Chapter 383: Chapter 329: Tragedy_2
Rustle, rustle...
Just as Liu Haiping’s hope began to rise, she twitched her ears and suddenly heard a strange noise. It wasn’t inside the room but outside, as if... as if something was approaching her room.
The sound was very soft, like someone was intentionally muffling their footsteps. Listening closely, it was also somewhat erratic, not just one person, at least 3 or 4.
This odd sound of footsteps paused briefly outside the door and then a voice came through the crack.
"Liu Haiping."
The voice wasn’t very clear, as though someone was deliberately pinching their throat when calling out, causing Liu Haiping to break out in a cold sweat with her back hairs standing on end and her forehead drenched. She clenched her teeth and didn’t dare make a sound.
Something was off, anyone would know something was off.
"Liu Haiping."
"Liu Haiping."
The other party called out several times, but there was no response from inside the room. Then the footsteps began to move nearby, circled around, and stopped again.
Now Liu Haiping panicked, because the footsteps had stopped right outside the window.
Although the window was also tightly shut, it was much more fragile compared to the door—who knew if the ghost would break in without any sense of decency.
Sometime later, another series of urgent calls came through the window crack, "Liu Haiping, Liu Haiping!"
"It’s me, open the door, Liu Haiping!"
The other side seemed not to give up, calling through the window crack again and again. At the same time, the voice outside the door also began to call out, the repeated calls of Liu Haiping almost shattering her heart.
And that wasn’t all. Besides these two, there were footsteps moving about nearby, circling the house as if looking for a gap to squeeze in through.
Liu Haiping could never have imagined that there would be so many ghosts involved in this mission; at least three outside the room, and then... then there were those footsteps that had disappeared behind the screen.
It was an indescribable feeling, Liu Haiping subconsciously convinced that whatever was guarding outside the room was not the same thing as the footsteps behind the screen inside.
As to why the footsteps behind the screen had disappeared, Liu Haiping did not know, perhaps... perhaps it was because dawn was approaching.
"Scrape, scrape"
"Scrape, scrape"
The short but clear sound of scraping came from the direction of the door, as if someone was scraping the door with something sharp. Liu Haiping tensed up instantly.
"Thud, thud"
Next came the sound of wood striking against each other. The sound wasn’t very loud, but it was particularly quiet outside, which made the noise distinctly audible.
The thing outside the door seemed... seemed to be prying the door open. That faint knocking sound seemed to come from the door bolt.
Ghosts actually pry doors open!
Liu Haiping panicked immediately. Her first instinct was to get up quickly and bolt the door, or her life might be at risk should she let the ghost in.
But before she could take any action, Tong Han’s reminder surfaced in her mind: Don’t listen, don’t care, don’t ask, don’t move. As long as she made it through, she would survive.
She took a deep breath and remained silent, letting the ghost outside the door make a fuss. She held onto one belief firmly—it was all deception.
But the next second—
"Click."
The door bolt was open.
"Creak—"
This sound made Liu Haiping, with her back to the door, break out in goosebumps all over her body. She heard very clearly that the door behind her had opened.
This wasn’t an illusion, nothing like an illusion, because right after the door opened, the inside of the room visibly brightened.
Rustle, rustle...
The several sets of footsteps outside quickly converged towards the door.
Then—
"Tap."
"Tap."
"Tap."
The footsteps entered the room. Heavy and slow, not just one ghost. Liu Haiping’s heart rose to her throat. She trembled uncontrollably all over.
The footsteps stopped right behind Liu Haiping and stood still.
"Fake, all fake, can’t be fooled, can’t move, absolutely can’t move!!" Liu Haiping clenched her teeth and braced herself, her body shaking like a sieve.
...
A rooster’s crow broke the silence in the village; in a larger room inside the Du Family residence, Yang Xiao and the others jolted awake from their sleep.
"Hu—"
"Hu—"
Hu Yanming panted heavily, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. His back was also drenched in cold sweat, and as he lifted his gaze, he saw the others had just awakened and seemed not much better off than he was judging by their expressions.
Yang Xiao took a deep breath and looked at everyone, "Did you all have nightmares, too?"
Everyone nodded, but strangely, when asked to recall the contents of their nightmares, no one could articulate a thing. They only remembered having a very complex, yet dreadfully terrifying dream.
Originally, they had set people to keep watch during the night, and for safety’s sake, they had arranged for three people per group; yet everyone had fallen asleep.
Each watch group included veteran players. Tong Han, Yang Xiao, Cheng Cha, and Sui Chengguo were divided into three groups, but even they were affected. These nightmares seemed to be indiscriminate.
Before they could figure out the cause, a piercing scream suddenly emanated from the barely awakened village, a woman’s scream.
And it was a very young woman, judging by her voice, one they were quite familiar with.
"It’s that maid, Xiao Zui!" Cheng Cha was the first to react.
Quan Doufeng immediately headed for the door, intending to go out and check the situation, but Yang Xiao, who rushed over, kicked him aside, "Are you frickin’ crazy?!"
Quan Doufeng, having been kicked for no good reason, got angry, "Didn’t you hear the rooster crow? Look for yourself, it’s already daylight, are you blind!"
"Are you sure those rooster crows are real?" Tong Han naturally stood on Yang Xiao’s side. She didn’t have a high opinion of Quan Doufeng, who was not only unhelpful but also a source of chaos.
In addition to that, Sui Chengguo, Hu Yanming, and the others also didn’t show any good faces towards Quan Doufeng, which diminished his confidence, and he didn’t dare to make any more fuss.
A few minutes later, hurried and chaotic footsteps came from outside, then the door was forced open by the dark-skinned man who had led them into the village. The man had a look of panic, his lips trembling, and he was barely able to speak clearly, "It’s terrible, the miss... the miss has been killed by a monster!!"
"Dead?"
"Yes, the body has also been stolen by the monster!" The man appeared to be petrified, with his mind somewhat in a daze.
"What about our friend?" Tong Han immediately inquired.
"I don’t know, but she must be in trouble too. The monster left behind a trail of bloody footprints... the footprints... the footprints head towards the boudoir!" The dark-skinned man said rapidly.
"Quick, take us there!"
Following the dark-skinned man’s lead, the group quickly ran to the prayer hall where many people had already gathered, including the Du Family Patriarch and the Clan Leader’s Wife. The elderly Clan Leader sat in a chair without uttering a word, while the Clan Leader’s Wife collapsed on the ground, too distraught to make a sound, with many people around trying to comfort her.
There was a large pool of blood on the prayer cushion—presumably, the first scene of the Clan Leader’s daughter’s demise. According to the news Tong Han Mishu brought back, the Clan Leader’s daughter was supposed to have stayed in the prayer hall overnight, reciting scriptures and praying for blessings.
No body was seen. In front of the prayer hall lay a relatively large bundle wrapped in yellow scripture cloth, thoroughly soaked in fresh blood. Judging from its shape, it seemed to contain the Clan Leader’s daughter’s head.
"Who wrapped the head?" Yang Xiao asked the dark-skinned man.
"It was... the Clan Leader. There’s a custom in the village that says a person’s consciousness persists after death, and if the head is wrapped quickly enough, it can preserve the soul," the man answered.
At the same time, Yang Xiao and the others noticed the trail of footprints on the floor. The footprints, irregular and intermittent, stretched out from the bloody area near the prayer cushion. Without bothering to comfort the Clan Leader, they followed the trail of bloody footprints, growing more alarmed with each step because these footprints were leading straight to the boudoir where Liu Haiping had been the previous night.
The trail was winding, and whatever left the footprints seemed as if it had been drunkenly staggering. Finally, they opened a half-closed courtyard door and arrived outside the boudoir.
Taking a deep breath, Yang Xiao stepped forward and gently pushed open the blood-stained room door. The scene inside immediately shocked everyone. They saw a large pool of blood on the floor, and on the dressing table sat a head. The scene presented a solitary, chilling air to the group of lone men and women.
