Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 13: Role Playing

Jia Xu stared at Bai Shuangying, dazed for a full ten seconds.

Wait, was Fang Xiu’s ghost always here?

He had a strong impression of Bai Shuangying, but all morning, he hadn’t noticed this striking ghost at all, nor had he thought to ask Fang Xiu where Bai Shuangying had gone. It wasn’t until Fang Xiu started talking to Bai Shuangying that Jia Xu realized something was off.

What a terrifying ability. Fortunately, Fang Xiu was his teammate.

At the moment, Fang Xiu was dragging the blood-soaked Brother Scar, walking straight toward the cemetery. His steps were relaxed, as if he were pulling a suitcase on a leisurely vacation.

In the rain, Brother Scar left a faint trail of blood behind him.

“This doesn’t seem right.” Jia Xu gulped nervously. “We have the chains and the jade Buddha. We could go back and save everyone… There’s no need to go through all this…”

Fang Xiu looked back. “If Fourth Master dares to give his subordinates the chains, he must have a way to control them. Maybe the chain listens to his commands, like how Skinny Monkey’s knife worked.”

“Skinny Monkey?” Jia Xu was confused. “Wasn’t that knife Doctor’s?”

“Oh, it’s just a nickname. Doctor is pretty skinny,” Fang Xiu said casually. “As for the jade Buddha, we don’t know if it has any special usage or how many lives it has left. For now, let’s not worry about it.”

“But everyone—”

Fang Xiu sighed. “Brother Scar doesn’t have many props. The treasures of the Jade Buddha Gang are probably all with Fourth Master. We have no idea what his methods are. If we end up in a death match, with six newbies on this side, who knows how many would die.”

“As long as Fourth Master isn’t dead, he won’t let things rest. Then we’ll have to deal with both Old Man Fu and guard against sneak attacks from Fourth Master. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.”

Jia Xu: “Being locked in a cage is safe? We’d still have to eat human flesh!”

“As long as the two of us behave, the people in the cage will be safe,” Fang Xiu patiently explained. “Besides, now that we have Old Man Fu, there’s no need to eat human flesh. Before we go back, I’ll stop by his place and pack some food.”

Jia Xu glanced at the struggling Brother Scar.

Wait, buddy, I think your idea of “behaving” is different from mine… And is Old Man Fu’s place a cafeteria? Can you just grab food like that?

He felt stifled, but without a better solution, he dejectedly followed along.

The cemetery was on the west side of Weishan Village, a short distance from the village. It was quite large, with an alarming number of gravestones.

From the cemetery, one could see the wandering ghosts in the distance outside the village. The spirits outside didn’t seem very intelligent, roaming aimlessly like beasts. The further away they were, the more densely packed they became, forming a natural barrier.

Lao Mian hadn’t lied. If you went far enough, it really was all ghosts. This was likely to prevent the sacrificial offerings from escaping.

The number of evil spirits in the cemetery seemed normal.

It was daytime now, and the cemetery only had wandering souls and small, obviously low-level monsters. They shuffled between the gravestones, clumsily imitating people sweeping the tombs.

Some of the gravestones were old, some new, with a time span of at least a hundred years. The old gravestones were arched and gray, while the new ones were made of white marble, some even with photographs.

Under Bai Shuangying’s expectant gaze, Fang Xiu dragged the desperately struggling Brother Scar to the center of the cemetery. He pulled off the talisman from Brother Scar’s forehead. “Bai Shuangying, hide us.”

Bai Shuangying nodded. The nearby evil spirits, drawn by the scent of blood, surrounded Jia Xu and Brother Scar. 

Jia Xu held his breath, frantically giving Fang Xiu meaningful looks.

Fang Xiu: “…You should hide Jia Xu too, if it’s not too much trouble.”

Bai Shuangying grumbled softly before waving his hand. Jia Xu was finally out of danger, and the evil spirits in the cemetery slowly gathered, fixating on Brother Scar.

“You… Fuck… Fourth Master will… slaughter you all…” 

Brother Scar’s body was in tatters, lying on his back, weakly cursing.

A wolf demon couldn’t hold back anymore and bit down on Brother Scar’s hand. With one bite, it took off half his hand, and Brother Scar let out a piercing scream as blood gushed out.

Fang Xiu folded his arms and watched intently.

The wolf demon swallowed the flesh and started sniffing again. The wandering souls also edged closer, leaning down to gnaw at Brother Scar’s wounds. Losing so much blood, Brother Scar barely had the strength to struggle anymore.

“So that’s how it is,” Fang Xiu said. “The evil spirits can attack us without any consequences.”

Jia Xu: “…Huh?”

Before Jia Xu could finish his confused sound, Fang Xiu moved— 

Taking advantage of being hidden, he punched the wolf demon. But instead of the wolf demon reacting, Fang Xiu himself shuddered and dropped to one knee on the spot.

“Ugh, it really itches,” he squeezed the words through gritted teeth. 

His whole body was itching, so badly that he wanted to peel off his skin or replace the itching with pain. He realized he had already scratched his arm several times, leaving deep marks.

“No attacking evil spirits.” Doctor hadn’t lied. He needed to fix this quickly. 

Fang Xiu took a deep breath, trembling as he picked up a piece of meat from the ground and threw it to the wolf demon. The wolf demon sniffed it and licked it up.

As the wolf demon swallowed the meat, the itching melted away like snow.

Fang Xiu caught his breath, grabbed Brother Scar’s hand, and slapped the wolf demon on the head. The wolf demon growled in irritation, shaking the blood from its head. 

Brother Scar remained on the ground, gasping, with no reaction.

“…If we’re attacked first, self-defense is allowed,” Fang Xiu muttered. 

He recalled how he had been jostled by evil spirits in the market and had used the copper coin sword to clear a path. He had also lured an evil spirit into attacking him at the shrine and had cut off one of its arms, all without breaking the taboo.

Self-defense didn’t violate the rules, even if the counterattack was stronger than the initial assault.

The second taboo was truly interesting. On the surface, it could be summarized as “Be polite”.

But there was a subtle “double standard” at play. 

The Jade Buddha Gang could harm them freely without breaking any taboos. The evil spirits could also attack them at will. Yet for some reason, some spirits, especially the stronger ones, had refrained from doing so.

…What’s the difference? Does the second taboo only protect evil spirits?  

…No, they had ghosts with them too, and they were also locked up by the Jade Buddha Gang.

…Only the evil spirits of Weishan Village are special? That didn’t make sense either. There had to be plenty of foreign evil spirits. Otherwise, even if the whole village had turned into ghosts, there wouldn’t be such a diverse “spirit expo” here.

Fang Xiu rubbed his blood-stained arm, lost in thought. 

The itching was gone, and the remaining pain kept him alert. Fang Xiu replayed the memories of their arrival in the village, analyzing them frame by frame in his mind.

[“Guests arrive with the bitter rain—”] 

[“Weishan Village hosts guests—Weishan Shrine welcomes guests—”] 

…They were guests from outside.

[“I am the village chief of Weishan Village.”] 

[“That couple, it wasn’t the villagers who did it.”] 

…They were the local villagers.

“Haha.” Fang Xiu laughed out loud, “Now I get it.”

“What are you laughing at?” Jia Xu asked, trembling. 

Fang Xiu, sitting close to the weakened Brother Scar, lightly laughed as he touched his wounds, sending a chill down Jia Xu’s spine.

“I understand why the spirits in the village like to roleplay,” Fang Xiu said. “They’re actively complying with the ‘E’s’ rules.” 

“…The second taboo is ‘Do not harm the villagers of this place, except in self-defense.'”

Jia Xu was stunned. 

Just like when Fang Xiu had uncovered the first taboo, Jia Xu couldn’t find any flaws in the reasoning. 

Being protected by such a powerful rule, “imitating villagers to repair Weishan Shrine” was hardly a big ask.

“All done. Let’s high five¹!” Fang Xiu walked briskly toward Bai Shuangying.

High five? Bai Shuangying thought for a moment, then clumsily raised his hands and started clapping¹.

¹Clarity: The joke here is that the word Fang Xiu uses is (击掌) which transliterated means hit (your) hand (so clap), but it means to high five. Not knowing the term, Bai Shuangying is acting out the literal meaning (thus he started clapping).

Fang Xiu’s smile grew wider, and he opened his arms for a big hug. “Come on, undo my hiding now. Thanks for your hard work. I’ll treat you to a meal later!”

Bai Shuangying quietly let himself be hugged. “Alright.” 

He had only killed Skinny Monkey to relieve boredom, and apart from hiding these two humans, it hadn’t been too taxing. But when food was offered, how could he refuse?

Fang Xiu dipped his finger in blood and drew a circle around Brother Scar, carefully leaving a gap at the edge. Then, he meticulously placed a strand of Bai Shuangying’s hair ring in the gap, his movements extremely cautious.

At this point, Fang Xiu was no longer hidden, and Brother Scar’s eyes followed him. “What… are you doing… I’m warning you…”

“Relax, I know you have the jade Buddha. Don’t worry, I’m not interested in it.” 

Fang Xiu paused above Brother Scar’s head, then leaned down, staring at Brother Scar upside-down. “I just want to see how you use it.” 

“That way, when we get Fourth Master’s jade Buddha, we’ll know how to use it.”

Brother Scar’s eyes widened, staring at Fang Xiu’s smiling face, for the first time showing confusion. 

This guy is obviously a newbie, so why… Damn it, could he be…

The next second, Brother Scar was engulfed by a swarm of evil spirits.

Fang Xiu, whose concealment had been lifted, wasn’t spared either. 

His body was wounded, and many of the evil spirits took the opportunity to bite him. Fang Xiu tightened the spirit binding chain, trying to fend off the spirits while keeping his eyes locked on Brother Scar.

He watched as Brother Scar smeared his own blood on the jade Buddha, which emitted a soft glow before crumbling into dust.

Then Brother Scar let out an inhuman scream and was completely torn to pieces.

“He gave him a jade Buddha with only one life left. Fourth Master is pretty stingy,” Fang Xiu muttered as the chain barely held off the evil spirits. Before he could react further, Bai Shuangying’s concealment wrapped around him again.

So cooperative? Fang Xiu looked up in confusion, meeting Bai Shuangying’s expressionless face. Jia Xu, too, was staring at him in shock, looking like he was about to throw up.

“Fang Xiu… your body…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, I’ve been paying attention. They’re just superficial wounds. It won’t affect my movement.” Fang Xiu glanced at his battered body, wincing slightly as he spoke. “We still have to trick Fourth Master when we go back. Think about it: Brother Scar is dead. If we return completely unharmed, it wouldn’t make sense. Plus…”

Jia Xu swallowed dryly. “Plus…?”

“Plus, the living souls are only the appetizer.” Fang Xiu smiled at Bai Shuangying. “We made a pact, so we’re a team. You should be able to ‘counterattack’ for me… I remember all the evil spirits that bit me. Why don’t you grab one and give it a taste?”

Bai Shuangying looked Fang Xiu up and down. 

Those wounds must hurt. Fang Xiu’s body trembled slightly from the pain, yet he could still smile.

For some reason, Bai Shuangying found those wounds a bit unpleasant to look at. Fang Xiu’s clothes were red enough already. Adding more red seemed excessive.

Without a word, Bai Shuangying walked toward the evil spirits, grabbed a wandering soul, and devoured it in one gulp.

Fang Xiu nodded approvingly. “Yes, that one bit me. And next—”

“No need to say more,” Bai Shuangying interrupted. “I remember all the spirits that attacked you.”

……

Inside the cage.

Cheng Songyun let out a long breath and patted her chest.

“Listen to me,” she said, slightly anxious. “We need to come up with a plan. We can’t just sit here… What if something happens to Xiao Fang and the others?”

Three pairs of eyes turned to her in response.

“Why don’t we all stop hiding and talk about what our ghosts can do?” Cheng Songyun continued, “In case something happens, we can at least coordinate and help each other.”

“Okay.” The gloomy-looking teenager was the first to respond. 

“I agree,” Mei Lan said softly.

Yellow Hair clicked his tongue. “Didn’t you all see what mine can do already? A lame servant ghost, just makes my physical abilities stronger, like I’ve got more strength and speed or something.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Cheng Songyun quickly agreed. “But everyone should talk about it. We can’t just sit and wait to die.”

After speaking, Cheng Songyun’s expression briefly turned twisted, as if she had thought of something.

“…We really can’t just sit here and wait to die,” she repeated once more.

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The author has something to say:

Let us congratulate Brother Scar for going offline (cue the triumphant sound of the suona).

The second taboo has been uncovered— 

It seems like a cemetery picnic for the two of them, complete with Jia Xu tagging along like a third wheel*.

*Lightbulb (电灯泡) Slang referring to a third wheel.

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