I deliver food in a bizarre world

After lunch, Chen Mo tried searching on various forums to see if there was any information about the app.

The old man said he would spread the word, and the app had previously given warnings, referring to itself as a "player".

So now, after all this, it's impossible that he was the only player or the only one who encountered this thing, right?

But he was disappointed by the reality; after looking around, he found nothing.

He genuinely didn't find anyone else who had this app like him...

There are only two possibilities in this situation.

Firstly, they genuinely didn't have it, because they had never seen it and were completely unaware of it.

However, it is more likely that the person who owns it has hidden it.

Chen Mo changed his approach and started searching for paranormal events that had occurred in the past month, but he still found nothing...

Left with no other choice, he had to put the idea aside for the time being, and an absurd thought flashed through his mind.

What if I have the beta version and am currently the only one who owns it?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. Why should it be him?

Moreover, if this thing became widespread, the world would truly descend into chaos...

That evening, Chen Mo didn't play games with Chen Xing; instead, he livestreamed himself making paper offerings...

Perhaps because the paper dolls appeared quite frequently in his last live stream at the Mirror Hotel, this time quite a few viewers actually started imitating him with great interest...

On Sunday morning, the sun was even more intense than the day before, and Chen Mo still got up early.

He doesn't have the habit of sleeping in late.

After finishing his morning exercise and returning home, he sorted through his spoils from the previous night—a dozen or so small paper figures, none of which had their eyes painted on.

Dotting the eyes of paper figures can easily attract spirits, and since he already has three guardian spirits in his house, he doesn't need any more.

Then he went into the kitchen to cook noodles.

Perhaps drawn by the fragrance, Chen Xing stretched and came out of the bedroom, his hair disheveled from sleep.

Chen Mo just brought out two bowls of freshly cooked noodles, topped with golden fried eggs and a few sprigs of bright green vegetables.

"There's milk in the fridge, heat it up yourself, quickly wash up and eat noodles."

"Oh," Chen Xing replied, shuffling into the bathroom in his slippers.

The two brothers were slurping their noodles into their bowls.

Chen Xing slurped and scrolled through his phone, his mouth stuffed full, yet he still managed to talk.

"Brother, what time are we going out this afternoon? I've already arranged with Haozi and the others to meet at the school gate at four o'clock."

"Okay, I'll take you there at 3:30." Chen Mo looked up at his younger brother. "How many people are there this time?"

"There's Qiangzi, Fatty and his deskmate, plus me, the four of us," Chen Xing counted on his fingers. "Let's go to that grilled fish restaurant behind the school, the portions are big and the prices are reasonable."

"Knowing your buddy can eat a lot, I won't go. I have things to do." Chen Mo smiled. "How much is it? I'll transfer it to you."

"That's enough! I haven't even spent all the allowance my mom gave me this week!" Chen Xing patted his chest, then leaned closer and lowered his voice, "Brother, on Friday... when I tell you about that, please don't mention it to Dad."

"Okay, okay! Stop nagging..." Chen Mo reached out and ruffled his messy hair. "Eat up, the noodles are all soggy."

At 3:30 p.m., Chen Mo rode his electric scooter to take Chen Xing to the school gate.

Several boys in identical school uniforms were already waiting there. When they saw Chen Xing get out of the car, they immediately surrounded him and started playing around with him.

"Hello, Brother Mo!"

"Thanks for the treat, Brother Mo!"

The boys were quite sweet-talking, greeting Chen Mo.

Chen Xing pursed his lips, somewhat speechless, but in the end he didn't say that he had paid for it.

"Okay, have fun, and don't cause trouble." Chen Mo nodded.

Watching Chen Xing blend into the group of energetic teenagers, walking arm in arm towards the back street of the school, his carefree joy dispelled some of the gloom in his heart.

In the evening, after returning home, Chen Mo tidied up his things and sat on the sofa in a daze for a while.

When the daytime hustle and bustle fades and he is alone, a sense of urgency envelops him again.

He got up, sat down at his desk, opened his notebook, and skipped the basic content before starting from the beginning.

He went straight to the section on spirituality and began to study it carefully.

"...Spirituality is neither force nor energy, but a spark of light at the origin of all living beings, which can be drawn by thought and controlled by spirit."

"When you first awaken, your mind is like a flickering star; you need to calm your mind and nurture it, and you must avoid overusing or overdrawing your energy."

"Manipulating external objects, such as paper folding and talisman drawing, all use one's own spiritual light as a catalyst to ignite the nature of the external object, or to drive its inherent spirit..."

Although Chen Mo was a top student, he was an engineering student. Reading classical Chinese texts with their meticulous wording was not a problem for him, but understanding them was still somewhat difficult.

In addition, these descriptions are very abstract, so even if you can understand them, you only get the form but not the meaning.

But he has practical experience!

Based on his previous experience using the paper doll and the basic item descriptions in the app, he slowly figured it out and actually managed to figure out a bit of the trick.

"Ignite the nature of external things...the spirit within..."

He muttered to himself, his gaze falling on the [Basic Tranquilizing Incense] in the shop.

The description of this item is that when lit, it can slightly dispel low-level evil spirits and stabilize the mind. Does that mean that the incense itself is made of special materials and contains a certain "stabilizing" property? When lit, it can be activated by a little bit of spirituality or by fire instead of spirituality, forming a small field that has a large-scale calming effect?

For example, his own paper figures were made using spirit bamboo paper given to him by his grandfather, and this paper itself has some special features.

In addition, the process of "dotting the eyes" involves infusing the paper figure with his own spirituality, temporarily "igniting" it so that it can carry a trace of his own thoughts and execute simple instructions.

Upon comparison, he discovered that the principles behind the two seemed to have something in common.

The items in the mall require spiritual currency, while the traditional method requires one to possess spirituality, understand the method, and use appropriate materials to make them.

He put down his notebook and decided to give it a try.

He picked up a piece of spiritual bamboo paper, but instead of cutting it immediately, he closed his eyes, adjusted his breathing, and tried to calm his mind.

Then, he tried to sense his own spirituality using only his mind, without using his spiritual eyes.

At first, I didn't feel anything; my mind was filled with random thoughts.

One moment it's his own pale face in the mirror, the next it's his father's nonchalant expression, and then it's Chen Xing's guilty look for keeping it from him.

He took a deep breath, trying to banish the images.

After a long while, in a blank space, he seemed to catch a glimpse of energy deep within his consciousness, very vaguely.

But when he focused his mind to perceive it, it vanished into nothingness.

Is this spirituality?

He shook his head, deciding to stop pondering these things on his own.

You should just ask your dad or grandpa when you have time!

He planned to use the rest of the day to make a more complex paper figure.

Previously, they were all flat, at most using bamboo as a frame. This time, he wanted to make a three-dimensional one!

He recalled the simple design drawings of "spirit detection" in his notebook.

It was a more intricately designed paper figure, requiring finer bamboo strips for the frame and more meticulous paper cutting—essentially a more advanced version in every way.

He focused intently on his work, shaving bamboo strips, cutting paper, and applying fish glue.

This time, he no longer merely pursued a superficial resemblance; in every step, he tried to infuse his own spirituality into the process.

It took almost an hour to complete a lifelike paper figure.

Judging from the appearance of the paper figure, Chen Mo used himself as a model to make it.

The paper figure is almost identical to him in terms of clothing, appearance, and everything else!

He picked up a small bamboo knife, dipped it in a little dye, held his breath, focused his attention on the tip of the pen, and gently touched the paper figure's eyes.

A slight detachment from his mind caused the little paper figure in his hand to seem to move slightly.

Chen Mo placed it on the desk and silently said, "Go check the doorway, then come back."

The three-dimensional paper figure wobbled and stumbled, taking small, awkward steps toward the study door.