Chapter 47.3

Editor: Kat

Proofreader: Junyans

“What is this?!”

Miao Fangfei and others, who were anxiously guarding outside the house, saw a fireball fly out of the window. Zhao Hongtu almost shot it down with an arrow. The cowhide spread out and rolled on the ground like a living thing. After the flames were extinguished, the things wrapped in it were exposed.

“The leaving grandmother chickens?!”

Miao Fangfei’s heart chilled in an instant. Confused, she rushed to the window. Before she could pick up the chicken cage, she saw a man with dust all over his face stuck in the window frame, struggling to climb out. When he saw her coming, he eagerly exclaimed, “Leader Miao, pull me!”

“Lin Xi?!”

Miao Fangfei was surprised and happy, and quickly grabbed Lin Xi’s hand. Wang Pengpai also helped her pull Lin Xi out. Before they could look inside, another figure appeared by the window. Yu Hean was carrying Xu Chen, who was unconscious and covered in white paper.

“Leader Miao, Brother Wang, quickly look at Brother Xu!” Yu Hean said anxiously.

His body was soaked in sweat and blood and his face was pale. Obviously, he wasn’t in a good state as well. However, he still firmly clenched his teeth and sent Xu Chen out first, and then climbed out of the window with Hou Feihu’s help.

“Old Brother Yu, what’s the situation?” Zhao Hongtu asked anxiously.

He was helping Hou Feihu to support Yu Hean’s back. But at this time, he saw that his hands were cold and greasy, and Yu Hean, who was in pain, sucked in a breath of cold air. Zhao Hongtu saw that Yu Hean’s hands were bloody, and he had an inch-long hole on his back. The wound was still bleeding.

“Old Brother Yu!”

Even though they had expected that the second cry would be more difficult than the first cry, they hadn’t expected the second cry to be so difficult. Lin Xi was sapped of his strength, Xu Chen was unconscious, Yu Hean was seriously injured, and even the cowhide was burned black. Now, in addition to the injuries of the several tourists, the most important thing was whether the attraction had been completed or not!

Why were the leaving grandmother chickens sent out? Did Pingping not accept Ah Cheng’s leaving grandmother chicken? As for Xu Chen and the others, wouldn’t they be——

“We should get out of here first.”

Hou Feihu carried Yu Hean on his back with a grim look on his face while supporting Lin Xi, whose legs and feet were soft and unable to walk. They had caused a large commotion and many people from Cordoned-off Village had started to come over. The closer they got to Pingping’s house, their resemblance to paper figures became stronger. They had curved eyebrows and eyes, as if they were laughing. However, the appearance of these villagers only caused the tourists to feel a chill on their backs.

Miao Fangfei and the others had witnessed the fighting prowess of the paper figures. If they hesitated to leave now, they might be surrounded.

“Fine.”

Miao Fangfei could only agree and took Lin Xi from Hou Feihu’s grasp. Wang Pengpai picked up Xu Chen, who was unconscious, and the eight tourists retreated quickly. After retreating a sufficient distance so that they wouldn’t get surrounded by the paper men, Miao Fangfei turned and glanced back, full of unwillingness. The paper men were approaching rapidly, and Xu Chen and the others were injured too badly. Miao Fangfei and the others didn’t have time to pick up Yu Hean’s cowhide to see what had happened to the leaving grandmother chickens.

Miao Fangfei saw Ah Cheng holding the chicken cage as he stood by Pingping’s window. In the next moment, his figure was blocked by many paper figures.

“Ah Cheng is still there!”

Miao Fangfei was horrified and was about to turn around. Ah Cheng was very important. He must not die here!

“Leader Miao, don’t worry. Ah Cheng will be fine.”

Wang Pengpai, who knew that Ah Cheng was III-9, naturally understood that III-9 would be fine, but Miao Fangfei didn’t know that. She no longer trusted Wang Pengpai as much as she had before. After weighing the alternatives in her heart, she decided to go and see the situation by herself.

“Leader Miao, don’t worry. We, we should have successfully completed the second cry.”

Just then, Yu Hean, who was seriously injured and weak, said, “There’s something wrong with Brother Xu’s injuries. You, you should go and have a look at them.”

Miao Fangfei hesitated for a moment. At this moment, the flock of villagers surrounded Pingping’s house, forming circles upon circles of people. There was no chance to rush inside again. Moreover, the villagers from Cordoned-off Village kept surging to the house, and the looks in their eyes were shrouded with malice when they passed by. They dared not delay any longer and returned to the house assigned to Miao Fangfei and Shi Tao. Ah Sang and Ah Wen are already dead, so it was safe here for the time being.

Among Yu Hean and company, Xu Chen was the most heavily injured. He had a high fever, and his entire body was hot as he lay unconscious. It was as if his left arm had completely become paper paste, and a layer of dirty white paper was stuck behind him. Miao Fangfei tried to tear the white paper off of him, but when they ripped a corner of the white paper off, they realized that they were peeling off bloody flesh. It was as if the white paper had replaced Xu Chen’s original skin.

“This is incense paper. It is used to make paper mannequins.”

Yu Hean drank the hemostatic agent, propping his injured body up with a very unpleasant expression. “This paper is filled with Yin Energy. Everyone, don’t touch the paper.”

“What happened?” Miao Fangfei asked anxiously.

Although she was hurt, she didn’t place Xu Chen down. Instead, she propped him up so that he wasn’t lying on her wound and sat by the bed. Then, she rested Xu Chen on her knees and fed some water to the unconscious man. At the same time, she observed how he was faring.

The white paper had pasted itself on Xu Chen’s back and had even spread to his chest. When one looked at Xu Chen’s back, they would find that he appeared no different from those paper people. His ears were also covered with white paper. The gray-white scraps of  paper looked dirty and evil.

“We were trapped in that room.”

Yu Hean was not good at analyzing what had occurred so he simply told them what they had experienced. Even then, everyone was shocked after hearing about their dangerous predicament. Yu Hean told them that when Xu Chen had wanted to send the chicken cage out of the window, he had been caught by the paper figure. Afterwards, Yu Hean had accepted the chicken cage and burned the window paper after Lin Xi had prompted him to do so. Miao Fangfei exclaimed, “Lin Xi, how did you think of this idea?”

Lin Xi took a few sips of an energy drink before he finally calmed down. His body was still shaking intermittently. What had he been thinking? In fact, he hadn’t been thinking about anything. The gray and dirty paper on Xu Chen’s back had left him with heavy psychological trauma. When Lin Xi had looked at the window paper, he had instinctively felt that something was wrong. However, as luck would have it, his instincts were accurate. There really had been a problem with the window paper.

If he hadn’t stopped Yu Hean in time and the chicken cage had been wrapped in the window paper, he was afraid that the tourists would all have failed this attraction.

“In fact, I still don’t quite understand why I was supposed to send the leaving grandmother chicken out of the window,” Yu Hean stated, befuddled.

Xu Chen had instructed what he should do before he fell unconscious, so he had done what Xu Chen said. Now that Yu Hean had time to think about it, he felt that it was fortunate that Xu Chen had told them the key points. Otherwise, it was uncertain whether he and Lin Xi could have thought logically in the midst of the chaos.

“Pingping had asked Grandma, ‘How can I live a peaceful, beautiful, and happy life after getting married to a ghost?’ At that time, she had already thought of eloping with Ah Cheng.”

Based on Miao Fangfei’s understanding, she explained the situation, “She was still hesitating inwardly. In that era, if she eloped and was caught, she would be thrown into a pig cage and drowned. Moreover, Pingping also bore the brunt of her father’s expectations and the responsibility she felt towards the village. These responsibilities would have bound her like a chain. What’s more, Cordoned-off Village was in the depths of the vast mountains. After she had eloped with Ah Cheng, did she really want to live in the mountains as a forest dweller with him?”

“But Pingping should have noticed her father and the other villagers’ intentions, so she said, ‘After a chick leaves its mother, can it really live?’ Hence, your task is to prove to her that a chicks that leaves its mother can survive.”

“The chicks in the cage were small and weak, and outside the chicken cage was Ah Xiang, a dangerous Cordoned-off Village villager.”

Wang Pengpai added, “See, the process Pingping would have to go through if she eloped is similar to the process of you guys sending out the chicks. She would have to avoid the pursuit of the villagers and break through the shackles of the village. A completely sealed-off room may represent the village. It exists like an iron wall in her heart.”

“Brother Yu, you said that the door was locked and could not be opened. In fact, the seemingly fragile window paper hid how dangerous it was. It can be seen how perilous and difficult it is to elope in Pingping’s heart.”

“All of you finally burned the window paper under the pursuit of the paper figure Ah Xiang, and successfully sent the chicken cage out… to Ah Cheng. This meant that you were persuading Pingping to elope.”

“So that’s what happened.”

Yu Hean suddenly realized what had happened. However, Miao Fangfei was still frowning. She mused, “Now that the second cry is over, Ah Cheng and Pingping should be trapped in the house. There are countless paper men in Cordoned-off Village. Just as what Yu Hean did in the second cry, we have to bring Ah Cheng and Pingping with us and allow them to safely break through the siege of the villagers of Cordoned-off Village and send them out of Cordoned-off Village.”

“It should be done before 8 p.m.”

Zhao Hongtu stood up and said, “Leader Miao, Brother Wang, I want to visit the village head’s house again.”

If they didn’t find the marriage deed between Pingping and Ah Long and Ah Long’s flying fox statue, they could only passively wait for everything to unfold.

“Is this the marriage deed y-you’re talking about?”

Just then, Yu Hean suddenly opened his mouth. His hands were trembling as he took out a crumpled red paper and put it on the table.

“This, this is?!”

Miao Fangfei was stunned, and Zhao Hongtu swiftly grabbed the red paper. After hearing the prompt from the Travel Services [You have obtained the marriage deed between Pingping and Ah Long], he was surprised and gasped. “It’s really the marriage deed between Pingping and Ah Long! Where did you find it?”

“I got it after I pushed the chicken cage out.” Yu Hean whispered and rubbed the corners of his clothes. His little actions were noticed by Wang Pengpai. Wang Pengpai narrowed his eyes slightly and immediately fell into thought. The others didn’t notice that Yu Hean was acting differently, and happily gathered around the table to separately have a chance to touch the red paper to confirm that it was really the marriage deed.

“Phew, it’s a relief that we found the marriage deed.”

Zhao Hongtu breathed a sigh of relief and said, “I’m afraid that Ah Long has also become a spiteful ghost. When we burn the marriage deed, we won’t have to fear him chasing us when we help Pingping and Ah Cheng elope.”

Now that they had the marriage deed, they had more time to prepare to help Pingping and Ah Cheng elope. The presence of the marriage deed also relaxed the nerves of the anxious tourists and they began to discuss the next plan. Wang Pengpai was multitasking as he joined the discussion.

III-9 should have contacted Yu Hean during the second cry.

Wang Pengpai had expected that Ah Long’s flying fox statue and marriage deed were in III-9’s hands, but he couldn’t guess III-9’s intentions. Why did he take this opportunity to give Yu Hean the marriage deed and let him bring it out now?

Did he truly do this for the tour group to complete the attraction?

At present, the tour group had almost reached the final juncture of the scenic spot. The final attraction was difficult, but there were many key props available in their surroundings to reduce the difficulty of the attraction. As long as they found the marriage deed and burned it, Ah Long would not be able to contact Pingping, so he wouldn’t find out immediately when Pingping eloped. If they found out the secret that the village head of Cordoned-off Village had become a jiangshi in advance, they could be on guard against him. When they found the two statues of Ah Long, they could completely eliminate him.

Based on the average strength of their tour group, they had estimated that they would not even find the marriage deed. Furthermore, they had previously guessed that they would also be restrained by the crying marriage attraction. In the end, they had felt that it would be difficult to collect all the items they needed for Pingping and Ah Cheng to elope.

But now, with III-9 and Wang Pengpai, they had basically collected all the items!

Wang Pengpai didn’t believe that III-9 had handed over the marriage deed for the sake of the tour group. What were his true intentions?

“The Travel Services only started to reward us with props after experiencing the second cry. The tour is too difficult.”

Wang Pengpai heard Zhao Hongtu complain and an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.

He understood III-9’s intentions!

.

“In this way, they will think that the flying fox statue is also a reward after they completed the attraction.”

In Pingping’s boudoir, Wei Xun stood against the wall, covering his heart. His breathing was slightly intermittent.

Zhao Hongtu and Wang Pengpai had gone to the village head’s house to comb through it again, but they couldn’t find Ah Long’s flying fox statue or marriage deed. In this way, they would either think that these two things were still hidden in the village head’s house, or they would think these two things had been looted by Ah Cheng.

If Ah Cheng took these two things without telling the tourists, everyone would be instinctively wary and suspicious of him.

Wei Xun took this opportunity to talk to Yu Hean and handed over the marriage deed to him. He had done this to influence the tourists’ mindset and make them think that the marriage deed and the flying fox statue were “rewards” they could get after the completion of the attraction. It would temporarily slow down their pursuit of the flying fox statue and allow them to seriously prepare for the attraction.

It was absolutely impossible for Wei Xun to hand over the statue. After all, he was still parasitized by the flying fox in his body that was about to hatch. In addition, Pingping should have had a zombified flying fox king by her side at this time, but Wei Xun had never seen it from the beginning.

“Pingping, do you think it’s here?”

Wei Xun smiled and opened his pale and slender fingers. His index finger drew a circle and pointed to his heart.

His nails were black. At three o’clock in the morning, Wei Xun’s SAN Value had dropped by 10 again. Even though he had the identity of Ah Cheng in the scene re-enactment, the mutation caused by the falling SAN value had become more and more obvious.

This was especially true as the countdown to incubation decreased. As it decreased, his SAN value fell down even more rapidly!

The author has something to say:

Tomorrow, I’ll restore the extra chapter update, mua, mua! We have 70k nutrient solutions now. Wow, Little Angels are all so strong!

I’ll finish this tour the day after tomorrow, *finger hearts*~

Sob, sob, Little Angels must pay attention to your bodies! Thank you for all your concern. I’m drinking traditional Chinese medicine to recuperate. The taste of traditional Chinese medicine is very strange. It’s not bitter but it’s sour and sweet. However, it’s very nasty to drink [The medicine is such a meanie]

T/N: Please note that paper mannequins, paper dolls, paper people, paper man…etc are used interchangeably…