Chapter 65: Chapter 65: The Eight Characters of Birth Time
Staring at the paper garment on Su Tingting, Yang Xiao seemed to have realized something and began to search. Finally, at an inconspicuous spot near the collar, he discovered a piece of paper with blood-written characters on the reverse side—it was a person’s birth date in eight characters.
The note was hidden among many blank pieces of paper attached to the paper garment, virtually impossible to find without a thorough search. Yang Xiao didn’t even need to think about it; these eight characters undoubtedly belonged to the Young Lady!
Tonight, the Feng Family intended to use Su Tingting as a substitute for the Young Lady!
Upon making this discovery, Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi quickly checked the paper garments on themselves and, indeed, found two more notes with birth dates written in eight characters. One looked familiar—it must be Master Feng’s. The other... neither of them recognized.
"Damn it, this one has to be Shi Dali’s birth date!"
Kuang Hongyi’s exclamation jolted Yang Xiao awake from his trance. It hadn’t crossed his mind that Shi Dali would use himself and Kuang Hongyi as substitutes for his own demise.
The danger was real tonight.
After brooding for a moment, Yang Xiao finally made up his mind. He quickly grabbed Su Tingting. By this time, the third round of drumming had ended.
"Do you trust me?"
Su Tingting, still not fully awake from the pain, had somewhat scattered pupils. Yang Xiao steeled his heart and slapped her face, "Su Tingting! Wake up!"
With that, Su Tingting’s gaze finally sharpened, and Yang Xiao grabbed her shoulders, "Su Tingting, the situation is very bad. We might both die here. I’m asking you, do you trust me?"
"I trust," Su Tingting nodded through tears.
"Good, next I need you to do something. I want you to climb onto that ship," Yang Xiao pointed at the Hebo Xi Ship. He then quickly tore off the note bearing Shi Dali’s birth date and handed it to Su Tingting, speaking rapidly, "There shouldn’t be anyone in the ship’s cabin, but there will definitely be three sticks of incense. What you need to do is stay in the cabin, put this note under the incense burner, and then lightly blow out the two outer sticks of the three, ensuring that these two burn faster, eventually leaving them short with one long one in the middle."
People dread "three long and two short," but incense dread "two short and one long." This was to use the malevolent energy of the night to lower Shi Dali’s fortune, a preparation for the counterstrike that followed.
Of course, there was no time to explain all this to Su Tingting now.
"Okay," Su Tingting agreed resolutely, biting her lip. Despite the fear, there was no turning back now. With the ghostly entity about to burst forth from her belly, she would be the first to die when that happened.
After taking Su Tingting to the smaller wooden boat moored behind the large ship, Yang Xiao crouched, allowing Su Tingting to step on his shoulders to climb onto the large ship.
"Remember, when blowing the incense, don’t blow too hard. If the incense goes out, we’ll both be in big trouble. And..." Yang Xiao paused, then lowered his voice to remind her, "Blowing the incense might trigger some bad things. You... you need to be mentally prepared. Good luck."
After she had laboriously climbed onto the large ship, Su Tingting turned around to take the lantern handed to her by Yang Xiao. Moments later, her face, slightly contorted from pain, suddenly forced a smile. Illuminated by the light of the fire, her young and radiant face stood out.
"Mr. Chu, if we can’t turn this around in the end, I’ll set the ship on fire to attract the attention of those things outside. You... you must survive!"
Just in that moment of distraction, Su Tingting had already turned around. Yang Xiao’s pupils captured only her staggering figure rushing towards the cabin.
"Chu, below the boat! Below the boat!"
Yang Xiao abruptly looked down and saw something floating in the pitch-black water beneath him. He was standing on a small wooden boat tethered to the stern of the larger vessel, and Kuang Hongyi was also rowing close by. He jumped next to Yang Xiao and, with a determined heart, pulled on another rope tied to the bow of the small boat, the other end of which was dangling under the water.
Kuang Hongyi gritted his teeth and exerted force. The next second, Yang Xiao could smell a stench of blood invading his nostrils. Under the water... There was actually a corpse tied up!
Most of the corpse’s upper body was exposed above the water, dressed in short attire, looking sturdy, probably a martial master from the Feng Family household. The limbs and neck bore wounds so large they were grotesque.
Especially the neck, where the bones had been chopped through, leaving only a thin layer of skin and tendon keeping the head connected, which dangled loosely below one shoulder. The corpse’s eyes were wide open, bulging out, creating an exceedingly horrific scene.
At that moment, Kuang Hongyi’s face contorted fiercely, "The Feng Family did this, it’s the blood from this corpse that attracted those things around us!"
After the previous ghostly encounter, Yang Xiao understood that the paper boats around them were merely containers. By now, each of them already harbored resentful spirits within, those were the truly terrifying things.
Inside the big boat, there was a ghost fetus about to burst forth, while outside, a ring of resentful spirits was gradually closing in. If anything went even slightly amiss tonight, they would all be buried here.
"If we can’t do anything else, we’ll just have to fight!" Kuang Hongyi planned to fish up the corpse and tie it to the bow of the boat, "We’ll push this corpse out to distract those ghostly things. As soon as there’s a gap in the encirclement, we’ll find a chance to escape."
Staring at the paper boats closing in, Kuang Hongyi tried to regulate his breathing, "Chu, I’m certain that Shi Dali must be hiding among these paper boats. There’s no such thing as a completely safe place in a mission, and the Feng Family wouldn’t fully trust Shi Dali either."
Yang Xiao clenched the slip of paper with the Young Lady’s date and time of birth written on it and slowly nodded, "We’re thinking the same thing. It’s impossible to escape tonight, we can only take a gamble, try to find Shi Dali, and then stick the Young Lady’s date and time of birth on his body."
"We have our advantages; at least we can move freely, but he can’t. He’s hidden among the paper people and doesn’t dare to move. The moment he does, those paper people will take his life!" Calming down, Yang Xiao’s mind worked quickly.
"What’s your plan?" Kuang Hongyi began to gradually accept Yang Xiao’s new ideas, as he always played a key role at critical moments.
"Kuang, I have a plan, but I need your help," said Yang Xiao, turning his head, his gaze revealing some difficulty.
"Stop talking nonsense, just say it!"
"I need you to inflict some wounds on yourself, to dribble blood into the lake. That will attract the attention of the paper people and create a chance for me to break free," Yang Xiao quickly added, "Of course, I don’t plan to run. I want to observe those paper people from behind and find out Shi Dali’s location so I can deliver the Young Lady’s date and time of birth to him, and that’s how we’ll break free from this deadlock today."
Upon hearing this, Kuang Hongyi’s face darkened instantaneously, and his eyes cast a wary glance at Yang Xiao. This was no time for the deep bonds of brotherhood; if Yang Xiao simply ran off, ignoring honor, then Kuang would indeed be left with no place to die.
"Heh, how about we swap, Chu?" Kuang Hongyi tentatively asked.
To his surprise, Yang Xiao flatly rejected the idea, "No, only I can do this, I don’t trust anyone else."
