Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Sacrifice
He tried several times, but Yang Xiao had no reaction at all. The people behind him began to get restless. After a moment of silence, footsteps started to echo.
When the footsteps gradually faded away, Yang Xiao slowly moved his body, even managing to sit upright a bit and start standing up. The next second, the departing footsteps immediately turned back, and the voice was extremely excited, "Chu Fukke, you’ve finally come to your senses, quick, follow me and let’s leave, Kuang is waiting for us outside the door!"
But Yang Xiao didn’t even turn his head and just sat down again, swaying, maintaining the same posture as the paper figures around him, peacefully watching the play.
The same thing happened three times, with that person going back and forth three times accordingly. Afterwards, he simply stopped leaving. Yang Xiao didn’t look back, but by feel, the other should have found a seat and sat down, ready to outlast him.
Yang Xiao was willing to do this not because he was in a good mood to tease ghosts, but because he realized a critical issue – this fellow’s target tonight was probably the three people involved in the ghost play.
The first target was Kuang Hongyi, he was the second, and next it would be Su Tingting’s turn.
From the direction the footsteps left, this guy intended to go around in a circle and head behind the white cloth at the stage. The next most likely thing Yang Xiao could think of happening was this person hiding behind the white cloth, trying to coax Su Tingting, who was singing, into doing everything possible to interrupt the ghost play.
Although Su Tingting was possessed by a ghost, she must also have a part to play; otherwise, her role tonight would be absolutely safe, which doesn’t make sense.
Most importantly, if the ghost play was interrupted, the one dying wouldn’t be just Su Tingting. The audience of ghosts below would explode in an instant, and by then, both he and Kuang Hongyi would be unable to escape.
At times like this, the importance of a reliable teammate became apparent. If the one on stage was Kuang Hongyi or Shi Dali, then Yang Xiao wouldn’t have this worry.
Sure enough, not long after that guy sat down, Yang Xiao noticed a change on stage. Su Tingting’s expression changed; her face was filled with fear, but the posture of her hands and the tone of her singing were still full of charm, quite the style of a master.
Had Su Tingting returned?
No, that wasn’t right. Xi Yao was still occupying this body, and Su Tingting could feel everything happening to this body, but that was all she could do – feel. She couldn’t control it.
Yang Xiao inwardly remarked how close that was, thinking that if he had let that guy go just now, allowing him to jump out and cause trouble at this critical moment would have been truly dangerous.
Su Tingting’s gaze turned to the audience below, her face distorted by fear until she noticed Yang Xiao and cast him a pleading look.
Slowly, Yang Xiao felt the hairs on his body stand up. He could sense a chilling presence coming from multiple directions behind him.
The paper figures also noticed Su Tingting’s gaze, and more and more ghastly looks converged on Yang Xiao’s back.
"Chu Fukke, run with me, otherwise, hehehe..."
A raspy voice came through, the guy hidden among the paper figures didn’t even bother to pretend anymore, issuing a chilling laugh.
Yang Xiao remained motionless, fiercely giving Su Tingting a look that warned, "Be careful or I’ll stab you," causing Su Tingting to quickly avert her gaze in fright.
Immediately after, the cold gazes behind Yang Xiao gradually dissipated, as if everything before had been an illusion.
As the ghost play went on, the incense in the burner burned ever more fiercely. Yang Xiao counted, and the offering for the No. 4 Offering Table had to be replaced ahead of schedule.
Trying not to move his upper body, Yang Xiao stealthily lifted the red cloth covering the bamboo basket with his hand. He then reached in, took out three apples, wrapped them in the Corpse Wrapping Cloth, and prepared to set off.
But then, an unexpected scene unfolded: the incense in the last burner suddenly began to burn fiercely, so vigorously that flames appeared, and dozens of sticks were burned down to nearly one-third of their length in an instant.
Yang Xiao: "!!!"
Yang Xiao was stunned; the last burner corresponded to the offering of candies and preserved fruits. From the start until just a moment ago, the offerings here had barely been touched. How could they suddenly be consumed so ferociously—how many had come here?
And this offering was intended for little children; where could so many child ghosts have come from?
Yang Xiao couldn’t figure out what the problem was for the time being, but by now there was no doubt that the offerings had to be replenished; otherwise, disaster would strike!
He grabbed a large handful of candy from the last bamboo basket, stuffed it into the Corpse Wrapping Cloth, and set off in a hurry.
He walked with measured, shuffling steps, never lifting his feet off the ground, almost scraping his heels with each step, moving in a straight line from the leftmost side of the first row to the right.
Next to him were rows of paper figures, as if inspecting his progress as he delivered the offerings. Yang Xiao remembered the elder’s words, looked straight ahead, and tried not to look down at the feet of the paper figures.
"Hm?"
The next second, Yang Xiao’s body swayed and he suddenly lost his balance, falling forward.
In the nick of time, Yang Xiao hugged the Corpse Wrapping Cloth tightly to his chest and turned on his side just before he hit the ground.
The fall was nothing if not severe; half of Yang Xiao’s body went numb, but the Corpse Wrapping Cloth was intact, the offerings inside not exposed, and none had fallen to the ground.
Yang Xiao immediately got up, clutched the Corpse Wrapping Cloth, and continued as if nothing had happened, yet his heart was already churning with towering waves. Just now... just now something had tripped him!
But he had traversed this path before and kept his distance from the paper figures; it was absolutely impossible that he had bumped into any of their feet.
The leg that tripped him had appeared out of nowhere, and at that moment, a faint laughter echoed from behind.
"Very good," commended Yang Xiao, recognizing the laughter as that of the same entity from before. It must have been the one that had tripped him just a moment ago.
Yet it was truly perilous. If he had reacted a split second slower and the offerings had fallen to the ground, he would have been done for.
Time did not allow him to ponder any longer; Yang Xiao swiftly replaced the candies and then the apples on Offering Table No. 3.
Strangely enough, as he passed by No. 4 Offering Table on the way back, Yang Xiao suddenly felt a chill in his limbs and bouts of dizziness in his head. An eerie wind sprang up from nowhere, carrying within it weird moaning noises.
Yang Xiao instinctively wanted to close his left eye and use his right eye to see what was really going on with No. 4 table, but just then, a grating voice erupted from the stage, disrupting the rhythm of the opera. Yang Xiao abruptly looked up, only to see Su Tingting staring at him with eyes full of terror, as if she had just witnessed something incredibly horrifying.
Without hesitating further, Yang Xiao immediately left. He knew Su Tingting was warning him; possessed by Xi Yao, she could see things that he could not. She must have seen something terrifying near No. 4 Offering Table, something far more dreadful than the paper figures below the stage.
That Su Tingting was willing to risk the ghost play spiraling out of control to warn him indicated just how dangerous the situation had been. Yet what perplexed Yang Xiao was what exactly she saw—apart from the paper figures below the stage, known as Drowned Ghosts, could there be something even more fearsome within the Feng Mansion?
