Chapter 24: The Strange Man

"Greetings, Lucky Guests."

Just as the group was discussing the case, a discordant sound suddenly came from outside the window, giving everyone in the room a start.

Turning to look, they saw a man with a strange appearance standing outside the window. Seeing that everyone had noticed him, the man grinned, then slowly walked from the window to the main entrance; he did not come in, but simply stood outside the threshold.

"When did this person arrive? How come there wasn't a sound?" Su Tingting leaned back; her first impression of this person was very poor.

The man was dressed no differently from the servants in the manor, but his appearance was extremely bizarre. He was in his early forties, extremely thin, and stood outside the door like a hemp stalk. He had a narrow forehead, no eyebrows, a pair of beady eyes, and two drooping mustaches. His thin lips were almost devoid of blood—a rat turned into a human, through and through.

Even more chilling was a tennis-ball-sized tumor growing diagonally behind his right ear. The skin and flesh on the tumor pressed against each other, and one could vaguely make out the contours of a face. Sparse, messy hair was coiled on top of his head, tied into an ugly bun.

This person was clearly no ordinary servant. Yang Xiao looked him up and down, his gaze finally resting on the man's shoes.

"Greetings, Lucky Guests. Master Feng asked me to pass on a message: once that person wakes up, I ask that you all go to Jingyi Hall together." Whether it was intentional or just his natural way, the man spoke in a pinched voice, sounding neither male nor female.

Kuang Hongyi glanced outside; the sun was already about to set. "It's getting dark. Does Master Feng have some urgent matter to find us for?"

The man bared his teeth, his expression attempting to squeeze out a smile, but the result was that his entire face twitched along with it. "It can't be considered a major matter, it's just that Master Feng has prepared some paper crafts for you all. With these, you can be guaranteed peace and safety tonight."

After saying this, the man turned and left. Only then did everyone notice that the man had a strange way of walking—he was actually walking on his tiptoes, yet his speed was not slow at all.

"Why is this guy so creepy? Where did he come from?" Xu Su stared at the man's back until he disappeared around the corner outside the courtyard.

"He's no ordinary person; he has skills." Shi Dali looked in the direction the man had left with quite a bit of wariness, his voice dropping even lower. "Did you all notice his shoes?"

"The shoes are very large, and they don't distinguish between left and right." Yang Xiao had noticed this earlier. Based on his height, this man was at most a little over 170 centimeters, yet those shoes were unusually large.

Only the dead wear shoes that don't distinguish between left and right; aside from that, it is those in the Yin Sect trades who deal with the dead all day long.

"Is this person from the Yin Hang?" After some thought, Xu Su nodded. Indeed, there was an indescribable quality in this man's eyes; the way he looked at people was just like looking at corpses.

"I've heard that most people in the Yin Hang are physically disabled or deformed. I think this guy has a few of those traits; entering the Yin Hang isn't exactly a raw deal for him." Ke Long looked disdainful.

Master Feng preparing paper crafts for everyone was, in fact, just paper people, likely similar to the one in Master Feng's bedroom. After all, they were now stand-ins for the Feng Family; if they died too many or too quickly, the next turn would be the real Feng Family bloodline, so finding them fake-death stand-ins was explainable.

Kuang Hongyi took a deep breath, his gaze slowly sinking. "I know what that person does now. He is a Paper Craftsman, one of the Eight Generals of the Yin Sect. That paper person of Master Feng's came from his hands."

Yang Xiao realized it too at this moment. "You're right. Among the Eight Yin Trades, only the Paper Makers like to wear large shoes. In their trade jargon, they are also called Captains of the Great Boat. It is rumored that Paper Makers spend all day soaking with paper people, and their bodies become tainted with the Yin Qi of the paper people. Over time, the two become increasingly alike. Because paper people have small feet, in order to distinguish between human and ghost, the older generation of Paper Makers all wear large shoes, specifically black-faced with white soles."

Upon hearing this, Su Tingting felt terrible. "What do you mean by 'distinguish'? Is it possible for someone to not be able to tell a paper person from a living person?"

"There is such a saying: if a Paper Maker's craft is good enough, whenever there is a moonless night, the deceased can return to their soul via the paper person. The paper person can walk freely, no different from an ordinary person, and can even convey unfinished wishes." Yang Xiao paused, then added a final explanation: "It's all from books."

Su Tingting didn't know what to say. The delicate-looking man in front of her didn't look like someone with many schemes. "You... what kind of books are you reading?"

No one paid any attention to Su Tingting at all. As fellow newcomers who were not well-regarded, Yang Xiao's value had already been demonstrated, and everyone's attitude toward him was quite good.

Except for Ke Long; that kid didn't know what he was thinking all day, always maintaining that devil-may-care attitude. Yang Xiao suspected he might have some kind of trump card.

"Cough... cough, cough..."

The sudden coughing interrupted everyone's thoughts. They saw Shi Guanming, lying on the bed, slowly open his eyes. "Where am I..."

Xu Su used a medicine bowl to pour him some water and fed him a few sips. Slowly, Shi Guanming sobered up, and his eyes became much clearer.

"The well! There's a problem with that well!" Shi Guanming started with a jolt and then spoke, his whole body becoming tense, as if he had returned to the moment before he fainted. "After I walked near that well, I saw a woman crouching behind it. The woman had disheveled hair and her back was to me. I couldn't see her face, but I heard it. The woman was calling for help. She was in great pain, saying... saying that a large millstone was pressing down on her, asking me to help move it. She wanted to go home."

"What else? What else did you see?" Ke Long urged.

Unexpectedly, upon seeing Ke Long's face, Shi Guanming immediately exploded. "You! It's all you, you're the one who wants to harm me!"

Shi Guanming reached out and suddenly grabbed Ke Long by the throat, his eyes bloodshot. "You've always looked down on me. It was you, you were the one who made me walk near that well! You want to kill me!"

This sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard. It took a flurry of activity to pull the two apart. The strength Shi Guanming erupted with was astonishing; he had scratched Ke Long's face, and Ke Long was not one to be trifled with either. In the struggle, he kicked Shi Guanming in the chest. "Fuck you! What kind of crazy shit are you spouting!"

In the end, it was Shi Dali who pushed and dragged Ke Long out of the room to go outside the courtyard to cool off, while Shi Guanming curled up on the bed and cried helplessly. As he cried, he cursed Ke Long. During this time, he had been targeted by Ke Long, and he didn't know why. Xu Su and Su Tingting comforted him from the side.

Outside the courtyard, Shi Dali dragged Ke Long a long way until Ke Long shook his arm, knocking off Shi Dali's hand. "Don't push me!"

Shi Dali was not annoyed; he looked at Ke Long's face and shook his head. "You're too impatient. Even if you wanted to make a move, it shouldn't have been in the daytime. You've startled the snake now, haven't you? Heh, young man, the benefits in the Script aren't so easy to take."