Chapter 3. Gang Dong

  Su Wu quickly found an answer: when the light source is perpendicur to the object, no shadow is produced.

  But Su Wu quickly realized that the 'Shadow Wraith' could emerge from the shadows of any object, and he had no way to make the light shine perpendicurly on all objects!

  If he didn't turn on the lights after entering the simution, and carried a fshlight in, shining it perpendicurly on the ground, perhaps he could avoid creating shadows – but it was only a perhaps. Did the outline of the fshlight beam itself count as a shadow?

  This method had many drawbacks, and there was a chance of failure no matter how careful he was.

  Su Wu then thought of surgical shadowless mps.

  He looked into the principle of shadowless mps and found that they only minimized the umbra (the darkest part of the shadow), not completely eliminating shadows.

  Even if shadowless mps worked, he could install them in his room, but what about outside? The hallway? The stairwell?

  He didn't have that kind of money.

  Since shadows were unavoidable where there was light, could he choose to walk only in darkness?

  A fsh of inspiration struck Su Wu!

  He immediately opened his phone, ignoring the messages popping up in the work group chat, and opened a small group chat called 'Fishing Bros'.

  Su Wu typed a message: "Brothers and sisters, is anyone selling infrared night vision goggles?

  Or does anyone have a pce to buy them? I'm looking for a pair of high-performance infrared night vision goggles, new or used doesn't matter, budget within 5000 yuan!"

  Less than five seconds after sending the message, a group member named 'Outdoor Fishing Gear Emporium' added Su Wu as a friend.

  As everyone knows, fishing is an outdoor sport.

  Night fishing is a great pleasure, and fishing by wild rivers inevitably involves bumps and scrapes. It was perfectly normal for someone to sell infrared night vision goggles to help others see clearly at night.

  Various situations can easily occur outdoors. Su Wu had a friend who had once come face-to-face with a wild boar by a river.

  'Outdoor Fishing Gear Emporium' added Su Wu as a friend and sent him several links, all of which were various brands and types of infrared night vision goggles sold in his shop.

  Su Wu inquired about the specifics of each brand and type of infrared night vision goggles, while simultaneously opening an app for buying and selling used goods.

  Such an expensive item, it was always good to compare prices.

  He entered the app's main interface, and many products recommended by big data appeared on the screen.

  Because Su Wu liked to browse pet cats, dogs, and collectibles on this app, the big data pushed mostly these things to the main interface.

  Normally, he would just gnce over them, but this time, one item caught his attention.

  It was a bone flute carved with mysterious patterns, resembling an animal's leg bone, with one end wrapped in chased copper patterns.

  Below was a brief description of the item: Gang Dong / Kangling, yak bone flute, breaks spells, dispels evil, calms emotions…

  The wording of the product description stirred Su Wu's thoughts.

  He clicked on it and then browsed several simir products along the recommendations.

  The Shadow Wraith was a supernatural being, so could it be killed using supernatural methods?

  Like using this kind of magical artifact.

  It was in a simution game anyway, so why not give it a try?

  His phone vibrated, and the avatar of 'Outdoor Gear Emporium' kept popping up in the top left corner. Su Wu considered it and decided it was worth a try.

  And he needed to prepare for multiple possibilities.

  He entered "infrared night vision goggles" into the app and searched for reted products. After browsing for a while, he had a better idea and continued chatting with Outdoor Gear Emporium, finally purchasing a used single-tube head-mounted infrared night vision device for 5800 yuan.

  Because he was in the same city as Outdoor Gear Emporium, the seller readily agreed to arrange for a staff member to deliver it directly within two hours.

  Then, Su Wu performed a series of operations on the app and bought a 'Gang Dong' said to be made of yak bone for 3000 yuan.

  He repeatedly confirmed with the seller that the Gang Dong was made of yak bone.

  After all, when he browsed simir products, he found quite a few that cimed to be made from the leg bones of eminent monks…

  The current situation was bizarre, and he was wary of things reted to humans.

  Moreover, who knew if the leg bones were actually taken from real eminent monks?

  The seller promised to arrange for expedited delivery, striving to get the item to Su Wu by this afternoon.

  Su Wu breathed a sigh of relief.

  In just over ten minutes, nearly ten thousand yuan had been spent.

  Although his parents had left him two houses and hundreds of thousands of yuan in savings after their deaths, he had kept those assets untouched, not spending a single cent.

  The money he had just spent was from his savings from the st two years of work.

  Nearly one-eighth of his savings were gone just like that. It was impossible to say he didn't feel the pinch.

  But thinking that these items could help him gain a foothold in the future and pave the way for his present self, he felt the money was well spent.

  After that, Su Wu clicked into a group chat named 'Peaceful Garden Building 7 Tenant Group' and @-mentioned the ndlord who owned the entire eight-story Building 7: "Big Brother, can you fix the voice-activated lights in the stairwell?

  I almost broke my knee this morning walking down the stairs."

  The ndlord didn't have to work. Besides drinking and beating his wife at home, he spent his time pying on his phone and browsing Douyin (TikTok).

  So he quickly replied to Su Wu's message: "I'll fix it next month."

  "You said the same thing two months ago…" tenant 'Clear Rain' chimed in.

  "It really needs to be fixed. You can't even see the stairs at night without a phone." tenant 'Little Sheep Peppa' said.

  After that, several other tenants jumped out and added a few sentences.

  Being questioned by the tenants like this, the ndlord didn't panic at all. He just said: "I said I'll fix it next month, so I'll fix it next month. If you're in a hurry, you can pay for it yourself!

  Voice-activated lights don't cost much!"

  Usually, when the ndlord started acting tough, the tenants would fall silent unless they didn't want to live there anymore.

  These tenants had lived in Peaceful Garden for three to five years, or even longer. Just moving would take a lot of effort. Picking a fight with the ndlord and leaving themselves with no recourse wasn't the best option for these tenants with families.

  The group became quiet.

  But before long, a message popped up in the chat box: "I'll fix it. I'll pay to fix it!"

  The person who sent the message was Su Wu.

  The ndlord was eager to save a few bucks. Seeing this, he replied with a speed that made it impossible to recall the message: "Okay, okay, you fix it, you fix it. When will you fix it?

  I'll give you the key to Building 6's main electrical switch."

  Soon after his message was sent, someone named 'Hardware Tools' spoke up: "I have various types of voice-activated lights. You can buy them from me. I can also help with the instaltion."

  "We'll fix it today. We'll buy from you, and you come help us install it @Hardware Tools" Su Wu didn't want any more trouble and directly @-mentioned that person in the group.

  And so the matter was settled.

  He chose voice-activated lights with both 'smart voice control/remote control' functions from 'Hardware Tools' and had them installed in all the stairwells.

  Including repcing the voice-activated lights that were still working.

  He also secretly had a key made for the main electrical switch box.