Chapter 100: The Mortality Meter 06
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
“Wake up.”
The hotel manager slowly woke up and saw Chen Yang’s face. As soon as he saw his face, he remembered the accident at the hotel and, with his eyes rolling, almost passed out again. Zhang Qiudao quickly grabbed his right hand at the tiger’s mouth and pinched him awake. “You can’t pass out until you solve the safety issue.”
The hotel manager, on the verge of tears, said pitifully, “In just two days, three safety incidents. One person died, two others almost did, is there any way to solve this?”
Upon hearing this, the others felt quite sympathetic. Although the hotel did have some safety issues, it wasn’t as if accidents happened every time. If they hadn’t been targeted by the evil spirits and happened to stay at this hotel, the hotel wouldn’t have been exploited by the spirits. After thinking for a moment, Chen Yang said, “I’ll have Xiaoli draw a few lucky charms for you and send them to the hotel.”
The hotel manager asked, “What are they for?”
Chen Yang replied, “To turn your luck around.”
The hotel manager howled, “It’s better if I just die!”
The others were almost shocked out of their wits by this scream, but what was terrifying was that Kui Xuan and the little girl found it amusing and seemed eager to try it out. Chen Yang quickly suppressed them. “Good kids shouldn’t make loud noises.” Then he turned to the hotel manager and said, “The lucky charms are very effective, they can at least turn your luck around. By the way, the evil spirits only cause harm when they’ve developed self-awareness, and they use accidents to create safety incidents. But what if these accidents are interrupted by another accident?”
Ma Shanfeng asked, “What do you mean?”
Kou Xuanling and the others were also confused.
Chen Yang gestured with his hands and feet, “All deaths are accidental deaths, caused by all kinds of safety incidents. The conditions for death are also various accidents, maybe a small mishap accumulates and becomes fatal. But if a link in the chain of accidents is interrupted by another unexpected event, wouldn’t that prevent the fatal accident from happening?”
Du Shuo continued for Chen Yang, “Accidents are a chain, and if one link is destroyed, it’s no longer a chain. So, the so-called accidents won’t happen. Some people who escape death may have survived because one link in a series of accidents was broken.” He pointed to Cheng Xi, who had just regained some energy, and said, “If no one had saved her during the accident that was designed to kill her, she would have died in the elevator accident.”
Chen Yang joyfully pounced on Du Shuo, “That’s right!” He looked at everyone, his eyes shining. “So, as long as we create another accident to disrupt the one the evil spirits made, we can survive.”
Du Shuo added, “The Heavenly Dao won’t allow the evil spirits to gain self-awareness. The more they kill, the more their self-awareness solidifies, until at some point, the Heavenly Dao notices and erases them. But before they are erased, there’s a cycle, and during this period, if the evil spirit can’t fulfill its killing purpose, it will gradually lose its self-awareness and eventually become an ordinary malevolent force.”
Lu Xiuzhi looked thoughtful. “This plan is good.”
Ma Shanfeng nodded in agreement, and with everything connected, the others also guessed what Chen Yang intended to do to break the evil spirit’s deliberately designed accidents.
The hotel manager and Zheng Xiaoyu were both confused, not understanding and not knowing what the so-called evil spirit was, but it sounded like there might be a way to fix things. They quickly asked, “So, what kind of accident should we use to deal with the evil spirit?”
Compared to the hotel manager, Zheng Xiaoyu and the others were more anxious. After all, a safety incident meant job loss for the hotel manager, but for them, it was a matter of life and death.
Chen Yang gave a sly smile. “Luck.”
“Huh?”
Chen Yang gathered up the three lucky charms drawn by Du Shuo and Lu Xiuzhi and took all of them. He then handed three of them to Kou Xuanling, reminding him to keep them safe. “These were drawn by your old man Lu. Make sure to keep them safe, don’t lose them.”
Kou Xuanling took the three lucky charms and laughed, “The charms my old man Lu drew are all mine. You can just take the ones from the bureau.”
“That won’t do.” Chen Yang dodged Kou Xuanling’s hand and refused, “Lu Xiuzhi was first a member of my division, then your boyfriend. Of course, you need my approval first.”
“Then what about Director Du? Isn’t he the head of the bureau?”
“He’s the Emperor of Fengdu, but he’s still mine first.” Chen Yang put his hands on his hips, raised an eyebrow, and said somewhat smugly.
Du Shuo chimed in, “He’s yours. You can have as many charms as you want, they’re all yours.”
Kou Xuanling covered his eyes in disbelief. “No saving him, someone needs to control him.”
Chen Yang laughed. “You can’t control me.” He handed the charms to Zheng Xiaoyu and the others and gave the hotel manager a few as well, asking Kui Xuan to help stick the charms up. “The lucky charms can turn your luck around, but where you place them is important. If placed in the wrong spot, even the best charms won’t work. Kui Xuan will help you find the right spots, just listen to her. Also, get workers to check the hotel’s safety risks as soon as possible, and make it regular.”
The hotel manager was extremely grateful. Upon hearing this, he said, “Our hotel has always had regular checks for safety to avoid hidden risks.”
“Just because you do it doesn’t mean others do. The elevator, chandeliers, and windows may have been affected by the evil spirits, but they also have inherent risks.”
The hotel manager seemed troubled. “Every place has its own safety issues. It’s impossible to eliminate all risks.”
“At least keep it within a safe threshold. Even if the evil spirits deliberately cause accidents, no one should die from it. I think you should supervise this yourself.” Chen Yang gave him a charm, leaving the rest to Kui Xuan. “Take good care of this, not everyone gets one of these.”
The lucky charm drawn by Taoist gods and the Emperor of Fengdu was unique, priceless, and irreplaceable.
Chen Yang clapped his hands. “Alright, you can all go back now.”
Zheng Xiaoyu, holding the charm, hesitated and asked, “Does this really work?”
Chen Yang assured her, “It works.”
Zheng Xiaoyu felt her scalp tingle as she recalled the incident that had happened to her friends earlier. The courage she once had to break the rules vanished in that moment. Before, when her two friends had died, she wasn’t present at the scene, so she couldn’t truly feel the terror of the situation. But now, the fear gripped her in a way that words like “hair-raising” couldn’t even describe. When she realized that Chen Yang and the others seemed to understand the situation and had a way to deal with it, she found herself wanting to stay close to them for protection.
Ji Jiang stood in front of Chen Yang and the others, gently ushering them out. Cheng Xi bit her lip, holding Zheng Xiaoyu’s arm, and gazed at the charm in her hand, saying, “Do, do you really think this works? Can one charm save our lives?”
Ji Jiang’s smile was polite, his attitude distant. “You have no other option. You might as well try.”
The hotel manager nodded. “Well, it can’t get worse, right? At least there’s now a solution. Thank you all. If it works, I’ll make sure you stay and eat here for free.”
Ji Jiang returned the polite smile, and once the hotel manager left, she turned her attention to Zheng Xiaoyu and her group. For some reason, the three of them suddenly felt a chill, and instinctively took a few steps back, nervously saying, “W-We’ll go back to our rooms.”
After that, the three of them returned to their rooms. Zheng Xiaoyu and Cheng Xi shared one room, while Ding Sheng had a room to himself. They parted ways at the door, and Ding Sheng asked, “Xiaoyu, do you really think this charm works? It seems kind of childish.”
Zheng Xiaoyu lowered her gaze. “We’re desperate, so we might as well try. What else can we do? Let’s just go to sleep.”
Ding Sheng turned on the lights and tossed the charm onto the table. He then opened his phone and started looking for similar situations on the forum, hoping to find ways to save himself. To be honest, he didn’t believe in Chen Yang or his team, and he certainly didn’t think a small charm could save his life. He absentmindedly kept searching well into the night, and when he saw the time approaching midnight, he grabbed his charger from his bag and plugged it into the wall. He casually placed his phone on the dresser.
Ding Sheng hummed a song as he entered the bathroom, leaving the window open. A mosquito flew in, bumping against the incandescent light hanging near the bed. The intense heat from the bulb instantly burned the mosquito, turning it into a crispy husk, with a wisp of smoke rising. The sound of the song in the bathroom continued, oblivious to the small accident.
Meanwhile, Zheng Xiaoyu and Cheng Xi lay still on the bed. After a long while, Cheng Xi quietly started sobbing. “Xiaoyu, I almost died.”
Zheng Xiaoyu comforted her, wrapping her arm around her shoulder. “Surviving a great calamity means there’s a blessing ahead.”
Cheng Xi shook her head. “We narrowly escaped last time. Now, we live in constant fear, always on the brink of death. It would have been better to just die in that car crash.”
Zheng Xiaoyu said, “Don’t say that.” She looked down at the two charms on the bedside table, and Cheng Xi, feeling a sudden determination, took them both and handed one to Cheng Xi. “We’ll have good fortune. Maybe meeting Chen Yang and his team is our blessing.”
Cheng Xi asked, “Do you believe it?”
Zheng Xiaoyu replied, “I have no choice but to believe.”
After finishing his shower, Ding Sheng went out to buy a bottle of cold water. He unscrewed the cap and took a sip, lighting a cigarette while lying back on the bed, playing with his phone. Ashes fell onto the floor. He suddenly remembered needing to use the bathroom, so he placed the cigarette on the edge of the bedside table. Not long after, the cigarette had burned down considerably, and the ash fell onto the floor. The cigarette butt, now unstable, fell off the table and rolled onto the floor.
Ding Sheng returned from the bathroom, grabbed the cold water again, and took another sip. As he turned around, he accidentally stepped on the burning cigarette butt, causing a burn. Reacting instinctively, he swatted at it, but in the process, he hit the dresser and the bottle of ice water flew out of his hand.
The cold water splashed onto the incandescent bulb on the wall, causing a sudden temperature shock. The bulb exploded, sending glass shards flying, and one piece embedded itself in Ding Sheng’s neck, causing blood to spill out uncontrollably.
Ding Sheng pressed his neck with his hands, trying to stop the bleeding. In a panic, he reached for the hotel room phone to call for help, but he didn’t notice the hot glass and filament from the explosion landing on the bed, which slowly started a fire. The ice water bottle fell onto the dresser, its contents slowly spreading toward the phone, which was charging. The phone flickered with electric sparks.
The hotel phone was engaged, and he couldn’t get through. Ding Sheng gave up trying to call and rushed to open the door. However, the charging phone had damaged the electrical wiring, and the door was locked, making it impossible to open. The fire on the bed continued to grow, and Ding Sheng’s face turned pale as his bloodstained towel became soaked.
The temperature in the room continued to rise, but the smoke detector didn’t trigger, as if it were broken. Ding Sheng, desperate, tried to push the emergency button but collapsed after stumbling into a table, his vision blurry. The conductive ice water slowly spread toward him.
The lucky charm on the bedside table slid to the edge and fell onto his chest. A few seconds later, the stifling air seemed to be shifted by an unseen force, and a turning point began to emerge.
The phone, which had been left carelessly, fell during Ding Sheng’s collision and hit the emergency button on the wall. The line cleared, and the customer service picked up, “Hello? How can I assist you?”
The flowing ice water came to a halt just two centimeters from Ding Sheng, before the power cut off due to the damaged wiring. With the power gone, the door could now be easily turned open. Life, it seemed, was full of small miracles. The fire on the bed was too minor to be life-threatening, and the shadow over the smoke detector reluctantly retreated. The next moment, the loud, piercing sound of the fire alarm echoed through the room, and water began to spray everywhere.
Half-conscious and dazed, Ding Sheng’s hand brushed over the charm on his chest. A single thought echoed in his mind: I’m saved.
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