Chapter 95: Fork Down
A faceless female ghost was perched on Cute and Sparkling’s shoulder. Its pale arms clung tightly around the girl’s neck, its long, sharp fingernails continuously scratching at her cheek as if hunting for a seam to tear off her face.
Beside her, a hunched old woman with only one functional eye was busy using a thick bone needle and dark thread to cinch the waistline. As she pulled the stitches tight, she muttered under her breath:
“Just a few more stitches… Once you put this on, my sweet, you’ll never take it off…”
“It feels tight now, doesn’t it? But don’t you worry. Once your soft flesh rots away, you’ll find it nice and loose…”
“My craftsmanship is the finest in the district. Nobody makes a burial shroud like Aunt Liu…”
On the other side of the room, near the counter, If You’re Bad, Practice More lay collapsed on the cold wooden floorboards. Her face had turned a sickening shade of bruised green. Draped over her chest was an uncut bolt of shimmering black silk.
Milk Tea Seven Parts Sugar and Jiangzhehu Inheritor were kneeling beside her in a frantic panic. The young heiress tugged desperately at the black fabric, trying to peel it away, but the silk seemed fused directly to Sister Cai’s skin the moment it touched her. No matter how hard she pulled, it wouldn’t budge.
Milk Tea had pulled out a pile of emergency medicines, testing vials and pills one after another. Seeing Sister Cai’s lips turning blue, she repeatedly loosened her shirt collar, desperately trying to help her draw a breath.
The moment Lin Huai stepped through the door, both girls let out a collective gasp of relief, their eyes brimming with anxious tears.
Milk Tea wanted to call out, but clamped her mouth shut, terrified of alerting the one-eyed tailor.
The young heiress leaned forward, whispering in a desperate rush: “Boss! Save Sister Cai, please! She can’t breathe—she’s dying…!”
Lin Huai gave them a calm, reassuring nod. Her steady gaze immediately settled the panic in their chests.
The old woman was still entirely absorbed in sewing the seams around Sparkling’s waist. Hearing a new customer enter, she didn’t even bother lifting her single eyelid. Her raspy voice sounded surprisingly warm and gentle—the exact kind of polite tone that had tricked Sister Cai and the others into letting their guard down in the first place.
“New customers wait their turn,” Aunt Liu croaked. “This old woman is busy with a fitting. Go browse the shelves and pick out a bolt you fancy.”
Lin Huai kept her tone light and pleasant. “Of course, Auntie.”
She turned and strolled casually toward Sister Cai on the floor. Pausing right beside the collapsed woman, she clasped her hands together in admiration. “My goodness, Aunt Liu! This shimmering black gauze on the floor is stunning! Those subtle red patterns woven into the fabric look just like fresh blood—it’s gorgeous. I want this exact one!”
Hearing that the newcomer had an eye for quality funeral wear, Aunt Liu’s face lit up with delight. She dropped her needle and thread, leaving them dangling from Sparkling’s stiff waistline, and hurried over. Picking up the heavy bolt of black silk from Sister Cai’s chest, she presented it proudly to Lin Huai.
“Little girl, since you have such refined taste, I’ll give you this bolt for free!” Aunt Liu cackled with pride. “Auntie won’t charge you a single copper for the material—just pay the tailoring fee!”
As she spoke, her single milky eye swept over Lin Huai’s body from head to toe, filled with pure artisan satisfaction. “Look at that lovely figure! A balanced frame, exquisite bone structure… Auntie will design the most magnificent shroud for you! When your skin withers and only the clean white bone remains, wearing Auntie’s shroud guarantees you’ll be the most enchanting pink-cheeked skeleton in the underworld, turning the heads of every male phantom in sight!”
Seeing Aunt Liu step forward to drape the cursed black silk over her shoulders, Lin Huai smoothly took half a step back.
Auntie, there’s really no need for that.
As Lin Huai retreated, Aunt Liu’s smile vanished. Her withered face instantly darkened with suspicion.
Lin Huai didn’t give her time to think. She immediately raised an arm, pointing toward a high shelf on the far wall: “Oh, Aunt Liu! That red lotus brocade hanging on the wall is even more stunning!”
Aunt Liu’s scowl vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, melting back into a beaming grin. “What sharp eyes you have, girl! That is our finest lotus weave, embroidered with seven-color spirit silk! Put that on, and you’ll look like a heavenly fairy even after you’re dead and buried. Who knows? You might even catch the eye of an Underworld Messenger! Seduce one of those officials, and you’ll be the most powerful lady in the netherworld!”
Chortling happily, the old woman picked up a long iron fork leaning against the counter and shuffled toward the high rack to pry down the red fabric.
The second Aunt Liu turned her back, Lin Huai sprang into action.
She dashed over to Cute and Sparkling, grabbed the dangling needle, and yanked the cursed threads clean out of the seams. With a quick, powerful tear, she ripped the suffocating cheongsam open and threw it to the floor.
Seeing Sister Cai draw a deep, ragged breath and push herself up, Lin Huai gestured toward the door: Run! Now!
The three girls bolted for the street without looking back.
Yet just as their boots reached the threshold, Aunt Liu turned around. Still holding the red silk in one hand and the iron fork in the other, her kindly face twisted into a terrifying, demonic snarl!
“You dare refuse the clothes I stitched for you?! You dare try to run?!”
Her voice became a screech that shook the rafters: “All of you… die!”
With a violent flick of her wrist, the crimson fabric in her grip came alive like a striking viper. The silk expanded, shooting forward to whip around the entire group, wrapping Lin Huai, Sister Cai, and the girls in suffocating red coils!
Schwing!
Lin Huai summoned her purple war scythe in a flash. With a sweeping crescent strike, she sliced clean through the enchanted silk, grabbing Sparkling and Milk Tea by their collars. “Run!”
As she crossed the doorstep, Lin Huai flicked five pure Yin energy crystals from her fingers, slamming them onto the front counter.
She shouted over her shoulder as she sprinted away: “Aunt Liu! I’ve paid in full for the tailoring! Keep the clothes on hold for us—we’ll come back to wear them the second we’re dead!”
Underworld monsters could never resist the temptation of pure Yin crystals.
Aunt Liu’s charge screeched to a halt the instant her eye caught the glowing gems on the counter. Scooping up the crystals, she heard Lin Huai’s promise and immediately broke into a satisfied, toothless grin.
She nodded eagerly from the doorway, waving her bone needle: “Alright, dear! Auntie has your measurements memorized! Don’t you forget to come back for your fitting once your breath gives out!”
Out on the cobblestone street, the small group stood gasping for air, clutching their chests as their hearts hammered against their ribs.
Milk Tea was on the verge of tears, her knees shaking. “Sister Bone Ash… that was horrifying! We were almost stitched into corpses right there!”
Sister Cai leaned heavily against a brick wall, her face still pale. “Boss, if you hadn’t shown up when you did, I would have officially kicked the bucket today.”
Cute and Sparkling looked at Sister Cai in confusion. “Boss, were those two fabrics different? Why did Sister Cai faint the moment that black cloth touched her chest, even before the needle went in? But when I wore the pink dress, it just felt uncomfortably tight and stiff. I didn’t feel anything else…”
Those fabrics were cursed burial shrouds meant strictly for the dead. Corpses wore them to gather spiritual energy, but a living human who touched them would be choked to death by the necrotic chill.
Lin Huai had a pretty good idea why, but she didn’t want to dig into uncomfortable questions. She merely shook her head and kept her answer vague: “It was probably just the different properties of the fabrics.”
While they were catching their breath, several male teammates—who had earlier set off to check out the town’s entertainment strip—came jogging down the alley.
Seeing that everyone was in one piece, Dragon Emerging from the Sea let out a visible breath of relief.
Old Wang circled the girls with shameless curiosity. “What on earth happened in there? Was it really that dangerous?”
Distracted by Old Wang’s teasing, Sparkling forgot her earlier question entirely. Puffing out her cheeks in outrage, she began recounting their horrifying encounter with the one-eyed seamstress.
Jiangzhehu Inheritor looked over at the men, raising an eyebrow. “Forget about our close call—where did you boys go? Did you run into any wild adventures of your own?”
Flash Delivery Yellow Knight hung his head, looking utterly traumatized. “Don’t even ask… We found a local karaoke parlor. We were terrified of touching the food or drinking the water, so we just planned to sing a couple of classic tunes and leave. But Brother Shunshou insisted on hiring the private dance troupe to see what it was like!”
He shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself. “We were trapped in a dark room watching an entire chorus line of rotting skeletons perform a resurrection cabaret… It was truly the most unforgettable performance of my life. I was scared half to death!”
