Chapter 73

At this time,

Everything around them was also changing.

In the sky, at some unknown point, thick black fog had obscured the moon, causing the faint moonlight to vanish completely.

A cold, dense fog rose from an unknown direction, and the smell of blood permeated the mist; once it made contact,

It felt as if someone were lurking in the fog...

Constantly piercing your body with a sharp object.

An ominous premonition welled up in the hearts of Rose and Red Lotus.

The writing on the high wall from earlier!

When the fog covers everything, you must run!

Otherwise, you will die!

Oh no!

We must run!

But, where to run?

As summoned creatures, Rose and Red Lotus were also plagued by fear at this moment.

They tried to unleash their terrifying power to break through this eerie place, but it was to no avail.

All their abilities seemed to be sealed; their limbs were weak, and they couldn't move at all!

In their terror,

A faint green light shone beneath their feet.

Rose and Red Lotus looked up, trembling.

They saw,

Not far from the high wall on the right, what appeared to be an ancient, dilapidated pavilion emitting a faint green glow.

Red lanterns hung outside the pavilion, but because the fog was too thick, they couldn't see them clearly.

The sisters exchanged a look.

They understood,

That if they wanted to escape this hellish place,

The pavilion ahead was their only hope.

They moved forward cautiously, guided by those faint flickers of green light. Perhaps because their clothes were thin, or for some other reason,

They felt exceptionally cold and couldn't help but hug themselves, longing for more warmth.

In the pitch-black night, the narrow alley was sandwiched between the two high walls.

The sisters' figures gradually faded into the mist.

However,

They did not notice,

That all of this seemed to be intentionally guiding them toward that pavilion...

Just at this moment,

The original writing on the high wall—"When the fog rises, run!"—

Transformed at a speed visible to the naked eye into two characters that made one's spine chill,

—"Double Happiness."

The two sisters, using the dim light,

Soon arrived before the ancient pavilion.

What appeared before their eyes,

Was a dilapidated wooden door.

The threshold was cracked in several places, and the seams seemed to be stained with blood.

Of the two doors,

One was as good as new, emitting the fresh scent of wood,

While the other was severely decayed, riddled with wormholes, and shed splinters at the slightest touch.

What was most baffling was,

The bottom half of this door had vanished entirely!

Since it was already this broken, why keep it at all?

If they had the money to replace one, why didn't they have the money to replace the other?

Question marks popped up in the sisters' minds.

But now, they had no time to ponder these things.

The fog was gradually swallowing everything.

They couldn't die,

They had to go in!

They pushed the door open, rushed in, and closed it behind them in one fluid motion.

The sisters leaned their backs against the door, and their panicked emotions eased slightly.

Yet soon, the feeling of fear gripped their hearts once again.

Looking up,

That rickety old pavilion not far away,

Stood there, its base paved with circles of bluestone slabs, and on the slabs were piled two strange things:

One was fragments of red silk representing celebration,

And the other was white paper money used for funerals.

The two shivered and looked up to examine it closely.

The pavilion was several dozen meters high, with five stories, and every story's eaves were hung with a circle of bright red lanterns.

The walls were mottled with cracks, and spiderwebs were tangled in the corners.

It looked as if this pavilion had been abandoned for a long time.

Yet why,

Would it be hung with red silk, have brand-new lanterns, and have large red "Double Happiness" paper-cuts on every window? Everything was so new.

New couple, new marriage, new joy.

The dilapidated pavilion paired with a festive wedding—this contradictory scene made ominous guesses quickly surface in their minds.

The two sisters stood frozen in place, not daring to act rashly.

At this time,

From deep within the pavilion, noisy chatter could be vaguely heard.

"Hey, what a good day it is today? The two children of the Lao Zhang family are actually getting married on the same day."

"Today? It's the eighteenth of the first lunar month, don't you know?"

"Oh, the eighteenth of the first lunar month, that is indeed an auspicious day."

"Who did his daughter marry?"

"And, which girl is his son marrying?"

"Not sure, I heard they came from out of town to do business."

"Out-of-towners? Do their parents know?"

"They don't."

"Oh~ if they don't know, then it's easy to handle, it's easy to handle."

Then, another voice spoke up,

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you all talking about? What's wrong with the eighteenth of the first lunar month? What kind of good day is that?"

"Eh? You don't even know this? Whose child are you, who let you come here?"

"I'm from the Lao Liu family, my mom told me to come, she said she didn't dare to come...

Honestly, it's someone's big happy day, what's there to be afraid of?"

"By the way, what does the eighteenth of the first lunar month actually mean?"

"It's a good day for a wedding."

"But..."

"It's a ghost marriage!"

"What?!"

The people inside,

Were clearly terrified.

Rose and Red Lotus outside the door also instinctively shrank back several steps.

Ghost marriage?

What kind of thing is that?

Why did a term they had never heard before make their hearts turn cold the moment they heard it!

Rose swallowed hard,

Intense unease enveloped her.

The timid Red Lotus was already trembling on the side.

Just as they took a few steps back, wanting to get away from the pavilion,

A bone-chilling cold suddenly struck from behind.

Turning to look,

At some point,

The fog had passed through the main gate,

And invaded the courtyard.

Oh no!

Rose and Red Lotus were at a loss.

They had no choice but to look at the door to the pavilion entrance; to survive, going inside was the only way out!

That's right,

Go inside!

Thinking this,

Rose and Red Lotus disregarded their fear,

Slammed the door open, and rushed into the pavilion.

Then they quickly closed the door tight.

Immediately, they turned their heads sharply!

However,

The lively scene they had expected did not appear.

The inside of the pavilion was desolate, covered in dust, with messy chairs toppled over, some even broken in two.

It seemed as if a fierce battle had taken place here a long time ago.

Rose and Red Lotus moved forward cautiously.

Suddenly,

With a crack,

Red Lotus seemed to have stepped on something brittle.

Looking down, it was human bone!

"Hoo—"

Although Rose and Red Lotus were not afraid of ghosts, these human bones didn't scare them either.

However, they were certain that a brutal struggle had occurred here long ago, resulting in many casualties.

Just the bones on the ground numbered over a hundred.

And this was only the first floor.

Heaven knows if there were more on the floors above.

Rose and Red Lotus continued to explore the first floor.

But as time passed,

The unease in their hearts grew stronger.

Extinguished red candles, red silk covered in dust on the eaves, and two sandalwood chairs in the center.

Between the two chairs was a wooden table with a sacrificial tray, the fruit inside having rotted into mush.

The most terrifying thing was,

A human skeleton sat on each of the two chairs.

Their postures were eerie, their heads tilted, their skeletons covered in cracks, and their necks were pierced by scissors wrapped in red cloth, pinning them to the wooden board behind.

Rose frowned; could this be a crime scene?

Who killed them?

Those red candles, red silk, and the previous conversation—wasn't this supposed to be a wedding?

Woo-ee-ya—

At this moment,

A high-pitched sound of a suona suddenly rang out!

Immediately following, with a bang, the pavilion door was kicked open!

A lively and boisterous sound came from outside.

Rose and Red Lotus turned at the same time.

They saw,

A group of men in black robes with heavy makeup walking toward the pavilion, numbering several dozen.

Their black robes were embroidered with white paper money, their smiles were stiff like puppets, and they were making "woo-woo" sounds with their mouths, as if deliberately creating a festive atmosphere.

Rose and Red Lotus furrowed their brows.

Suddenly they discovered!

In the middle of this group of strange black-robed people, two living people, a man and a woman, were being escorted.

The woman was wearing a phoenix coronet and ceremonial robes, her face covered by a veil;

The man was wearing official robes, his belt tightly cinched.

At this time,

In the center of the pavilion,

Two eerie black coffins appeared out of thin air, and it seemed two corpses were lying inside!

The words from earlier echoed in the minds of Rose and Red Lotus.

A terrifying thought welled up in their hearts.

Ghost marriage!

And two of them!

The sky was a hazy gray.

A bone-chilling cold wind seized the opportunity, rushing in through the door crack and sweeping through the entire room.

Several freaks in black robes were pushing and shoving the man and woman, who were struggling desperately.

But their mouths were gagged, and their hands and feet were tied tightly, so no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't escape.

Very quickly,

This group of people pushed the couple into the room.

Rose and Red Lotus instinctively shrank back a little.

When these black-robed people got closer,

They were surprised to find,

That these strange things were all paper people!

Their skin was pale, their smiles were dull, and there were bright red marks on their eyes.

Every movement was mechanical.

Rose and Red Lotus were so scared they retreated again and again!

At this time,

As the paper people entered, the red candles in the dim room suddenly lit up, and everything became completely different.

Red silk ribbons spanned the rafters, and the room was filled with festive items for a wedding.

In the very center, the two skeletons from before had, at some point, turned into an old man and an old woman.

They were wearing clean, neat clothes, draped in red, and holding red envelopes in their hands.