I Wasn't Born Lucky

Chapter 28

The eldest son of the Xie family stared into Xiao Li’s eyes in a very complicated manner. He could see ’sincerity’ from the other person’s eyes, rather than an unwillingness to hand over special secrets. Xie Lingshi could see that the person in front of him was telling the truth.

However, this was completely inconsistent with reality. How could they be friends with a ghost? Ghosts had no feelings for this type of thing.

This was a well-recognized fact in the major ghost controller families and even in the instance world. Every moment, there were countless newcomers drawn into this instance world by spiritual power. There were many poor newcomers but no one had ever seen a ghost spare someone because they were pitiful.

They could only use special refining techniques to forcibly control the ghosts at the risk of being countered. Some evil spirits didn’t have the ability to think at all and just loved blood and killing people. It was impossible for them to be good!

Xie Lingshi glanced at Sherlock for a moment and asked, "How can you control... build up a friendship with a ghost?"

Xiao Li thought about it before replying hesitantly, "Look at the face?"

Xie Lingshi, "?"

What did Sherlock mean? Did Xie Lingshi look ugly?

Xiao Li immediately added, "Not that, I mean... look at luck.”

Tan Li and Zhou Ying were both ghosts from instances. They had unlimited nostalgia for the world and didn’t want to reincarnate. There must also be ghosts that were the opposite of them. Thus, it was lucky that he could meet them.

The brown-haired youth didn’t talk as he stared at the black-haired teenager in front of him. Wasn’t this person too lucky?

Xiao Li’s entire body was bathed in Xie Lingshi’s expression of excitement, some resentment and some confusion. Xiao Li was uncomfortable by the stare and took the initiative to change the topic. He pointed to the place the sound came from downstairs and asked the two people around him, "Would you like to go down and look?"

Feng Fengqing had long been in a stunned state. She knew that Xie Lingshi was on the reincarnators leaderboard and should have some props or life-saving means. However, she knew nothing about Xiao Li. Listening to Xie Lingshi’s words, it seemed this detective was the most hidden one.

The doctor was still observing Xiao Li and wasn’t happy to hear this sentence. She immediately replied, "I won’t go down. The sound is too weird, we... we shouldn’t leave just in case the evil spirit that Ronnie mentioned is below..."

It didn’t matter if it was a loud noise or a dog barking. The strength must be extremely high to make the hungry ghost so agitated. They had found a way to live and it was absolutely unnecessary to die.

Xie Lingshi made a sign of the cross on his chest. "Miss Feng’s statement is reasonable. The evil spirit here is too strong and we should be cautious."

If they hadn’t discovered the way to live then Xie Lingshi definitely would’ve gone to search. However, he was able to complete the first task of surviving seven days and the second task to explore the truth here had become insignificant.

Even so, Xie Lingshi felt that Sherlock wouldn’t listen to him. Through the Bloody Mary incident and looking for snacks in the middle of the night, he found that the other person’s brain circuits weren’t in line with himself—or even ordinary people. He even doubted if Sherlock was a human?

Sure enough, after Xie Lingshi expressed his attitude, the black-haired detective used his fingers to remove the dust on his collar and stated, "I will go and look."

"Why do you have to go there?" Xie Lingshi looked at the other person and couldn’t hold back his question.

"To complete the second task."

"It is completely meaningless to do that. We can complete task one." Xie Lingshi didn’t understand it. "Task two is so dangerous. Why go there?"

The black-haired teenager glanced at him lightly. Xie Lingshi thought there wouldn’t be an answer when he heard the other person’s soft voice. "If I select the first task then I still have to wait three days. That is too long."

Xie Lingshi, "........."

This was really the most wonderful reason he had ever heard. He wanted to shake the other person and ask "Are you sick?" Then thinking about it, the other person might reply "Do you have medicine?" with a blank expression. Thus, he gave up on this idea...

Xiao Li didn’t want to die. Apart from trying to end the instance as soon as possible, the reason he wanted to find out the truth was because the truth was down below. How could he not go?

For Xiao Li, this type of curiosity was very heavy and a bit obsessive. The truth of every world made him itchy, like a kitten’s claws scratching at the softest place. He was always interested in these types of things or he wouldn’t give himself the pseudonym of the famous detective.

Xie Lingshi watched this person’s back move away and scratched his chin in a speechless manner.

Sherlock’s constant seeking death behaviour reminded him of a person. The great god at the top of the reincarnators leaderboard who was detail-controlled and obsessive-compulsive. There was a time when he and Xie Lingshi were in a group. The other person didn’t like the Xie family so he regarded Xie Lingshi as half-dead. Now it seemed that this person was comparable to Sherlock, who also had strange brain circuits.

Xie Lingshi suddenly looked forward to the day when the man met Sherlock. He would absolutely raise his hand for Sherlock.

The pouring rain outside the window continued. Xiao Li walked on the thick carpet and could hear the dull sound of rain outside. These days were too wet, making him feel that his clothes were also wet. Thus, Xiao Li undid the buttons at his wrist in a somewhat annoyed manner.

Tan Li and Zhou Ying had returned to his pocket. It seemed the closer they got to that place, the more afraid they became. Their reaction, as well as the spiral staircase downwards, reminded Xiao Li of the door that appeared in Bloody Mary’s mirror.

The black-haired teenager felt like he was in the mirror from last night. He walked down the stairs and found the basement door locked. The door was engraved with a canine creature. It had three heads, the tail of a snake and a dormant snake coiled around its neck. The canine teeth were extremely thick and the carving was vivid.

Three heads—the cerberus? Hell’s gatekeeper?

The dog that previously barked was this three-headed dog? In Greek mythology, the cerberus guarded the gates of the underworld. It allowed the souls of the deceased to enter the underworld but didn’t allow anyone to go out. If this basement led to hell... then the cry of the doorkeeper was to call out to the evil spirit?

Xiao Li walked over and placed a finger on a carved ear. A cold touch was felt at his fingertips but the watchdog didn’t react. It was just like a real sculpture. He bowed his head and carefully looked for traces in front of the door. Finally, he found a bit of white powder under a corner of the carpet. It was just like the chalk around Wu Tian’s body when he died.

In this way, Wu Tian and the others were carried to this door by the old housekeeper after death. If this was the case, the existence of the old housekeeper was problematic and the reason for inviting them here was—

Xiao Li remembered a line on the invitation letter. ’It is getting closer to the date of the agreement’. The date of the agreement...

What agreement did their identities make with the owner of this castle?

Xiao Li was busy thinking when the little yellow book jumped out. ? Do you want to go in? ?

Xiao Li took it out of his pocket and was silent when he saw this line. He really considered it.

? How about we make an exchange? ?

"...What exchange?’

Little yellow book: ? Finish your hidden tasks and you can go anywhere in this place. ?

In other words, he had to kiss the little yellow book.

Xiao Li’s eyes flashed and he struggled like Eve encountering the snake in the Garden of Eden. He had to admit that the other person had really caught his weakness. Xiao Lis curiosity obsessive nature made him pinch a side of the little yellow book. He was just about to open his mouth when there was the sound of a heavy object crashing, followed by footsteps hurriedly walking up the stairs.

Xiao Li glanced above him and put away the little yellow book before running to the source of the sound. It was the last room on the first floor. This was the place where the old housekeeper lived and they had never entered.

By the time Xiao Li arrived, Xie Lingshi was staring at the door with concern. The young man knocked on the door and called out, "Ronnie, are you okay?"

There was no response in the room and the sound of the rain drowned out the knock on the door. They waited a moment before Xie Lingshi knocked again, calling out loudly, "If you aren’t feeling well then let Dr Feng take a look?"

There were still no sounds from inside. The room was as quiet as the rooms of those who previously died.

Xiao Li lowered his voice and asked, "What’s the matter?"

The brown-haired youth looked back and shrugged at Xiao Li. "We just heard something falling over and then Ronnie screaming. Once we came up, he refused to open the door."

The time that Xiao Li left wasn’t long. He heard the movements upstairs and went straight up. Therefore, Xie Lingshi didn’t think that he would’ve found anything in the basement. Xie Lingshi thought about it and swallowed back the words ’What have you found?’

Xiao Li turned around, held down the door handle and tentatively pressed his body against it. It didn’t move. Xie Lingshi gestured to him to stand aside and then kicked the door hard, kicking it open.

The young man glanced proudly at Xiao Li. ’Am I handsome?’

Unexpectedly, Xiao Li didn’t even look at him and rushed straight into the room once he saw the door was open.

The housekeeper’s room was simpler than the guest rooms. There was very little furniture. There were only a small bed and a small table with a few sheets of paper and envelopes on it, in addition to a tea set at the window. Ronnie was lying on the ground and the dull sound was him falling from the bed.

"You... what happened? " Feng Fengqing was a doctor and in order to maintain her role, she had to go over and help raise the old housekeeper. She made two attempts before finding that the other person couldn’t stand up. She looked at the old housekeeper’s trousers and found there was a huge wound on the side of the leg. It looked like a dog bite. The wound was bloody and a piece of flesh was directly lost.

Ronnie grabbed her clothes and let out a hissing sound. The carefully combed hair fell down and his eyes were terrible and bloodshot. Feng Fengqing was slightly scared and wanted to release the hand holding Ronnie but she was caught by the other person. She couldn’t move as Ronnie said. "Hiss.. pay... back..."

"What?"

"Lack...ing...three..." Ronnie tried his best to finish the sentence. The socked Feng Fengqing tore apart the clothes that were held by him. She directly threw him to the ground and jumped to the side. The old man didn’t struggle as a strange greed filled his face. "Bad... you’re... you’re going to die, just like them! So that I can return to the world!"

The old housekeeper spoke as he got up from the ground. He dragged his injured leg as he yelled.

"Be careful, he is possessed by an evil spirit!" Xie Lingshi exclaimed as he saw it.

Xiao Li glanced at Ronnie’s leg and bypassed Xie Lingshi, asking, "A cerberus has three heads. How did you only hurt one leg?"

His words caused the people present to be a bit stunned. Xie Lingshi first thought, ’Cerberus? This name is a bit familiar. The mythical Greek watchdog? When did this creature run out? Was it the dog barking? What did Sherlock encounter below?’

Compared to Xie Lingshi’s wider knowledge, Feng Fengqing felt like her head was in the clouds. ’What is a cerberus? Who am I? Where am I? What is he talking about? Am I still in the instance world?’

The old housekeeper possessed by an evil spirit noticed him. He moved his twitching leg, blood flowing down the leg onto the carpet. Xiao Li stared at Ronnie and asked hoarsely, "How do you know... I only hurt a leg?"

His movements revealed Ronnie’s hidden abdomen. There was a faint bloody colour and it was tied sloppily with a bandage. However, it was unknown what Xiao Li understood. He glanced at Ronnie’s third leg with a strange look that couldn’t be understood. Before the evil spirit understood the meaning, Xiao Li poured out photos from the envelope in his hand.

He had taken it from Ronnie’s desk while Feng Fengqing was comforting Ronnie. The papers were methods to summon an evil spirit and the envelope contained seven photos. The first photo showed a black-haired child wearing a fitted vest and a blond man. The back of the photo stated: 1996.4.4 and a number one.

The second photo showed a girl wearing a floral skirt who also took a photo with the blond man from the first photo. It had the same date and the number two behind the photo. The rest was the same. Three, four, five until seven. There were a total of seven people and this was the same number of reincarnators.

Xiao Li stuffed the photos to Xie Lingshi who was cocking his head curiously and smiled at Ronnie. "Hell is very hard to come out of, right?"

Ronnie was stabbed in his pained spot and he showed an angry expression. The evil spirit had just moved when the doll, far from the hell dog’s repression, re-emerged from Xiao Li’s pocket. The girl looked stunned and opposed the evil spirit in Ronnie’s body. The evil spirit wasn’t really here. Only a small soul fragment was attached to Ronnie’s body and it had been hurt by the hell dog. Therefore, it was impossible to stand up to Tan Li.

"This manor is the entrance to hell and you are an evil spirit from hell. You wanted to escape from hell but the cerberus didn’t let you out. You could only find another way by collecting souls for a sacrifice ceremony. Well, it was hard to find the few of us. It is a lot of work to find a child who meets your requirements of year and month. Once we grew up, you remembered to send us the invitation to let us go to the castle as guests. You are a passionate master."

"That was the agreement... I give you wealth and you will sell your soul to me! I’m just taking back what I deserve!" Ronnie’s eyes were very red.

"A lollipop for a soul, you do business very badly." Xiao Li didn’t give any face to the spirit as he continued, "At first, we died according to your expectations. It was just that after Wu Tian died, we peeked at the rule to live and you had to find another way to kill us. He Wei’s call to Bloody Mary should be what you gave him? It was very effective and they died. You got the opportunity to breathe. However, after that, death became stagnant. You tried to risk fooling the hell dog with four souls but you failed. You only succeeded in splitting a remnant of the soul and that is what is currently standing in front of me."

"Congratulations, return to hell."

Xiao Li spoke the truth of Tartarus Manor.

This old castle was built on top of hell. Some evil spirits didn’t forget their desire to return to the world and laid out a plan. It found seven children and set up an agreement with them to sacrifice their souls. The reincarnators were the grown-up versions of the children and their souls after death would be used to complete the ritual to help the evil spirit get out of hell.

At his words, the little yellow book automatically opened. [The reincarnator Xiao Li has completed task two, the evaluation level is S. The task completion degree is 85%, no ghosts were copied. 1,000 survivor coins have been acquired.]

? Scenario conversion. ?

? 3, 2, 1—?

? Disappointed, I almost succeeded. ?

? Very lost. ?

? Very depressed. ?

? The important things are said three times. ?

There were a few flashes of golden light and the sound of a dog barking before the castle once again became silent.

The storm outside set off a shock that never stopped beating against the cliff. Only this manor stood still. It was quiet and ancient, like there had never been a living thing inside it. It continued staying above hell.

Only occasionally, the portrait hanging on a certain wall would become empty. The blonde beauty originally inside it would shuttle through mirrors, wandering between reality and illusions.

The author has something to say:

Bloody Mary: Finally gone, today I am in a good mood. Who will summon me? I will answer three questions.