Translator: Cinder Translations
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"It's Shi Liaozhi..." Looking at Jiang Cheng and Xia Meng, the Fatty said, "Shi Liaozhi is already dead. He was killed and replaced by a ghost, so there's no need for a performance tonight."
Xia Meng and Jiang Cheng showed no surprise on their faces. It seemed they had already figured out the mystery.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Suddenly, the sound of knocking on the door startled the Fatty. He immediately turned to look at the door, where a figure was clearly outlined on the paper window.
The visitor was silent; he hadn't heard any footsteps.
The Fatty instinctively wanted to ask, "Who is it?"
But as soon as he opened his mouth, he swallowed his words. He could probably guess who—or what—was outside the door.
It was a ghost.
A ghost disguised as Shi Liaozhi.
After being shaken off by Xia Meng and the others, it had come back, haunting them like a lingering spirit.
It seemed the figure outside the door realized it had been exposed. It stood there mechanically, slowly lowering its hand from the door. Then, a strange voice sounded.
"Respected doctors," the figure outside the door remained motionless, "Tonight, the young master requests you to perform a play he has long desired. We hope you will honor us with your presence."
Hearing this, Xia Meng's expression froze, and the Fatty was also stunned. This wasn't Shi Liaozhi's voice—it was the middle-aged woman!
There would be a performance tonight!
Not long after the middle-aged woman left, the others returned one after another.
Shi Liaozhi was the last to return. After entering the room, he glared at everyone with a look of suppressed anger.
Presumably, he had figured out why everyone was treating him this way.
But in the end, he didn't say anything. He found a spot and sat down, his face extremely grim.
Everyone who was still breathing was now in Jiang Cheng's room, as arranged by the middle-aged woman. They needed to wait here until the third watch of the night.
Then, some of them would go out to perform.
The others would stay in the room and wait.
This time, the personnel arrangement was very specific: An Xuan, Xia Meng, the Fatty, and Chen Qiang would go out to perform, while the remaining four would stay in the room.
"Why is the arrangement like this?" You Qi looked very uneasy. He licked his lips, glanced around, and said, "Do we really not have to do anything? Just waiting here counts as completing the task?"
According to his understanding, there were no such freebies in nightmares.
"Could it be that ghosts might appear during the handover?" After a moment of thought, Chen Qiang quietly offered his opinion. He looked up, "I mean, could the ghosts disguise themselves as members of the other team and try to deceive us?"
Zuo Jing glanced at him and asked, "Like the first time?"
"Exactly."
In the first performance, Tang Shirou was carried away by ghosts disguised as members of the other team. She probably didn't even realize what was happening until her death.
The Fatty was extremely nervous about being separated from the doctor. His large body was curled up in a chair, his eyes darting around in fear until his gaze met Xia Meng's.
Xia Meng raised an eyebrow, then moved her lips without making a sound. The Fatty understood what she was saying: "Don't be afraid." Xia Meng narrowed her eyes, and the next sentence was, "I'll take good care of you."
This made the Fatty tremble even more.
In fact, being separated from the doctor was only one reason for his fear. A large part of it was due to the strangeness of tonight's performance at the third watch.
The performance was called—Fishing for the Bride.
According to the middle-aged woman, the four selected individuals would need to split into two boats. The first group of two would descend to the bottom of the lake, where the bride was waiting for them underwater.
Their task was to find the bride underwater, bring her to the surface, and then hand her over to the other two, who would take her to shore by boat.
Finally, all four would work together to bring the "bride" back to Jiang Cheng's room.
After that, the task would be considered complete.
This wasn't about fishing for a bride—it was clearly about fishing for the corpse of a female ghost!
When the Fatty heard this, his jaw nearly dropped.
Just imagining himself diving into the water in the middle of the night, groping around in the dark, icy lake, and then suddenly seeing a rotting, swollen ghostly face...
He felt like he would die of fright on the spot.
Compared to the Fatty, Chen Qiang's emotions were slightly more stable, but only slightly.
His clenched fingers and the slightly pale knuckles due to poor blood circulation showed that this young man wasn't as calm as he appeared.
"Mr. Wang," An Xuan, seeing how terrified the Fatty was, tried to comfort him, "Miss Chen and I will keep an eye out for you on the boat. If anything happens, we'll pull you up immediately."
"Thank you, Mr. An," Chen Qiang replied on behalf of the Fatty.
To ensure the success of tonight's operation, at An Xuan's suggestion, everyone delved deeper into the known details of the task.
The final conclusion was that no one—whether they were participating in the retrieval, escorting the "bride" back, or waiting in the room—would be absolutely safe.
The ghost could strike at any moment during any part of the process.
As the sky gradually darkened, after some discussion, everyone busied themselves with resting to prepare for the possible events of the night.
The Fatty, taking advantage of no one paying attention to him, quietly moved closer to Jiang Cheng. Just as he was about to lament with a sorrowful expression, Jiang Cheng mercilessly cut him off.
"Stay alert when you're underwater," Jiang Cheng said casually.
"Doctor," the Fatty said with a bitter face, "You don't need to tell me that. I wish I could grow hearts all over my body right now."
But as soon as he finished speaking, the Fatty seemed to imagine something, feeling that the idea of having hearts all over his body was even more terrifying than encountering a ghost.
"I'm not talking about ghosts," Jiang Cheng said impatiently, raising an eyebrow. "I'm talking about paying attention to the person diving with you."
"You mean Chen Qiang?" The Fatty's eyes widened.
He swallowed hard, glanced at Chen Qiang's position—the latter was sitting in a corner with his eyes closed, resting—and then turned back to ask, his voice trembling, "Do you think he has a problem?"
Diving into the cold, dark lake with someone the doctor thought was suspicious... The Fatty's throat tightened. He felt like this time, things were really not looking good.
Just by looking at the Fatty's expression, Jiang Cheng knew he had misunderstood. He sighed and explained patiently, "He's fine now, but after you come out of the water," he paused, "it's hard to say."
Hearing this, the Fatty was stunned. Then, his gaze at the doctor changed, "Are you saying the ghost will kill him underwater, disguise itself as him, and come out with me?"
"Why wouldn't the ghost choose to attack me instead?" The Fatty blinked.
After all, he felt that Chen Qiang wasn't bad either. It seemed more likely that the ghost would have a higher chance of success targeting him.
Looking into the Fatty's eyes, Jiang Cheng patted his shoulder reassuringly, "That's a great question, Fatty!" In the next second, he stretched his neck and continued in a low but rhythmic tone, "Chen Qiang is thinking the same thing!"
(End of the Chapter)
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