Chapter 134: [Harboring a Ghostly Secret] The Wedding Begins
[Congratulations to the players! The current plot progress has reached 75%! You are nearing the end, keep up the good work~]
[Since the quest plot has advanced to the finale, the instance will undergo some changes.]
As the system’s voice faded, the blare of a suona rang out.
Bai Cha and Xu Shengsheng looked around. Every household in the village had already draped red cloth over their doors.
The hanging lanterns had been taken down. Now, the villagers each carried a lantern in hand, hoisting a bridal sedan chair behind them as they marched from the village entrance toward Ji Xiaolan’s house amidst the beating of gongs and drums.
The sky had turned completely pitch-black.
Bai Cha picked up her phone.
It only had 5% battery left, and the date displayed was already September 1st.
Ding—
The cloud sync she had initiated on the bus had suddenly completed at this very moment.
However, even though she had turned off power-saving mode, there was absolutely no signal.
She tapped into the cloud sync.
Inside, there was only a single screenshot.
[2017/04/04 00:15 Ji Xiaolan: Shu-ya, are you there?
Ji Xiaolan: Can I come over to your place?
Chen Shuya: Of course, when are you coming?
Ji Xiaolan: I’m heading out now. I’ll let you know when I’m close.
Chen Shuya: Okay.
Chen Shuya: Did something happen?
2017/04/05 07:21 Chen Shuya: When are you coming?
2017/04/05 21:43 Chen Shuya: Are you still coming?
Chen Shuya: Xiaolan?
2017/04/06 07:07 Chen Shuya: [Voice call unanswered] Chen Shuya: [Voice call unanswered] Chen Shuya: Xiaolan???? Chen Shuya: Xiaolan, you didn’t answer my calls or my voice messages. Where are you? Your home is in Lanshan, right? I’m going to the police!]
The conversation ended there.
This screenshot was likely taken to be used for the police report.
So… on April 4th, 2017, Ji Xiaolan might have already died.
Ding—
Battery low. The phone will power off in 30 seconds.
Bai Cha shoved the phone straight into her pocket.
Seeing her check her phone, Xu Shengsheng had wanted to check hers too, but her phone was already dead.
“Sis…”
Xu Shengsheng looked at the wedding procession, feeling nothing but a creeping dread.
In this pitch-black environment, such a wedding procession didn’t feel festive in the slightest.
There were two children, a boy and a girl. One of them was the little boy from earlier. Dressed entirely in red, they each carried a lantern, their faces heavily painted with red rouge.
The two of them had already taken their places at the entrance of Ji Xiaolan’s house, one on the left and one on the right, clearly serving as the Golden Boy and Jade Girl of the ceremony.
A bride dressed in crimson was supported out of the house, her head covered with a red veil.
The person supporting her was her grandmother.
Ji Xiaolan boarded the bridal sedan chair.
The sedan chair was paraded in a loop around the village before finally stopping in front of the Ji family’s courtyard again.
At this moment, villagers materialized around the players.
“What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and attend the wedding!”
The villagers constantly urged them, even physically shoving them forward.
The players found this incredibly tricky. The wedding was already starting, which meant they didn’t have much time left to explore the final 25% of the plot.
Therefore, even knowing the courtyard would likely be dangerous, everyone walked over anyway.
By now, only six players remained.
But upon walking in, they discovered that the three players who had already died were actually standing right there too.
Wang Yan and Gao Wei’s bodies were somewhat twisted. Their facial features even seemed to be misaligned; one of Gao Wei’s eyes appeared to have swapped places with Wang Yan’s.
Gao Wei, who originally had a tall and somewhat chubby build, was now much thinner, while Wang Yan had grown taller and significantly fatter.
After all, the two of them had melted together at the time.
The two now looked roughly the same in height and build.
And Jin Qiao… she stood gloomily to the side. The scales on her face weren’t hidden in the slightest, and her skin was a sickly bluish-black, clinging with waterweeds.
The three of them stared unblinkingly at the players.
Even the players who hadn’t witnessed Jin Qiao’s death knew that these three were now all ghosts.
After they entered the courtyard, the villagers swarmed in after them. Wearing fake smiles, they chatted and laughed, saying “congratulations” with every breath.
It made the scene look genuinely bustling and festive.
In her mind, Bai Cha rapidly reviewed all the plot points they had uncovered so far.
Ji Xiaolan had died less than a year after returning to teach.
Based on the clue revealed by the little boy, the grandmother indeed hadn’t harmed her own flesh and blood. Instead, she had been tricked into leaving the village, and they had used that opportunity to kill Ji Xiaolan.
Furious upon returning, the grandmother deceived the villagers in turn.
Deceived them about what?
Bai Cha’s gaze fell on the lanterns.
Lighting sky lanterns.
Legend had it that if souls were used as candles, they could burn for a very, very long time without going out, and could illuminate the darkness of the underworld.
Because the ghost realm had no sunlight; only the flames ignited by souls could dispel the darkness.
The villagers’ bodies were no longer human bodies.
Perhaps they were like Wang Yan, but not exactly the same.
This was the grandmother’s revenge.
Then, in all likelihood, this wedding was also the grandmother’s way of letting her granddaughter be with the person she loved. Even though her beloved was also dead, it just so happened they could be joined in a ghost marriage.
As for the villagers who murdered them, she used their souls to light the lamps, even peeling off their skin and ripping out their bones to fashion them into lanterns.
And then she forced them to attend the wedding, forcing them to put on fake smiles.
Perhaps, before they died, she had even made them experience exactly what her granddaughter felt when she was locked inside the Water God Temple.
Finally, the grandmother had called over her granddaughter’s former classmates to attend the wedding, to witness their love, and to bear witness to the beautiful life her granddaughter once had.
Everything up to this point made perfect sense.
Only one final, glaring question remained.
Whose child was Ji Xiaolan carrying?
What if… Bai Cha couldn’t help but make an assumption that made her feel sick just thinking about it.
What if the men in the village had wanted to do something to Ji Xiaolan, and so they murdered Shao Lei?
And Ji Xiaolan, without Shao Lei’s protection, suffered a tragic fate and became pregnant.
Then, fearing the grandmother would find out and seek revenge, the villagers found a way to trick her into leaving the village, using the opportunity to drown Ji Xiaolan.
If that was the case…
The one “harboring a ghostly fetus”—harboring dark, ulterior motives—was never Ji Xiaolan, but rather every single person in this village.
Only this could explain why the grandmother hated the villagers so deeply, going so far as to skin them, rip out their bones, and light them as sky lanterns.
But if that was the case…
Bai Cha looked at the villagers, her eyes filled with undisguised disgust and murderous intent.
It was still too light a punishment.
The sky lanterns would extinguish one day, and these people would merely have their souls scattered and destroyed.
But Ji Xiaolan could never come back.
She didn’t even seem to have much resentment. Wait…
Ji Xiaolan herself didn’t harbor a lot of resentment. Or rather, that resentment had long dissipated with the deaths of the villagers.
She didn’t want her friends coming here to throw their lives away.
Yet she seemed quite powerful.
Was it because the child in her womb hadn’t been born and died inside the mother first?
Or was it… Shao Lei?
Did Shao Lei turn into those water snakes?
What role did he play in this revenge?
As long as she figured these things out, it should all be over.
Clang—
The bronze gong was struck.
