Chapter 44: Offerings

After trying a few more times, Yang Xiao still didn't react at all. The people behind him couldn't sit still any longer; after a moment of silence, footsteps rang out.

Once the footsteps had gradually moved far away, Yang Xiao slowly began to move his body. He actually straightened his upper body and stood up a little. The next second, the retreating footsteps immediately turned back, and a voice said with great agitation, "Lucky Guest Chu, you've finally come to your senses. Quick, quick, come away with me, Brother Kuang is waiting for us right outside the door!"

But Yang Xiao didn't even look back; he swayed as he sat back down, maintaining the same posture as the surrounding Paper People, watching the opera calmly.

The same thing happened three times in a row, and that fellow returned three times as well. Later, he simply stopped leaving. Yang Xiao didn't look back, but he sensed that the other person had found a seat and sat down, intending to wear him down to the end.

Yang Xiao wasn't doing this because he was in a good mood or playing games with a ghost; he had realized a crucial problem: this fellow's target tonight must be the three people participating in the Ghost Opera.

The first target was Kuang Hongyi, he was the second, and next it would be Su Tingting's turn.

Judging from the direction the footsteps had left in earlier, this fellow intended to take a detour to the back of the white cloth on the stage. The most likely thing Yang Xiao could imagine happening next was this person hiding behind the white cloth and using the same method to coax Su Tingting, who was performing, trying every possible way to interrupt the Ghost Opera.

Although Su Tingting was possessed by a ghost, she should still have a role to play; otherwise, this character would be absolutely safe tonight, which didn't make sense.

Most importantly, once the Ghost Opera was interrupted, it wouldn't just be Su Tingting who died; these ghost things off-stage would instantly go berserk, and at that point, he and Kuang Hongyi wouldn't be able to escape either.

This was where the importance of a reliable teammate became apparent. If it were Kuang Hongyi or Shi Dali on stage, Yang Xiao wouldn't have this concern.

Sure enough, not long after that fellow sat down, Yang Xiao noticed a change on stage. Su Tingting's expression had changed; her face was filled with terror, yet the gestures of her hands and her singing style remained full of charm, quite like a master of the craft.

Had Su Tingting returned?

No, that wasn't right. Xi Yao was still occupying this body, and while Su Tingting could feel everything happening to this body, it was only a feeling; she couldn't control it.

Yang Xiao thought to himself that it had been a close call. If he had let that fellow go just now, and let him jump out to stir up trouble at such a critical moment, it would have been truly dangerous.

Su Tingting's gaze looked toward the audience; her entire face was twisted in terror until she noticed Yang Xiao and cast a pleading look at him.

Slowly, the hairs on Yang Xiao's body stood on end. He could feel a chilling coldness coming from multiple directions behind him.

The Paper People also noticed Su Tingting's gaze, and more and more sinister eyes focused on Yang Xiao's back.

"Lucky Guest Chu, hurry and run with me, otherwise, hehehe..."

A hoarse voice came through. The fellow hiding among the Paper People didn't even pretend anymore, emitting a chilling, sinister laugh.

Yang Xiao didn't move a muscle; he fiercely shot Su Tingting a look that said, "Be careful or I'll stab you," and Su Tingting was so frightened that she immediately looked away.

Immediately after, the cold gazes behind Yang Xiao gradually disappeared, as if everything before had been a hallucination.

As the Ghost Opera progressed, the Incense in the Incense Burner burned more and more vigorously. Yang Xiao counted them; the third-priority offering needed to be replaced ahead of schedule.

Keeping his upper body as still as possible, Yang Xiao secretly used his hand to lift the red cloth covering the bamboo basket, then fished out three apples from inside, wrapped them in the Shroud, and prepared to set off.

But then, an unexpected scene occurred. The Incense in the last Incense Burner flared up violently; the fire was so intense that open flames appeared, and nearly a third of the dozens of sticks of Incense were burned away in an instant.

Yang Xiao: "!!!"

Yang Xiao was stunned. The offering corresponding to this last Incense Burner was candies and preserved fruit. From the beginning until just now, the offerings here had barely been touched. Why were they eating so ravenously all of a sudden? How many had come?

And this offering was prepared for children—where did so many child ghosts come from?

Yang Xiao couldn't figure out what had gone wrong for a moment, but as things stood, the offerings had to be replaced, or something major would happen!

Grabbing a large handful of candies from the last bamboo basket and stuffing them into the Shroud, Yang Xiao set off in a hurry.

He took small, shuffling steps, his feet never leaving the ground, his heels almost rubbing against his toes, walking in a straight line from the far left of the first row toward the right.

Beside him were rows of Paper People, as if reviewing him while he delivered the offerings. Yang Xiao kept the old man's words in mind, looking straight ahead and trying his best not to look down at the Paper People's feet.

"Hmm?"

The next second, Yang Xiao's body swayed, and he suddenly lost his balance, falling forward.

At the critical moment, Yang Xiao hugged the Shroud tightly to his chest, then turned his body to the side until he hit the ground.

This fall was by no means light; half of Yang Xiao's body went numb, but the Shroud was still there, and the offerings inside hadn't been exposed, nor had they fallen to the ground.

Yang Xiao immediately scrambled up, clutching the Shroud, and continued walking as if nothing had happened, but his heart was already churning with huge waves. Just now... just now, a foot had actually tripped him!

But he had walked this path before, and he had kept his distance from those Paper People; it was absolutely impossible to have bumped into a Paper Person's foot.

The foot that tripped him had appeared suddenly, and it was at this moment that a faint, indistinct laughter sounded from behind him.

"Good, good, good." Yang Xiao recognized it; this laughter was that same fellow from before, and it was he who had stuck out his foot to trip him just now.

But it was truly dangerous; if he had been a second slower in his reaction and the offerings had fallen to the ground, he would have been done for today.

Time didn't allow him to keep thinking. Yang Xiao replaced the candies with the fastest speed possible, followed by the apples in the number three offering tray.

Strange to say, when passing the 4th Offering Platform on his way back, Yang Xiao suddenly felt his limbs go cold and his head grow dizzy. A cold wind blew out of thin air, and if one listened carefully, the wind was filled with wailing, strange sounds.

Yang Xiao subconsciously wanted to close his left eye and use his right eye to see what was going on with this 4th platform, but a shrill voice suddenly erupted from the stage. This sound was extremely discordant and even disrupted the rhythm of the singing. Yang Xiao looked up abruptly, only to see Su Tingting staring at him, her eyes filled with terror, as if she had seen an extremely horrifying sight.

Without further hesitation, Yang Xiao left immediately. He knew Su Tingting was warning him; possessed by Xi Yao, she could see things he couldn't. She must have seen a terrifying existence near the 4th Sacrificial Altar just now, something even more frightening than these Paper People off-stage.

That Su Tingting was willing to risk the Ghost Opera spiraling out of control to warn him was proof enough of how dangerous the situation had been. But what Yang Xiao couldn't figure out was what exactly she had seen—could it be that besides these drowned ghosts off-stage, there were even more terrifying things in the Feng Mansion?