I Wasn't Born Lucky

The ghost angrily bared its teeth toward Xiao Li, dark mucus flowing down. However, Bloody Mary was beside it, causing the hand that aimed at Xiao Li to hit the steel door instead. There was a banging sound and a pit appeared in the steel door.

...It had a pretty big temper.

Xiao Li raised his hands. "I admit it. This isn’t your partner. Then who is it?"

Kudo followed his words and made up a tragedy. Apart from their partner, there was no family. If the researcher in this laboratory sewed the family members of the ghosts on their backs...

The ghost roared angrily and Kudo’s sympathetic gaze made them a few times angrier.

I won’t tell you!

It looked at Bloody Mary and first picked up the body that had been pulled down. It tried to place the body on its back again but once the woman’s body left, she was seemingly unable to act on her own. She slid down the body again and again.

The ghost had to jump up, cling to the body with both hands as it walked unsteadily back into the depths of the room. Bloody Mary spun her long, soft golden hair around her fingers and looked with interests at the ghosts who returned to their room.

She turned her head and returned to the main topic, pointing to the three drawings on the wall as she started to educate Xiao Li, "Look at the candles you drew. Are you sure they aren’t twisted colons?"

Xiao Li spoke innocently, "Didn’t you come as usual?"

"...Next time, if you don’t use regular candles then I won’t come. Remember, I want white ones on silver candlesticks. You also need to kneel down reverently and call me Lady Mary."

Xiao Li, "..."

It was absolutely difficult to get Bloody Mary these items in an instance world. He thought so but he didn’t say it to her.

Bloody Mary saw he was speechless and was slightly satisfied as she flicked the dust off her skirt. She could only stay here for a short time. The moment she looked up, she saw the three terrible candles and didn’t intend to stay longer. She left this vow and then disappeared into the steel door.

After the beautiful ghost left, Kudo stared straight at the steel door opposite him. "She is?"

He clearly heard Xiao Li calling Bloody Mary but he didn’t dare believe such words. The moment she left, he questioned the other side.

"A friend."

Sure enough.

Kudo muttered, "...I knew it. How do you have so many friends?"

The point was that these friends weren’t human?

"Maybe it was because... they were genuinely moved by me and formed some type of connection with me." Xiao Li thought about it and spoke about the most likely reason. Then he turned to Kudo. "Let’s go."

He had just taken a step forward when there was a buzzing sound above his head. The steps they were stepping on suddenly rose up and the ceiling above their heads moved down. The two people were moved and ended up locked behind an iron door.

*****

On the other side of the monitor, a pen was struggling to write.

[According to the experiment records, after 0284’s call for help and 0942 ’memory food man’, I released the 039 experiment ’back ghost’. However, 039 (Hercule) made a response outside the database. His behaviour is abnormal and he recruited an untraceable helper. He repelled 039 and forcibly separated the food on its back.]

[I can’t analyze the logic inherent in the experiment’s behaviour and the process of summoning helpers.]

[There isn’t enough theoretical data.]

[Thus, I suggest that experiments 003 (Hercule) and 005 (Kudo) be temporarily detained. Their reactions will be observed and then analyzed.]

[Among them, experiment 003 conforms to the quality of a researcher and might be considered for acceptance and absorption.]

[The experiment requires...]

*****

Behind the steel door, Xiao Li leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. It was dark here and there was no light source. Since it was a separate secret room, it was more disturbing than when the corridor was dark.

Kudo stood in front of the steel door and pushed it, but it didn’t move. He gave up his efforts and looked back at Xiao Li. He found that the other side wasn’t moving and Kudo asked, "What are you thinking?"

Xiao Li tapped the steel door with his finger. "How to open it?"

From Tan Li to Fujiang, there seemed to be no ghost with the ability to open doors...

Xiao Li rubbed his chin while thinking that if he saw a ghost with such an ability in the future, he had to go up and make friends with it.

Perhaps it was due to the calm Xiao Li transmitted to him but Kudo’s originally somewhat anxious heart settled down. He sat down and leaned against the steel door. ’On the bright side, there are no ghosts in here. We can be considered as lucky."

Xiao Li stated, "Wait half a day and you wouldn’t think so."

"I’m not forcibly comforting myself." Kudo’s hand subconsciously groped around. His palms first touched the cold ground. Then half a metre toward the corner—

"What is this?" Kudo suddenly retracted his hand, jumping up from his spot with a scream. "It is moving!"

Xiao Li turned on the flashlight. The light cut through the darkness and shone on a black shadow. It was a pure black thing with long hair that was shaking...

Kudo hadn’t identified it yet but Xiao Li approached the thing, speaking in a helpless tone, "How did you come out?"

This black hairball was the little black cat. This little cat had always come and went freely. Apart from feeding him and shoveling his feces, Xiao Li basically didn’t care for him and he rarely appeared in the instance world. This time, he might’ve been full and came out for a walk.

The temperature behind the steel door was slightly lower. The little black cat shook his ears and cried out, "Meow."

Xiao Li didn’t quite understand. "What? I don’t have any food for you now."

The little black cat stared at him with wide eyes. "Meow meow meow."

Xiao Li: ?

Seeing that he still didn’t understand, the little black card had to condescend to jump up into Xiao Li’s arms. Xiao Li was caught off guard and could only reach out to catch him. The little black cat was satisfied and drilled into the other person’s arms to find a comfortable position. Xiao Li listened carefully and could hear a subtle sound coming from his throat.

The little black cat’s body was very small when nestled up. Xiao Li firmly held it with one hand, his left hand holding the cat while his right hand touched its ears in exchange for the birdsong-like meowing.

"Is this your cat?" Kudo identified the cat from his meowing and reached out. However, the little black cat didn’t give Kudo any face. The plush tail hit Xiao Li’s face as he avoided Kudo’s hands. Kudo could only look at the cat and sigh. Then he looked at Xiao Li holding the cat and sighed again. "It wants your body warmth. How good."

Xiao Li looked down at the little black cat’s eyes that were narrowed into a slit. "...I think he just wants to come out and watch."

The little black cat cried out lazily, "Meow."

This wasn’t it. Kudo heard this cry and an absurd feeling rose in his heart. Who would believe that he was looking at Hercule and a cat in such a dangerous place? Then due to the other side’s existence, he wasn’t anxious at all...

Kudo retracted his thoughts and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Now we just wait?"

"Just now, 039 couldn’t go out. Can you open it?" Xiao Li opened his arms and let the little black cat move around the room. "We won’t be locked up for long."

...This was all they could do.

Kudo sat on the ground and waited for movement.

The two people didn’t speak. It was like the darkness and silence had condensed into a substantial fog that made people’s hearts extremely depressed. This was the case for the two of them. Imagine the so-called experiments being left alone for a long time in this bad situation. It would be strange if they only became abnormal instead of psychotic.

After a period of time, Xiao Li standing at the door suddenly put his ear against the door, listening to movements from the outside world.

Kudo wondered, "What’s wrong?"

Xiao Li didn’t answer. He put a finger to his lips to show the other side to be quiet. At first, it was silent. Just as Xiao Li was about to stop his actions, there was the sound of footsteps from the other side of the door.

Xiao Li raised his eyebrows and moved sideways a bit, watching a ’smaller door’ appear within the door. This wasn’t a configuration that was installed in this iron door itself. It was the height of a person and could let an adult go out com. It was like someone deliberately opened this path. From inside to outside, it was like going from hell to heaven.

Xiao Li took the lead to go out of the small door. The person outside the door wasn’t a researcher or experiment like he imagined. It was a beautiful looking young man, Shen Chenzhi. Shen Chenzhi stood outside the door. "Are you okay?"

His eyes swept up and down like he was confirming Xiao Li’s condition.

Shen Chenzhi was worried but Xiao Li was concerned about another matter. He pointed to the small door and said, "Can you use this to open steel doors?"

Xiao Li’s voice was slightly excited, like he found some type of interesting toy or small animal. Shen Chenzhi watched him for a while before nodding.

Xiao Li said, "I have a bold idea."

Shen Chenzhi resisted the urge to touch the other person’s hair and lowered his eyes. "...What is it?"

"I was going to break them one by one but that takes too much time. Since you can open these doors, it is better to play..."

He burst out laughing and lowered his voice. "Smash Bros."

The author has something to say:

Xiao Li: I think...

Researcher: No, don’t.