Chapter 112 - Snow Pear Flavored Dead Gong (11)
Translated by Hua Li ^_~
“Don’t come over!”
After a miserable scream from Mao Xiaoliu, only the desperate struggling cries were left, as if something had grabbed her throat and covered her mouth.
The self-proclaimed bravest photographer tightly gripped Sun Zhuozhuo’s hand, frightening him into a scream as well. The photographer awkwardly released Sun Zhuozhuo, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and asked, “Should we… still go up?”
Sun Zhuozhuo, sensing the photographer’s underlying anxiety, tried to rea.s.sure him, saying, “I have an amulet with me; we should be fine. Let’s go up and check if it’s Director Mao. Maybe she’s just playing a prank to scare us. Haha.”
The photographer, no longer confident in his previous judgment, couldn’t retract his words in front of so many girls. Reluctantly, he advised Su Su not to follow them too closely.
As they took a couple of steps, suddenly, footsteps banged from upstairs, and a figure rushed out from around the corner of the wooden staircase – it was the club’s director!
With tears streaming down her face, Mao Xiaoliu, in shock, exclaimed, “There are ghosts! Run, everyone!!”
Sun Zhuozhuo shouted, “Director Mao, come over here! I have a protective – quickly, get away!”
Everyone witnessed a cheongsam-wearing female ghost, with long black hair and chaotic clothing, grabbing Mao Xiaoliu from behind as she ran towards them!
Mao Xiaoliu turned her head, screamed in horror, and then began violently convulsing, as if something was strangling her neck and covering her mouth.
In the hospital bed, Sun Zhuozhuo recalled this and shivered, pulling the blanket up to his chin.
After taking a sip of hot water to calm himself, he continued, “Director Mao was possessed. Her expression was particularly eerie as she walked towards us. I can’t describe that kind of gaze, but she definitely wanted to kill us. The photographer, still unwilling to accept the reality, said it was too much for Mao Xiaoliu to scare us like that. Then, Mao Xiaoliu, or rather, the ghost, focused on the photographer. Her face turned unusually pale, and black veins covered her face. If it weren’t for me gaining some experience with Qining, I might have been scared to my knees right there. She asked the photographer…”
“Am I beautiful?”
The female ghost asked the photographer with great charm.
Seeing him not answering, the ghost immediately became angry, and black energy emanated from her. Without any movement, the photographer was sucked towards her, and she bit into his neck.
The photographer’s eyes rolled back, whether from being injured or scared, and he collapsed on the spot.
The girls screamed, and the ghost, seemingly uninterested in the girls, only focused on Sun Zhuozhuo and two other male cosplayers from the club.
She asked again, “Am I beautiful?”
The two cosplayers, scared, hid behind Sun Zhuozhuo, who reluctantly answered, “Beautiful, big sister, you are stunningly beautiful.”
The ghost smiled, “You young man, you speak interestingly.”
She raised her hand, and Sun Zhuozhuo felt a force pulling him towards her, as if he was uncontrollably rushing towards the ghost! Just as the ghost was about to bite his neck, a golden light emanated from Sun Zhuozhuo!
The ghost screamed in pain and hastily retreated from Mao Xiaoliu.
Sun Zhuozhuo instinctively caught Mao Xiaoliu, and then hurriedly called the two terrified male cosplayers to help drag the photographer back.
Seeing that the protective amulet worked, Sun Zhuozhuo felt relieved. He boldly showed the sweaty hundred yuan bill and loudly exclaimed, “We’re not afraid of you! Be sensible and let us go! My friend is a powerful master, and if he comes, he’ll deal with you effortlessly! If you don’t trouble us, we won’t trouble you!”
The ghost laughed sinisterly, suddenly appearing in front of Sun Zhuozhuo. She asked him, “Am I beautiful?”
Sun Zhuozhuo screamed, and instinctively threw the protective amulet at the ghost.
The hundred yuan bill collided with the ghost, and it suddenly burst into flames, burning the ghost.
The ghost screamed in agony, and the surrounding light bulbs began flickering again. It seemed that without the ghost’s mischief, the electrical circuit was returning to normal.
Then, the ghost burned into thin air, disappearing. The light bulbs returned to their normal brightness.
Everyone sighed in relief, urging each other to leave, leaving behind the equipment and phones on the ground without daring to pick them up.
One courageous girl said, “Did anyone notice that what just happened was exactly like the ghost story the female protagonist tells the male protagonist in ‘Ancient Mansion Tales’? Is it real? Could it be someone just playing a prank on us?”
Sun Zhuozhuo said, “Stop discussing this stuff. Let’s leave this place first and then talk!”
However, just as they reached the door, as Sun Zhuozhuo’s hand was about to touch the door, the lights suddenly went out again!
“Ah!”
The people in the club screamed, and only Su Su and Sun Zhuozhuo remained relatively calm.
Su Su comforted the frightened girl hugging herself, “Don’t scream. The ghost has been burned to death by Azhuo. Don’t scare yourself.”
“…The door still won’t open.”
Just as Sun Zhuozhuo finished speaking, a chilling laughter echoed again.
Sun Zhuozhuo felt a chill down his spine and turned around to see that the phones dropped on the ground were now extending b.l.o.o.d.y hands. The cheongsam-wearing female ghost, who had sung in the phones earlier, crawled out one after another. They all looked identical, and a total of fifteen ghosts emerged from the fifteen phones, gracefully walking towards the owners of the phones.
They began madly smashing the door, and some people, in a state of panic, ran away in confusion. Sun Zhuozhuo yelled at them not to run, but he couldn’t stop their frantic escape.
Due to his exposure to some Taoist knowledge through Gou Liang, Sun Zhuozhuo could only remember one phrase at this moment. He repeated it repeatedly, “In the face of an approaching enemy, all must arrange in advance, urgently as if executing an order!”
However, it had no effect.
Instead, he heard a familiar sinister laughter close to his ear. Turning around, to his horror, he saw that Mao Xiaoliu, who was piggybacking on him, had awakened at some point. She was smiling eerily, exactly like when she was possessed by the female ghost earlier.
“Ah!!!”
Sun Zhuozhuo screamed, attempting to throw Mao Xiaoliu off, but she held onto him tightly, opened her blood-drenched mouth, and was about to bite his neck!
“Qining, save me!!!”
Sun Zhuozhuo instinctively shouted, and suddenly, several hundred yuan bills ignited in the air, surrounding Sun Zhuozhuo.
The female ghost on his back detached again, but this time he dared not carry Mao Xiaoliu on his back. He immediately threw her to the ground…
“Qining, you don’t know how terrified I was yesterday.”
Sun Zhuozhuo, with tears and mucus, spoke emotionally. He had never experienced such a terrifying situation in his life. The incident with his cousin’s husband was not as directly impactful since he wasn’t the one involved. Faced with a real ghost, he had nearly lost his life, and the shock he experienced was beyond comparison.
“I kept calling your name, over and over again. I just knew you would save me. Qining, if it weren’t for you yesterday, I would have really been done for…”
Sun Zhuozhuo held Gou Liang’s hand, wanting to give him a hug.
Bi Xia pulled Gou Liang back into his arms, looked at Sun Zhuozhuo coldly, and said, “Do you want to die?”
Sun Zhuozhuo turned to grab Zhang Dashi‘s hand and shouted at Bi Xia discontentedly, “Is there no love left? Even in this state, what harm would a hug do!”
Bi Xia snorted, and Gou Liang playfully patted his lower back as a calming gesture, asking Sun Zhuozhuo, “What happened next?”
Sun Zhuozhuo took another sip of the hot water handed to him by his worried mother, wiped the sweat with the sleeve of his hospital gown, and said, “Later, those flames dispersed. I quickly told everyone to come back, and we hugged each other at the door. I had them all shout your name.”
Gou Liang: “…”
Sun Zhuozhuo, still feeling proud, added, “Fortunately, I was clever enough!”
“Qining, you’re really amazing. Those flames kept burning, and the ghosts didn’t dare to approach us until the clock rang again.”
“At nine o’clock, the lights came back on. This time the door finally opened, and we didn’t dare to take anything, just ran out. In that haunted place, there wasn’t a single car, and the street lights were flickering on and off. We were just focused on running for our lives, and it took a whole hour to reach the main street, where we saw people and cars. We quickly brought Director Mao and the photographer to the hospital. After that, I borrowed a phone to call you, but couldn’t get through, so I called my dad.”
After finishing, Sun Zhuozhuo took a long breath and said, “Qining, do you think our family is cursed or something? First, my cousin, and now me.”
This obviously wasn’t something Sun Zhuozhuo could figure out by himself. His parents immediately looked at Gou Liang.
Gou Liang glanced at Zhang Dashi, who shook his head, indicating that he hadn’t noticed anything wrong before. So Gou Liang said, “Don’t overestimate yourself. That ghost wasn’t targeting you; you were just an unfortunate bystander.”
“Ah? Then who was she targeting?”
Sun Zhuozhuo, who had thought of himself as the protagonist of last night, exclaimed in surprise.
Gou Liang remained silent and just asked, “What about the people who were with you yesterday? How are they?”
Father sun answered, “They’re in the two rooms next door. I told them not to leave to avoid any accidents. The doctor checked them and said they’re fine, just shocked. The photographer who was bitten and the girl who was possessed haven’t woken up since yesterday, but the doctor couldn’t find any medical issues.”
Gou Liang nodded, expressing understanding. The group then moved to the room where the two unconscious people were, bringing everyone else along.
Glancing at their faces, Gou Liang then looked at the two still unconscious people.
He recited, “Descending from the origin, true words manifest. Abandoning trouble can self-heal, indulging in labor can be a.s.sisted!”
Immediately afterward, he patted Mao Xiaoliu and the photographer on the top of their heads. Both convulsed, as if waking up from a nightmare, and suddenly opened their eyes, sitting up.
Everyone marveled at the scene, and Sun Zhuozhuo proudly said, “I told you my friend is amazing. Don’t worry; that ghost was nothing compared to Qining!”
Gou Liang gave him a side-eye, and Sun Zhuozhuo awkwardly closed his mouth.
Gou Liang comforted the still screaming Mao Xiaoliu and the photographer, saying, “Don’t be afraid; you’ve been saved. Now you’re in the hospital, and everyone is fine.”
The two looked around, seeing familiar club members, and finally calmed down.
Gou Liang pulled up a chair and sat down.
Bi Xia sat on the armrest and, with a disdainful glance at Mao Xiaoliu, whispered something into Gou Liang’s ear. Gou Liang, surprised, widened his eyes and looked at Bi Xia. Bi Xia looked back at him, showing displeasure at Gou Liang’s doubt.
Gou Liang smiled apologetically and tried to hold Bi Xia’s hand. Bi Xia, in response, gripped his hand, forgiving him for questioning his judgment.
Everyone watched their silent exchange, curious and probing.
With Bi Xia’s appearance, if this were any other occasion, these young people would have been lively by now. However, due to the lingering fear and not wanting to offend Gou Liang, they dared not speak up.
Gou Liang looked at Mao Xiaoliu and then at Su Su, asking, “According to Azhuo, the shooting location was chosen by Miss Su. Can you tell me how you happened to choose this rarely visited old mansion?”
As the words fell, Su Su felt the gaze of more than a dozen pairs of eyes on her. She nervously clenched her hands and said, “I have a friend who worked on the horror film crew released last year, and he recommended this place to me. They shot a movie there, and nothing happened. I don’t know why we encountered this…”
Gou Liang furrowed his brows, “Is that all?”
Seeing the defensive and rejecting looks from others, and noticing Su Su’s blushing eyes, Sun Zhuozhuo quickly defended her, “This happened, and it’s not something Su Su wanted. Qining…”
He looked at Gou Liang with a hint of pleading, hoping he would spare Su Su or speak a fair word for her.
Gou Liang ignored him and said straightforwardly, “Whom are you trying to defend? I don’t care if you’ve been deceived by someone, but because of your, or certain people among you, prank, last night almost cost the lives of more than a dozen people. If you think this price is not enough for you to reflect on yourselves and still insist on defending certain individuals, then I have nothing more to say.”
Su Su kept her head down, biting her lip and hesitating.
One of the girls in the club, Chen Xiaohuan, subconsciously glanced at Su Su and Mao Xiaoliu. She then met Gou Liang’s eyes, seemingly seeing through everything, and immediately lowered her head in shock.
Gou Liang asked Chen Xiaohuan, “Azhuo mentioned that someone mentioned your experience twice yesterday, similar to the scenes in ‘Ancient Mansion Tales.’ Is it you?”
Chen Xiaohuan nervously nodded.
Gou Liang took out his phone, searched for ‘Ancient Mansion Tales,’ calculated based on the author’s name and any content from the book, and then raised an eyebrow.
Interesting.
“I heard that Miss Su is a fan of this book, so she organized this event. What about you, Miss Mao?”
“Huh?”
Mao Xiaoliu was surprised that Gou Liang suddenly asked about her.
Gou Liang smirked and said, “Others may be forgiven, but Miss Mao, you still carry the mark of a female ghost. Wherever you go, she can find you, possessing you at any time or even consuming your soul, taking your place. You may not care about the safety of other people’s lives, but what about your own? Of course, if Miss Mao thinks that the person you’re defending is more important than your own life, then I suppose you don’t need me to solve the problem for you.”
Sun Zhuozhuo exclaimed, “Qining, what does that mean?”
Father Sun, thinking more comprehensively, immediately frowned and said, “If you know the situation, speak up. If you really knew something was wrong with that house and deliberately led my son and these innocent people to a haunted place, then it’s attempted murder, and I can report it to the police right now!”
The three girls’ faces changed, and Su Su finally spoke up, “I didn’t expect something like this to happen…”
It turned out that she met Chen Xiaohuan and Mao Xiaoliu online. They were all fans of ‘Ancient Mansion Tales’ in the same reader group.
Because the three of them are financially well off, they often give rewards to the author, and they are very active in the group and can chat easily, so even though they have never met, they are still familiar with each other.
Recently, the author held a lottery event, and the three of them coincidentally won. The author brought them into a discussion group, asking what peripheral gifts they wanted. They confessed that they wanted to recreate a few favorite scenes from the novel.
Mao Xiaoliu and Chen Xiaohuan, one being the director of a ‘cos’ club and the other a cosplayer, were familiar with this kind of operation. They quickly agreed with Su Su’s idea.
Su Su explained, “The address was recommended by the author. We visited once and found it a bit eerie. We checked and learned that a film crew had gone there to shoot a horror film, but we didn’t hear about any accidents.”
Feeling guilty and frightened, Mao Xiaoliu explained, “The night before yesterday, when we were discussing in the group, the author suggested that we play a prank. Because the electrical circuit in that place is not very stable, there would be some minor malfunctions around 8 o’clock, and we could take advantage of it to play a trick on our companions…”
Glancing at the others, Chen Xiaohuan whispered, “We really just thought it would be fun. We didn’t expect it to turn out like this.”
All three of them were horror novel enthusiasts and liked the ghost stories described in “Ancient Mansion Tales.” They were lively and playful, so the author’s suggestion perfectly suited their preferences.
Initially, everything went smoothly. To make the game more lively, Su Su even used a beauty trap to keep Sun Zhuozhuo, who initially wanted to leave early.
At 8 o’clock, the lights indeed began to flicker.
Mao Xiaoliu took advantage of everyone’s inattention, quietly took off her shoes, and sneaked upstairs. However, Mao Xiaoliu never expected that she would encounter a real ghost upstairs!
Mao Xiaoliu cried and said, “I didn’t expect that place to be really dangerous.”
The photographer, as a victim, angrily shouted, “That author must have a problem, deliberately misleading you! How can you be so stupid! Contact her now and see what she says!”
Su Su and Chen Xiaohuan looked at each other. “We contacted her yesterday, but the author usually only has time to go online between eight and nine in the evening. We’ll have to wait until tonight to see if she responds.”
Sun Zhuozhuo, now sensitive to this time period, rubbed his arms and said, “Why do I feel something’s not right?”
Gou Liang glanced at him and said, “According to my calculation, the author you mentioned died five years ago.”
“Impossible!” Su Su exclaimed. “Ancient Mansion Tales was published just a year ago! She was still talking to us the night before yesterday!”
Gou Liang chuckled when he heard this.
He said, “If a female ghost can crawl out of a phone, why can’t she talk to you?”