Chapter 226 (II): An Unforeseen Turn

Unexpectedly, the old man shook his head. "The third watch? No strange business. But during the fourth watch, it seems something did happen."

"What happened?" Zhang Yuanqing pressed him at once.

The old man frowned, and a blank look passed over his dark, wrinkle-carved face. "I... I've forgotten..."

Forgotten? Well, then he'd just have to ask the other villagers. From what he'd heard so far, this dungeon wasn't too difficult. All he had to do was find a tongue, and he got a heap of information, enough to get a basic read on the horrors inside.

Play the game before dark, keep it going through the first watch, and that would send the ghost girl packing. Deal with the paper figure during the second watch. No horrors during the third watch. Another would appear at the fourth watch, but the old man had forgotten about it. He could get more information from the other villagers.

Once those three "antiques" were handled, would it be time to fight the boss? Survive that, and he would clear the dungeon.

He had no doubt the princess would be powerful, but for the moment, getting a clear read on every horror in the dungeon was enough. Danger laid out in the open was a lot easier on the nerves than trying to feel his way across a fast-flowing river stone by stone.

Besides, he still had one more ace in the hole: the Demon-subduing Awl. That thing was a prime weapon against yin creatures, but he didn't quite dare use it. After what had happened at Jinshui Amusement Park, he suspected that using the Demon-subduing Awl inside a Nocturnal Specter-exclusive dungeon would surely reveal him to that old hag.

If she showed up, then dropping to his knees and singing "Conquest[1]" wouldn't save him.

What would come from drawing a big boss down on himself? Zhang Yuanqing didn't know. All he knew was that the old hag could squash him the way you'd squash an ant. He wasn't about to gamble his life on the other party's mood.

Just then Zhang Yuanqing looked up at the sky. The daylight had dimmed and gone weak. A little longer and it would be dark.

He wasted no more time. "Old man, it's near dark, that ghost girl's coming. You don't want your tongue cut out either, do you? Let's play a game."

When it came to knowing when to knuckle under, the old man never disappointed. He nodded straightaway.

"What game?"

Zhang Yuanqing taught him the game's chant and how to play.

"Will this even work?" The old man asked, his face full of disbelief.

"You haven't got a choice anyway," Zhang Yuanqing shot back.

He summoned Corpse No. 1, reached for the mark in his sea of consciousness, and split his consciousness in two, leaving one half in his own body while the other took up residence in the yin corpse.

The two men and the corpse stood in a triangle.

Zhang Yuanqing clapped his hands once. "You clap one, I clap one, play a game before the day is done."

The old man clapped his hands once. "You clap two, I clap two, touch your tongue and touch your ears."

The two men and the corpse opened their mouths, touched their tongues, then touched their ears.

Corpse No. 1 clapped its hands once, its voice a rasp. "You clap three, I clap three, add a shadow and that makes three."

The clapping went on and on, and the two men and the corpse played. The minutes and seconds slipped by, and the sky quickly went dark. The world drew a black veil over itself, and a deep darkness swallowed the mountain village. There was no moon in the night sky, no stars, only an engulfing darkness that prevented anyone from seeing their own hands.

A dead hush fell over the village. There were no crickets chirping, no dogs barking, only a terrifying stillness that set a person on edge. The rhythmic clapping and the voices of two men and a corpse were the only sounds in that silent world.

After dark, the yin energy in the village grew heavier. Still, Zhang Yuanqing kept the rhythm of the game going. As a Nocturnal Specter, he felt the change around him keenly.

By day the village had held no yin energy to speak of, but the moment the sky went black, a cold, dank breath had begun to spread, and the whole village seemed to turn into a haunt for ghosts. And as time went on, the yin energy kept thickening, bit by bit.

Just then Zhang Yuanqing heard giggling come from the dark behind him.

"Ooh, someone's playing a game~"

The voice was childish and clear. It was a little girl, only a few years old.

It's here. Zhang Yuanqing saw the old man's expression change, his lips beginning to tremble.

Zhang Yuanqing felt yin energy full of the deepest cold drawing near. Its sheer force reminded him of the ghost bride. To be exact, it was the kind of pressure the ghost bride exerted when he saw her. That was how frightening this ghost girl was.

Meeting it head on doesn't seem too smart, Zhang Yuanqing decided. Like the old man, he figured that discretion was the better part of valor.

The cloud of yin energy came to a stop behind him, and then he felt a coolness press against his back and start to creep upward, inch by inch.

Is she trying to latch onto me? The hair on Zhang Yuanqing's spine stood on end, his scalp prickled, and he nearly lost the rhythm of the game.

Luckily that cold, dank breath lingered only a few seconds before it left his back. It went around behind Corpse No. 1 to try its luck there instead. Out of the corner of his eye, Zhang Yuanqing finally made the thing out.

It was a shadow, a child's shadow, cast on the ground behind Corpse No. 1 as if it were the corpse's own shadow. The shadow seemed to want to stick onto Corpse No. 1, but it tried a few times and failed each time.

"Why are there three people again... I want to play a game, I want to play a game..." the small shadow spoke in a little girl's tender voice, upset and complaining.

As long as three are playing, she can't join in? How had Demon Lord managed to draw out this rule? Er, it doesn't seem that hard actually. Even without the Cat King Speaker's tip, I'd definitely have rounded up some villagers to play.

"You clap two, I clap two, feel your tongue and feel your ears too," the old man chanted.

The old geezer's voice had already started to shake. Anyone could tell he was terrified. However, his heart gave him strength, kept him going with the game.

For a while after that, the shadow kept moving from one person to the other, always staying behind them, trying to join the game and failing every time.

Good. It can't get in. Just keep this up to the end of the first watch. The yin energy in the village is turning even denser still.

Zhang Yuanqing let out a small sigh of relief. Everything was going to plan.

He played the game while keeping an eye on the clock, and after a long, long while, it felt like they would manage to make it through.

At that moment, still strung up tight, with his brain running at full tilt, Zhang Yuanqing hit on something that didn't add up.

He was still thinking about the Cat King Speaker's "three people" tip, and what the ghost girl had said—"three people again"—a moment ago.

Demon Lord had clearly worked out the three-people rule. But there was a problem. If he didn't know the rule at first, more players would naturally seem better. If he were the Demon Lord, he'd definitely have found a crowd of villagers to play with, instead of narrowing it down precisely to three right away.

Yet the ghost girl had just said "three people again." If she was referring to Demon Lord's run, then here was the question: How had the Demon Lord deduced that once there were only three people, the ghost girl would be shut out?

The only answer was that Demon Lord had worked out the pattern through trial and error.

Did that mean Demon Lord had rounded up a crowd of villagers, then found that a big group meant nothing, and the villagers got their tongues cut out or were killed one by one until only three were left, at which point the ghost girl stopped? That didn't seem right either. Where would the villagers find that kind of discipline? One death and they'd scatter and bolt.

Moreover, after Demon Lord found out that people still died while playing the game, would he really keep rallying villagers to play? He'd surely have gone head-to-head with the ghost girl instead, because he couldn't guarantee that the next one she latched onto wouldn't be himself. So how in the world had the Demon Lord worked out this pattern?

In any case, the first watch was already upon them. He'd banish this ghost girl first, then chew on all this.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind when he saw the old man beside him suddenly twist with pain and mumble, "I remember, I remember. During the fourth watch..."

Only then did Zhang Yuanqing notice that the old man was giving off thick yin energy, and his skin was turning from a normal color to a blackish green.

The yin energy all around was so heavy that it had masked the yin corpse aura coming off the old man.

He's a yin corpse? How is that possible...? Zhang Yuanqing's eyes narrowed. As a Nocturnal Specter, he could see it plain as day. The old man's body, nourished by the yin energy, was slowly turning into a yin corpse.

Claws burst out from the ends of the old man's fingers and red veins streaked across his eyeballs as he mumbled, "During the fourth watch, everyone in the village died..."

Everyone in the village died... Hearing that, a chill went through Zhang Yuanqing, and his scalp prickled.

There wasn't a single normal person in this dungeon. The villagers had died long ago. By day they kept their human form, and by night, nourished by the yin energy, they turned into yin corpses?

Fuck! No wonder it felt off, no wonder there were so many living people in this dungeon, or so it seemed, and no wonder the yin creatures in this, an A-rank dungeon, were so mild. Turns out there wasn't a living soul left.

All at once, he understood how Demon Lord had performed his trial and error test.

Demon Lord had rounded up a crowd of villagers to play, and they'd all turned into yin corpses at nightfall. Playing the game with the villagers failed, but the Demon Lord hadn't died on the spot. Perhaps he happened to have two yin corpses, or some other means. Either way, he'd worked out the pattern, and found out that as long as three people were playing the game, he could dodge the ghost girl's killing rule.

Right then, the last bit of reason drained from the old man's eyes, and he completed his transformation into a blood-craving yin creature. Instantly, he lunged at Zhang Yuanqing beside him.

Bang!

Corpse No. 1 flew in from the side, a heavy battering ram that sent the old man flying.

The game stopped, forced to an abrupt end.

The clear, tender voice came from behind Zhang Yuanqing. "Hee hee, I want to play a game too~"

A breath of the deepest cold pressed against his back, and the next second,Zhang Yuanqing's neck went crack, and his head was twisted around completely.

Crack, crack...

His legs and arms twisted around to face behind him in turn, every joint wrenched out of its socket. In seconds, he looked like a human-sized puppet that had been thrown together haphazardly.

1. The song referred to here is 征服 (Conquest/Conquer) by Na Ying. In online culture, it represents one admitting defeat and surrendering with absolute sincerity. ☜