Atlas of Heaven and Man

After Chen Chuan was invited to the cinema's reception room, a waiter served tea. After waiting a short while, a chubby middle-aged man came in, panting as if he had run all the way, sweat beading on his temples.

Upon seeing Chen Chuan, he stepped forward and grasped his hand with his sweaty palm, saying enthusiastically, "I am Huang Dacheng. You must be Mr. Chen, the expert we hired?"

Chen Chuan didn't mind the sweat on his hand and shook it, saying, "I'm Chen Chuan. I'm just a martial arts student right now, not yet a consultant."

Manager Huang remained enthusiastic, "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. We know Mr. Chen is young and promising. We've heard you're an expert in this field. The conditions here are simple, and the hospitality may not be up to par. Please, come with me."

Chen Chuan followed Manager Huang up an open staircase. The latter introduced the place as they walked, "Our Lanxiang Cinema is invested in by Molan Corporation. It can accommodate five thousand people watching movies at the same time. We also have comprehensive catering, dance, and concert services. Many large-scale social events in the city are held here…"

He talked incessantly along the way, then led Chen Chuan to his office. It was a room decorated in a foreign retro style, with leather sofas, a gilded desk, a liquor cabinet filled with imported wines, stained-glass arched windows, black and white checkered floor tiles, and a large crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. A large gramophone stood in the corner, its golden horn facing the entire room.

The curtains were drawn open, and soft sunlight streamed in from outside. Chen Chuan took a few steps, and from this angle, he could see the square outside, with well-dressed men and women constantly entering and exiting, and luxury cars he couldn't name passing by from time to time.

Just then, he heard a melodious tune. He turned around and saw that Manager Huang had turned on the gramophone.

Manager Huang walked over to him again, smiling, and said, "Mr. Chen, our cinema has the best location in the entire southern city. It's almost the end of the year, and citizens with free time will choose to come to the movies, but… alas."

Chen Chuan turned around and said, "Manager Huang, I'm here to solve this problem."

"Yes, yes, thank you, Mr. Chen. Oh, please sit, please sit…" Manager Huang invited Chen Chuan to sit on the sofa and asked, "Mr. Chen, would you like something to drink?"

Chen Chuan said, "Plain water will do."

Manager Huang gave a thumbs-up, "Mr. Chen, that's a very good habit. Drinking alcohol is harmful, and sugary drinks are too sweet. Only plain water is the best, bland and peaceful, a gentleman's drink."

He personally poured Chen Chuan a glass of water and respectfully handed it to him.

Chen Chuan took it, "Thank you."

Manager Huang waved his chubby hand repeatedly, saying, "You're too polite. I should be thanking Mr. Chen for coming all this way to help us solve the problem."

Chen Chuan didn't continue with the pleasantries, skipping them and asking directly, "Manager Huang, how many days has this been happening? The information I received stated about a month, is there a specific date?"

Hearing him bring up the main topic, Manager Huang immediately entered the state, his expression becoming a little serious. He thought for a moment and said, "It should be twenty-five days."

Chen Chuan asked again, "Has it happened before?"

Manager Huang sighed, "I had heard some rumors before I took office, but I thought they were just strange tales deliberately spread to attract business. Mr. Chen, you know, the more bizarre the tale, the more attractive it is, after all, everyone has a sense of curiosity."

Chen Chuan understood this. He was also very curious about mysterious things, but he was more interested in exploring the cause behind them and the source of that power. "Manager Huang, have you seen it yourself?"

Manager Huang shuddered and quickly shook his head.

"Has it happened at other times?"

Manager Huang shook his head repeatedly, saying, "Not yet. Currently, it only happens after eight o'clock until midnight."

Chen Chuan looked at him, "Besides the employees mentioned in the information, have there been any other personnel or customer casualties? I want to hear the truth."

Manager Huang hesitated for a moment, then nodded, holding up one finger, "There was a drunk customer. We didn't find his body until the next day. We don't know how he ran there that day. Just one, really."

Chen Chuan didn't delve into it. He thought for a moment and said, "I roughly understand. I will stay tonight to handle this matter."

Manager Huang was overjoyed and came over to shake Chen Chuan's hand, saying, "Okay, then I'll leave it to Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen, whatever conditions you have, I will do my best to cooperate."

Chen Chuan said, "My only condition is that no one should approach the area during that time."

Manager Huang nodded repeatedly, "Of course, of course, definitely. Oh," he took out a card, handed it over with both hands, and said respectfully, "This is our cinema's VIP card. You can use a private box alone and watch movies and dance performances for free all year round. Please accept it, Mr. Chen."

Chen Chuan was not polite and took it, "Thank you, Manager Huang. Can we go take a look at that place now?"

While watching the movie, a female attendant pushed a dining cart and brought soda and snacks. He didn't touch the soda, but he tasted a little of each of the snacks. He felt that the fried arrowhead chips were the most to his liking. The taste was crisp and the taste was good, not at all worse than the potato chips of his previous life.

Because he was there to handle the problem, the surrounding seats were not available for public sale, so he practically had the entire theater to himself, watching movies one after another.

When it was time for dinner, he came out and had a lavish meal in the restaurant downstairs. After exchanging a few words with Manager Huang, he returned to his seat and continued watching the films.

It was empty all around him. Beneath the enormous screen, he sat alone, the light from above occasionally illuminating his face.

Time passed bit by bit. After watching another movie, he looked at his watch. It was almost midnight, the time when the problem had occurred before.

He lowered his hand, not doing anything extra, but slightly adjusted his breathing to keep himself alert, and then continued watching the screen.

At that moment, the plot reached a crucial point. The protagonist entered an unknown, deep cave, and the light dimmed accordingly. Then, with a 'click,' the protagonist turned on a flashlight, illuminating the scenery within the cave. At the instant the light appeared, he suddenly noticed that in the two rows of seats in front of him, a person had abruptly appeared.

It seemed to be a woman, and he could only see her long hair from behind, covering both of her shoulders.

Chen Chuan stared at the figure, thinking, "It's here."

This was one of Yangzhi City's urban legends: the Midnight Specter of the Cinema. If someone is still watching a movie at the Lanxiang Cinema at midnight, and if they are the only person there, then suddenly another audience member will appear to keep them company.

But at this time, you must not greet this audience member, because if you do, the next day when you return home, that audience member might be you, and not yourself.

He observed silently. The information Cheng Zitong gave him warned him that to deal with this urban legend, he only needed to watch movies during this time period for three consecutive days without leaving the theater, and then the specter would automatically disappear.

It was indeed important not to talk to the specter during this process. Most importantly, he could not leave the theater midway, and he absolutely could not go to the front to see the specter's face.

This should be the experience summarized by predecessors, and he had no intention of overstepping. If there was a simple way to deal with it, there was no need to take risks, so he just sat in his seat without moving.

At this time, he glanced at his "Second Self." Unsurprisingly, a faint phantom image appeared on the Second Self, very similar to the situation when he encountered the Well Baby. It seemed that this state would last for a while, and because of the special nature of this urban legend, the duration might be even longer.

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He looked at his watch, knowing that he just needed to watch the movie honestly.

Now, the night was still long.

So he turned his attention back to the screen. However, after watching for about three hours and two movies, he felt a trace of something unusual, not from the ghost, but from himself.

He discovered that the growth of his aberrant tissue had actually accelerated slightly. However, this process was gradual. If He Xiaoxing hadn't taught him an observation technique that made him more sensitive to his own aberrant tissue, he would hardly have noticed.

At this point, he suddenly realized, could the virtualization of the Second Self be coming from this? How similar was this to stimulating the aberrant tissue with drugs, causing the body to be damaged to a certain extent?

In that case, was the urban legend also playing this kind of role to some extent?

No, it should be more than that.

He pondered for a moment, thinking that there were likely other unknown harms here, but now these were all being borne by the Second Self.

At this time, a thought also emerged in his mind: if so, could he use this urban legend to guide the aberrant tissue?

Actually, he didn't want to make trouble, but now he was at a critical moment in repairing and correcting the aberrant tissue, especially since it had already penetrated into some subtle areas. He must not allow the aberrant tissue to grow on its own in such a disorderly manner. Even slightly deviated parts could form hidden dangers in the future.

So he thought about it, and at this moment, he also used breathing to guide it, so that the direction of growth could be controlled by himself.

Several hours passed in a flash. When it was four o'clock in the morning, he inadvertently looked up and found that the figure had disappeared at some point.

He sat for a while longer, then stood up from his seat, walked out of there, and came to the outside along the corridor. He said a word to the waiter who was waiting anxiously here, and the waiter immediately ran out to notify Manager Huang.

When Manager Huang heard that he had come out, he hurriedly ran over, wiping sweat with his handkerchief. When he saw him, he quickly said, "Mr. Chen, how was it?"

Chen Chuan looked at him, "I saw her."

Manager Huang's face turned pale, and he stammered, "Th-then..."

Chen Chuan said, "This urban legend will take about three days to clear. I will come here for the next few days."

Manager Huang breathed a sigh of relief, then revealed a look of joy, saying, "Good, good, then we will have to trouble you, Mr. Chen. We will definitely offer a satisfactory thank-you gift afterwards."

Chen Chuan nodded to him, then left the cinema and returned to school in the cinema's car. He took a nap, then continued his daily training.

The next day, he didn't go during the day. Instead, he had the car pick him up around six o'clock in the evening. After arriving at that theater seat, he sat down in that position again.

Manager Huang was good at handling people. Today, he had changed another batch of movies, and many of them were newly released. He watched until around twelve o'clock, but after the hour, he didn't find that figure.

No, it's not that it didn't appear.

It's just that the location of the figure was different from last time. It was no longer in the front two rows, but... right next to him.

...