Chapter 434: Chapter 372: The Dead Seek Life
Yang Xiao was the first to act, and the others quickly followed suit. Soon, they had moved six jars of wine to the open area in the middle of the wine cellar. During this time, each person held the wine jar in front of their chest, always facing the jar to avoid immediately triggering the Ghost’s calling rule.
Meanwhile, they also noticed something peculiar about the jars: each jar was very heavy and filled with wine, making it completely impossible to tell by touch which contained human heads and which one held the real wine they were searching for.
Yang Xiao, facing the first jar, slowly turned around, exposing his back to the jar. For safety, he also took the Soul-Attracting Incense from Cheng Cha’s hand.
As time ticked by, everyone involuntarily held their breath, the silence was terrifying. Just as Yang Xiao was about to switch with someone, suddenly, a vague sound came from behind.
This sound was familiar to Yang Xiao’s ears, but it definitely wasn’t calling his name. It was a painful sobbing. Yang Xiao forced himself to calm down, not to overthink. As long as it was confirmed there was a human head inside, it was enough to rule out this jar.
But the next second, Yang Xiao, having slightly turned, noticed that Tong Han Cheng Cha and the others also had odd expressions on their faces. Each pair of eyes was fixated on the jar, as if... as if they had heard it too. But that was impossible, the Du Family Villagers’ curse only called one person’s name, and only the called person could hear it, a fact that had been verified after they entered the cellar.
Tong Han swallowed hard, tension taking over him, "Did you all hear it? It sounded like... like the voice of Sui Chengguo."
"Really, was it Sui?" Mi Shu was also startled.
This discovery was nothing short of shocking, especially since there were six wine jars in front of them, one of which contained real wine, while the others presumably contained human heads.
Five fresh human head jars, coincidentally matching the number of teammates they had lost.
According to the rules of the Nightmare World, no matter how severe the injuries, as long as one could leave alive, even if barely breathing, any injuries would fully heal once back in the real world, something Yang Xiao had experienced many times.
Following this line of thought further, if the jars really contained the heads of Sui Chengguo and the others, were they considered alive or dead now?
This, Yang Xiao could not be sure of, but there was a chance worth taking, considering Sui Chengguo initially died to give everyone a chance to live. Now, he too wanted to give Sui Chengguo a chance to live.
"What do we do?" Mi Shu asked in a low voice, "Should we open one jar to check?"
Without even thinking, Yang Xiao refused, "No, that’s too risky. Let’s find the real wine first, then try to take these jars with us."
"Don’t take Quan Doufeng’s," Yang Xiao added.
With time pressing on, they proceeded methodically. Soon, the five jars that could make noise were identified, and the last one remaining was the real wine jar they were searching for.
"Alright, let’s go." Yang Xiao was the first to pick up the jar containing the head of Sui Chengguo and headed out, the others followed suit, each carrying one. The jar Tong Han was holding was the real wine.
However, to everyone’s surprise, Cheng Cha was carrying two jars, one containing Hu Yanming and the other containing Quan Doufeng.
"Why are you carrying that filthy thing? Drop it!" Tong Han couldn’t help frowning, if not for that bastard Quan Doufeng, they might have already left and returned to the real world, and Sui Chengguo might not have died.
The two jars were heavy, and Cheng Cha was out of breath, but still refused to put them down, "I... I have my own plan, trust me, they still have a use."
But not long after they began walking, the group was stunned as they found themselves back where they started. Though the arrangement of wine racks was complex and the visibility poor, the overall area of the cellar was not large enough to get lost.
Unconvinced, they tried again, and quickly, upon returning to the original spot yet again, Cheng Cha could no longer persist and had to put the two jars down, sweating profusely.
Indeed, it wasn’t that simple; it seemed they had encountered Ghost Hitting the Wall.
"Could it be... could it be that something doesn’t want us to take Sui and the others?" Mi Shu looked around, her voice weak.
This possibility could not be ruled out, and crucially, the Soul-Attracting Incense was nearly burned out, continuing this stalemate could lead to a greater misfortune.
Apologizing silently to Sui Chengguo and the others in his heart, Yang Xiao instructed everyone to put down the human head jars, only taking the real wine jar, and continued trying. Yet, unexpectedly, the group found themselves back in the same place, for the third time.
There was a problem, it seemed that Ghost Hitting the Wall was not related to Sui Chengguo and the others, but was targeting them, the living, aiming to trap them all here.
With three attempts, a bizarre feeling gradually surfaced in the hearts of Yang Xiao and the others. It was as if more things were awakening in the wine cellar, and everyone had the sensation of being watched by more than one set of eyes, coming from all directions.
There was no doubt that those Du Family Villagers, surviving merely by their heads, were up to mischief. The glances spying on them were filled with jealousy, resentment, and stark greed, yearning for their bodies. These neither human nor ghostly beings harbored the delusion of living once more.
Having identified the source of the crisis, Yang Xiao also thought of a way to deal with these creatures. They could only see them from behind, so he instructed the four people other than Tong Han to face one direction each, standing shoulder to shoulder to form a square. Tong Han, holding the actual jar of wine, squeezed into the very center of the square. The group of five maintained this formation, taking small, shuffling steps back along the way they had come.
Sure enough, shortly after they set off, they saw the passage they had used to arrive. In fact, after the formation was set, Yang Xiao knew they were secure because he could feel that all the previous malevolent surveillance had disappeared; more precisely, it had lost direction and was frantically searching for them. The panic felt was exactly like the Ghost Taoist Priest they had encountered outside previously.
To be safe, they maintained their formation all the way through the passage until they reached the steps at the entrance, where they climbed up one by one.
Once everyone was out, Yang Xiao closed the large door of the wine cellar, then exhaled deeply, relieved that they hadn’t even reached the Ghost Monk’s temple before encountering such peril.
Back in the courtyard, Cheng Cha began to open the jar that emitted Quan Doufeng’s voice. After pouring out the liquid inside, to their astonishment, a human head rolled out – who else could it be but Quan Doufeng?
Chillingly, the brows and eyes of the head were still moving, and its mouth opened and closed, uttering eerie whimpers from its throat.
"Not dead yet?" Tong Han, holding back disgust, prodded Quan Doufeng’s forehead with a stick, "Stop disgusting us, speak in human language!"
The next second, Quan Doufeng stopped whimpering and instead slowly opened his mouth wide. It was then that everyone realized his tongue had been sliced off at the root.
No need to ask; it had to be the work of the Du Family.
Although left with only a head, Quan Doufeng’s thinking was still relatively clear, or at least he could understand what Yang Xiao and the others were trying to communicate.
Yang Xiao’s previous guess had indeed turned out to be true; Du Family Village was truly a killing ground where anyone who arrived would not die unless their head was smashed.
Cheng Cha had said it from the start – the place had bad Feng Shui, devoid of life energy, unsuitable for both the living and ghosts, and was designed as a trap for the dead.
Following suit, they opened the remaining Human Head Jars and successively took out the heads of other people, most of which were well-preserved. Only Sui Chengguo’s was too horrible to witness; his skin scraped raw, with an eyeball nearly falling out, a result not of the Du Family’s abuse but from being attacked by the Ghost Villagers the previous night after having stolen the other half of the joint-heart lock. His body looked just like this when they saw it in the morning.
Sui could no longer speak, but from the complexity in his eyes, one could sense his thoughts. Yang Xiao promised him that he would do everything to bring him home.
Only a small piece of the Soul-Attracting Incense remained, which now seemed useless. Cheng Cha came forward, extinguished the incense tip, and tucked it along with the Fire Starter into his pocket.
Now, how to carry the heads was a problem, especially since there was a Taoist watching outside, and who knows if the sinister thing could sense something.
Tong Han suggested stuffing the heads inside their clothes. Despite the obvious swelling, which was easily noticeable, he reasoned that the Taoist wouldn’t judge by ordinary human logic.
No sooner had Tong Han spoken than Yang Xiao and the others paused for a moment, almost simultaneously picturing the Taoist’s tall figure in their minds – specifically, his large, swollen belly.
"He’s also hiding a head in his stomach," Mi Shu suddenly realized.
"Whose head could it be?" Wuma Haoming wondered.
"Definitely not an ordinary person; either the Clan Leader’s Wife or the dead housekeeper responsible for the ceremonies, Du Huai might also be a possibility," Tong Han speculated.
Regardless, this also pointed them toward a path. All five of them stuffed a head into their clothes, with Quan Doufeng’s head on Cheng Cha, who seemed quite interested in that particular head.
Yang Xiao, carrying the jar of wine with some difficulty, led the group outside the courtyard. The Taoist was standing right outside the door, not having moved a step, even maintaining the same posture.
Yang Xiao and the others stood in front of the Taoist, but he showed no reaction, his gaze vacant as if soulless.
The shift occurred the moment Yang Xiao turned his back to the Taoist. He deliberately exposed his back, and almost instantly, the Taoist was activated. His empty pupils immediately focused, looking towards Yang Xiao’s back. At the same time, a cold, numb voice echoed, "Two people have returned."
Upon hearing this, everyone was initially stunned but then quickly understood what was happening. Cheng Cha could hardly suppress the joy in his heart; this meant the heads they carried could attract ghosts and be perceived as "living" entities, which was crucial for his next plan.
They turned around one by one, backs to the Taoist, then circled around and headed back the way they had come. After the Taoist reported ten people, he habitually followed behind them. The empty stone path echoed only with the footsteps of Yang Xiao and the other four.
