The Unexpected

Chapter 4: Unexpected

A grayish-brown arm reached out from the grass, looking just like a dried, withered branch. If it hadn't been for the way it gripped Li Wei's ankle with a death-like tenacity, no one would have believed "it" was alive.

Li Wei wanted absolutely no part of an intimate encounter with such a thing.

He kicked the withered arm hard with his other foot. With a dull thud, it felt as if he had struck a wooden stump, sending a sharp pain through the sole of his foot. However, the effect was clear: Li Wei managed to break free.

Scrambling to his feet, Li Wei didn't rush off recklessly. In fact, he had already realized that he might have stirred up a hornet's nest.

More of those arms kept reaching out from the surrounding grass, and soon, humanoid "objects" of unknown origin crawled out from the ground, encircling all his escape routes in no time.

By now, the dilapidated Mountain God Temple was burning fiercely, fueled by the oil and dry grass. The firelight illuminated the surroundings, dispelling at least some of the gloom in Li Wei's heart.

The "Lantern Ghost" that had crawled out of the lantern hovered unsteadily about ten meters away, looking as if it might charge at any moment.

Crouching down, Li Wei gave a bitter laugh, silently cursing himself for bringing this upon his own head.

The accidents happening now were surely related to him burning down the Mountain God Temple.

As if struck by a thought, he summoned the Yellow Paper. After just one glance, Li Wei wore an expression that hovered between tears and laughter.

The mission on it had indeed changed.

The change was, in fact, earth-shattering.

Mission Two remained unchanged, but Mission One had shifted from "Gain the trust of the youth Li Xiaoyao and assist him in learning swordsmanship from the Wine Sword Immortal. Mission Difficulty: D" to "Kill the Lantern Ghost, obtain the Lantern of the Vengeful Soul (C-Rank mission item), and return to the village within 2 hours... Mission completion reward: 'Lantern of the Vengeful Soul' and 100 points. Mission failure: Randomly reduce base attributes by 2 points and deduct 100 points. Mission Difficulty: B..."

Li Wei didn't know what a B-Rank difficulty entailed at the time, but when he recalled this experience later, after becoming familiar with the difficulty ratings, a chill would still run down his spine. He realized he had been incredibly lucky; otherwise, with his F-Rank rating, facing a B-Rank mission would have meant certain death.

But at that moment, Li Wei didn't realize this.

He had only proven one thing: that missions could indeed change by altering key points in the original plot. However, such changes were not necessarily a good thing—at least, not for the current Li Wei.

The situation was dire. Not only had the mission difficulty increased, but he was now required to kill that ghost floating in mid-air.

Glancing at the ghost again, Li Wei felt his skin crawl. Such a thing was terrifying just to look at; how could he possibly kill it? If only he had prepared some cinnabar paper talismans or something similar.

Beyond the hair-raising ghost, those "things" hidden in the dark grass also placed a heavy psychological burden on Li Wei. Fortunately, they seemed to loathe the fire, remaining at a distance and not daring to approach.

This bought Li Wei some time to think of a countermeasure.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated!

To kill the Lantern Ghost, he had to understand her weaknesses.

Although he lacked the ghost-repelling tools found in games, Li Wei had one other resource.

It was the Yellow Paper. Summoning it again, Li Wei tried to project the image of the ghost onto it with his mind. Perhaps his innate high mental strength played a role, for ripples appeared on the Yellow Paper like a calm lake, and a long string of information manifested.

"Target: Lantern Ghost (Third Order). Formed from the resentment of the deceased. These terrifying ghosts survive by devouring the souls of the living. Mortals cannot easily harm her!"

The information was brief, but Li Wei grasped the gist of it.

First, the Lantern Ghost was extremely dangerous; this was evident from the phrase "survive by devouring the souls of the living."

"Third Order" likely referred to her level.

Most importantly, "Mortals cannot easily harm her" meant exactly what it said: ordinary methods would not work against such a creature. The wooden stick he held in his hand now seemed no more effective than a toothpick.

Li Wei was in a bind. Forget about killing the opponent; whether he could even save his own life was an unknown. Once the fire behind him died out, his good days would be over.

In the past, he had always planned everything out, and even when unexpected situations arose, he could resolve them well. But the current situation had clearly exceeded his expectations. His ankle, which had been grabbed by that thing, now felt as if it were submerged in freezing water; it was becoming numb and swollen, and his entire leg had lost sensation. If he weren't forcing himself to stand, he would have collapsed to the ground.

He couldn't fight, and he couldn't run. It was a dead end.

Li Wei considered dozens of plans, but rejected them all. Unless an external force intervened, he was doomed. But in this wilderness, the possibility of external intervention was clearly slim.

Of course, he could choose to end this novice mission, though the final rating would likely be abysmal. For a moment, Li Wei hesitated.

Under the intense flames, the Mountain God Temple soon turned into a pile of smoldering rubble. Two hours had passed, and the fire had reduced almost everything flammable to ash. As the light of the flames faded, darkness gradually closed in on Li Wei, and with the darkness came those dozen or so black shadows.

The ghost let out a "hehe" cackle, as if mocking him or cheering for the upcoming "feast."

It's over!

Though he knew what was coming next, Li Wei gripped his wooden stick tightly. He had no intention of giving up, no matter what. At the same time, he leaned back as far as he could. Even though his back was scorched with pain, Li Wei couldn't care less about that now.

The ghost was the first to charge. She reached Li Wei in an instant, like a humanoid block of ice. The biting cold caused Li Wei's pores to contract violently, even as the scorching heat behind him continued to torment him.

It was a bizarre experience. At this moment, Li Wei actually felt less afraid, even though he could now see the ghost's face clearly.

The white-clad ghost had no facial features; her entire face was a mass of bloody, mangled flesh. Almost as soon as she closed in, Li Wei swung the stick in his hand.

The stick whistled through the air and slammed into the ghost. The moment it struck her body, Li Wei clearly felt the stick stall, yet it passed through without resistance. Then, the ghost's body dissipated like a puff of smoke with a bang and vanished.

How could this be?

That strike had actually dispersed the ghost.

If it were anyone else, they might have wept with joy, but Li Wei clearly didn't have such foolish thoughts.

The reason was simple: the mission on the Yellow Paper hadn't changed, and the so-called mission item hadn't appeared. The only explanation was that the ghost had merely played a trick.

Sure enough, Li Wei suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. He didn't need to look; he knew by instinct that a cold arm was draped over him.

The ghost was on his back!

In an instant, Li Wei felt extreme terror, but his consciousness told him that this was a life-or-death moment. He could not hesitate; he could not waver.

Almost simultaneously, his body jerked into a backward leap.

Behind him lay the charred remains of a wooden beam; Li Wei's actions were undoubtedly a leap into a pile of burning embers. Under normal circumstances, this would have been an act of suicide, but in this moment, it saved his life.

Landing in the heap of burning coals, the spray of sparks and wood ash blinded Li Wei for an instant. The skin exposed to the air was blistered by the glowing red charcoal, yet he heard a sound that was like music to his ears.

A miserable shriek!

The female ghost's wretched wail rang out.