Chapter 42: Sudden Accident

Having pulled Mantou back a step to avoid the splattered blood, Yan Jing looked at the ground and smiled. "This project looks great! Let's go with this one."

"Okay, please come with us!"

The two groundhogs led the group toward the waiting area.

The waiting area for this project was underground. They walked down a long slope and arrived in a space resembling a subterranean parking garage.

Here, Yan Jing spotted the woman from the Order Management Bureau again, with An Ze beside her.

Seeing Yan Jing, An Ze looked delighted and waved the hand holding his ice cream.

"Over here, over here!"

Yan Jing led Mantou through the crowd and walked over.

"Hello, Officer!"

"We meet again. Must be fate."

An Ze watched the woman beside him as he spoke. Seeing no reaction from her, he relaxed. "We saw your performance at the Bumper Go-Karts earlier. Very impressive."

Yan Jing thanked him for the compliment before asking, "Didn't you play the go-karts, Officer?"

"Boss isn't really interested in that one, and we aren't here to—"

An Ze clamped his mouth shut.

He felt a distinct stinging sensation on his cheeks—the sign that the woman beside him was about to unsheathe her Eye Blade.

Only when the prickling faded did he lower his voice and lean in.

"But Boss is planning to do Whack-a-Mole. This project is more her style."

"Swoosh—"

Something sliced through the air. The sharp noise was quickly swallowed by a massive roar.

An Ze looked helplessly at the ice cream in his hand, which had just been sheared in half out of thin air. Finally, he shot Yan Jing a look:

Let's talk next time we're free.

Yan Jing nodded and pulled Mantou away to put some distance between them.

This woman really did have a bad temper; she wasn't just intimidating on the outside.

Tiger leaned in.

"Mr. Yi Ji, why did you call those two 'Officer'?"

The woman and An Ze had clearly come with an ulterior motive. Yan Jing smiled and patted Tiger's shoulder.

"Worry about yourself, Mr. Tiger. Are you ready for the next project?"

"..."

Reminded of his current predicament, Tiger's face furrowed into a deep frown.

"Right, I have to focus on the present. This project isn't going to be easy."

He wiped a hand roughly across his wrinkled leather costume mask and pointed up.

Above them hung a transparent terrace that looked like it was made of crystal, offering a partial view of the area beneath the mole holes.

"The key to this project is timing, Mr. Yi Ji."

"Sticking your body out of the hole 100 times within ten minutes is no simple task. Either you're fast enough to bob up and down dozens of times between swings, or you have to perfectly manage your rhythm."

"The interval between the hammer swings is about half a minute. You'll get twenty chances to pop out, but you also have to watch out for the Fear Spirits."

Hearing this, Yan Jing looked at the shadows of the iron hammers above the glass terrace. He counted silently; they really did fall once every half minute, with their landing spots unpredictable.

"It seems the real danger is the Fear Spirits suddenly jumping out."

Tiger agreed.

"Yes. That's also why I figured this project would be relatively easy for us. After all... you know."

He nudged Yan Jing's arm. He meant that in their eyes, those Fear Spirits appeared in their original forms—even if they ran into them, they could handle it.

However, his expression and demeanor were incredibly sleazy.

"You really are quite the talent, Mr. Tiger," Yan Jing remarked.

Tiger completely missed the sarcasm, scratching his head with a goofy smile.

"Aw, it's nothing, hehe..."

Yan Jing observed for a while longer before walking toward the stairs with Tiger, preparing to head up to the terrace.

Before leaving, he whispered a few words into Mantou's ear.

This time, he didn't mention breaking the rules. He just told Mantou to stay put and wait for him.

"Okay... okay... Yi Ji, you... don't worry... I won't run around..."

Mantou obediently agreed.

After Yan Jing and Tiger left, Mantou clutched her small surprise gift and stood perfectly still, just as she had promised. She stared intently, watching Yan Jing walk up onto the glass terrace step by step.

"Won't move... won't run around... won't move... won't run around..."

She muttered under her breath, constantly reminding herself.

Do you just listen to whatever he says? Don't be stupid. Men like rebellious girls better.

Let me out. I'll teach you what to do.

I'm good at this.

Faced with the voice in her head, Mantou acted as though she hadn't heard a thing.

The voice shouted for a while longer before gradually weakening and eventually vanishing.

There was no need to waste energy. It could feel that this silly girl was already exhausted. Soon enough, it would be able to come out and play.

A short while later, the woman and An Ze also made their move nearby.

As they passed Mantou, An Ze noticed his boss glance at this Cerebral Palsy Girl.

This reminded him of the evaluation the bureau had conducted on the Disguiser's body after their recent capture.

They had discovered residual traces of weird energy left behind by four different power systems on the corpse.

Moreover, apart from the wounds left by his boss, the remaining three types of power were estimated to far exceed the standard First Tier level.

One of those powers had even reached the Second Tier.

Coupled with the trio who had reported the clues about the wounds earlier—the old man in the military overcoat, the sickly guy in the mask, and this Cerebral Palsy Girl—they had all been collectively placed on the Second Level supervision list.

Thinking of this, he licked his newly bought strawberry ice cream.

This was what made this Domain so interesting. Who would have thought a vegetable-selling grandpa and a girl with cerebral palsy could actually be experts?

...

...

After arriving on the terrace, Yan Jing and Tiger were each handed a stopwatch.

"The timer starts when you press the button. You each only get one chance to challenge this. Even if you want to quit halfway, you still need to stick your head out at least fifty times, or you'll draw the gaze of the Fear Spirits."

The groundhog explained the final rules and promptly left.

Light spilled down from the holes above, illuminating the cramped space where they were forced to squat.

Tiger looked at his stopwatch and feigned a relaxed tone.

"Honestly, Mr. Yi Ji, it's my first time playing this too. Looking at it now, it's a lot simpler than I imagined."

Just as he finished speaking, the surrounding light suddenly dimmed. Then, a thunderous crash erupted overhead.

His entire body seized up. He saw stars, and his legs couldn't stop trembling.

Yan Jing, crouching to the side, wasn't faring much better. Cameraman's physical constitution was by no means strong. The shockwave from the iron hammer's impact left his vision spinning, and it took quite a while for his sight to clear.

He raised his head and exchanged a glance with Tiger.

The two of them were beginning to understand the true difficulty of this project.

If they were bombarded by these iron hammers over and over, even without taking a direct hit, the shockwaves alone would be enough to cause serious damage.

Excluding the time spent dizzy, their actual window to complete the task was far less than ten minutes.

"We need to be fast."

A blood-red fruit materialized in Yan Jing's hand.

Swallowing the fruit in a few bites, Yan Jing's body was once again wreathed in black flames, activating his Fear Stance.

He rapidly popped up through the hole and squatted back down, completing eighteen reps in a matter of seconds.

Just as he stuck his head out the last time, he saw a giant hammer plummeting toward him. The massive hammerhead looked like a shifting storm cloud dragging the sky down with it. It felt like the heavens were collapsing, radiating an intense, oppressive force.

He hastily pulled his head back in and signaled for Tiger to stay down. Another thunderous crash echoed above them.

The impact was about the same as the last, but thanks to his Fear Stance, Yan Jing recovered in just a second or two.

He looked toward Tiger. Only after Tiger signaled he was fine and pressed his stopwatch did Yan Jing start his own.

This signaled the official start of the game.

To give themselves room to maneuver, they put some distance between them.

This sort of timing control was easy for the physically enhanced Yan Jing. He darted back and forth between the holes, quickly completing half his quota.

Tiger, on the other hand, was struggling.

The physical boost provided by the path of Fear wasn't particularly strong. Tiger's ability seemed to lean toward mental intimidation, offering no advantage here.

Fortunately, he pulled a roll of bandages from who-knows-where and began wrapping them around his legs.

"I'm not afraid of pain, I'm not afraid of pain."

He muttered to the bandages. As he chanted, the fabric wound tighter and tighter, eventually constricting his legs until they looked like a pair of thin wooden sticks.

Yet he didn't seem to feel any pain. Instead, he resumed popping his head up, moving a full gear faster than before.

The two of them continued popping their heads out. Fear Spirits ran overhead and tried to smash them a few times, but upon realizing they couldn't land a hit, they eventually left to find other targets.

Without the interference of the Fear Spirits, their speed increased even further.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

They were getting closer and closer to their goal of 100 pop-ups, but suddenly, as he stuck his head out of the hole, Yan Jing sensed something was wrong.

He felt a powerful burst of weird energy erupting nearby.

Instantly on high alert, he turned his head and saw a sight that made his scalp tingle.

Dozens—if not hundreds—of Fear Spirits were rushing madly in his direction, iron hammers in hand!

The dense throng of figures looked exactly like a horde of college students charging the cafeteria after class.

The only difference was that every one of these "college students" wore a stiff smile and carried a massive iron hammer!

"Something went wrong."

He violently jerked his head back down, intending to move to another area.

However, the Fear Spirits shifted along with him. They had locked onto him.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The footsteps of the Fear Spirits sounded like an armed military force sprinting overhead.

How could this happen?

He moved toward Tiger's area, only to find the man in an even more miserable state.

The Fear Spirits had shoved their iron hammers into the holes, viciously smashing them against the terrace like they were pounding mochi.

Tiger, confined to a half-squat, had his speed severely restricted. He narrowly avoided being pulverized several times.

He was already injured, his blood staining the terrace red.

"What's going on?"

Yan Jing shouted, "Doesn't Whack-a-Mole forbid smashing the moles when they hide underground?"

That was the rule—just like how a ghost couldn't lift your blankets.

"It's the Fear Plague! Those two damn groundhogs must be infected!!!"

At this moment, Tiger truly resembled a mole, constantly scurrying about with his hands over his head.

The most critical problem was that he hadn't even managed fifty pop-ups yet. He couldn't even quit.

Fear Plague?!

Yan Jing looked down through the terrace. The crowd from the waiting area below had scattered and vanished.

Only the two staff members in the groundhog suits remained. Their eyes were bloodshot, and drool ran from the corners of their mouths. Wearing expressions of sheer madness, they barked rapid commands into their Walkie-talkies.

They were obviously the ones commanding the Fear Spirits.

Yan Jing recalled the introduction to the path of Fear that Shen Youran had given him.

There really was a mention of the "Fear Plague." It was a disease that only entities on the path of Fear could contract.

"Hehehe—"

Above the holes, the relentlessly giggling Fear Spirits poked their faces through, seemingly mocking his helplessness.

They continually swung their hammers, completely blocking off the openings.

Yan Jing twisted his body, narrowly dodging a large iron hammer that dropped down beside him. His eyes darkened.

This was no longer a question of completing the task. If this kept up, they would be battered to death by these Fear Spirits.

In the next instant, he grabbed an iron hammer that dropped straight down beside him and gave it a vicious yank.

With a heavy thud, a formerly giggling Fear Spirit was pulled straight through the hole, crashing onto the ground.

Visibly, the blackness enveloping the fallen Fear Spirit began to dissipate, evaporating like a drop of water beneath the blazing sun.

Yan Jing's guess was right. These Fear Spirits couldn't come down to the terrace, which was why they only dared to shove their hammers through the holes.

Caught entirely off guard, the Fear Spirit let out a miserable shriek from its crescent-moon mouth, its expression twisted in agony.

Meanwhile, a Thorn Spear wreathed in withered flowers materialized in Yan Jing's palm.

The tip of the spear tapped against the ground. Moving like a slithering dragon or serpent, he charged straight forward.

You like to laugh.