Chapter 20

Xiao Song had claimed that completing the formation would break the barrier and clear their objective. But the remaining participants had already completely dismissed that plan. Maybe it was true—maybe the ghost trapped here wanted to escape through that method. But it certainly wasn’t the only way.

In fact, Old Man Xu had already figured out why the attempt the day before had failed.

“That deity statue was a fake. I thought about it all night and finally realized it,” Old Man Xu said. “The plastic one was a stand-in for the real True Divine Statue. Through a certain method, a connection can be established between them. That lets you place the real statue somewhere safe while using the plastic replica to complete the formation. But the one that truly matters is the real one. Find the true Divine Statue, smash it, and the barrier will break! Heh heh…”

Stroking his chin, Old Man Xu declared smugly, “And this old man has already figured out where the real statue is. It’s in—”

Zhu Ming / Xiao Xue / Yun Zouchuan (in chorus): “The swimming pool.”

Old Man Xu: “…”

Xiao Cheng: “Hahahahaha! Serves you right, old schemer.”

Old Man Xu heaved a long sigh. Young people these days had absolutely no consideration for the elderly. He rarely had a chance to show off his experience, and they wouldn’t even give him that.

Yun Zouchuan said, “That concrete pedestal looked just like a pool. I thought everyone had figured it out.” A fake deity statue in a fake pool, the real deity statue in the real pool. It made perfect sense.

Zhu Ming stretched lazily. “Water is the medium connecting the real and fake statues. In popular belief, water is a Yin element, and its primary direction is North. The swimming pool is also located in the shady North part of the property. Plus, the water in the pedestal had the exact same disgusting taste as the pool water. It was a simple connection. I just hadn’t figured out how to enter the pool safely, so I didn’t mention it. But I’ve got a plan now.”

Xiao Xue added, “I also suspected the key was the pool. But since no one said anything, I thought maybe I’d guessed wrong.”

The group began making their way toward the swimming pool.

Watching their backs, Old Man Xu rubbed his thinning hair and sighed. “The new generation surpasses the old. Xiao Cheng, the future of dungeon clearing is up to you now.”

Xiao Cheng: “Huh?”

Old Man Xu narrowed his wrinkled eyes but said nothing more. He understood. He’d gotten this far relying on his age and broad experience, but it hadn’t been easy. His talent was limited, and he was old. Real improvement would be a monumental struggle.

Sometimes, naturally gifted people simply surged ahead early on. There was no point in envy. The best they could do was push themselves to their absolute limits—not for anything else, but to live without regret.

…

They stepped into the blazing sunlight.

Yun Zouchuan suddenly shouted, “Oh no! The ghost is disappearing!”

The half-transparent head in her hands, exposed to the sun, was vanishing rapidly like ice melting. She urgently clapped her hands together to trap it. Xiao Song let out two harsh laughs before dissolving completely.

Everyone turned back to look. Inside the living room, Xiao Song’s body rose limply from the floor, boneless as a snake. In the same moment his head vanished from A-Zou’s grip, a brand new head sprouted from his severed neck.

Xiao Song shot a glance at the group, a smug grin spreading across his face. Twisting and staggering awkwardly, he scrambled toward the Butler’s Room. The head had grown back a little crooked in the rush.

Yun Zouchuan made a move to chase him, but Zhu Ming stopped her. “No need. He’ll come out on his own soon enough.”

The swimming pool looked just as it had for days: littered with garbage and dark, murky water. Dark shadows lurked beneath the surface, repelling any urge to step foot inside.

Worse, Old Gao’s body was still in there. After days of soaking and sun exposure, it was now a horrific sight, exuding the same putrid stench that permeated the pool. The very thought of it was terrifying.

The pool was large. Zhu Ming circled around it and stopped at an area of deep water where the trash was piled highest. “It should be here.”

The layers of garbage were probably meant to obscure the view.

Yun Zouchuan asked, “Who’s going down? I’ll pull from the shore.” She had the most strength, but couldn’t swim.

Zhu Ming said, “Let’s clear some of this garbage first. The storage room has a skimmer net.”

Of course, the main issue was Old Gao’s body. Bold as she was, Zhu Ming drew the line at sharing a bath with a rotting corpse.

A few of them went to the storage room and returned with skimmer nets, hooked poles, and rods. They worked together to haul the trash in that area toward the shore. Old Gao’s body was moved into the garden. As the pool’s deep water zone slowly became clearer, the water’s surface suddenly began to churn violently. Massive amounts of black hair erupted from below. The drowned Water Ghost knew she couldn’t hide any longer and was finally forced to reveal herself!

Xiao Cheng, gripping his skimmer net, felt an immense force yanking on the pole. He stumbled back, hauling the skimmer net out of the water. “What do we do?! We’re in the mid-game stages now. The ghosts have fewer and fewer restrictions!” The water was the Female Ghost’s domain, and with all their powers sealed, fighting her here was nearly impossible.

Zhu Ming narrowed her eyes. “A-Zou, fetch the alcohol.”

Without a single question, Yun Zouchuan said “Okay,” and sprinted to get the beer from her room.

Zhu Ming said, “There’s something here that can subdue her. Xiao Cheng, you’ve been wondering why we couldn’t find their bodies. I’ve been thinking about that too. The answer might be simple: their deaths didn’t involve anyone else.”

Xiao Xue nodded in agreement. “None of the clues we found ever explicitly stated that these two ghosts were murdered. Even those three sheets of paper only mentioned the female ghost falling into a pond and drowning. Besides, those three pages were likely doctored by the butler. A lie is more believable when it’s mixed with truth. Now I think the bloodstains and that photo-shopped line on the paper were all added by the butler later—they don’t match the real One-Sentence Hint.”

Zhu Ming concurred and opened Little Yan’s phone. “Right. See this MMS photo? I saw it in the Butler’s Room that day too. This picture actually gives us a lot of clues. The time is night, the location is the pool, and there’s a liquor bottle nearby. Combined with the text message content, it’s not hard to deduce what really happened.”

Most critically, Zhu Ming had smelled the strong, lingering scent of alcohol on Little Yan.

The truth was this: a group of nine young people came to a remote vacation villa for a getaway. After an evening of food, drinks, and fun, everyone went back to their rooms to rest. But Xiao Song and Little Yan had a secret rendezvous in the dead of night. Maybe Little Yan was feeling depressed, or maybe she wanted to make a move on him—whatever the reason, while waiting for Xiao Song, she’d drunk quite a bit…

The intimate details were impossible to guess. But it was safe to say that passion could easily lead to an accident, especially with Little Yan drunk and the pool water icy cold at night. The end result was Little Yan drowning. As for Xiao Song, whether he was drunk too, or simply terrified out of his wits, he scrambled to get out of the pool and accidentally knocked over the barbecue grill, dying when a falling metal rod stabbed through him.

The reason they didn’t suspect Xiao Song of murdering Little Yan was twofold. One, the two ghosts didn’t seem to harbor a deep grudge against each other. Two, their personal conflict wasn’t the important part. The important part was how they died.

The heavy, lingering scent of alcohol on Little Yan’s spirit, and the fact that the beer in the fridge was the only item that never replenished itself, both confirmed the cause of her death. With a bold theory and a careful plan, Zhu Ming decided the first step was to pour a couple of bottles down Little Yan’s ghost.

Zhu Ming said, “No one murdered them. The rest of the group woke up, discovered the bodies, and naturally called the police. That’s why the bodies were never hidden.”

Xiao Cheng looked a bit heartbroken. “No wonder I dug through half the garden and couldn’t find any bodies.” All that sweat for nothing.

As for why their spirits were trapped here, or the purpose of the deity statues—those mysteries were as inscrutable as the very existence of this Dark Realm space.

Yun Zouchuan quickly returned, carrying the remaining six bottles of beer. Zhu Ming grabbed two, one in each hand, and jumped directly into the water.

A pair of eyes hidden beneath the surface glared at her with intense hatred.

The sensation of countless cold, wet strands of hair wrapping around her was bizarre. As Zhu Ming swam toward the deep end, Little Yan’s ghastly white ghost began to surface.

Unlike the butler, Little Yan seemed incapable of normal speech. But her strength was immense. Wrapping her arms around Zhu Ming’s waist, she strained to drag her down to the bottom.

Zhu Ming popped the cap off a bottle and gave a slight smile. “What’s wrong? Can’t come up to the surface? I guess I’ll have to serve you a drink like this.”

With that, she poured the beer directly into the swirling vortex of black hair before her. A piercing, shrill screech echoed through the entire villa area. The pool water boiled and churned as if alive. The black hair touched by the beer dissolved at a terrifying speed, like snow doused in fire.

Yun Zouchuan, positioned right on the edge of the pool near Zhu Ming, saw her chance. Popping another bottle cap, she lobbed it toward Zhu Ming. “Boss, watch out!” Swoosh. The bottle hurtled into the water like a tiny cannonball, splashing Zhu Ming in the face.

Zhu Ming cursed, “Why did you use so much force?!”

Yun Zouchuan fumed, “I wanted to hit her!”

As bottle after bottle of alcohol was emptied, the black hair dissolved en masse. The pool water grew clearer and clearer. Seizing the moment, Zhu Ming grabbed a hold of Little Yan’s garish red swimsuit and yanked her upwards, finally coming face-to-face with her true visage.

She looked much like her poster. Her eyes still fixed on Zhu Ming with pure venom and hatred. Who wouldn’t feel resentment, who wouldn’t feel hatred, after dying in such an absurd, shameful manner?

Zhu Ming looked at Little Yan, who was still continuously spewing water from her mouth. She cracked open the last bottle of beer. “You should be resenting yourself and Xiao Song. This is my final warning. Hand over the items now, and I might show a little mercy, considering your stupidity.”

Little Yan stared back at her, stubborn and unyielding.

Zhu Ming understood. This ghost had been consumed by resentment for so long her thoughts were utterly extreme. Her obsession was her entire being. Changing a ghost’s mind was practically impossible.

Coldly, Zhu Ming stated, “A woman with nothing but love in her brain is destined for misery.”

With that, she forcibly jammed the bottle into Little Yan’s mouth, pouring the beer down her throat as if administering a brutal punishment.

Under the assault of the alcohol, Little Yan became weak as an insect. She struggled pathetically, but in the end, she dissolved back into the pool water and vanished. Two objects dropped to the pool floor.

Zhu Ming took a deep breath and dove straight down. With Little Yan no longer obstructing her, this final trip into the pool was smooth and effortless.

Splash!

Water erupted as Zhu Ming surfaced. She tossed a deity statue and a thin, rusted, sharp iron skewer onto the pool’s edge.

Yun Zouchuan grabbed her hand and pulled her out. Zhu Ming was completely drenched, her black hair plastered to her face. Bending down, she snatched up the iron skewer and stalked toward the villa.

“Little comrade, where are you going?! Now’s the perfect time! By noon, we can smash the deity statue and leave this place!” Old Man Xu called after her.

Zhu Ming twirled the iron skewer in her hand. A cold smile touched her lips. “To keep a promise.”

She had said it: she would flay his skin off.

Naturally, Yun Zouchuan followed her into the villa. She wanted to kill that ghost too.

Though the weather was scorching, the air was stifling. Dripping wet, Zhu Ming went to her room to grab something, then went downstairs and started kicking the door to Room 1004.

“Miss Zhao? What do you think would happen if I hung my Cleaning Sign on your door?”

Miss Zhao: “…”

Zhu Ming’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “We’ve already dealt with that Female Ghost. She wanted to harm us, so sending her to her death was the only option. You saw that clearly. But you, a fellow participant, are a little trickier to deal with. After all, I’m not a bad person. I’m very reasonable.”

Left with no other choice, Miss Zhao finally spoke. “Every man for himself. Xiao Song forced me! If I hadn’t done what he said, he…”

She broke off abruptly, realizing some things couldn’t be spoken.

Zhu Ming prompted, “He would what?”

After a long silence, Miss Zhao said, “You’ve already found the deity statue. You can leave soon. Let’s just drop this, okay? All I can tell you is… I really never intended for anyone else to die.”

Zhu Ming didn’t buy it for a second. Like a street thug, she threatened, “Tell me or don’t. I’m hanging it up.”

Miss Zhao cried out urgently, “Wait!”