The Ambush

Beneath the big tree in the courtyard, Xu Tong stood behind the wall, peering outside through the door.

Smoke curled up from the village entrance. Even from a distance, he could smell the scorched stench in the air. After the chaotic blaze just now, the village had already returned to its usual lively state.

With the threat of the fire gone, the villagers sat back down in their chairs and resumed their boisterous merrymaking.

It was as if the fire hadn't affected them at all. Every face still wore the same bright smile.

"You can't blame them. Paper dolls aren't like living people. They're made to look a certain way, and that's how they have to stay. Even if they know the food and wine on the table in front of them are rotten, and no matter how much pain they feel inside, their faces will still wear that same unchanging smile. That's simply how they were made."

Zhong Nan watched the village come alive again. His face showed nothing but numbness. He had seen this scene so many times that he had lost count.

"What a brilliant design!"

Unlike Zhong Nan, Xu Tong praised the village before him.

Seeing Zhong Nan's puzzled expression, he smiled. "Don't you think it would be wonderful to design everyone's expressions and give each of them their own story?"

Ignoring Zhong Nan's baffled gaze, he closed his eyes. Countless scenes flashed through his mind, and a grand stage production began to take shape.

How wonderful would it be if I had that kind of ability?

"Don't mind him. He's just crazy. You'll get used to it after a while," Li Bo whispered to Zhong Nan from behind.

As he spoke, Li Bo wiggled his left hand, the one that had been severed.

Now, a Paper Hand had taken the place of his severed wrist.

Though it was made of paper, its joints and palm lines were exquisitely lifelike. At a glance, it looked no different from a real person's hand.

The most amazing thing was that Li Bo could control it just as easily as he had before losing his hand.

He gently stroked the palm, as if it were his most precious treasure.

This paper hand was Zhong Nan's handiwork—or, to be precise, Zhong Nan had told him to take it off a Paper Doll.

After Zhong Nan stuck it to his severed wrist with thick paper pulp, he merely tapped it a few times. Li Bo immediately felt as if his mind and the hand had become one.

It had completely overturned Li Bo's understanding of the world. But then again, this was a godforsaken place. There were zombies, and the Paper Dolls had nearly killed him. What was so strange about a paper hand?

Just as Li Bo was admiring it, Xu Tong kicked him in the butt. "Quit showing off. Having one hand won't stop you from jerking off. Get to work!"

"Right, right!"

Li Bo straightened up at once after the kick. Sitting down, he carefully took Xu Tong's Cinnabar Bracelet off and counted the beads. There were eighteen in all.

He tossed a few into the garlic mortar, then pounded them with all his might.

As he worked, he lowered his head and asked, "Brother Xu, can we really pull this off?"

"We can. We definitely can!" Zhong Nan nodded, thumping his chest as he assured them, "Don't worry. This is what my uncle fears most. Once we break his spell, his Paper Doll Art won't work anymore."

Though Zhong Nan sounded utterly confident, Li Bo's gaze was fixed on Xu Tong.

Zhong Nan frowned at the sight but said nothing. Looking bored, he went into the room to rest.

When he didn't respond, Li Bo continued, "Could I ask you a favor?"

Li Bo glanced around. Only after Zhong Nan and Zhang Hao had gone inside did he take out the photo he had taken earlier and write some numbers on the back with a charcoal pencil.

"If I don't make it back, please give these numbers to my mother. My family lives in Donghuatan Xichun Residential District."

No matter how confidently Zhong Nan talked, a person only had one life. The two Paper Dolls his uncle had left behind had nearly killed them. Was his uncle really such a pushover?

He hadn't dared hope he would make it out of here unscathed. If he died here, the person he would worry about most was his mother.

"If my mother asks where I went, just tell her I went away to take a construction job and won't be back for a while. You... Brother Xu? Brother Xu? You've got it upside down!"

As he spoke, Li Bo turned around and saw Xu Tong looking at his poster. He couldn't help reminding him, "The password's written on the back!"

But Xu Tong ignored him, absorbed in the photo.

In the photo, Li Bo had been dragged bodily into a coffin, with more than half his head chewed off.

"Interesting!"

Xu Tong hadn't heard a word of Li Bo's rambling. Smiling, he patted the man's honest, round face. "Save it. You can tell your mother yourself."

Then he went into the kitchen, apparently to take care of something.

Li Bo put away his photo, looking dejected. He muttered under his breath, "So stingy. What's the harm in doing me a favor? Huh? Why are two beads missing?"

He looked down. Two of the Cinnabar beads that had been sitting beside him had vanished. He hurriedly searched around but couldn't find them, so he tossed the rest into the garlic mortar, figuring no one would notice anyway.

"Jingle~ Jingle~ Jingle~~"

The bells on the mule outside the village gate jingled. The old man sat in the Mule Cart with his eyes half-closed. When he heard music in the distance, he opened his eyes and glanced at the sky, estimating that it would be another hour or so before dawn.

He looked back at the men and women sleeping in the cart. A simple smile spread across his deeply wrinkled face.

"In just a few days, it'll be Ghost Festival. Once the day comes, I'll be free."

Thinking of this, the old man stroked his beard, carefully calculating again. "When I get back, I'll burn them all and be done with it. Then, even if the underworld constables come, they won't have a reason to find fault. I just don't know if the money I've prepared will be enough..."

Lost in thought, he caught the scorched stench drifting through the air and suddenly sprang to his feet, staring ahead.

When he saw the few thatched huts burned down by the village entrance, his face darkened. "Oh no!"

He immediately forgot about the sleeping travelers in the cart behind him, grabbed his whip, and headed into the village.

As soon as he entered, he saw that only four of the six old men from the music troupe at the village entrance remained. One of them had lost most of his head to the flames.

A deep shadow fell across the old man's eyes. Without a thought for anything else, he hurried straight to the new house in the village.

When he reached the courtyard gate, his heart sank.

The gate stood wide open, and the courtyard was in complete disarray. Even the chickens had escaped their coop and were running around everywhere.

Seeing that something was wrong, the old man gripped his whip in one hand and pulled a sheet of yellow paper from his clothes with the other, pinning it in his palm. He approached the main room, gently nudged the door open with his whip, and peered inside through the crack.

The room was pitch-black, but he could make out the tables and chairs lying overturned on the floor. The two Mountain-Back Matrons he had left behind stood motionless by the door.

When he saw the Paper Dolls dressed in their wedding clothes still sitting unharmed on the chairs, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After making sure no one was inside, the old man walked in with a dark expression. Lowering his head, he spotted a strip of cloth stained with blood on the floor.

"Could someone have found out?"

Just then, he noticed the large chest lying on its side. Glistening gold and silver paper ingots were scattered across the floor. He stamped his foot and cursed at the mess. Then he saw the sandalwood box on the ground. His heart lurched, and he bent down to pick it up.

The moment he bent over, the Paper Doll standing behind him slowly opened its eyes. It glared at the old man's back and raised the paper club in its hands, bringing it down on him.

"You old bastard! We've been waiting for you!"

Li Bo roared and swung with all his strength. The old man didn't even have time to dodge before the paper club slammed into his back.

But before Li Bo could even celebrate, the blow felt as though it had struck cotton—soft and weightless. He looked closer.

What he had knocked down wasn't the old man at all. It was nothing more than a flimsy Paper Doll.

Li Bo froze for a moment. Suddenly, a whooshing sound came from behind him, and a kick sent him crashing to the ground.

"Heh. I wondered what kind of hero you were. Turns out you're just a good-for-nothing."

The old man strode in from the doorway. His murky eyes gleamed viciously in the dark. With a flick of his hand, the whip in his grip lashed through the air like a venomous snake, cutting through it with a thunderous crack.

"Whap!" Li Bo's face twitched. A searing pain tore through his chest. Blood and paper scraps mixed together as a huge gash split him open, as if he had been slashed with a knife.

"Damn it! I'll fight you to the death!"

Seeing his ambush had failed, Li Bo scrambled to his feet and charged at the old man. There was no way a man who looked to be in his sixties could beat him.

As Li Bo leaped at him, the old man sneered. The look of amusement in his eyes was like a cat watching a mouse. He simply sidestepped and easily dodged Li Bo's bear hug.

He lifted a foot and lightly nudged Li Bo's instep. Li Bo didn't even have time to react before he fell flat on his face in a heap.

"Good. I've just brought a few more guests. You'll make perfect Pig-Slaughtering Dish."

As he spoke, the old man took a bell from his clothes and a sheet of yellow paper in his right hand. He pinched the paper between his fingers, and in an instant, molded it into a chubby little pig.

Li Bo turned around. Zhang Hao immediately came to mind, and the fat on his face quivered as he screamed, "Brother Xu!"

Hearing Li Bo call for help, the old man realized something was wrong. He reflexively looked toward the Bridegroom sitting on the chair and, without a moment's hesitation, swung his whip at him.

With a bang, the Bridegroom's head was smashed to pieces.

Something's wrong!

The moment his whip struck empty air, the old man's pupils contracted. Just then, the Bride sitting nearby suddenly moved and flung something at him.

The old man tried to dodge, but his swing had already carried him too far. Before he could stop himself, Xu Tong, disguised as the Bride, flung a handful of cinnabar straight at him.