The water vapour outside the house was too heavy. His clothes stuck to his skin and it felt very uncomfortable. Xiao Li liked rainy days to some extent but he liked to sit in his room and listen to the rain outside, rather than make himself wet like he just came out of a sauna.
Xiao Li turned back to the room where the reincarnators were questioning the girl in the flower skirt. They were unable to speak and had to write it down to show the girl. [Who are you? How did you get here?]
[We have also suffered the same thing and might be able to help each other.]
However, this approach lacked stimulation and failed to make the frightened plot character react.
Park Soojin grabbed the girl"s hand and used her body to block Luo Junchao"s body. She tried to comfort the girl with body movements but it still didn"t help. The girl obviously had a mental breakdown and couldn"t communicate properly.
Xiao Li picked up the scattered pages on the ground and looked at the girl. It was unknown what she had seen but her entire body had lost the ability to react and there were tears in her eyes.
Xiao Li touched her head.
Shimizu, who came in with him, wrote: [The scream was made by her and she also violated the taboo. Judging by the time Luo Junchao took to lose his voice, she should"ve also lost her voice. We just don"t know when the next ghost attack will come.]
Lance wanted to pull the girl up but the other person was motionless. In desperation, he had to pull a badge out of his sleeves. The exorcist from the West held the badge in his hand and made a circle around the girl.
A faint golden glow spilled from the badge and was incorporated into the circle that Lance had drawn. Once Lance finished everything, he picked up his pen and explained: [I drew an exorcism array around her. If a ghost appears then I can sense—]
Before he finished writing, the girl suddenly stood up. The reincarnators reacted very quickly and took a step back. Xiao Li looked around but didn"t see any signs of a ghost. The girl seemed to see something. She took two steps and soon stopped at the window.
The window was the one that Xiao Li previously used to see the old man. The girl looked straight out the window and suddenly lowered her head. She let out a low sob from her throat. The girl had a beautiful pair of nails that seemed to be freshly done. They were inlaid with sparkling rhinestones but at this moment, they became a sharp weapon aiming for her life. She scratched her face and after tearing at her face, she fell to the ground, just like Luo Junchao before her.
All this happened so fast that the reincarnators in the room couldn"t react. The exorcism array hadn"t worked.
I…Illusion?
Xiao Li crouched down to examine the young girl"s body. The doll in his pocket scratched at his hand with her hair, indicating that she hadn"t sensed a ghost. Lance looked unsightly as he folded his arms around his chest before subconsciously touching his throat. He stood in front of the plot character but couldn"t resist at all. Did this mean that if he broke the taboo, he would die without fighting?
In the oppressive silence, Xiao Li stood up. He looked out the window again. The outside contained wind, rain and the shadow of the tree but there were no ghosts. The fear of the unknown was always more terrible than the known.
Shimizu silently let out a breath, smiled reluctantly and wrote: [There are no clues. We can only try not to break the taboo.]
The reincarnators also understood this truth. Now the rain outside was getting bigger and bigger and they were forced to find a room to sleep first. They would wait until tomorrow to explore during the day.
At the room selection, Park Sookin unexpectedly took the initiative to talk to Xiao Li. She handed Xiao Li a piece of paper that said: [Do you want to share a room with me? Two people are safer.]
Lance witnessed this scene and whistled silently.
Xiao Li was startled. He put his hands in front of his chest and made an "X" gesture. [Sorry, I"m used to being alone.]
Park Soojin didn"t keep trying. She took back the note and didn"t look for someone else to team up with. Instead, she chose a room in the middle. Xiao Li stayed in the room that was closest to that window. The bed wasn"t soft and was a bit dirty. Xiao Li took off his coat and spread it over the bed. He reluctantly got into bed and listened to the rain outside as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
He had a dream. This time, he was awake in his dream. He felt someone touching his fingers. The man seemed to be sitting in front of him, clasping Xiao Li"s fingers and starting to ma.s.sage them from the knuckles.
The other side leaned down and asked him, "Are you comfortable?"
Xiao Li knew this was the voice of the human little yellow book but he didn"t answer. It was because he wrote too much today and his sore palms were gradually becoming softer under the little yellow book"s ma.s.sage. He became sleepier.
The man moved gently and his voice was also soft. "In the dream, you can talk. You don"t have to worry and can comfortably call out."
Xiao Li didn"t open his eyes as he repeated, "…Call out?"
It was perhaps because he hadn"t spoken for a day but in his dream, he spoke in a lower voice than usual, giving off a different type of s.e.xiness.
The other side gave a low laugh. "Or moan."
"I heard some people will moan loudly from a comfortable ma.s.sage."
Xiao Li, "………"
He didn"t know who would moan when ma.s.saged but he definitely wasn"t one of them. The man saw that he didn"t talk and was a bit disappointed, but didn"t force it. He stopped talking but the movement of his hands was still gentle.
Xiao Li"s consciousness couldn"t maintain its sobriety and he fell into a deeper dream.
The other person seemed to know that Xiao Li had fallen completely asleep. He pulled all the hair away from Xiao Li"s forehead to show his delicate eyes. For a moment, he thought it would be more rea.s.suring to see with his own eyes.
******
Night.
Xiao Li didn"t sleep for very long. Once the rain outside the window stopped, he opened his eyes. The room was very dark and the shadow of the trees outside the window was faint. At first glance, the atmosphere was terrible but no real ghosts had appeared.
Nevertheless, Xiao Li could feel the water vapour that woke him up directly, making the air more humid than before. Something had entered his room. He opened his eyes and didn"t turn on the flashlight at first. Instead, he turned quietly on the bed and faced the inside of the room.
Xiao Li"s eyes had adapted to the darkness. He squinted and observed the facilities in the room—the tables, windows, dresser, wardrobe…
There were no exceptions. Was that thing gone?
Xiao Li was about to take back his line of sight when out of the corner of his eye, he saw something by the bedside and quietly held his breath. There was a pair of wet footprints on the concrete floor, pointed towards him.
It was a strange pair of footprints. It didn"t match the size of a human feet. There were whiskers on both sides of the footprint and appeared larger by half the size of a normal footprint. There were only footprints coming in, showing that this thing hadn"t left yet.
Xiao Li"s hand slowly reached for the edge of the pillow. He picked up the little yellow book and mobile phone placed beside the pillow. Just as his hand touched these two things, a dark shadow flashed from the bottom of his bed. It pushed open the half-covered window and leapt out the window.
The movement of this thing was light and it didn"t make any sound at all. Xiao Li sat up straight, put on the coat and quickly came to the window to look into the distance. The rain had become smaller and now seemed to be a normal thunderstorm. The figure was moving further away but it wasn"t towards the town. It was towards the opposite sea.
Xiao Li turned on his flashlight and a light burst through the darkness, lighting up that distant back. It seemed to be a strange-shaped monster with hair on its back and a tail. It looked smaller and smaller as it moved away.
Xiao Li stood by the window and measured the rain. His finger tapped on the wooden sill of the window three times before he made a decision. Rather than chasing out the window, he chose to go around and move in a circle towards the sea.
In the dark corridor of the old house, Xiao Li had just come out of the room when he saw the shadows of the rest of the reincarnators. AK47 stood at the doorway and held a piece of paper and flashlight. It seemed like he was trying to insert the note into the crack of Xiao Li"s door.
AK47 wasn"t surprised to see Xiao Li opened the door and handed him a note. [Something came into my room.]
The veteran reincarnator slept with his clothes. Lance and AK47 were standing next to each other and added on the piece of paper: [I was worried about talking in my sleep and breaking the taboo, so I never went to sleep. Yet I suddenly found a row of footprints in my room. I immediately came out and woke up the others.]
Looking at the sequence, the monster first entered the innermost room where AK47 was staying and left his room for last since it was more convenient for escape.
Shimizu wrote: [This should be another type of creature belonging to the town residents and it is looking for something…]
The group of people held flashlights and wrote on paper to communicate with each other in this old house. This picture seemed a bit stranger than the appearance of monsters. Xiao Li looked around in a circle. Then he pulled out the little yellow book and wrote: [I saw the direction it escaped in. It ran to the seaside. I will go to the sea.]
He walked straight out. The rest of the reincarnators glanced at each other and in light of trusting the prophecy mirror, they followed behind Xiao Li. It was still raining outside but it was within the acceptable limits. He trotted in the direction the monster disappeared in and ended on the beach.
He circled the outskirts of the town and arrived by the sea. The sea was surging, wave after wave hitting the sh.o.r.e. Tonight"s sea wasn"t calm. The beach had absorbed too much rain and small puddles were acc.u.mulated. It was easy to step in water.
The monster had dived into the sea and was floating on the side. Thanks to Xiao Li"s good eyesight, he could see the monster"s sharp teeth grinning at him. Oh, the sea… who couldn"t enter?
Xiao Li took out the little yellow book and also smiled at the monster. He wrote a line on the little yellow book, closed it and waited for the miracle response. The sea breeze was still very strong, blowing thousands of waves. The beach was barely illuminated by the flashlight.
Shimizu hesitantly patted Xiao Li"s shoulder, wanting to persuade the other side to go back and make a plan. He hadn"t spoken yet when the next moment, a ship rose from the bottom of the sea. It was silent, the hull was worn out and the sails were rustling in the sea breeze. In the night, it was full of mystery and an ancient air.
It was a ghost ship.
Then a voice came from within the ghost ship. "The great Captain Sturt is in a good mood today and condescends to respond to your call. Little bug, you should feel honoured!"
Captain Sturt"s loud voice rang out in the quiet of the room. This made it linger and even vaguely echo…
Xiao Li, "………"
The ghost ship came to sh.o.r.e and automatically laid down its plank. Xiao Li went up.
Shimizu couldn"t tell what was going on right now. Xiao Li waved at him and he hesitated before getting on the ship. Compared to last time, the ghost ship was in better condition. There were no signs of corrosion at all.
Xiao Li touched the walls of the ghost ship and walked all the way to the captain"s room. The first thing he saw when he pushed open the door of the captain"s room was the steering wheel with the protruding face.
Captain Sturt spoke to him cheerfully, "Why are you so quiet today? Is it a great honour? Or are you ashamed to see Captain Sturt"s brilliance?"
Xiao Li"s mouth twitched and he wrote in the little yellow book: [You made a sound. Don"t you feel there is something wrong with this place?]
The face on the steering wheel said, "No, apart from being uncomfortable seeing you, I am happy physically and mentally."
Xiao Li: […That"s good.]
"Your words are still so unclear." The face gestured to the wine gla.s.s on the side. "Quickly, give me a drink. I am thirsty."
Xiao Li raised the gla.s.s. This time, he didn"t drop it on the face but poured a few drops of wine into Captain Sturt"s mouth. Captain Sturt drank it with satisfaction. "What are you looking for me for? I can only stay for a while. By the way, who are these small bugs next to you?"
The others who witnessed the entire process, "……"
They also wanted to ask, "Who is this talking face?!"
Shouldn"t they go after arriving at the beach and finding the monster had entered the sea? What exactly was unfolding right now?!
The author has something to say:
Shimizu who went back and shared the experience with other reincarnators: Follow Sherlock and you can even board a ghost side on the edge of the town.