Chapter 11

…

That night, darkness arrived just as early as before. No starlight, no moonlight, no lamps or candles. There was only a sliver of thin, murky light, just enough for someone looking out the window to glimpse the dense forest and hills overlapping like countless ghostly shadows.

And once the curtains were drawn, the light was practically gone, so dark you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face.

Zhu Ming sat in a chair, irritably fanning herself. Her fan was the three sheets of A4 paper. She leaned her body back, using a clever tilt to balance the chair on its two back legs, rocking back and forth as if on a seesaw.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhu Ming heard the sound of a door opening from next door.

Her hearing was indeed not great, but not always. It mainly showed when she wasn’t focused; she tended to ignore some sounds. But if she concentrated, she could hear them.

She knew Yun Zouchuan was heading to the Basement. That familiar footstep, heard for two years, couldn’t be mistaken. That’s right, it was that silly kid A-Zou.

Just thinking about it made Zhu Ming furious. She really didn’t want to deal with it anymore.

No—even if the kid was silly, she was still one of her own. Zhu Ming shook the papers in her hand and decided to take a closer look at what was written on them, to see if there was any hidden trick.

She turned on her flashlight and shone it on the papers.

Turned one page, turned the second, the last one…

Clang!

The chair she’d been using as a seesaw wobbled, its legs slamming back onto the floor. But Zhu Ming paid it no heed. She held the flashlight beam right through the third sheet of paper—faint indentations from writing, not matching the text on the front or back, appeared before her eyes.

With a grim face, Zhu Ming used the corresponding text on the second page to try and match them—they didn’t.

She quickly pried the second and third sheets apart as far as the staples allowed. Finally, within the staple seam, she found some tiny, barely noticeable paper scraps.

A page was missing. Between the current second and third pages, one was missing!

A string of curses ran through Zhu Ming’s mind. In an instant, many things connected in a chain. She understood. Someone, or rather, some thing, had deliberately guided everyone to discover the Basement and complete this Formation!

For what purpose? Why complete this Formation? Was there rivalry among ghosts? No, she had to look beyond appearances to the essence. Stripping away this paper full of questionable motives and unknown purpose, what exactly would this Formation do…?

Her peripheral vision caught the third sheet of paper clutched in her hand. The tip of her finger was pressing right onto a word.

Zhu Ming’s eyelid twitched. Grabbing the flashlight, she bolted out the door.

…

“Ready?” Old Man Xu looked at Yun Zouchuan standing before the cement platform. Worried she might be nervous or scared, he consoled her, “Rest assured, I’ll be right beside you. If danger occurs, we’ll bear it together with you.”

Miss Zhao and Xiao Cheng arranged the five offerings and lit the red candles one by one. The rest was up to Yun Zouchuan.

Yun Zouchuan held the three incense sticks, hesitating for a moment.

Was that sticky malice really coming from the female ghost? Why did that feeling seem so very uncomfortable?

She had followed Zhu Ming for two years. It wasn’t that she hadn’t encountered danger during that time, but this feeling… she had rarely experienced it. More than pure killing intent, it felt as if she herself were a fat piece of meat being coveted.

“Hurry up. If we miss this timing, there’s no way to continue today,” Miss Zhao urged.

“I know.” Forget it, what was the use of overthinking?

Many times, Yun Zouchuan couldn’t well understand the complex, hidden intentions and emotions of others. Zhu Ming had told her, then just ignore all that. Whatever difficulties or hidden circumstances an enemy might have, it was none of her concern. If she couldn’t judge, she shouldn’t judge. Leave the things she wasn’t good at to others. Just deal with the enemy simply and directly.

Since everyone said this was the right thing to do, and the Boss hadn’t explicitly objected, then she would do it.

Seeing Yun Zouchuan’s hesitation and unease, Xiao Cheng wanted to comfort her. So he deliberately spoke cheerfully, “Tonight, surely no one’s asleep. Everyone’s waiting for us to break the Barrier. Just think, we might leave before the butler even knocks. Then no Participants will have to die anymore! Isn’t that great?”

Yun Zouchuan smiled slightly and brushed a stray strand of hair near her temple. She was about to say something when the four of them heard a sarcastic, argumentative voice ring out from the Basement doorway:

“Really? I don’t believe it.”

It was Zhu Ming! AGAIN!

Miss Zhao frowned toward the doorway, only to stumble a step backward in fright from that ghastly white, ghost-like face… Was this woman crazy? Why was she holding the flashlight under her chin? Didn’t she know scaring people like this could scare someone to death?!

Zhu Ming sneered and strode into the Basement. “What are you looking at! If I don’t light myself, what if a ghost attacks me! And you, what are you standing there dumbly for? Get out here! Do you even know what this array is for, that you dare just step in? I bet your mother would come down from the mountain just to slap you silly!”

Yun Zouchuan put down the three incense sticks, secretly sighing in relief. The moment she saw Zhu Ming appear, she knew she must have discovered something.

Though Yun Zouchuan was still stubborn and muttered with a pout, “My mom doesn’t want to come down the mountain.”

Old Man Xu hissed. He felt quite helpless with this young comrade Zhu Ming. This girl was clearly not the type to respect the old and cherish the young. He nudged Xiao Cheng. Xiao Cheng had no choice but to say, “The key here was so difficult to obtain. From my experience, the clues are valuable. They’re absolutely linked to clearing the dungeon.”

Zhu Ming didn’t give him any face at all. “Sorry, I have no experience. I can’t rely on experience to judge something. I only know that what’s written on this paper and that Deity Statue have about as much relation as a dog’s fart.”

Xiao Cheng: “…”

Zhu Ming simply turned on her own flashlight and shone it on the massive totem on the wall. “Xiao Cheng himself said everyone must have come into contact with Him to enter this dungeon. I don’t know what your encounters with Deity Statues mean, but I do know this thing comes from the Fertility Promotion Office. The Fertility Promotion Office also handles ghost exorcism now? Holding multiple jobs, truly versatile.”

Yun Zouchuan swayed slightly, then nodded emphatically. “The Boss is right!”

Zhu Ming walked around the large array on the floor a few steps and arrived before the cement platform—a mobile phone with traces of blood, a rusty wristwatch, and a Deity Statue submerged in the water.

Old Man Xu scratched his chin and quickly said, “Little girl, don’t touch anything yet. Even if you won’t participate, at least let us keep a fallback plan!”

It seemed tonight’s mission was off. Xiao Cheng sighed. “Sister Zhu, even if you want to stop us, you have to give us a reason, right? We all braved coming out here in the middle of the night. It wasn’t easy.”

“A reason?” Zhu Ming’s eyes rolled from left to right. “I don’t believe it. I really don’t believe not a single one of you spotted the problem. Let me ask you: Why did Old Gao die?”

Xiao Cheng said, “He went down into the pool to get the key, was targeted by the female ghost, and his life was taken.”

Zhu Ming said, “Let’s not even discuss how the female ghost entered Old Gao’s room for now. I’ll only ask this: Since the Basement hides an array to suppress the female ghost, after she killed him, why didn’t the ghost take the key away?”

Xiao Cheng froze. “Maybe she can only kill people, not take the key?”

Zhu Ming said, “Really? I don’t believe it.”

Xiao Cheng: “…”

Zhu Ming sneered. “Has anyone noticed there were things missing from Old Gao’s room?”

Xiao Cheng shook his head, protesting his innocence. He truly knew nothing.

Zhu Ming said, “Trash. All the trash in his room was gone. This means the butler entered his room. The butler is also a ghost. If it could take the trash away, why not take the key?”

Xiao Cheng: “…Yeah, why didn’t it?” He could now only echo her questions helplessly.

“Because their goal is to make us complete the Formation!” Zhu Ming declared decisively.

Xiao Cheng: “Ah?!”

Miss Zhao retorted, “Maybe the butler and the female ghost were the same entity all along, subject to some special restriction, like the key carries the deity statue’s aura so ghosts can’t touch it.”

Zhu Ming: “Really? Do you believe that?”

Zhu Ming looked away from her. She raised the three sheets of paper clutched in her hand and flipped to the last page. As her fingers brushed over it, the smile on Zhu Ming’s face grew deeper, but the look in her eyes grew colder. “A-Zou, do you know the meaning of the Morningstar Lily?”

The Morningstar Lily wasn’t as famous as roses or lotuses, so few people could immediately recall its meaning. Moreover, Yun Zouchuan had only been down from the mountain for two years and knew absolutely nothing about it.

Yun Zouchuan shook her head.

Zhu Ming said, “To be honest, I don’t know the meaning of the Morningstar Lily either. But I do know the purpose of the other four.” As she spoke, she turned to Old Man Xu. Though framed as a question, her tone was extremely forceful. “Old man, you’re so knowledgeable, even recognizing the Maoshan Sect’s Soul-Sealing Array. Surely you know, don’t you?”

Old Man Xu coughed dryly. “I know. Pomegranate symbolizes many sons and much fortune. Red dates mean having a child soon. Willow Leaves attract ghosts. Water Lilies are of Yin nature… However, these are indeed attributes of the Deity Statue itself, so using them as offerings is also normal.”

“If the offerings carry those meanings, what role does this so-called Virtuous Maiden play?” Zhu Ming tapped the paper with her finger. “Surely it’s not the same. The thing that descends upon the Virtuous Maiden in the end—could it really be a deity?”

As these questions were posed, an answer slowly took shape in the hearts of those present.

This was the Night of Sacrifice. What was being sacrificed was the Virtuous Maiden. What would result was not a good fruit, but a—Ghost Fetus.

Clatter. Yun Zouchuan’s flashlight dropped to the floor. Her face grew paler and paler, and angrier and angrier.

Zhu Ming bent down to pick it up and handed the flashlight back to her. She knew this was the one thing A-Zou absolutely could not accept.