Chapter 460: Chapter 396: Breaking the Game
"What did you all see?" Yang Xiao, catching his breath, urgently needed to understand what had happened.
"You were standing there, doing nothing," Tong Han explained.
"And her, can you not see her either?" Yang Xiao pointed to the little girl kneeling on the ground, his emotions becoming more agitated.
"We can see her, she’s a child," Cheng Cha considered his words before continuing, "She must be a ghost."
"How do you feel?" Tong Han cared more about whether Yang Xiao had been hurt.
"I’m fine." Yang Xiao quickly reassured everyone after checking himself.
As Yang Xiao explained to them, the originally dissipating red moon above them strangely restored itself. As the red light poured down, everything around them turned sinister once again, driven by this ominous premonition, Yang Xiao and his group continued forward.
Soon, they climbed the third tier of steps, and this time, it was Mi Shu who was affected; she walked into a dim halo that enveloped her, the red moon dissipated once more, and everything was replayed in familiarity, only this time Yang Xiao shifted from participant to spectator.
No matter how Mi Shu struggled in the cage, she couldn’t leave the small area covered by the halo. Moments later, as if she saw a terribly horrifying scene, she screamed loudly, fell to the ground, and kept crawling backwards until the confining time ended, the dissipating red moon restored once again, leaving a female ghost in its place.
The female ghost’s occiput was smashed, her decaying face hung with lines of blood tears, her body shattered and in a gruesome condition, yet Yang Xiao knew at that moment the female ghost posed no threat to them as she could hardly protect herself.
Just like the Little Girl Ghost in the Ghost Lantern, this weeping female ghost was also confined, only able to stay in place.
Looking back, his own Braided Girl Ghost was still kneeling on the second-tier step, maintaining the bowing posture, motionless.
It took a long while for Mi Shu to come back to her senses; she touched herself all over with her hands, her eyes filled with terror, as if checking to see if her body was intact.
"How are you?" Tong Han asked loudly, "What did you see?"
"A Soul Summoning Banner, a ghost came out of the banner, I didn’t see clearly, then the ghost rushed over and... and smashed me," Mi Shu’s voice trembled, clearly severely shaken. Yang Xiao understood her, as the Spiritual Plaque had also smashed his head, even causing his brain matter to spill out. The scene and the feeling were incredibly real, making him feel, in that moment, as if he had already died.
Cheng Cha seemed to think of something and immediately pointed at the weeping female ghost by Mi Shu’s side, "Look carefully, was she already like this before?"
"No, wrong, her occiput was smashed before, but... but there were not so many injuries on her body," Mi Shu also regained her senses.
The female ghost’s body was battered and broken, some parts even completely severed. Yang Xiao immediately understood what Cheng Cha was implying—it seemed this ghost took the injuries for Mi Shu.
Previously, he had experienced the same; the Braided Girl Ghost had taken the Spiritual Plaque’s damage for him, or else he would have been the one who died.
Before anyone could react, the next second, Mi Shu, as if seeing something, suddenly let out a scream. A whooshing sound filled their ears as countless Joss Paper Money fell from the sky. A Big Red Ghost Coffin, escorted by numerous ghostly shadows, violently rushed forward, striking Mi Shu directly and sending her flying. Her fragile body instantly shattered, her organs and blood splattering everywhere.
This scene occurred so suddenly and shockingly that it took a moment for Yang Xiao and the others to react, not until they looked down and saw the blood splashed on them, and a severed hand lay at their feet, its fingers still trembling slightly.
Dead...
Someone who had been with them for so long, who had survived being attacked by villagers at the Du Family Ancestral Home all night, had just died.
And it was the very way she described her death, her body smashed to pieces.
The sight was too gruesome and bloody. The three turned their heads away, no longer looking, and after steadying their emotions, Yang Xiao began to suspect that Mi Shu’s death was connected to the deprivation of the Ghost in her Resentful Eye. In this gamble, the number of ghosts on one’s person was the stakes. Once the stakes were cleared, one had to leave the game.
Mi Shu had only one item in her Resentful Eye, one ghost, which, after being taken, led to her death. She was smashed into pieces by the Big Red Ghost Coffin in the manner she had seen before.
It was the same with him; if he had only one Resentful Eye, his fate would be to die by kowtowing himself to death, or perhaps his head would be smashed by that Big Red Ghost Coffin, spilling his brains out, maybe even splashing Cheng Cha and others.
"Each step up the stair means someone gets cursed, either leaving behind a ghost or a life," Tong Han also grasped the rules of this mission.
Cheng Cha stared at the people on the platform, his expression gradually becoming peculiar, "Their positioning is significant, triggering the rules in a counterclockwise order. The next one to act should be the person wearing a Black Gauze Cap, just give me some time, I should be able to figure out a way to survive."
The three continued on their way, this time climbing up the fourth level of steps. Yang Xiao felt a great drain on his strength, and looking up, there were still five levels of steps to go. He had this very strange feeling inside him, as if even if he had enough time and opportunity, he couldn’t finish climbing all the steps, not due to lack of ability, but because of physical exhaustion.
Although the journey thus far shouldn’t have drained much of their energy, he now even felt somewhat tired. Cheng Cha, on the other hand, was faring even worse than him, already starting to gasp for breath with cold sweat on his forehead. Tong Han’s situation was even more troubling. Yang Xiao noticed her holding onto her leg, seemingly barely able to stand upright. Her leg injury probably wouldn’t hold up much longer.
"There’s something strange about this place; it’s devouring our strength and aggravating our injuries," Tong Han said, then broke into severe coughing.
Tong Han already had injuries, so her perception was the clearest.
To avoid triggering a penalty, the three switched paths to the fifth level of steps, even taking two steps forward and one step back, but it was still to no avail. This time, Cheng Cha was the victim. The figure whose face remained unclear shook his Black Gauze Cap from side to side. Cheng Cha was much more restrained than Mi Shu.
As the lock-up was lifted, Cheng Cha, drained of all his strength, staggered to the ground, continuously retching, while at his original position, a skinny ghostly shadow stood there. The ghost’s dry head swayed left and right, each swing exceeding 90 degrees, creating an indescribably eerie scene. Yang Xiao noticed that the frequency of the ghost’s head swinging matched exactly with the frequency of the Black Gauze Cap’s shaking flanks; it felt as though the cap was remotely placed upon the ghost’s head.
After a moment of retching, Cheng Cha finally struggled to stand up, his head also wobbling slightly as if he were dazed.
However, at that moment, Yang Xiao was re-evaluating this teammate of his, who, while under restraint, wasn’t a Ginseng Essence, or in other words, this young lad had at least two Resentful Eyes, two ghosts on him.
Cheng Cha pointed to his head, wanting to say something, but his words nearly came out with his vomit. Yang Xiao knew that he must have also suffered a lot while constrained.
Cheng Cha eventually managed to stand up straight, looking painfully at Yang Xiao, "Do you really not remember how you got through here last time?"
"I don’t remember; I fought for this thing," Yang Xiao told the truth.
Swallowing his saliva with difficulty, Cheng Cha nodded, "I... I think I’ve found a pattern, but it’s still not enough, I need another trial... to verify it."
"I can help you guys test it out if possible," Yang Xiao said. He only had plenty of stuff on him, something even Director Nalan knew, and he was specifically instructed to keep it low-key, mentioning that he had too many untraceable items on him.
Without hesitation, the three continued forward, this time climbing up the fifth level of stairs. Tong Han’s leg injury worsened significantly, and it took great effort for her to climb it.
As a dim halo enveloped Tong Han, it was now her turn to be trapped. Remarkably calm at the moment, she sat on the ground, gently massaging her injured leg, "You guys go ahead, I only have one Resentful Eye, and my leg injury won’t allow me to go any further."
"After you get out, help me withdraw the money from the account with the boss and donate it to a reliable charity. I’ve killed people and committed arson in my life, never did any good deeds. For this last journey, I hope to make some good karma, hoping for a better reincarnation," Tong Han instructed Yang Xiao.
"I have an idea, perhaps we could try it," Cheng Cha interjected, turning his head to Yang Xiao with a sense of urgency, "Chu Brother, you could help her avoid this disaster once, but it comes with certain risks. Are you willing?"
"Stop talking nonsense, she still owes me a favor. Who am I going to find if she dies?" Yang Xiao gestured for him to speak quickly.
Glancing up at the soon-to-collapse red moon, Cheng Cha spoke urgently, "There’s no time to explain so much now. You two listen to me. When I say start, you both turn around, back facing the platform, close your eyes, and think of nothing."
"Right now!"
Following Cheng Cha’s shout, Yang Xiao and Tong Han turned around simultaneously. The next second, Yang Xiao suddenly felt a cold presence behind him, and when he opened his eyes, the sight shocked him. He and Tong Han had swapped positions, and now he was the one trapped in the cage.
Behind him, a series of creaking noises sounded, probably from an old wooden door being pulled open. A cold hand landed on his shoulder, yanking him backward harshly.
His body kept falling as if plunging into an endless abyss; despair, coldness, the helplessness of being abandoned. A multitude of negative feelings enveloped him, seemingly pulling at him, trying to hook out the deepest evil in his heart.
Finally, Yang Xiao abruptly opened his eyes, and now he was back in his original position, and so was Tong Han. Everything that had just happened felt like a dream.
But it was definitely not a dream, because right behind Tong Han floated a ghostly shadow, displaying a semi-transparent state, very strange. Tong Han’s first impression was that the ghostly shadow looked like Yang Xiao, but upon closer observation, she realized that the features of the shadow were melting, becoming more and more like her own.
"Don’t look; it’s that guy in the mirror!" Yang Xiao, battling the despair within him, spoke out to stop her.
Turning away, Yang Xiao looked toward Cheng Cha and, exhaling a long breath, gave him an encouraging look.
"Well done, brother."
