Chapter 64 Fengdu Ghost Banquet 9

Xia Qi and his sister watched somberly as the palace servants in the imperial kitchen divided up the buns among themselves. After they finished eating the buns, they began distributing them to the various palaces.

Not until the servants started leaving with their food boxes did the two of them climb down from the wall.

"We'll follow them back. If the maids give you a hard time later, at least you'll have an explanation," Xia Qi said, brushing off the dust on his clothes.

Although he desperately wanted to stay and search for more clues to determine how the three players ended up as buns, his sister's task was clearly more pressing.

His sister nodded solemnly. "Let's talk about it when we get back."

They first avoided the crowd and left the vicinity of the imperial kitchen. Once they reached a crowded palace path, they slowly made their way back.

Several servants carrying food boxes were walking ahead of Xia Qi, but he had no interest in talking to them. After all, he had just seen them eat the "buns," which was something he found hard to accept.

To lighten the mood, Xia Qi whispered, "What performance do you plan to prepare?"

Though there were still seven days until the Ghost Festival, the idea of being forced to perform was like a thorn in his throat.

He would rather face the old baron directly than perform in front of everyone.

Hearing Xia Qi mention the performance, his sister smiled. "Brother Xia, are you worried I'll make you dance?"

Xia Qi paused, then helplessly nodded.

"Haha, don't worry. We're just going to perform a play," his sister said with a grin. "I haven't figured out the script yet, but once I do, I'll let you know."

A play?

Relieved that his sister wasn't planning to make him sing and dance, Xia Qi sighed with relief.

Still, a play might involve singing and dancing...

Sure enough, his sister laughed again and continued, "I should warn you. If the plot reaches a climax, I might add some singing and dancing to enhance the experience, but not too much. Don't worry; I won't make you do anything difficult. How does that sound?"

Xia Qi hesitated for a moment before conceding with a nod. "Alright."

Just a little bit of singing and dancing... shouldn't be too bad, right?

As they chatted, they followed the servant delivering the food box to Shouju Palace. Seeing the direction she was heading, it seemed she was delivering food to Shouju Palace.

His sister approached her and asked, confirming that she was indeed delivering food to Shouju Palace.

"Let's hurry and get in before she does," Xia Qi raised an eyebrow, urging his sister forward.

His sister understood his intention and started running.

After reaching the entrance of Shouju Palace, panting slightly, they quickly composed themselves.

Suddenly, Xia Qi whispered something to his sister, who looked at him in surprise. "Sounds exciting, but... will it really work?"

"This is part of the system's rules. Since they can affect us, why can't we affect them? This is our chance. Do you want to try?" Xia Qi said seriously. "It's up to you. If you don't want to, we don't have to."

"Why not? Worst case, I'll just shoot the maid," his sister replied with a grim smile that didn't match her age.

In the Rose Baron's replica, her poor aim had allowed the Red Side woman to escape, a regret she still harbored.

Now that the Fengdu replica had entered kill mode, if not for the maid being Concubine Lin's confidant, she would have already put a bullet in her head to keep Margaret company.

"Let's go. I'll try it inside," his sister stepped over the threshold first. Once inside the courtyard of Shouju Palace, she wiped her face and transformed into her pitiful, innocent appearance.

Seeing his sister's sudden change in demeanor, Xia Qi frowned.

Why did she remind him so much of the Sea King disguised as a young girl in the Blue Sea Pearl replica?

No, it was the other way around—the Sea King's disguise resembled his sister...

Before Xia Qi could think further, his sister started sobbing as she walked toward the main hall, crying, "Brother Xia, I couldn't get lunch. What should I do? Waaah..."

She looked even more pitiful when crying, and this method had previously fooled both Cha Gong and the Red Side woman.

The maid soon emerged from next door, surprised to see them standing unharmed at the gate.

However, upon seeing his sister's tear-streaked face, the maid's eyes gleamed with malice.

With a smug expression, she yelled at his sister, "Useless servant! You couldn't even bring back lunch. What use are you to the lady?!"

"Waaah... I didn't mean to... I searched for a long time but couldn't find the imperial kitchen," his sister wiped her tears, her eyes welling up with large drops of tears, making her look even more pitiful.

"Hmph!" The maid's smile widened, her eyes glinting with greed. "Do you admit your mistake? If you confess, I'll spare you this time."

"Really?" His sister looked up, her face filled with surprise.

"Yes." The maid looked at her eagerly, her greedy gaze barely concealed.

"Okay... I... I made a mistake..." His sister stumbled over her words, frowning tightly and turning to the maid, stammering, "What mistake did I make... Can you guide me?"

"How useless you are!" The maid had been waiting for his sister to confess, but her clumsiness infuriated her.

How could such a new player be so stupid?

"Ah, what mistake did I make? Was it not getting the food or not finding the way?" Seeing the maid's frustration, his sister continued pitifully.

"You... stupid..." Frustrated by his sister's dragging, the maid almost cursed, pointing at her and blurting out, "You failed to complete your assigned task. That's your crime!"

"Ding! Evidence processing..."

"She has no crime!" Hearing the system's announcement, Xia Qi suddenly stepped behind his sister and shouted at the maid.

After Xia Qi's shout, the system's ding sound stopped.

Meanwhile, the younger sister put away her crying expression, her eyes flashing with triumph.

"Please continue to submit evidence as both parties have their testimonies..."

Hearing the system's message, Xia Qi wore a thoughtful expression.

So that was it; he understood.

"What? You're not admitting guilt?" The maid immediately flew into a rage, her right hand trembling as she pointed at Xia Qi, momentarily unable to speak coherently. "Are you trying to rebel?"

Originally, the maid had been waiting for the younger sister to confess and then send her to the laborers' quarters, but she never expected her to refuse to admit guilt!

And there was also the audacious attendant, Xia Qi, who dared to interrupt the system's broadcast... It seemed the palace was about to be turned upside down by them!

Xia Qi smiled faintly and said, "Don't worry, let's go through this step by step. Initially, you assigned her the task of fetching lunch from the imperial kitchen for Shouju Palace, correct?"

Seeing that Xia Qi was serious, the maid sneered, stubbornly refusing to answer, "Why should I answer your questions?"

She always preferred to take the offensive, accusing others first, so how could she possibly answer Xia Qi's questions?

Seeing the maid's silence, Xia Qi continued, "Even if you don't answer, the system should be able to retrieve the footage. Alright, let's continue our confrontation."

On the matter of assigning the task, even if the maid didn't answer, Xia Qi wasn't worried. This evil game was a massive database that recorded all their actions and items; couldn't it find out what the maid had said before?

"What exactly are you trying to say?" The maid's face turned cold, but inside, she felt a growing panic.

The maid thought, hadn't they gotten lost? Why did she feel like they knew something...

"Afterward, we arrived at the imperial kitchen and found out that there was no need for us to fetch lunch." Xia Qi's lips curled, and he suddenly turned around, pointing at the entrance of Shouju Palace. At that moment, a palace maid from the imperial kitchen arrived with lunch.

"Oh, Sister Ju, why did you come out personally?" The palace maid from the imperial kitchen, having been given a bun as a reward, was particularly courteous.

The maid looked back and forth between Xia Qi and the palace maid, her anger flaring. "You two are conspiring against me..."

Xia Qi ignored her and continued, "The imperial kitchen already delivers lunch to Shouju Palace, yet you abused your authority and assigned a false task!"

"You, you, you are slandering me!" The maid was shocked and took several steps back. In her panic, she accidentally stepped on the stairs behind her and fell to the ground.

"Broadcast: First-class palace maid Liu Ju has abused her authority once and is demoted to ninth-class."

"No—!!!" Hearing the system's judgment, the maid collapsed in fear.

Seeing the maid lying there like a dried fish, Xia Qi showed no mercy and continued, "You induced a subordinate to take the blame for a fabricated crime. What punishment do you think you deserve?"

"Don't, please stop, stop..." The maid screamed and suddenly jumped up, falling at Xia Qi's feet, grabbing his legs tightly, and sobbing uncontrollably. "Please spare me, spare me."

Spare her?

When he entered the instance and was appointed, the maid tried to disqualify him using the offense of offending a concubine. Judging from her skilled operations, she must have killed many players before.

For such a maid who climbed to her position over the corpses of others, Xia Qi felt no sympathy.

Listening to the maid's pitiful pleas, Xia Qi did not look down but gritted his teeth and continued, "You bullied others and treated me, a court lady, as a servant, issuing me this uniform. Is this the hierarchy and rules you claim to uphold in this palace?"

"Broadcast: Ninth-class palace maid Liu Ju has abused her authority twice and can be eliminated."

"Ahh!" Hearing that she could be eliminated, the maid screamed and fainted.

As she fainted, she heard Xia Qi say quietly, "This is all your doing. If you hadn't harmed others, who could have harmed you?"

After the maid was thoroughly defeated, Xia Qi heard the system announce to him alone.

"Instance experience +99"

Huh, defeating someone could increase experience points?

Even more bizarrely, after gaining experience points, his available points increased as well.

Xia Qi thought about this while gently pulling his leg free.

Just as he steadied himself, he felt many gazes on his back. Turning around, he saw a crowd gathered at the entrance of Shouju Palace, watching the commotion.

Among the crowd were three concubines. Apart from Concubine Ou, the other two looked shocked and fearful, as if they had seen something terrible.

There were also several players dressed as palace maids, peeking curiously, some looking at him with admiration, as if seeing a guiding star.

One player maid couldn't help but mutter, "Heavens... So this game allows challenging high-ranking concubines. I thought the system was fundamentally unequal."

"Haha, we've been oppressed by them for so long. Several of my sisters died."

"That's right, we can't sit idly by anymore."

Perhaps it was because Xia Qi taking down a high-ranking maid was so shocking, the maids chattered excitedly. Suddenly, someone raised their hand and shouted, "Attendant Xia! We support you. Lead us to overthrow this oppressive rule!"

As soon as this person spoke, Concubine Lin and Concubine Wu led a group rushing out of the hall. Concubine Lin's face was grim, and she suddenly yelled, "How dare you!"

The author has this to say: Last time, I made a mistake. There are 7 days left until the Mid-Autumn Festival performance, not 3.

Also, I forgot to add the victory rewards last time. Winning the performance will allow the Ghost Emperor to grant one request. I just went back and fixed it, so those who have read it don't need to revisit it.