The flames were still burning.
The ghostly figure that had sent him flying swayed behind a stone pillar before vanishing completely, as though it had never existed.
Jiang Qiao narrowed his eyes.
Even Dual Pupils failed to catch any lingering traces.
It had fled decisively.
But now was not the time to investigate that ghostly figure. Because as soon as he got to his feet, he noticed something else was wrong.
Two additional figures stood at the edge of the flames.
They had appeared soundlessly, with no telling when they had arrived.
The Stove Fire blazed fiercely.
Its incandescent glare illuminated dozens of meters around it as brightly as day.
Yet those two figures stood silently beyond the circle of light, their feet planted on the boundary between flame and darkness, neither advancing nor retreating.
As if they were waiting for something.
Or as if something was keeping them outside.
"It's them." Jiang Qiao's gaze flickered as he recognized the two figures.
The one on the left wore a dark-blue opera costume of an extremely old style. The embroidered patterns had faded, and the edges were covered in rotten, frayed trim.
The figure on the right—
Was a Female Corpse dressed in thin gauze. There was nothing alluring beneath that gauze, only densely packed scars.
Scratch marks.
Knife wounds.
Stitched-up gashes.
From her neck to her waist, not a single spot remained intact.
Scars layered over scars.
Wounds piled atop wounds.
But most terrifying of all was her chest, which looked as though something had torn it open from within. More than a dozen terrifying wounds radiated outward across the rest of her body.
"They're the two ghosts from the ghost ship."
"They actually stayed nearby after coming ashore instead of leaving?"
Jiang Qiao looked toward the opera-costumed ghost's head.