A New Day's Greeting

As the words fell, the black lines on Yu Xing's pale skin gradually became clear.

The gloomy air stagnated as the pure curse power emanating from Yu Xing manifested, and a faint, inhuman scream could be heard.

Yu Xing slowly sat up, his legs dangling over the edge of the bed, his bare feet lightly touching the ground, and leisurely raised his eyes.

The red clothes she wore were much lighter than Hua Subai's outfit; the short shirt and shorts clung to her skin, revealing the dense, fine lines beneath.

Black threads slithered across his skin, cold and despairing, exuding an aura of death. The black lines on the back of his feet extended outwards, disappearing into the surrounding darkness and shadows.

Even though there was nothing in the room, Yu Xing could sense that something was there. It was both surprised and angry, only realizing belatedly that it had been caught in a trap.

The "curse" of the food not tasting good was exposed.

Black mist rose and enveloped Yu Xing, obscuring his face and making him even more indistinct in the night.

"The Divine Tree," Yu Xing said softly, "Is a dish made with expensive ingredients, yet it's turned into a plate of swill for dinner."

A fleeting flash of blood appeared on the tip of her tongue, making the atmosphere even more oppressive.

It seems this really is a...

The scene of the humanoid Ghost Tree feeding.

Unfortunately, I'm picky and won't eat it.

He deliberately released the curse power within his body, causing the amputation curse in the divine tree to flee wildly as if it had encountered a natural enemy.

Suddenly, the black mist filling the room was blasted open by that unseen, rampaging aura, creating a tiny crack. Instantly, the aura slipped out through the crack and vanished almost without a trace.

The black mist in the room dissipated.

It seems that the aura of the sacred tree, the curse, the ponytail Female Ghost... whatever you call it, escaped the hunter's trap.

But that's just appearances.

Yu Xing's smile widened, and the deep blue in his eyes deepened. From the ever-changing perspective, branches from another dimension quietly peeked out.

With a thought, the branch containing this small part of his consciousness burrowed into the ground, overlapping with the soil layers, and rapidly grew towards the divine tree.

How could that aura possibly escape unscathed from him? It was nothing but a inferior product.

He deliberately created an opening, allowing that aura to return to its original form.

In reality, that aura already contained a trace of his curse power.

Even a single grain of salt mixed into the sand is not easy to find.

Due to the hidden rules of Nanshui Town at night, he couldn't just chase after it. However, a wisp of power entwined with the aura of the divine tree entered its body along with it, and no rule could control him in this way.

He closed his eyes slightly, sensing the cursed power leaving his body, but felt as if he were trapped in Mud Swamp, surrounded by a rotten, unpleasant sensation.

His curse seems to have entered the divine tree.

The branches extending from his feet had already reached the vicinity of the divine tree.

The branches are his eyes, and also his tongue.

He seemed to taste the stench of decay, extending from the roots of the divine tree to the very earth, where countless corpses mingled together, turning into nutrients for the soil, leaving only the deep-buried, stark white bones in their place.

His eyes also saw Nanshui Town at night.

Silence.

Not a single light was still on. The vengeful spirits that the townspeople had transformed into had reverted to human form the moment the Yugi ended, and were now gone.

Nanshui Town is like a film crew that has stopped filming. When there are no night shoots, only the props and sets stand there all alone.

Only ice, snow, cold, and impending storms are on the horizon.

Beside the sacred tree, he "saw" countless Female Ghost with braided pigtails.

The Female Ghost stood upright, some at the tree roots, some on the treetops, and some seemingly hanging from the branches as if they were hanging themselves. When the wind came, it could not move them.

In contrast, the dozen or so wooden plaques hanging on the tree, adorned with the power of wishes, have been tainted with a foul stench.

The tassels swayed gently in the wind.

The long, thin braids of these faceless Female Ghost were deeply embedded in the ground, and several of them were gushing blood.

[So fresh!]

The consciousness emanating from Yu Xing's branch returned to the mainframe, its thoughts growing increasingly dangerous.

[It's fresh, life stripped from a living person; I want to taste it.]

I want to drink it too! I want to drink it too! I want to drink it too!

As the branches watched the dark, braided strands, resembling transmission tubes, turn a deep red with blood, their longing grew stronger.

[Inedible garbage is stealing our delicious food! Let me have a bite, or it'll all go to waste!]

The price and lives shed in this blood should all belong to us.

It's ours.

Be mine.

Yu Xing's thoughts gradually aligned with the branches', and she muttered to herself, "It's mine."

However, as soon as the sound came out, he suddenly snapped back to his senses, clicked his tongue, and rubbed his throbbing head.

He almost got led astray by that tongue again; its thirst for blood was too bizarre, and he absolutely couldn't let it get away with it.

With his mind clear, Yu Xing instantly regained control of his thoughts. Looking at the strange little tree that was still absorbing nutrients, he snorted coldly, with a hint of displeasure, and controlled the branches to descend from another dimension in an instant, and then rushed up with a roar!

The branches moved so fast that they left afterimages.

An invisible, sharp point grazed past, causing all the Female Ghost to tremble and lower their heads in a daze.

Their braids...

They're all broken.

Having lost their connection to the land, they were like a school of fish suddenly deprived of water, pausing briefly before letting out piercing screams!

Their bodies transformed back into a dark black liquid and were absorbed back into the divine tree.

The divine tree shook angrily, and red leaves fell like rain. The next second, an extremely terrifying aura locked onto the evil Yu Xing branch!

The sensation returned to Yu Xing's brain, and he felt as if he were being locked onto while standing in front of the tree.

What was staring at him was not a tree, but a pair of cold, serpentine eyes.

Clearly, the terrifying aura emanating from the divine tree came from the little Qianjie that controlled Nanshui Town.

The snake has probably been alerted and will soon come looking for it along the branches that attacked the sacred tree. Yu Xing wouldn't give it that chance; before that, he would...

The wisp of curse power that had been secretly hidden inside began to spread.

This demonstrates the superior pressure that genuine products exert over inferior ones.

After the power of the curse manifested its strength, all the inferior curses in the trunk of the divine tree fled in all directions as if they had seen a ghost. The balance that had been painstakingly maintained with the power of the Qianjie was instantly broken. The entire tree trembled on the spot for five or six seconds and withered away even faster than Yu Xing had expected.

Wait, there seems to be something else mixed in here.

Amidst the chaos, Yu Xing could vaguely sense a very similar force beneath the roots of the divine tree, which had long since coalesced into a net and provided crucial assistance, causing the divine tree, which could have repaired itself, to crumble.

Where the braided creatures had taken root, bloody holes remained, with blood gushing out with nowhere to go. It was unknown how much of it came from the fortune tellers in the inn who had still been affected, and how much from the Divine Tree itself.

Just then, a small black seedling sprouted from the rotting soil, as if sensing his thoughts, and bloomed on the spot.

Yu Xing: "..."

Alright, it's Hua Subai who's helping out—although this little favor is dispensable, it does save him time and reduces the probability that Xiao Qianjie will discover and lock onto him earlier.

It seems that guy guessed what he was going to do tonight while he was at the tea stall, so he buried something in advance.

He thought for only a moment before severing his connection with the branch, allowing it to return to its own dimension, leaving no room for error.

Just before her consciousness returned, Yu Xing saw the flower on the ground, which looked like a black rose, rapidly weathering away and dissipating like dust.

Hua Subai also knows how to avoid leaving any evidence against him.

The wisp of curse power that Yu Xing had separated quietly returned, merging into his skin and transforming into a thin black line. Then, along with other black lines, it disappeared into his skin, concealing its merit and fame.

The bloodstains on his hands disappeared without leaving a trace.

Yu Xing quickly lay back down on the bed and closed her eyes to sleep.

That night, Xiao Qianjie will be extremely shocked and angry. The tree she planted with so much effort has just disappeared. She will definitely transform into Snake Woman and wander around Nanshui Town to find the mastermind behind it all.

The most suspicious of them are undoubtedly the "tourists" who are currently gathered in the same hotel.

The tourists each have their own methods, which have already been revealed during this trip. The Snake Woman will definitely be watching the hotel closely to find the guy who has annoyed her.

Therefore, Yu Xing to pretend to be asleep to clear himself of suspicion. No matter who the Snake Woman suspected, as long as it didn't interfere with his plans for tomorrow, it was fine.

After all, following the normal procedure, he didn't hang Lucky Charm, so he shouldn't have been attacked tonight. Therefore, he should be soundly asleep at this moment.

Because he "shouldn't" have the same confusion and wariness as other tourists, after all, he is the young master of the Fang family, and he spent the whole night with his travel agency companions, just being nostalgic.

The Snake Woman's gaze arrived seven seconds after Yu Xing lay down.

Seven seconds is a very long reaction time for the controller of Nanshui Town. If it weren't for Hua Subai Bai's small favor, Yu Xing actually expected to be subjected to the Snake Woman's gaze judgment within three seconds of lying down.

He lay on his side, facing the room wall. His red short-sleeved shirt became disheveled with his movements, revealing a large expanse of his waist and abdomen, which shrank slightly in the cold air.

His brows furrowed from the cold, and he unconsciously reached out to tug at his clothes, but his judgment was impaired in his sleep; he only managed to grasp the creases of the clothes and couldn't pull them down at all.

After fidgeting around a couple of times, he buried his face in the pillow and, feeling uncomfortable, drifted back into sleep.

... The above is what the Snake Woman saw when she was staring at him.

There were no flaws.

Yu Xing's performance was so natural that it made some of the deducers, who slept very soundly and without moving, seem extremely suspicious.

The Snake Woman didn't pay much attention to him. The few glances she gave him were more of an appreciation for her future new appearance and new partner. Afterward, she was filled with resentment and wanted to find that ant pretending to be asleep among the others.

The arrival of the Snake Woman's consciousness should have been silent, but it possessed terrifying energy fluctuations. At this moment, the remaining divination practitioners were basically all top-notch individuals, and everyone was awakened from their slumber.

Who could understand it? You were sleeping soundly when suddenly you were being watched and scanned by a terrifying being.

It's like being camping in the wild, sleeping in a tent, and waking up in the middle of the night to find several aliens, some twenty stories high, crouching beside you, observing you.

However, they still remembered the hotel's rules, and whether it was the rule about not opening their eyes under any circumstances, or the overly obvious observation in their line of sight, it prevented them from making any rash moves.

Everyone remained asleep, as quiet as if they were dead.

Even Zhang Yu woke up.

Sensing malice is one of his strengths.

He didn't know what earth-shattering thing his captain had done to attract such a sense of oppression, but he quickly realized that sleeping was the best way to deal with it at this time.

When in doubt, one should simply sleep it off.

Zhang Yu finally evolved into the Sleeping King because of the immense sense of security provided by his captain.

When the Snake Woman decided to retreat temporarily, unsure of the situation, and plan to observe again the next day, Zhang Yu was already asleep.

Falling asleep meant missing the agonizing screams that were suppressed to the extreme outside the corridor in the latter half of the night, and the sounds of corpses being dragged along.

As the night passed with everyone lost in their own thoughts, dawn broke and the clock struck seven, signaling that the final rule was now in effect and it was time to open our eyes.

Zhang Yu woke up with the sound of the bell. He carefully counted the number of times the bell rang, and only after confirming that it was correct did he open his eyes, rubbing his slightly itchy eyes as he sat up.

Suddenly, he smelled an unusual stench of blood.

The detective's alarm bells rang suddenly. He straightened his ceremonial robes, strode to the door, and opened it—

Thump.

A severed arm, seemingly leaning against the door, fell off as the door opened, its hand landing squarely on Zhang Yu's shoe with a soft thud.

Zhang Yu:?

He valued his life, which is why he was more afraid of the oppressive feeling brought by ghosts, but he was not afraid of corpses at all. This actually made his mind active and clear, and he immediately looked towards the corridor.

A few people opened their doors at the same time, and there were noises coming from their doors, like the sound of something falling.

The scene becomes much clearer in front of the doors that remain closed.

There, various parts, presumably belonging to the same corpse, were scattered and pressed against everyone's doors, like a gift brought to them by a brand new day.

The corridor was covered with drag marks and bloodstains, which did not disappear with the arrival of daylight, but instead became clearer and more gruesome.

Zhang Yu's brow twitched, and he squatted down to examine the severed arm in front of his door more closely.

On the middle finger of the severed arm was a simple gold ring, but Zhang Yu, with his amazing observation and memory, immediately recognized it. This ring belonged to a Fallen Path deducer who had failed to complete the doll-finding mission last night.

According to their guide, Gao Yiling, tourists who fail to complete the task will have to sleep on the streets and are likely to be picked up and become "sacrifices" for the Snow Festival.

And now, this person has appeared before the still-living predictors in the most tragic way.