Translator: Cinder Translations
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The sound was extremely uniform and fast, making everyone instinctively hold their breath.
In the next second, Zuo Jing's pupils suddenly contracted as she saw several paper figures emerging from the mist. The leading paper figure was holding a paper lantern.
The paper figures walked unsteadily, their bodies moving awkwardly. Their heads seemed unstable, swaying from side to side, as if they could fall off at any moment.
Zuo Jing gasped sharply. She could feel it—these figures were hunting for prey.
"Don't make a sound," An Xuan whispered.
Everyone lowered their heads even further, and Zuo Jing held her breath completely.
Fortunately, the paper figures didn't notice them and instead staggered away. Only after the eerie rustling sounds disappeared did they dare to get up.
"It's over," An Xuan exhaled, retracting his gaze from the mist. Then, under Zuo Jing's shocked eyes, he reached out and tore the "bride" off her back.
Zuo Jing's expression changed. "It's him?!"
The person lying on the ground was extremely thin. But most importantly, his face—was Master Huang!
Compared to before, Master Huang looked entirely different. His previous lifeless demeanor was gone. Now that his identity was exposed, his eyes were wide open, bloodshot veins densely covering the whites of his eyes. He opened his mouth, letting out wheezing sounds.
"In this act, what we were passing around was him—not a ghost," An Xuan explained in a low voice. "Those paper figures from earlier... they were the real ghosts."
Zuo Jing suddenly understood. "The paper figures that pointed us to shore?"
"Yes."
"Let's leave first," An Xuan continued. "We'll talk later."
"What about him?" Zuo Jing glanced at Master Huang, still dressed in a bright red opera costume.
"Knock him out and take him with us."
They chose a small path, likely fearing another encounter with those eerie paper figures.
At some point, a light rain began to fall. The group kept their heads down and pressed forward. Along the way, You Qi suggested stopping to take shelter, but Zuo Jing refused. She only wanted to get back to her room as soon as possible.
Her gaze constantly scanned the surroundings. Her intuition told her—the danger wasn't over.
Exhaustion was taking over. Zuo Jing's steps grew heavier, and before she realized it, she had fallen behind the group.
Soon after, Fatty walking in front of her also suggested stopping to take cover from the rain. Annoyed, Zuo Jing rejected him as well.
Were they crazy? They knew the paper figures were searching for them, yet they still wanted to stop for rain?
Getting wet wouldn't kill them.
But to Zuo Jing's surprise, more and more people started asking to stop for shelter. In the end, even An Xuan suggested they find a place to hide from the rain.
What puzzled Zuo Jing even more was that none of them turned around when they made their request. They just kept their heads down, marching forward in eerily synchronized postures.
A flash of lightning streaked across the sky.
In that brief moment of illumination, Zuo Jing was horrified to see that the puddles on the ground were colored—green, yellow, and red, blending together like a spilled paint palette.
As her gaze followed the trail, Zuo Jing discovered that these "paints" were dripping from her teammates. They trickled down their pants, fell drop by drop, and mixed into the water below.
Something was very wrong.
Just as Zuo Jing prepared to run, a long-overdue thunderclap finally boomed.
"Boom!"
At the instant the thunder roared, all six teammates suddenly turned around in unison.
The moment she saw their faces, Zuo Jing's heart nearly stopped.
Their faces were melting.
Like wax figures burned by fire, their eyes, noses, mouths, and ears had shifted out of place. Some had even lost their facial features entirely. One's eyes had sunk down and merged with the mouth and nose.
Wet, sticky pigments dripped constantly from their faces.
Zuo Jing's mind exploded with realization—
These teammates… were all paper figures!
They were the real ghosts!
"Why... didn't you stop for shelter?" Fatty, whose eyes had completely melted away, stepped forward and asked coldly, "Why?!"
"Do you just want to watch us die?" Xia Meng, whose face had completely collapsed, shrieked.
"Kill her!"
"Kill her!"
"Skin her! Then we won't fear water anymore!" The paper figures shrieked, cackling as they marched forward in eerie unison, surrounding Zuo Jing.
The seemingly flimsy paper arms clawed at her, tearing off large chunks of flesh along with her skin.
"Skin! I want her skin!" The paper figures, now stained with her blood, fought over the torn flesh, frenziedly pressing the stolen skin onto their own bodies—one hand tightly clutching it, afraid that another paper figure might snatch it away, while the other hand continued to tear at her.
Zuo Jing's agonized screams tore through the night—
But they soon stopped.
All that remained were the sounds of ripping, tearing, and a body rolling through the muddy water.
Master Huang, still dressed in his bright red opera robe, simply squatted nearby, tilting his head as he watched. His mouth emitted eerie, wheezing laughter as splattered blood stained his face.
By the time An Xuan and the others arrived, it was all over.
In the crimson-stained mud and water lay a tattered corpse—
Like a broken, unfixable ragdoll.
The body was unrecognizable.
Except for some flesh clinging to the hands and feet, all of its skin had been stripped away.
The face was gone too.
One eye dangled outside the socket, still attached by nerves and blood vessels.
The other eye… was completely missing, leaving behind a hollow, gaping socket staring into the night sky.
Anyone could see the sheer agony Zuo Jing had endured before death.
The ground bore deep, desperate scratch marks—stretching over ten meters long.
Scattered along the path were torn fragments of clothing, but even more gruesome—scattered chunks of flesh.
Xia Meng held the group's only lantern.
Fatty stood there, staring at the horror before him. The metallic stench of blood filled his nose, making his stomach churn. Chen Qiang and You Qi had already vomited once each.
He was barely holding back.
Only An Xuan knelt beside the mangled corpse, one knee sinking into the blood-stained water.
No one disturbed him.
The scene was as solemn as a funeral.
The corpse's mouth gaped open, forever frozen in its final moment of agony.
After a long silence, An Xuan stood up.
"Let's go."
He gazed at the misty lake, his voice quiet.
"Dawn is almost here."
—
After everything that happened, the atmosphere in the team had subtly shifted.
Only Fatty and the doctor returned to their rooms.
"Doctor." After closing the door, Fatty couldn't wait to ask, "Why did Xia Meng leave with An Xuan? Don't they need to keep hiding their identities?"
The doctor took off his shoes and leaned against a pillow. "Hide what?" He glanced out the window, exhaled, and muttered,
"Didn't you hear him?"
"Dawn is almost here."
(End of the Chapter)
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