Chapter 62: Midnight Ritual

[Tip: This ritual carries a certain degree of risk. In essence, it is the fusion of two forces, which inevitably involves consumption.

From the perspective of the world itself, force and cost are essentially indistinguishable. Good and bad, negative and positive—these are merely definitions assigned by human beings to certain things. To the world itself, their nature is identical, meaning the final outcome of the fusion is not something we can control.

Although we use rituals and prayers to deities to steer the fusion process as close to our expectations as possible, it may still derail in the end.

There is a certain probability that extreme cases will occur, producing a brand-new skill with absolutely no positive effects, only negative costs.

Of course, there is also a very minute probability of a situation with no negative effects at all, yielding only positive ones.

Therefore, before conducting the fusion ritual, you must mentally prepare yourself. If it is an extremely important core skill, do not perform the fusion casually.]

[Second tip: There is a chance that this ritual process might be interfered with by certain individuals. However, you need not worry about this aspect; you only need to remember that if Alice reminds you, you must immediately interrupt the ritual.]

These were the preliminary warnings provided by the notebook, and right below them were the detailed steps for the fusion ritual.

Xia Shou had originally planned to go to sleep, but upon seeing the fusion ritual appear, he decided to perform it immediately.

For him, depth was life. Although sleeping wouldn't cause him to sink much, shedding the burden of his skills early to increase his personal buoyancy could greatly reduce the depth of his descent, which was equivalent to buying more time in disguise.

He ran out into the night and bought all the props required for the ritual at the night market.

Perhaps because the elementary fusion ritual itself was not complicated, the required items were few and could be easily purchased.

According to the records in the notebook, he first needed a sufficiently thick piece of black cloth, as well as white candles.

After finishing his purchases, Xia Shou hailed a cab, left Jiangbo City, and headed for the outskirts of the downtown area.

Following the notebook's instructions, he needed to find a place that was secluded enough, free from interference, and preferably in a natural environment—he should avoid cities, artificial rooms, and similar settings.

"Little bro, it's not easy to catch a cab out here in the middle of the night. You won't even get a driver to accept the order without a price surge!" the friendly driver kindly advised.

"Thanks, mister. I'll just get off right here."

"What are you coming out here for this late? Do you want me to wait for you? Since I've already made the trip, we can head back together later, and I'll charge you the same as the inbound fare," the driver solicited business.

Xia Shou smiled. "I might be staying a while. You can head back yourself, driver. I probably won't be finished until daytime tomorrow."

The driver originally wanted to persuade him further, but suddenly, he caught sight of the white candles and black cloth cradled in Xia Shou's arms. A wave of associations hit him, and every single scene from the moment Xia Shou got into the car flooded his mind.

To his horror, he realized that from beginning to end, this young man had never once turned his head!

Throughout the journey, he had seen the passenger pull out a mirror more than once, using its reflection to observe the scenery outside the car window.

This made the driver inevitably recall the ghost-hitchhiking stories he often listened to on the radio.

No way...

How could there be ghosts in this world?

Watching Xia Shou get out of the car, the driver suppressed his pounding heart. When Xia Shou had completely turned around, he shouted, "Little bro, check if you left anything behind!"

Hearing this, Xia Shou turned around stiffly.

Seeing Xia Shou's turning motion, the driver felt his hair stand on end, a wave of creeping dread washing over him.

He couldn't describe the exact feeling, but he knew for a fact that it was by no means the subconscious turning movement of a normal person.

When a normal person was called, they would surely coordinate their neck and waist, turning slowly. But this person's neck was exceptionally rigid, seemingly incapable of even turning sixty degrees!

He had turned his entire body around all at once, just like a manipulated puppet with stiff joints!

"Holy shit!" the driver yelled, slammed his foot on the gas pedal, and sped away.

Watching Xia Shou in the rearview mirror turn stiffly once again, facing the direction he was driving away from, the driver felt his previous guess confirmed all the more.

He immediately logged into the drivers' group chat and began to vent: "Damn it all! Brothers, you'll never guess—I just picked up a ghost on my run!"

One stone stirred a thousand ripples, and the chat group quickly became lively.

Old Zhang: [Old Li, you're being an idiot again. In modern society, how would a ghost use a cell phone? I've told you not to listen to those ghost radio shows in the middle of the night; you're getting paranoid!]

Ah Qian: [Exactly, Brother Li, you're just scaring yourself. This time...]

Before the voice message finished playing, it was abruptly cut off.

"Bzz-bzz-bzz—!!"

"Bzz-bzz!!"

The car's center console suddenly emitted a harsh static noise.

Li Qiang frowned and pressed hard on the touchscreen.

"Damn it, a newly bought electric car, and it acts like this after less than two years?"

[Welcome to Midnight Radio. The story we have for you tonight is—Midnight Ghost Hitchhiking~]

For some reason, the channel suddenly switched to the radio station Li Qiang usually listened to, but the volume system seemed to malfunction, blasting the sound to maximum. Now, the host's voice filled the entire car.

"What the hell! If I ever buy a domestic car again, I'm a complete idiot!" Li Qiang cursed angrily, frantically spinning the volume knob, but to no avail.

On the radio, the host continued narrating the story.

[Tonight, Driver Li was driving his car, picking up passengers on the street as usual. He was in a bad mood because he and his wife were going through a divorce, their child was only three years old, and the reason for the divorce was his habit of online gambling.]

Li Qiang froze instantly, slamming on the brakes and bringing the car to a sudden halt on the road.

"Are you motherfuckers playing with me like this? Ah Qian, I lent you my car to drive for a few days last time, and you pulled this kind of crap on my center console, didn't you?!

Playing this kind of joke on your grandma, we're done as brothers!"

Li Qiang roared inside the car, cold sweat pouring down his body.

Because the protagonist in the story had a background identical to his own—the same online gambling, the same impending divorce, and even the exact same surname.

Yet Li Qiang's outburst didn't stem from truly believing his friend was messing with him.

Ah Qian and he had been high school classmates and were now fellow ride-hailing drivers; they were on great terms and had no reason to play such a prank.

Besides, they were all ordinary folks, not some hackers with the ability to plant viruses into a car's central control system.

Yet Li Qiang couldn't help but roar like this. He had to tell himself: All of this was Ah Qian's doing. Everyone was just messing with him, playing a joke because he refused to listen to advice and kept gambling.

...He forced himself with all his might not to think of the other possibility.

That possibility was infinitely more terrifying than being toyed with by a friend!

The radio volume remained at its maximum, and the host kept telling the story, ringing painfully in Li Qiang's ears.