CH 53

(You’re brothers ah!)

Edited by Silver Wind 

Thank you sleepymango123 for your Ko-Fis!!!

Perhaps he had slept too deeply last night since Shen Dongqing did not feel a single movement.

Zhou Wenyan did not mention the dream last night. Instead, he said: “Let’s go out and take a look.”

Shen Dongqing nodded his head. When they walked over, they saw a group of players standing at the threshold between the main and side hall, trembling as they looked at the coffin that was not far off. 

JK Belle suggested: “Should we go up and check?”

Besuited Uncle said: “Anyone who dares to check can go.”

Even Leathered Man, the most fierce-looking and showy of the group, was shaking his head desperately: “You guys might not want your lives but I want mine!”

The person that was missing from the four-person group was precisely Hipster.

Leathered Man said: “Have you watched horror movies before? The person dying the fastest is always the one with a strong curiosity. We’ll just pretend that we know nothing and not look at it, if we don’t think about it, we’ll be fine, alas…”

As he was making a lengthy speech, Shen Dongqing strode past his side and came to a stop at the place where the coffin was placed.

Leathered Man stiffened and muttered: “He really doesn’t want his life?”

Just as his voice landed, he saw Zhou Wenyan walking over as well. 

JK Belle looked left and right, only to decide to follow behind the pair in the end.

The coffin was not sealed.

Shen Dongqing glanced into it only to see a lady dressed in a classic Chinese-style wedding dress with expensive gold jewellery decorating her throat and wrists, there was a blank sheet of paper covering her face and concealing her visage. 

The others encircled the coffin.

The Besuited Uncle pointed at the white paper and commented: “I’ve seen this in a previous copy, this is a blank sheet of paper used to obstruct the ghost’s eyes to stop the corpse from rising, make sure you don’t touch it.”

Unfortunately, no matter how early he gave the reminder, Shen Dongqing had already ripped off the blank piece of paper in a direct and efficient manner.

Below the paper was a face that had gone pale from soaking and features distorted from her scrunching, the only sign of colour was her scarlet red mouth. When her lips parted slightly, it could be perceived that she was holding sludge in her mouth. 

“AH—”

JK Belle screamed, taking a step back in fear.

The two other men were no better because they ducked for the nearest cover to hide themselves.

Shen Dongqing shook away the white paper and met the bride’s opened eyes. 

Probably because the white paper was no longer binding her, the bride’s body spasmed before she abruptly sat up, her lifeless eyes staring straight ahead.

JK Belle shouted: “Hurry up and run ah!”

Terror-stricken, the group of players sprinted out of the main hall.

It was only when they reached a safe location that the Besuited Uncle stopped and looked back. 

Thankfully, the imagined scene of the ghost bride using her hands to tear the players apart and make their blood flow like a river did not happen as the two players were still standing there. Rather, it was the ghost bride who was still dull in expression.

Just as Besuited Uncle decided to turn back to look at the situation, the ghost bride’s body jerked again, and like a rigid corpse, she stretched both her hands towards the person closest to her to attack them.

Besuited Uncle could not help but close his eyes and he heard sad and shrill noise travel to his ears.

Too, too miserable… 

Besuited accompanied the scream with a sanguineous scene, but as he continued to listen on, he realised that something was amiss.

Undoubtedly, the two players inside were men, but the miserable shouts sounded like they came from a woman.

Besuited Uncle covertly opened a small slit of his eyes and saw an act that stunned him.

It was not the ghost bride pressing down the two players; instead, it was the frail and weak player who directly pressed the ghost bride back into her coffin and he could see the ghost bride’s legs flailing ceaselessly from the distance. 

In disbelief, the Besuited Uncle rubbed his eyes and mumbled, “Are my eyes deceiving me?”

The miserable shout was made by the ghost bride just now?

JK Belle walked back gingerly and stopped over to pick up a small object that had fallen to the ground. When she pried it open to take a look, she realised it was a used plaster.

It was something the ghost bride had dropped when her legs were thrashing just now. 

After struggling for a period of time, the ghost bride finally submitted to her fate and laid back in her coffin serenely.

Shen Dongqing pasted the piece of white paper back on and patted his hands, only to feel that his hands were damp with mud. Thus, he flicked his wrists and said: “We didn’t manage to ask anything.”

This ghost bride was brimming with so much towering resentment that her intelligence was lost and there was no possibility of carrying out an amicable conversation.

However, directly exterminating her humanity was not a good plan either, for Shen Dongqing had a faint premonition that even if he resolved this ghost bride, there would still be another ghost bride to replace her. 

Since that was the case, it was better to let this one remain; everyone was aware of her whereabouts and who she was, which saved them the trouble.

JK Bell pinched that clump of plaster and her eyes were slightly red. “Could he be, could he be dead?”

After witnessing that sequence of events, it was likely that Hipster bode ill rather than well.

Zhou Wenyan gazed at the plaster in her palm and suddenly said: “Not necessarily.” 

The clump of plaster was damp as well, and the sludge staining its edges was similar to traces found on the ghost bride’s body.

Zhou Wenyan asked: “Does Four Water Village have a pond?”

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“Let’s go out and look for it.” 

Shen Dongqing was about to follow along when he was stopped by Uncle He, who seemed to have appeared out from nowhere.

“Second young master……” Uncle He said in a faltering voice, “You can’t go out ah, you can’t go out.”

Shen Dongqing asked: “Why?”

Uncle He did not explain, only repeating the same sentence time and time again. 

Simultaneously, the game’s voice sounded.

【 Due to certain reasons, you cannot walk out of the Shen Family’s old house, or else it will trigger the ending of total obliteration 】

Shen Dongqing muttered under his breath: “Total obliteration?”

He was tempted to try it. 

Upon hearing the tone that Shen Dongqing used, the game immediately changed its method of speaking.

【 If you leave the old house of the Shen Family, you will trigger the ending of total obliteration and the entire copy world will close down, making it impossible to break away from it 】

Total obliteration did not sound terrifying, in fact, it gave Shen Dongqing some heart palpitations and an itch to try.

However, being unable to break away from a copy did sound scarier; there was no electricity, internet or people here, staying here would be too boring. 

Hence, Shen Dongqing immediately abandoned the idea of going out. Tugging on Zhou Wenyan’s arm, he whispered: “I’m not going.”

There was nothing fun outside anyway.

Zhou Wenyan patted his hand in reply, “Wait for me to come back.”

Shen Dongqing stood at the entrance of the Shen Family compound and watched as Zhou Wenyan’s back gradually moved further away before he suddenly thought of the dream he had last night. 

Zhou Wenyan was once in a yin marriage with another ghost… which meant that he was no longer a reserve grain that belonged to him solely.

How annoying.

He really wanted to devour the other ghost.

Shen Dongqing lowered his head and kicked a small stone. 

The broken bits of the small stone rolled far away, and only stopped when it knocked into something else.

Shen Dongqing lifted his chin and snorted.

No matter.

It did not matter if that ghost only had a yin marriage with Zhou Wenyan, he still wanted to eat that ghost up. Zhou Wenyan was his and his alone, it was not like there were ghosts that were more powerful than him. 

Mind made up and eased, Shen Dongqing walked back in, but it did not occur to him even once that the ferocious ghost in a yin marriage with Zhou Wenyan could be himself.

“Second young master…”

Shen Dongqing had just taken two steps when he encountered Uncle He blocking his forward path, and his wrinkled face was tinged with complicated emotions.

“You shouldn’t have let him come back.” 

Shen Dongqing stopped in his tracks: “Who?”

Uncle He said, “Although the both of you are brothers, it’s better if you don’t come into excessive contact with him, after all…”

Shen Dongqing blinked once, “You noticed it?”

Uncle He: “What?” 

Shen Dongqing told him frankly, “The fact that we’re already together.”

Uncle He was shocked, “W-What?!”

Shen Dongqing ignored Uncle He, who had gone dull where he stood, and returned to the main hall to find the ghost bride to strengthen their bonds of their friendship.

A cold wind blew past.

As he stood there, Uncle He only felt that his life values had suffered an immense blow, and the hand that was gripping onto the cane shook.

“You, the both of you are brothers ah…..” Uncle He knocked his cane on the ground heavily and his gaze landed on the coffin inside the main hall before he murmured, “Could this be retribution?”

There was a pond in the middle of Four Water Village.

The pond was filled with dead water and it was unknown when was the last time it had rained, for several white-eyed dead fishes were floating on the water surface, and the smelly stench was discernible to the nose even from a distance.

Besuited Uncle pinched his nose and said: “It stinks.”

JK Belle’s eyes were sharper than most and she saw a shoe that had fallen at the banks of the pond. 

From the appearance of it, it looked like it was Hipster’s.

“He should be inside the pond!”

However, who was going to fish him out?

It was apparent that Zhou Wenyan was a big boss from a glance, who would dare to order him about, JK Belle was a girl and it was not polite to make a girl do the hard labour. 

Hence, Besuited Uncle and Leathered Man exchanged looks before they rolled up their pants fabric helplessly and went fishing for a person.

Fortunately, the pond water was not deep and below was mostly thick mud.

The two scooped around for some time and they managed to find the unconscious Hipster around the sides.

Luckily, Hipster had a prop that preserved his life, or else he would have drowned in the pond a long time ago. When he got onto shore, he coughed heavily and vomited out a mouthful of mud. 

“Ke ke…… Memorial tablets……” Hipster said with difficulty, “I saw memorial tablets…”

There was no electricity or internet at their location and Shen Dongqing felt awfully bored as he waited. Thus, he decided to pull over a small stool and sat next to the coffin to chat with the ghost bride.

It probably stemmed from the fact that he was thinking about the dream he had last night. 

Shen Dongqing was incredibly repulsed by this sort of feudalistic superstition, which made him devote himself to bringing the ghost bride’s education to the standards of a good ghost in the modern times.

“How did you die?”

“Your dead appearance is quite ugly too.”

“You’re like this and yet you want to find a bridegroom, humans and ghosts have different paths, do you understand?  Evidently, you could have been a proper ghost and find a ghost lad that suits you, so why did you have to force someone into it?” 

It was a pity that the ghost bride could not speak, or she would have risen from her death-like state to make Shen Dongqing shut up even if it ended in her collapse.

However, she could only lie in her coffin silently, compelled to listen to his lecture.

When the group of players returned back to the Shen Family compound, they happened to hear Shen Dongqing lecturing the ghost bride in full seriousness that a forcibly picked melon was not sweet, and two people had to be mutually consenting before they could get married.

Other players: ……. 

Did they step into the wrong set and entered an education programme?

It was only when they saw the ghost bride lying in the coffin that they reaffirmed the fact that they were still in the copy.

Shen Dongqing pinched his nose: “Smelly.”

There were three people among the players that were mired with sludge and they stunk to the high heavens. 

After experiencing the reminder, they reacted and laughed dryly as they proceeded to enter the rooms to shower.

When they had gotten rid most of the stench off their bodies in the shower, the three people made their way back to the main hall.

Besuited Uncle: “Hiss— it’s really cold.”

Leathered Man rubbed his arms and said: “That old man just now was too abnormal, he actually stared at us while we showered, and he kept muttering something throughout.” 

Ever since he had been saved from the pond, Hipster was in a constant trance and his voice had a floating quality to it. “He said, another bridegroom needs to be chosen tonight.”

JK Belle grasped the important point. “Another?”

Hipster: “The ghost bride did not take a fancy to me which is why she threw me into the pond.”

And it was also because of this, that he managed to have a life. 

Leathered Man counted the men present. Excluding Hipster, there was still four candidates.

One in four.

The probability of being picked was huge. If they were not looked well upon, they would be thrown into the pond, but what would happen to them if the ghost bride was interested?

Leathered Man could not help shudder and pray silently, Please don’t choose me. 

Zhou Wenyan said: “Go and search for a place with memorial tablets.”

It looked like this world could not be solved with violence; they could only decrypt it.

Thus, the six players were divided into two teams.

Naturally, Zhou Wenyan and Shen Dongqing were placed in one team, and they were responsible for searching the west side of the Shen Family’s old house. 

Locust trees were planted all over the Shen Family compound, shadowing the majority of the compound under its tree shade, turning it gloomy.

Zhou Wenyan held onto Shen Dongqing’s hand as they walked down the plant-covered slab stone path.

They had already checked all the rooms on their side once.

Because the rooms had been without inhabitants for a long time, the rooms were sheeted with a layer of dust and it was brimming with a rotten smell. 

But that was besides the point; as they were searching through the rooms, they did not find any place where the memorial tablets could be placed.

All of a sudden, Shen Dongqing recalled a matter: “The game told me to pick a bridegroom for the ghost bride.”

Zhou Wenyan came to a halt.

Shen Dongqing was a little embarrassed: “I ate too much and fell asleep last night, so I forgot about the matter.” 

Zhou Wenyan went silent for a moment.

It seemed like they were separated into two different camps again by this SB of a game.

On one side, he was part of the university students that came from outside, and on the side was Shen Dongqing, Uncle He and the indigenous people of Four Water Village. The clearance condition for the university students should be to live past seven days while the clearance condition for the indigenous people of Four Water Village was probably to kill off all the outsiders.

However, in this sort of situation, it was still possible for both sides to clear the copy together, and that was to solve the puzzle of the ghost bride in Four Water Village. 

Having thought through this point, Zhou Wenyan said: “Pick me tonight.”

Shen Dongqing did not even think about it before he rejected it: “No way!”

His reaction contained too much agitation and Zhou Wenyan seemed to understand something as a smile spread across his lips. He asked: “Why not?”

Sen Dongqing could not say it, and it took him a long time before he managed to choke out one line: “You’re not allowed to be another ghost’s bridegroom.” 

The memory of last night’s dream had been dredged up again and the suffocating feeling in his heart increased.

Frightened by Shen Dongqing’s current appearance, Zhou Wenyan hurriedly said: “Yes, yes, I won’t.”

Shen Dongqing’s pupils shifted and he said: “What if some other ghost comes and finds you?”

Zhou Wenyan was confused, “There’s still some other ghost?” 

Shen Dongqing grabbed his arm and said: “If some other ghost finds you and wants to marry you, would you agree?”

Zhou Wenyan: “Of course not.” He was a little helpless, “Even if I were to agree, I would only promise you.”

Shen Dongqing was still not assured. Thus, he said: “Let me have a bite then.”

And what was there for Zhou Wenyan to disagree with? 

Underneath the canopy of the trees, the shadows of two people slowly approached each other before finally melting into one, intimate and nothing could come between.

However, they failed to notice that hunchbacked silhouette standing in the corner.

Uncle He held onto his cane tightly, feeling like his entire vision had gone black upon seeing such a scene, and he leaned against a tree to stop himself from falling.

“You, the both of you are brothers ah…” 

It was no wonder why the second young master hadn’t gone through with the plan they had agreed on. It turns out he had been enthralled by an outsider.

Initially, Uncle He had given himself a leeway in his heart, but now that he had encountered the absolute facts, he had no choice but to accept the truth before his eyes. His wrinkled visage went from green to white and back to green again, but in the end, he made a decision.

Since the second young master was unwilling, then let him, this old man, be the bad person.

Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan wandered back to the main hall at a leisurely pace.

Similarly, the other players had gained nothing from their search.

With scrunched eyebrows and bitter expressions, they sat in the corner and they did not even dare to give the ghost bride in the coffin a glance.

“What should we do, the sky is about to darken soon.” 

Once Zhou Wenyan came back, they seemed to have found their backbone and they came up to him like a swarm of bees.

“We did not manage to find the place meant for memorial tablets.”

“Everything was empty and deserted, there wasn’t even a single person.”

Zhou Wenyan glanced at Hipster, the sole person who had seen those memorial tablets. 

Having recollected himself, Hipster’s attitude was much better than before.

“Is it possible that you can only arrive at the place with memorial tablets after you are caught by the ghost bride?” Hipster offered his guess.

Everyone else came to an epiphany.

“There is that possibility, yes.” 

“If that is the case, wouldn’t it mean that it’s in a place that can’t be found?”

“We don’t have sufficient clues at the moment, and we don’t even have a single lead.”

According to the copy’s sequence of events, the players were separated into two camps and they would be given different prompts.

Those that belonged to the indigenous people of Four Water Village would gain the help of the NPCs and the system, then under the conditions where they could only clear the copy by harming other players, they would start instigating incidents. Once those incidents occurred, clues would be left behind, and that would in turn give the university students leads. 

But right now, the Four Water Village’s indigenous person Shen Dongqing, he…. blamed the hotpot for being too delicious, and because he had eaten himself into a food coma, he had forgotten to get down to proper business.

The game seemed to understand his personality, since it gave up on him directly, and it no longer issued new prompts to him.

Hence, every person on both sides were scratching their heads because they knew nothing.

Shen Dongqing tilted his head and said: “Clues? Why don’t we ask the kind-hearted NPC?” 

Awkwardly, Besuited Uncle replied, “There are kind-hearted NPCs?”

The few indigenous people they met along the streets all wore gloomy expressions and they could not wait to get away from them.

Shen Dongqing: “Uncle He ah. He made hotpot for us to eat, isn’t that considered kind?”

The other players looked at each other. 

In typical copies, they would definitely do everything in their power to not provoke a NPC that looked out of the ordinary. But as of right now, they had witnessed Shen Dongqing pressing down the ghost bride with his bare hands and came back to Shen Dongqing lecturing the ghost bride about proper love and marriage values which weakened the horror atmosphere, it even changed the horror movie into a comedy.

Hence, the players became hot-headed, and they went to find Uncle He in an unexpectedly fearless and energetic manner.

Shen Dongqing even yelled at them: “Don’t scare Uncle He!”

If he could not make hotpot tonight, it would be troublesome because they would have nothing to eat. 

With the strength in numbers, the players managed to bring Uncle He in after a short moment’s work.

JK Belle said angrily, “He actually wanted to hurt us!”

She took out a piece of white paper and wrote on it was a row of dark red characters and what it was conveying in rough terms was the willingness to be in a yin marriage with the ghost bride. And below it, Zhou Wenyan’s name was written. Probably because Uncle He had just written it, the surface of the words were still damp.

“Will shredding it up be of any use?” JK Belle asked. 

When Uncle He heard her ask that question as he lied on the ice-cold limestone floor, he let out a sinister laugh. “It’s no use, the yin marriage has already knotted, what’s left is for the ghost bride to take him away.”

Shen Dongqing took the piece of white paper with one hand.

The condition for the ghost bride to take him away was already established and shredding it would only prove to be a pointless endeavour. He thought about it before he simply added his name to the parchment.

He wanted to see how the ghost bride was going to take away his human.