Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

Chapter 486 Ghosts in the Domain River

The first day of June.

Yanjing.

Inside a high-end hotel.

A man stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the blinding sunlight outside, but his face looked deathly pale.

"The forum has been in an uproar lately."

Behind him, a woman scrolled through her phone, her brows furrowed as well: "Starting in May, we've had a steady stream of reports from those who have entered the domain saying that there are problems with the Domain River."

"First, the small boat didn't come for a long time... I heard that some people waited at the ferry for a whole day before the small boat finally arrived."

"Subsequently, it was observed that the river's speed had slowed down significantly."

"But what I care about most is this post."

She stood up and handed the phone to the man.

On the phone, the title was highlighted in bold and black, making it extremely eye-catching.

Is the Yuhe River always safe?

(The following is the content of the post)

Dear fellow domain members, I am a domain entrant who has passed through four domains.

It's 8:30 PM now. Just ten minutes ago, I left the Domain River and returned to reality.

I don't know how to describe this, because even though I experienced it firsthand, I can't believe it's true!

There are ghosts in the Yu River.

I, and my four teammates, all saw it.

As everyone should know, our process of leaving the domain is very simple: cross the domain river, reach the ferry, board a small boat, drift, and pass by the Ghost Inn...

The problem lies in the very first few stages.

First, one of the two red lanterns hanging at the ferry crossing went out.

Immediately afterwards, we boarded the small boat, but something felt off. I felt a chill run down my spine, as if something was following me.

But looking around, there was nothing there.

Only the river water was flowing slowly.

But not long after...

We then heard that the sound of the river had changed.

Wow – Wow –

The sound was very close, very close.

It's like someone is swimming nearby.

But here's the problem: who would swim in the Yu River?!

I know some of you will say, "Did we hear wrong? Was that just the sound of flowing river water?"

No.

Because I heard it not long after that splashing sound started...

Something tapped on the bottom of our small boat.

Knock, knock, knock.

Three times in a row.

It paused for a few seconds, then continued.

knock!knock!knock!

Then it got more and more urgent!

The force increased, so much so that the entire small boat was rocking, and even the weight of the four of us pressing on the boat couldn't calm it down!

I was terrified at that moment. At the same time, the water suddenly became extremely rapid, with wave after wave of huge waves, which was completely different from what you had described before!

Taking advantage of the surging waves, the small boat sped forward.

The knocking sound also disappeared.

But it wasn't over yet.

We drifted forward quickly for a distance, and suddenly, the whole boat tilted sharply to one side!

Even though the four of us immediately moved to the other side in an attempt to maintain our balance, it was to no avail.

We initially thought there was something in the river and tried to pull the boat to the bottom...

But the next second, I realized something was wrong.

It wasn't pulled to the bottom of the river.

I saw it, a hand.

A woman's hand, very white, that didn't look like it had been soaked in water at all.

It emerged from underwater and grabbed the edge of the boat.

That's a ghost.

There is a ghost at the bottom of the Yu River.

She wants to board our ship!

.....

.....

Snapped.

The man didn't look back and simply turned off his phone.

"Enough with the nonsense." He said softly, "Let me guess, the reason they didn't die is because of the Ghostly Deity?"

“...Yes.” The woman nodded.

It's not hard to guess. Considering the distance, the time it took for the person who posted the story to encounter the ghost was roughly when they passed by the Ghostly Constellation statue.

"They are lucky."

The woman said, "Of the four who entered the domain, one of them just happened to light up the first star."

"That's why a ghost statue was activated, and the female ghost left."

"But in any case, this matter has caused widespread panic."

“That’s for sure.” The man stroked his chin. “Everyone thinks that the Domain River is a rest stop after leaving the domain, like a safe house.”

"Now that this only safe house has been destroyed, it proves that even outside the domain, it is not absolutely safe."

"...It's not like that anymore." The woman pursed her lips.

"I heard that a while ago, there was a real-life paranormal event near Tianhai, and several ordinary people died, but I don't know the specifics."

"It seems to be related to the company and the Thirteenth Bureau?"

The man seemed lost in thought.

Half of his face was hidden in shadow. After a long while, he stretched and said, "But what does this have to do with us?"

"Even if the sky falls, these big organizations will hold it up; it's not our place to worry."

"That's true." The woman grinned.

But then, the smile in her eyes slowly turned into a barely perceptible worry, and she unusually called out the man's full name.

Bai Shaohua.

"Putting everything else aside, you're about to enter the 10th Domain... what if..."

"Are you worried that I'll encounter the same thing that happened in the post after I leave the domain?" the man asked.

"Correct."

"Haha, you're overthinking it." The man chuckled dryly. "Let's focus on surviving first, then we can think about this."

“I might not even live to see the moment I get to see the Domain River.” He held up a finger: “Hmm... the probability is about 80%.”

.......

A car repair and car wash shop in Tianhai.

A woman in her twenties yawned and crawled out from under the elevated car.

She was covered in dirt, with strikingly defined facial features, and she threw the wrench to the ground with a clang.

Her name is Feng Yao.

"Hey!"

Feng Yao scanned the store and immediately spotted a disheveled figure in the corner:

"Pharaoh!"

"You're slacking off again!"

"Didn't I tell you to go wash cars for customers? I didn't bring you back so you could just freeload!"

The figure gave a sluggish "oh" and slowly walked over.

Seeing this made Feng Yao feel a surge of inexplicable anger.

In particular, she discovered that this person had somehow picked up the dirty cotton-padded jacket that she had thrown away long ago and put it on.

"...Didn't I buy you clothes?"

Feng Yao sighed heavily.

She really didn't understand. This homeless man seemed quite intelligent, but sometimes he was like someone who had traveled from the Qing Dynasty, knowing nothing at all.

Who would wear a cotton-padded coat in the middle of June?

Thinking of this, Feng Yao suddenly realized something was wrong. She couldn't call him a homeless person anymore. This man now had a job, a name, and was eating and sleeping at the shop.

His current name is:

Apprentice Lao Wang.

Although he was called Old Wang, he wasn't very old. After shaving his beard, he could even be considered a handsome young man with fair skin and a beauty mark at the corner of his eye, which gave him a melancholy look.

Feng Yao just felt that this person gave her a strong sense of nostalgia, so she called him Old Wang.