Chapter 68: I Have Arrived

Looking around, he found himself surrounded by Paper Man Boats. Gray, hazy mist permeated the area near the boats, and the ghastly white Paper People stared at him one after another; the scene was bone-chilling.

Kuang Hongyi regretted it; he shouldn't have let Yang Xiao leave. The mist barrier formed by the Paper Man Boats blocked his line of sight, and now he couldn't see anything further outside at all. He suspected Yang Xiao had already abandoned them. "You can hide for a moment, but not for a lifetime. Without us, what will you use to fight Shi Dali?" Now, Kuang Hongyi only hoped that Yang Xiao wasn't an idiot.

Splash...

Splash...

Kuang Hongyi heard a burst of water sounds, as if something was paddling, right behind him.

He turned around abruptly and looked under the water, only to see a blurry human figure floating and sinking in the black water, approaching him.

The figure's body was twisted, its movements extremely strange, not at all like anything a normal person could make, until Kuang Hongyi noticed a thick hemp rope tied behind the figure.

He knew what this was; it was the Martial Master killed by the Feng Family! After death, he had been tied behind the Boxi Boat to bleed out, and it was precisely his blood that had lured the ghostly things nearby over.

"No way, why are you coming to add to the chaos at a time like this?" Kuang Hongyi was almost crying. "I didn't kill you; if you've got the guts, go find Master Feng and the others!"

But the other party clearly couldn't understand what he was saying. It kept approaching Kuang Hongyi's small boat with a bizarre swimming posture, its body prone and swimming downward, yet a head soaked until it was white-pale had twisted 180 degrees, two protruding dead-fish eyes staring straight at Kuang Hongyi.

Things were different now than before; the surrounding Paper Man Boats were getting closer and closer, and the range of movement Kuang Hongyi had was greatly limited. Now that this ghostly thing had popped up, it was truly adding frost to snow.

At first, Kuang Hongyi still dodged symbolically, but later he discovered that this corpse didn't seem like such a big deal. It was just a bit terrifying, but its movements were very slow, and it was tied by a rope, so its range of activity was even worse than his own. Thus, Kuang Hongyi parked his boat just out of the other's reach, watching the corpse thrash about incessantly, trying its best to stretch its arms and grab wildly, wanting to catch his boat, but missing by just a little bit every time.

"Useless thing!"

Annoyed by the thrashing, Kuang Hongyi would even swing his oar and give the corpse a few whacks on the head, or push the corpse into the water to let it cool off.

Kuang Hongyi would never imagine what kind of despair Su Tingting was facing at this moment. Inside the cabin, one inconceivable thing after another was unfolding. The male Paper Person reflected in the mirror was completely different from the male Paper Person in reality; every time Su Tingting blew air onto the Incense, the movements of the male Paper Person in the mirror would change.

At first it was turning its head, then it was turning its body, and then it stood up... Now, the male Paper Person in the mirror had already drawn a precious sword backhanded and was walking over with long strides.

The precious sword reflected in the Bronze Mirror was not as simple as a paper sword; it was a real precious sword, its blade sharp and exposed, refracting streaks of cold light.

Yet, strangely, the male Paper Person was not walking toward Su Tingting, but toward the female Paper Person on the wedding bed.

A moment later, a thought suddenly flashed through Su Tingting's mind. She turned the Bronze Mirror around and aimed it at the female Paper Person on the bed, or more accurately, at the female Paper Person's stomach.

The next second, Su Tingting's breathing stalled. She saw it clearly: beneath the female Paper Person's highly distended belly, a pair of small hands were vaguely visible.

The small hands had five distinct fingers, glowing with a strange, bruised-blue color, pressed tightly beneath the pale belly, as if they could drill out at any moment.

Immediately following, a ghost face was shockingly revealed beneath the paper belly. The ghost face was directed right at Su Tingting's direction, looking ferocious, as if it were laughing.

No, this ghostly thing... this ghostly thing was indeed laughing!

Su Tingting had already heard a faint, ethereal laughter, but this laughter did not originate from the female Paper Person behind her, but... but from within her own body, from her own stomach!

She ripped open her clothes abruptly, and beneath her belly, a pair of small hands and a bruised-blue ghost face shockingly appeared. By now, Su Tingting understood completely: the Paper Person on the bed was herself for tonight, and this was also part of the ritual, and what the male Paper Person had to do was swing the sword and strike down.

She didn't know what the result would be, and she had no time to worry about it now, but it was nothing more than two outcomes: First, hack both the Ghost Fetus and the female Paper Person to death, ending it once and for all. Second, slash open the female Paper Person's belly and release the Ghost Fetus.

Unfortunately, regardless of the outcome, her fate was tied to the female Paper Person. As the substitute for the Second Young Mistress, she was destined to die.

A thought couldn't help but emerge in her mind: what if she shouldn't have boarded this boat? If she hadn't come, would the male Paper Person not have moved, and then the subsequent events wouldn't have happened?

But soon, this hypothesis was overturned. The Feng Family had already designed all of this; no matter what she did, the result would not change, sooner or later. But having boarded the boat, there was still a glimmer of survival tonight. She believed in Yang Xiao; this was her last hope.

And through several experiments, Su Tingting also discovered some patterns: as long as she used the mirror to face the male Paper Person, the other party's movement speed would slow down significantly.

But it was only a slowing down; the male Paper Person still held the precious sword, approaching the female Paper Person on the bed bit by bit. The Ghost Fetus in the female Paper Person's stomach was already impatient.

And the moment the male Paper Person swung the sword down would be her own death date.

At this moment, Su Tingting no longer had other thoughts. After aiming the mirror at the male Paper Person, she crouched before the Incense Burner, blowing air left and right. No longer hesitating, no longer afraid, only one final thought remained: she had to make these three sticks of Incense burn into two short ones and one long one.

"Mr. Chu, the rest... I leave to you!"

Yang Xiao naturally could not hear the inner thoughts of Su Tingting and Kuang Hongyi at this moment. He gripped the slip of paper with the Second Young Mistress's Birth Date and Time, his gaze wandering repeatedly over the eight Paper People.

He only had one chance; if he chose wrong, everyone would die.

But it had to be said that the Feng Family had prepared very thoroughly. These Paper People were almost identical in both craftsmanship and appearance, and Shi Dali, who was hidden among them, was also a ruthless character. After such a long time, he could actually remain completely motionless, leaving Yang Xiao unable to find a flaw.

There was no time left. Yang Xiao knew that if he didn't make a decision, Su Tingting and Kuang Hongyi would surely die. But blindly choosing one from the 8 Paper People had too low a probability of success.

Only one method remained. Even if the risk was extreme, Yang Xiao decided to gamble. He looked at the iron hook on the bow used to secure the ropes, steeled his heart, and reached his palm over, slashing it hard against the hook. The skin and flesh were shredded, and blood gushed out as if it were worthless.

As the blood dripped into the lake, almost instantly, the Paper People on the nearby boats seemed to receive a signal simultaneously; their heads all twisted 180 degrees, staring at Yang Xiao behind them. But Yang Xiao suddenly smiled, because among these Paper People, only one did not turn its head.

The next second, Yang Xiao swung his oar violently, maneuvering the small boat to crash head-on toward the only Paper Person that hadn't turned its head.

"Brother Shi, I'm here!!"