Chapter 320
Chapter 320
Mu Xin glanced at Jian Fan and roughly guessed what he was thinking, but could she say it aloud? She chose silence.
Jian Fan was much more direct. “She’s there to guard against you.”
Yang Zhen fell silent.
“You’re certainly direct.” Yang Zhen laughed.
Jian Fan did not force the matter. “You can refuse.”
Yang Zhen was broad-minded. She merely laughed. “Whatever. Fine. Do we leave now?”
Jian Fan nodded.
He meant for Yang Zhen and Mu Xin to hide from the very beginning.
Yang Zhen did not refuse.
She beckoned to Mu Xin. “Let’s go.”
Mu Xin did not object and immediately followed.
They left the room and quickly vanished into the darkness.
Mu Xin knew little about this kind of work, but with Yang Zhen leading her, it should not be a problem. The darkness made it difficult to see the road, yet that was no obstacle for Yang Zhen.
Not long after they left, sounds came from outside.
“Oh dear, we’re late today. Hurry, or we’ll miss Squire Xie’s wedding banquet.”
“What’s the rush? It’s still early.”
“Let’s get there early and claim a good spot. I hear this groom is quite handsome.”
“…”
Once again, the voices arrived before the ghosts.
Then a married couple appeared in the courtyard.
They noticed the candlelight in their home and froze when they saw a roomful of people inside.
“Good heavens, have we been robbed?” the man exclaimed first, though he sounded neither afraid nor as alarmed as Brother Zhao had.
The moment he finished, the woman beside him slapped him across the face. “What nonsense are you spouting? They’re visitors from afar.”
“Huh?” The man was still confused.
The woman had already approached the group with a warm smile.
“You’re from out of town, aren’t you?” she asked cheerfully before introducing herself. “My surname is Ma. Just call me Auntie Ma. This is my home, but meeting like this must be fate. Don’t stand on ceremony. Make yourselves comfortable, as if this were your own home.”
Auntie Ma was exceedingly hospitable.
But Qin Nan’s group already understood what was happening, so her warmth made sense.
After all, to her, this was hardly different from money falling from the sky.
Auntie Ma ushered everyone inside and chatted with them for a while. When it was nearly time to leave, she and her husband returned to their room to change, leaving Jian Fan, Qin Nan, and the others alone.
Jian Fan remained calm.
The others exchanged glances.
They did not know how Yang Zhen and Mu Xin were doing, whether they would find any clues, or whether they might encounter danger.
The two women everyone was worrying about were hidden in the darkness.
When Auntie Ma and her husband emerged, Yang Zhen immediately tugged Mu Xin along and followed them.
The ghosts did not seem particularly alert. Perhaps it had never occurred to them that Game Players might follow them, so they had lowered their guard.
Yang Zhen watched Auntie Ma and her husband enter the neighboring room.
She immediately led Mu Xin after them.
Had Yang Zhen been alone, she probably would have climbed onto the roof. With Mu Xin beside her, however, she feared causing a disturbance, so she crouched in a corner. Auntie Ma had not shut the door completely, leaving a narrow gap through which Yang Zhen could make out what was happening inside.
“Hurry and change,” Auntie Ma urged her husband.
The man seemed annoyed. “What a pointless nuisance.”
“Enough. Don’t make Squire Xie unhappy.” Auntie Ma glared at him.
The man snorted but obediently complied.
Then Yang Zhen witnessed something that made her question everything.
The couple stood casually in the room and raised their hands. Each held one palm flat and drew the fingers of the other hand across it, though there was clearly nothing there. Blood immediately began bubbling from their palms.
It quickly flowed from their palms into every other part of their bodies. Wherever the blood spread, their clothes changed with it.
They were not changing clothes at all!
They were dyeing their clothes red with their own blood, turning them into red garments.
Wait.
Yang Zhen felt as if her mind could no longer keep up.
Could ghosts… bleed that much?
Ghosts had no bodies. They were incorporeal or existed only as consciousness, without any physical form. Where did the blood come from?
Were these people or ghosts?
Yang Zhen’s thoughts descended into complete chaos.
She was not alone. Mu Xin also looked utterly bewildered.
Beneath that bewilderment lay a trace of fear.
No wonder the red clothes had seemed so sinister. They were garments dyed in blood. How could they not be horrifying?
Countless thoughts filled both women’s minds. When Auntie Ma and her husband finished and prepared to leave, Yang Zhen hurriedly led Mu Xin away to rejoin Qin Nan and the others.
The two entered the room with numb expressions.
One glance at their faces told Jian Fan they had seen something, and likely something far from simple.
But this was not the time to ask. Auntie Ma and her husband returned soon after the women entered.
The moment the couple stepped inside, they noticed the two additional people in the room.
It was impossible not to notice two people who had suddenly appeared.
Qin Nan smiled awkwardly and explained, “They’re with us. They went out earlier and just came back.”
Auntie Ma showed no suspicion. She nodded, then smiled. “You two young ladies were the ones peeking at us while we changed, weren’t you?”
The entire room fell silent.
Yang Zhen had believed herself well hidden, never imagining the couple had known she was there all along.
Jian Fan frowned.
The couple had known Yang Zhen and Mu Xin were watching but had not stopped them. Did that mean they were unconcerned about revealing the secret?
Was it simply unimportant, or would knowing it be useless anyway?
Jian Fan’s mind raced, while Qin Nan laughed the matter off. “So that’s what you two were sneaking out to do! You went off to misbehave. Hahaha! Since when did you have that kind of hobby?”
Yang Zhen fell silent.
Mu Xin fell silent too.
They wanted to beat Qin Nan to death.
Auntie Ma watched them with a smile and appeared disinclined to pursue the matter. Yang Zhen rolled her eyes. “Peeking at what? We only happened to see it. There was nothing worth looking at.”
The two NPCs probably had not expected to encounter Players as unconventional as Qin Nan and Yang Zhen.
They neither denied it nor invented a plausible excuse. They simply admitted it in this inexplicable fashion?