Free Web NovelChapter 598: Chapter 507: Another World_2
The girl with the number 127 couldn’t help but be surprised, "This... This is too cruel!"
"The ghost is the Sea Girl. If you look, she is not wearing much, only draped in a fishing net. This is because Sea Girls find it inconvenient to wear clothes when diving, but to preserve their last bit of dignity, they would drape a fishing net around themselves. It’s the same principle as why prostitutes can strip off their clothes but can never untie the Red String on their ankles; that’s their last shred of pride," said the elderly man with the number 189, whose knowledge clearly surpassed Yang Xiao’s. With just one glance, he could discern the ghost’s details clearly.
"Elder, do you know how to deal with this ghost?" The girl asked hurriedly, as if grasping for a lifeline.
The old man hesitated for a moment, twirling the grizzled beard that peeked out from under his mask, and said solemnly, "If I’m not mistaken, the weakness of this ghost lies in the hemp rope around her waist. She died after being abandoned by her husband and thus harbors a grudge. If any of us can grab that rope and let her know she has not been abandoned, we might stand a chance."
Since the man who fought her first ran away, they had to ask Yang Xiao for more details about the female ghost. Yang Xiao recalled that there indeed was a hemp rope belt around the ghost’s waist, and it seemed to be trailing behind her in the sea water.
"So next time, we must first attract the ghost’s attention and then have someone attack from behind and grab that lifesaving rope," the girl with the number 127 rehearsed the plan in her mind — a bold and dangerous attempt.
At this moment, Yang Xiao had already walked over to a nearby corpse. He looked around the area as if searching for something, and then, without any courtesy, kicked the fragmented pieces of the body aside with his foot.
"Are you looking for... a Magic Artifact?" the old man asked as he caught up.
Yang Xiao, without lifting his head, nodded towards his chin, "Yes, like that number 40 we saw earlier, his Magic Artifact is also missing."
Magic Artifacts don’t just disappear into thin air. It seems that the female ghost had taken the artifacts from both men, which was not a good sign for Yang Xiao and his company.
"I came from the west earlier and passed by a courtyard. It felt... kind of strange," the old man suddenly said.
Since the three of them had nowhere better to go, they followed the old man through the muddy road toward the west side of the village. Along the way, they didn’t encounter anyone else. It seemed there were only six contestants in this qualifying match, with the remaining two participants likely having forfeited.
Numbers 9 and 40 had died, and aside from number 24 who was missing, they were the only remaining competitors in this match.
"This competition is such a rip-off, no one told me there would be ghosts," complained the girl with the number 127, hugging her arms, "I’m really scared of ghosts."
"Hehehe, young lady, sometimes humans can be much scarier than ghosts," said the old man with the number 189, chuckling. freewebnøvel.com
Yang Xiao swept a glance at this old fellow. The man hadn’t shown his hand yet and had prioritized escape when encountering the ghost, but Yang Xiao concluded the old man must be quite capable, possibly the strongest among their group.
Yang Xiao had also observed the woman with the number 24 who had made a move previously; she was a notch below the deceased man with the number 9, roughly around the Grudge Level Upper tier.
From the looks of the people who had appeared so far, the girl who led him into the village was likely the weakest, but there was no guarantee; after all, plenty of people pretend to be weaker than they are.
"We’re here," said the old man leading the way as he stopped in his tracks. A dozen meters in front was a small courtyard with collapsed walls revealing a dilapidated wooden house. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Before even getting close, Yang Xiao sensed an eerie presence. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but for safety’s sake, he held up the Ghost Lantern. As the greenish light spread into the courtyard, a horrifying scene unfolded the next second: the light didn’t illuminate the wooden house in the slightest. Instead, as if erased by some force, the green light vanished without a trace.
Even more bizarre, in his perception, the wooden house and the entire courtyard seemed nonexistent, an empty void.
The old man’s gaze locked onto Yang Xiao’s Ghost Lantern, expressing admiration, "That’s a fine Magic Artifact. It looks like it can break illusions, but unfortunately, this isn’t an illusion. It’s real. I went in and had a look but didn’t dare approach the house."
"Please, lead the way," Yang Xiao said, holding the lantern.
The old man laughed and shook his head, then stepped into the courtyard. With the detection of the Human Bone Staff, Yang Xiao confirmed there were no ambushes inside, at least not by humans.
The courtyard was small, and the source of the strangeness was the decaying wooden house in the middle. As Yang Xiao approached, he peered through the collapsed wall and saw not darkness, but a dull grey mist filling the air, obscuring the view. Among the wisps of mist, Yang Xiao spotted a hint of blue light emanating from a giant millstone-sized piece of Green Jade.
His thoughts returning, Yang Xiao immediately recalled what the Disciple at the entrance had said before they entered — in this world, there was a piece of Green Jade, and if they wanted to surrender, they could come near it. However, the price was that the characters on their masks would be erased.
"Number 31, your... your face!!" the girl yelled out, panicked.
When Yang Xiao looked up at the girl, he realized the characters on her mask were becoming blurred, not exactly melting but distorting and gradually twisting into characters Yang Xiao couldn’t understand.
"Get out of here! There’s something wrong with this place!"
Before Yang Xiao could finish, all three of them scrambled away from the house. And that was not enough; they continued to flee the courtyard, not stopping until the unease in their hearts had dissipated.
The girl bent over, supporting her knees and gasping for breath: "There’s something wrong with that house. Just by getting close... just by getting close, the characters on our masks start to get erased!"
"That was too close..." Even the usually calm old man couldn’t help feeling alarmed afterward, wiping the cold sweat sliding down his neck with his sleeve.
