Chapter 72 - Mastermo Participates In The Ghost Festival

The two brothers kept on walking on the crowded road. This demon didn't seem to be like Kazan, who was trying to trick him into going somewhere else. 

Doji made no move. It really seemed like he was truly innocent and had only wanted to walk together with his brother. It was no wonder the original Taki had been fooled by this demon. Well, they shared a face so of course Taki was easily fooled. Who would look at their own face and think they were evil?

Doji's face was the biggest reason why Taki used to favor him. He was a good brother to him because he liked his brother's face which inevitably meant he liked his own face. 

Zhihao wanted to scold Alvi. She better give him a new face in the next level, he didn't want a character to have the same face as him. He was previously okay with playing an in-game character with his original face but that was when he wasn't given a preset character to play. 

Zhihao hadn't thought about it too much before, but now that he was in such a position, he realized a big disadvantage that seemed to arise. 

If he were to be given a character to role-play and the character had the same face as him, he would be put at a disadvantage. What if he were to play a character that was powerless and gets beat up a lot? His face would have to suffer it all. Zhihao really didn't want to see his face go through such a situation, he'd rather get a new face that looked nothing like his original appearance. Even if he were given the appearance of an ogre, he would not be complaining. 

Alvi was following them at a slow pace because she wasn't alone. She had to drag an unconscious Hasumi along with her and this woman was really heavy, how could a mere ten-year-old easily carry her behind her back?

They walked for a few more minutes and finally, the wait was over and they reached the ghost festival. It was really a far journey and Zhihao wondered how they were able to hear the sound from the tunnel. The tunnel was so far away that it should have been impossible for them to have heard this sound. 

Zhihao let Doji lead the way since he had no idea where he was supposed to go. 

As they walked, the crowd made way for them, some out of respect, and some out of fear that could not be hidden from their expressions. Most of them were just ghosts who neither got the chance to see Taki nor Doji and now they got to see both the royal brothers together, it was really the highlight of their ghost life. 

Some ghosts stared at the identical faces of the two brothers, but most of them were staring at the girl that was being carried by Alvi. 

"That's the vessel?"

They were whispering amongst themselves but their voices weren't low enough and as a result, both Doji and Taki were able to hear them clearly. Doji was uninterested in listening to their useless talk but Zhihao couldn't help but raise his ears as he tried to listen and collect as much information as he could. This time he was sure that he'd be able to hear something more than who washed whose dirty laundry. 

"It's a female?"

"Look at those nails."

"F**k! That is going to hurt."

"No other demon had ever bought a woman to this festival, this demon is certainly not up to any good."

"Female vessels are so much more ferocious. We really should've stayed at home."

"You say that like we had an option. Do you want to be thrown into the fire pit?"

The ghost sighed, "We really are all goners."

"You should start praying that the vessel has a weak stomach."

"Pray to who? God? Hahaha..."

"Pray to the demon king you bastard! Your God doesn't rule this place."

Zhihao felt an unsettling feeling in his stomach. With every beat of the drum, Zhihao's heart would start feeling even more uneasy as if his heart was the drum that was being beaten. The murmurs among the ghosts didn't help at all. He was thoroughly confused after hearing them. 

Just what was this festival about and what was the importance of Hasumi in all this?

"You sh*thead, you dare say his name here? This place doesn't follow his rules and he has no jurisdiction here. If you want to pray to him, might as well willingly jump directly into the fire pit before you end up in the belly of that vessel."

Zhihao felt a shiver go down his spine. 

Hasumi was going to be the vessel that eats these ghosts? Just what in the hell was going on?

[Smile!]

"Huh?"

[Don't say anything or ask anything. Just smile and follow Doji.]

Zhihao was not a rebel who was going to go against Alvi's orders. Although this bot was useless most of the time, there were times it was extremely useful and if the bot were to order something from him, the bot was probably doing it to help the player. Alvi and Zhihao might not have a friendly relationship but it wasn't like Alvi would lie to him and try to trick him. 

He could trust her and in fact, she was one of the only in-game characters he could trust.

Zhihao smiled as he walked, he let his eyes wander around the place as he tried his best to take in every single detail he could about this place. Focusing on details was a good way of collecting hints. 

The place was like any other ordinary festival. 

The drums and bells were in the middle, being played by other demons, and those demons were covered by a circle formed by the crowd that stood at a certain distance, away from them. 

No ghost was allowed to get near the demons and there was a noticeable amount of distance of approximately 20 meters in between them. 

When Zhihao looked at the demon that was paying the drums, the demon looked back and their eyes met. The demons playing the music had a mask on and their fierce eyes were the only thing visible from their face. Zhihao didn't enjoy being glared at by a random demon and so he looked away immediately. 

The ghosts were being blocked out by an invisible force, but that same force didn't work on the two royal demons who walked closer to the musicians and passed by them. 

Zhihao felt like he was intruding on the performers. Who in the world would be so rude to walk through the middle of a stage? Zhihao was unaware of the fact that this was normal for them. They weren't low-ranked demons so who could stop them from walking through the center of the stage? In fact, where ever they walked from was considered to be the main attraction and was no different from a stage.

Zhihao looked around and he felt like he had suddenly become like a lion in a zoo. Being stared at like an exotic animal was certainly refreshing but it would have been better if the onlookers weren't ghosts. 

The place was lit up by the hanging lanterns on the sides and there were even stalls on the sides. Zhihao was very interested to know what stuff people would sell to ghosts so he looked over and it was really not something he would ever want to buy. 

They were selling human meat. Zhihao didn't know where they had found the human from, but he was certainly not interested to find out the answer. Sometimes the lesser you know, the better it is for your sanity. 

When Zhihao passed through the demon who was playing the drums, he felt his heart stop with fear. The drummer's glare was fixated on him and he felt extremely uneasy about it. 

[Keep smiling.]

Zhihao did as he was told and thank god he was a great actor because anyone who looked at him right now would not be able to tell the difference between him and the real demon Taki. 

It would have been a perfect role-play but there was still something missing. If it were the real demon Taki, he would have personally princess-carried Hasumi and not let Alvi drag her behind them like this. 

They passed by the musicians, behind whom there was a pit of fire and two tables in front of it. One of the tables was rectangular in size and empty, placed in front of the smaller table. The smaller circular table had a cup kept on top of it and two other demons standing by its side as if guarding the cup. These demons were different and Zhihao could see it clearly. They were higher ranked demons but their rank was still lower than Taki's so naturally, when they saw the demon walking up to them, they kneeled down and bowed their heads. 

"We have been waiting for you."

Zhihao was about to respond but he was abruptly stopped by Alvi. 

[Don't say anything, just nod]

Zhihao smiled and nodded as a response. He had no idea what was going on but they all wanted him to play along and he was going to do just that. 

"Taki, place the vessel on the table," Doji instructed and Alvi moved forward, handing the girl over to Taki. 

Alvi, "I'm a ghost, not qualified to do it. If you may...?"1

[You do it yourself!]

"..."

Why was this bot lying? Couldn't she just come out and say the truth? She didn't have the height to reach the table and didn't want to embarrass herself trying. 

Mastermo picked Hasumi up and placed her on the table. 

Was this a sacrificial ceremony cause, by all means, it seemed to be the case. 

Zhihao could even guess that in the next minute someone will come with a saber in hand and chop the girl in half. It was a wild guess but it could very well come true. 

[Greet your father!]

"Huh?" Zhihao didn't know what Alvi was talking about. 

[The man in front. Look up.]

Zhihao did as he was told and his eyes glanced up, beyond the fire pit was a set of stairs and on top of those stairs, he saw a man sitting in a chair that was not illuminated with any light and hence, the man's face was completely hidden. Zhihao could make out the silhouette of the man and just from that alone, he was able to feel a sense of fear from the man. 

[That is the king of the underworld.]

Zhihao gulped as he saw the dark figure of the man. Zhihao used to think that the aura emitted by the demons here was extraordinary, but now that he was met with a man whose face, he couldn't even see, he felt like the aura he had sensed before was nothing compared to this man. He was really deserving of the title of the king of the underworld. 

[Immediately kneel on one knee and greet him. Don't say anything, just nod.]

The bot's voice sounded urgent as if she was also afraid of this very person.

Zhihao immediately looked down and got on one knee as he slightly nodded. He didn't stand up till a strong and deep voice resonated within the festival. The drums and bells were loud but the man's voice was as clear as the sun in the summer sky, it had clearly overtaken the sound of the drums. 

"You may rise."

A simple sentence, the way it was said wasn't offensive or anger-filled but Zhihao felt his whole body grow numb when he heard it. 

'Just who the hell was the voice actor to this scene?' 

The man really had a one-of-a-kind demonic voice!