As the story concluded, a mass of black mist suddenly surged within the previously empty space, slowly coalescing into a human silhouette. Chen Mo's figure materialized abruptly in the room—if anyone had witnessed this scene, their expression would surely be one of utter astonishment.
His second official story had thus come to an end. With seven participants in total and only three surviving, the outcome largely matched the difficulty level set for participants at the story's outset.
Upon returning to the real world, the first thing each participant did was, of course, open the Creepy Tales Radio to check their story points earned from the previous tale.
"Completed the main storyline of 'Seven Days of Death' and survived until the story's end: awarded 10 story points." "Solved the 'Cursed Game' ahead of time and ended the story early: bonus 20 story points." "Participant Chen Mo: total of 30 story points earned in this story."
As the story's difficulty increased, the story points awarded upon completion had also risen compared to before. The only slight regret for Chen Mo was that no special items had been triggered for acquisition in this story.
His previous 25 story points, after purchasing the universal phone, left him with 20. Adding the reward from this story, his total points now reached a seemingly impressive 50.
At the same time, this story experience had shown Chen Mo the power of special items. Whether it was Lin Tianheng's dagger or Dai Minghan's ghost hand, both had demonstrated formidable effects in the tale. In particular, Dai Minghan's right hand, as if possessed by an evil spirit, could even directly contact ghostly entities, leaving a deep impression on Chen Mo!
"Implanting a ghost within the body—so that's what parasitic items are."
Parasitic items differed somewhat from ordinary ones in use. After the first activation, the ghost sealed within the item would enter the participant's body. It sounded terrifying, but it came with an obvious advantage: once the ghost was successfully implanted, it became part of the participant's being. Using a ghost to drive away ghosts was not only highly effective but also made it the only type of special item that could be soul-bound to the participant.
However, such parasitic items were not without drawbacks. Implanting a ghost into the body was, in other words, akin to being possessed by an evil spirit. While it offered powerful exorcism effects, it also carried immense risks. Each use of the item essentially awakened the possessing spirit, and with increased usage, the spirit's erosion of the body would deepen. This was evident from Dai Minghan's condition: initially, only his palm turned black, but it eventually spread to his entire right arm. This, presumably, was the price of implanting a ghost.
Still, among the items sold in the radio's shop, there should be tools to suppress the spirit's erosion.
With this thought, Chen Mo opened the shop interface. After this period of exploration, he had roughly figured out the item categories in the shop.
The first category was coupon items, mainly time coupons and money coupons. Although 1 story point could be exchanged for 10,000 Chinese yuan, in practice, few participants in the program bothered to exchange for coupons unless necessary. After all, everyone's points were tight—money could be earned again, but if you lost your life, you lost everything.
The second category was everyday items, like the real fake ID, universal phone, storage backpack, nuclear-powered flashlight, and other oddities. They required few points and naturally lacked exorcism effects, but they provided considerable convenience for participants' actions in stories. Among them, the real fake ID and universal phone were particularly popular "hot sellers" among participants.
The third category consisted of auxiliary items with some exorcism effects, such as ghost-repelling talismans that could dispel certain paranormal phenomena, spirit-hiding talismans that blocked spiritual perception, ghost-detecting matches that revealed ghostly presences, and ox tears that broke illusions and revealed invisible ghosts. These could counter supernatural disturbances to some extent, but their effects were weak. Of course, you get what you pay for—the points required to exchange for these items were higher than for everyday ones.
Starting from the fourth category were items in the radio shop that could genuinely affect ghost entities themselves, truly worthy of being called exorcism tools!
However, most of these items on the exchange list were costly. For instance, the blood jade bracelet on Su Mu's wrist, which sealed a red-dressed female ghost, demanded a staggering 100 points when Chen Mo first saw it in the shop, leaving him utterly astounded. He couldn't help but marvel at her wealth and caprice—after all, a perfect completion of a story only yielded twenty or thirty points. Even without spending any, it would take at least three or four stories to save up such a high amount...
The world of the wealthy was truly incomprehensible.
Sighing inwardly, Chen Mo continued scanning the fourth-category items. Though he broadly classified them as exorcism tools, in reality, these items had varying levels of accessibility for participants, only gradually appearing on the list after passing the first official mission.
Looking at the shop interface on his phone, Chen Mo, now with 50 points saved up, conceived a bold idea.
Old Zhang's flashlight, while decent for exorcism, had clear flaws. One was its inconvenience—it had to be taken out and switched on to trigger its exorcism effect. Two was its inability for continuous use; the item's cooldown period was long, leaving him helpless against consecutive supernatural attacks.
For the upcoming third story, he would face the so-called veteran assessment. Based on other listeners' experiences, the story's difficulty typically increased at this point. So before this story began, it was necessary to add another layer of insurance to his life.
Of course, aside from shop exchanges, participants also had a chance to obtain special items within stories. But such items were entirely luck-based, and after two consecutive stories, Chen Mo had a very clear understanding of his own unlucky constitution.
Fifty points—not too much, not too little. The question was, what kind of exorcism tool should he exchange for?
Items with exorcism effects could actually be further subdivided into several types, such as offensive, defensive, control, parasitic...
Su Mu's blood jade bracelet was clearly a very powerful control-type item. The female ghost within the bracelet could even move freely under her command.
Lin Tianheng's dagger, on the other hand, seemed to be an offensive item, capable of directly inflicting damage on spiritual entities. However, ghosts were indestructible; even if harmed, they could recover on their own after a while.
As he browsed the shop list, Chen Mo silently calculated, but Dai Minghan's pitch-black hand remained deeply etched in his mind.
Higher risk, higher reward—this phrase perfectly described implanting a ghost. When Chen Mo snapped out of his thoughts, he realized his gaze had unconsciously settled on a few specific items.
---- PS: Thanks to big shot Imagawa Chiharu for the 10,000 tip, thanks to Mirai-chan for the 10,000 tip, and thanks to Kazama Mitsuyo, Lotus Leaf Pond, and Destroyer Sion for their tips. You all gave me something to smile about even after being called back to work in the middle of the night.