Chapter 6: The Gate of the Ghost Golden Sheep
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【Welcome to the Gate of Gui-Jin-Yang】
A pair of pale, grimy hands were lifted away from Zhou Ke’s face. Regaining his sight, he peered at the unfamiliar ceiling with a look of mild grievance.
"What? Does my transmigration come with a transfer station?" Zhou Ke wiped his eyes in disgust and sat up, surveying the drastically altered room.
The space was even more primitive than his own hovel. In this cramped twenty-square-meter room, a single turn brought him to a bathroom partitioned by frosted glass, while in the center sat a bed with bedding that hadn't seen a wash in who knows how long—a classic train-station hotel setup.
He realized he was no longer at home and mused from the bottom of his heart: if this was indeed another transmigration, he was certainly moving through them faster than a bout of diarrhea.
With his grumbling concluded, Zhou Ke began to collect his thoughts.
"Before appearing here, I think I caught a glimpse of the bathroom, then something covered my eyes, and when I opened them, it was like this."
"Kidnapped just for glancing at a bathroom? If I were to fight it for food, I’m afraid to even imagine what might happen."
"In any case, I should head out and take a look."
The room was so small that it was visible at a glance; there was nothing left to explore.
Zhou Ke, who had been standing by the door, reached out to grasp the handle, ready to turn it.
Just then, his movements stopped abruptly.
He heard a sound.
He heard... the sound of a doorbell.
"Besides me, there are others?"
Zhou Ke moved his hand away from the handle and, spotting a peephole, pressed his eye against it.
The field of vision through the peephole was extremely narrow. Through the hole, no thicker than a finger, he could see six doors and six rooms arranged in a three-by-three layout along the corridor.
This layout confirmed to Zhou Ke that he was indeed in a hotel.
In truth, the location was the least significant detail, something only an eccentric like Zhou Ke would bother to deduce.
As for most normal people... they would likely be fixated on the doorbell and the one ringing it.
Ding-dong!
In front of the room at the far left, a tall, gaunt figure in a white dress and black skirt had her arms bent, pressing the doorbell with a strange, swaying motion.
Again and again, over and over.
Zhou Ke observed for nearly a minute, and the figure never stopped pressing the bell.
The rhythmic sound of the doorbell, interspersed with faint, shrill wails, echoed through the corridor and reached every room on the floor.
"Is that... a person?"
Zhou Ke arched an eyebrow, looking at the figure’s head, which hung at a ninety-degree angle. Coarse, wire-like hair obscured the face, making it impossible to see anything, though it appeared to be a woman.
Mr. Zhou thought that if he were the protagonist of a novel, he would heroically charge out right now and slap this inconsiderate noise-maker twice across the face.
Then, he would sit her down and have a heart-to-heart.
He would say, "This behavior is incorrect."
He would say, "Madam, you wouldn't want the whole hotel to know you're disturbing the peace in the middle of the night, would you?"
But Mr. Zhou thought better of it, recalling his own fragile "Truth," and decided to hold off, opting to observe and test the waters first.
Ding-dong!
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Ding-dong!!
Ding-dong!!!
Two more minutes passed; the woman continued to sway, and the doorbell continued to ring throughout the floor, though the sound grew increasingly frantic, setting one’s heart racing along with it.
It didn't last much longer. The woman finally stopped pressing the bell, her cyan-hued arms stiffly twisted downward, and she gripped the doorknob.
Creak—
She opened the door.
The woman walked into the room with her head bowed. The man's sudden scream lasted less than three seconds.
"I’m guessing the owner of that room didn't like her type."
Zhou Ke cracked a joke out of habit, though his eyes never left the peephole, not even daring to blink.
He stared fixedly at the room that had been breached, ensuring he didn't miss a single detail.
Before long, the woman emerged.
Her bowed head remained unchanged, but her white dress was now stained a vivid red. Her arms were bulging, as if she were carrying a basketball—or perhaps a rugby ball.
The woman didn't linger. Drip-dripping with fluid, she turned and walked down the staircase at the corner, disappearing from sight.
Only when she had completely vanished did the pressure that had been gripping his heart finally subside.
"Human or not, I can't afford to cross paths with that thing." Zhou Ke’s intuition warned him.
A soft *click* echoed. Five minutes after the woman left, the locked bolt automatically popped open.
"I suppose that's a hint for me to get out," Zhou Ke thought.
The current situation was far too bizarre, and he hadn't fully grasped it yet.
Regarding where he actually was, and what exactly he was facing...
"First a transmigration, then a magic scholar, then home invasion and murder—too much has happened in one day. My brain feels like it’s overloading."
Zhou Ke rubbed his temples, peering back and forth through the peephole at the remaining five rooms that had yet to open.
Based on his own room and the room of the first victim, it was reasonable to assume there was an unlucky soul in every room.
"Going out" should theoretically be safe.
But he didn't want to be the first one to draw attention to himself; he was waiting for someone else to be the fool.
Creak—
After an unknown amount of time, the third door on the right was pulled inward.
A few strands of blonde hair peeked out suspiciously.
Zhou Ke had a bad feeling about this: "It can't be that coincidental..."
"Hey, hello? Moshi moshi? Sawasdee khrap? Is anyone there?"
The familiar voice didn't lie. Zhou Ke sighed, hesitated no longer, and turned the handle to step out.
"I didn't expect to run into you in a place like this. You really are like a persistent ghost, kid."
"Eh! Ke-zai, you're here too? What a coincidence! Don't tell me you were stalking me?"
Li Hua, who had been peeking from the side of the door, felt a wave of relief upon hearing Zhou Ke's voice.
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In a strange, inexplicable place like this, the sense of security provided by an acquaintance was incomparable.
Especially after witnessing the murder scene just moments ago, he immediately teared up, crying and shouting as he lunged toward Zhou Ke.
Then, Zhou Ke landed a solid punch into his gut.
"Ugh..."
Looking down at his friend writhing in pain on the floor, Zhou Ke stepped on his backside without a hint of mercy.
"The others should be coming out soon, too."
No sooner had Zhou Ke whispered this than door after door began to open, and two men and two women stepped out.
They were varying degrees of cautious, terrified, confused, or a mix of all three.
"The Ghost Gate! We've arrived at the Ghost Gate!"
The room at the far right... let's assume they are numbered by distance from left to right, so we'll call that Room 2. The person who emerged was a short young man wearing thick black-rimmed glasses, his teeth chattering.
"What do you mean by 'Ghost Gate'? Do you know where this place is?" the short-haired girl from Room 3 asked, her face icy.
Having been dragged into a supernatural event without explanation, no one was in a good mood.
"Hahaha, didn't any of you hear the voice? 'Welcome to the Gate of Gui-Jin-Yang'." The burly man in the tank top from Room 5 took over the conversation.
He was eight feet tall with permed hair, arms as thick as thighs, and muscle definition so symmetrical he looked like a plaster sculpture—flawless in its aesthetic.
Never mind the current situation; even on a crowded street, he would command one hundred percent of the attention.
The burly man appeared remarkably upbeat and didn't seem particularly afraid. "We've entered the [Gate]. Cool!"
The Gate?
At the mention of the Gate, Zhou Ke's memory began to clear.
The so-called [Gate] was a celestial phenomenon that had appeared at the same time as the disappearance of gods and the era of "End-of-Magic."
These anomalies were scattered across the globe, and to this day, no one could trace their origin.
It was only known that the Gates connected to alien dimensions, harboring countless demons and monsters collectively known as [Gate Beasts].
If left suppressed for too long, these Gate Beasts would break into the reality and wreak havoc on humanity.
In fact, the vast majority of magic scholars, after awakening their "Truth," were employed in this suppression work to maintain social order.
"I thought Gate Beasts were like monsters in online games; so, evil spirits count as well?" Zhou Ke muttered to himself.
"Ha, most are indeed tangible monsters, but every [Gate] is different. Take this Gate of Gui-Jin-Yang, for example—the second mansion of the Southern Azure Dragon. It governs terror and is highly ominous," the burly man explained generously, throwing Zhou Ke a wink for reasons unknown.
"Without a theological 'Truth' that provides relative restraint, it’s hard to clear a [Gate] like this with brute force alone, because most physical attacks are ineffective against evil spirits. Cool!"
"So, we have to use our wits." Zhou Ke nodded upon hearing this and looked toward the position of Room 4, directly opposite the burly man.
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