Time rewound to half an hour earlier.
Qi Wu had just left Song Qing'an's room when he saw the Miao women escorting Wu Zhong and the other three toward the chief's house.
He hid on a rooftop and watched silently, making out the Miao women's faces by the moonlight.
Their faces were shriveled and ugly, like spoiled sheets of dough. The Miao women wore completely different faces at night than they did during the day.
A flicker of bewilderment crossed Qi Wu's face before he looked at the Miao villagers standing on the balconies of their stilt houses, all looking down at Wu Zhong and the others.
These were the village's silent original inhabitants. They were just as aged as the Miao women, as though they had revealed their true forms at night.
Puzzled, Qi Wu followed silently, watching the eight Miao women surround Wu Zhong and the other three.
A Xue smiled. "We're especially fond of Chu Qingjiu's skin, so we'll eat his organs and lay eggs inside his body to hatch."
"Thank you for providing the nourishment. We'll make good use of his skin."
A Xue looked at the stars twinkling in the pitch-black sky and said mildly, "The master should have eaten him by now."
At those words, Qi Wu felt as though his heart would stop. Suppressing his fury, he backed away, intending to reach the chief's house before the Miao women noticed him.
Until he saw a body, he would treat it all as false information. But Chu Qingjiu wasn't among those being escorted, so he probably really was at the chief's house.
Qi Wu crept over to the chief's house, but just as he was about to jump down from the roof, a Miao woman inside a stilt house spotted him. He could no longer sneak inside.
Dagger in hand, Qi Wu entered the chief's house with a cold expression. The moment he stepped through the door, he saw the chief sitting leisurely beside a table.
Only now, she looked just as ancient as the Miao women outside.
Qi Wu dispensed with fair play and struck first. When the sharp blade touched the chief's aged skin, it was like cutting into a flatbread. One light slice severed her entire hand.
But there was no blood at the stump, only an endless stream of pitch-black Gu insects crawling out.
"Ha ha..."
The chief laughed, the wrinkles on her face bunching together into a grotesque, revolting sight.
The Gu insects scuttled across the floor with a rustling sound. Some went to reattach the shriveled severed hand, which was nothing but skin.
Others crawled toward Qi Wu.
Frowning, Qi Wu took out the talisman paper he had kept hidden in his pocket and quietly recited an incantation.
The talisman paper suddenly burst into flames. He tossed it onto the floor, and none of the Gu insects dared approach him. They could only skirt the flames and mill restlessly around him.
Although talisman paper mainly harmed ghosts, it could sometimes serve as a barrier too.
"Talisman paper?" The chief narrowed her eyes, which were already mere slits. "Interesting."
"What the hell are you?"
Qi Wu truly couldn't understand how the chief's body worked. From what he could see, she clearly wasn't human, merely a humanoid made of countless Gu insects wrapped in human skin.
The hand he had cut off was reattached, as though there were no way to kill her.
The chief offered no explanation and remained calmly seated.
Suddenly, as though sensing something, the chief gave a soft chuckle. With an ambiguous smile, she looked at Qi Wu and said, "You've lost your chance."
Qi Wu frowned. "What do you mean?"
She casually raised her hand, revealing its deeply wrinkled, exceedingly rough skin, and giggled.
"You killed the only person here who could restrain me. Now you have no chance."
As the chief spoke, the aged features on her face seemed to return to normal bit by bit, as though whatever forced her to become an old woman at night had vanished completely.
Qi Wu knew Li Yunlong and the others had planned to kill the white-haired old man tonight. Judging by the situation, they seemed to have succeeded.
But that white-haired old man wasn't the Gu Ghost Woman. Instead, he was someone capable of restraining the woman now before them.
Could it be... the white-haired old man was the real chief?
If they had killed the NPC who could restrain the boss, that effectively made the boss invincible in this instance.
The boss of this instance was clearly this inhuman chief. Qi Wu even suspected that she might be the Gu Ghost Woman they were supposed to kill.
If so, Li Yunlong and the others' actions had already rendered the task of killing the Gu Ghost Woman impossible.
Since the first task was easier than the second, the way to obtain the antidote couldn't be too outrageous. In any case, he didn't believe the antidote was the Miao women's bodies. This wasn't a love Gu like the Lovesickness Gu.
Just then, uneven footsteps sounded behind him.
Qi Wu looked back and saw the eight Miao women approaching with Wu Zhong and the other three players in custody.
"Qi Wu, are you all right?"
Despite being held captive himself, Wu Zhong's first concern was still Qi Wu.
All four of them were now weak and limp, because the Miao women had hidden Gu insects in their clothes when they weren't paying attention.
The Gu insects had then bitten them and burrowed into their skin.
Judging by their current condition, the Gu insects weren't terrifying. They merely left them weak and limp, with no choice but to let the Miao women escort them along.
"What happened to you?"
"These Miao women are too underhanded. Even though we avoided eating or drinking anything, the Gu insects still got into our bodies. As far as I know, they put the insects in our clothes."
Before Wu Zhong said that, Qi Wu had felt perfectly normal. Once he heard those words, he felt as though little insects really were crawling over him.
A sharp pain stung the back of his neck. Qi Wu slapped a hand against it, only to feel beads of blood.
It was already inside.
"Ha ha ha! Not one of you will escape. Be good and become my nourishment."
The chief had already returned to the beautiful, alluring appearance she wore during the day. She lazily lifted her eyelids and moved her fingers slightly, and the eight Miao women surrounded Qi Wu.
Her beautiful, full red lips curved into a delighted smile, making her look even more captivating. But to Qi Wu, she was merely a venomous beauty, lovely on the outside but utterly rotten within.
The chief strolled toward Qi Wu, her elaborate Miao headdress swaying gently with her steps. Its ornaments clinked together with a clear, pleasing sound, but to Qi Wu, it was only nauseating.
"Where is that precious older brother of yours? If you tell me, I'll treat you well. Of all these people, your body is my favorite."
As though coaxing him, the chief spoke in an exceedingly soft, suggestive voice. Her pale, slender fingertips, their nails painted red, reached toward the tall young man before her, but he recoiled in disgust.
"Get lost."
The chief narrowed her long, beautiful eyes like a venomous snake and gave a cold snort, as though mocking Qi Wu for failing to appreciate her favor.
"It doesn't matter. Even if you don't tell me, I can use you to lure him out. Since you like him so much, wearing his skin will work just as well."
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