Chapter 74 Fengdu Ghost Banquet 19

"It's just asking you to help me and Concubine Sun collect the bodies, is it really necessary to look like you're about to die?"

Concubine Qian’s words stunned the three people present into silence, especially Concubine Ou, who usually had a good relationship with him; his face was contorted as if the word "conflicted" was written all over it.

"Let's go inside and talk," Xia Qi looked up at the sky, which had turned into a blood-red curtain, and reminded the other three.

Everyone nodded in agreement and retreated into a storeroom together.

After Xia Qi closed the door, Concubine Ou wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at Concubine Qian with a helpless expression: "Don't give up on yourself yet, maybe you can still get out."

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Now that Concubine Qian and Concubine Lin were enemies, Concubine Ou had already considered him one of his own.

Concubine Qian shook his head and gave a bitter laugh, "Ever since I ate a person, I knew I couldn’t leave..."

He had been too greedy and fell for the trap set by an experienced player.

Concubine Ou was taken aback for a moment, then fell silent. He had only learned about this later.

A hint of a helpless smile appeared at the corner of Concubine Qian’s mouth as he sighed softly, "Why did I have to be foolish, greedy, and selfish? Although I fell for their scheme, I don’t deserve sympathy. You don’t need to pity me."

Due to Concubine Qian’s shocking words, the atmosphere in the storeroom became strange. The three of them looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

Xia Qi frowned and decided to change the subject. He took the opportunity to ask Concubine Qian, "What do you mean by 'their scheme'? Could there be others with ulterior motives before Concubine Lin?"

Concubine Lin seemed to have arrived about a month ago. The complex palace intrigue rules in the Fengdu instance couldn’t have been established solely by Concubine Lin.

"You’re right. The rules of this instance were established by multiple super players," Concubine Qian glanced at Xia Qi approvingly.

"Super players?" This was the first time hearing this term, his sister was quite surprised.

Concubine Qian nodded and said calmly, "The Sin Game has three levels of players: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Among the advanced players, there is a group of outstanding individuals known as super players. Super players possess extremely strong gaming abilities; they can even establish and alter the rules of instances. Before Concubine Lin entered this instance, the rules within had already been largely established by super players."

"So... Concubine Lin came to this instance to inherit the work of the super players?" Xia Qi asked.

Impressed by how quickly Xia Qi grasped the key point, Concubine Qian nodded and said, "Yes, you can think of it that way. However, I believe this instance is more like a stronghold for Concubine Lin. After all, you all know his background is unfathomable."

"Then why... would he lower himself to come to this instance? What does he want?" Concubine Ou scratched his head. If Concubine Lin could command super players, he must also be a super player. "Is he here to play house with us?"

Hearing this, Concubine Qian secretly glanced at Xia Qi but quickly averted his gaze before Xia Qi could turn around.

In fact, Concubine Qian already had a guess, but he wasn’t brave enough to say it outright.

"Perhaps it’s to gain experience, or maybe there’s something or someone he needs or wants to see in this instance," Concubine Qian hinted, knowing Xia Qi was smart enough to understand what he meant.

Sure enough, Concubine Qian noticed Xia Qi’s expression become even more serious after hearing his words.

"Concubine Lin must be so bored," Concubine Ou snorted and shook his head.

In fact, he had been in the Fengdu instance for half a month and found that, apart from the numerous rules, the props were almost nonexistent, and he hadn’t found anything interesting. Instead, he was disgusted by the cannibalistic behavior of others and couldn’t sleep for several days.

Listening to Concubine Ou’s complaints about Concubine Lin, Xia Qi sneered inwardly.

Concubine Lin was not bored; he had specifically come to this palace intrigue instance to target him.

"Let’s rest for a while," Xia Qi said.

Just as he was about to sit down, he suddenly felt a strange "quack quack quack" sound coming from the window behind him. The sound was faint but made his skin crawl.

Relying on his instincts, Xia Qi turned his head and slightly shifted his body.

As soon as Xia Qi moved from his original position, a loud "boom" echoed in his ears. A pale hand pierced through the side window and appeared beside his face!

It was a man’s hand, well-maintained with unusually long fingers. The tips of the fingers were covered with sharp, red nails. Failing to hit its target, the hand frantically clawed around, then, after identifying its direction, it suddenly changed course and lunged at Xia Qi’s face again!

The tips of the nails glinted menacingly, looking like deadly weapons. If scratched by those claws, Xia Qi would likely be disfigured on the spot.

In a split second, Xia Qi leaned back, and another gunshot rang out. The hand was shot through, and the palm instantly turned charred.

"Brother Xia, are you okay!" His sister, seeing Xia Qi dodge the ghost’s attack, let out a sigh of relief and slowly lowered her gun.

"I’m fine." After steadying himself against the wall, Xia Qi was about to warn the others when, unexpectedly, a strange noise came from the window on the right.

Reacting quickly, he rolled to the ground. As soon as he rolled out of the window’s range, a series of loud bangs echoed behind him.

"Bang—!"

All the windows behind Xia Qi shattered and crashed to the ground in an instant!

Amidst the dust and splintered wood, Xia Qi pushed aside the debris, coughing as he crawled out. He looked up to find the faces of the other three people filled with fear, especially Concubine Ou, who was trembling and pointing behind Xia Qi, shouting, "Oh my God! It’s a ghost!"

Ghosts?

Hadn’t they seen enough ghosts already?

Xia Qi was puzzled and, defying superstition, turned his head. When he saw the crowd of ghosts behind him, even he was momentarily stunned.

Behind them stood countless male and female ghosts of all ages. Unlike their human-like appearances at night, these ghosts truly resembled the decayed creatures from the well. Their faces were rotting, with thin layers of skin clinging to their faces like tofu skin.

These ghosts had no eyes, their expressions hollow like bottomless pits. However, the most terrifying thing was not their appearance but their twisted expressions. They bared their teeth and grimaced, looking both horrifying and terrifying.

"Aaaaah!" Seeing the ghosts raise their arms and rush towards them, Concubine Ou turned and ran in terror.

The four of them rushed out through the back door. After leaving the room, Xia Qi turned to look behind the ghosts and saw new ghosts continuously crawling out of the Swallow Thief Well.

The ghosts climbed nimbly, their faces filled with fear, and they kept shouting, "I’m so scared," looking bizarrely eerie. It was unclear whether it was humans scaring the ghosts or vice versa.

However, Xia Qi recalled that among the seven souls of a human, the fourth soul is called the Swallow Thief, typically representing the emotion of "fear." The Swallow Thief Well is an energy point within the instance, and the ghosts emerging from it showing fear naturally fit the instance’s design.

"Don’t chase us, aaaaah!" Despite their fearful expressions, the ghosts’ actions were not timid. Concubine Ou, who had slowed down a bit, was caught by Zhao Fei, who had just been thrown into the well, tearing his shirt at the back.

The four of them fled madly, once again leaping over the walls of Shou'an Palace.

However, before they could steady themselves, they found that the outside was also in chaos.

As soon as Concubine Ou landed, she saw the deceased Concubine Wu rushing towards her like the wind, with a face full of alluring and passionate expressions.

If Concubine Wu hadn't opened her mouth filled with sharp teeth, Concubine Ou might have thought she was expressing dissatisfaction with her desires.

The well where Concubine Wu's body lay was the seventh soul of humans, known as the Stinking Lung, representing human "desire."

"Ah! You've got the wrong person!" Concubine Ou trembled all over and ran directly towards Concubine Qian.

Concubine Qian pushed her shoulder, clearly annoyed, and said, "Why are you running to me?"

"She's your woman; you should take responsibility!" Concubine Ou grabbed Concubine Qian's sleeve and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

"I only take responsibility for women, not for female ghosts," Concubine Qian said, though her hands wielded the clothesline lightly, gently batting away Concubine Wu's attacking hand.

"Quick, don't tangle with her!" Concubine Qian, who really didn't want to fight Concubine Wu, urged the three to leave quickly.

Finally, they left the range of the Stinking Lung Well's attacks, and the four felt as if they had come back to life.

"Roar!"

They hadn't rested for more than ten seconds when another exaggerated howl came from behind. Xia Qi wiped the sweat from his forehead and started sprinting down the palace path again.

Chased by a group of ghosts and monsters, after half a day, Xia Qi felt his strength was nearly depleted. He turned to look at his sister and saw that the little girl's face had turned red from running.

Xia Qi led the three around a palace wall and found that behind it was another group of palace maids with blood streaming from their eyes, trembling as they lunged at them, like a group of pitiful girls seeking hugs.

At the sudden sight of so many girls bleeding from the seven orifices, Concubine Ou almost fell to the ground. After steadying himself, he cursed, "Damn! Why are there so many ghosts? What will the Ghost Festival be like? The Ghost Emperor is still planning a night banquet; perhaps only ghosts will accompany him and perform for him..."

Xia Qi ignored Concubine Ou's complaints and led the three to run in the opposite direction. As he ran, he looked around and noticed that more and more living people were running on the road, including an unlucky newcomer who stumbled and fell, being surrounded by a group of ghosts.

The fate of the surrounded newcomer was clearly not good. Before Xia Qi could reach the person, he smelled a nauseating stench of blood. The four had almost run a full circle around the outer part of the palace, barely managing to drink half a cup of water before being surrounded by ghosts again.

Finally, Xia Qi realized that the entire city of Fengdu had become a true ghost town, with almost no place safe to stand.

Seeing his sister about to collapse, Xia Qi gritted his teeth and said, "We can't keep running!"

If they continued, they would likely die of heart attacks before the ghosts even caught up.

"Then where can we go?" Concubine Ou was utterly despairing, his face contorted in misery, "How about we stay on the roof for a while?"

Just as he finished speaking, a female ghost's head suddenly fell from the eaves, landing with a thud on the ground.

Despite falling from a height, the head did not shatter but rolled to Concubine Ou's feet. Before he could react, the head flipped over and grinned at him, revealing a blood-red, tattered tongue.

"Ah! I can't take it anymore!" Concubine Ou kicked the female ghost's head away and jumped up, clinging to Concubine Qian.

Hearing Concubine Ou's screams, Xia Qi had a sudden idea and said, "Let's go to My Love Palace!"

"What? Are you looking for death?" Hearing Xia Qi's plan to go to My Love Palace, Concubine Ou was stunned.

My Love Palace was near the Imperial Garden. Now that the scenario had turned into a night of a hundred ghosts, the Ghost Emperor would certainly be affected.

Logically, the Ghost Emperor's condition was not optimistic and might even be more terrifying than the hundred ghosts.

"If you don't want to go, then just stay here," Xia Qi decided to try going to My Love Palace.

My Love Palace was a palace specifically built by the Ghost Emperor for his coronation.

Xia Qi believed that since the Ghost Emperor had carefully prepared this palace for him, he wouldn't allow other ghosts to destroy it casually.

"Let's go and see." His sister was already exhausted, supporting herself against the wall and taking a few steps forward.

Seeing his sister staggering, on the verge of falling, Xia Qi reached out and grabbed her sleeve, pulling her forward, "Come on, I'll pull you along."

With a destination in mind, this time they moved quickly, reaching the vicinity of My Love Palace in just ten minutes.

Sure enough, as Xia Qi had expected, the area outside My Love Palace was calm and peaceful, like a utopia.

The white jade palace, as pure as the moon palace, glowed softly in the night, and under the laurel trees by the steps, several white rabbits were nibbling on green leaves.

Seeing the tranquil My Love Palace, Concubine Ou was moved to tears.

"I'll go in first and check," Xia Qi stepped forward and slowly approached the grounds of My Love Palace.

Concubine Ou clung to Concubine Qian's arm, sweating profusely with tension.

He feared that after Xia Qi entered, the ghostified Ghost Emperor would suddenly appear and turn Xia Qi into fertilizer for the laurel trees.

"Thud, thud."

Xia Qi walked slowly, approaching the laurel tree. When the two little rabbits saw him, they hopped over and rubbed against his legs, as if they were old friends.

Xia Qi patted the rabbits' heads and then climbed the steps. At the entrance, he took a deep breath, raised his hands, pushed open the large doors, and entered the main hall of My Love Palace.

After a quick inspection of the hall, Xia Qi found it to be safe. He turned to the others outside and called, "It's fine, come in and rest."

Although Xia Qi felt the atmosphere inside My Love Palace was somewhat strange, he saw no immediate danger and decided to rest and recover his strength.

As for the Ghost Emperor, who was now nowhere to be found...

Listening to the eerie howls of the ghosts outside, Xia Qi clenched his fists, determined not to let him wait too long.