Human-Skin Lantern

"You hateful human! And to think Nini liked you so much, yet you actually..."

Nini flew into a rage.

But Ye Qianfan hurriedly pulled his clothes over his wound, keeping anyone from seeing that it was fake. "You said whoever found your true body first would get a death-exemption talisman, right? Nini, good children have to keep their word!"

"Aaah! Nini is furious!!"

The next second.

The flesh-sculpted golden idol in Ye Qianfan's hand instantly turned into a red headscarf!

"The first round is over!"

Nini's resentful voice rang out over the entire village once more. "Nini hates people who use tricks to bully Nini!"

"So Nini has decided to start the second game with this bad big brother!"

"The bad big brother has a Red Headscarf on him. That's Nini's favorite headscarf, and only the person who gets it can receive Nini's protection and stay alive!"

"That's the protective talisman Nini is giving you, big brother. Do you like it?"

"Heehee, next..."

"Nini will send some Human-Skin Lanterns into the sky. If a lantern is about to go out, that means someone is about to die!"

"Everyone, you'd better hurry and snatch the Red Headscarf from big brother! Otherwise, when a life goes out like a lamp, heeheehee, you'll have to stay in the Ghost Village and keep Nini company forever!"

"Heeheehee..."

"Oh, right!"

Just as Ye Qianfan saw Nini disappear and thought the evil god had left...

Its voice eerily rang out in midair again. "Nini forgot to tell everyone!"

"Big brother is in the temple at the center of the village. Nini will open the temple doors. All you big brothers and sisters are welcome to come play with Nini!"

"Heehee~"

As Nini's voice faded again...

Countless lanterns resembling sky lanterns gradually rose into the air!

Some were square and some were round, but without exception...

Every lantern had a human face on it, complete with eyes, nostrils, and a mouth. They had all been stretched flat, however, making the features look painted on!

But the two pitch-black holes of the nostrils, along with the delicate eyelashes above the eyes and the densely packed stitches, made it unmistakable that these were real human faces!

And for some unknown reason...

Whoever had made the Human-Skin Lanterns had deliberately sewn their eyes shut with fine thread, seemingly not wanting them to open their eyes!

Strangely, though, the Human-Skin Lanterns' mouths were open, spilling the dim yellow light from within!

And just then...

One of the Human-Skin Lanterns that had just floated into the sky began to flicker!

All the examinees in the Ghost Village seemed to have noticed this unusual Human-Skin Lantern too. Someone even pointed at the flickering lantern and said, "Guangsheng, look! That lantern looks a lot like you!"

"Yeah, even the drooping mustache above its mouth looks just like yours!"

"That's strange. I remember it wasn't there before!"

The examinee named Guangsheng also looked up at the Human-Skin Lantern in confusion. "Something's wrong!"

"I've noticed that this lantern changes a little every time it flickers. Look, that mole at the corner of its brow wasn't there before it dimmed last time. It only just appeared. It seems to be filling in the details!"

"No way!"

Guangsheng's three companions were all startled by the possibility he had raised.

But once the Human-Skin Lantern had become the spitting image of Guangsheng...

The Human-Skin Lantern suddenly opened its eyes, snapping all the stitches around its sockets. Only then did everyone discover, to their astonishment...

That the Human-Skin Lantern actually had eyeballs!

"Guangsheng, it looks exactly like you! Even the look in its eyes is just like yours!"

Guangsheng's friends exclaimed in amazement!

But Guangsheng's mouth fell open as he asked in terror, "Did the torch go out? Did you blow it out?"

"Why can't I see? Why can't I see anything?"

At his words.

They all turned to look at Guangsheng in horror.

They knew perfectly well that the torch had not gone out, nor had the sky grown darker. In fact, the light from the Human-Skin Lanterns overhead illuminated the entire village!

How could he not see?

But the next second!

They understood why Guangsheng could not see, because...

Guangsheng's eyes...

Were gone!!

Where Guangsheng's eyes had been, only two pitch-black, bloody holes remained.

Blood still trickled down from them now and then, like bloody tears!

"Guangsheng, your... eyes..."

Someone alerted Guangsheng.

Hearing this, Guangsheng hurriedly touched his eyes, but he felt nothing there except two sunken holes.

He immediately panicked. "How did this happen? Where did my eyes go? Where are my eyes?"

"Who was it? Who stole my eyes!!"

But no one answered him.

Because...

None of them dared tell him the truth, afraid he would not be able to bear it.

What had stolen his eyes was actually the Human-Skin Lantern above his head, and by now, that lantern looked even more like Guangsheng than Guangsheng himself!

It even lowered its gaze, looking down on everyone in the Ghost Village!

A profound terror gripped them all!

"Aaah!!!"

"Aah... my head! My head hurts so much!"

Guangsheng suddenly screamed, clutching his head as he rolled around on the ground.

Meanwhile, everyone saw the Human-Skin Lantern with the open eyes begin to bulge and gradually swell, as though someone were pumping air into it!

Most eerily of all, as the Human-Skin Lantern began to bulge...

Guangsheng's head swelled along with it!

Finally...

When the Human-Skin Lantern reached the limit of what it could withstand...

Bang!

Bang!!!

Yet in the silent night, everyone distinctly heard two lanterns burst!

One sound came from the Human-Skin Lantern in the night sky. But the other...

Where had that come from?

"Guangsheng!!!"

Soon...

A woman's heart-rending cry in the darkness gave them the answer!

"Guangsheng! Why? Why!!!"

The woman wailed bitterly, but after witnessing what had happened to Guangsheng, everyone finally understood what these eerie Human-Skin Lanterns were for!

These Human-Skin Lanterns...

Were the death timers for this round!

Once a Human-Skin Lantern began to resemble someone, it meant that person was about to die!

And their death would be utterly gruesome, leaving them without even an intact corpse!

At that.

None of the examinees in the Ghost Village dared waste another moment!

They all charged like mad toward the little temple at the very center of the Ghost Village, because they knew the only life-saving talisman in this round was inside!