The elders in the main hall were arguing over whether Grandpa Liu should be buried tomorrow, while the young men in the west hall were chattering and discussing the terrifying scene they had just witnessed.
Chi Ling sat on the bed, closing his eyes to check his system panel. Having just bought a projector, he still had some points left in his account, but after browsing the shop for a while and failing to find anything he wanted, he logged out for the time being.
Chi Ling did not pay much attention to the juniors’ discussion in the room. Although he appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, he was constantly keeping track of the progress inside the main hall. Pricking up his ears, he heard the argument in the main hall cease, telling him that the group of elders had already made their choice.
Chi Ling immediately opened his eyes, got up, and moved to the doorway. He saw Auntie directing a few others to move the coffin out from the east hall.
It seemed they had still decided to bury Grandpa Liu ahead of schedule.
He cast an icy glance over this group of hypocrites.
If they truly felt they had done nothing wrong, then why feel guilty at all?
Chi Ling beckoned to his cousin, raising his volume slightly. “Cousin, come look over here. What are Auntie and the others doing?”
His cousin happily crowded over to crowd the doorway and peer alongside Chi Ling, while the others, unable to suppress their curiosity, also swirled forward.
“Aiya, what are they doing?”
“Nonsense, can’t you tell they’re moving a coffin?”
“What, a coffin? Let me see too.”
“Didn’t they say the mourning period was supposed to last seven days?”
Chi Ling hooked the corners of his lips. Next, it would depend on just how deep the hatred between this father-daughter pair ran.
Night fell swiftly, and the lanterns in front of the ancestral hall’s main gates lit up, casting an ominous red glow that stained the entire entranceway in a wash of blood.
The elders kept watch in the main hall with grim expressions, while the juniors’ curiosity came and went quickly, causing them to gather together to play cards once more.
Chi Ling sat on the edge of the bed watching his cousin play cards, keeping his peripheral vision trained on the main entrance.
The sachet inside his bosom suddenly grew burning hot. A fleeting glance revealed a red figure appearing in front of the main gates; although it flashed past in an instant, Chi Ling was certain he had not seen wrong.
He glanced around, feeling as though everyone else was immersed in their own worlds, with no one noticing this scene.
Chi Ling lay down on the bed, calculating the time in his heart. Sure enough, before long, the other juniors in the room dispersed to rest in other chambers, leaving only him and his cousin behind, and his cousin quickly slumped over the table and fell asleep.
Chi Ling had skipped his meals tonight, eating only a bit of compressed biscuit from his backpack to pad his stomach. At this moment, his consciousness remained fully alert, though he simply closed his eyes like the others and feigned deep sleep.
The room was extremely quiet, so quiet that Chi Ling could hear the rhythmic rise and fall of several breaths, which sounded especially hair-raising in the dark.
I do not know how much time passed, long enough for Chi Ling’s consciousness to gradually begin blurring, when different sounds finally emerged.
Clatter, bang.
That was the sound of the corpse shoving open the coffin lid and leaping out.
Thud, thud, thud.
That was the sound of the corpse hopping across the ground.
The corpse was checking whether people were fast asleep just like last night. Noticing this, Chi Ling slowed his breathing, trying to make his breathing frequency match that of someone deep in sleep.
The thud-thud sound vanished. At the same time, a wave of rotting stench drifted over, and Chi Ling knew the corpse was standing inside the room observing them.
His heart thumped wildly, leaping up into his throat and making it somewhat difficult for him to breathe.
He could even hear his own thumping heartbeat. Fortunately, the corpse did not possess such acute hearing; after standing there for a while, it hopped back out.
Chi Ling desperately wanted to open his eyes, but intuition told him danger was still present here and he could not open his eyes right now. He continued keeping his eyes closed, adjusting his breathing, feigned deep sleep, and took tiny, shallow sips of air. His lungs felt as though they were about to burst from oxygen deprivation.
Sure enough, after a brief while, he heard the thud-thud sound again as the corpse hopped back inside to observe the two people in the room.
Looks like this corpse has gotten smarter, Chi Ling thought, holding his breath while managing to find some amusement in his misery.
Of course, it was also possible that Chi Ling running outside last night had triggered the corpse’s vigilance.
The thud-thud sound receded into the distance. The sachet inside Chi Ling’s bosom grew burning hot once more; Liu Xizhao had appeared. Chi Ling snapped his eyes open and sprinted outside.
The corpse was hopping in the direction of Qingming Mountain just like the previous night. Unlike last night, however, a red figure was closely trailing right behind the corpse.
Chi Ling remembered the path up the mountain, so he kept a wide distance between them. Fearing discovery and wishing to avoid alerting the enemy, he simply tailed far behind in their wake.
He thought to himself that tonight he must uncover more information.
Drawing closer bit by bit, they were soon approaching the lake he had seen yesterday. Chi Ling did not dare let down his guard for even a single step, remaining right behind those two figures the entire way.
Suddenly, the corpse turned its head and hopped back toward them. Chi Ling’s heart tightened, but upon second thought, he was so far away from them that there was nothing to fear. Chi Ling held his breath, and sure enough, the corpse was not charging at him.
Seeing the corpse constantly searching around, the red figure assumed it was looking for her and simply stopped hiding, revealing herself directly. This sudden move startled Chi Ling out of his wits.
He crouched low and tucked himself away, perfectly blending into the night.
The moment the corpse caught sight of this red figure, it began frantically hopping toward the mountain. By the time Chi Ling crouched down and stood back up again, he only had time to catch a glimpse of two fading afterimages.
Chi Ling: “…”
Recovering his wits, he ran forward as if racing for his life. Fortunately, the corpse seemed to be blocked by a barrier of sorts around the lake and could not advance further; otherwise, Chi Ling would never have been able to catch up to these two supernatural entities.
He cautiously crouched behind a tree trunk, gripping the bark with one hand, and was astonished to find that this spot looked somewhat familiar, it seemed to be the exact place where he had slipped and fallen yesterday.
Chi Ling: “…”
A second staging! Hahaha, wanna bet whether he’ll slip and fall again?
No way! No way! Nobody could possibly be this unlucky, right?
Probably not! If he slips and falls again under these circumstances, I guarantee he’ll be the first one to die.
Chi Ling evidently recognized the spot as well. He gripped the tree trunk even tighter and continued watching the blockbuster spectacle of the female ghost battling the zombie. To be honest, the female ghost currently held the upper hand, but the zombie seemed to have some sort of trick up its sleeve, preventing the ghost from ever truly inflicting fatal damage.
Chi Ling stared unblinkingly at the combat scene between the ghost and the corpse.
Crack. Something seemed to snap. Chi Ling stared in disbelief at the tree branch he was clutching.
It, it broke?
Since when did his attack power of forty-something allow him to snap trees barehanded?
Damn game, is this targeted targeting or what?!
Haha, that luck stat really is low! Looks like he’ll have to find another tree to hug.
Chi Ling naturally knew that too. He carefully sidestepped behind another tree, thankful that the ghost and corpse diagonally across from them were too engrossed in their death match to notice this microscopic sound.
However, facts proved that Chi Ling had let out his breath of relief far too early. The female ghost’s hand formed a claw shape and lunged straight for the corpse’s chest. The corpse dodged sideways, and the moment its body whipped outward, a silvery-white object flew through the air in a parabolic arc, landing with a clank right in front of the tree where Chi Ling was hiding. Two pairs of eyes locked straight onto him.
“Hi?” At this point in the game, hiding was no longer an option for Chi Ling.
With lightning-fast speed, he snatched up the object from the ground, spun around, and bolted toward the lakeshore.
The female ghost was clearly momentarily stunned, but upon seeing the direction Chi Ling was running, she immediately gave chase.
Having dropped the item that Chi Ling picked up, the corpse no longer dared to entangle itself with the ghost and seized the gap while the ghost chased Chi Ling to bound up toward the graveyard mountain.
Chi Ling was also extremely curious about what the item in his hands actually did, since it made the ghost abandon her urge to kill her mortal enemy and turn around to chase him instead.
Drawing a deep breath, Chi Ling continued sprinting forward. Almost there, almost to the lakeshore. At that moment, he abruptly halted and spun around.
“How about we have a chat?”
Sensing that the female ghost had no intention of harming him, he changed his strategy, hoping to talk to her and awaken her rationality.
Chi Ling pulled the sachet Grandma Wang had given him out from his bosom and tossed it to the female ghost.
“This is what your mother entrusted me to bring to you.”
Catching the sachet, the female ghost underwent an instant shift in her surrounding aura, as her chilling presence completely dissipated.
Chi Ling still remembered that the sachet’s effect lasted for only ten minutes.
Right now, time was life, and not a single second could be wasted.
“Can you tell me what is at the bottom of this lake?” Chi Ling asked.
Clutching the sachet tightly with bloodshot eyes, Liu Xizhao slowly spoke in a raspy voice: “There is something very dangerous at the bottom of the lake. You had better not go down.”
Her voice was raspy, but her expression was calm as she simply gripped the sachet even tighter, bringing it close to her heart.
“No one has ever been to the bottom of the lake, nor can we casually refuse to go.” Liu Xizhao swept a wary glance across the lake surface before looking back at Chi Ling.
“But you might be able to go down. You carry his aura on you.”
“Whose?” Chi Ling asked, puzzled. He raised the item in his hand to show Liu Xizhao. It was a simple silvery-white ring.
“Are you talking about this thing?”
Liu Xizhao nodded. “If you wear it, you should be able to go down. If you want to, I can send you down.”
Tomorrow was the final day.
Pondering for a moment, Chi Ling slipped the ring onto his right middle finger. Though a bit loose, it was at least better than not fitting at all.
“I want to go down and take a look.” Chi Ling gazed fixedly at the ring for a brief moment before raising his head to look at Liu Xizhao.
“Alright, I’ll send you down right now.” Liu Xizhao spoke indifferently.
Just as Chi Ling was wondering what method she would use to send him down, he felt a powerful force shove him straight downward.
So she was just going to push him right in?!
Could you give me a heads-up first, hello?!
The moment he plunged into the lake, Chi Ling had no time to think about anything else as he hurriedly purchased a small temporary underwater breathing item from the shop.
Within five minutes, he needed to find out what was truly special at the bottom of the lake.
Strangely enough, however, he did not discover any anomalies.
Waterweeds, silt, everything here was dead silent, a silence that made one’s heart panic.
The only strange thing about the bottom of the lake was the complete absence of living creatures. Not even a single small fish or shrimp could be found; there was only a realm of absolute death.
The five minutes were about to run out. Since Chi Ling could not swim, he could only relax his body and wait to float back to the water surface.
Right at that moment, the simple ring on Chi Ling’s hand emitted a dazzling white light, and his entire body was enveloped by a mysterious force.
Before losing consciousness, Chi Ling felt as though he caught sight of a human figure in the deeper, boundless void beneath the water, though he could not be certain whether it was just an illusion.