Chapter 174: [Transplantation] Darkness Descends
Bai Cha returned to the courtyard carrying the lantern in her hand.
She gave the lantern a light shake.
“Come out, I have candy for you.”
A face materialized on the surface of the lantern.
It was the face of a young child, staring at Bai Cha with a pair of venomous, resentful eyes.
“Liar!” A sharp, piercing voice echoed from within the lantern.
Bai Cha tossed the lollipop directly inside the lantern.
“See? I’m not lying to you this time.”
The lantern wobbled slightly as the silhouette of a young boy gradually surfaced beside it.
He wore a small red Tang suit, his pale face painted with bright red blush and a cinnabar dot resting right between his brows—identical to his previous appearance as a Golden Boy.
He gave the lollipop a quick lick.
Confirming it was real candy, he finally cast a satisfied glance toward Bai Cha.
Bai Cha offered him a beaming smile, handing the lantern over to him.
“There are plenty of other kids outside playing with lanterns. Don’t you want to go play with them?”
The boy’s eyes rolled slightly. Taking the lantern, he bolted straight outside.
No point in letting a chance to play go to waste; being stuffed inside a inventory space day after day had almost bored him to death.
Bai Cha watched his departing back, turning around to find Wen Xing looking at her with a peculiar expression.
Bai Cha flashed her a sweet, innocent smile.
Wen Xing: “…”
Bai Cha hadn’t planned on endlessly putting on a delicate, cute act in front of Wen Xing anyway. If they were truly going to become friends in the future, acting like that forever was an impossibility.
Truth be told, teasing Wen Xing was simply entertaining, which was why she had gotten so carried away with it earlier.
Wen Xing didn’t say anything either.
She had felt all along that Bai Cha was putting on an act, and now she had confirmed that she was indeed putting on a show… Because surely no one was naive enough to maintain such an attitude toward a terrifying ghost child, right?
Most importantly, when the kid called her a liar, she hadn’t denied it in the slightest.
In short, having confirmed it was a facade, Wen Xing relaxed a bit instead.
It was better than dealing with a genuinely helpless, naive, sweet girl.
Just as this thought crossed her mind, the final streak of dusk faded from the sky, and night descended in an instant.
Wen Xing stepped out of the courtyard gate, standing at the entrance to glance around.
The villagers were all holding decorative lanterns in their hands, and every corner of the village was hung with lanterns as well, brilliantly lit and exceptionally festive.
At the head of the procession, people were beating drums and gongs, the lively noise instantly echoing throughout the entire village.
“Sister, are you heading out?” Bai Cha glided over.
“You don’t plan on going out?” Wen Xing countered with a question.
“I’m just thinking about something. Sister, look—they keep insisting women aren’t allowed outside, yet not a single person has come over to stop us from stepping out.”
Bai Cha cast a glance at the villagers outside. Indeed, there were hardly any women among them, save for a few heavily pregnant women.
Judging by Old Qin’s attitude, the other villagers were undoubtedly the same.
In fact, they were likely far worse than Old Qin.
The looks a few of them cast over carried a distinctly uncomfortable undertone.
No one stopped them from heading out, and the other three female players had stepped out long ago; no rule explicitly banned them from joining the Lantern Festival either.
Wen Xing knitted her brows.
“So you mean…”
Bai Cha looked back at the pitch-black courtyard behind them.
“I had a dream when I was sleeping today. A child said I was sleeping on top of them. I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl, and the voice was pretty muffled too.”
A child’s voice was naturally difficult to distinguish between male and female, and so were their features. A delicate, cute child of either gender—once their hair and clothing blurred in the dark—looked virtually identical.
She had been far too drowsy in her dream back then to see clearly what the child was wearing, and the hair had been obscured by the pitch-black darkness as well.
Though the clothing had appeared roughly white.
Wen Xing felt the chill in the surrounding air grow noticeably heavier.
“Let’s go take a look, then.”
She was no longer in a rush to go look at the lanterns.
If there really was a child beneath the bed, sleeping here later without resolving it would prove to be a major hassle.
Wen Xing strode back into the room. The interior was pitch-black, the old lightbulb flickering with a dim, feeble glow.
Crouching halfway down, she yanked the bedsheet aside and peered underneath.
A pale, ash-gray face with hollow, vacant black eyes stared straight back at Wen Xing.
Wen Xing instinctively threw a punch straight at it.
A heavy, muffled thud echoed out. Bai Cha couldn’t help touching her own face, casting a look of pity beneath the bed.
Ouch, that looked painful…
The ghost child was pummeled into nonexistence by that single punch.
Only then did Wen Xing let out a breath of relief.
Pulling out her phone, she switched on the flashlight and shone it underneath.
It was quite filthy under the bed, covered in thick dust and spiderwebs.
And tucked away in a tiny corner sat a worn-out decorative lantern, similarly caked in dust.
Bai Cha turned around, retrieved the fire-poking rod, and hooked the lantern out from beneath the bed.
One side of the lantern was visibly caved in, as if smashed by someone’s fist.
Bai Cha shot a weak, innocent look toward Wen Xing.
Wen Xing stared expressionlessly at the lantern, extending a finger to poke it.
The lantern showed no obvious signs of abnormality either.
Bai Cha found a rag and wiped away the dust layer on its surface.
It was an exquisitely small palace lantern.
The two studied it for a moment without uncovering any clues, deciding to place the palace lantern on the room’s table for the time being.
“Should we check under the beds in the other rooms?” Wen Xing asked.
“Probably better not to, lest we get misunderstood.”
Bai Cha spoke as she stared at the lantern for a brief moment.
“Let’s bring it along for a walk outside.”
Wen Xing looked at her, then picked up the lantern.
The courtyard was actually quite quiet.
Yet the moment they stepped out the gate, the bustling noise outside made it feel as though they were stepping into two entirely different worlds.
Everyone held a decorative lantern in their hands.
Young children chased one another with lanterns in tow.
Scanning the crowd, every single child was a boy.
Women and young girls were strictly forbidden from coming out.
Bai Cha walked through the village for a short while, sensing the surrounding sounds gradually grow muffled and unreal.
She turned to look, only to discover that Wen Xing had vanished.
The surrounding noises turned increasingly faint, sounding as if they were emanating from a vast, distant realm.
The lantern lights blurred slowly.
Darkness descended like a heavy curtain.
Before long, the houses lining both sides of the street began to show weathered marks of time.
As if corroded by something unseen.
The moonlight overhead was blotted out completely, plunging the entire world into pitch-black darkness.
Along both sides, the wood sorrel continued to bloom in utter silence, glowing faintly as if the flower patches held a soft, inner light that allowed one to see the blooms clearly.
Those flowers appeared far more vibrant and blood-red than they did during the day.
Bai Cha mulled it over as she surveyed her surroundings.
She appeared to be the only person left here—was this an illusion?
The surroundings had grown increasingly silent at an unknown moment.
So quiet that she could hear only the sound of her own breathing and the thumping of her heart within her chest.
Bai Cha took two tentative steps forward.
She wore a pair of flat shoes, likely provided by the system.
After all, she had been sleeping earlier.
The shoes were quite soft and light, making a faint sound upon contact with the ground.
Tap, tap—
With every step she took, a matching sound trailed closely behind her.
Bai Cha looked back.
There was no one behind her.
An icy, chilling wind brushed past, rustling the patches of wood sorrel on both sides with a soft, whispering sound.
Bai Cha narrowed her eyes.
Had the wood sorrel behind her grown denser?
As if a new patch had abruptly sprouted out of nowhere.
Quietly turning around, Bai Cha continued walking forward.
Tap, tap—
Rustle, rustle—
These faint, subtle sounds gradually filled every direction around her.
