"S-sorry, I didn't mean to. I don't know what came over me just now."
Zhang Yaoyao immediately began explaining in a panic.
She had only glanced at the spirit tablets when her vision blurred. By the time she came to her senses, her finger was already outstretched.
Chu Qingjiu's expression chilled. He couldn't decide whether to call her stupid or call her stupid.
Eight spirit tablets, exactly eight of them. Even an idiot could work out what that meant. Whoever belonged to the first tablet to fall would probably be the first to die.
"Hey, don't panic. Let me see what it says."
Qi Wu sounded utterly unconcerned.
His attitude, as though this little incident wasn't worth worrying about at all, somehow soothed Zhang Yaoyao after her mistake.
He lazily reached out to pick up the fallen tablet, turned it around, and suddenly laughed.
"Oh, it's mine."
"..."
Chu Qingjiu's mood suddenly improved considerably, and a faint, pleased smile spread across his tightly pressed lips.
Qi Wu's gaze abruptly shifted from the tablet to Chu Qingjiu's exquisitely beautiful face. With an innocent smile, he asked, "Are you happy, Qingjiu? I saw the corner of your mouth turn up."
"...Ahem! N-no...cough..."
Caught off guard by being singled out, Chu Qingjiu broke into a coughing fit.
Qi Wu took the opportunity to tuck the tablet inside his clothes, hiding it away. He supported the frail Chu Qingjiu with one hand and rubbed his back with the other. "Easy there. I was only joking."
Unlike the relaxed Qi Wu, Zhang Yaoyao had stopped panicking only to sink into guilt. So distressed she was nearly in tears, she choked out, "I'm sorry, Brother Wu. It's all my fault."
"It's fine, it's fine. Your Brother Wu has luck on his side. I'm not going to die."
Qi Wu waved it off, though he still cautioned her earnestly, "Don't be so reckless next time. This isn't a game. You don't get another chance."
Zhang Yaoyao hurriedly agreed, not daring to argue.
Qi Wu grew bolder now and pushed at the neighboring tablet. It didn't budge, as firmly fixed in place as though it had been glued down.
"Looks like I'm the lucky chosen one," Qi Wu remarked.
Chu Qingjiu was very pleased with how thoroughly the instance was targeting Qi Wu. Qi Wu was a veteran entering under an alias, and he had certainly cleared more than four instances. Besides, he was currently the Top-Ranked Player in the Player Rankings.
The Top-Ranked Player was, as the title suggested, the person who had cleared the most instances. Qi Wu apparently had seventy-nine clears, putting him far ahead of everyone else, and that didn't even include the instances he had cleared under aliases.
Any big shot who came to the beginner zone pretending to be weak had to be ruthlessly put in his place.
Chu Qingjiu thought this was perfectly reasonable.
Yet he seemed to have forgotten that he, too, was a cheater with a skill no one else possessed.
The ancestral hall was spacious. Qi Wu told Liu Peng to take Zhang Yaoyao to inspect the East Room, and the two obediently did as asked.
Now only Qi Wu and Chu Qingjiu remained before the eerie spirit tablets.
"Why are you keeping the tablet in your clothes?"
Chu Qingjiu asked, looking at the hard object bulging against Qi Wu's chest.
Qi Wu looked entirely justified. "Because it's my spirit tablet."
"..." That sounded awfully reasonable.
But Chu Qingjiu wasn't buying his shameless act. He said coolly, "You're the only one who saw the name. None of us did."
His brows suddenly knitted. Qi Wu knew what was wrong at a glance and offered an arm without prompting, giving Chu Qingjiu something to hold on to.
Chu Qingjiu gripped Qi Wu's offered arm and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. Only when the stabbing pain in his chest subsided did he open his eyes and continue, "...It's also possible you made that up to comfort that girl."
Watching the frail Chu Qingjiu, Qi Wu suddenly narrowed his eyes. He abruptly bent down toward Chu Qingjiu's face, startling him into taking a step back, only for his waist to press against the table holding the tablets.
"Ngh..."
The hard edge of the table dug into his waist, drawing a muffled groan. His fingers tightened slightly on Qi Wu, wrinkling the Mourning Garment he wore.
Qi Wu stared intently at Chu Qingjiu's brows, faintly knitted from the impact, the shimmering moisture in his narrowed eyes, and his pale lips.
His gaze swept carefully from top to bottom, and his Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.
Chu Qingjiu had nowhere left to retreat.
Their position was very strange. Qi Wu had trapped him in an intensely aggressive posture, with the table behind him and Qi Wu's handsome face drawing steadily closer in front of him.
Qi Wu stopped at a distance where he needed only to lower his head slightly to kiss Chu Qingjiu, then gave an inscrutable chuckle.
"So you want to see my spirit tablet that badly? Say something sweet to me, and I'll let you look. How about it?"
"..."
The person before him frowned slightly, a hint of distaste in his lovely features. His purple eyes reflected Qi Wu's faintly teasing expression.
Qi Wu had to admit that even Chu Qingjiu's look of disgust was beautiful.
Chu Qingjiu wasn't usually the silent type, but Qi Wu somehow had the extraordinary ability to leave him speechless again and again, draining him of any desire to talk.
"Forget it. I'm not interested."
With that, Chu Qingjiu gave Qi Wu a hard shove.
Feeling the harmless force, about as threatening as a kitten's scratch, Qi Wu obligingly stepped back and gave Chu Qingjiu room to move.
With a cold expression, Chu Qingjiu turned and headed toward the West Room.
Aside from the possibility that someone else's name was on it, there was another reason Qi Wu might refuse to show him the tablet: it could bear his real name, "Qi Wu."
Having his real identity exposed to the others would probably be quite a headache, wouldn't it?
Besides, if it really bore someone else's name, Qi Wu had no reason to keep hiding it. Unpleasant as he could be, he seemed quite tolerant of other players.
Whenever the atmosphere grew tense, he would speak up to break the tension and put everyone at ease.
Fear was one of the forms of energy an instance required. Chu Qingjiu still didn't know whether Qi Wu was doing this deliberately or unconsciously. If it was deliberate, that would be very interesting.
Qi Wu didn't follow Chu Qingjiu immediately. Instead, he took out the tablet hidden inside his clothes, looked at it, and gave an inscrutable smile.
Because the name written on the tablet was Chu Qingjiu.
After reading it, he tucked the tablet back inside his clothes in high spirits, then leisurely followed Chu Qingjiu, humming an unfamiliar tune.
They stood together before an enclosed room that let in no light. Its only entrance was a battered door standing ajar, which opened with an easy push.
"Creeeak-"
The old, battered door gave an unpleasant, piercing creak, an ominous sound.
At the noise, the rats inside scattered, quickly vanishing without a trace.
Qi Wu took two flashlights out of his backpack and handed one to Chu Qingjiu.
Chu Qingjiu accepted it instinctively and said, "Thank you," only to hear that incorrigible Qi Wu reply, "If you really want to thank me, how about giving yourself to me?"
Chu Qingjiu: ?
He really wanted a different teammate now. Someone normal would be easier to communicate with.
"You're like this with everyone, aren't you?" Chu Qingjiu sneered coldly.
Qi Wu immediately objected. "No. I'm only like this with you."
"..."
Still, it really was strange that Qi Wu had kept his eyes on him from the very beginning. Had Qi Wu remembered that he was the Puppeteer?
"Why are you only like this with me?"
"Because...you're the prettiest. I like your face." Qi Wu looked at Chu Qingjiu with a beaming smile.
Considering Qi Wu's favorability toward him was still at zero, Chu Qingjiu wasn't inclined to believe that explanation. But remembering how glib the man was, he abandoned the idea of questioning him further.
Either way, the sooner Qi Wu got killed, the happier he would be.
Chu Qingjiu switched on the flashlight and shone it into the room. Its light converged into a beam that moved slowly with his hand.
The flashlight revealed the room's interior.
A Buddha statue was set into the eastern wall, with a small offering table before it. An incense burner sat in the center of the table, flanked by offering plates. The plates were empty; the rats had probably stolen the food.
But since the rear courtyard had been abandoned, no one had come to worship this Buddha or clean the dust from it. Its golden finish had dulled beneath a thick layer of dust.
A closer look revealed that the Buddha was half human and half bird, an extremely strange and ominous figure.
Chu Qingjiu quickly recognized the statue and said flatly, "This is the Rakshasi, one of the Twelve Evil Buddhas, a demon deity symbolizing desire."
No normal household would ever worship an evil Buddha. Though an evil Buddha could reward its worshippers in the short term, the price that followed was enormous.
Families that worshipped evil Buddhas almost always ended in ruin, with every last member dead.
"Do you think all twelve evil Buddhas are gathered here, waiting for the Ghost Festival so they can come out and wreak havoc?"
Qi Wu seemed to be making an idle remark, but the surrounding temperature abruptly dropped, as though responding to his words.
Suddenly, an icy gust swept through, and the already dilapidated door slammed shut with a bang.
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