Chapter 190 Approaching a Deity (Twelve)
She gently pushed open the large door covered in talismans.
Because it hadn't been ventilated for a long time, the smell of paper, books, and mold assailed her.
Liu Sheng could also smell a faint scent of blood.
“Be careful, the weird objects are still inside, just hidden,” the world reminded her.
Little Tentacle also indicated that the aura inside was very mixed, with more than one weird object.
Of course, Liu Sheng also knew that Zhiliaozhai was pitch black inside, and it seemed that something was lurking in the darkness, eager to spy on her.
“Can you not directly deduce where they are?”
“Once weird objects are involved, all information is Chaos, so I cannot directly deduce; I need more information.”
Liu Sheng nodded, indicating she understood.
Stepping on the papers on the ground, Little Tentacle poked its head out, looking around.
The storefront of Zhiliaozhai was not spacious, with a counter and bookshelves on three walls, not even a back room; one could see everything at a glance.
Since the weird objects hadn't appeared yet, she decided to first look for anything she needed.
“What are we looking for?”
“Maps, historical records, county gazetteers, and mountain and river records.”
As a newcomer, this was the quickest way to understand the place.
Liu Sheng was about to use Little Tentacle to quickly browse the books on the shelves with her old trick, but the world stopped her.
“Be careful, look at them one by one. The rules of the weird objects here are still unclear.”
That made sense. What if the weird objects here appeared every time a book was pulled out?
At least for now, when all the books were still on the shelves, the weird objects hadn't appeared.
So, Liu Sheng cautiously had Little Tentacle look at the highest part of the bookshelf, only wanting to see the title of the first book on the surface.
However, all the books were placed face down, so Liu Sheng had to pull one out and flip it over to see.
The Four Books and Five Classics were useless; she wasn't taking the imperial Examination in Tang Country in this era.
She then pulled out one book from each layer of this bookshelf, looking at a total of four books, confirming that this section was all Four Books and Five Classics.
So Liu Sheng quickly moved to the next bookshelf, reducing the number of trials.
The cover of this book had some black and red stains, and the title was obscured, so she had to hold it close to her eyes to see clearly.
However, as she brought the book closer and closer, she suddenly felt something sweep over her head.
She didn't dare to look up, only using Little Tentacle to look up little by little.
She saw a pair of dangling shoe soles in the darkness above her head.
Looking further up, the tip of a shoe was exactly clamping a low-hanging face, directly facing Liu Sheng below.
The upper half of the face was shrouded in black hair, the lower half was extremely pale, and a purplish-red tongue hung long.
Beside it, there was another pair of shoe soles, and a bit further, another pair...
Liu Sheng counted carefully; in the small shop, there were now five people, or rather, weird objects, hanging.
It corresponded exactly to the five times she had pulled out a book.
So, every time she pulled out a book, a hanging weird object would drop down?
However, since the weird objects had appeared, it was a good opportunity for the world to analyze them.
—
“Name: Hanging Weird Object”
“Analysis Completion: 100%”
“Effect Description: One book comes with one Hanging Weird Object, excellent value for money. It won't let you read. Also, don't let it ride on your shoulders.”
“Influence Rank: C”
“Analysis Evaluation: The Zhiliaozhai shopkeeper promised these scholars that buying his books would come with a Secret Manual, ensuring they would pass the imperial Examination. As a result, they repeatedly failed the Examination, their money was swindled, and the Young Miss and maid they met on the way to the Examination abandoned them. Thus, scholars one after another hanged themselves in Zhiliaozhai. Remember, an Examination is just an Examination. If it really doesn't work out, selling sausages is also an option.”
—
So, the prerequisite for an attack was for her to open and read it?
Fortunately, the world reminded her.
While using Little Tentacle to observe above her head, she tentatively brought the book in her hand a little closer.
Sure enough, the feet above her head descended a bit further.
No wonder she hadn't noticed them just now.
There was an invisible thread connecting the book and the weird object, no wonder it was called “Hanging Weird Object.”
“Are you sure it's not for another reason?”
“Cough cough, don't speak indecently.”
However, this also gave Liu Sheng some hints.
So Liu Sheng no longer picked up the entire book, but only lightly lifted a bit until she saw the title, stopping when shoes appeared on the beam, and then reaching for the next layer of the bookshelf.
Until the last bookshelf, no matter how she pulled out books, these hanging feet no longer appeared.
At this moment, if someone were to look up at the roof of Zhiliaozhai, they would probably be scared Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.
Because above the roof, more than a dozen shadowy figures hung at varying depths; the shallower ones only showed shoes, while the deeper ones even showed dangling heads.
But Liu Sheng knew that they should not appear again later.
Combined with the analysis results, these Hanging weird objects should have hanged themselves out of disappointment after failing the Examination because they bought Examination-related books.
Therefore, the resentment of these weird objects should be connected to Examination books, while the miscellaneous books Liu Sheng wanted to find were not in this category.
General bookstores usually categorized Examination books and miscellaneous books separately, so Liu Sheng could now confidently look for books.
...
When Liu Sheng left Zhiliaozhai, she was holding a few books.
One was a map of Xuan Thirty-Nine City. Strangely, she couldn't find any maps outside the unit of “City.”
One county gazetteer, one handwritten journal found under the counter that was probably written by the shopkeeper, and three storybooks.
“The others are fine, but what's with the storybooks? Don't read leisure books during the Examination!”
Liu Sheng raised an objection.
“The best way to understand the local customs, culture, and traditions is, of course, to read storybooks!”
This was said righteously, and with a bit of twisted logic.
“Congratulations, thirty-ninth xuan candidate... Huh? Why congratulations?”
As soon as the world released the “Test Assistant,” a certain mechanism immediately triggered the still bewildered “Test Assistant.”
After a moment of pause, the “Test Assistant” suddenly realized.
“Oh, oh, congratulations, thirty-ninth xuan candidate!”
“You have successfully passed the ‘Zhiliaozhai Weird Tale’!”
“Congratulations, you are the first candidate to pass a weird tale! You receive an item reward: ‘holy water’.”
Liu Sheng put away the small bottle that had appeared in her hand, pressing down the item description that was about to pop up again.
“It's already been introduced!”
“No more pop-ups!”
Just then, a trembling female voice suddenly rang out across the street.
“Young Miss... are you from Zhi... Zhi... from inside?”
Liu Sheng looked and saw it was an Aunt who had just brought a load of sweet potatoes to sell, standing across the street, looking at her in horror, as if she had seen some weird object.
“You mean Zhiliaozhai, right?” Liu Sheng smiled calmly, “Yes, I just went inside.”
“You... aren't afraid?” The Aunt was even more incredulous when she heard her admit it.
“Wait, you, are you human, or a weird object?” She quietly put down her load, pondering whether to prepare to run away.
Liu Sheng couldn't help but laugh at the Aunt's reaction.
If it were a weird object, why would it admit it? It might even trigger a death rule because of this direct question about its identity.
But people at this time didn't have this understanding of weird objects yet, so the death rate was extremely high.
Liu Sheng shook her head: “Aunt, I am, of course, human.”
“I heard... others say that it's extremely terrifying inside. A few days ago, the shopkeeper died, and customers also died, blood and intestines flowed everywhere... Later, people from the county yamen went in and also turned into weird objects...”
“Why are you fine?” The Aunt's lips trembled, but her gaze fixed on Liu Sheng, with a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“Because I have the protection of a god,” Liu Sheng said devoutly, clenching her right fist against her left chest and looking up at the sky.
“You have the appearance of a charlatan.”
“God?” The Aunt's face was dejected as she murmured, “What god can still protect us now? What kind of god? Everyone has prayed to them all, and drunk plenty of talisman water, but it's useless...”