and started fighting back.
Others had already found “weapons” to defend themselves.
This yellow-clad apparition was clearly out to devour people—there was no room for negotiation.
Many country’s screens erupted with booming sounds.
Ghostly energy and supernatural forces clashed violently. The Chosen Ones knew there was no escape, so even if they had to risk severe injury, they had to take the thing down.
The screen for the British Empire went dark the fastest. They’d sent in a regular survivor this time instead of a superhuman, and that Chosen One had mysteriously answered the guest’s question, falling right into the trap.
The yellow-clad apparition was ferocious—it bit straight through the British Chosen One’s neck.
Blood sprayed everywhere, staining the nearby spirit money red.
Candles toppled over, turning the store into a sea of flames.
And just like that, the British Chosen One was slain.
The British audience was absolutely terrified.
Robert, the Red Cardinal from Noodle Country, managed to win his fight, but his store was left in complete shambles.
The yellow-clad apparition wasn’t too difficult for him—he only suffered a wound on his hand, which was emitting a faint “black smoke.”
Robert’s expression soured—he felt he’d disgraced the Pope.
How could he have made such a rookie mistake?
But the Vatican’s higher-ups looked even worse than Robert.
Gregori felt Robert was in grave danger. This was only the beginning of the Horror Tale World, and you already forgot the rules?
Didn’t I teach you so much—have you already forgotten everything?
Or did you just not bother remembering much at all?
Now, not only did he misunderstand the rules, but he’d also sustained an unknown injury. What was he supposed to do now?
And remember—this is still the beginner zone!
In this round, 41 Chosen Ones died on the spot. The 20 or so who managed to win were mostly superhumans.
Yellow-clad guests weren’t actually that hard to beat. If a cyan-clad one had shown up, another ten might have died.
About three, like Miller, had the means to escape.
Seeing such brutal losses in the Horror Tale World, the audience naturally turned to see how the Dragon Country Heavenly Master would handle it.
Would he choose to fight, or would he stick to the rules and stay silent?
The moment they opened Dragon Country’s screen, they were greeted by a familiar voice, dripping with sarcastic mockery.
“Of course we have food here. Would you like to try some Golden Light Incantation, or maybe some Five Thunder Orthodox Method? I promise you’ll be stuffed.”
Zhang Yangqing seemed to be saying: You’re not getting away after showing up!
