Death Invitation

What did the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts have to do with him, a human?

As he thought this, Jiang Chen was about to crush the envelope in his hand and throw it away.

But Omniscient stopped him.

"You'd better read the signature before you decide!"

Taking Omniscient's advice, Jiang Chen looked at the signature on the envelope.

His mouth fell open in surprise.

He saw a few crooked characters written at the bottom of the message.

Ghost Child...

Seeing those three characters, Jiang Chen immediately thought of the Ghost Child's eyes, which he had encountered in the Demon Forest.

Legend had it that anyone seen by the Ghost Child's eyes was doomed to die!

Was he invited to take part in the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts because he had seen the Ghost Child's eyes?

With this guess in mind, Jiang Chen wasn't sure, so he asked Omniscient.

"What do you think, Omniscient?"

"The ghosts in the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts are all renowned beings from the era of demons. If they wanted to kill someone, you wouldn't stand a chance against them with your current strength."

"So I think the Ghost Child must have some other purpose. The only way to find out is to attend the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts."

Attend the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts.

Jiang Chen instinctively refused.

If he went, wouldn't he be delivering himself right to their doorstep?

How could he possibly survive?

"This isn't a matter of whether you want to go!"

"Historical records say that anyone who receives an invitation has their soul marked. On the day of the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts, they have to attend, whether they want to or not."

Jiang Chen didn't believe it. He planned to go to the library when he had time and look for clues.

Lost in thought, he didn't even notice what Song Yiyi was saying behind him.

After walking for a while, they reached the laboratory building. He greeted Song Yiyi. "I'll head off first. Fatty and Zhang Banxian are still waiting for me."

"Okay! About next Wednesday..."

Song Yiyi had been about to ask whether she could treat Jiang Chen to a meal next Wednesday afternoon, when she had no classes.

She wanted to thank him for helping her.

But Jiang Chen hadn't answered, so she tried again.

His mind was entirely occupied by the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts. How could he pay attention to anything else?

When Jiang Chen didn't respond and went straight into the teaching building, Song Yiyi felt awful.

He'd spoken to her as if he couldn't be bothered, practically ignoring her.

It seemed she was nothing more than an ordinary classmate to him.

He hadn't shown any sign of liking her.

Song Yiyi shook her head, trying to clear it. What was she thinking? She still had plenty to deal with. She didn't have time to worry about romance.

With that, Song Yiyi entered the laboratory building too.

When Zhang Banxian and Fatty saw Jiang Chen enter, they hurried over.

With concern on their faces, they asked, "What did General Pagoda want with you?"

"Nothing much. He just asked me what happened, so I told him what I saw."

Hearing that nothing had happened, the two of them relaxed.

After all, Jiang Chen was different from Song Yiyi. Song Yiyi was the principal's granddaughter, with a lofty status.

Jiang Chen, on the other hand, was just an ordinary student at the school.

It was only natural for people to speculate when General Pagoda kept the two of them behind separately.

But nothing had happened, and that was the best possible outcome.

The building's collapse had just been an accident.

Not long afterward, General Pagoda arrived and announced some good news.

The school would be closed until the teaching building had been rebuilt.

At the news of the break, Fatty jumped up excitedly and shouted, "Long live!"

Hearing him, the others joined in. "Long live!"

For students, nothing was more exciting than a holiday.

General Pagoda raised an eyebrow at the cheers but said nothing.

He simply thought to himself how nice it was to be young.

He'd been young once, too.

He could certainly understand how they felt.

A little while later, General Pagoda spoke again. "Then let me wish everyone a happy holiday in advance!"

"I still have things to take care of, so I'll be going!"

With that, General Pagoda turned and walked away.

The students still in the laboratory building also began leaving in groups of two and three.

Everyone chatted about what they planned to do during the break.

Seeing that Jiang Chen wasn't leaving, Zhang Banxian asked, "Uncle-Master Jiang, weren't you hungry? Where should we go for lunch?"

"You and Fatty go ahead. Don't wait for me. I'm going to the library to look something up."

Jiang Chen thought for a moment before answering.

"Huh? You're going to the library?"

Fatty clearly hadn't expected that, and asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I need to look something up."

"Then Zhang Banxian and I will go with you!"

Fatty answered without a second thought.

"Sure."

So the three of them went to the library together.

When they arrived, Jiang Chen hadn't expected to find so many people inside.

It seemed there were plenty of people who wanted to study hard during the break.

Jiang Chen gave it no further thought and went to look for the books he wanted.

Once Jiang Chen had found them, Fatty and Zhang Banxian went over to take a look, curious.

They were a little disappointed when they saw what he had.

They'd assumed Jiang Chen was skipping lunch because he had something important to do.

They hadn't expected him to be checking out a pile of novels.

Skipping lunch for novels seemed a bit much.

Jiang Chen came out carrying more than twenty books.

They were all about the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts and myths.

Some were just novels.

Jiang Chen didn't intend to read them all there.

Instead, he checked them out for two weeks.

The loan period was fourteen days.

Once he was done, Jiang Chen carried his stack of books out with Zhang Banxian and Fatty.

Fatty rubbed his stomach and asked, "Now can we go eat?"

"Yeah!"

Jiang Chen nodded. "It's about time for lunch."

"Brother Chen, what do you want to eat?"

At the mention of food, Fatty perked up.

"You decide. Everything you pick is delicious!"

"Zhang Banxian, what do you want to eat?"

"I'm not that hungry. You decide!"

Although Zhang Banxian said that, he was still mulling over Jiang Chen's decision to borrow books.

As far as he knew, Jiang Chen had never been much of a reader.

In three years, he'd only gone to the library a handful of times.

Why was he suddenly acting so strangely today?

Had something happened?

He kept his suspicions to himself and studied Jiang Chen from the side.

But Jiang Chen didn't seem any different.

So Zhang Banxian had no choice but to set his questions aside for the moment.

Fatty, of course, hadn't noticed anything unusual.

His mind was entirely occupied with what to eat for lunch.

After thinking it over, he led them to a roast chicken shop.

They'd often come here before.

The chicken was delicious, made with a secret recipe, and the shop had been around for a century.

Naturally, it attracted plenty of customers.

Fatty had a VIP card, which gave him priority when ordering.

The three of them went to their reserved room.

They ordered their food.

Before long, the table was covered with the dishes they'd ordered.

Jiang Chen hadn't even started eating when he sensed something was wrong.

He realized that at some point, the scenery around them had changed.

A gigantic ghost eye appeared overhead!

It grinned at him...