Chapter 66: Chapter 66: The Paper Doll Pregnancy
Kuang Hongyi sneered, no longer pretending at this point, "Chu, you don’t trust me, so how do you expect me to trust you?"
Without any pretense, Yang Xiao explained straightforwardly, "Kuang, think about it, after all, I’m a newcomer. Even if I could abandon you all and manage to escape tonight, facing the combined forces of Shi Dali and Master Feng when I return, I still wouldn’t escape death. The risks and benefits are clear to me."
Kuang Hongyi understood clearly what was being said. If he and Su Tingting were to die tonight, and only Yang Xiao was left, Shi Dali would never let him go, so Yang Xiao’s only chance was to take out Shi Dali.
Having realized this, Kuang Hongyi hesitated no longer and extended a cupped-fist salute to Yang Xiao, "Alright, then I’ll leave everything to you, Chu. Once we all safely get away from here, at some point, I’ll fill you in on the mysteries of the Nightmare World. One nightmare follows another; even if we’re lucky enough to survive this time, we might not be so fortunate next time if we remain clueless."
How could Yang Xiao not understand Kuang Hongyi’s thoughts? Kuang was hinting that he had important information but now was not the time to divulge it. He would tell Yang Xiao later, of course, provided that Yang Xiao helped him survive tonight.
Without delay, having agreed on a simple plan, they set off in their separate ways. Time was of the essence. When the drum sounded again, they had to make a quick escape, or they would never be able to return.
Yang Xiao took his boat towards the sparsely distributed Paper Person Boats, looking for weaknesses to exploit, while Kuang Hongyi rowed in the opposite direction, his back to Yang Xiao.
A gust of night wind brought with it the nearby mist; Kuang Hongyi and Yang Xiao soon lost sight of each other. They could only see the faint outline of the large boat in the middle, with its towering mast and the large red lantern hanging beneath it.
Feeling that it was about the right time, Kuang Hongyi stopped rowing. Not far ahead were the Paper Person Boats; they were dangerously close. Taking a deep breath, he pulled out a dagger and slashed hard across his palm. The blade cut through his skin, and fresh blood dripped into the lake in streams.
Almost instantly, the Paper Person Boats stirred. The orderly formation broke as they began to converge towards Kuang Hongyi. Even more sinisterly, the Paper Persons began to slightly twist their horrifying paper heads to face Kuang, as if they had locked on to their target.
The scene was so eerie it was indescribable. The Paper Persons sat or stood stiffly on the boats, only their heads moving, without any other motion visible, yet the boats moved as though there was an unseen breeze.
Not daring to hesitate, Kuang Hongyi’s mission was complete. The Paper Persons were attracted, and the formation was disrupted. Now, his task was to flee for his life.
Yang Xiao sat unmoving in his boat, pretending to be a Paper Person, letting the other Paper Person Boats pass by him. He held his breath, back straight, not daring to even blink his eyes.
Fortunately, the Paper Person Boats had a clear target, and as if they couldn’t see him at all, they passed by him, heading towards Kuang Hongyi’s direction.
The first step of the plan was complete; the Paper Person Boats had been lured away. Yang Xiao was now outside of the encirclement. He turned the boat around and, without hesitation, chased after the Paper Person Boats. He had never planned to abandon his teammates, whether it was Kuang Hongyi or Su Tingting.
Inside the cabin of the Hebo Xi Ship, Su Tingting was shivering alone. The place was unexpectedly cold, like a giant refrigerator. More distressing than the chill, however, were the handprints and ghastly faces that occasionally appeared on her belly.
Following Yang Xiao’s instructions, she found a copper censer in the center of the cabin, with three dark red incense sticks inserted, their tips flickering intermittently. Upon closer inspection, an odd scent was detectable.
Beside the censer, suspended with a red string, there was also a copper mirror. Judging by the material and patterns on each, the copper mirror seemed to be a match to the censer.
The copper mirror’s surface wasn’t very clear, it had that yellow, coppery texture. As Su Tingting stared at her own reflection in the copper mirror, she felt increasingly alienated from it, which scared her so much that she immediately looked away.
Besides that, there were two paper dolls placed in the cabin.
The dolls, one red and one green, a man and a woman, sat opposite each other. The male paper doll sat cross-legged behind the front cabin door, hands resting on his knees, wearing a red bridal veil on his head, with his back to Su Tingting and facing the door, assuming a guardian-like posture. Furthermore, he was larger and more robust than the paper dolls Su Tingting had seen before.
Behind the male paper doll was a sheath also made of paper, but the craftsmanship was very fine, with a golden tassel hanging below the hilt as a decoration.
The female paper doll was terrifying. She lay flat on a bed hastily made of wooden planks, covered with a large red wedding quilt. The cabin was decorated with lights and banners, with the character for "happiness" pasted on the walls and small lanterns hanging in the corners on thin bamboo poles. The setting was completely arranged like a bridal chamber.
Because a red curtain hung in front, Su Tingting couldn’t see the face of the female paper doll clearly. She didn’t dare to get too close. However... However, she could clearly see the female paper doll’s noticeably swollen belly!
Su Tingting did not understand whether there was any significance behind a paper doll being pregnant, but her experiences now were eerily similar to this paper doll, and she had a feeling the paper doll was specifically prepared for her.
But at this point, there was no room for hesitation. She forced herself to calm down, approached the incense burner, and remembered Yang Xiao’s words. She first placed the piece of paper with Shi Dali’s birthdate written on it under the incense burner. She then gently blew on the leftmost of the three sticks of incense. The tip of the incense immediately lit up, burning faster.
After blowing out that breath, Su Tingting became vigilant of her surroundings, but after waiting for more than ten seconds, she didn’t notice anything unusual. Gradually, her heart settled, and she moved to the right to blow another breath at the far right incense stick.
"Ssss—"
As she blew out the breath, a cold draft inexplicably began to sweep through the cabin, rustling her paper garments, flattening the candle flames, and causing the light within the cabin to flicker. At the same time, Su Tingting faintly heard a very light "click" sound, like a piece of stiff cardboard being stepped on and broken.
Su Tingting’s first reaction was to look at the male paper doll, which remained still, keeping the same pose as before. She then turned to look at the female paper doll, who also lay quietly on the wedding bed, the bright red quilt garishly conspicuous.
The next second, Su Tingting couldn’t help but stand up. She hugged herself tightly and looked around, trying to find the source of that cold, ominous presence. Yes, just for a moment, she felt that something was watching her; the hair on her back stood on end — an instinctual reaction.
Where was it?
Where... exactly where?
Su Tingting’s gaze flickered in every direction, meticulously searching every corner of the cabin, including above her head. But she found nothing, and she didn’t dare stop searching because the feeling of being watched was getting stronger.
It wasn’t until her peripheral vision inadvertently swept across the copper mirror beside the incense burner just for a split second, that the image reflected there caused her to feel an icy chill.
