ATLAS TRANSLATES

Chapter 29: Don’t Look at Strange People

Tao Zhi vaguely heard what Jiang Qi Huai said after, her mind still stuck on his previous sentence.

— No girlfriend.

Tao Zhi tilted her head back, restraining herself from blurting out the question on her mind.

The literal meaning was “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

But Jiang Qi Huai had said before that anyone who couldn’t score 700 points wasn’t good enough, yet when Li Shu Fei said if she could score 700 points would he consider it, he hadn’t actually said no.

So was 700 points just an entry requirement, a basic condition?

No, brother, you’re just too good at acting cool.

Half of Tao Zhi’s anger was immediately doused by Jiang Qi Huai’s first half sentence “don’t have a girlfriend,” and the other half slowly burned away as she processed his latter half about “going easy because you looked unhappy.”

What remained were just some sparks jumping around in the ashes, named “don’t know why but somehow feeling awkward and uncomfortable and even a bit embarrassed.”

Not knowing how to handle these emotions, she blinked twice and asked him: “What’s wrong with Li Shu Fei?”

Jiang Qi Huai’s face went blank, clearly not understanding what she was trying to express.

Tao Zhi lowered her head, counting off on her fingers: “She’s cute and has a lovable personality, her grades are good too, she can score 700 points, hardly anyone in the whole school can score 700 points.”

Jiang Qi Huai lowered his eyelashes: “Indeed.”

“But dating in high school really isn’t good,” Tao Zhi said quickly while sneaking a glance at him. “And you’re both such good students, what if later you get addicted to romance and only want to talk sweet nothings with your girlfriend instead of studying?”

Tao Zhi solemnly educated him: “Your Highness, men should prioritize their studies.”

The others finally noticed they had fallen behind and were standing not far ahead, waving at them and calling out across the crowd.

Tao Zhi turned her head — Li Shuang Jiang and the others had already bought fried chicken, and Fu Xi Ling was holding two large pink cotton candies.

Tao Zhi bounced over, and Fu Xi Ling handed her one. She took it, pinching off a small piece with her fingertips and popping it into her mouth.

The sweet taste spread through her mouth.

Tao Zhi swayed her head as she walked forward.

Li Shuang Jiang exchanged glances with Fu Xi Ling beside him, then made exaggerated facial expressions for quite a while, looking at Tao Zhi walking ahead in obviously better spirits, then jerking his chin toward Jiang Qi Huai who had just caught up from behind.

Fu Xi Ling looked at him in confusion.

Li Shuang Jiang sighed and said in a very low voice: “Have these two great Buddhas made up?”

“Don’t know,” Fu Xi Ling also whispered, “maybe they just made up.”

Li Shuang Jiang stroked his chin thoughtfully: “In such a short time? The boss doesn’t seem like someone who’s easy to placate.”

Fu Xi Ling was also good at comforting people, and had often comforted Tao Zhi when she was constantly at odds with Jiang Qi Huai at the start of school, so she understood Tao Zhi’s personality well.

She might look fierce on the surface, but she was actually quite simple inside — two words could make her happy again, very easy to comfort.

Fu Xi Ling took a bite of cotton candy and walked a few steps forward to catch up with Tao Zhi: “If you could figure it out, there wouldn’t be any straight men left in the world.”

Li Shuang Jiang, left behind: “…??”

Li Shuang Jiang didn’t understand. He was clearly the one who had worked the hardest for the boss and her desk-mate’s relationship, putting in the most effort, but why was he always the one getting hurt?

Happy Valley at noon during the National Day holiday was like a giant steamer for cooking dumplings, except that the weather was pleasantly cool and comfortable. There weren’t many people at the entrance, but as they went deeper inside, the crowds grew denser.

Long queues formed in front of popular attractions, and the huge suspended roller coaster whooshed past the steel frame carrying rows of screaming passengers.

Li Shuang Jiang asked about several attractions everyone wanted to try, and they finally decided to try for the highest roller coaster and the haunted house before lunch.

The haunted house at this amusement park was very large, and had fewer people queuing. Jiang Zheng Xun and another girl absolutely refused to go in, volunteering instead to queue for the roller coaster, while the rest went to the haunted house.

Zhao Ming Qi and Li Shuang Jiang rushed to the front. Fu Xi Ling looked quite calm too — though she was typically timid, Tao Zhi had thought she would be scared and specifically pulled her to stand in front of herself.

When it was their turn, the staff member smiled and led them in. The wooden door creaked open, revealing a dimly lit cave with five identical wooden doors at the end.

The staff member gave a brief introduction.

The haunted house had five themes, each different. Visitors had to form pairs and choose a door to enter. Simply getting out wasn’t enough to succeed — each team had a task to bring something out and follow the instructions, otherwise they couldn’t exit.

Li Shuang Jiang divided them into teams, worried the girls would be scared together, so he paired one boy with one girl.

Although Tao Zhi’s mood had clearly improved after earlier, she still hadn’t spoken to Jiang Qi Huai. Li Shuang Jiang looked at her and specifically asked: “Boss, is it okay if you pair with Brother Huai?”

Tao Zhi looked at Fu Xi Ling beside her: “I can pair with Ling Ling, what if she gets scared?”

“It’s fine, I’ll pair with her,” Li Shuang Jiang turned his head — Fu Xi Ling was curiously picking at the lime on the cave wall.

Li Shuang Jiang: “…does she look scared to you?”

Tao Zhi nodded, having no objection.

She put on the earphones and walkie-talkie the staff handed out, chose the middle door — the third door — and walked over to push it open.

The decaying wooden door made a “creak” that echoed in the empty space, sounding quite eerie.

Vision instantly darkened, and Tao Zhi carefully walked forward, slowly waiting for her eyes to adjust to the light.

The room before them was so dimly lit it was almost negligible, with just one white candle burning on the stone-carved wall. The entire room was stone-built, with an intricately carved stone coffin in the middle and another standing against the wall.

Tao Zhi looked around and tilted her head: “Is this… a tomb chamber?”

“Mm.” Jiang Qi Huai stood behind her and made a sound of agreement.

Tao Zhi walked to the stone coffin and picked up an aged parchment lying on top, tossing it to Jiang Qi Huai.

Jiang Qi Huai caught it and opened it to scan through: “It says this is the tomb of a local prince from the Western Zhou period. Later, a group of grave robbers stole his crown, and the prince’s vengeful ghost trapped them all to death inside. The crown disappeared, and the tomb became a death trap — only the prince himself wearing the crown can leave.”

He was concise, and Tao Zhi listened with wide eyes, pointing at the parchment in his hand: “Western Zhou tomb? A Western Zhou tomb using parchment for notes? Was this person’s history taught by Zhao Ming Qi?”

Jiang Qi Huai rolled up the parchment: “Zhao Ming Qi’s history seems quite good actually, he wanted to study humanities but couldn’t convince his parents.”

Tao Zhi nodded: “Then it must have been taught by Li Shuang Jiang.”

She walked to the solemn and somewhat creepy stone coffin. The lid wasn’t completely sealed, and she peered inside through the gap curiously.

In this type of themed haunted house, the scariest things weren’t the ghosts, but anything that appeared suddenly.

Like behind doors, or in these kinds of enclosed, narrow spaces.

But she was quite fearless.

Jiang Qi Huai stood beside her, looking down as she peered inside for quite a while before lifting her head and pointing: “Your Highness, this prince has many heads.”

Jiang Qi Huai bent down to look inside — the coffin was full of skulls, piled up white and gleaming, their black eye sockets staring straight through the gap.

Normally, this design would be scary enough.

The two of them stood there staring at a coffin of skulls for over ten seconds.

Tao Zhi, still holding onto the coffin edge, suddenly asked quietly: “Are these plastic?”

“Probably plaster,” Jiang Qi Huai said.

Tao Zhi made a sound of understanding and pointed at a golden circular object buried beside the skulls, asking in an even quieter voice, “That, isn’t that his crown?”

Jiang Qi Huai looked where she was pointing and nodded slightly: “It is.”

“Then it’s not lost, is it? What are we looking for? Wasn’t it his crown?” Tao Zhi’s voice was barely audible.

“It’s probably a decoy, we might need to find something else,” Jiang Qi Huai turned his head slightly to look at her, “why is your voice getting quieter and quieter?”

Tao Zhi put a finger to her lips and leaned close to his ear: “I’m afraid of waking the sleeping spirits inside.”

Jiang Qi Huai: “…”

The staff member hiding in the other stone coffin: “…”

Tao Zhi was completely immersed in the theme, her acting impulses taking over as she continued: “Two tigers cannot share one mountain — how can there be two living princes in one tomb? What if you two fight? What if you can’t beat him?”

Jiang Qi Huai: “…”

Tao Zhi sighed, frowning with worry: “I’m really concerned for you.”

Jiang Qi Huai raised his hand to tap her head, saying expressionlessly: “Stop acting.”

Tao Zhi pouted, pushing herself up from the stone coffin edge and walking toward the other upright stone coffin against the wall.

The staff member hiding inside saw her approaching through the gap and gripped their prop tighter.

Although these two kids seemed quite fearless, they were still confident about their upcoming setup.

This coffin also wasn’t completely sealed, and strictly speaking, it looked more like an iron maiden than a coffin. The lid was like a door, practically begging to be opened — it might as well have had a note saying “Open me.”

Tao Zhi laughed and turned her head: “Your Highness! Look at this Western Zhou coffin with a flip lid, even more advanced than a Nokia phone!”

Staff member: “…”

Could you stop dawdling!

Just open it already!!

Tao Zhi slipped her fingers into the coffin lid gap, took a breath, and flipped open the cover.

Even though she was mentally prepared, she was still genuinely startled by what suddenly appeared inside.

The humanoid creature appeared to be a zombie, looking like it had just crawled out of a sulfuric acid sea. Its skin was completely crimson and sloughing off, black eye sockets visible under green hair, with barely distinguishable features dripping blood that went drip-drip onto the stone floor.

As the coffin door opened, the zombie slowly raised its head, almost face-to-face with Tao Zhi at point-blank range.

Tao Zhi paused for a second, then opened her mouth: “Ahhhhh!!!!”

She screamed in terror, her previous nonchalant demeanor completely gone. Before the staff member could smugly wait for her to turn tail and run, they saw the young girl take a step forward while screaming.

She quickly raised her hand, grabbed the zombie’s green hair and yanked down hard, while simultaneously raising her knee. Still screaming, she smashed the head she was holding against her knee.

With a light “rip” sound, the zombie’s wig came off.

The zombie also let out a scream.

Their screams overlapped, almost like a signal, and suddenly a group of zombies dropped down from the ceiling. They came down gesturing wildly, saw the scene before them, looked at their colleague crouching on the ground holding their nose, and stopped their exaggerated movements, somewhat confused.

Tao Zhi was so scared she had gone pale and didn’t care about anything else. She shouted: “I’m sorry! I didn’t use much force!!”

Then she turned around, pulled Jiang Qi Huai and ran, afraid of being chased by the zombies behind them.

Although after regaining rationality she knew these were people in costumes, the makeup was really too scary, and her instinctive reaction to physiological fear couldn’t be controlled.

They ran through the stone doorway at the other end of the tomb chamber. Jiang Qi Huai looked back.

The zombies hadn’t chased after them — they were gathered around their colleague who had been punched in the nose, checking on their condition.

Through the doorway was a deep stone corridor, designed to be narrow and cramped, with almost no lighting. Green human shadows flickered on and off along the walls, with occasional rustling sounds behind them that made one’s scalp tingle.

Since no zombies were chasing them, after dodging a set of hands grabbing from below, they successfully passed through the entire corridor and came to another stone chamber. As soon as they stepped in, there was a “ding-dong” sound, and a gentle female system prompt voice rang out from some corner: “—Successfully passed through the Yellow Springs Corridor, obtained quest item: Western Zhou Prince’s treasured wig.”

Tao Zhi: “…”

Jiang Qi Huai: “…”

Tao Zhi lowered her head to look at the emerald green wig she had grabbed from the zombie’s head when fighting them, and fell silent.

What the hell??

Who the fuck treasures a wig from the Western Zhou period!

This tomb chamber appeared to be the exit, with nothing else inside except a wooden door at the end that looked identical to the one they had entered through, with slivers of light seeping through the cracks — the exit.

In the center of the stone chamber was an old red wooden table with another parchment scroll on top.

The staff had explained at the beginning that they needed to follow the instructions inside to get out. Tao Zhi and Jiang Qi Huai stood there for a while, but the system prompt didn’t speak again.

Jiang Qi Huai paused, walked to the central table, picked up the parchment scroll, opened it and scanned through: “It’s the same content as the one at the front.”

“The one from when we first came in?”

“Mm.”

Tao Zhi carefully recalled what Jiang Qi Huai had said earlier.

— “the tomb became a death trap — only the prince himself wearing the crown can leave.”

Tao Zhi suddenly had an epiphany and lifted her head to look at Jiang Qi Huai without blinking.

Jiang Qi Huai had clearly also guessed her thoughts.

He stood still, his gaze cold as he warned: “Tao Zhi—”

“Your Highness, make a sacrifice!” Before he could finish, Tao Zhi bounced over in two steps, one hand on his shoulder as she leaned in, the other arm held high holding the wig.

The girl’s slender body unexpectedly pressed against him, her softness and faint sweet scent penetrating through their clothes, her pale ear brushing against his lips, slightly cool.

Jiang Qi Huai froze in place.

Tao Zhi took advantage and placed the wig on his head.

With a “click,” the wooden door at the end opened, and the female prompt voice rang out again: “The stone tomb will collapse in ten seconds, please exit quickly, adventurers.”

Tao Zhi quickly pulled Jiang Qi Huai’s jacket sleeve and ran to the door, pushing it open to exit.

The outside sunlight hit them head-on, the sudden strong light impacting their vision that had been in darkness for so long, temporarily dazzling them.

Tao Zhi raised her hand to half-shield her eyes, adjusted for a moment, before finally seeing the scene outside clearly.

They had exited the haunted house and were standing on the steps of the back door, directly facing a row of vendor carts selling various items.

Jiang Qi Huai stood beside her, his peach blossom eyes slightly narrowed in the sunlight, wearing a bright emerald green wig that reached his waist.

Next to them were Li Shuang Jiang, Zhao Ming Qi, Fu Xi Ling, and the others. Everyone had already come out of the haunted house and was leaning against the railing, chatting while waiting for them.

The moment Jiang Qi Huai stepped through the door, the chatting stopped abruptly.

Everyone turned to look their way. Li Shuang Jiang’s mouth was still open mid-sentence, and he stood frozen, staring at Jiang Qi Huai and the emerald green hair on his head.

He seemed to want to say something, his mouth moving slightly, but no sound came out.

Silence.

Quiet.

In the dead stillness—

A mother and son walked past the snack vendor in front of the haunted house’s back door. The little boy, who looked about five or six years old, stared at Jiang Qi Huai with fascination. His chubby little finger pointed their way as he excitedly exclaimed in a loud voice: “Mommy! That brother has green long hair! How weird!”

The woman gave them an apologetic smile, pulling her son’s arm with one hand while hurriedly walking past, covering his eyes with her other hand as she said quietly: “Look down, don’t stare at strange people.”

Jiang Qi Huai: “…”