[Description: The creator used very poor quality technique to imprison a malicious spirit in the ring. It can make a malicious spirit obedient for a short time and provide the power of a two star ghost tool.]
[Limitation: The forcibly imprisoned malicious spirit is very aggressive. It will retaliate against the holder after being controlled for the second time. This is a poor product with terrible side effects.]
After Su Zimo read the text boxes of the fading ring on Su Kunâs hands, his eyes fell on the sale price of only 1 yuan and the limitations box that mentioned the ring was terrible. Su Zimo suddenly felt that the mysterious system in his pair of glasses was using that price to indicate its dislike of the âPoor Li Gui Ring.â
After all, no matter how common a one star ghost tool was, the prices started at ten yuan.
âExquisite ring.â Su Zimo glanced at his sunken-eyed third uncle. Apart from being very thin, Su Kun had no flaws in his appearance, but perhaps due to his too-gloomy eyes, a gossip tabloid once said that he would be ignored for his temperament.
Itâs precisely because of that dark history that Su Kun was obsessed with jewelry and luxury goods and activities. When he appears in front of a camera, he likes to decorate himself, but when he comes home, he looks simpler.
âThis is an antique ring that your third uncle bought at a high price. Even if Master Su speaks, he probably wonât give it to you.â Second Uncle Su Duan was the largest among the Su family and the one who enjoyed attending cocktail parties the most.
Maybe itâs because of his grumpy temper, but those high-class people in formal wear and drinking red wine while dancing to classical music donât like the second master of the Su family. Even if he was Second Master Su, no one likes a guest who slams the piano when drunk.
Therefore, Su Duan was only welcomed by some upstarts and dog meat friends most of the time. The âcocktail partiesâ he attended were often described by Su Heng as âchaos and smoke at sixes and sevens.â <sup>1</sup>
Someone once said that Su Heng had been a hero in business for a lifetime. Their biggest omission was that he completely neglected his growing sons after the death of his wife, and completely channeled his pain over her loss into dedication to his career. The continuous expansion of various industries under Su group allowed the Su family to secure its seat as the first-ranked family.
But when Grandpa Su Heng came back to his senses and wanted to look after his four sons, he found that the eldest had become a playboy, the second was a drunk, the third was corrupt, and the fourth was unwilling to invest in business.
But none of that has anything to do with Su Zimo. As long was there was no real instigator behind the original Su family car accident, Su Zimo would continue honoring his blood ties. As long as there was no instigator of the car accidentâŚ
âItâs really a beautiful ring.â Su Zimo smiled and nodded. âIt just doesnât match Third Uncleâs temperament and looks a bit awkward. The agate ring that Third Uncle wore when we met last time was quite beautiful.â
âThe power of this ring⌠Hak- You canât understand the value of this ring. Ten agate rings arenât as valuable as this one.â Speaking of his own collection, Su Kunâs voice wasnât so sour. âThis is a magical treasure, a masterpiece that ordinary people canât obtain. Itâs the only one, and it took a lot of money to get it.â
Except for the fourth uncle, Su Ni, the four sons of the Su family all had profitable industries under their names. So if Su Kun said âa lot of money,â it must be an enormous expense.
Su Zimo looked at the ring called âPoor Li Gui Ring 003â and felt that there were at least two other rings like it. It also shouldnât be called a masterpiece.
The most important thing was that Su Zimo felt that the ring wasnât taken by Su Kun from the nightmare world. He shouldnât even be a trainer. Someone found some unstable ghost tools and ignored their terrible side effects to directly sell them to the rich and curious at incredibly high prices.
Su Kun is one of the victims.
âSince itâs a collectible, itâs better to lock it in a safe. After all, Third Uncle still looks better wearing that agate ring. Donât wear this one often.â Su Zimo urged him secretly.
âIt just doesnât make sense to ordinary people like you.â Su Kun touched the ring on his hand, sneered, rose from the sofa, then walked to the dining table. âArenât we going to have dinner? And you have to let the lawyer confirm, right?â
âWhere are Zixiang, Zilan, and Zihui?â Su Zimo looked around the main hall, but didnât find the three children of his second and third uncles.
Su Zixiang and Su Zilan from his second uncleâs family were five years apart. The elder brother was in his third year in university, while the younger sister should have just entered high school.
Su Zihui was his third uncleâs only daughter. It was said that she and Su Zilan were classmates. Because Su Kunâs wife was also from a high class family, even if he wanted to, Su Kun couldnât continue extending branches and scattering leaves. <sup>2</sup>
The Su family doesnât actually have the habit of deciding the first character in the name for the next generation, but maybe after Grandpa Su named him âZimo,â his second and third sons also gave âZiâ to their children. Only the fourth son, who was more casual, excluded himself from giving similar names.
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âI consulted the lawyer earlier. Itâs okay if Huihui and the other children canât spare the time to attend dinner.â Su Gan, who walked out of the lounge, explained. âI originally wanted Xiangxiang to come, but heâs attending university abroad and hasnât come back for a long time.â
âSo Zixiang went to university abroad?â There were so many things Su Zimo didnât know. After regaining control of his body, he hadnât even left Shoushan where the manor was located â unless it was to go to Jiangdu through An Yu Yi Yu.
âZixiang was unlucky. He was born a few months later than you, so he had to work hard to study finance abroad, saying that he wanted to start from scratch like his great grandfather.â Su Kunâs words at that moment were venomous. âUnlike Zimo, youâre so relaxed. The old man helped prepare everything.â
âPa!â Su Duan, who had just sat down at the dining table, slapped his chopsticks down on the table. The Su familyâs dining habits still consisted of traditional Chinese food. It never favored western styles or knives and forks. âThis third child, you donât need to speak of my sonâs affairs. It doesnât matter how powerful he is, heâs my son. Donât think you two canât take me seriously even if you have a good relationship.â
Su Duanâs tone was like a firecracker. After sitting down on the side closest to the main seat, he glared at Su Kun and fiddled with the tableware. âOur task is just to finish this meal. After eating, each of us go back to our homes.â
âYou care about your son just like that old man used to. I donât care about those words, canât I take care of my nephew?â Su Kun sneered. âWith you as a role model, itâs a miracle that Zixiang could enter a prestigious university abroad with his own ability. Compared to those in other sons who do nothing, or take over the family business without even passing university, heâs much better.â
âZimo, this uncle is of course not talking about you, just talking about the sons of other families.â Su Kun took a wine glass next to the main seat.
âActually, I think my daughter is pretty good, too.â Su Gan put on a heartless expression. âI have a daughter studying at university in Jiangdu. She speaks softly and gently. âBaba is old, baba is feeble. Wear more clothes when the weather is cold, drink more water when the weather is hot.â Sheâs such a sweet little fluffy jacket.â <sup>3</sup>
ââŚâŚâ
Suddenly, the entire dining table became quiet. Even Housekeeper Mu, who had been standing by, found something to do and snuck back into the kitchen.
Those âillegitimate daughtersâ of Su Gan were regarded as an open âsecretâ of the Su family.
If one of his illegitimate daughters was already in university, wouldnât that mean she was born before Su Zimoâs mother died?
âSu Gan, do you really dare to talk about your external romantic affairs at a family dinner.â Su Duan inexplicably gave Su Gan a thumbs up. âIn terms of cheating on your wife, youâre really my elder brother.â
âWhat are you talking about? Youâre the cuckold!â Su Gan glared back. âIf I dared cheat on my wife, she wouldâve crawled out of hell and killed me!â
âYouâŚâ
Su Ganâs ruthless remark ended another topic at the family dinner.
In fact, this was one of the reasons why Su Zimo didnât understand his father. He always readily revealed he had several daughters, and always said he would introduce them to Su Zimo. He was even too magnanimous about the matter. Every time he spoke of it in detail, it made others feel that he never mourned his wife or felt sorry for his son who she had left behind, so everything was very strange.
It was called a family dinner, but the Su familyâs dinner may be the most silent family dinner in existence. During that period, everyone took care of themselves and ate the food in front of them, not saying a word. There were even lawyers who ran in and recorded a video every few minutes.
It didnât feel like a family dinner.
It wasnât until everyone had finished their meals and risen from the table one after the other that Su Kun smiled and said to Su Zimo, âZimo, Zixiang will finish his studies abroad soon. Several of his papers have been published in magazines, so he plans to help the family business when he comes back. When the time comes, Zimo, you have to look after your second and third uncle and help open doors for your little brother.
âZixiang is graduating? Isnât he a junior? Why donât I know about this?â Su Duan widened his eyes, and the rice wine in his hand dripped onto his belly.
âI called him earlier and wanted to ask him if he was lacking anything, so he told me then.â Su Kun gave Su Duan a look, then turned to Su Zimo. âZimo, this should be a trivial matter? After all, you and Zixiang grew up playing together. Although Zixiang went to university and you became the Su family head directly, there should still be affection remaining from childhood.
âIâm sorry Second Uncle, Third Uncle, my brother is managing the companyâs affairs this year, but I can ask to help.â The smile on Su Zimoâs face remained unchanged, as if he hadnât been affected at all.
âThen Iâll trouble Master Su.â Su Kun said and turned to leave with Su Duan. He even pretended to speak softly using a voice that everyone could hear, âEr-ge, if you didnât know any better, you may think that Su Hewen was from the Su family while Su Zixiang was an outsider.â
âShut up!â Su Duan didnât agree with Su Kun this time, but stared at him fiercely. âIf you donât speak, you wonât be treated like an idiot. You donât have to worry about Su Zixiangâs affairs in the future!â
âI really donât know how that pig fathered a son like Zixiang.â Seeing Su Duan leaving by himself, Su Kun couldnât help but grumble.
Although it was an unusual family dinner, the strange peace was within Su Zimoâs expectations. After all, it was only the first family dinner of the year. The Su familyâs changes were still circulating in the media and other aristocratic families. Under that watch, even if someone wanted to try something, they wouldnât choose to do it at this time.
But the ring on Su Kunâs finger made Su Zimo vigilant.
Before, he felt that the nightmare world was the nightmare world and the real world was the real world. But after seeing the ring, Su Zimo realized that the intersections between reality and the nightmare world was actually much more frequent than he had thought.
After finishing the dayâs work and returning to the study on the second floor, Su Zimo walked to the desk, turned on the new desktop computer, and then entered the words âNightmare Worldâ into the familiar search engine interface.
A few seconds later, a lot of different content appeared, most of which was useless to Su Zimo. After browsing a few pages, however, Su Zimo found a handful of posts by people who claimed to be âNightmare World Trainersâ in some forums.
Most of those posts introduced the existence of the nightmare world and the things trainers needed to do, but those things they mentioned were extremely basic. It was like the posts were from newcomers who had just entered the nightmare world.
There werenât many replies to those kinds of posts. Most people thought the âNightmare Worldâ was the posterâs imagination. Some even thought the post content was the outline for an unpublished novel, and the original posters had disappeared. They didnât make many waves.
Su Zimo was browsing the internet for a long time without much gain. He felt that the information on the surface was close to nothing. There must be a lot of secret information and prop exchanges, but he couldnâtreach any right now.
For example, the Dawn Organization he heard of before seemed to have their own internal communication platform.
Turning his head and glancing at the night outside of the window, Su Zimo browsed for a while longer, trying to understand more quickly about the events of the past four years.
When Su Zimo got up from the desk, the 48 hour cooldown to enter the nightmare world had passed. He turned off the light in his bedroom, opened the door behind him, and retreated into An Yu Yi Yu.
Because the shop was closed, the inside of An Yu Yi Yu was very quiet. Both Peng Peng and Ghost Umbrella had returned to their own bodies, falling into a state of dormancy.
In the words of Ghost Umbrella, even though he was better than Peng Peng, if they continued to show themselves in An Yu Yi Yu, it felt as if they were moving under ten times the force of gravity. They would occasionally have to change back and rest for a while.
Thatâs why Su Zimo decided to close the shop occasionally.
However, Su Zimo was also considering changing the closing and opening times of the store, because he always felt that An Yu Yi Yu was more suitable for opening at night rather than the day.
Thinking about that, Su Zimo picked up the backpack from behind the counter, made sure that the metal pen, chocolates, and other snacks were in place, then took two bottles of Ghost Umbrellaâs special fruit tea, and was ready to go to the next nightmare world to restock.
But after thinking about it, Su ZImo went back and stuffed the long-handled black umbrella into the backpack. He wasnât afraid of the nightmare world, but he was a little worried about having to use force to pass through. In the next nightmare world, the intensity of the malicious spirits would probably be more terrifying than last time.
Although he didnât know what special abilities Ghost Umbrella had other than speaking nonsense and making tea, Su Zimo felt that it would always be useful to bring him.
Looking back at the shelves that instilled a sense of emptiness in people because of their lack of products, Su Zimo cheered himself on. He didnât hesitate any longer. He opened the side door of the shop and walked through.
*
[Tonight, youâll come to my house to play at the ghost story assembly, right?]
âŚâŚ
[When will you come, Iâve been waiting a long time for you.]
*
When Su Zimo opened his eyes, he found himself standing in the bathroom of a strange apartment. In front of him was a half-length vanity mirror. The reflection in the mirror was too pale under the cold white light.
He blinked, and seemed to see something pass by in the mirror in his peripheral vision, but when he turned to look around, he found that the entire restroom was empty. There was nothing.
The door was ajar and unlocked, so that meant Su Zimo could leave the restroom where he was waiting by himself as long as he reached out and pushed.
But after leaving this time, what would his identity be?
Su Zimo didnât think too long. There didnât seem to be any option other than leaving.
âCreak-â
The doors in the nightmare world always seemed to be stuck. It was apparent that no one had touched them for a long time, so every time they opened, they would make an unpleasant creak.
After exiting the restroom, Su Zimo found that he was indeed in a seemingly ordinary apartment with a living room, balcony, and several closed doors.
The sky was still night, and three strangers were already standing in the living room with the lights on.
They stood against the wall and were staring at each other unblinkingly. When they saw Su Zimo exit the restroom, their bodies were tense. They were relieved when they saw Su Zimoâs appearance clearly.
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âThere are only four trainers total. This time our task should be easy.â
Su Zimo observed the three people in room. He found that the trainers in this nightmare world were very young, and they carried a kind of scholarly spirit as if theyâd never truly integrated with society.
âEveryone try not to speak. Keep quiet.â A girl with delicate makeup pointed in the direction of the balcony, then shushed Su Zimo and the others.
Su Zimo looked subconsciously toward the balcony. He found that there were two figures sitting motionless with their backs to them.
Footnotes
<ol>Chaos and smoke is an idiom meaning something is really bad, messy, and unhealthy usually in regards to a social setting. At sixes and sevens is another idiom that also means confused and messy but in a more general sense. Extend branches and scatter leaves: to have kids. Not sure if this refers to his wife not wanting more kids, or just that he canât go around being a playboy. Sweet little fluffy jacket is a metaphor describing a daughter who has a close and caring relationship toward her parents. Sheâs very filial.</ol>