It was the second watch. One more watch, and it would be midnight.
Qiu Xin listened to the night watchman's call, carefully discerning its direction.
She had not killed anyone today, but it was not too late to start now.
Based on her experience from the first night, the night watchman was most likely the old person who managed the residence, and also the "living person" the townspeople had chosen to sacrifice. The shadow behind her took human form.
Though Qiu Xin did not understand how a "living person" could possibly be chosen when nearly all the townspeople were ghosts;
Nor did she understand why people killed by Players were counted toward the agreement between the townspeople and the Mountain God;
That did not stop Qiu Xin from seizing this opportunity to complete the daily killing task required of the Tiger's Ghost faction.
"Clack, clack—"
The clapper's sound drew nearer, dragging a jumble of footsteps deeper into the alley.
With a lantern clenched between her teeth, Qiu Xin flipped down from the rooftop and landed lightly in a haystack behind the house. Peering through a gap in the straw, she looked toward the approaching watch call.
She could not make out the shadow behind the figure in the darkness. By the faint light falling from nowhere, she could only see a hunched little old woman wearing a bamboo rain hat and straw cape, a walking stick tucked beneath her arm and a night-watch gong cradled in her hand as she diligently struck it.
All Qiu Xin had to do was pat her shoulder to kill her, and today's task would be complete...
Qiu Xin parted the haystack, muffled her footsteps, and moved forward one step at a time.
Her view widened, and she saw an orange-yellow halo of light trailing