Chapter 323
Chapter 323
The Zhao girl followed Jian Fan back and sat down beside him.
“I heard Miss Xie has been married several times already. What happened to her previous husbands?” Jian Fan tried to make his question as long as possible.
Swinging her feet, the Zhao girl said, “They died.”
“All thirty-odd of them died?” Jian Fan asked, though he already knew the answer.
The Zhao girl nodded.
Seeing this, Qin Nan immediately asked, “That many people died?”
The moment the Zhao girl looked at Qin Nan, a trace of displeasure appeared on her face. At the same time, a notification sounded in his mind–
“Character Favorability -2. Current Character Favorability: -100.”
Qin Nan was baffled.
Damn girl! You think I won’t hit you?
Qin Nan was furious.
“Why did they die?” Jian Fan asked.
The Zhao girl had nothing but displeasure for Qin Nan. When Jian Fan asked, however, she answered despite looking less than happy. “Because they were dead to begin with.”
Everyone was startled by her words.
Was that something she could just say outright?
“But they clearly looked alive,” Jian Fan said.
The Zhao girl tilted her head. “No. They’re all dead. Everyone here except you is dead, and you’ll all be dead soon too.”
Holy shit.
Everyone felt numb inside.
After she finished speaking, the Zhao girl looked at Jian Fan and smiled. “I can let you live a little longer.”
“Me?” Jian Fan played along.
The Zhao girl nodded with a smile. “That’s right, because you’re the most likable one in this group. You have to die later. That way, once I grow up, I can marry you.”
Qin Nan was baffled.
Qin Nan felt numb.
It was not as if this were Jian Fan’s first unwanted admirer.
Jian Fan, however, heard an important piece of information in her words.
“The dead can only marry on the night they die?” Jian Fan asked.
“Character Favorability +10. Current Character Favorability: +4.”
Before the Zhao girl answered, Jian Fan heard the notification in his mind.
The Zhao girl nodded at him in satisfaction. “You’re very smart. I suppose you’re barely good enough for me.”
Jian Fan remained calm as he asked another question. “Are you even more powerful than Miss Xie?”
“What’s so special about her? I’m the most powerful one here,” the Zhao girl declared without the slightest attempt to hide it. Then she paused before adding, “Miss Xie is very powerful too. I suppose she can just barely stand on equal footing with me.”
Jian Fan’s gaze deepened slightly.
Was the Zhao girl’s claim merely a product of her egotism and excessive confidence, or was she actually telling the truth?
Could it be that the key NPC in this instance was never Miss Xie and her father at all, but the little girl sitting before them?
“Then when will you grow up?” Jian Fan asked, once again following the Zhao girl’s lead.
At the mention of this, the Zhao girl smiled. “Very soon.” She held out a hand and counted on her fingers, eventually reaching a conclusion. “Not counting this time, I’ll grow up after five more people die.”
As she spoke, the Zhao girl turned to look at Qin Nan and the others, an odd glint in her eyes.
At the same time, every Player present except Jian Fan received a notification.
“Favorability +20. Current Character Favorability: -80.”
Everyone was baffled.
What was going on? Why had the Zhao girl’s Favorability suddenly risen by twenty just because she looked at them?
Jian Fan’s eyebrows twitched.
He asked another question. “What kind of bed do you like?”
Qin Nan could barely keep his expression under control when he heard the question. What kind of subject were they discussing now?
The Zhao girl’s expression remained indifferent. “I don’t like beds.”
“Then what kind of coffin do you like?” Jian Fan immediately rephrased the question.
Sure enough, the Zhao girl’s eyes lit up. “I like pretty ones. It has to have very intricate carvings. I like red too, so I want my coffin lined with red silk drapes. Ah, and it would be best if I had several people to wait on me, so my coffin has to be large as well.” The Zhao girl swung her feet as she spoke.
Jian Fan glanced down.
The Zhao girl wore a pair of Embroidered Shoes completely at odds with her status.
Set into the toe of each shoe was a luminous pearl of fairly good quality.
Jian Fan quickly looked away. “Mm. You’ll have it.”
“Hmph. I already do,” the Zhao girl said proudly.
Hearing that, Jian Fan suddenly curved his lips into a smile.
The moment he smiled, the Zhao girl’s eyes lit up again.
And then–
“Character Favorability +5. Current Character Favorability: 9.”
“You look so good when you smile,” the Zhao girl said, then added, “I want to add you to my collection.”
Jian Fan’s expression did not change in the slightest.
He asked another question. “Why are we here?”
The Zhao girl gave a laugh. “Because of… me.”
With that, the Zhao girl hopped down. “I’m going back. We can talk again next time if we get the chance.”
After speaking, she left without looking back.
At the same time–
The wedding toasts came to an end.
In an instant, the courtyard descended into a frenzy of demons once more.
Everyone could still cope while the ghosts maintained their human forms. Now that they had reverted to their neither-human-nor-ghost appearances, the sight was far too disturbing.
Besides, the group could not remain there any longer.
When the ghosts began their performance, Jian Fan and the others withdrew. The ghosts, for their part, seemed to have no intention of stopping them.
This time, Jian Fan did not search for more clues. They found a room and shut the door. Yang Zhen and Lu Jing lifted them onto the crossbeam one by one, after which Mu Xin exchanged Points for a Security Lock. They had no intention of putting themselves through anything else and simply used the item.
The ghosts appeared outside their door on schedule, but could not take a single step forward. The saliva rose faster than it had the previous two times, but since everyone was sitting on the crossbeam, they made it safely through the night once again.
Qin Nan’s group of eight was safe, but what about Yellow Hair and Lin Junruo?
At that moment, Yellow Hair and Lin Junruo were also hiding inside a room.
Both were trembling with fear.
They had activated the Security Lock, and reason told them they were safe for now. Yet with just the two of them inside and ghosts salivating over them outside, neither could calm down.
“Are you even a man?” Huddled together with Yellow Hair, Lin Junruo saw that he was not faring any better than she was and cried out in exasperation.
Yellow Hair felt wronged too. “Can’t a real man be afraid of ghosts?”
And there was far more than one ghost out there.
Lin Junruo fell silent.
Outside came the wails and howls of ghosts. Inside, saliva slowly crept higher.
The two of them were sitting on a round table.
Seeing the saliva continue to rise, Yellow Hair reacted quickly. Just before it submerged the stools, he grabbed two of them and placed them on top of the round table beneath them.
Then the two climbed onto the stools and watched the saliva keep rising, trembling all the while.
“Wah!”
The saliva had already swallowed the lower stools, then the table, and showed no sign of stopping. Unable to hold it in any longer, Lin Junruo burst into tears.
“I’m my parents’ only daughter. What will they do if I die? Yellow Hair, if you make it out alive, can you help take care of my parents?” Lin Junruo asked pitifully.
Yellow Hair wiped away a bitter tear. “I’d really like to promise you, but if you die, I don’t think I’ll make it either.”
At that, Lin Junruo cried even harder.
Perhaps infected by Lin Junruo’s tears, Yellow Hair… began to cry as well.
Why was his life so miserable?
Amid their sobs, the night gradually passed.