Chapter 132
Chapter 132
An opera song, faint as a Mosquito’s whine, drifted beside their ears.
“No spring scenery charms like today’s. What need to stoop or climb beyond painted walls? A spring-struck heart hangs helpless everywhere. The trailing rose catches at a maiden’s skirt, as flowers draw the human heart toward all that is fair…”
Luo Yunmeng was the only girl left in the entire Instance, and she felt uneasy. Boss Qiao, the one person who usually made her feel safe, did not look very reliable right now.
He was becoming more beautiful by the minute, and that beauty affected every human and ghost in the Instance.
That could not possibly be good…
As she worried, the door opened and closed in a flash. She instinctively flung the Five Emperor Coins clutched in her hand. Before she could rise, Bian Feibai’s deathly pale face appeared before her. “Shh!”
Luo Yunmeng frowned and looked at Zuo Qingquan close behind him. Lowering her voice, she asked, “Did your acting addiction flare up? You came here in the middle of the night to perform a ghost story?”
Zuo Qingquan pointed outside and whispered, “We’re not the ones addicted to acting. That would be the one outside.”
Luo Yunmeng looked completely lost.
Bian Feibai added, “A ghost.”
Luo Yunmeng hurriedly covered her mouth. Even her arrogantly straight back hunched down.
“How the vision deceives and beguiles, till a figure almost seems to appear. How slowly it comes, how reluctantly it goes…”
At that moment, a woman appeared to be singing opera outside the door.
Luo Yunmeng took back the Five Emperor Coins Bian Feibai had picked up for her. She clenched them tightly and stared nervously at the door.
As they watched, Bian Feibai sensed something wrong and instinctively glanced toward the window.
At some point, a narrow crack had opened. Behind it was a deathly white face. The lips stitched together with black thread were a mangled mess of blood and flesh.
Worse, the female ghost had no pupils. Her eyes were entirely white…
“Aaaaaah-”
Unable to control himself, Bian Feibai screamed.
The next second, bloody trails ran from the woman’s eyes, nose, ears, and stitched mouth. Thick clouds covered the moon. After several seconds of darkness, rustling noises suddenly filled their ears. It felt as though they had been dropped into an extremely crowded gathering…
The moon quietly emerged again. The first thing they saw was a round table.
Expressionless paper effigies sat around it, while white funeral streamers hung from the ceiling and rafters, drifting in the wind.
Everyone stood as if struck by an Immobilization Talisman. At each table sat one streamer surrounded by living paper effigies.
Nothing rested on the tables except empty plates, a sight eerie enough to chill the blood.
A white Double Happiness paper cutout was pasted on a distant door. Wind curled one edge of the character, adding a desolate air.
Were they… holding a ghost marriage here?
Luo Yunmeng stared at the paper effigies in horror. She wanted to tremble and scream, but could do neither. The only parts of her body she could move were her eyes.
Only when her peripheral vision landed on the large Bronze Mirror inside the room did she realize that she had become a paper effigy too!
What was happening?
How had things become like this?!
Qiao Yu woke to one mournful suona note after another outside the door. Blinding red filled his vision. Candle flames swayed on both sides, and faint incense perfumed what appeared to be a woman’s private chamber.
He raised a hand to rub his aching eyes, then froze at the sight of a flawless, delicate hand. It was small and fine-skinned, without the habitual coolness of his original body.
This was a woman’s hand!
His eyes widened in shock. He instinctively tried to open the Live Stream Room, but no matter how he called, the control panel would not appear.
Qiao Yu grew anxious. He crudely hiked up the layers of his skirt and ran to the dressing table, only to see an unfamiliar woman’s face. Her features were extraordinarily delicate, but her eyes were rimmed with red.
It looked as though… she had been crying?
What was going on? Where was Shang Yan? Where was the Live Stream Room?
Qiao Yu suppressed his surprise, walked to the window, and quietly opened a narrow crack.
Dozens of paper effigies in soft armor stood outside the door. Maids and servants in pale-pink short outfits bustled around the courtyard as well, apparently preparing to send off a bride.
The paper effigies seemed to sense his gaze. Every one of them stopped and turned toward him in perfectly identical movements. Even the mournful suona fell silent.
Qiao Yu immediately stepped back and shut the window.
The suona resumed the next second, along with busy footsteps. The preparations continued where they had left off.
He frowned in thought, then began searching through chests and cupboards. Several large trunks stood in the room. When he opened them, he found glittering gold ingots, agate, pearls, and all manner of extravagant treasure.
Qiao Yu suppressed an intense urge to claim it all, slammed the trunk shut, and searched the wardrobe instead.
He found no useful weapon, only a pile of opera costumes. Out of options, he picked up the writing brush lying on the table and gripped it tightly.
Ren Yan, oh, Ren Yan. He could only place his hopes in her now.
But who could help him with the summoning?
One of the paper effigies outside?
Worth a try!
Qiao Yu opened the door a crack. The same eerie scene repeated. Every paper effigy stopped what it was doing and turned toward him.
The lively courtyard fell deathly silent again.
Under immense pressure, Qiao Yu cautiously extended one foot beyond the threshold…
The paper effigies abruptly moved. Raising their arms, they rushed forward to grab him!
“Fuck!” Qiao Yu swore. Rather than retreat, he grabbed one paper effigy, dragged it into the room, and threw his back against the door.
The effigy wore a maid’s clothes. It pulled its mouth into an eerie smile and raised a hand to claw his face. Outside, the others pounded against the door. Qiao Yu could not move even half a step away.
He had no choice but to seize its wrist and shove the brush into its other hand. He immediately chanted, “Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, you are my past life and I am your present one. If you wish to renew our bond, draw a circle on the paper!”
Silence. Complete and utter silence.
Ren Yan did not appear!
Could a paper effigy not summon the Pen Spirit? Or… was she unable to come?
While he stood dazed, a low growl erupted. The paper effigy opened its mouth and lunged to bite his head. Forced to turn defense into offense, Qiao Yu grabbed a nearby candlestick. The instant the flame touched the paper effigy, it ignited with a whoosh.
The pounding outside paused.
Then-bang bang bang bang bang!
It returned even more violently.
This woman’s body seemed to possess little strength. Each impact shoved Qiao Yu’s toes across the floor. Finally, he gritted his teeth, yanked open the door, and pushed the burning effigy outside.
The others were clearly terrified of fire and all retreated several rustling steps.
Taking advantage of the opening, Qiao Yu ran out of the courtyard.
The street outside was even more crowded than the courtyard. Yet when he looked around, every… single… figure… was a paper effigy!
More horrifying still, they all raised their heads in unison, pointed behind Qiao Yu, and commanded, “Go back!”
Qiao Yu stood still.
They stepped forward in perfect unison. “Go back!”
“Go back!”
The more urgently they repeated it, the higher the corners of their mouths rose. Beneath different clothes were similar faces, identical smiles, identical words, and identical movements!
The other paper effigies chased out from behind him and clamped down on Qiao Yu’s shoulders. Two of them easily lifted him and stuffed him into the bridal sedan waiting outside, its frame covered in Soul-summoning Banners…