Chapter 334: In This Place, You Really Can’t Take a Single Step Without Money!
The time came to around 7:30, and the Chosen Ones gradually arrived at the antique market to wait for the Ghost Market to open.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, most of the Chosen Ones chose to find a spot with few people and squat there.
Or they leaned against the side of some closed shop, so they wouldn’t be chased away for obstructing business.
By this point, the sky wasn’t very bright anymore, and the Chosen Ones were hard to notice here.
Many Chosen Ones pulled down the bamboo hats on their heads, but their eyes kept scanning the passersby around them.
They even spotted a few people similar to themselves—these people were also wrapped up tightly, sizing up the shops from the roadside, seemingly also waiting for the Ghost Market to open.
Actually, Lahman wanted to go strike up a conversation, but he was worried about exposing his identity.
Because you could reason it out—those who wanted to enter the Ghost Market basically had Ghost Coins and planned to go in and buy things.
Or they had good merchandise on hand—these people were naturally sellers. Things that could be taken to the Ghost Market for trading were basically all unclean and couldn’t circulate in the open market.
Many Chosen Ones had Ghost Coins on them—even Lahman did.
Though he didn’t have much left, according to the rules’ hints, once discovered by others, you could easily become a target for attack.
So here, the vast majority of Chosen Ones, like Lahman, chose to play it safe and not stir up trouble.
But there were a few—like Robert, the Red Cardinal from Ramen Country—who actually dared to go up and strike up conversations.
He was considered one of the Chosen Ones who had trained his body to a relatively high level in the Strange Tales World.
Plus, he had some special abilities of his own, so he wasn’t afraid of non-rule-type negative statuses.
That is to say, as long as it wasn’t “corruption” or “virus,” he had ways to convert it into energy he needed.
How big an impact rule-type negative statuses could have—you could see from Zhang Yangqing’s past performances. Even he could be restricted, let alone others.
Blue Star’s highest standard was Zhang Yangqing, so many Transcendents could infer some rules from him.
This time, Robert found a suspicious-looking woman. She was holding a relatively large wooden box, wrapped with black bandages—it looked like something meant for trading at the Ghost Market.
After all, at this hour, if she wasn’t going to the Ghost Market, why not just go to the antique shop next door?
Robert’s observation and judgment were still quite impressive—his angle was unique, but he hadn’t made any major mistakes throughout this Strange Tales run.
At first, he kept picking fights with Oddities, just to test their abilities.
Now, Robert approached this woman with the goal of asking about the situation inside in advance—or rather, probing how strong these people entering were.
But when the woman saw him, she ran off as if she’d seen a ghost.
This left Robert somewhat puzzled. Actually, among the Chosen Ones, he was considered quite handsome—he was also the face of the Church. He shouldn’t be that scary, right?
Even without Zhang Yangqing’s level of enhancement, he shouldn’t be so frightening that people ran the moment they saw him.
He had a guess—this woman seemed to be an important clue.
Otherwise, why would she appear before him?
Since he couldn’t strike up a conversation, he could only memorize her appearance for now.
“Could it be that I didn’t find the right way to approach her? Or is the Strange Tales World just making me remember her?”
Robert returned to where he’d been squatting and continued observing, pondering this question in his mind.
Because he knew that at this stage, the Chosen Ones would face enormous danger—including himself.
Robert wasn’t careless. He had some skills, but he wouldn’t dare say he could walk all over the Strange Tales World.
As a newcomer, his adaptability to the Strange Tales World was strong, and he had his own unique insights when predicting certain problems.
In his view, the reason the Strange Tales World gave the Chosen Ones this special constitution and had them learn skills from the old blind man to improve their strength—
What did that mean?
Was the Strange Tales World being kind and letting everyone clear it?
No—it actually meant the upcoming difficulty would be tremendous, and normal Chosen Ones wouldn’t be able to pass with their own abilities.
That’s why the Strange Tales World put the Chosen Ones through this series of trials and enhancements.
Everyone who came here had their physical strength raised by one or two grades.
From this, Robert deduced there were two massive challenges.
The first challenge was the unknown challenge.
That was undoubtedly the Ghost Market. The Ghost Market shouldn’t be a simple place, nor would it be like what the Chosen Ones imagined—just an ordinary trading venue.
You could judge from this: if no rules were discovered in the Ghost Market, it meant the Ghost Market wasn’t very difficult.
Once rules appeared in the Ghost Market, it would be a massive trial.
The second challenge was the known challenge.
The Rainy Night Killer—just hearing the name told you he wasn’t easy to mess with. This was also the Chosen Ones’ next target.
To complete the hidden mission, they had to kill him.
Even this world’s “strong”—the patrol team’s experts—couldn’t catch him.
For the Chosen Ones to catch him would be no ordinary difficulty.
And they had to kill him—even harder.
Otherwise, why would the Strange Tales World give the Chosen Ones items and physical enhancements?
That guy was no longer something normal people could deal with.
Gregori had once taught Robert to think with the mindset of an “ordinary Chosen One” as much as possible, so that at critical moments, you could use a Transcendent’s advantages to pass.
That wasn’t wrong—that’s what Gregori did.
But Robert didn’t necessarily agree. Transcendents had their own way of fighting—just because you can’t do it doesn’t mean I can’t.
He’d watched quite a few of Zhang Yangqing’s clear recordings, and he noticed that Transcendents could have their own style of play.
A style within the process, yet above the process.
Today, he was going to prove he was stronger than Gregori—even if it was his first time entering, he would display all his abilities.
While he was working hard to prove himself, Gregori was worried about his safety.
After all, Gregori felt Robert’s approach was too aggressive.
Aggressive didn’t mean he was incapable—because as a veteran, Gregori knew that playing it safe meant having room to redeem yourself when you made a mistake.
If you were aggressive, once you made a mistake, you could very well die on the spot.
Not every time would luck or coincidence appear to give a Chosen One on the brink of death a new lease on life.
Gregori had been relatively aggressive last time and nearly died. After learning that lesson, he didn’t dare play that way anymore.
But he also respected Robert’s choice—after all, only the Chosen One who entered could better judge how to fight. Experience could only serve as a reference.
At this time, the sky was getting darker and darker, and some strange things began happening in the antique market.
The shops that were closed during the day seemed to open at night.
Many tightly wrapped people also appeared in the antique market one after another.
The Chosen Ones were all squatting in street corners and alleys—either conserving their energy or memorizing strange people, hoping these clues would be useful later.
As the time drew closer to eight o’clock, everyone was somewhat nervous, constantly adjusting themselves.
Only Zhang Yangqing was leisurely drinking tea in the most luxurious teahouse private room in the antique market.
This position was very clever—he sat by the window on the second floor. Not only could he enjoy tea, but he could also observe the passersby below. His field of view was extremely wide.
Had the other Chosen Ones not thought of this?
No—because they had no money and could only squat by the roadside.
Zhang Yangqing couldn’t be bothered to squat in street corners, so he just earned some money to come here and drink tea, savoring the finest service here.
Zhang Yangqing had been practicing what the old blind man taught him last night—and he’d practiced on his own.
So he’d wasted less time than the other Chosen Ones.
The antique market was large, and each Chosen One was in a different location.
But what was the same was that when the time came to eight o’clock, within many Chosen Ones’ fields of view, some shop owners came out and hung white-edged red lanterns at their doors.
If there weren’t any within your field of view, you could basically go looking for one when the time came.
Lahman’s luck wasn’t bad—there was a shop near him that led to the Ghost Market, and a white-edged red lantern was hanging at its door.
His choice wasn’t to go in directly, but to wait for someone to enter first while he found a suitable spot to watch.
After all, everything about the Ghost Market was still unknown. Going in first wasn’t a good idea—he chose to follow someone in.
Robert had a different idea. He wanted to go in first and gather intelligence—maybe there was an advantage to going in early.
He was the more aggressive type.
Zhang Yangqing wasn’t in a hurry. He had a tomb raider with him—the one he’d saved in the tomb.
The other two had already gone out to purchase some things.
The other Chosen Ones were fighting alone, but he had strength in numbers.
Now that he had money again, he started getting crafty.
That was—setting up a network. He planted eyes and ears in Fengming District.
Though these three were tomb raiders, they surely had acquaintances in this city, right?
Zhang Yangqing had them go find their acquaintances—preferably acquaintances near the marked locations on the map.
The requirement for these acquaintances was “local residents”—this was very particular.
Zhang Yangqing’s understanding of intelligence was thorough. Because the intelligence said the Rainy Night Killer had fled here from outside, that proved he wasn’t originally from this place.
So as long as someone had lived locally for a certain number of years, they most likely weren’t the Rainy Night Killer.
Secondly, these acquaintances should preferably have no strength—because the Rainy Night Killer’s abilities were definitely considerable. Otherwise, the patrol team with so many experts wouldn’t be unable to deal with him.
Without strength, it was easier to judge that they weren’t the Rainy Night Killer.
As long as he mastered these conditions and spent money to buy people’s loyalty, then even if Zhang Yangqing didn’t get intelligence about the Rainy Night Killer next, he could still set up a trap and let the Rainy Night Killer walk right into it.
Zhang Yangqing’s offer was high—enough to make many people provide him with intelligence tonight.
Moreover, the other Chosen Ones would either gather intelligence about the Rainy Night Killer during the upcoming process—after all, places like the Ghost Market had all kinds of people, and you might just run into something—
Or they could only go try their luck when the time came—either getting lucky, finding the Rainy Night Killer and killing him, or getting killed.
Looking at the Chosen Ones’ performances, Gregori actually felt the Dragon Country Tianshi was truly steady.
As the Church’s expert on the Strange Tales World, he began giving the other prospective participants a detailed breakdown and analysis of Zhang Yangqing’s approach.
After all, his injury wouldn’t heal anytime soon—next round would most likely be Sydney going in. Sydney had never been able to complete a hidden mission; there was always that feeling of being just short, and that feeling was right here.
According to Gregori’s explanation, the vast majority of Chosen Ones—even he and Lahman—only thought of solutions in critical moments through sudden flashes of inspiration.
Because hidden missions sounded simple, but there were bound to be pits that didn’t warn you.
You could only judge these pits yourself—you needed to collect a certain amount of intelligence. Otherwise, why call it a hidden mission?
Because in the early stages of the Strange Tales World, few dared to attempt hidden missions. Everyone seemed to think hidden missions were probabilistic.
That wasn’t wrong, actually—if everyone tried, a few would get lucky and complete them.
But the gap between everyone and the Dragon Country Tianshi was exactly in this area of luck.
Not because the Dragon Country Tianshi was lucky, but because this guy didn’t rely on luck at all—that was the difference.
Gregori kept emphasizing to Sydney: don’t keep looking at how the Dragon Country Tianshi seems to clear things simply, all through brute force. Actually, he’d already seen through everything and chosen a simple, effortless approach.
Even if he didn’t use force—even if he had no force at all—Gregori felt he’d still get SSSSS with no problem.
Here, Gregori focused on the hidden mission.
Don’t be fooled by the low death rate of past hidden missions—that was because only a few people went to complete them, and they were all top-tier Chosen Ones. Naturally, the death rate was low.
This gave everyone the impression that hidden missions were worth trying—worst case, if something felt off, just run.
Feeling you can’t finish and wanting to run?
Only those who’ve attempted hidden missions know: once you enter the game, without meeting certain conditions, it’s very hard to leave alive.
In short—either don’t go, or if you go, it’s hard to get out.
So Gregori inferred that this time, many people would definitely attempt the hidden mission, but many would also perish at this level.
“How can you be so sure?”
Sydney couldn’t understand. He’d also tried to complete hidden missions before—it didn’t feel that terrifying, did it?
Hearing this, Gregori’s lips curled into a cruel smile as he said, “Do you know why the target is called the Rainy Night Killer?”
That sentence made Sydney’s expression change—he seemed to have thought of something.
At this moment, Zhang Yangqing had already distributed his tasks. He left one tomb raider here to wait, while the other two had already left to handle business.
He himself walked into a shop that looked quite strange.
This shop didn’t open during the day—only at night. And it didn’t use lights—only candles inside.
This gave Zhang Yangqing a familiar feeling.
Because the general store also only used candles, and also had the scent of candle fire and incense. This place was the same.
The owner was quite old, looking somewhat hunched, but his gaze was sharp and his aura restrained.
He gave off the feeling of a hidden expert—though not as powerful as the old blind man, he still had a certain level.
After Zhang Yangqing entered, the owner said nothing—seemingly also following some kind of rule.
“I want to go to the Ghost Market.”
Only when Zhang Yangqing said this did the owner look at him, then point to a sign behind him.
Under the candlelight, Zhang Yangqing saw the pricing.
As if no one would see it if he didn’t point.
[Ghost Market Entrance Fee: 100 Ghost Coins.]
Zhang Yangqing could only think: pretty steep.
Our general store doesn’t even charge for entry.
But this wasn’t the time to haggle—he’d need to come out later too.
If you haggled to half price, and they guaranteed you entry but not exit, that would be big trouble.
He paid readily. The old man counted the amount, confirmed it was correct, then picked up the candlestick and gave Zhang Yangqing a look—meaning “follow me.”
Then the two walked toward the interior of the shop.
On the way, the wooden floorboards creaked and groaned underfoot.
This place clearly had some age to it—afraid of accidentally falling through, the Chosen Ones all walked carefully along the way.
Following the old man to a large door, he opened it with a key.
This large door was the entrance to a basement. The old man had no intention of going down—he just led the way here.
It was already night, naturally pitch black—and this was a basement entrance, making it terrifyingly dark.
Plus, sounds occasionally came from inside, making one shudder.
When Lahman and the other Chosen Ones arrived here, they looked confused—how were they supposed to go down when it was so dark inside?
The old man seemed to be waiting for them to be at a loss, then took the opportunity to say, “Candles—50 Ghost Coins.”
This shocked Lahman—both at the fact that he could speak and at the sheer speechlessness of it. This candle’s material is ordinary—at our general store it’s just a few coins, and you’re selling it to me for fifty?
Why don’t you just rob me!
But being in an unfamiliar place with no preparations—their supplies had been used up back at the tomb.
To get to the Ghost Market, many Chosen Ones, like Lahman, had no choice but to pay for candles.
Only a few Chosen Ones whose candles weren’t used up didn’t spend the wasted money.
“No wonder they only open at night—it really is a rip-off shop.”
The Chosen Ones complained furiously in their hearts. They didn’t have much money to begin with, and now you’re fleecing them.
They only grumbled internally—they still paid with smiles on their faces.
After all, they didn’t know how they’d get out yet, and the owner hadn’t said. Offending him here wasn’t wise.
When Zhang Yangqing got here, he truly said nothing and just walked down.
This left the owner somewhat stunned—the underground passage was so dark, can you see or something?
He didn’t seem puzzled about missing out on the 50-coin sale—rather, he felt this customer was unusual, seeming very familiar with the place. Had he been down here often?
As it happened, Zhang Yangqing really could see—after all, he had a special night vision skill.
Walking down a winding circular passage, many observant Chosen Ones began counting the levels and recording details, so they wouldn’t take a wrong turn on the way back.
After reaching the ground level, there was only a single opening. Passing through a straight corridor, Zhang Yangqing arrived at a mysterious hidden realm.
The air here was somewhat humid, and the smell was foul. That odor was very familiar to the veterans of the Strange Tales World—like corpses that had been rotting for a long time.
But the Chosen Ones’ bodies seemed used to it—not only did they not find it uncomfortable, they actually found it pleasant.
This made many Chosen Ones wonder if something was wrong with their bodies.
Under the candlelight, you could see unknown creatures wriggling on the ground.
If you accidentally stepped on one while passing, it would make a “squelch, squelch” sound.
They’d even burst, releasing a strange odor—pretty disgusting.
But these creatures had no combat ability—they just wriggled.
Yet this very scene didn’t make the Chosen Ones feel nauseous—instead, the corners of their mouths unconsciously revealed satisfied smiles.
Actually, many Chosen Ones still didn’t realize they were already undergoing corpse transformation. Being zombies themselves, they didn’t reject these rotting, foul smells.
