Chapter 84: Costume

Yang Xiao: "!!!"

A chill rushed up from the soles of his feet, nearly shattering his skull. He went numb—truly numb this time—his hands and feet icy, as if his veins were filled with shards of ice.

A terrifying image materialized in his mind: today, he had actually carried this Costume on his back all the way to temples and Taoist shrines.

Yang Xiao resigned himself to his fate, knowing how evil this thing was, and looking at it like this, it had definitely latched onto him.

He took the Costume out of his backpack and laid it flat on the bed. The moment his fingertips touched it, there was an indescribable, icy cold sensation, yet the Costume itself was not damp at all. It didn't look like it had been stripped off a drowned ghost; on the contrary, the gold-threaded embroidery and the pearl ornaments adorning it were quite exquisite.

Setting aside the inherent impression of horror, the Costume itself could be called an excellent piece of craftsmanship.

Yang Xiao kowtowed to the Costume, even more devoutly than he had at the temple today. "Lady Chun Jie, I was also deceived by Master Feng... phew! That old thing from the Feng family. That's why I acted as a guest-suppressor for his family, but this wasn't my intention. One who doesn't know is not guilty; besides, you've already had your revenge, so why keep pestering me?"

"By the way, please don't take to heart those nonsense things I said at the temple today. All that about asking the Buddha to suppress you was just joking around. I was actually asking the Buddha to bless you, wishing you a smooth reincarnation and a good rebirth. Also, I even donated 100 yuan of merit for you!"

"If you still have any unfulfilled wishes, just tell me. But please, don't trouble yourself by appearing in person; just give me a dream, that will do. I'm a coward, so please be gentle in the dream too."

Yang Xiao rambled on, saying a bunch of nice things, but the Costume just lay quietly on the bed, without the slightest reaction.

A moment later, Yang Xiao was startled by his own sudden thought. A reaction? Was he actually expecting the Costume to stand up, clap its hands, and say "good"?

A Costume with no reaction was the best kind.

After waiting a while longer and seeing that the Costume truly had no reaction, Yang Xiao's courage slowly grew. He guessed that perhaps the Costume was just following him but couldn't harm him.

He had written quite a few supernatural instances himself; some instances gave survivors certain rewards after they ended. Could this Costume be one?

If that were the case, then the positions had swapped—he, Yang Xiao, was the master of the Costume.

Thinking of this, Yang Xiao stopped kneeling. After standing up, he pointed at his backpack with a guilty conscience and gave the Costume an order, "That... bring the bag over to me."

The Costume had no reaction.

"Is that not how it's used?" The more Yang Xiao thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He stared at the Costume for too long and actually had an urge to put it on, which scared him into quickly looking away.

"Something's not right. This thing is too sinister. Let's leave it at that for tonight; I'll ask Kuang Hongyi tomorrow if he has any ideas."

He didn't dare sleep in the room tonight. Who knew if the Costume would silently stand up after he fell asleep and stand by the bed looking down at him? Just thinking about that scene was stimulating.

He pulled back the quilt, laid the Costume flat on the bed, arranged it into a human posture, and then carefully covered it with the quilt again. Yang Xiao stuffed a bottle of mineral water into his backpack, turned around, and put the bag on. "That... Lady Chun Jie, have a good rest. I won't disturb you."

Regardless, Yang Xiao knew this Costume wouldn't harm him for the time being, which was already a very good result. He had originally planned to spend the night in the hotel lobby, but every time he was idle, he couldn't help but let his imagination run wild. Finally, he looked up and saw an internet cafe across the street through the hotel's glass door.

He might as well go online and play a few games to relax; he had been far too tense lately. After topping up and swiping his ID card, Yang Xiao found a lively area to sit down and clicked on a game called League. Seeing the familiar page pop up, Yang Xiao let out a sigh of relief. His slender fingers danced skillfully across the keyboard, a sight that was pleasing to the eye.

"Teemo top lane, feed if I don't get it!"

"I can swap, I can swap. I can play support too, but I only know Ashe and Miss Fortune."

"AD, what do you mean by typing so many asterisks?"

"No, don't curse. If you don't let me farm, how am I supposed to scale?"

Games were definitely a great cure—if not for others, then for oneself. Yang Xiao was clearly the latter.

After a few games, his mood was much better. His teammates weren't bad either; although he hadn't won a single game, several ADs kept adding him as a friend after the games.

It was late at night. Yang Xiao closed the game and found a comedy movie to watch. Going back to the hotel now meant walking through the night, so Yang Xiao decided against it.

Yang Xiao opened his backpack again to confirm; the Costume hadn't followed him. Only then did he watch the movie with peace of mind, thinking about what to ask Kuang Hongyi when they met tomorrow.

The slightly noisy environment inside the internet cafe gave him a long-lost sense of security. The exhaustion of the day hit him, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and finally, his head tilted to the side, and he fell asleep in the sofa.

When he woke up, it was already bright outside. Yang Xiao had slept very soundly and for a long time. He took out his phone and saw it was already nearly 2 PM.

He hurried back to the hotel, opened the door, and pulled back the quilt. Yang Xiao breathed a sigh of relief; the Costume was still there, lying on the bed very obediently, exactly as it had been when he left.

To be honest, the Costume suddenly disappearing would be even more terrifying for him; after all, there was no way to predict when or where it would appear again.

Yang Xiao quickly folded the Costume and stuffed it into his backpack. After checking out, he found a restaurant to fill his stomach, then took the subway toward the western suburbs. He and Kuang Hongyi had agreed to meet at Yinzhe Cafe on Sinan Road in the western suburbs at 6 PM.

Yang Xiao was used to being a bit early for these things. He planned to walk around the area first. He could sense that Kuang Hongyi was no ordinary person—likely a desperate outlaw—and it wouldn't be strange for such a person to do anything.

Yang Xiao thought for a moment and decided not to reveal the matter of the Costume to him yet. In any case, the Costume didn't seem to pose a threat for now. Yang Xiao suspected this thing was a reward from the Nightmare World; it might even be a treasure.

In that case, the purpose of Kuang Hongyi meeting him became complicated. It might be to probe his background and eventually kill him to seize the treasure—that's how it was always written in novels.

At 4 PM, Yang Xiao arrived. This was a commercial district with many people coming and going. Yang Xiao lowered the brim of his hat, put on a mask, shoved his hands into his pockets, and easily blended into the crowd with his backpack.

He was lucky today; a police car happened to be parked not far from the cafe entrance, which gave Yang Xiao a bit more confidence.

He walked back and forth several times but didn't find anything unusual. Finally, he went up to the police car and used it as cover, carefully peering inside through the cafe's large floor-to-ceiling window. The glass reflected, so he had to squint to look closely. There weren't many people in the cafe, and Kuang Hongyi hadn't appeared yet.

Until the next second, the window of the police car in front of him rolled down. The man in the driver's seat took off his sunglasses and grinned, "Brother Chu, are you looking for me?"