A shrill scream echoed in the night, growing more lonely and terrifying.
Run?
In this situation, listening to the scream playing from the King of Cats speaker, Zhang Yuanqing felt a tightening of his scalp and a chill in his heart.
He never expected the King of Cats speaker to give such a hint. This was definitely not good news.
Zhang Yuanqing waited silently for a moment, and when he saw that the King of Cats speaker was no longer "speaking," his heart sank. He slapped it:
"Hey, you don't want to stay in this ghost place forever, do you? If you have a way, hurry up and tell me. We need to work together to leave."
But this time, the King of Cats speaker did not respond, even when he took out the Bloodthirsty Blade.
So, its only hint was to run?
Seeing that he couldn't get reliable information from the King of Cats speaker, Zhang Yuanqing quickly calmed down, used his advantages, and began to analyze.
He first sorted out the known information and found that when the old man mentioned the paper figure, he only said that the paper figure would appear at the second watch, without much description.
But when he mentioned the ghost doll, he said that the ghost doll demanded to play a game.
"So, it seems that the paper figure and the ghost doll are different. The latter can be avoided by relying on rules, but the paper figure can't. It can only be confronted head-on, with no shortcuts."
"The King of Cats speaker's hint is to run, which is very telling. That paper figure is probably more dangerous than the ghost doll. This is a dungeon; if I could run, I would have run long ago. Did I need you to remind me?"
"There is too little information about the paper figure. To defeat it, I must first figure out its details. Fortunately, I am always cautious and asked an extra question."
He had asked the old man where the rouge box was.
The answer he got was that it was still in Mr. Xu's house.
Then the next goal was very clear: find Mr. Xu's house and find the rouge box.
At that time, he should be able to get a lot of useful information.
"It's been about half an hour since the ghost doll left. There are two hours between the first watch and the second watch. I have another hour and a half. This village is not small, and it's a bit difficult to find Mr. Xu's house in an hour and a half."
Zhang Yuanqing looked at the deep night and pondered for a few seconds, then had an idea: devour the spirits of the villagers to obtain answers.
Wang Xiao'er was an important NPC, so he couldn't devour his spirit, but could he devour the villagers' spirits?
He led Undead No. 1, picked the nearest stone house, and broke in directly. "Hoo-hoo~"
Hearing the noise, the two Yin corpses in the house showed brutal bloodlust in their pupils and pounced with their teeth and claws.
Undead No. 1 strode forward, kicked out with his right leg like a whip, smashing the head of the female Yin corpse. Then, using the inertia of the whip leg, he rotated his body half a circle, driving his right arm, and punched the head of the male Yin corpse.
Flesh and blood tissue, along with bone fragments, splattered like raindrops.
The two headless Yin corpses staggered forward a few steps and fell to the ground.
A black energy surged in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes, filling his eye sockets, and he devoured the remaining spirits in the two Yin corpses.
Scenes of fragmented images flashed through his mind, and he quickly found Mr. Xu's residence from the mixed memory fragments. The schoolteacher lived in a courtyard in the west of the village, next to the river, and was the most cultured person in the village.
Knowing Mr. Xu's residence, Zhang Yuanqing was not in a hurry. He sat down on the spot, closed his eyes, and rested.
In his current physical condition, he could not cope with sudden accidents. Instead of wandering outside, he should seize the time to heal his injuries and recover his strength.
In the silence, he could not feel the passage of time. Zhang Yuanqing put his left fingers on his pulse to calculate the time.
The surrounding Yin energy was rich, nourishing his injured body, repairing broken bones, and restoring his strength.
After his pulse beat 1,800 times, Zhang Yuanqing opened his eyes, his eyes bright, and his listlessness disappeared. The broken bones had been reconnected and fully recovered, and his physical strength had returned to 70% of its peak.
"When my physical strength recovers to about 90%, I can use Howl at the Moon again. It's a pity that I don't have any food, otherwise I would have recovered to my peak state by now."
He left the place without hesitation, taking Undead No. 1 to the west of the village.
A dozen minutes later, as Zhang Yuanqing walked on the narrow village road, he heard the cheerful sound of a stream. Turning past a rammed-earth house, he saw a three-meter-wide river passing between the stone houses.
The water flowed quickly but not urgently, with a light rustling sound.
Walking along the river for a few more minutes, he finally arrived outside Mr. Xu's small courtyard.
At this time, there were still more than half an hour until the second watch.
For safety's sake, Zhang Yuanqing planned to let Undead No. 1 go in to explore, while he stayed outside. Considering that the Yin corpse did not have the ability to see through the darkness, he draped the Yin-Yang Robe over Undead No. 1.
Undead No. 1 pressed his palms against the courtyard door and exerted force silently. In the teeth-aching sound of the door shaft, the courtyard door slowly opened.
The Yin corpse, unafraid of the dangers in the darkness, quickly entered the small courtyard.
Whenever this happened, Zhang Yuanqing would lament his foresight in preparing to refine Yin corpses after level three. Otherwise, in such a dangerous dungeon, if he let his main body clear the mines, he would explode in place and return to The Way of the Extraordinary sooner or later.
Passing through the courtyard and pushing open the lattice door of the main room, Undead No. 1 stopped outside the threshold and spread his palms.
Whoosh—a fireball rose, dispelling the darkness and bringing light.
The furnishings in the main room came into view. Facing the door was a round table with round stools around it. Calligraphy and paintings hung on the wall.
To the left of the door was a large wooden-carved bed with a gauze curtain hanging down, and to the right was a bookshelf and a rectangular desk.
No paper figure, no corpse.
It seemed that the villagers had buried Mr. Xu's body after discovering his death.
The paper figure was not here, which was good… Zhang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief and immediately stepped over the stone threshold of the courtyard door, not forgetting to close the courtyard door. He passed through the small courtyard, arrived outside the main room, and joined the Yin corpse.
The paper figure and the ghost doll were different. As long as there was a physical body, it was impossible to ignore physical obstacles. Closing the courtyard door was not to block the opponent, but to act as a warning "bell."
One person and one corpse entered the main room, closed the door, and Zhang Yuanqing extinguished the fireball. Seeing the darkness as nothing, he first checked the bed, opened several boxes containing quilts and clothes, and did not forget to bend down and look under the bed.
After confirming that the paper figure was really not here, he walked to the desk and examined the objects on the desk.
The first thing he noticed was a small and exquisite rouge box, half the size of a palm, one finger high, made of silver, and consisting of a box bottom and a box cover, carved with exquisite auspicious clouds and flower patterns.
Zhang Yuanqing reached out and picked up the rouge box, waiting silently for a few seconds. The item attributes appeared: 【Name: Blood Rouge】
【Type: Cosmetics】
【Function: Spirit Attachment, Bloodlust】
【Introduction: It is said that this rouge is made from the blood of eighty-eight young girls, and it never dries up and never fades. It is a boudoir item that all women dream of. After the owner's death, it became a burial object and was buried deep underground for a long time. The resentful spirit in the box was nourished by Yin energy and became more and more fierce. Applying the rouge to the cheeks or lips can attract the resentful spirit to possess you. The resentful spirit has a strong desire for blood, and only by sacrificing enough blood essence can it be appeased.】
【Note 1: If you don't kill others, you will kill yourself.】
【Note 2: In the next ten minutes, a certain skill of your body will randomly necrosis.】
【Note 3: Among the dead girls, there is a Temptation Fairy. Be careful of her bewitchment.】
"The rouge box is indeed an item, and its quality is extremely high. Even if it hasn't reached the Saint level, it has the quality of a transcendent peak. It feels comparable to top-quality equipment like the Yin-Yang Robe."
Zhang Yuanqing's mind moved, and he was about to put away the rouge box. 【Ding, this item cannot be collected.】
He knew there was no such cheap thing… Zhang Yuanqing muttered in his heart. As far as he knew, all the items in The Way of the Extraordinary had uniqueness and would not refresh. Once taken away, they were gone.
Depending on the decrease or increase of items, The Way of the Extraordinary would automatically adjust the difficulty level. If the rouge box could be taken away, the Demon Lord would have taken it long ago and would not have left it here. Without the paper figure, perhaps the difficulty level of "Lost Voice Village" would decrease. "According to the explanation in Note 3, Mr. Xu should have been bewitched by the rouge box, which is why he put blush on the paper figure, released the resentful spirit in the rouge box, and died a tragic death.
While thinking, Zhang Yuanqing checked the other items on the desk.
A few books related to the Ming Dynasty, and a hand-drawn, simple map.
The contents of the books were in classical Chinese. Zhang Yuanqing flipped through them casually and put them aside, turning to pick up the map and look at it carefully.
In the map, simple lines outlined "houses" and "mountain peaks," and a note was added at the bottom:
"Location of the ancient tomb: southwest of the back mountain, twenty-three li."
Zhang Yuanqing combined it with the books at hand and immediately understood that Mr. Xu was analyzing the location of the ancient tomb and the identity of the owner of the ancient tomb.
He saw Wang Xiao'er getting treasures from the ancient tomb, so he became greedy and wanted to enter the ancient tomb to make a fortune?
"But that's not right. Wang Xiao'er and the wandering Taoist priest spent the whole night in the mountains before finding the entrance to the tomb. It's impossible for Mr. Xu to sit at home and analyze it out of thin air. He may have obtained information from Wang Xiao'er by buying the rouge box…."
Zhang Yuanqing immediately threw the question aside. It didn't matter how Mr. Xu knew the location of the ancient tomb.
He shifted his attention back to the item information of "Blood Rouge."
"According to the old man's description, Mr. Xu was sucked dry and died, which is consistent with the item introduction of Blood Rouge. Mr. Xu died, but the villagers next door did not die. That night, the paper figure only killed Mr. Xu…."
Suddenly, a faint "creak" sound came from the courtyard, interrupting Zhang Yuanqing's thoughts.
The sound was very slight, but in the silent night, any sound would be amplified.
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly raised his head and looked out the door, his body tensing up reflexively. After becoming a Night Wanderer, Zhang Yuanqing hadn't felt this kind of scalp-tingling horror for a long time. The last time he had this feeling was in the Mountain God Temple. At that time, as an ordinary person, he relied on his desire to survive to hold on.
Otherwise, he would have been scared to death by the weirdness and horror in the Mountain God Temple.
And now, he had rediscovered that feeling that had been missing for a long time………
Zhang Yuanqing did not grab his weapon and rush out to fight the paper figure to the death. Instead, he took Undead No. 1 and ran quickly towards the bed, quietly hiding under the bed.
He pressed Undead No. 1's shoulder and entered Night Wander.
Night Wander could shield his aura and hide his figure. The paper figure should not be able to find him. Zhang Yuanqing planned to observe first and then consider whether to retreat or sneak attack.
As soon as the person and the corpse hid under the bed, the door of the main room was pushed open a crack. Then, a foot wearing a red embroidered shoe stepped over the threshold. Then came another foot wearing an embroidered shoe.
During this process, Zhang Yuanqing heard a faint "rustling" sound, which was the sound of paper rubbing.
It was the paper figure!
After the pair of feet wearing embroidered shoes stepped over the threshold, they stopped by the round table.
Standing there, it didn't move for a long time, like a real paper figure.
Zhang Yuanqing observed the paper figure and sensed a strong, deep Yin energy from it, far surpassing the Yin energy of the ghost doll.
He moved a few centimeters outwards, widening his field of vision, so that he could observe the entire appearance of the paper figure. Darkness could not affect the Night Wanderer's vision. He stared intently and saw the appearance of the paper figure. It was a paper figure wearing a bright red dress, like a bloody shadow in the darkness.
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Its face was smeared with white paper, which was eerily white. Its cheeks were smeared with blood-like bright red, and its lips were scarlet. The most terrifying thing was that there were two smears of scarlet in the eye sockets of the paper figure.
Pale white and bright red appeared on a sluggish and stiff face at the same time. Anyone who saw this face would panic.
…. Zhang Yuanqing silently retracted his head.
At this time, the paper figure, which had been standing still for a long time, walked towards the desk with strange steps. Its walking posture was very strange, as if its knee joints could not bend. It walked in a stiff goose step, and the distance of each step was the same, and the interval between steps was also the same.
Humans could never walk such accurate and regular steps.
From the round table to the desk, a distance of four or five meters, it took more than ten seconds, and finally stopped by the desk, its head drooping stiffly, as if it was looking at something on the table.
What was it looking at on the desk?! Zhang Yuanqing's heart trembled. He quickly recalled it and confirmed that he had restored everything to its original position, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
The paper figure stayed by the desk for a moment, turned its knee joints stiffly, and walked towards the bed.
…. Zhang Yuanqing's relaxed spirit tensed up again.
"Rustle…." The paper figure was very light, and its footsteps were also very light.
Zhang Yuanqing stared at the embroidered shoes, watching it move closer step by step in a stiff goose step, and finally stopped by the bed.
Although he was in a Night Wander state, Zhang Yuanqing still held his breath.
After the paper figure came to the bed, it began a long period of standing still again. At this time, Zhang Yuanqing only had half a minute left of Night Wander time.
At this time, the embroidered shoes were less than fifteen centimeters away from his face.
After a suffocating silence, the paper figure turned stiffly and walked out with light "rustling" steps.
Finally gone…. Zhang Yuanqing wanted to breathe a sigh of relief as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Suddenly, the paper figure stopped suddenly, its back facing the direction of the bed, motionless.
Zhang Yuanqing's field of vision was blocked by the edge of the bed, and he could only see the paper figure's calf, and he could not see the parts above it.
Why did it stop moving?
Zhang Yuanqing wondered in his heart, and he, who had always been paying attention to the paper figure, then saw a terrible scene.
The paper figure, with its back to him, slowly bent down, lowered its head, and looked under the bed from between its legs.
Zhang Yuanqing saw that pale face without the breath of a living person. The paper figure also saw him.