Translator: Cinder Translations
--------
On the way back, Shi Liaozhi explained to everyone what had just happened. The ghost had suddenly appeared behind him, and in a panic, he had crashed through the window and jumped out.
Although he had sprained his arm and suffered many scratches, he had managed to save his life.
"Mr. Shi, you're really lucky," Jiang Cheng said, turning his head and speaking in a tone of relief. "Most people wouldn't survive something like that."
Hearing this, Zuo Jing and the others' expressions changed slightly. They were all suspicious of Shi Liaozhi's identity, but wasn't Jiang Cheng being too blatant with his hints? Wasn't he afraid of drawing the ghost's attention?
Even Fatty, walking beside Jiang Cheng, couldn't help but feel nervous.
But fortunately, aside from looking visibly shaken, Shi Liaozhi didn't react much. He glanced at the lake, as if he wanted to say something.
An Xuan, who had been keeping a close eye on him, noticed his unease and asked, "Mr. Shi, did you think of something?"
Rubbing his arm, Shi Liaozhi said in a low voice, "When the ghost was hiding behind me, it felt like I could see something."
"It's... it's a very strange feeling," he paused, as if organizing his thoughts. After a while, he looked up and continued, "It was like my perspective changed. Suddenly, everything around me felt very dark, but not the kind of darkness where you can't see anything. There was a faint light above, though it wasn't very bright. Everything around me seemed shadowy."
"My chest felt really tight, like there was a stone pressing down on it. I could only breathe very slowly, and it felt like I was slightly suffocating."
Shi Liaozhi's recollection gave everyone a new perspective. You Qi seemed to think for a moment, then stroked his chin and said, "What you're describing sounds like diving!"
"Perhaps you were influenced by the ghost and briefly saw things from her perspective," Xia Meng added.
"More accurately, it was the perspective of her corpse," Zuo Jing said, her tone somewhat strange. It seemed like she had already thought of something, but for some reason, she couldn't say it outright.
Fatty nodded and chimed in, "So the female ghost's body is indeed submerged underwater, at the bottom of the lake."
This was something everyone had suspected before.
"Mr. Shi," An Xuan looked at Shi Liaozhi and said in a sincere tone, "I'm afraid we'll have to trouble you to take a look around the lake and see if you can sense anything. If we can find the female ghost's body, things will go much smoother from here."
This was a very reasonable request, and everyone stared at Shi Liaozhi, leaving him no room to refuse.
Hearing this, Shi Liaozhi immediately showed a look of terror. His throat moved as he glanced at the lake. After all, he had just escaped from the ghost's pursuit, and now he was being asked to go back to the lake...
But in the end, he reluctantly agreed. "Alright," he said unwillingly, "but I can't guarantee I'll find anything."
An Xuan replied politely, "Thank you, Mr. Shi."
"It's... it's not here," Shi Liaozhi said as he slowly walked along the edge of the lake, stopping from time to time as if sensing something. "Not here either."
The others kept a moderate distance from him.
Fortunately, Shi Liaozhi's attention was entirely focused on searching for the corpse, so he didn't notice anything unusual behind him for the time being.
The weather was good, with calm winds and still waters.
The lake's surface was as smooth as a mirror.
On the water's surface, very close to the shore, Shi Liaozhi's reflection was clearly visible.
Everyone subtly observed it, from top to bottom, especially his back. There was nothing unusual.
Fatty's expression relaxed slightly, but before he could speak, An Xuan, standing to one side, said in a low voice, "A few of you stay here and keep watch. The rest, come with me back to the room to check something."
Zuo Jing frowned. "You mean the painting?"
An Xuan's line of thought wasn't hard to guess. He still suspected Shi Liaozhi. If Shi Liaozhi had truly been replaced by the ghost, there might be clues in the painting.
"Mr. An," You Qi, who had been quiet until now, suddenly spoke up. He looked at everyone, his expression somewhat awkward. "I covered that painting with a red cloth. It looked too sinister, and I was scared..."
"Covered it?" An Xuan's expression changed slightly as he looked at You Qi.
You Qi licked his lips and said in a worried tone, "Don't... don't you feel like the woman in the painting is gradually changing?" He paused, then continued, "When I first saw the painting, I remember her face was turned toward the inside, only showing a little. But now, she's turned more than halfway!"
As he finished speaking, he couldn't help but shiver. It was now certain that the woman in the painting was the ghost—the ghost bride that Young Master Huang had been longing for.
A terrifying yet plausible guess began to form in everyone's minds:
When the woman in the painting fully turned around, she might disappear from the painting and enter the real world.
After that, everyone would die.
"It seems this is the final deadline for the mission," Zuo Jing sighed, staring at Shi Liaozhi's back.
Just as You Qi opened his mouth to say more, a scream suddenly rang out. Shi Liaozhi was sitting by the lake, his hands propped on the ground, trembling as he scrambled backward.
"Don't!" He looked utterly terrified. "Please, don't come after me!"
His eyes were filled with fear. It was hard to imagine what he had seen.
"What happened?" An Xuan was the first to run over, but he stopped about two meters away, making no move to get closer.
"She's here, right here!" Shi Liaozhi's voice had changed. "When I walked here, I suddenly felt something strange, so I looked down, and then..."
His pupils suddenly contracted into slits.
Staring into the dark water, Zuo Jing felt a sense of foreboding. The previously clear lake water had now turned somewhat murky.
"And then what?" she asked Shi Liaozhi.
"There's a rotting face underwater!" Shi Liaozhi said, his voice trembling. "She was looking at me, and she even smiled at me. She's targeting me, she's targeting me!"
If Shi Liaozhi's fear had been an act before, it was now very real. At least, Xia Meng couldn't spot any flaws.
Shi Liaozhi wasn't a newcomer, but whether he was or not, the outcome of being targeted by a ghost was predictable. Either he would, like Jiang Cheng, find a way to shift the risk within the rules, or he would wait for death in utter terror.
There was, of course, another path: to find the clues immediately and escape the mission before the ghost came for him.
But given the current situation, that path was completely blocked. The clues they had found so far were too limited to piece together the full story.
Cautiously taking a few steps forward, Jiang Cheng moved closer.
This was a stone embankment, about a meter higher than the lake's surface. He leaned over and glanced at the water. Below, the water was a dark, deep green.
(End of Chapter)
---
Read (NS) on Pa.treon@CinderTL - c402. [+7.7k]
Early Access at $1.
Translated (5) Series, (2.2K+) Chapters, (2.9M+) Words.
🎁If I can get 3 Reviews on WebNovel and ScribbleHub Combined, I'll do a mass release. (1/3)