Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

Chapter 540 [Domain - Second Gate] The Ghost in Mourning Clothes

The very next second after those words were spoken.

The two looked out of the shop almost simultaneously, their expressions immediately turning serious.

nobody.

The few people who were originally at the entrance... all vanished without a trace in an instant.

The entire street was filled with a desolate and bleak atmosphere; there wasn't a soul in sight, it was completely empty.

The trees no longer swayed gracefully; they stood still, and even their original greenness was fading, as if a layer of frost had been covering their leaves.

The entire street seemed to have been covered by a pale white filter.

The paper money, ingots, and wreaths that were originally scattered in the store have now been moved to a new location, and many new items have been added.

This proves that the current timeline is no longer the original one.

Their curse began.

But the question is, whose wish are they actually carrying on?

Is it Zhou Liang, or...?

"A ghost in mourning clothes?" Du Tingfeng's lips moved slightly as he silently spoke to Xu Sandao.

Probably.

Xu Sandao nodded almost imperceptibly.

Although the main clues about the funeral supplies store are all related to Zhou Liang, none of them can prove that the curse belongs to Zhou Liang.

The ghost's words on the phone, "May your business be successful," were less a trigger for the curse and more a malicious mockery.

They had previously felt that using a telephone as a trigger for the curse was too lenient and difficult to activate.

And the most crucial reason is that there are only two possibilities for buying paper money: one is to offer sacrifices, and the other is to mourn!

Turning to look at the customer, Du Tingfeng didn't directly answer his request, but instead asked:

Why buy paper money?

"Mourning," the man said.

As expected... it was indeed related to the ghost in mourning clothes.

Du Tingfeng's expression remained unchanged, and he did not continue to ask questions, but directly refused:

"You've got the wrong person. We're not the boss."

The ghost's words on the phone made him and Xu Sandao reach a consensus at the same time: they couldn't follow the script.

The man raised his head.

A strange smile slowly spread across its otherwise unremarkable face.

"lie."

It said, pointing to the wall behind the two people.

"..."

A bad feeling rose in Du Tingfeng's heart.

He and Xu Sandao simultaneously shifted their bodies to look at the wall behind them, their pupils immediately contracting!

On the wall is a framed business license.

They checked the license when they entered the store last night, and there were no problems, except that the line for the operator's name was blank at the time.

This is easy to explain; after all, the domain certainly wouldn't let them find clues so easily, just like Feng Yao's group couldn't find information about the homeowner of Jinxiu Garden...

But at that very moment, two more names suddenly appeared on it:

【Du Tingfeng】

Xu Sandao

And two black-and-white headshots that left them no room to deny it!

In the photo, the two people have empty and numb eyes, staring blankly at the camera... like a funeral portrait.

In other words, in any sense, they are now the owners of this funeral supplies store.

While playing the role of a guest making a wish, he also plays the role of the owner of a funeral supplies store.

This is a play within a play, and they are not the first to experience it. Wu Hui once played a victim in the Zhang Wei incident.

So what role do they play in the "wish" of the mourning ghosts?

Turning his gaze back to the customer in front of him, Du Tingfeng narrowed his eyes slightly. This person was not the ghost in mourning clothes; he looked completely different. That ghost was bald.

"You are late."

Du Tingfeng sighed inwardly, "The item you requested has already been reserved; we don't have it in stock."

They couldn't deny it at all. First, the two of them had indeed been forced to become the bosses, and second, the goods in the store were openly displayed outside, so they could only refuse to do business in other ways.

Unexpectedly...

The customer didn't say anything.

It simply asked again, "When will you restock?"

"When do you need it?" Xu Sandao's eyes flashed.

The customer did not answer immediately.

It stared intently at the two people behind the counter, scrutinizing them from head to toe with an unsettling gaze before vaguely saying:

"Before the mourning."

After saying that, it pushed open the door, turned around, and walked out of the funeral supplies store.

"...That's like saying nothing at all." Xu Sandao shrugged. "I was trying to get information out of him, to find out when the funeral would be held."

After all, the customer's words had made it clear that there would be a "mourning ceremony" afterward, and the "mourning ceremony" was obviously the breaking point of the entire curse.

Their current situation is that they know something big is going to happen, but they don't know exactly when.

The only somewhat lucky, yet strangely, thing is...

They seem to be able to stall.

Funeral wailing requires paper money, but they did not sell the paper money, thus preventing the outbreak of funeral wailing.

"But this is too easy."

Du Tingfeng frowned. He didn't think ghosts could reason. The customer didn't even question him and just left.

Under normal circumstances, the ghosts would try every means to force them to sell paper money in order to further promote the mourning.

"It could be a form of coercion."

Xu Sandao leaned down, rested his elbows on the table, and said lazily, "Even though the customers are gone, we're still not back to reality."

"Either we move forward with the process or we're stuck here. The curse is still forcing us to sell our stuff."

"What do you think?" Du Tingfeng smiled.

What he was actually asking was, how do you choose?

"Let's just drag it out," Xu Sandao said bluntly. "It's better to stay here than to have a funeral."

"...You seem to be quite familiar with the tactic of passive-aggressive work."

"Not at all, this is to buy us time to survive," Xu Sandao waved his hand.

"We never said we wouldn't sell. What can we do now that we're out of stock?"

“However, we still have to take it one step at a time.” He paused, his smile fading. “At this stage, we’re just stuck here; it’s not dangerous.”

"But if the risk of passive resistance outweighs the risk of a mournful outburst... then we'll have to rethink our plans."

He looked around at the funeral parlor, which was decorated differently than before, and his gaze settled on the funeral supplies.

Do you think there will be other customers?

"Highly likely," Du Tingfeng said. "The props needed for mourning can't just be paper money."

Paper money is only used in specific situations, such as "opening the road" or "buying the way," or it is burned or buried with the coffin.

Other items needed include wreaths, white banners, a large basin, and mourning clothes...

"Hmm?" Thinking of this, Du Tingfeng suddenly paused.

He glanced around the shop, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes: "This shop doesn't have any mourning clothes."

In other words, this is not included in what they need to sell. Why?

The two left the counter. Since there was a high probability that more customers would come later, they had to tidy up the funeral supplies in the store first.

It's not for sale...

It's not so much to hide it, but to simply refuse customers the next time they come.

On the other hand, they also need to search to confirm whether the mourning clothes were actually put away or not at all.