Alois wandered around the Muse, unable to find Srosie. He asked several crew members, but they all shook their heads. Finally, he encountered Rita on the bridge. Rita told him that Srosie had gone back to his cabin and was in a bad mood. “So it’s best not to bother him for now.” The manager smiled apologetically. “He just needs some time alone.”
“Okay. Please… please tell him that once he’s feeling better, I’ll explain everything to him.”
“Sure,” Rita replied. Alois nodded and was about to return to the lounge when Rita called out to him. “Mr. Lagrange!”
“What is it?”
“Camilla is a very willful child. I’m sorry for the trouble he’s caused you. But he has a good heart and is a good kid, though he doesn’t have many friends and isn’t very savvy about social interactions. I hope you can be understanding.”
Alois felt there was more to her words. As Camilla’s manager, she likely knew the diva liked him and was giving him strange relationship advice. Though well-intentioned, it was…
Rita’s gaze was sharp, like a spotlight on him. Alois mumbled a few responses and quickly left, practically fleeing.
Joshua sat in the cabin temporarily assigned to him as a bedroom. According to the crew, it would be the next day before they could rendezvous with the Dream of a Cold Night, so they had to spend the night on the Muse. The bed was soft, filled with a large amount of modified silk, and felt smooth to the touch. Joshua’s fingers slid from the bedsheet to the wall, and a light tap on the wall screen displayed a star chart of the universe. Another tap transformed the ceiling and floor into a boundless starry sea, and the bedsheet became transparent, with one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms emerging from its folds.
His fingers continued to move across the starry sea, selecting and enlarging an area repeatedly until he finally saw what he needed—a blue planet floating in the boundless darkness of space. He reached out but didn’t dare touch the image, fearing it would disappear at the slightest touch, so he moved his hand gently around the blue sphere, as if caressing it.
The home planet rotated quietly in his hand. An unknown light source from one side divided the planet into day and night, much like Leyting’s perpetually twilight sky. Gazing at the blue planet, a wave of sadness surged in Joshua’s heart. He allowed the homesickness to occupy his mind to drive away another kind of sorrow that had taken hold. Only this way could he feel somewhat calm, temporarily forgetting his troubled thoughts.
How pathetic, resorting to this method to numb himself. If Kester knew, he would undoubtedly ridicule him mercilessly.
Footsteps echoed outside the cabin door. Joshua recognized them as belonging to someone familiar. He closed his hand, making the image of the home planet disappear, leaving only the vast starry sky. He quickly lay down on the bed, turning his back to the door, pretending to sleep.
The door slid open and then closed. Gentle footsteps approached the bed, lingering for a while, as if the person was hesitating. A few minutes later, there was the sound of clothes rustling.
The bed dipped as someone climbed in, slipping under the covers and pressing a warm body against Joshua’s back.
“Joshua?”
The assassin remained motionless, continuing to feign sleep.
Then a soft kiss landed on his neck, followed by another near his ear. Not only that, but the person licked the sensitive area behind his ear, making it impossible for Joshua to keep pretending.
He used his elbow to push the person behind him away and turned to glare at them. “What do you want?”
Alois looked at him innocently, completely naked, his bare upper body exposed outside the covers, reflecting the starry sky around them, looking like something out of a sci-fi thriller.
“Let’s do it, Joshua.” He smiled suggestively, one hand reaching down to explore the area between Joshua’s legs.
The assassin quickly turned away, refusing to engage with Alois. He couldn’t resist this kind of teasing and would definitely get aroused in no time.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Not in the mood.”
Alois wrapped his arms around his waist. “Still mad?” He tightened his grip. “Let’s do it. You’ll feel better afterward.”
“No,” Joshua said in a muffled voice.
“Why?”
“If I use you to vent my frustration, I’d be no better than a beast.”
Alois was stunned, then hugged him tighter. “Joshua…” he said softly. “You’re so good.”
“…You know that?”
“I’m sorry.” Alois buried his head in his neck. “I’ll explain everything to Camilla. I shouldn’t have argued with you. I’m sorry.”
Joshua stared at the starry sky on the wall, not speaking.
A tingling sensation spread across his back as Alois kissed his shoulder blades. “Let’s do it.”
“I said no.”
“Just help me out?”
Joshua felt something hot and hard pressing against his waist. This guy was aroused at the drop of a hat! He could get turned on anytime, anywhere! No wonder he attracted so many admirers!
“Do it yourself!” he growled. “Don’t tell me you can’t even masturbate!”
Alois sniffled, making a pitiful whimper. Joshua felt the body behind him move away, the bed dipping slightly as the young man shifted. Then the rustling sound of skin against fabric filled the air, accompanied by heavy breathing and faint moans, lingering in Joshua’s ears like Schrödinger’s little paws, soft but with sharp claws, scratching his heart, making it itch and ache.
The assassin clenched his fists, repeatedly telling himself not to be tempted, to hold his ground. If he fell for such a small temptation, those who died by his hand would laugh at him!
“Can’t you do it somewhere else!” Joshua gritted his teeth.
The response was a low moan, thick with nasal tones.
Joshua finally couldn’t resist looking back—one glance and he was done for.
Alois knelt on the bed, black hair scattered across the starry pillow, looking as if he were floating in the vast universe. One hand moved between his legs, stroking his erect penis, while the other reached behind, two fingers thrusting into his hole, moving rapidly. From Joshua’s angle, he could see everything clearly (he suspected Alois was doing it on purpose). The penis in front of him was so engorged it was leaking fluid, smeared along his hand’s movements; the back hole turned a tantalizing pink from the repeated stretching, looking like a greedy little mouth, sucking on his fingers without letting go.
…Damn!
Joshua’s mouth went dry. He grabbed Alois’s wrist, pulling his fingers out of the hole. “Do you really want it that badly?”
“Yeah…” Alois willingly assumed a kneeling position, raising his hips. The hole, now empty, opened and closed invitingly, silently beckoning Joshua to enter.
This time, Joshua didn’t refuse. He grabbed his own cock, positioning it at the entrance and thrusted in. Alois whimpered, the inner walls enveloping the hardness, refusing to let go.
Though prepped, it was still tight. Joshua made small thrusts a dozen times before daring to go deeper. “You’re so lewd,” he said, leaning close to Alois’s ear.
“Don’t you like it?” The young man grinned.
“I love it.” Joshua continued thrusting, his balls slapping against Alois’s ass, the sound making hearts race. “I love you the most.” He bit Alois’s ear, speaking with a hint of malice. “If you let anyone else see you like this, I’ll kill you.”
“Would you really?”
“I wouldn’t hesitate. I’d fuck you until you died from anal bleeding.” With that, he gripped Alois’s waist and began thrusting hard. Alois shook under him, waves of pleasure crashing over him, erupting like a volcano, making it impossible to think. He could only follow his desires, moving his hips in sync with Joshua, seeking more pleasure.
Joshua thought he was a terrible man, unable to say anything right. He wanted to tell Alois how much he liked him, but all that came out was, “I’ll kill you.”
Absolutely terrible.
People saw him as a ruthless killer, but no one knew how scared he was inside. Every moment spent with Alois filled him with fear—fear that one day he wouldn’t like him anymore, fear that someone would take him away. He was insecure and selfish, wanting to monopolize him, to keep him by his side forever. He was so dark that he would rather kill him than let anyone else have him.
He couldn’t say sweet words, couldn’t make romantic confessions like Camilla. He wanted to tell Alois: I fell in love with you at first sight in Hecate. He wanted to tell Alois: You are like a light that illuminated my hellish existence. He wanted to tell Alois: Don’t leave me. Don’t go with others. Stay with me.
But when he tried to speak, he couldn’t say it. All he could do was thrust harder and say harshly, “If you ever leave me, I’ll kill you and then kill myself.”
Alois turned his head slightly, his watery blue eyes like the sky after rain. He placed his hand over Joshua’s on his waist, gripping his fingers tightly. “I… I won’t leave…” His voice was broken by the rough thrusts but remained clear and strong. “I won’t leave… I’ll stay with you… forever…” Then his voice turned to fragmented moans, echoing in the starry room like a seductive melody.
Alois instinctively pushed Srosie away, then realized the command wasn’t directed at him. For some reason, he felt like he had been caught cheating by his lover… but it wasn’t like that at all!
Srosie clung to his back, gripping his shirt tightly. Alois could feel him trembling.
Joshua kept his gun aimed as he slowly approached, like a slow-motion scene in a movie, carrying the oppressive weight of impending doom. He glared down at Srosie.
The cross-dressing youth tried to shrink himself into a small ball, pressing against Alois’s back, too scared to look at the advancing assassin.
“Wait!” Alois grabbed Joshua’s gun-wielding hand. “What are you doing?”
“Move aside.” Joshua yanked his hand away.
“Put the gun down!”
“Move!” Joshua frowned, shoving Alois aside. Srosie, left with no support, tearfully looked to Alois for help.
“You like him, right?” the assassin asked. “You’re mutually in love, planning to tour the galaxy together, right?”
Srosie took a step back, Joshua stepped forward. But the sofa was behind, leaving no retreat. The youth glanced at Alois, biting his lip, one hand gripping the other sleeve, shoulders trembling. “I… I like him, so what? What’s it to you?”
“How is it not my business?” Joshua grabbed Alois’s hair, forcing his head aside, then kissed him roughly. Alois was shocked, trying to break free, but was held tighter. The kiss was aggressive, almost brutal, with Joshua biting his lips and invading his mouth, making it hard to breathe.
Srosie’s eyes widened. “You… you two are…” He whimpered, tears streaming. “Alois, you liar!” Covering his face, he ran out of the lounge. Alois tried to catch him but was bitten by Joshua.
As Srosie disappeared, the assassin let go of Alois.
“What… What are you doing!” Alois wiped the saliva from his mouth with the back of his hand, tasting a faint hint of blood, probably from being bitten. “Biting! Are you Pavlov?”
Joshua turned his head, his expression clearly angry. “You like him, don’t you?”
“Who?”
“Camilla.”
“Wait, let me explain…”
“You two are in love, right? Planning to travel the galaxy together, huh?”
“It’s not what you think!”
“Did I hear it wrong then? If you hadn’t stopped me just now, I would have killed him.”
“Though I do like him, it’s not ‘that kind’ of like! Are you going to point a gun at everyone I ‘like’? I also like Joanna, Leo, and Schrödinger. Are you going to kill them too?”
“Make a list, and I’ll kill them one by one.” Except Schrödinger.
Alois covered his face with his hand, speechless. “You… you’re insane!” he muttered. “You should swap nicknames with Joanna and be called the ‘Mad Assassin’.”
Joshua gently stroked his cheek with his free hand, speaking softly. “It’s not madness. It’s jealousy.”
“…You have a peculiar way of expressing jealousy.”
“What else can I do? Just watch you be moved by his confession and accept him?”
“I wasn’t going to accept! I was going to explain everything to him!”
“Would you? You wouldn’t refuse him, would you? Is he more important to you than I am? Now you’re arguing with me over that cross-dresser!”
“You started this nonsense! How is this my fault?”
“Did I argue with you when you were jealous of Leo?”
“I thought I made it clear!” Alois raised his voice. “I do like Camilla, but… damn it!” He shook his head in frustration. “I love you, you idiot!” With that, he pushed Joshua aside and headed for the lounge door to find Srosie and explain.
Joshua didn’t follow. After the door closed, he threw down his gun and collapsed onto the sofa, trying to calm his emotions.
Alois was right. He was an idiot who didn’t even know how to express his feelings properly. He didn’t just want “love”.
He wanted to monopolize all of that person’s love.
“What are you looking at? Get lost!” Srosie wiped away his tears and shouted at the spaceship staff peeking in. They quickly retreated, not wanting to incur the diva’s wrath.
Seeing them leave made Srosie even sadder. Fresh tears replaced the ones he had just wiped away. Ignoring the smeared makeup on his face, he rushed up the spiral stairs to the stairwell near the engine room. This area was seldom visited, except by cleaning robots.
He didn’t care if the floor was dirty. He sat on the stairs, burying his head in his knees. Here, he could cry freely.
After a couple of sobs, he found himself unable to cry anymore. His heart felt empty, as if something was missing.
Alois had someone he liked. That silver-haired man who was always with him, named Joshua or something. Tall, handsome, and capable—so that’s the type Alois liked? Then he had no chance. He should have noticed they were a couple. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have foolishly intruded. Now he seemed like the third wheel, disrupting their love. No, it was a matter of timing. If he had met Alois earlier, before Joshua, Alois would be with him now.
But even if they could have met earlier, that would be a story from another universe.
So Srosie cried even harder.
“Hey! Camilla!” a sharp voice said.
Srosie looked up, seeing a small cleaning robot through his tear-blurred vision. Its chubby, cylindrical body slid back and forth, trying to catch his attention.
“Camilla, you’re crying!” The robot’s voice sounded gleeful. “Your makeup is all messed up. You look terrible, haha! Want to see? I’ll show you!” Its headlight flashed.
Srosie slapped the robot, sending it flying into the wall, then rolling down to the floor. It found its balance and slid back to him stubbornly.
“What are you?” Srosie shouted. “My ship’s robots don’t talk!”
“You’re mean! I’m Leonard, the one who contacted you!”
Srosie slapped it again. “Don’t hack into my ship’s systems! It’s illegal! Illegal!”
The little robot persistently returned. “No one will know if you don’t tell! I’m here to inform you there’s been a delay. ‘Dream of a Cold Night’ will rendezvous with the ‘Muse’ around this time tomorrow.”
“Tell the navigator about it!”
“Isn’t this your ship? Of course, I have to tell you!”
“Am I your messenger?!” Srosie stood up and kicked the robot. “Get lost! Don’t block my way!”
“Don’t kick people! It hurts!”
Srosie’s foot hurt too.
The little robot followed, chattering. “You should fix your makeup. Your face looks really interesting… Oof!” It was kicked again.
Zhou Qian, Yun Xiangrong, Yin Jiujiu, and Alayne each killed the leaders of Fire, Thunder, and Rain.
After the killings, they arranged the bodies to form a specific curved knife shape to frame the Land of Silence.
Due to a special setting, to prevent the bodies from being resurrected, they all prepared the [Dream-Back Mirror] to be used here.
This way, even if these leaders were resurrected, when someone went to investigate the south, north, and west gates, they could see the leaders’ bodies with curved knife-shaped wounds through “scene reenactment”.
Thus, framing the Land of Silence would be guaranteed to succeed.
However, this wasn’t completely foolproof.
The players needed to completely control when and how the Kingdom of Words discovered this and their reaction to ensure the plan would proceed smoothly—
If the people of the Kingdom of Words discovered this and failed to contain the news or decided to confront the Land of Silence directly, the situation could turn dire.
After all, if the king of the Land of Silence knew before entering the city that the people of the Kingdom of Words suspected him of sending assassins to kill the three leaders, he would worry about walking into a trap upon entering their city.
In such a case, the king of the Land of Silence wouldn’t proceed but would immediately return home.
This would prevent a direct conflict between the two nations.
Betrayal, resentment, and war would not occur, and perhaps Difu would never appear.
To ensure no mistakes in this regard, Zhou Qian assigned He Xiaowei a special task.
Previously, when Gao Shan went to the palace for investigation, he brought back not only the information that the kings of both nations would meet at the racecourse but also other important details.
Among these details, one was crucial—the most powerful magician in the Kingdom of Words was named Liu Shui, and the most powerful in the Kingdom of Words was named Bo Lu.
After leaving the racecourse, Gao Shan didn’t immediately leave the palace but wandered around and found a bustling area, which turned out to be Bo Lu’s residence.
Bo Lu was preparing to welcome the king of the Land of Silence at the east gate, and his place was bustling because many maids were coming and going to prepare his attire.
The meeting of the two kings was a grand occasion, and Bo Lu, of course, wanted to ensure he didn’t appear disrespectful.
Besides attire and grooming, Bo Lu also prepared various magical instruments, creatures, vessels, and materials in case of emergencies.
With so many people busy around the magician Bo Lu, his importance was evident.
Gao Shan also specifically learned that the king had once said that only Bo Lu could match the highly skilled and unpredictable magician Liu Shui of the opposing nation, and everyone’s actions today must follow Bo Lu’s commands.
At this point, He Xiaowei’s task was quite clear.
After experiencing the incident with Wen Bin, Zhou Qian found the [Identity Duplication Camera] very useful and specifically sought to purchase one from the trade hall at a high price, eventually succeeding.
He Xiaowei’s task was to sneak into the palace with this special camera, take a photo of Bo Lu, and, after Bo Lu left, appear disguised as him to issue a “false decree”.
Thanks to Gao Shan’s effective reconnaissance, He Xiaowei smoothly entered the palace—
The palace guards were concentrated on the paths and gates through which the Land of Silence’s delegation would pass, with other areas being more relaxed.
After the race, there was to be an official banquet, and knowing this, Gao Shan considered that ingredients would need to be prepared. After leaving Bo Lu’s residence, he found a path to the kitchen to check the situation.
The palace here didn’t have large vegetable gardens or poultry, so fresh ingredients had to be brought in from outside. Gao Shan followed a cook and found a less guarded route used for deliveries, which was very narrow and unadorned, entering through a small door.
Thus, after meeting outside the palace, He Xiaowei stunned a servant delivering vegetables to the palace with his qin, changed into the servant’s clothes, and successfully sneaked in through the small door.
Once inside the palace, they followed the winding paths to Bo Lu’s residence, just in time to see the neatly dressed magician leaving for the east gate.
Bo Lu mounted his horse, led by two people, and was escorted by countless admirers. Everyone highly revered him, for it was his presence that ensured the Kingdom of Word’s peace.
While in the crowd watching Bo Lu leave, He Xiaowei easily took his frontal photo with a small camera hidden in his sleeve.
Minutes after Bo Lu and his entourage left, the crowd of onlookers dispersed, and the area temporarily returned to quiet.
Ten minutes later, He Xiaowei found a secluded spot to transform into Bo Lu using the photo.
The west gate, closest to the racecourse, was the necessary route for the Land of Silence’s delegation to enter the palace racecourse. It was heavily guarded, similarly to the east gate, by the Wind branch.
Since Bo Lu had left through the west gate, all those stationed there had seen him leave.
Therefore, He Xiaowei didn’t go to the west gate but instead went to the south, north, and east side gates, delivering a letter to the captains of the three branches stationed there.
The captains, belonging to the Rain, Thunder, and Fire branches, all looked up to “Bo Lu” with great respect.
“What brings you back, sir?”
“Do you have any orders for us?”
“Sir, please command us!”
He Xiaowei handed them the letters, saying the same thing to each. “I foresee some ominous events. In 20 minutes, when the people from the Land of Silence arrive, open this letter and act accordingly.”
“Yes!” the three captains answered in unison.
At this point, He Xiaowei’s task should have been smoothly completed. Unfortunately, at the last moment, he encountered some trouble—
By then, he had already visited the Rain and Thunder branches, delivering the letters and his message, with the Fire branch at the palace’s east gate being his last stop.
Facing the Fire branch, He Xiaowei still proceeded smoothly, having delivered the letter and message, and was about to leave the palace through the east gate when the captain walked him a few steps away from his colleagues and suddenly knelt before him.
Based on the information from Gao Shan and his first impression of Bo Lu, He Xiaowei thought Bo Lu was a serious and rather aloof magician.
So, He Xiaowei asked the captain coldly, “What is it?”
The captain said, “Sir, I don’t know if you’ve looked into the matter I asked you about last time… How did it go?”
He Xiaowei: “……”
Fuck, how would I know what it’s about?
In a place where no one could see, He Xiaowei’s back was drenched in sweat. “I’ve been very busy lately and haven’t had the time”, “We’ll talk about this later”… He dared not answer hastily, fearing he might say something wrong and raise the captain’s suspicion.
Gao Shan, who couldn’t be seen by NPCs, was also anxious. He had intended to play a ghost to scare people, assisting He Xiaowei in diverting the topic by performing a ghost-catching play.
However, after repeatedly undertaking tasks far from Zhou Qian’s “Rib of God” in the instance, his vitality was significantly drained, now unable to materialize in front of NPCs or interact with them.
In this critical moment, He Xiaowei suddenly had an idea—what would Zhou Qian do in this situation?
The captain’s words contained several key pieces of information: he had asked Bo Lu for a favor and wanted to know the progress.
It’s likely he asked Bo Lu to divine something because he asked what Bo Lu had “seen”.
However, in this instance, even the Red God couldn’t predict the future, and Bo Lu might not be a diviner. If He Xiaowei tried to divert to divination-related topics, he would definitely expose himself.
In this situation, with asymmetric information, he was completely passive!
As if enlightened, He Xiaowei remembered something Zhou Qian once said.
“Don’t panic when faced with difficulties. I’ll teach you a key element to solving problems—no matter what method you use, always keep the initiative in your own hands.”
“’Turning passivity into activity’ is often the key to solving problems. This is true for deciphering instances…” Zhou Qian nodded confidently and said with a smile, “And it’s actually the same for dating.”
Turning passivity into activity.
After repeating this phrase in his mind three times, He Xiaowei had an idea.
At that moment, when the captain of the Fire branch saw him silent for a long time, he frowned and pressed, “Sir? Can you tell me the outcome? Are you… feeling unwell?”
He Xiaowei didn’t immediately respond. Instead, his right hand quickly reached into his virtual bag, and when he took it out, he was holding a small green ball, about the size of a fingernail.
[Item: Disgusting Caterpillar]
[Function: A giant green caterpillar that is extremely disgusting; a great tool for pranks and annoying people.]
[Note: Before harming others, make sure you can handle it yourself, as it may cause you to vomit during use.]
[Grade: F, Common]
Holding the green ball between his fingers, He Xiaowei raised his hand and made a profound gesture, motioning for the captain to lean in to listen.
The captain, getting the hint, stepped forward and brought his ear close to He Xiaowei’s mouth.
He Xiaowei’s hand, hanging in mid-air, moved forward, circled to the back of the captain’s head, and patted it, before he retracted his hand and exclaimed, “Huh?”
The captain looked puzzled. “Sir?”
He Xiaowei’s expression suddenly became very serious. Not knowing what “Bo Lu” had seen, the captain’s face tensed up, and then he looked horrified at the hand in front of him—
A disgustingly dark green caterpillar was being held between the “Bo Lu’s” index and middle finger, constantly wriggling and spitting out fresh green liquid.
The captain made a retching gesture on the spot. “This, this…”
He Xiaowei sternly said, “At such an important occasion as the meeting of the kings of the two nations, such a foreign object appeared, hidden in your collar… This isn’t a good sign. I must quickly investigate what exactly it is.”
The captain was shocked. He stepped back a few steps, distancing himself from the utterly disgusting worm, and said, “Ah? Could this be related to the Land of Silence? Aren’t they here to talk peace? We…”
Imitating Zhou Qian, He Xiaowei stared into the captain’s eyes and asked, “Do you trust me?”
After a pause, the captain answered, “Of course! You are Master Bo Lu! Our Kingdom of Words’ top magician! Of course, I trust you! Look, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even know I had this worm on me… Maybe it would have eaten me by now!”
His tone was very fearful by the end.
He Xiaowei continued in a cool tone with a straight face, “If you trust me, then do as I say. Open the letter I gave you after 20 minutes and follow the instructions inside! For now, we need not speak further of this worm.”
……
At this moment, on the second floor of a breakfast shop.
He Xiaowei took several large gulps of water and said, “Ah, I tell you… I didn’t feel it at the time, but after I came out, I was scared to death… Pretending nothing was wrong as I walked out of the palace, once I was out of sight of those guards, I just couldn’t hold it in any longer and hurriedly ran to a nearby alley. My legs were so weak, I could barely walk! After removing the disguise, I rested there for a while before I came to find you!”
Yin Jiujiu looked at him. “So you were late not because you encountered danger, but because your legs were weak? Couldn’t walk?”
He Xiaowei: “Exactly!”
“……” Yin Jiujiu nodded. “But it’s good that you kept your cool at the crucial moment.”
“Indeed! Qian’er entrusted me with such an important task, I couldn’t let him down!” Saying this, He Xiaowei tapped Zhou Qian’s arm and laughed. “Qian’er, I have to thank you. I tried using your way of thinking and suddenly felt… Wow, so exhilarating!”
Hearing this, Zhou Qian smiled and said nothing. He just glanced out the window towards the east gate.
He Xiaowei took another sip of water, glanced at the ancient floor-standing mechanical clock in the restaurant on the second floor, and swallowed. “Only 15 minutes left… The people from the Land of Silence should be arriving soon, right? I’m a bit nervous…”
“Relax.” Zhou Qian suddenly stood up and walked outside. “Everyone has completed their tasks, and I’m very satisfied. Now let’s split up and continue with our tasks.”
“Me, Yun Xiangrong, and Yin Jiujiu will go to the west, south, and north to monitor if those leaders have been resurrected. If they are, we’ll use the mirror immediately. Xiaowei Ge, you and Gao Shan take Alayne to sneak into the racecourse, then come to meet us. We’ll regroup at the racecourse.”
Yun Xiangrong seemed unable to hold back any longer. She stood up suddenly and crushed the cup in her hand. She asked Zhou Qian, “Gao Shan… he…”
“He’s not my slave. Like us, he’s just doing his part.” Zhou Qian didn’t look back as he walked to the staircase. “Compared to me, he probably wants you to pass the instance even more.”
“Can he hold on?” Yun Xiangrong asked with a frown.
Zhou Qian’s eyes narrowed, and he continued down the stairs, “He’s currently sustained by my life force. As long as I’m alive, he can live.”
……
A quarter of an hour later.
The east gate opened wide, and the king of the Land of Silence entered the city of the Kingdom of Words, escorted by seven magicians and more than thirty guards.
The king seemed very old. Yet, he looked surprisingly young, as if he were in his mid-twenties.
The person walking closest to him must be the magician Liu Shui.
He was dressed lavishly, and his appearance was also youthful.
These two seemed to maintain their appearance, which, in this instance world, might also be considered a form of magic.
At the same time, the captains of the three guard branches at the east, south, and north gates of the palace timely opened the letters from “Bo Lu”, which mentioned only two sentences—
“1. The leaders have been killed. Hurry to the city gate to investigate; 2. This matter is most likely related to the Land of Silence. Do not publicize it. Stand by without action first and set an ambush at the racecourse. Wait for them to enter the trap before confronting them.”
Seeing this, the captains of the Fire, Rain, and Thunder branches immediately called some of their subordinates to secretly rush to the west, south, and north city gates to check the situation of each leader.
The Fire branch, while passing through an alley, heard unusual sounds.
Entering the alley, they were surprised to find—a pink gelatinous substance had burst open, revealing inside more than twenty colleagues trapped in a giant web!
“Thank goodness you’re here! There are spies from the Land of Silence! I’ll notify the others right now!”
The moment one of the soldiers saw his comrades arriving, tears fell, and as he spoke, he immediately took out another signal flare, planning to notify the other branches of Wind, Rain, and Thunder.
But he was immediately stopped by the captain. “No! Do not publicize this matter!”
“Master Bo Lu has foreseen everything! He already has a plan! We’ll first go to the city gate to check the situation! If it’s true, we’ll set up an ambush at the racecourse and report this matter to the king!”
After speaking, leaving two people to help untangle the giant web and rescue their colleagues, the captain continued with the others towards the west gate. Upon reaching the city gate, they indeed saw the body of the leader!
Apart from the Fire leader, there were also three other soldiers brutally murdered.
After a preliminary investigation, they confirmed—the leader and the three colleagues were undoubtedly killed by the Land of Silence soldiers’ unique close-quarters assassination techniques.
The expression of the Fire branch captain became extremely serious. Calling over his subordinates, he said, “Let’s first return to the palace, meet up with the other branches to see if similar incidents occurred on their end, and also…”
Summoning one person, he continued, “The Land of Silence’s delegation should have entered the city by now. Once they leave the main road and turn towards the palace, close the city gate!”
“Go to the east gate immediately and inform the soldiers there. This is an order from Master Bo Lu!”
Five minutes later. On the main street, at an intersection.
The group turned a corner and headed towards the west gate of the Royal City.
Unbeknownst to them, the city gate behind them was slowly closing.
Suddenly, at the front of the procession, Bo Lu paused in his steps, turned around, made his way through the crowd, and approached the magician Liu Shui.
“Master Liu Shui, long time no see.” He spoke lightly. “Shall we have a chat?”
Hearing this, Liu Shui bowed his head, whispered a few words to the king beside him, then nodded to Bo Lu, and the two of them went to the back of the procession.
The large group paused briefly and then continued towards the royal palace in front.
No one saw that the two magicians at the end both sighed.
Bo Lu said, “You once said that a future that can be foreseen is not a real future.”
Liu Shui glanced at him with a faint smile on his lips. “This lifetime has been too long for both of us. Now everything should come to an end.”
“See, I’ve always said. You and I, our fates are tied to these two nations. Neither of us has a real future.”
Jia Xu seemed to grab onto a lifeline. He suddenly turned his head to look at Fang Xiu.
Fang Xiu sighed. “Don’t get too excited. I’m just giving you a heads-up. You still have to go.”
Jia Xu was speechless.
A heads-up? As brothers tied to the same chain, Fang Xiu had seen everything Jia Xu had. It wasn’t like Jia Xu had ignored the clues, but they were completely contradictory.
For instance, Old Man Fu claimed he wanted to escape misfortune, offering food and drink, yet set up a ghost maze at the temple fair.
For instance, the information hinted at cooperation between humans and spirits, with the spirits seeming to follow some rules, but occasionally showing malicious intent.
……
“It’s actually quite simple,” Fang Xiu interrupted his thoughts. “First, they’re constantly imitating the villagers.”
Fourth Master raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Fang Xiu said sincerely, “When we arrived, they didn’t bother us directly. Instead, it was the village chief who approached the people outside and offered food and drink.”
“They held a temple fair, sent us invitations. The village chief brought us fresh meat, and the villagers kept stuffing gifts into our hands… Ever since the ritual began, they’ve been warmly hosting their guests.”
Everyone fell silent, and Bai Shuangying felt a bit of satisfaction.
Finally, these humans experienced that feeling of “it makes sense, but something’s off”.
“They killed Brother Scar. You clearly saw it…” Jia Xu struggled to say.
“That’s normal. A village this big is bound to have some impolite villagers. Besides, the taboo allows us to fight back.”
Fourth Master pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright, what’s the second point?”
Fang Xiu’s smile faded a bit. “Weishan Village worships gods.”
Fourth Master: “Isn’t that obvious? The shrine is so bizarre, and they rebuilt it after it burned down.”
Fang Xiu continued calmly, “We encountered Old Man Fu twice, and the lyrics sung by the suona band were different each time.”
“The shrine’s couplets and the invitation’s couplets didn’t match. There were two lines about the ‘E’, likely added by the spirits.”
“Tonight, before we even arrived, the play was already being performed in front of the god’s shrine. When the four chairs faced the shrine, and when they faced us, the script was different.”
He paused. “Evil spirits are inherently evil, but since they’re trying to imitate the villagers, they wouldn’t lie to the gods.”
Jia Xu looked bewildered. He couldn’t remember so many details.
Understanding, Fang Xiu added, “Let’s not talk about the opera. Only two lines in the couplets can serve as clues.”
“The shrine’s couplet reads, ‘Do no evil, heaven’s blessings are far-reaching; Practice all virtue, and the rain that nurtures all things brings deep fellowship.’”
“The suona band sang in front of the shrine, ‘God descends from Weishan, and the guests arrive with bitter rain.'”
Jia Xu shuddered. “Are you saying, besides these two lines…?”
“Anything unrelated to the shrine can’t be trusted,” Fang Xiu said.
Upon hearing “Evil spirits are inherently evil”, Bai Shuangying glanced at Fang Xiu, but Fang Xiu avoided his gaze.
Bai Shuangying lowered his eyes to look at the flower on his chest. Under the bright light at the shrine’s entrance, the flower now looked rather fake.
Fourth Master pondered. “There’s a problem with what you’re saying. Just now, you mentioned that the spirits were warmly hosting us, and now you’re saying they’re collectively lying.”
Fang Xiu’s smile deepened again.
With his back to the shrine’s door, his lips curved upward, but his eyes under his bangs showed no light. In the candlelight, that smile was gentle yet eerie.
“Because there is no god here, only the E.”
He whispered, “The ‘E’ is a dead thing that only follows strict rules, as long as it seems reasonable on the surface.”
Fourth Master surely understood. If the “E” could distinguish intent, a madman wouldn’t have broken the taboo by being “forced to burn the shrine.”
As expected, Fourth Master let out a breath. “Right, ‘hospitality’ is an easy loophole, but ‘lying to God’ is harder to fake.”
“That’s it?” Jia Xu was drenched in sweat. “I know they’re pretending to be villagers, and I know they won’t lie to God, but then what?”
“Then, it’s up to your intelligence.” Fang Xiu patted his shoulder.
Jia Xu: “……”
Under Fourth Master’s stern gaze, Jia Xu grimaced and stepped into the shrine. He held his breath for a full ten seconds after crossing the threshold. Nothing happened. It was as if it were just an ordinary, empty room.
“Go sit in that chair,” Fourth Master continued to direct.
Jia Xu slowly sat on the rosewood armchair. The armrests felt smooth and polished, as if they had aged over time.
Seeing that the chair didn’t change, Jia Xu relaxed a bit, only to realize he couldn’t get up. He was stuck to the chair, which was firmly fixed to the ground.
At the same time, a line of spirits quickly formed in front of the shrine. Perhaps due to the lack of a deity statue, the first three directly stepped into the shrine.
Three spirits stood in front of Jia Xu, two short and one tall.
One had short limbs with no neck, covered in yellow mud; another had greenish skin and a twisted posture, as if stuffed into an invisible wine jar; and between them stood a zombie with purplish-blue skin.
Fang Xiu chuckled and turned to whisper to Bai Shuangying, “Look, it’s like a stir-fried trio of vegetables come to life.”
Bai Shuangying took a moment to recall what “three vegetable stir-fry” meant.
…He struggled to hold back his laughter, his lips twitching slightly.
The potato spirit and green pepper spirit spoke in unison. “Honored guest, pass judgment—this one has deceived us, staying and eating with both of us—”
“Honored guest, pass judgment—decide who shall take it home—”
“Either is fine,” Fang Xiu muttered. “Potato and eggplant, green pepper and eggplant—they’re both delicious.”
Bai Shuangying, staring intently, used all his ten years of cultivation to keep a straight face.
Jia Xu couldn’t hear Fang Xiu’s jokes. He was drenched in sweat.
He was supposed to deliver justice? How? He couldn’t even tell the gender of these creatures!
Fang Xiu sighed, just about to give a hint, when Jia Xu, full of terror, blurted out, “Silence!”
The voice was sharp and strange, clearly not Jia Xu’s own. It seemed no outside help was allowed, so Fang Xiu closed his mouth.
Jia Xu then stammered through a few questions, asking things like “Who got involved first?” and “Who lived together first?” The spirits stared at him intently, and both sides gave identical answers.
Jia Xu’s sweaty hands soaked the chair. “What do you want, exactly…?”
“Honored guest, pass judgment—punish the wicked, reward the good, and let the couple return home—”
The spirits chanted in unison.
“Honored guest, honored guest, honored guest—”
Seeing Jia Xu hesitate, the spirits’ voices grew sharper. Blondie and Fourth Master covered their ears.
Jia Xu’s seven orifices began to bleed. Unable to bear it any longer, he randomly pointed at the potato spirit. “You go with this one!”
In an instant, three ghostly faces turned; one smiled, and the other two cried.
“Unfair! Unfair!” screamed Green Pepper.
Jia Xu nearly passed out from the noise. Moments later, two spirits grabbed his arms. At some point, Old Man Fu’s suona band had arrived.
The faceless spirits lifted their heads. “The wicked guest has bent the law for personal gain. He shall be detained first. When the fair ends, he will be expelled from the village.”
Expulsion from the village was essentially a death sentence. Jia Xu froze.
Just like that? He had made a small mistake, and it was that simple…?
“I’ll reconsider. Let me ask again!” He struggled wildly. “I was just talking nonsense earlier!”
The faceless spirits didn’t listen. They dragged Jia Xu forcefully, heading toward the true god’s shrine.
“Help me. Save me…” Jia Xu clung to the threshold, tears streaming down his face.
His skin changed forms in vain, but no matter what Jia Xu transformed into, he couldn’t escape the restraints.
Watching the suona band approach, the others didn’t dare respond. Cheng Songyun turned her head in pity.
Fang Xiu clapped his hands expressionlessly. “Looks like when past ‘guests’ made mistakes, the village chief could punish them.”
Cheng Songyun stammered, “T-The taboo?”
Fang Xiu: “No, it’s just exploiting loopholes. They’re still mimicking the villagers… They want to ‘reasonably and legitimately’ kill us within the rules.”
“We can’t attack them, but they… they can do this?” Cheng Songyun’s eyes turned red.
“Every loophole they exploit gives us more information about the past. It’s not entirely a bad thing.”
Fang Xiu remained calm. “Don’t worry. Jia Xu said he’s only being detained. As long as we deal with ‘E’ before the fair ends, he might still be saved.”
The three spirits at the shrine continued to call out, “Next—”
Fang Xiu was about to act, but Blondie rushed forward first.
“All the wrong answers have been eliminated.” Blondie, full of confidence, glanced at Fourth Master, “Brother, I’ll take care of this!”
He pointed at Green Pepper. “You go with this one!”
Again, three ghostly faces turned; one smiled, and two cried.
“Unfair! Unfair!” This time it was Potato screaming.
Blondie: “?”
Blondie was dragged away by the suona band on the spot. The whole process took less than a minute.
This time, the group’s silence carried a deeper meaning.
“You go,” Fourth Master said to Fang Xiu.
Fang Xiu decisively sat in the chair, placing the head he carried on his lap. Bai Shuangying stood behind him silently, his cold presence slowly seeping into Fang Xiu’s limbs.
“Come, let me show you something interesting.” Sensing the long hair falling over his shoulders, Fang Xiu tilted his head back with a smile.
On the stage, the three spirits focused their gaze on Fang Xiu.
“Who here is good at slaughtering pigs?” Fang Xiu asked.
Potato and Green Pepper tried the same trick, both answering in unison.
“You’re both good at it? That makes things easy.” Fang Xiu pointed at Fourth Master. “Borrow his peachwood sword and split the eggpla… this zombie down the middle, half for each of you.”
Three spirits: “?”
The remaining humans: “…?”
Fang Xiu: “It’s two-timing. Am I not punishing evil and promoting good?”
Spirits: “Yes.”
Fang Xiu: “Once you split it, will you both have a home to return to?”
Spirits: “…Yes.”
“Isn’t that great, then? Get to it,” Fang Xiu said kindly.
The two short spirits hesitated for a moment but then actually borrowed Fourth Master’s sword. With a stench wafting through the air, they split the zombie in half.
In the end, they each carried half of the zombie away, their expressions a bit dazed as they left.
As soon as the spirits departed, the chair released Fang Xiu. He simply stood up, straightened his clothes, and sat back down with dignity.
“Next,” he said.
This time, two giant spirits entered. They were broad-shouldered, rotting all over. Fang Xiu glanced at the lineup outside the door; the remaining spirits seemed to form six groups.
Eight humans, eight cases. It seemed like a reasonable workload.
“Honored guest, pass judgment—the fertile fields east of the village are my family’s property, but this guy took them!” one spirit bellowed.
“Honored guest, pass judgment—the fertile fields east of the village are my family’s property, but this guy took them!” the other spirit echoed.
Fang Xiu: “What do you want?”
Two spirits: “Honored guest, pass judgment—punish the wicked, reward the good, and fairly judge who owns the land—”
“Alright, let’s go through the proper procedure. You both need to swear before the god of Weishan that the land has always been yours.”
The two spirits fell silent, terrified.
Bai Shuangying couldn’t hold back any longer and let out a soft laugh.
“If you don’t swear, I can only assume you’re disturbing God’s shrine,” Fang Xiu said regretfully. “However…”
He touched the long hair on his shoulder and looked up at Bai Shuangying again, his eyes curving into a smile.
Bai Shuangying didn’t have time to hide his smile as their gazes lightly brushed against each other.
“However, we can’t close the case too hastily.”
After admiring Bai Shuangying’s smile, Fang Xiu looked down at the stage. “Since you’re both so insistent on knowing ‘who owns the land,’ I’ll sentence you to ask for yourselves.”
“You can find the former village chiefs of Weishan Village. If one can’t answer, ask the next. Someone must know whose land it is. Oh, and by the way, they should all be in the underworld.”
Fang Xiu pointed at Fourth Master. “Borrow his peachwood sword and give your necks a slash. You’ll be sent straight there.”
“You disturbed God’s shrine first. Am I not punishing evil and promoting good?”
“Once you’re in the underworld, won’t you know who owns the land?”
A few minutes later, standing by the corpses of the two spirits, Fang Xiu smiled brightly.
“Next,” he said.
The author has something to say:
It’s all about playing with the rules. Ghosts can play with people, and people can play with ghosts √
Now, tell me, is this justice or not.jpg
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Bai Shuangying: This human is quite interesting. (Looks at the little red flower)
Bai Shuangying: This human is quite interesting… (Watches the evil spirits bleed)
The temple fair was brightly lit and filled with ghosts.
The group, tied with pieces of corpses, moved like celebrities under constant scrutiny, with dozens of eyes glued to them. Fourth Master remained unfazed, unhooking a copper gourd engraved with a Bagua symbol from his waist and placing it steadily in his palm.
“Luck! Luck! Luck!” he shouted.
The copper gourd spun on its own in his hand, its mouth pointing in a certain direction. Fourth Master nodded in satisfaction. “As expected, it’s to the east.”
Blondie perked up again. “Bro, what does this mean?”
“The sun rises in the east, so the yang energy is strongest there. It’s easier to deal with evil spirits,” Fourth Master, in a rare good mood, explained briefly.
Blondie exclaimed, “You’re amazing, Bro!”
His tone made it sound like Fourth Master was his actual sibling.
No one mocked Blondie at this point. Compared to Old Man Fu, who was handing out pieces of corpses as gifts, Fourth Master seemed almost human. At least his actions were understandable.
Jia Xu was singled out by Fourth Master and pushed to the front to lead the way. The others huddled behind Fourth Master like chicks, with Fang Xiu and Bai Shuangying as usual at the rear of the group.
Fang Xiu clutched Bai Shuangying’s sleeve, his eyes darting between the stalls.
Amidst the noisy music, the evil spirits seriously danced with lions that had no pupils, some even tossing their own heads like embroidered balls. White paper money replaced red confetti, paper flowers pretended to be fresh flowers, and the stalls were piled high with mud-made food, paper goods of all kinds displayed in abundance.
As long as one didn’t look too closely, the scene was quite lively.
Fang Xiu: “This is a lot like the temple fairs back in my hometown. Have you ever been to one?”
Bai Shuangying shook his head.
Fang Xiu picked up a small handful of paper money from the ground and asked the paper flower vendor, “Is this enough to buy one?”
He pointed to the reddest flower in the basket.
The stall owner, a wandering soul, was caught off guard by the question. It absentmindedly handed over the flower, almost forgetting to collect the paper money.
Fang Xiu took the flower, bent the stem slightly, and pinned it to the front of Bai Shuangying’s white robe.
“It suits you.” Fang Xiu smiled. “Now, you can say you’ve been to a temple fair.”
Bai Shuangying looked down. The vibrant red paper flower, dampened by the rain, looked no different from a real one under the lantern light. It wasn’t bad. He couldn’t resist flicking it with his fingertips and allowed it to remain on him.
…Sure enough, this human is quite interesting, he thought.
After the flower incident, Fang Xiu grabbed Bai Shuangying and hurried to catch up with the group. Fang Xiu was slightly out of breath from the rush. Once he caught his breath, he started mumbling again.
“Wearing a paper flower like this might be bad luck, but you’re already a spirit, so it’s probably fine,” he said. “Uh, you shouldn’t be cursed by a paper flower, right?”
…This human would be even more interesting if he didn’t talk so much, Bai Shuangying thought again.
In the end, he sighed, moved his sleeve, and pulled Fang Xiu closer to him.
He soon noticed Fang Xiu’s relaxed smile, though his body was tense, as if ready to pounce at any moment. The gashes on Fang Xiu’s back had reopened, with fresh blood seeping out slowly, but the stench from the severed head on Fang Xiu’s back overpowered the smell of his own blood.
This human wasn’t oblivious to danger; he just didn’t like showing it.
Bai Shuangying recognized this behavior. Solitary beasts were also used to hiding their pain and scent… but humans were supposed to be social animals, right?
“Stay close to me,” Bai Shuangying couldn’t help but say. “These spirits can’t hurt you.”
“Mm, mm, mm, thank you,” Fang Xiu replied, but his eyes remained vigilant, scanning their surroundings.
Bai Shuangying was speechless. He had more questions recently than in the past thousand years. He was a proper evil spirit, yet Fang Xiu was almost forcing humanity out of him.
“Since you don’t trust me at all, why did you offer your living soul to me?” he asked.
Fang Xiu chuckled. “Oh, that? It’s not like it’s the final payment of a contract. As the saying goes, ‘Don’t let good stuff go to outsiders’… Just think of it as me treating you. I’d rather be eaten by you than by some weird thing.”
“Even if I know I’m going to die, I should at least have the right to choose how I die, right?” he said with his usual cheeky smile.
Fang Xiu didn’t deny the “no trust at all” part, and Bai Shuangying didn’t want to talk to him anymore. Unfortunately, once the chatterbox opened, it couldn’t be stopped.
Fang Xiu: “By the way, what does a living soul taste like? Does it vary by person, and how’s the texture?”
Bai Shuangying pretended not to hear.
Fang Xiu gave him a sad look. “I’m yours in life and your meal in death…”
“Soft, moist, slightly warm. The more tangled their fate, the richer the taste,” Bai Shuangying replied in a flat tone. “Living souls must be eaten fresh. If the three souls leave the body for too long, they either turn into ghosts or disperse into yin energy, which isn’t… isn’t…”
“Isn’t as nutritious,” Fang Xiu helpfully added.
“Mm.”
“Then Fourth Master must be really delicious. I’ll make sure to keep an eye on him for you,” Fang Xiu said enthusiastically.
Amid the commotion, the two walked side by side, chatting away as if they were genuinely enjoying the temple fair.
A little ahead, the others didn’t dare even glance at the stalls, staring only at their feet. But the evil spirits didn’t let them off so easily.
“Child, child.”
A skeleton with a hairpin stuck in its eye sockets grabbed Mei Lan, shoving a yellow mud-made pastry into her hands.
“Don’t be afraid. Have a snack.” The skeleton’s teeth clacked together, its voice muffled. “Have a snack.”
Mei Lan was startled. Before she could react, her arms were filled with a large bundle of mud pastries. Realizing the weight in her arms, she froze.
…Another load she couldn’t throw away. Disposing of it would surely break a taboo.
Seeing Mei Lan accept the offering, countless spirits turned toward her. They grabbed mud and dirt, rushing toward her.
“Child, child.”
“Don’t be afraid. Have a snack. Have a snack.”
They all repeated the same words, like they shared the same tongue.
The weight of the rubbish they handed her quickly became more than a normal person could bear. The spirits twisted their faces into eerie smiles, as if they intended to bury Mei Lan alive under a pile of offerings.
Sensing danger, Cheng Songyun gritted her teeth and stepped in front of Mei Lan. “She can’t carry any more. If she takes any more, she won’t be able to walk!”
Hearing her scolding, the spirits stopped, sizing up Cheng Songyun. After a moment, they surprisingly didn’t force any more offerings on her.
Cheng Songyun sighed in relief and turned to Mei Lan. “Let me carry some for you.”
Mei Lan: “Thank you, thank you, but it’s taboo…”
“We’ve accepted the gifts, and we’re not throwing them away. Does it matter who carries them?” Cheng Songyun adjusted her short hair. “Come on, I’ll take half.”
Mei Lan bit her lip but eventually shook her head.
Cheng Songyun didn’t push further. She handed Mei Lan a bottle of drink. “Fine. You’re using up a lot of energy, so drink this if you get thirsty.”
“I could carry them? I think I can manage.” The gloomy boy hesitated, slowing his steps.
Mei Lan slowed down too, smiling a bit awkwardly. “It’s not about whether you can carry them…”
Sensing that their pace was faltering, Fang Xiu took two steps forward and patted the boy on the shoulder. “If something happens to Cheng Jie or you and the offerings are lost, Mei Lan would probably still be the one to break the taboo, because she didn’t ‘take care’ of the gifts properly.”
He guessed that Mei Lan felt it was too unlucky to say this out loud.
As expected, Mei Lan softly acknowledged, lowering her head.
The gloomy boy froze while Cheng Songyun could only smile bitterly.
“We all understand,” she said.
With the issue resolved, the group trudged on in silence.
Yet the spirits holding mud and rocks didn’t disperse. They followed closely behind Mei Lan, mimicking her steps, sticking to her like shadows.
“We all understand,” they kept repeating, shaking the mud in their hands. “We all understand. We all understand.”
Mei Lan’s face turned even paler than before. She shrank closer to Cheng Songyun, clutching the mud pastries in her arms, her eyes fixed on her own shoes.
With Mei Lan as a warning, the rest of the group became even more cautious. They huddled tightly together, ignoring everything the spirits said.
The wet, muddy road seemed endless. Fang Xiu felt like they had been walking for half a lifetime when Fourth Master finally started to slow down.
“My feet must be blistered,” Fang Xiu grimaced. He could feel blisters forming under his feet, and his heels were in agony.
Bai Shuangying gave him a sideways glance. “Is this how you used to go to temple fairs?”
“It’s different. The last time I went, I was still a kid. When I got tired, my dad would let me ride on his shoulders,” Fang Xiu said.
Bai Shuangying frowned. “I’m not letting you ride.”
Fang Xiu: “……”
Fang Xiu: “…I’m not that desperate, my friend.”
Bai Shuangying looked at Fang Xiu in surprise, as if he wanted to say something but held back. He touched the paper flower on his chest, his tone softening slightly. “Your father treated you well.”
Fang Xiu tapped the tip of his shoe. “Yeah, I miss him a lot.”
Bai Shuangying: “You’ll see him again if you survive this.”
“But I still won’t see him,” Fang Xiu added, “My dad passed away almost twenty years ago.”
Fang Xiu laughed. “No, no, I’ve just had a streak of bad luck.”
“And by the way, I’m an only child. My dad, mom, grandparents, all gone. Just so you won’t have any misunderstanding again.”
Bai Shuangying: “Got it.”
Up ahead, Fourth Master came to a halt and cursed loudly. Fang Xiu immediately perked up, craning his neck to see.
In front of them was another ancestral shrine.
It was identical to the one at Weishan, with the same plaque. However, this shrine’s doors were wide open, and there was no deity statue inside. There was only a rosewood armchair.
Aside from that, the room contained nothing but brightly burning red candles, with no sign of evil spirits.
The couplets on the walls had also changed…
[Upholding virtue and punishing evil with clear judgment.]
[And henceforth, justice is seen in the hearts of men.]
Fang Xiu frowned slightly. These lines weren’t very antithetical. Rather than a couplet, they sounded more like poetry.
Looking further east, there was nothing but pure darkness behind the shrine, as if they had reached the edge of a ghostly maze. Nearby, there were still temple fair stalls, but they kept their distance from the shrine.
That strange, empty shrine stood brightly lit, its door wide open.
Fourth Master didn’t enter immediately. Instead, he took out the copper gourd again, shouted “Luck, luck, luck,” three times, and the gourd pointed unwaveringly at the shrine.
“You.”
Fourth Master kicked Jia Xu in the back. “Go in and take a look.”
“Wait a moment.” In a rare moment, Fang Xiu interrupted Fourth Master.
“Before Jia Xu tries, can I say something? …I’ve made a new discovery about this temple fair.”
The author has something to say:
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone! (*/ω＼*)
The two guests visit the temple fair, give flowers, and talk about family… How is this not a date? (。
————————————
The clues Fang Xiu has noticed are already in the text~I wonder if anyone’s picked up on them yet! ☆
Zhou Qian had observed earlier that most of the soldiers stationed at the west gate were gambling with cards in the morning. He thought he might be able to use this to his advantage to lure them away.
This plan was somewhat idealistic and not guaranteed to succeed. So, he approached it with a try-and-see attitude.
Using stratagems to achieve results without bloodshed was, of course, the best option, as it would allow him to conserve as much mana as possible. If that failed, he was prepared to confront them directly.
At this moment, stepping into the alley and hearing the noise behind him, Zhou Qian knew he had succeeded.
It seemed that every detail in this instance was intentional and potentially beneficial.
Considering what Alayne had said, the soldiers’ actions weren’t surprising—when the top is crooked, the bottom would be too. The Fire leader betrayed the former Day, Moon, Star, Cloud to attain his current position. How could such an opportunist leader teach his soldiers to be loyal to their duties?
The fortunes of both the Kingdom of Words and the Land of Silence were indeed coming to an end.
When they rise, the people suffer; when they fall, the people suffer.
The players were merely passersby in this instance. They couldn’t save everyone or stay to clean up afterward, but at least after eliminating Difu, the whole world wouldn’t fall into a doomed fate.
Quickly, over twenty soldiers followed Zhou Qian and the young man into the alley, only to see a small blue dragon appear, which suddenly whisked the young man away.
Sensing something amiss, the soldiers turned to flee, but it was already too late.
A trap previously set up in the area, [Heavenly Net*], was activated instantly, ensnaring them all within its grasp.
*(天罗地网) Idiom referring to a situation where someone is completely surrounded and trapped, with no way to escape.
Before the soldiers could even react, they were hanging in midair.
Then, they saw Zhou Qian walking out from the other end of the alley.
Zhou Qian, shirtless, with his hands in his pockets, strolled over, chewing bubble gum. Looking up at the soldiers hanging in the air, his gaze showed a bit of surprise, as if he was completely unaware of the situation.
Then he smiled, his look turning mischievous, as if watching some kind of animal performance.
Seemingly amused, he smiled at the soldiers and then puffed his cheeks… and actually began to blow a bubble with the gum.
Seeing a pink gel-like substance emerge from Zhou Qian’s mouth and grow larger, the soldiers in midair had no idea what it was and were utterly captivated by it for a moment.
After staring at the pink bubble curiously for a while, they began to question Zhou Qian—
“Who are you?”
“What do you want?!”
“Not good. This man is most likely a spy from the Land of Silence!”
Zhou Qian laughed. The pink bubble detached from his lips, floated into his palm, and then he looked at the trapped group and said, “Correct. You’re too smart. I am indeed a spy from the Land of Silence.”
One of the soldiers hurriedly said, “I’ll notify—”
Before he could finish, the soldier quickly took out a flare from his pants leg, seemingly planning to throw it through the gaps of the [Heavenly Net] to the ground.
But he couldn’t complete this action. The strange gel-like pink sphere in the stranger’s palm suddenly expanded and then enlarged in front of him, somehow surrounding them from all directions!
In just a moment, the twenty or so soldiers suspended in the air were surrounded by pink gel below their feet, above their heads, and all around, as if they had fallen into a giant pink ball.
They didn’t know what the material of the ball was, but it seemed elastic and highly reflective of sound.
The unfinished sentence of the soldier started bouncing around within the “balloon”, creating an unbearable cacophony.
Realizing this, everyone dared not speak, as every word they uttered would continuously create an almost undiminishing echo, quickly filling the “balloon” with noise.
Adding insult to injury, the flare thrown by the soldier also exploded inside the “balloon,” and the red smoke bounced off the inner walls, making everyone tear up and unable to open their eyes.
At this point, they were completely blind to the outside world, could not hear any external noise, and were totally unable to communicate any messages out.
[Item: Giant Pink Bubble House]
[Effect: Can trap a large group of people inside a bubble gum constructed house, blocking all sound and images, lasting for 30 minutes.]
[Note: The effect is quite amazing, but the success rate of use isn’t high. You must blow the bubble in front of the target, under their gaze, and continue blowing for 30 seconds. But perhaps by the time you finish blowing the bubble, the enemy has already fled.]
[Grade: Uncommon]
This item was uncommon, and its effect was hard to achieve on players.
After all, it was classified as uncommon, and most players were familiar with it and would be wary, not foolishly staring at it for 30 seconds.
But using it on instance NPCs who hadn’t seen much of the world and didn’t know what bubble gum was, was more than sufficient. Especially when they were trapped in the [Heavenly Net] and planning to question Zhou Qian, this “spy”.
Collecting money, gambling, blowing bubbles…
Zhou Qian easily trapped over twenty soldiers.
Turning to leave, he only left them with a message. “Of course, you need to spread the word that I am a spy from the Land of Silence, but there’s no rush. After 30 minutes, you can fire the flare again.”
With that, Zhou Qian draped his shirt over his shoulders and walked away nonchalantly, indifferent to whether those people could hear him or not.
Half a minute later, Zhou Qian appeared under the west gate.
There was no one around, and no one noticed the anomaly here.
However, three soldiers who weren’t interested in gambling had stayed behind, likely indifferent to their duties. They lazily leaned against the city wall, yawning, with swords at their waists.
After sending the little dragon to watch from the rooftops of nearby houses, keeping an eye on the Fire leader’s arrival, and monitoring for any other unusual activity, Zhou Qian took out a [Flying Rope] from his bag and silently climbed up the city gate.
Holding a knife, and with the speed gained from soloing two high-difficulty trial instances, he swiftly passed by the three men.
By the time they realized something was wrong, they were already collapsing with ruptured carotid arteries.
Conveniently, there were many shields on the ground. Zhou Qian laid their bodies down, stripped their armor, and hid it all in his bag, then made several cuts to their faces and bodies.
What has happened, cannot be changed.
They might be resurrected later, but Zhou Qian couldn’t control when they would come back to life, so just in case, he tied them up with a special rope and hid them under the shields.
All that was left for Zhou Qian to do was wait for the Fire leader to appear.
According to the information provided by Alayne, Village Chief Ab was a rare individual who had mastered all the skills of the Day, Moon, Star, Cloud families and was thus unanimously chosen as the village chief.
Therefore, the Fire leader’s strength was probably weaker than Ab’s.
With his skills, the little dragon’s assistance, and the aid of various items, killing him wouldn’t be too difficult.
However, the soldiers of the Land of Silence were skilled in close-quarters assassination with curved blades. If the Fire leader’s body showed obvious signs of unusual death, it would be problematic.
In this case, Zhou Qian had to minimize mana and health consumption while killing him up close with a sword, which was a bit more challenging.
Of course, for Zhou Qian, it was just slightly more difficult.
Facing the city area, he took out a mirror from his bag.
[Item: Dream-Back Mirror]
[Effect: Placed in the scene, it can fully restore the story that once happened in the scene, making people feel as if they were there; Range: 300m; The scene time can be adjusted, but it can only restore up to 24 hours before; The past scene can last for half an hour.]
[Note: Can be used to reminisce about people who were here within the last 24 hours, or to reconstruct a crime scene and search for clues; However, the scenes produced by the Dream-Back Mirror are all illusions. Don’t indulge too much, for illusions are ultimately empty…]
20 minutes later.
Crouching behind the city wall, Zhou Qian received a message from the little dragon—the Fire leader had appeared and would enter the street directly opposite the city gate in one minute.
Upon receiving the message, Zhou Qian hung the Dream-Back Mirror on the city wall within 30 seconds.
All he had to do next was to hide and wait at the city gate.
As soon as the Fire leader turned into the street leading to the west city gate, he entered the range of the Dream-Back Mirror.
What appeared before him was the scene of soldiers dutifully standing guard at the city gate.
Feeling a sense of déjà vu, the Fire leader shook his head, thinking the scene was very similar to what he had seen that morning.
But after thinking it over, it seemed there was nothing wrong with that—soldiers wearing the same uniforms and standing in the same places naturally looked similar.
Thus, the Fire leader didn’t notice anything too unusual and continued toward the city gate.
Arriving at the gate, he yawned and walked up the stone steps next to the rampart to the city wall.
The soldiers stood guard at the city gate without moving, a few facing towards the city interior while the majority faced outward, appearing very serious and dutiful in their posts.
However, the Fire leader eventually noticed something odd—why didn’t they greet him?
It was as if they hadn’t seen him at all…
Wait… Why was the light reflecting off their armor so strange?
The sunlight falling on the armor and every brick of the city wall displayed a distinct orange color, the shade of dawn when the morning sun first rises.
But now, the day was fully bright. Such a phenomenon shouldn’t be occurring. What… What is going on?
As the Fire leader pondered in confusion, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a sight that made his heart race with fear—he turned his body to look down the street below the city gate and saw another version of himself striding towards him!
In shock, the Fire leader hadn’t even fully comprehended the situation when the shields lying on the ground next to him started moving on their own!
Holding twin blades, the Fire leader turned his body, highly alert towards those shields, only to see a few shields fall aside, revealing four bodies emerging from underneath.
The faces of these four bodies were all scratched, unrecognizable, and in addition to their clothes being removed, their bodies were covered in wounds.
No, upon closer inspection, there were only three bodies. One was still alive!
The survivor, upon seeing the Fire leader, shouted, “Greetings, Leader!”
Then he attempted to rise from the ground, only to fail immediately, falling back down and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Afterwards, he spoke very weakly to the Fire leader. “Not good… The Land of Silence… It’s the people from the Land of Silence… They used magic that made us hallucinate… unable to distinguish what’s real from what’s fake… I was attacked by another version of myself… but no matter what I did… I couldn’t harm him at all, I… cough cough…”
Attacked by another version of oneself?
This man hadn’t clarified the situation, but the Fire leader clearly caught a crucial sentence. So he looked down the street at the other version of himself again, finding that he had already walked to the middle of the road.
Suddenly, the Fire leader swung his blade, sending a cloud of fire down the street towards the person.
The murderous intent-filled fire cloud surged powerfully, but upon hitting the other Fire leader, it dissipated into nothingness. It was like punching soft cotton, utterly ineffective.
On the street, the Fire leader walked with ease, his expression unchanged, as if nothing had happened.
This scene undoubtedly agitated the Fire leader at the city gate. He then executed several more moves, but the Fire leader on the street remained unharmed!
The Fire leader’s heart pounded, and he nervously looked towards the soldiers around him.
After standing for a while, they occasionally whispered to each other, as if slacking off. But from beginning to end, not a single one looked at him, as if he didn’t exist at all.
This isn’t right…
What in the world…
At this moment, the Fire leader heard the man lying on the ground speak again. “Leader, only you, me, and these three dead brothers beside me are real. Everything else is fake. But they will kill us and then replace us in the living world! As long as they kill all of us, they can replace us! Ah…”
After saying this, the man spat out blood and became motionless, probably dead like the three others beside him.
Not only did the Fire leader’s heart beat wildly, but his ears also rang.
No, of course he couldn’t be replaced!
With twin blades in hand, the Fire leader quickly ran around the city gate, executing countless moves. Normally, these soldiers would have been incinerated by his fire cloud technique. But now it was different. Those people remained unscathed!
Disbelieving, the Fire leader connected his twin blades, unleashing a powerful move. Two blades of light collided, creating a massive firestorm, like a wildfire fanned by spring winds, instantly targeting every soldier!
The fire was fierce, as if it would burn everything to ashes. But moments later, the flames dissipated, and everything on the city gate remained unchanged, as if nothing had ever happened.
At this moment, the Fire leader suddenly realized what was wrong.
He turned around and saw the other version of himself walking up to the city wall, and the nearest soldier turned to him, saying, “Good morning, Fire Leader!”
The other Fire leader replied, “Good morning, everyone! Did you have a good breakfast? I usually turn a blind eye to your behavior, but not today! Today, of all days, you cannot slack off!”
These were the words he had said that morning.
The scene before him was exactly what he had experienced.
Something that happened in the morning was happening again…
Is this… my memory?!
I’ve entered my own memories!
They can’t see me. They’re not harming me. They’re all from my memory…
Wait, when I first came up to the city gate and noticed that no one looked at me, that the armor had dawn’s light on it, I had already started thinking in this direction, because of that…
It was that man who suddenly appeared covered in blood! He said the other version of myself would kill me!
He was deceiving me! He was misleading me!
Who is he?!
What does he want?!
The Fire leader gripped his twin blades tighter and took steps towards the blood-covered man on the ground.
Suddenly, the man sprang up from the ground.
With a smile on his lips, he raised his hand, his thumb sliding across the corner of his lips, wiping off the blood there, then wiped his eyes as if to clear his vision.
Then the Fire leader saw those bloodthirsty eyes looking back at him.
“You’re even dumber than I thought,” Zhou Qian said with a smile. “With your mana gone and your ultimate on cooldown… what are you going to fight me with?”
……
Five minutes later, Zhou Qian arrived at the breakfast shop they had dined at in the morning and went straight to the second floor.
This was the place they had agreed to meet up after completing their tasks, and upon Zhou Qian’s arrival, only Alayne was there. Alayne was responsible for the Rain leader at the south gate.
Seeing Zhou Qian, she nodded, indicating that she had taken care of the Rain leader.
The other players hadn’t arrived yet. Zhou Qian wasn’t in a hurry. He ordered some food and drink, which was soon delivered.
Breakfast time had passed, and many civilians were trying to squeeze their way to the east gate to watch the spectacle, so there weren’t many customers in the shop at this time.
Although Zhou Qian ordered the food and drink, he didn’t touch it and instead just sat by the window waiting.
After a while, Yun Xiangrong and Yin Jiujiu returned.
They were responsible for the Thunder leader at the north gate.
Thunder corresponded to the former Star, both proficient in utilizing the power of the stars. Yin Jiujiu’s clothes were clearly torn, and her skin underneath appeared charred, suggesting she was struck by lightning.
Fortunately, she specialized in tanking, so she endured it, but now her health was only at 15%.
Yun Xiangrong was slightly better off, with her health at 25%.
The two girls looked pale, already not fully recovered from the previous battle, and having to undertake a highly difficult assassination task was truly taxing.
After both sat down, Zhou Qian asked Yin Jiujiu several questions but didn’t ask Yun Xiangrong anything.
Yun Xiangrong ignored him, sitting down and drinking water without lifting her eyelids, clearly continuing some unspoken performance between them.
But now, both had some other thoughts about the reason why the Peach Blossom Legion had sent her—
Firstly, to keep Zhou Qian’s attention on her and Yin Jiujiu, whose stance was unclear, completely ignoring Ke Yuxiao.
Secondly, now that they had triggered the hidden completion condition, it was clear this instance was very special. Perhaps the Peach Blossom Legion also coveted the rewards of the hidden achievement. If the Peach Blossom Legion sent someone else, Zhou Qian would never let that person win the reward, but if it was Yun Xiangrong, it might not be the case.
Bai Zhou was assigned the task of infiltrating the racecourse and monitoring Difu’s movements, so he wouldn’t be back for a while. The only one they were waiting for now was He Xiaowei.
As they waited, he had already missed the final time agreed upon by everyone.
Yin Jiujiu glanced at the system panel’s time and said anxiously, “Could something have happened to him? The Land of Silence’s troops are about to arrive. His task may not involve assassination, but it’s still crucial. If something goes wrong—”
Zhou Qian tapped his index finger on the table. “Xiaowei Ge might be a bit jumpy sometimes, but he’s never let us down at crucial moments. We should trust our teammates more.”
“I know…” Yin Jiujiu exhaled. “I’m just a bit worried. If he messes up, all our injuries would have been for nothing.”
Zhou Qian’s expression remained unchanged, only looking out the window. “No rush. Gao Shan is with him. He can help. Besides, Zhou Ge is close to him. He’ll be fine.”
With that, Zhou Qian summoned the little dragon, petting its head. “Xiao Long, sneak over to the east city gate. After the Land of Silence people arrive, follow them. I’ll be watching everything through your eyes. Be careful not to get caught.”
“Yip!” The little dragon let out a soft cry and flew out the window.
Yin Jiujiu watched this scene anxiously, only to see Zhou Qian looking out the window with a smile. “Look, our Xiaowei Ge is back.”
The author has something to say:
Zhou Ge fights: Single strike style.
Qian Ge fights: Gambling cards and pretending to be dead, then using all kinds of flashy tricks.
The spaceship “Muse”, belonging to the Galactic Diva Camilla, was now hovering over the outskirts of Leyting. The ship was shaped like a hexagonal pyramid, resembling a gigantic glass artwork. The sky of Leyting, half in daylight and half in darkness, tinted it with a faint golden-red hue, making it look like a shining jewel in the twilight sky.
Leyting lacked a well-equipped theater like Neo Venice, so the governor specially approved the Muse to enter the planet’s atmosphere, allowing Camilla to perform with various special effects projected from above the stage. After the performance, the Muse left the urban area and stayed in the countryside, partly to facilitate acceleration during takeoff and partly to prevent curious onlookers from approaching.
After notifying the spaceship’s staff, the hatch at the bottom of the ship slowly opened, and the driver piloted the flying car into the ship’s hold.
“Alright, we’re safe on the ship,” Rita said with a smile to the two fugitives as the flying car came to a stop.
Alois stepped out of the car, surprised to find that the floor was a smooth display screen, resembling a mirror-like lake. When he stepped on it, ripples immediately spread out, making it seem as though he was wading through water.
“The entire spaceship is designed this way,” Rita explained. “The walls, floor, and ceiling can all be used as touch screens. This is Camilla’s preference, so the ship was specially customized for him.”
“It’s different from any ship I’ve seen before,” Alois said, kicking the floor experimentally, which caused realistic splashes. “Thank you for bringing us aboard, Miss Rita,” he sincerely thanked the manager.
Rita shook her head. “If you want to thank someone, thank Camilla. I wasn’t going to help, but he insisted on rescuing you.” She pointed in Camilla’s direction. Alois followed her gaze and saw the diva surrounded by staff, seemingly discussing the upcoming schedule. Halfway through, Camilla turned around, caught Alois’s eye, and quickly looked away, sulking.
Alois turned in another direction, where Joshua stood in a small, shadowy area. His black and gold eyes had darkened, resembling an abyss with unseen things stirring within, trying to break free.
Joshua had been acting strangely since earlier. Alois thought. He must have misunderstood something between me and Camilla… What could it be? What is going on in that guy’s head?
They stared at each other silently, neither willing to speak first.
“The ship is about to accelerate out of the atmosphere. Let me take you to the lounge,” Rita said, patting Alois’s arm, freeing him from the awkward silence. “Do you want to stay in the hold and get crushed by the acceleration?” The manager, with her years of ironclad professional experience, also gently called out to the icy Joshua.
The assassin hesitated, but ultimately succumbed to the threat of acceleration. Even the most notorious killer couldn’t defy the laws of physics. He followed Rita and Alois, keeping a few steps behind.
He wasn’t sure if he was overthinking, but Alois couldn’t help but notice that Joshua’s footsteps seemed unusually chaotic.
In the lounge, as the spaceship exited the atmosphere and entered space travel, Rita excused herself to handle some affairs. Joshua stood up to follow, explaining to the puzzled manager, “I need a place to smoke.”
“The smoking room is over there. I’ll show you.”
After they left, Alois was left alone in the lounge. He huffed, crossed his arms, and sank into the sofa.
Joshua never smoked unless necessary, and he never carried cigarettes. He usually borrowed them from others (often from Joanna). Now he claimed to need a smoke, clearly to avoid Alois. What was there to avoid? They had fought together to escape the police just hours ago, and now Joshua was sulking! Who had time for that!
The more Alois thought about it, the more irritated he became. He wanted to find Joshua and explain things, but he also felt it would be a waste of time. Getting angry at such a critical moment, unable to prioritize!
The lounge door slid open with a “shhh”.
“You’re back,” Alois said without looking, his tone sour.
The newcomer didn’t speak. Only after the door closed did light footsteps approach. Alois recognized they weren’t Joshua’s.
“…It’s me,” Srosie said timidly.
Alois awkwardly scratched his head. “I-I thought you were Joshua.” He tried to force a smile. “What brings you here?”
Perhaps his smile was too awkward, scaring Srosie. The cross-dressing youth clasped his hands behind his back like a student being punished, cautiously approaching, afraid of accidentally angering him. “I-I came to check on you.” He finally reached Alois, blushing and looking around nervously. “You didn’t seem happy… Are you mad at me? Because I keep bothering you?”
Alois smiled wryly. “No such thing.”
“Really…?”
“Yeah.”
Srosie’s face lit up instantly, as if a beam of light shone on his face. “I thought you hated me…”
“How could I!” Alois patted his head. “I like you a lot.” He said, “Thank you. If it weren’t for your help, we would definitely…”
Before he could finish, Srosie threw himself into his arms, hugging his waist tightly. “I-I like you too!” he said excitedly. “You’re so good to me. You even saved my life… Rita says if you like someone, you should be brave and confess, or someone else will take them away.” Blushing, he looked up. “I like you. I want you to stay with me. Stop being a pirate, okay? Come with me… We can travel the galaxy—go anywhere we want. You won’t have to hide, won’t be hunted… If you don’t like my performances, I’ll quit singing… I’ll still sing, just for you…” He sniffled. “Just the two of us…”
Alois’s mind went blank.
What’s going on?! He thought in panic. A confession? He’d been confessed to before, but never this directly! And by the Galactic Diva Camilla! Camilla! Although he was a cross-dresser, he was the real Camilla! Camilla said he liked him! Camilla confessed to him! How could this be so sudden! Couldn’t there have been a warning first?
But something felt off! Alois tried to push Srosie away and stammered, “But… but why do you like me?”
“Like means like. There’s no need for so many reasons!” Srosie pouted. “You said you liked me too. We have mutual feelings!”
—That’s not right!
“Wait! That’s not the kind of like… I… I have…” I have a lover!
A gunshot interrupted Alois. The laser beam grazed Srosie’s ear, cutting off a few strands of hair and leaving a scorched mark on the floor.
The youth stiffened and turned in disbelief to see Joshua standing at the lounge door.
Amidst the sorrowful and tragic opera singing, the group remained silent.
Bai Shuangying glanced at Fang Xiu in mild surprise, thinking Fang Xiu would enthusiastically cheer for the performance. Fang Xiu’s sudden normal behavior felt a bit unfamiliar to him.
Then he heard Fang Xiu muttering in confusion, “The number of performers isn’t right… Skinny Monkey and Brother Scar aren’t here. Could it be because their deaths didn’t rhyme well*?”
*Clarity: In the previous chapter, the lines sang in opera about their deaths in Chinese rhymes. Unfortunately, I’m not creative enough to make them rhyme myself translated into English, given how little words there are to work with, and I don’t want to stray too far from the original lines.
Bai Shuangying felt reassured.
“They’ll never find Skinny Monkey,” Bai Shuangying complimented himself modestly.
Fang Xiu responded, “True, he’s turned into a tree. Lucky for them, they didn’t carve the idol out of him. But Brother Scar…”
Under Bai Shuangying’s concealment, Fang Xiu seemed to be muttering to himself. Old Man Fu walked up and interrupted the whispering.
“Pardon my poor performance,” he said, still smiling with eyes and mouth like narrow slits, a smile that looked somewhat abstract. “One guest’s karma is not clean, making it inconvenient for them to be on stage. I hope everyone can forgive us…”
Even though Old Man Fu’s eyes were just two black slits without eyeballs, Fang Xiu could still feel its faint gaze.
“If I may ask, what do you mean by ‘unclean karma’?” Fourth Master asked respectfully, addressing Old Man Fu.
Old Man Fu’s smile deepened. “Imagine a poor beast being stabbed to death by a butcher. Can you say the cause of death was the knife? The butcher is still alive and watching. The karma involved…”
Fourth Master’s face darkened. He understood the implication.
…Damn it, someone had definitely tampered with things, deliberately leading Brother Scar to violate a taboo.
Old Man Fu continued, “No need to be angry. This shrine market is arranged for all of you. Whether you want to hear the opera or browse the market, everything is prepared. The market will last for seven days and nights, so do enjoy yourselves.”
He bent his neck stiffly, looking down at the group. A foul stench emanated from him, a mix of ink and rotting flesh.
Fourth Master glanced at the four corpses on stage without saying a word. The others didn’t dare speak either. Five people had died in just two days. Who would still be alive after seven days and nights?
Fang Xiu, unconcerned, asked, “Can we leave?”
Old Man Fu’s smile didn’t falter. “Why leave such a wonderful shrine market? What is it that you’re unhappy with? If you want ring toss games, sugar paintings, or dough figurines, just ask, and our village will prepare them for you…”
“I don’t like shrine markets,” Fang Xiu said.
Old Man Fu: “……”
Old Man Fu’s smile became more strained. “This shrine market is specially arranged for all of you…”
“You say that, but the show already started before we even arrived,” Fang Xiu pointed out fairly.
Even Fourth Master couldn’t help but turn his head to glance at him. Fang Xiu seemed oblivious, his eyes fixed only on Old Man Fu.
“The shrine market is like this opera. Once it starts, it can’t stop. It’s not just for entertaining guests, but also for honoring the ghosts and gods.” Old Man Fu sighed, shaking his head, his neck making a dangerous creaking sound. “It can’t stop, it can’t stop—”
Fang Xiu responded, “Alright…”
Honoring the ghosts and gods? Interesting, considering you’re all ghosts yourselves.
His remark seemed to ease the tension in the group slightly.
Noticing the change in atmosphere, Old Man Fu reined in his smile. “Well then, I have prepared some welcoming gifts. Please accept them.”
He stepped back a few paces and waved his hand. Several evil spirits, about half the height of a person, stumbled forward, holding up eight red-wrapped bundles. Upon seeing the shape of the bundles, the recently calmed Mei Lan almost screamed again.
The bundles clearly contained dismembered human body parts.
The pieces varied in size, including hands and feet. Each one was bloodied, as if gnawed on by a beast. Fang Xiu examined them closely and guessed that the body parts likely belonged to Brother Scar.
There were two arms, two legs, a torso cut into three pieces, and a head, neatly divided into eight portions.
The parts were carefully wrapped in uniformly sized red cloth, with a white paper label inscribed with black characters: an upside-down “Blessing” character. Some of the limbs were too long for the fabric to cover completely, so they were tied with pretty red cloth flowers.
As if fearing not enough fuel had been added to the fire, Old Man Fu said, “These gifts are from the entire Weishan Village. Please take good care of them, absolutely.”
His grin stretched wide, almost reaching his ears. “Otherwise, everyone will be very upset.”
The last sentence was drawn out slowly, dripping with implication.
After saying that, Old Man Fu instructed his minions to distribute the “gifts” one by one. Two arms were given to Mei Lan and the gloomy teenager, two legs to Blondie and Cheng Songyun, and Fourth Master, the lunatic, and Jia Xu each received a part of the torso.
As for the bloodied head, it was given to Fang Xiu.
The head had little flesh left but retained its general shape. The red cloth was soaked with blood, sticking tightly to the head. Everyone could still make out Brother Scar’s despairing expression.
“Thank you.” Fang Xiu accepted the head politely.
The weight was just over ten pounds, still manageable.
Brother Scar’s soul had already been devoured by Bai Shuangying, but who would have thought Fang Xiu would end up carrying his ghost’s leftovers.
Bai Shuangying also disliked leftovers. Wrinkling his nose, he couldn’t help but ask, “Why provoke Old Man Fu? The head smells the worst. It’s very stinky.”
Fang Xiu was busy untying the red flower, preparing to use the red silk rope to tie the head to his back. Hearing Bai Shuangying’s question, he smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Isn’t it great? Even you think Old Man Fu targeted me because I ‘deliberately caused trouble’… rather than because I ‘got Brother Scar killed.’”
Humans really are calculating, Bai Shuangying thought, raising an eyebrow.
Fang Xiu’s tone lightened again. “Besides, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s just a piece of dead flesh. Could you cough up Brother Scar’s soul?”
Of course not. Bai Shuangying shook his head decisively.
The others, however, didn’t take things as well as Fang Xiu. Aside from Fourth Master and the lunatic, no one dared touch the bundles. Old Man Fu wasn’t in a hurry either. He just stood ten steps away, watching them cheerfully until they all started scratching their bodies.
The second taboo: Do not harm the villagers, except in self-defense.
If refusing candy from an old ghost lady was a violation, then refusing a gift from the entire Weishan Village would be even worse.
Finally, everyone obediently accepted their pieces of the corpse, trembling as they tied them to themselves. If they lost these, they’d itch to death for violating the taboo.
“You’ve got guts, kid,” Fourth Master commented as he tied up his piece, giving Fang Xiu a glance.
“I worked as a cleaner in a hospital. I got used to seeing things in the emergency room,” Fang Xiu answered honestly.
Fourth Master grunted and said no more.
At this point, the thick stench of blood emanating from everyone made them living targets, and all the evil spirits in the area were eyeing them.
Even Blondie, slow as he was, realized something was off and muttered a curse. “Fuck, the old bag was pretending to be human earlier, but it had no good intentions!”
Jia Xu wiped the blood off his hands. “Its suona band directly invited us, but no one would have followed them willingly. It just didn’t want to confront us directly, so it gave us a heads-up.”
“…It definitely doesn’t mean well,” he agreed with Blondie for once. “I thought it had some hidden reason, but now I think Old Man Fu’s goal must be…”
“Idiot.” Fourth Master sneered. “Don’t overestimate yourself. I’ve been through half the ritual, and I’ve only ever seen ghosts toying with people, never a ghost bothering to play along.”
Jia Xu swallowed his words and didn’t dare continue.
“Everyone, feel free to relax and do whatever you like.”
Seeing that everyone had tied up their pieces, Old Man Fu wobbled back to his original position, swaying his inhuman body. “Alright. Greetings are done, gifts are received, now continue—”
At that moment, the four corpses on stage resumed their eerie singing.
“Seeing him take the hands, how will his end turn out?”
“Seeing him take the legs, what death will befit him?”
“Seeing him take the three sections, how will his fate be sealed?”
“Seeing him take the head, the retribution will only increase—”
At some point, the four high-backed chairs had shifted, now facing Fang Xiu’s group instead of the stage.
“I sing, and you listen, tied together by fate, first harming men, then harming ghosts, a dead end for all.”
“Killing brings sin, but retribution will come, though Heaven and Earth may not yet show it.”
“Since Old Man Fu said, ‘Do whatever you like,’ we should probably get going. If we keep listening, my brain’s going to freeze,” Jia Xu said, rubbing the goosebumps on his arms.
Mei Lan tightly covered her ears, nodding furiously, looking like she might faint at any moment. Beside her, the gloomy teenager had tied the arm to his chest and appeared to have just finished vomiting.
“Let’s not rush. Let me take a look first.”
Fourth Master, using his height to his advantage, scanned the area in all directions. From the center of the shrine, red lanterns filled the surroundings with an eerie glow, stretching as far as the eye could see.
“…Damn it, it’s a ghost wall*!” he cursed through gritted teeth.
*Figuratively and literally. Figuratively, it describes a situation where you’re stuck and unable to get out (ghost hitting the wall). Literally, they are surrounded by a wall of ghosts, so they really are stuck and unable to leave.
Fang Xiu finally understood. No wonder Old Man Fu had said, “Feel free to take the ‘E’” and “come and go as you please.”
It was akin to your mom telling you that after eight hours of studying, eight hours of chores, and eight hours of sleep, you’re free to play video games.
Old Man Fu had tied a blood-soaked GPS in the form of Brother Scar’s body parts to them, then set up this whole extravagant setup. The evil spirits had no need to confront them directly now. If they could leave, it would mean the spirits had lost.
“We’re doomed.” Mei Lan’s face turned pale. “Seven days and nights… This is just a slaughterhouse… Forget the ‘E’, we don’t even know the third taboo. We’re going to be trapped here until we die…”
Jia Xu’s expression shifted, clearly at a loss for how to comfort her.
Fang Xiu could understand. After all, this ritual wasn’t a horror game. There wasn’t necessarily a way to “win”. If they had to compare it to a game, they were already one step into a bad ending.
Fang Xiu: “Well, since we’re here, why don’t we at least choose a direction to explore? Just don’t split up.”
Blondie perked up a little. “You got a plan?”
Fang Xiu: “…In horror movies, don’t the ones who split up die first?”
Blondie cracked his knuckles but, fortunately, didn’t make a move.
“Let’s try heading east.”
Still unwilling to give up, Fourth Master took another look around and spat heavily. “If there’s a ghost wall, it at least proves the ‘E’ is outside its range.”
It wasn’t much good news, but everyone listened in low spirits.
“Let’s go.” Fang Xiu tugged on Bai Shuangying’s sleeve.
Bai Shuangying tilted his head. “Didn’t you say you don’t like shrine markets?”
“I was lying earlier.”
Under the light of the lanterns, Fang Xiu was standing very close, and his warm breath brushed Bai Shuangying’s ear.
“…Shrine markets are the best,” Fang Xiu whispered. “Let’s go enjoy it together.”
The author has something to say:
Let’s go to the temple fair together!
First, they shared a bed, and now they’re going on a scenic rural trip together, staying at a countryside inn, and experiencing local cultural activities.
The fires that burned throughout the night in every household were finally extinguished, and the day was fully bright. Shops along the street gradually opened, and bustling crowds took to the streets.
The faces of the people were mostly filled with joyful smiles—they had survived, safely passing the perilous Samhain, and from this morning on, they could truly celebrate this day as a festival.
The little dragon was summoned by Zhou Qian and quietly flew out of the city. Through its eyes, Zhou Qian gathered much information—
Last night, to safely get through Samhain, the group from the Land of Silence didn’t travel overnight but stayed in a nearby town. They were now heading towards the Royal City and would arrive in about an hour.
Their procession included seven magicians and about thirty guards, all elite.
On the other hand, Gao Shan, acting as a bone spirit, went to scout both inside and outside the palace.
With his transparent soul, he could freely avoid various guards and eavesdrop on their conversations without being discovered. The only thing he had to beware of were animals in this world that could see spirits or magicians with special abilities.
After some scouting, Gao Shan found out that the kings of both countries would meet in the palace’s horse track. They both enjoy horse racing and plan to discuss state affairs while racing horses and drinking.
As for the general layout of the royal city, it had been thoroughly explored by the players before they went to the breakfast shop.
The Royal City was square, with a city gate in each of the four directions. People from the Land of Silence would enter through the east gate, follow the main road all the way to the palace, then enter the horse track directly through the west side door.
Guards were stationed at all four gates, especially at the east gate, where defenses were exceptionally strict. From the city gate, along the main road, to the west side door of the palace, not only were the guards strict, but there were also ceremonial troops specially prepared to welcome the Land of Silence.
Due to barriers set up, no ordinary citizens passed through the king of the Land of Silence necessary route from the city gate to the horse track.
In this situation, once a player walked past, they would immediately become the target of everyone’s attention.
During this time, Alayne also went out to scout.
As a citizen of the Kingdom of Words, she infiltrated and wandered around the city, bringing back a piece of news after some investigation.
“The replacements for the Day, Moon, Star, Cloud four great guard armies stationed in the Royal City are Wind, Rain, Thunder, Fire. Inside the palace, these four guard squads jointly protect it, and as for the city gates, Wind guards the east, and Rain, Thunder, Fire respectively guard the west, south, north. I inquired about the names of the four guard leaders and found something complicated…”
“These four leaders and some of their subordinates were once from Day, Moon, Star, Cloud. When I passed by the west gate, I even made eye contact with that leader. I have been reborn, so he doesn’t recognize me, but I recognized him at a glance. Back then…”
Sighing, Alayne’s eyes filled with deeper hatred. “The battle against the Red God, when I died, I fought alongside them. My squad and I all died in battle, but they survived unharmed and even became leaders here.”
Because of Amei and the golden feather, Day, Moon, Star, Cloud were expelled to become commoners. But not everyone from these four families went to Nameless Village.
After being reincarnated as Alayne, she heard the old folks mention their names and fates—they were executed.
Back then, because the golden feather was stolen, the Land of Silence waged war against the Kingdom of Words, which at that time couldn’t resist the Land of Silence. They not only had to hand over Amei but also had to punish her family sufficiently to appease the Land of Silence’s anger and avert an imminent war.
Thus, for Day, Moon, Star, Cloud, most were expelled, and a few were executed. Among those expelled to Nameless Village, no one thought there was anything unusual. They all believed that those few people had truly died.
But now Alayne realized there might be more to the story.
She thought for a moment and said, “I understand. Day, Moon, Star, Cloud each mastered a unique skill, and with these four skills working together, the king could sleep soundly. This has always been the support of the four great families. They thought that by handing over Amei, the king would definitely not harm them, but unexpectedly…”
“It seems these four betrayed their own families. They revealed the secrets of the unique skills to the king in exchange for their own prosperity. With control over the four unique skills, they reformed Wind, Rain, Thunder, Fire, which could replace the former Day, Moon, Star, Cloud in protecting the king. Then, for the former four families… the king could expel them without worry. Even…”
Clenching her fists, Alayne said, “Even further back in time, I was betrayed by them! The queen hated the four families and the king, so she became the Red God and caused chaos. But she never harmed the civilians. This I learned after dying and going to another realm, seeing the queen.”
“If the massacre of so many civilians wasn’t done by the queen, then it was most likely these people committing crimes under the guise of the Red God’s orders.”
Everyone thought the Red God was the calamity of the Royal City. Alayne, to protect the civilians, fought on the day of Samhain when the Red God appeared, exhausted her strength, and died.
But she never imagined the real culprits were her own family.
These people had long harbored the intention to betray, secretly turning their blades against their own.
When Alayne was still Beilan, she died under their betrayal. Day, Moon, Star, Cloud were expelled and became commoners because of their betrayal, and then directed all their hatred towards Amei alone, continuously framing her during her years of suffering…
At this point, Alayne suddenly felt uncertain about whom to hate.
She remembered what Amei said—the people here are too wicked, so wicked that Amei would rather stay as the Red God in the other world forever than return to the human world.
After hearing Alayne’s story, Zhou Qian quickly understood all the causes and effects.
He slightly raised his eyebrows, glanced towards the east gate, and then smiled. “I see… Then there’s even more reason to kill them.”
“So, this is another betrayal. It seems ‘betrayal’ indeed is the theme of this instance. Then, let them be our first targets.”
Having said this, Zhou Qian stood next to the breakfast table and buried his head on the desk. He put one hand on the table, drew a map with the other, and laid out specific tactics.
Finally, he spun a pen in his fingers and, with a snap, placed it on the table.
Zhou Qian turned to everyone. “Does everyone understand? Since the east side is heavily guarded, we’ll act from the west, south, and north. We’re perfectly disguised as defectors from the Land of Silence. ‘Framing’ this on the Land of Silence couldn’t be easier. Don’t forget, the solution to this problem was told to us by the people of Nameless Village—”
He Xiaowei reacted immediately, saying, “I got it! When they killed Qi Yunsi and framed us, they mentioned that the soldiers of the Land of Silence have a unique curved weapon! I’ve seen Qi Yunsi’s body. I know what that mark looks like! We can kill these betrayers and then make the wounds look similar!”
“Right. So… let’s get moving.”
Zhou Qian placed his other hand on the table with a snap, as if to boost everyone’s morale.
One after another, they left, leaving only Bai Zhou behind.
Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou stood facing each other by the window.
Outside the window was a street full of exotic charm. The morning glow’s orange light dissipated, and the sunlight began to intensify, casting a halo of hazy light and shadow around their side profiles.
Despite their days together, they had always been in the game world.
Zhou Qian had never seen the part of Bai Zhou hidden in the shadows.
But it seemed Zhou Qian never cared about that.
Now, he just looked at Bai Zhou seriously, smiling slightly. “I’m going to command you now.”
Bai Zhou smiled back and didn’t say much. He just stepped forward, took Zhou Qian’s right hand with one hand, lifted it to his lips, lightly kissed the back of his hand, then put his hand down.
“See you in a bit. Be careful.”
With those words, Bai Zhou turned and leaped towards the window, his tall and slender figure disappearing as if merging with the daylight.
Zhou Qian first looked down the long street through the window—not a trace of Bai Zhou could be seen.
Then he lifted his hand, glancing at the back of his hand a couple more times, though not spending too much time on it.
Taking a quick deep breath, Zhou Qian, with the Rib of God in hand, also took action.
He left the bed, walked down the stairs to the first floor, through the hall towards the street, “accidentally” bumping into many customers along the way.
Thus, before entering the breakfast shop, he had no money, but upon leaving, he had acquired a significant amount of currency from the Kingdom of Words.
Moments later, Zhou Qian changed into a new outfit—one that was currently fashionable in the Royal City of the Kingdom of Words—and arrived at the west gate.
His task was to kill the leader of Fire, who was in charge of this location.
The reason he took on this task was simple—when he passed by here earlier, before dawn, he noticed a few soldiers gambling with cards at the base of the city wall.
Although the cards held by the soldiers of the Kingdom of Words and their way of gambling were very different from what he was used to in modern society, the principles were the same. Zhou Qian, with a good memory and proficient in gambling, had figured out the game after watching just three rounds.
When Alayne came here to scout earlier, she coincidentally encountered the Fire leader arriving at this location to assign tasks to the soldiers stationed here.
From a distance, Alayne was able to recognize him as someone from the former four great families.
Alayne had described in detail the appearance and clothing of the Fire leader, which Zhou Qian had memorized thoroughly.
Now, after walking around the inside of the city gate, Zhou Qian found that the Fire leader wasn’t here.
The four great guard armies of Wind, Rain, Thunder, and Fire were responsible for the security of the entire Royal City, both for guarding the city gates and the palace. As the leader of one of these four branches, the Fire leader would likely patrol back and forth between the city gate and the palace to check if his subordinates were slacking off.
His absence meant he had probably gone back to the palace to inspect the defensive arrangements there after assigning tasks at the city gate in the morning.
The Fire leader would surely return.
And his absence provided Zhou Qian with an opportunity to deal with him.
Aside from the temporary absence of the Fire leader, there were also no civilians near the west gate at the moment.
Hearing that people from the Land of Silence were coming, most had crowded to the eastern side of the Royal City. The east gate area had several taller buildings, like inns and bookstores. Unable to go to the streets, they resorted to this way to join in the excitement and catch a glimpse of the king of the Land of Silence.
Zhou Qian managed to catch a passerby and talked him into playing cards with him.
Of course, the cards were also bought with the money he had “borrowed” at the breakfast shop.
The place where Zhou Qian gambled with the man was very close to the west gate.
Because it was quiet due to the absence of people around, the noise from their spot easily reached the west gate.
The civilian Zhou Qian had randomly grabbed and coaxed into gambling with him was a young man in his early twenties, with delicate features and dark green eyes.
Now, he was regretting his decisions, unable to stop exclaiming, “Why could you win ten times in a row against me?”
“That’s not right. Your cards were so small at the beginning, how could you bet you would win? Do you have x-ray vision?”
“Are you cheating?”
“No, no, let me shuffle!”
……
“Oh my god… Impossible! How did I lose again?”
“Who exactly are you? Are you a magician? If so, I’m going to have someone beat you up! Magicians aren’t allowed to gamble. That’s a rule everyone knows! Everyone will help me beat you up! Be careful!”
“You’re a foreigner, aren’t you? I’ve never seen you before! You definitely can’t beat my people!”
“Anyway, I’m right no matter what!”
The young man’s ramblings were interrupted by Zhou Qian’s action—
He simply took off his shirt.
“You…?”
“You were suspicious of me hiding cards, right? Now, I can’t cheat. Oh, and you were suspicious of me using magic? You can search me to see if I’m hiding anything. Magicians need tools to cast spells, and I definitely don’t have such things.”
The young man indeed inspected Zhou Qian from head to toe, even grabbed his hair a few times, and found that he indeed had nothing on him that could be used for magic.
Finally, seeming confident, he said, “Then, then I’m raising the stakes!”
Zhou Qian replied, “Great! I could tell you’re a rich man from your clothes!”
“If I lose again, I’ll give you all the money I have on me!”
“I was wrong before. You’re not just straightforward. You’re really bold! I love playing cards with people like you.”
During this time, the soldiers at the west gate had their eyes and ears focused in this direction.
They were all muttering among themselves—
“That guy doesn’t use magic or hide cards, yet he won so many times in a row. He must be a real pro. Is that guy with green eyes an idiot for raising the stakes?!”
“But how does the pro do it? I’m really curious…”
……
Meanwhile, they were extremely curious about whether the young man would lose all his money to Zhou Qian.
Five minutes later.
The young man lost another five rounds and sat on the ground, actually starting to cry.
Zhou Qian patted his shoulder. “Hey, don’t be so sad. Consider this my good deed for the day. Or how about I teach you?”
“You-You’ll teach me? If you do… Can I be like you…”
“Of course. I guarantee it.” Zhou Qian nodded affirmatively. “You’ll be the next gambling god of the Kingdom of Words. You’ll win a lot of money! But—”
Zhou Qian nonchalantly stood up shirtless, casually draping his shirt over his shoulder, and turned to walk into a nearby alley. “But this place is too public. It’s not convenient. My secret technique is not to be shared. Come into this alley. I’ll tell you secretly.”
At that moment, all the soldiers’ eyes showed greed.
“Should we follow?”
“Who’s going to guard the city gate if we do?”
“But if we don’t follow, we’ll miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”
“How about we pick someone to follow, and he can teach us when he comes back?”
“Who do we pick? We know each other too well. We’re a bunch of gamblers—who would really teach us if they learned this skill? I don’t believe it unless you send me!”
“Fine, let’s all go together! Fire boss went to the horse track to assign tasks! He won’t be back anytime soon!”
“Actually, today’s matter doesn’t concern us. It’s all about the east gate’s task. Let’s go! Let’s go!”
“Agreed, we won’t have this chance again!”
With his back to the crowd, Zhou Qian stepped into the alley.
The backlight outlined his lean and muscular upper body as he smirked, revealing a familiar smile of pleasure on his face.
Joshua sidestepped the incoming laser beam and darted into a narrow alley barely wide enough for one person. He roughly shoved Alois into the alley, much like stuffing chewing gum into an ATM card slot.
“I’m stuck!”
“How is that possible? Are you a hippo?”
Joshua pushed him forward with both hands and feet. The police cars couldn’t enter such a narrow alley, and they had to escape before the slow-moving officers disembarked and aimed their guns at these sitting ducks. Joshua had no time to complain about Alois’s noise because he also found it difficult to move in the alley. Were the architects of Leyting all idiots? Why design such an impractical space between buildings? Was this some new form of performance art?
When Alois finally squeezed out of the alley, he had never been more thankful to the Lord for granting humanity air and open spaces. Joshua followed closely behind, looking somewhat disheveled, with his clothes torn by the rough walls and a few scratches on his arms.
The narrow alley connected to another dimly lit alley, slightly wider, allowing two people to walk side by side. The end of the alley led to Leyting’s bustling streets. From their position, they could see sunlight streaming in and hear the noisy traffic of the busy street.
“Which way?” Alois asked.
Joshua stared at the alley’s end. “That person over there… Do you know them well?”
“…Who?”
A luxurious blue flying car was parked at the alley’s entrance, its back window halfway down. A blue-haired girl with sunglasses poked half her body out, excitedly waving at them.
Alois rolled his eyes. “Oh Lord, why is she here?” He realized he might have used the wrong pronoun.
“You should get into the habit of watching the news every morning. The Galactic Diva’s tour includes a stop in Leyting.”
Seeing them stand still, the Galactic Diva jumped out of the car, trying to attract their attention. Her manager, Rita, frantically pulled her back. “Do you want the entire Leyting to watch you, my Diva?”
“So what? It’s not like I haven’t been watched before.” Srosie adjusted his large sunglasses, which covered half his face, and excitedly waved again. Rita worried he might strain his wrist.
“Hurry up! The police are coming!”
“Don’t shout so loudly! Do you really want to attract the police?” Rita covered his mouth. Only when the two “wanted criminals”, who for some reason had attracted the police, got into the car did she release him and instruct the driver to start. Srosie immediately leaned over like a small animal. “Hi, Alois, long time no see!”
Joshua frowned. He got into the car first, sitting between Srosie and Alois to prevent any trouble. But Srosie ignored the assassin, leaning over Joshua to greet Alois as if they were old friends.
Joshua glared at Srosie, but the diva seemed used to various looks from people (understandably, given his stage presence), not reacting at all. Or perhaps he noticed but ignored Joshua on purpose to provoke him, continuing to chat with Alois.
“Why are you in Leyting? When did you arrive?”
“Uh… a day or two ago…” Alois’s mind was still in escape mode, not ready for a reunion with an old friend, so he was slow to respond.
“I had a concert yesterday. Did you come?” Alois shook his head. “No? Why? Ah, I know, you couldn’t get tickets, right? You should’ve told me earlier. I have plenty of tickets. I could get you as many as you want!”
Alois wanted to say he didn’t know about the concert, but seeing Srosie’s expectant face, he couldn’t bear to say anything that might label him as “not a true fan of Camilla”, so he just mumbled noncommittally.
But Srosie took this as confirmation and continued chattering. “I never thought we’d meet again here. It must be fate! We have a bond!”
“Uh… yeah, probably…” Srosie’s sudden enthusiasm was overwhelming.
Joshua interrupted, “Sorry to interrupt your friendly conversation, but may I say something?”
“What?” Srosie finally noticed Joshua’s presence.
“Could you get off me? You’re heavy.”
Srosie’s expression froze as if someone had pressed a pause button on him. He silently crawled back to his seat, turned to the window, and said nothing.
The car fell into an eerie silence.
Alois elbowed Joshua, warning him to watch his mouth. The assassin imitated Srosie, staring at the sky silently as if discussing the weather.
“Ahem, I mean…” Alois tried to change the topic and ease the tension. “Srosie, why are you here?”
Srosie didn’t respond, and Joshua answered sarcastically, “Fate.”
Alois felt his temples throbbing. Stay calm! He told himself. Don’t get angry! There’s definitely a misunderstanding here! The situation is urgent. Explanations can wait!
Finally, Rita, the manager, broke the awkward silence. “A Mr. Leonard contacted us, saying you were in trouble in Leyting and asked for our help.”
“Thank you so much.”
“We weren’t going to help because Camilla’s schedule is tight, and we must leave Leyting soon for the next stop of the tour. Besides, your identities…” Rita paused meaningfully. “But Camilla insisted on finding you, so I had to give in… Please understand our difficulties.”
Alois nodded vigorously. “I understand, I understand!”
“So, are you heading to the spaceport? I just heard there was an accident, and it’s locked down.”
“If possible, we’d like to leave Leyting immediately and return to our mothership.”
“I see…” Rita pondered how to safely get these two wanted men into space, but the driver interrupted her thoughts. “Miss Rita, there’s a checkpoint ahead. It looks like an inspection.”
“Stop the car.”
The flying car stopped at the temporary checkpoint, and armed police officers approached to question them. “Please step out, show your IDs, and cooperate with our inspection.”
Rita lowered the window and gestured for the officer to come closer. “Please keep your voice down,” she said mysteriously. “The person in the car is Miss Camilla… Please don’t make a fuss!” Seeing the officer’s surprised look, Rita quickly added, “We’re heading back to the ‘Muse’ ship and don’t want to attract too much attention. Please understand.”
She lowered the back window a bit, revealing Kamilia with her giant sunglasses, showing half her face, and giving the officer a sweet smile. Rita seized the opportunity, pulling out a signed album from her bag and handing it to the officer. “Please, Camilla’s schedule is very tight.”
The driver played along, nervously saying, “Miss Rita, there are two suspicious people over there. They look like reporters!”
The officer looked up and saw two people whispering and pointing at them. Although he wasn’t a die-hard fan of Camilla, he liked the sweet-voiced singer. With a Galactic star in Leyting for a concert, he had missed it due to his duty and had complained to his colleagues. Now, he was thrilled to meet her up close and receive a signed album. He waved them through, signaling to his subordinates to question the suspicious passersby instead. “Go quickly!”
Camilla waved goodbye, raising the window. The officer noticed two men sitting with her, probably bodyguards, he thought.
Safely past the checkpoint, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“Miss Rita, you should be in movies!” Alois admired the calm and composed manager.
“Not at all. You’re too kind,” Rita said modestly. “I have an idea. How about you two take the ‘Muse’ ship? Once we’re out of Leyting, we’ll find a way to rendezvous with your mothership.”
Kinky Translations 