Translator: Cinder Translations
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"Listen!"
The fatty suddenly spoke up.
The low murmurs of discussion immediately ceased, and everyone held their breath for half a minute.
"What are we supposed to be listening to?" You Qi turned to the fatty, a hint of displeasure in his eyes.
"I... I thought I heard the sound of water splashing," the fatty explained. "But for some reason, it's gone now."
"Maybe you're just too nervous," Qin Jian, standing a bit further away, chimed in. He spoke with an air of confidence, his gaze at the others filled with a sense of having seen through everything. "Or maybe you're just hallucinating—"
Before he could finish, Qin Jian froze like a goose whose neck had been stepped on. His neck stretched out, and his face filled with terror as he stared at the mist-covered lake.
A boat quietly emerged from the mist, gliding forward without a sound.
There was no one on board.
It wasn't until the bow of the boat bumped against the shore with a soft "thud" that everyone snapped out of their daze.
In the next moment, the sound of drums echoed.
The third watch of the night... had arrived.
A chill crept up their spines as everyone's gaze shifted from the boat to the lake. The mist that had been shrouding the lake began to dissipate, revealing a figure dressed in deep red standing on the water.
It was Young Master Huang.
The figure stood crookedly, one arm stretched out horizontally while the other was bent, its wide sleeve hanging down to cover its face.
This half-hidden, half-revealed scene, which might have been poetic in another context, brought no sense of beauty here. Instead, it filled everyone with overwhelming fear.
They were almost certain that the face hidden behind the sleeve would be horrifying.
"Look... look at his side!" Shi Liaozhi's voice trembled.
As the mist around Young Master Huang continued to disperse, everyone's eyes widened in shock. A deep, primal fear exploded in their hearts, their limbs turning cold as if their veins were filled with ice.
Surrounding Young Master Huang on the lake were numerous brides dressed in wedding attire, their heads covered with bright red veils.
There were ten of them, forming a circle around Young Master Huang.
Their arms hung naturally at their sides, creating an eerie scene.
The situation was clear now. The ghost was hidden among them. If anyone carelessly picked the wrong one...
"Let's begin," An Xuan exhaled.
You Qi's face showed clear reluctance, but he still moved forward, stepping onto the boat first.
There was no other choice. The order had been decided earlier.
It was the same order in which they had met Young Master Huang.
The small boat carried You Qi into the mist and disappeared.
Strangely, as soon as You Qi's boat entered the mist, the area around Young Master Huang became hazy, and soon, everything was obscured.
Those on the shore had no idea what was happening inside.
Just as everyone was growing restless with worry, the boat reappeared on the lake. But what sent a chill through their hearts was that the boat was empty. You Qi, who should have been on it, was gone.
"Where is he?" Everyone's scalps tingled with fear.
Especially Shi Liaozhi, who was next in line. His legs were shaking, and his expression looked as if he had just lost a loved one. Everyone was worried he might accidentally fall into the lake.
But fortunately, the boat seemed to be controlled by some unseen force. Without Shi Liaozhi needing to exert any effort, it began moving toward the center of the lake.
Once he realized he had entered the mist, Shi Liaozhi, who usually pretended to be timid, seemed to transform into a different person. He stood in the center of the boat, first testing its stability, then began observing his surroundings.
The boat moved at a steady pace, neither too fast nor too slow. He slowly crouched down, wanting to peer into the water below, but the next second, he was startled by his own thoughts.
Imagining that he might see a face, bloated and rotten from being submerged, or countless pale hands pushing the boat forward, he decided it was better to stay still.
He was a soldier.
And not just any soldier—he was an officer in the special forces.
Though his expertise wasn't in assassination or combat, the ingrained sense of vigilance, or intuition, in his mind was far stronger than that of an ordinary person.
While he suspected there was something strange beneath the water, he knew that the real threat lay ahead: Young Master Huang and the brides.
"Splash—"
Shi Liaozhi immediately became alert. The sound of the water beneath the boat... had changed.
Then, the bottom of the boat seemed to brush against something, causing it to slow down before finally coming to a stop.
He looked up, and the scene before him made him stumble backward several steps, nearly falling into the lake.
Less than two meters in front of him stood a bride dressed in red, her head covered with a bright red veil. Her arms hung naturally at her sides.
A cold wind blew, snapping Shi Liaozhi back to his senses. The bride before him was nothing more than a lifelike paper figure, similar to the ones they had seen the previous night.
This was evident from the hands hidden within the sleeves.
He glanced around and saw several other paper brides standing nearby.
He counted them—nine in total.
It seemed the missing one had been taken by You Qi.
Narrowing his eyes, he examined each one carefully. The paper figures were identical in craftsmanship, clothing, veils, and posture. As time ticked by, he finally made up his mind and chose the one closest to him, carrying it on his back.
He chose to carry it on his back rather than hold it in his arms or under his arm because the rules of the game required it. Otherwise, he would have preferred to hold the paper figure rather than carry it on his back.
Whoever came up with this idea was truly twisted.
Once he had the paper figure on his back, Shi Liaozhi finally relaxed, as the boat immediately began moving again without any issues.
Although he couldn't see through the mist, he could feel that they were heading back.
The paper figure was light, so light that it felt like no burden at all.
Before this, he had imagined countless terrifying scenarios: the moment he reached out, the veiled bride grabbing his hand, or stepping onto the island and encountering the eerily moving Young Master Huang...
Shi Liaozhi's thoughts suddenly came to a halt. He realized he had overlooked something important.
Young Master Huang!
Where was Young Master Huang?
Shouldn't he have been among the brides?
But why hadn't he seen him earlier...?
"Creak—"
He suddenly heard a faint but peculiar sound, right by his ear. It sounded like... a rusted bearing being forcibly bent.
In the next moment, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the straight paper arms that had been resting on his shoulders slowly begin to bend. The hands hidden within the sleeves started to emerge.
Shi Liaozhi's pupils dilated as he noticed that the fingers emerging from the sleeves were no longer paper-like. Instead, they looked as if they had been soaked in water for too long, swollen and grotesque, with a sickly bluish tint.
A tingling sensation crept up his neck, as if something wet and hairy was approaching.
Damn it...
(End of the Chapter)
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