Chapter 82: Paper Lantern

Even for a veteran player like Kuang Hongyi, this scene was too much to bear. What was this, a Night Parade of One Hundred Ghosts? The difficulty of this mission far exceeded any other Nightmare World he had experienced before, yet there was no reason for it to be this way; there were clearly three newcomers who had appeared as well.

Yang Xiao didn't have as much experience as Kuang Hongyi; he was only thinking about how to survive. This newly appeared team of ghost children was clearly the ones Su Tingting had mentioned. They hadn't drowned; they had been buried alive after suffering torture. Their bodies were filthy and covered in mud, yet one could still tell they were wearing green clothes. Some of the children's topknots had come undone, revealing iron nails driven into the tops of their heads.

Now was not the time to pity them; the pressure these ghost children exerted on him was not even weaker than Chun Jie.

At this moment, Yang Xiao held his breath. His attention was drawn to that sickly green Paper Lantern. As the ghost children hopped, the Paper Lantern swayed along with them, and the ghastly green flame cast a sinister pallor over the ghost children's faces.

The ghost children had had their eyes gouged out, leaving only two bloody holes in their faces, yet strangely, they seemed able to see the path beneath their feet. Yang Xiao did not hear the sound of splashing water.

How was this possible? There were many puddles along this path, and the three of them had to walk very carefully, yet the ghost children were lined up in a straight row, one grabbing the clothes of the one in front, like zombies, without any dodging movements. Yang Xiao leaned out slightly to look beneath the ghost children's feet.

One look and he truly discovered the problem: there were no puddles beneath these ghost children's feet. No, that wasn't right—it wasn't that there were none, but that they had disappeared!

Yang Xiao didn't know how to describe it, but in short, the puddle would be there one second, but after the dead child carrying the Paper Lantern swayed close, the puddle would eerily shift to the side. It took no more than the blink of an eye, and once the line of dead children had all hopped past, the puddle would return to its original position.

Yang Xiao instantly understood that the problem lay with that sickly green Paper Lantern. That was a good item!

But Yang Xiao suddenly shivered. He couldn't say why, but it felt as if he were being stared at by something terrifying.

The next second, the line of ghost children stopped. The lead ghost child twisted its body, aimed the Paper Lantern at Yang Xiao's location, and the team of ghost children headed straight for him.

Yang Xiao: "!!!"

Only now did Yang Xiao understand that this Paper Lantern was the eyes of these ghost children!

He had been discovered.

There weren't many places to hide nearby, and besides, even if the three of them turned and ran now, how could they outrun ghosts?

In his desperation, Yang Xiao gestured to Kuang Hongyi and Su Tingting to stay behind; he prepared to lure the ghost children away himself. Better for one to die than for the whole group to be wiped out.

"Bang!"

A stone hit a pillar not far away, perfectly centered. The stone landed on the ground and rolled a long way along the steps.

This action drew the ghost children's attention. Almost instantly, the ghost children abruptly changed direction and hopped toward the pillar.

The ghost children's movements were surprisingly fast; in a few blinks, they disappeared into the mist.

Having escaped death, Yang Xiao's legs went soft. Fortunately, these ghost children had underdeveloped intelligence, otherwise, he would have been done for today.

After the hopping sound of the ghost children completely vanished, the two women walked over, supporting each other. "Are... are you all alright?"

"Many thanks." Yang Xiao knew the other party had saved him and instinctively reached into his bosom to fish for silver, but he forgot that the silver had long since been spent.

Only then did he have the chance to observe the two women. Neither was very old; one was about 25, and the other was in her early 20s. Living conditions in ancient society were not as good as today's, so their actual ages would only be younger.

The older woman was dressed luxuriously with an elegant temperament, wearing a gold hairpin on her head, while the young woman supporting her was much plainer by comparison.

"You are the Lucky Guests invited by the mansion, right?" the gold-hairpin woman spoke up. "I heard Liu Guanjia mention you."

"You are..."

"Master Feng is my uncle. I was invited to be a guest at the mansion today, but I never expected... never expected..." The gold-hairpin woman choked up and couldn't continue, crying like rain on pear blossoms.

"Heh."

Yang Xiao sneered inwardly. No need to ask; these two were definitely not good news either. It was eight or nine parts likely they were ghosts in disguise. If others didn't know, he certainly did—Master Feng had been very busy lately, his life was almost at an end, so where would he find the mood to invite younger relatives to be guests at the mansion?

Kuang Hongyi also saw that something was wrong, but neither of them pointed it out. After all, there was the example of the coachman, proving that ghosts could also be utilized.

It was no exaggeration to say that the three of them were now like rare items; the demons and ghosts inside the Feng Mansion all wanted to catch them to serve as substitutes.

"Good sister, thank you for risking your life to save us just now. It is fate that we met here. We want to leave through this door; do you have a way?" Yang Xiao looked at the gold-hairpin woman affectionately, calculating how to pry information out of her.

The gold-hairpin woman hesitated for a moment before nodding. "It's not easy to get out through this door; there's no guarantee those dirty things aren't outside. How about this: you follow me, I know a small path."

As she spoke, the group walked along the wall. Not far away, they saw a large stone leaning against the wall. Yang Xiao looked around and suddenly felt this place looked familiar, but he couldn't recall it for a moment.

"Behind this stone is a dog hole that leads outside the wall. If you move the stone away, you can crawl out," the gold-hairpin woman said in a soft, sweet voice.

"Yes, yes, the young mistress is right. You... you hurry and do it!" Compared to the gold-hairpin woman, the maid's guile was much worse; her face was full of eagerness.

Yang Xiao stared at this large stone, which looked like a millstone. The more he looked, the more familiar it seemed. He finally remembered: wasn't this the large stone that had been pressing down on that dry well when they first entered the mansion?

At the same time, the identities of these two female ghosts became clear. The one with the wealthy appearance was naturally the Feng Eldest Young Mistress who had died by jumping into the well, and the young woman at her side was her personal maid. According to people in the mansion, this maid had also jumped into the well to be buried with her out of self-reproach.

However, Yang Xiao didn't really believe that. Looking at the ugly things Master Feng had done, it was more likely she had been forced to be buried with her.

Once he figured this out, it was naturally impossible to move it. This stone was placed here to suppress their resentment. If they moved it and released the vengeful spirits and fierce ghosts, it would be their turn to be buried with them.

The three of them retreated step by step, turned, and ran, heading straight for the main gate. Sure enough, after rushing out, there was nothing outside, and not far from them appeared a black double-leaf wooden door. The wooden door was mottled, clearly having experienced many years.

It was the very side door they had used to enter the mansion, and it was also here that they had first seen Xuanli Shitai, who was disguised as an old servant woman.

At this moment, the wooden door was trembling incessantly, faintly emitting a humming sound, as if its energy were about to be exhausted.

"Run!"

Kuang Hongyi and the others rushed toward the wooden door. 20 meters, 10 meters... Yang Xiao's desire to survive had never been so intense.

But the next second, Su Tingting at his side fell abruptly. The fall was very sudden and very heavy. When Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi turned around, they saw Su Tingting lying on the ground, blood flowing from the corner of her mouth, twisting her body and staring at her leg with a face full of terror.

Veins popped on Yang Xiao's forehead. He saw that half of Su Tingting's foot had already been pulled into a puddle, and a rotting, swollen hand was gripping her ankle tightly.

That rotten hand was swollen to twice the size of a normal person's, and one could still see the bright red sleeve—it was actually Chun Jie; she had chased them!

Seeing Su Tingting being dragged into the puddle bit by bit, Yang Xiao rushed over and grabbed Su Tingting's hand, pulling outward. Kuang Hongyi hesitated for a moment, but finally, with a surge of ruthlessness, he also ran over to help.

But the strength of the two of them was no match for Chun Jie at all, and soon, half of Su Tingting's lower leg was also dragged in.

As if it weren't bad enough, they saw green light faintly emerging from the gate they had just run out of, and they could hear the sound of hopping.

That team of ghost children had returned...

"Run! Don't all die here!" Su Tingting gave Yang Xiao a hard shove. They had struggled to survive until now; there was no reason for them to throw their lives away for her alone.

"Brother Chu, she can't be saved, run!" Letting go of her hand, Kuang Hongyi turned to pull Yang Xiao. "If we don't leave now, none of us will be able to!"

"Brother Kuang, help me hold her hand tight!" Yang Xiao pulled out the axe tied to his back and gave Su Tingting a resolute look. "Endure it!!"

The next second, he swung the axe down toward Su Tingting's knee.