Its revenge

"What happened?"

Shi Lianshan and Chen Ping grew tense as well.

Qin Manjiang briefly described what had just happened, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

Even Liu Jingqing, who had experienced it all herself, only now learned the full sequence of events.

"The first strange phenomenon was the lights suddenly flickering, and then your gaze being drawn toward the window..."

"Then you realized that neither we nor Miss Liu could hear your shouting at all. And that sheep's head approached rapidly whenever the lights dimmed, only to disappear when they brightened."

"When it got within about two meters of you, you figured out the underlying cause. Then you kept staring at that sheep's head, forced open the bathroom door, brought Miss Liu out, and returned to the living room. You shone a High-Intensity Flashlight on the sheep's head, making it disappear..."

"Only then did we snap out of it..."

Shi Lianshan and He Jian took turns reconstructing what had happened with Qin Manjiang. The more they pieced together, the harder it was to stay calm.

"Little Qin, I'm amazed you could think of not blinking at a time like that..."

Shi Lianshan couldn't help saying.

Liu Jingqing looked at Qin Manjiang again. "Thank you, Classmate Qin..."

At that moment, Chen Ping, who had kept a low profile and barely spoken, suddenly said, "I... I have an idea."

When everyone turned to look at him, Chen Ping instinctively shrank back a little before saying, "This village is so big... why did that... that... Sheep Ghost appear near the bathroom at that exact moment? Why did it come looking for you?"

"I was wondering..." Seeing that no one objected, Chen Ping breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "Could it be because, while Little Qin Brother was waiting outside the bathroom for Miss Liu and chatting with her, you talked about something that triggered its appearance...?"

Chen Ping's question was crucial. Even if he hadn't brought it up, Qin Manjiang had intended to share his own thoughts on the matter.

"I think so too. As someone who experienced it firsthand, its appearance at that exact moment was far too coincidental. It wasn't random. I was discussing the interpretation of the opening remarks with Writer Liu, and right after she finished explaining her interpretation, the lights began flickering and it appeared."

Qin Manjiang's recollection was precise, reproducing almost exactly what had happened.

Liu Jingqing nodded firmly as well. "It was after that when I stopped hearing anything outside the bathroom. Classmate Qin just said he kept knocking and calling for me, but I didn't notice at all. I was almost completely immersed in my thoughts, going on and on about my ideas..."

She seemed shaken by the danger she'd narrowly escaped, and her account of what had happened grew somewhat disjointed.

Qin Manjiang looked at her seriously. "Writer Liu, your interpretation got to the heart of it."

The frank praise first startled Liu Jingqing, then she hurriedly shook her head. "I was only... looking at that description from an author's perspective... if it weren't for you, the ghost might already have killed me."

"What I said was..."

"Wait!" He Jian interrupted Liu Jingqing, shaking his head. "Don't repeat your interpretation. We'll discuss it tomorrow, somewhere else."

Realizing how reckless she had been, Liu Jingqing gave a start and quickly shut her mouth.

What if she summoned the Sheep Ghost again?

Chen Ping, however, offered another new idea.

"Um... just now, Little Qin Brother said that whenever the lights went out, it would appear in the gaps between blinks, then disappear when the lights came on. I was thinking... although shining that High-Intensity Flashlight on it made it disappear..."

Chen Ping glanced at the pitch-black corridor and said quietly, "Could it still be there? Maybe it never left, and we just can't see it anymore..."

The conjecture instantly sent chills down everyone's spine.

Not merely because Chen Ping's theory was frightening, but because it really could be true.

"Yes." A faint, appropriately measured fear appeared on Qin Manjiang's face, entirely unlike what he felt inside. The disconnect startled even him. It was as though a hidden voice were telling him... You should be afraid now.

But he wasn't afraid.

It was just like when he had faced Li Xijiu's death. In that situation, it had felt as though a voice inside his body were saying... He's your only friend. You should do everything you can to save him.

He died saving you. You should cry now.

Every emotion had come so logically, appearing so naturally and appropriately, that now Qin Manjiang found it... somewhat unnatural.

What's wrong with me?

The thought surfaced in his mind.

He didn't feel that way deep down, yet his body seemed to have been programmed. Once a particular situation triggered it, it displayed the corresponding emotional response.

Faced with Li Xijiu's death, Qin Manjiang was certain his first reaction deep down hadn't been to cry, but to look for a possibility that Li Xijiu was still alive. He wouldn't even have minded entering the movie theater again.

And yet... this was simply too strange.

Realizing there might be something wrong with him, Qin Manjiang didn't pursue the thought any further. Now wasn't the time.

He looked at everyone and summed things up. "For now, we can establish three things about that Sheep Ghost."

"One, words can summon it."

"Two, in dark places, after making eye contact with someone, it moves rapidly in the gaps when that person blinks."

"Three, it can block sound."

"Looks like the reason we couldn't hear you crashing into the door or shouting was that, just like Miss Liu, we were blocked off by that Sick Sheep. That's just..."

"No." Qin Manjiang shook his head.

Everyone looked at him in surprise, unsure what he meant.

Qin Manjiang explained, "It wasn't you and Writer Liu who were blocked off. It was me. None of the sounds I made could reach the outside world."

Qin Manjiang paused, then added, "This vicious ghost can drag people into a silent domain. That's fatal for anyone acting alone. It can kill anyone without a sound."

"I only managed to break out of the silent domain after forcing open the bathroom door and making physical contact with Writer Liu."

"So, with the tenth seat absent, we'd better move in groups of two and three. No one should go off alone."

Qin Manjiang's perspective offered a fresh insight. Right... it hadn't blocked everyone else's senses. It had blocked every sound made by the person it selected.

Everyone found his analysis convincing. It was only the first night, and they had already uncovered so much information. That was a good result.

It was very late now. After what had happened, a faint sense of panic quietly spread among them.

Except for Qin Manjiang, no one could sleep soundly.

They merely rested with their eyes closed, not daring to fall into a deep sleep.

Only one pair of eyes kept turning toward Qin Manjiang, who had already fallen asleep...

Early the next morning, dawn had barely broken.

Today was the day the Sheep Transformation Festival officially began.

The village chief and several members of the village's prominent families stood outside the Ancestral Hall. Behind them were young men from their households, all strong and sturdy.

"The Wang Family was responsible for guarding the doors last night. Where are they?"

The village chief turned his aged eyes toward the middle-aged man standing beside him.

"Chief... everything was arranged. They were still keeping watch outside when we left. I suppose... they slipped off for a drink sometime after midnight..."

"Your Wang Family. Hmph."

The old village chief's wrinkled face was filled with displeasure.

"Open the doors."

He gave the order.

The Ancestral Hall's doors slowly opened, and the group walked inside.

The sun had yet to rise, and dim daylight spilled into the Ancestral Hall.

The instant they stepped inside, the pungent stench of blood assaulted their senses.

The sight inside the Ancestral Hall filled the young men at the back with terror!

The two Wang Family members who should have been guarding the doors lay on the stone steps beneath the Ancestral Hall's plaque. Their bodies had been torn into more than a dozen pieces, a gruesome sight.

More horrifying still, their bones had been pulled out and sharpened, and their skin had been stripped off...

Before the blood-smeared steps, fear took root in the hearts of everyone who witnessed the carnage.

"The Immortal Sheep... hurry and check on my Immortal Sheep!"

Yet the old village chief ignored it all. His face twisted as he roared, his cane tapping incessantly against the ground. He didn't care in the slightest about the two dead Wang Family members.

Forcing down their terror, they stepped over the dismembered bodies and pushed open the doors to the inner hall. The group timidly looked up at the meditation cushion where the "Immortal Sheep" should have been. It was now-

Completely empty.

Thanks to Borao for the alliance leader donation! That's all three updates done! Thanks to Little Frog for a donation almost at helmsman level! Thanks to Roast Duck, Equal to One, Meat Eater, Hua Qingli, Reader 2018, Reader 2022, Flower, Cassia Seed, Liustea, King of Fighters Sensen, temle, and purej999 for your donations! Thank you, everyone!

I'm giving this book my all, and I will absolutely finish it. Please feel free to invest and donate without worrying! (That's a promise!)

Also, this book needs plenty of IDs for minor characters. If you're interested, contact Jun Buhui to join the group. I'll choose from the group, haha.

(End of chapter)