A Manual for Surviving a Weird World

Chapter 398 The Third Hand
"Ah--"

"call--"

Ning Zhe closed his eyes, took a deep breath of the dry air that smelled of charcoal, and stood up from the bed with Yin Lishang in his arms: "Meliya, let's go."

“Okay.” Plumeria opened the bedroom door and asked, “Are we leaving the Sheepfold Village quarantine zone?”

“No.” Ning Zhe shook his head: “Go and continue doing what I was supposed to do here.”

“But…that ghost?” Plumeria’s eyes were filled with worry. “The Ascendant who guards the quarantine zone has disappeared, and that ghost is still wandering around the quarantine zone. If we continue to stay here, what will be stolen next time may not just be the Ascendant’s item.”

"I have my own considerations," Ning Zhe said calmly.

“Okay.” Plumeria didn’t ask any more questions.

The three left the bedroom, went down the stairs to the ground, and left the residential building.

The world outside the residential building had been buried in ashes. Ning Zhe followed his memory and walked north towards Yanglao Village, stopping every few minutes to check if any of his belongings were missing.

During the first inspection, Ning Zhe's tissues were missing from his pocket.

During the second inspection, Plumeria's key was found to be missing.

Because she needed to be vigilant about her surroundings and be ready to activate the [Love Take] rule to protect Ning Zhe at any time, she didn't keep an eye on the bag all the time.

The third inspection revealed that nothing was missing.

"Hmm?" Plumeria looked down at the straw doll in her hand and frowned. "Something's still missing."

"What went missing this time?" Ning Zhe asked.

“My internal organs.” Plumeria raised her hand and showed the straw doll to Ning Zhe. The straw doll was still intact overall, except that a part of its chest was sunken and a few straws were missing, as if they had been pulled out.

"Once the substitute straw doll is bound to the host, its body parts correspond one-to-one with various parts of the human body. If my left hand is cut off, the straw doll's left hand will also be cut off, taking the cost for me and allowing my left hand to be restored."

Plumeria pressed on the shriveled chest of the substitute straw doll and said, "This is where the heart is. If the substitute straw doll hadn't taken the torture for me, I would be dead here with my internal organs ripped out."

“No, you won’t die.” Ning Zhe shook his head: “There is no death when you are by the side of the Plague God.”

Unless a malevolent spirit with an instant-death rule kills someone here, neither physical injury nor disease or toxins can kill a person.

This is the seal of the Yin family. The rules of the Plague God imprison those who should have died in the mortal world, preventing them from falling into the seventh world and isolating them from the burning of the Mad Fire.

"Never mind it, let's keep going." Ning Zhe said, carrying Yin Lishang who was nestled obediently in his arms, and continued walking forward. Not far away, through the swirling ashes, half a charred tree stump could be faintly seen. At the same time, outside Yanglao Village, by the high wall of the quarantine zone, Feng Yushu, leaning against the back seat of the car, slowly opened her eyes.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Bai Zhi had stopped crying and asked with some concern, "Didn't your shadow go into the quarantine area with Ning Zhe? Now that you're awake, [Terang] should be asleep, right?"

“I… Ning Zhe is in danger.” Feng Yushu looked troubled and said worriedly, “I had [Te Rang] crawl into the lining of Ning Zhe’s clothes and move with him so that I could sense which shadows were moving around him.”

"At first, there was only the shadow of a little girl following him, that was Plumeria. Now there's another child, probably around ten years old, which should be Yin Lishang. But besides these two shadows, there's another shadow..."

"That shadow looked...very strange."

Bai Zhi was somewhat puzzled: "What exactly is so strange about it?"

Feng Yushu thought for a moment and said, "It was a thin, wiry human-shaped shadow, very dry and thin, like a dehydrated skeleton, all skin and bones. It was the height of an adult man, but its hands and feet were thinner than a child's."

"He crawled and wandered around Ning Zhe on all fours like a monkey, occasionally approaching one of the three of them, making brief contact before disappearing in an instant."

Bai Zhi listened quietly, only to see Feng Yushu's expression grow increasingly worried as she said in a trembling voice, "The strangest thing is that the person has three hands."

"Three hands?" Bai Zhi blinked.

“Yes, three hands.” Feng Yushu nodded and said, “Two of them are arms like normal people’s, growing on the sides of the shoulders, but on his back, near the end of his spine, there is a third hand.”

"It was a left hand with only four fingers, the missing one being the little finger. Every time the shadow approached Ning Zhe, its third hand would quickly grow longer, reaching into the shadow of Ning Zhe or the other two, and then quickly retracting, as if taking something from them."

“Ning Zhe should have already realized the existence of this person. They were walking and stopping every few minutes to check their belongings, but this also means that Ning Zhe cannot see this person with three arms. He is invisible, or rather, invisible.”

Feng Yushu's face was filled with worry: "Azhi, what should I do? Ning Zhe will definitely be in danger if this continues... Although Te Rang can sense that guy's shadow, he has no mouth, can't speak, and can't report to Ning Zhe. Moreover, the light inside is getting dimmer and dimmer for some reason. I can hardly catch that person's shadow anymore..."

"Don't worry, Mom." Bai Zhi reached out and patted her mother's head like she would a child. "Ning Zhe is so smart, he'll find a way. And have you forgotten? Ning Zhe can actually use the rules of [Special Allowance] and [Karmic Death] as well."

"Huh?" Feng Yushu was taken aback for a moment, then breathed a sigh of relief: "I almost forgot, Ning Zhe had already stolen my identity, so he should have already located the 'three-handed' person!"

“So, Ning Zhe probably had his own reasons for pretending not to notice him.” Bai Zhi nodded and said, “That’s why, Mom, don’t let your concern cloud your judgment. I know you like Ning Zhe, but you have to trust him too.”

"I, no... I... I didn't..." Feng Yushu hurriedly explained, her daughter seeing through her little secret at a glance, making her blush with embarrassment. Her face turned red from her ears to her cheeks, her dignified oval face full of intoxicating blush.

"Yes, yes, no." Bai Zhi patted her mother's head like she would a child: "Quickly shift your attention back to Terang."

Feng Yushu wanted to argue again, but she couldn't let go of Ning Zhe's safety, so she blushed and leaned back in the back seat, closing her eyes.

(End of this chapter)