Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Deathly silence returned to the room, broken only by my own breathing.

I quickly looked at the open window and wondered whether I could escape through it.

Before I had taken more than a few steps, a pale face appeared outside!

It belonged to another boy in his teens. Expressionless, he stared at me with empty eyes.

He looked like the boy who had carried in the water–another servant of Zhao Manor. He had apparently been standing outside the window the entire time. Escape was impossible.

“Damn it! If I can’t get away, I might as well see what this ghost feast actually looks like.”

With no other option, I retreated and sat obediently on the bed to wait.

Before long, I faintly heard the shrill notes of a suona horn… It was unmistakably funeral music, the kind played when a family carried a coffin to burial.

Creak.

The door opened by itself.

The servant from earlier stood outside, smiling broadly. “Honored guest, the banquet is ready. Please follow me!”

Before I could answer, my legs began moving against my will. They followed him–or rather, it–from the room toward the main hall of Zhao Manor.

The long corridors outside twisted and turned like a maze, revealing the manor’s enormous size.

Even if I had escaped the room, I probably would have become lost and trapped inside!

“Is this another glamour spell?”

With that thought, I waited until the creature ahead was not looking and secretly touched one of the corridor pillars.

It felt cold and solid.

“Could it be real? Or are the evil entities I met this time so powerful that even my greater resistance to glamour spells and entrancement is useless?”

Several times along the way, I considered turning and running while my guide’s back was turned!

But each time, I forced the impulse down.

Having stumbled into a ghost feast, escape could not be so easy.

When I tried the window earlier, someone had been watching from outside. If I ran now, some sinister creature might emerge from a corner and kill me on the spot.

For the moment, I would go to the banquet and see what was truly happening.

The suona grew steadily louder. A garden appeared ahead, and beyond it stood an imposing hall.

At least a dozen large round tables filled the interior, where a noisy crowd ate and drank.

A small stage even stood at the front of the hall, with performers singing an opera!

Their faces were painted in exaggerated theatrical masks, deathly white with garish rouge. They sang in high, drawn-out voices.

For some reason, the performers reminded me of the paper figures I had seen earlier. They wore the same sort of makeup, and the sight filled me with unease…

“Honored guest, you may sit at this table.”

My guide placed me at a table near the western side of the hall’s center.

I was frustrated. I had hoped to sit in a corner and observe quietly. Here in the middle, surrounded by “people,” I would attract far too much attention.

I did not dare confront anyone openly, so I sat down reluctantly.

An old woman with deeply wrinkled skin sat to my right and watched me maliciously. The moment I took the seat beside her, her face gathered into a smile. In a hoarse, piercing voice, she asked, “Little child, I haven’t seen you before. Which family do you belong to?”

I had no idea how to answer, so I ignored her.

“Oh? Can’t you speak? Are you mute?”

The old woman reached toward me. Her hand was gaunt, little more than skin stretched over bone, but the nails were unnaturally long and packed with dirt.

I quickly leaned away, gathered my courage, and shouted, “Leave me alone!”

I was terrified inside, but my face had to remain fierce.

My shout startled the old woman. Her hand froze midway and dared go no farther. She slowly withdrew it, while her expression grew increasingly sinister and her eyes gleamed with menace.

“You disrespectful little brat. If it weren’t Master Zhao’s birthday today, I’d teach you a lesson right now!”

As she bared her teeth, I saw how sharp they were.

She truly was not human!

No living old woman could be so vicious or possess such long nails and pointed teeth. I simply did not know whether the creature was a ghost or some animal that had gained spiritual awareness and assumed human form.

Once I displayed my ferocity, the other ill-intentioned figures at the table settled down somewhat.

I knew they were not truly afraid of me. They merely dared not start a fight at Master Zhao’s banquet.

“What do I do? I’ve only bought myself a little time. If the banquet ends before I escape, I’ll truly be finished. Every laughing and talking thing here is inhuman. This must be a banquet of ghosts!”

I understood my situation perfectly. I was no dim-witted hero from a story, oblivious even when disaster stood before him.

But understanding was one thing. Knowing what to do was another!

I secretly observed my surroundings. Servants of Zhao Manor stood in every corner and beside every door. They were probably there to attend the birthday guests, but to me, their presence was despair itself.

There was no way to slip out!

After the old woman failed to intimidate me, the others at my table stopped staring and lowered their heads to eat.

The table was laden with a magnificent assortment of dishes, each delicacy fragrant and inviting.

I had loved food since childhood. In today’s language, I was a true foodie!

Often, while my mother was still cooking, I sneaked into the kitchen and stole a piece of meat straight from the pot. Because it was so hot, I would blow on it while running away.
My mother would laugh and scold after me, “Were you a starving ghost in your last life? Can’t you even wait for the food to reach the table?”

But under these circumstances, how could I possibly have an appetite?

Even when I saw my favorite twice-cooked pork, I did not touch my chopsticks. I only looked around.

The opera onstage appeared to have reached an exciting moment. Many of the “guests” set down their bowls and chopsticks, clapping and cheering.

I had no idea what story they were performing. All I saw was a guillotine brought onstage. One actor was restrained, and his head was forced beneath the blade.

The metal edge glinted coldly and looked utterly real. My heart tightened for no apparent reason.

Then the blade slammed down.

Thump!

The actor’s head flew off, making me jolt. Had I not been seated firmly, I might have fallen to the floor.

But no blood sprayed from the severed neck. Only ghastly white flesh curled outward.

The flying head landed with a light sound and rolled across the floor.

It came to rest less than ten feet from me.

Fighting my fear, I stared more closely.

It was no human head at all. It was clearly the head of one of those paper figures offered to the dead at gravesides…

“Good! Magnificent!”

“Splendid! Most entertaining!”

The entire audience applauded and cheered.

Some even abandoned their bowls, climbed onto their stools, and jumped about, making strange squeaking noises. Their behavior encouraged other guests to lose their restraint as well.

But servants of Zhao Manor soon dragged those guests down and hauled them into the rear courtyard. Piercing screams followed almost immediately.

The servants returned shortly afterward with fresh blood on their hands and faces, wearing gruesome smiles.

I shuddered.

So that was why!

No wonder the eerie old woman beside me had only glared after I shouted at her. At Master Zhao’s birthday banquet, anyone who bullied others or caused a disturbance evidently met a terrible end.

But that realization chilled me even more.

It meant that the master of this haunted Zhao Manor–the so-called Master Zhao–was likely an extremely vicious entity!

I did not know whether he was as formidable as the drowned revenant Wang Fei had become, but he was certainly many times more powerful than the weasel spirit I had killed!

As panic stirred in my heart, a shrill, piercing voice rang through the hall from nowhere.

“Our master, Master Zhao, has arrived!”

Rustle.

Every guest set down their bowls and chopsticks, stood, and applauded vigorously.

Naturally, I copied them. As I stood clapping, I watched the stage. A stooped old man leaning on a cane emerged slowly from the rear, supported by two servants.

He actually looked rather kindly, yet for some reason, he radiated a wrongness that was cold and sinister.

A moment later, I realized why.

The skin exposed beyond his clothes–his neck, the backs of his hands–was covered in small, strange, circular patches.

They were spots found only on the dead!

I had seen them before when an old villager was placed in a coffin. My father said they were livor mortis, which appeared only on corpses.

Master Zhao had many such marks!

Moreover, his ornate traditional jacket looked luxurious at first glance, but closer inspection revealed it as burial clothing.

Though this old ghost filled me with sinister dread, it also looked genuinely frail. He trembled and needed support merely to walk.

But I knew the ghost had to be immensely powerful. How else could it have gathered an entire hall of guests? God only knew what sort of monsters they were…

“Ahem. Quiet.”

The old man extended a hand and pressed it downward. Every “person” in the hall fell silent.

“First, I thank all of you for attending this old man’s birthday banquet. I am delighted. Today, while you are in Zhao Manor, eat well, drink well, and enjoy yourselves.”

Applause rang out below, and I joined in.

“Second, I have the honor of welcoming a distinguished guest today.”

A distinguished guest?

My heart lurched.

Anyone whom this dangerous-looking Master Zhao called distinguished could hardly be harmless. My situation had just become even more perilous.

But to my utter disbelief, the old man onstage turned toward me and pointed.

“It took great effort to invite this distinguished guest. Please come to the stage and say a few words.”

What?

I stared blankly, unable to react.

Two servants began shoving me toward the stage. Along the way, every guest watched–some grinning, some malicious, some cold and sinister.

When I reached the stage, Master Zhao looked at me and smiled.

Pointing at me, he addressed the crowd below.

“Look closely. This is my distinguished guest. And of everyone present today, he is the only… living human!”

My scalp prickled as cold shot from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head.

The accursed old ghost had exposed me!

I had hoped to somehow bluff my way through. Apparently, the centerpiece of this ghost feast was me–a living human.