Salted Fish Zombie

Chapter 39.1: Manman (12)

May 27, 2023 by Wyrd

“Bu Bu!!!”

Chen Jinpeng widened his eyes in fear and poked his head out from the hidden space.

It turned out it had a name.

Its name was Bu Bu, made of cloth, and could only make a sound like “bu bu.”

It had a favorite person. That person used to treat it very well, very gently. But later, that person pushed it away, threw it outside the wall, locked it out of the door. But it never left, returning to its favorite person’s side again and again.

Until its favorite person hung it in front of the scariest monster children, forced to provide luck points, it finally despaired.

It opened the stitches on its neck and let its body fall into the group of monster children.

The four players on the fourth floor all witnessed the scene of its body falling, especially Ning Su and Zhu Shuangshuang standing in the front row, who saw it very clearly.

It was very small and not heavy because it was made of cloth. So it floated down, carried by the night breeze, and fell into the densely packed group of monster children.

The head on the whip swung lightly, without support, swaying with the wind.

And in the next second, it also fell.

Then, a headless boy fell from the upper floor, holding a red whip in his hand.

Finally, a head fell next.

As that head fell past the arched window on the fourth floor, it faced them directly.

Those narrow, single-eyelid eyes widened in fear, the most frightened expression that could be seen on a child.

In addition to fear, there was also shock.

He knew that if his ghost friend died, he would die too. So he dared to hang the rag doll like this, confident that he could use his weapon, the red whip, to pull the rag doll up when the monster children approached.

But he didn’t expect that the rag doll would unravel the red thread on its own and fall hopelessly into the group of monster children.

【Player Chen Jinpeng’s ghost friend was destroyed.】

【Player Chen Jinpeng has died.】

The arched window on the sixth floor opened, and the area in front of the arched window on the fifth floor was also filled with players. Bai Shuang, who had survived the ordeal, stood there with tears streaming down her face.

The monster children retreated.

This was the first time they had left without entering the corridor.

They had arrived at the castle less than ten minutes ago.

[Mother’s womb is so warm, I want to tear through to hell and accompany her.

When I died, it trembled. But was it longing for me?]

Under the moonlight, the several pale, oily monster children had scraps of beige cloth and blood-red pieces of flesh on them.

They sang a chilling song, contentedly, with an inexplicable mix of sorrow and joy, innocently departing.

Zhu Shuangshuang murmured, “Bu Bu, in the end, it didn’t have any luck to give to Chen Jinpeng, right?”

Ning Su responded with a grunt, “It only had 3 Luck Points to give.”

And those 3 Luck Points were obtained at the expense of its damaged body, forced out of it.

If it had more, it would have definitely given them to Chen Jinpeng.

But it couldn’t give him any more luck points. Its body was already torn and tattered, jumping into the midst of its most terrifying natural enemies in despair, being shredded apart.

Zhu Shuangshuang stood silently for a while and said, “In a way, can we say that the lucky ones among us are actually Chen Jinpeng and Zhu Ji?”

Ning Su said, “Let me try tomorrow.”

Ning Su pushed aside the lily vines a little, and his slender white fingers plucked a piece of torn cloth from the leaves. Underneath the cloth, there was a pure white cotton fiber.

He lifted his finger, and under the moonlight, his long eyelashes blinked lightly. His clear and beautiful peach blossom eyes silently gazed at the delicate, flawless cotton fiber on his fingertip until the fiber was whisked away by the cold and fishy night breeze.

Ning Su withdrew his hand, pulled up his shirt sleeves, and wiped off the blood and flesh that had stained the lily flower outside the window.

Ji Mingrui asked, “What do you mean by them being lucky?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Meng Jiang said, “I didn’t understand either.”

Zhu Shuangshuang shifted his gaze away from Ning Su and said with a smirk, “Exactly, their ghost friends are very good. They gave all their luck to them. They may be weak and small, but they’re really good.”

Zhu Shuangshuang’s words were a mess and didn’t really answer the question, and both of them couldn’t understand what she’s talking about.

They didn’t say anything.

It was still early, and the four of them sat on the corridor carpet with their ghost friends.

It seemed like they were gradually getting used to the fact that someone would die every night in this instance, but facing death directly still weighed heavily on their hearts, especially when emotions were involved.

Meng Jiang looked at his little mummy doll and whispered, “The rag doll also has a name, so I’ll give you one, too.”

He locked eyes with the mummy doll for a few seconds and said, “How about Ayi? Is that good?”

The mummy doll’s round little head leaned against his elbow and made a sound, “Yiyah.”

Meng Jiang smiled and patted its head, knowing that it meant it accepted the name.

Ning Su pondered with a blank expression, “I have a bit of trouble saying that name, so I’ll just call it Ghost Friend Mummy.”

“...”

Zhu Shuangshuang said, “Me too...”

Meng Jiang said, “What do you guys understand? ‘Ayi’ expresses intimacy, so this name is the best.”

He looked at Ji Mingrui, the only one who hadn’t voiced an opinion yet. Ji Mingrui remained silent for a moment, looked at his ghost friend, the New Year’s painting doll, and evasively said, “I’ll give you a name too.”

The first name that came to mind was “Nian Nian,” and the ease of pronunciation surpassed “Ayi” already.

Ji Mingrui had a talent for naming, and said, “Let’s call it Sui Sui, for a peaceful year.”

The blush on the New Year’s painting doll’s face grew slightly, clearly very happy.

Only Ning Su’s Blood Doll was left without a name.

Everyone looked at him, and Zhu Shuangshuang said, “Susu, why don’t you give a name to the Blood Doll too?”

The three ghost friends all looked at the Blood Doll.

Lazybones Ning Su suggested, “How about Xue Xue (Blood Blood)?”

“...”

Tears of blood immediately welled up in the Blood Doll’s eyes.

Ning Su said, “It sounds nice, doesn’t it?”

“...”

Clearly, the Blood Doll wasn’t pleased, and tears of blood started flowing.

Everyone thought she didn’t like that name, but then they realized it wasn’t about that; she simply didn’t like any name.

“Xue Xue? Xiao Xue?”

“Doll?”

“Drip Drip?”

“Dada?”

“Cry Cry?”

“Weep Weep?”

“Red Red? Xiao Hong (Little Red)?”

The Blood Doll either cried or pushed away, just like when she pushed away the toys that Gui Sheng gave her.

Ning Su became slightly more serious and said, “Ah Fei?”

The Blood Doll blinked her thick red eyelashes and shook her head again.

Zhu Shuangshuang said in surprise, “It seems like she doesn’t want a name. Why? Isn’t it a good thing to have a name that’s exclusively hers?”

Ning Su looked at her thoughtfully for a while, rubbed her head, and said, “If she doesn’t want it, she doesn’t want it. It’s fine this way.”

Zhu Shuangshuang glanced at him suspiciously, suspecting that he was happy to say so because he didn’t have to think of a name.

They sat in the corridor for a while and then returned to their respective rooms.

The monster children left in less than ten minutes tonight, and each player returned to their rooms early to stay with their ghost friends. Their moods and attitudes varied.

Midnight.

The system remained silent, and not a single player gained any luck points.

A silent night.

The next morning, Ning Su arrived early at the dining hall. He placed Gui Sheng and Blood Doll on a chair and went to the restroom.

In the restroom, Ji Mingrui and Meng Jiang were waiting for him.

Zhu Shuangshuang didn’t answer their questions properly last night, apparently because it wasn’t convenient to do so at the time. So early in the morning, they cornered Ning Su here.

Ning Su was always enthusiastic about having his meals.

So they arrived even earlier, and with few people in the restroom at this time, they pulled Ning Su to the window. “What did you mean when you said last night that Chen Jinpeng and Zhu Ji were lucky ones?”

Since they both asked the same question, Ning Su directly answered, “Zhu Shuangshuang mentioned that they might be Gu Man Tong.”

“Ah,” Ji Mingrui nodded.

Ning Su continued, “Do you know that there are two types of Gu Man Tong? The normal Gu Man Tong and a black Gu Man Tong that some referred to as ‘little ghosts’.”

Ji Mingrui immediately understood.

He grew up in a big family and was knowledgeable about many things.

Being knowledgeable wasn’t just about fancy things in other people’s eyes; it also included some dark and dirty things.

He had also heard about raising Gu Man Tong.

It was said that in foreign countries, Gu Man Tong made by the white-clothed Azan helped the wandering infant spirits to be reborn.

In return, Gu Man Tong would assist and bring wealth to their caregivers.

Some people with greedy intentions felt that their effectiveness was too low, so another type of Gu Man Tong, made by the black-clothed Azan using sinister methods, emerged. Some even call it a little ghost, claiming that it could help people improve their luck more powerfully and quickly.

However, since they used sinister means, it would trap resentful and malevolent spirits, which could easily backfire.

If the system sets up ghost friends based on Gu Man Tong, the luck value represented the specific manifestation of how they could help people improve their luck.

So, some ghost friends could quickly provide a large amount of luck, while others could only offer a small and slow increase. It was clear which type of Gu Man Tong they corresponded to.

Ning Su said, “Last night, when Bu Bu’s stitches were removed and its body fell, I saw it. Inside his body, there was only white cotton and a heart-shaped crystal card.”

This sentence confirmed Ji Mingrui’s guess.

The ghost friends on the fourth floor, which provided five or six points of luck, should have child corpses, corpse oil, and animal organs inside their bodies.

Ji Mingrui’s face turned very ugly.

Ning Su left after saying this.

He was in a hurry to eat.

“Eh? What does that mean?” Meng Jiang shouted from behind.

At this moment, two players from the other floors entered. In their curious gaze, Ji Mingrui pulled Meng Jiang into a toilet compartment and whispered an explanation to him.

When the two of them returned, they felt heavy-hearted.

They found that Ning Su and Zhu Shuangshuang were still intimate with their ghost friends as if nothing had happened, just like before.

Zhu Shuangshuang, who was not so brave, even held Zhi Zhi’s hand and taught it to use a spoon.

Ning Su held a little steamed bun that the Blood Doll couldn’t eat and, when she was about to cry, he stuck his finger in her mouth.

“...”

The two of them were perplexed, having just learned the facts that they had learned, and found it difficult to adapt for a while.