Peach Haven Village (28)

Blind Zhao stared at White Cloud Daoist's corpse for a long time without speaking. Then he suddenly turned and asked, "Who's there?"

Sun Qi, who had been spying on them, turned and ran. Blind Zhao immediately gave chase. One ran and one pursued, and they ran into the wedding procession. Sun Qi plunged straight into the procession, leaving Blind Zhao with nothing to do but glare helplessly. He hurried back to Third Lady Temple to deal with White Cloud Daoist's body.

"Wang Wu." Sun Qi grabbed Ding Shi's clothes and whispered into his ear, "Blind Zhao killed White Cloud Daoist."

"Huh?" Ding Shi asked skeptically. He had heard her clearly, but he did not quite believe it.

Sun Qi said, "Blind Zhao killed White Cloud Daoist to steal the Wordless Heavenly Scripture."

"The Wordless Heavenly Scripture? That bamboo slip?" Ding Shi asked.

"Wang Wu, can you focus on the important part? White Cloud Daoist is dead. It's over."

"Everyone dies eventually."

Sun Qi felt like fainting.

Ding Shi pressed, "That bamboo slip is the Wordless Heavenly Scripture?"

Sun Qi said anxiously, "Yes, yes, yes. What am I supposed to do now?"

"Go find the village chief."

Sun Qi asked hopefully, "Will you come with me?"

Ding Shi replied impatiently, "I'm busy firing the blunderbuss. This procession can't do without me. You go."

The wedding procession arrived at Haitang's house, its courtyard and front doors tightly shut. There were plenty of wedding games here. More than a dozen young female relatives from Haitang's family would compete with the groom's side in contests—drinking matches, singing duets, and other little games.

After Sun Qi explained what had happened, Ding Shi began paying attention to the surroundings. First, he had to guard against Zombie Third Lady. Second, he had to find Blind Zhao. Upon reaching Haitang's doorstep, Ding Shi retreated to the rear of the procession, lit a cigarette, and scanned the area. Then he saw a black shadow leap down from the steps before Third Lady Temple and land near the backyard of a villager's house. Ding Shi tossed away his cigarette butt, left the procession, and chased after it.

Ding Shi did not use a flashlight. Listening for sounds and relying on the hazy moonlight, he followed the mysterious figure. They were not far apart. The figure had originally slowed down, but after hearing movement behind him, he glanced back and immediately quickened his pace. Ding Shi swiftly followed, soon reaching a fork in the road.

The road to the right led toward the village center, while the road to the left entered Bamboo Forest Mountain. The mountain was neither tall nor large, but it contained a vast number of bamboo groves. The homes of more than twenty villagers stood along the edge of the bamboo mountain, each family having claimed a portion of it.

There was an outhouse beside the fork, the common pit latrine of that era. A huge pit lay beneath it, with wooden planks built overhead. People used gravity to take care of their business. The contents of the pit were a primary source of fertilizer.

Ding Shi stood at the fork, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. After observing for a while, he suddenly spotted a flash of red in the distance. Though he could not see it clearly, Ding Shi immediately slipped into the bamboo grove.

The red figure came closer and closer. From within the bamboo grove, Ding Shi clearly saw that it was Zombie Third Lady. He pulled his jacket up over his head. Damn flower mosquitoes—every bite raised a welt.

Ding Shi took out the breathing apparatus he had cobbled together at Xiao Suan and his sister's home. It sounded sophisticated, but it was really just a flexible tube. He tossed one end seven meters away and breathed through the other. This way, Zombie Third Lady would not be able to locate him immediately.

Once he was ready, Zombie Third Lady was about fifteen meters away. Ding Shi held his breath. His diving record was one minute and thirty seconds. Surely Zombie Third Lady would have gone far enough by then.

Unexpectedly, Zombie Third Lady suddenly stopped, straightened her body, and turned toward the outhouse. Ding Shi was somewhat surprised. Could it be that Zombie Third Lady did not even spare maggots? He was not sure. For example, Zombie Third Lady drank chicken blood, and both large chickens and medium chickens were targets—but what about chicks? Button quail? Button quail chicks? Where was the standard?

Before Ding Shi could figure it out, Third Lady sprang toward the outhouse like a monkey. Her left hand struck the wooden door. With a crisp crack, she smashed through one of its planks. She thrust both hands into the hole and pulled apart. The door, pieced together from seven wooden planks, tore open as easily as paper. At the same time, a black shadow flipped out from the side of the outhouse and crashed onto the ground two meters below. Wasn't that Blind Zhao?

Third Lady lunged at him like a starving tiger.

Blind Zhao cursed, "Beep, beep beep." As he cursed, he used the bamboo slip to smash Third Lady on the head. Third Lady did not budge. She bit down on Blind Zhao's neck and began sucking greedily. As the light of Blind Zhao's life slowly faded, Third Lady's skin instead took on a ruddy glow.

Third Lady, could you suck faster? Ding Shi was about to run out of breath. They were only seven meters apart. If Ding Shi dared to breathe, Zombie Third Lady would dare to come over and say hello.

Retreating was not a good option. Ding Shi had spotted the so-called Wordless Heavenly Scripture lying off to the side. There might not be a blade hanging over the word greed, but people always had their weaknesses. Whenever Ding Shi saw the Wordless Heavenly Scripture, his intelligence dropped by a level. He could have retreated first and returned after Zombie Third Lady had finished her midnight snack.

Ding Shi buried his mouth and nose in the yellow earth, hoping the soil would filter his exhaled breath or that it would disperse into the dirt. Besides, he had a bit of luck on his side: he was downwind, while Third Lady was upwind.

Zombie Third Lady simply held Blind Zhao's head and sucked and sucked until a villager came to use the toilet. Only then did Zombie Third Lady throw Blind Zhao aside and pounce on that unfortunate villager.

The Wordless Heavenly Scripture was eight meters away, and Zombie Third Lady was fifteen meters away. Theoretically, he could leave first and come back later. But he could not forget that there were competitors in the village.

With that in mind, Ding Shi slowly stepped toward the Wordless Heavenly Scripture. So long as he did not breathe, he theoretically would not attract Zombie Third Lady.

Ding Shi took thirty seconds to cross those eight meters. Keeping his eyes on Zombie Third Lady feeding seven meters away, he reached for the Wordless Heavenly Scripture on the ground. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist. Ding Shi was so startled that he nearly failed to hold his breath. Looking down, he saw that it was Blind Zhao.

No way. He's still not dead? Third Lady's blood-drawing machine is useless.

Looking again, Ding Shi realized something was wrong. Blind Zhao's face had turned purple, and he had even grown a pair of cute little fangs.

Knowledge was power. One look told Ding Shi that Blind Zhao was now a lowest-level purple zombie. Ding Shi immediately drove a fist into Blind Zhao's face. The impact was not quiet, but it did not interfere with Zombie Third Lady's meal. Zombie Zhao let out a whimper as if crying. Whatever the case, it released Ding Shi's wrist.

Ding Shi grabbed the Wordless Heavenly Scripture and converted it into a card. It could not be placed in a skill slot and could only be stored in an item slot. Its categories were: weapon, armor, book, skill. Above them was a single word, "Unique," indicating that the Wordless Heavenly Scripture was one of a kind in Ita World.

Ding Shi had no time to read it, and he would not understand it anyway. He slowly shifted away, moving twenty meters off before pressing his face into the dirt and breathing. A system notification sounded. When Ding Shi opened it, he saw that the danger level of the casual instance had been raised again—to High.

The next second, the village lost power. A stream of black mist obscured the hazy moonlight, and Peach Haven Village fell into boundless darkness. Moments later, cries of alarm and screams came from the direction of Third Lady Temple, along with people shouting, "Ghost! A ghost!"

According to White Cloud Daoist's deductions, Ghost Third Lady had three killing rules, one of which was that one could not make eye contact with her. Ding Shi could not understand this. Since Ghost Third Lady only appeared to kill when someone broke a rule, theoretically, Ding Shi would have no opportunity to make eye contact with Ghost Third Lady.

Ding Shi quickly headed toward Third Lady Temple. It was not because he had grown bolder. He needed information. He needed to know Ghost Third Lady's killing rules.