Three Ghosts Converge

Qin Manjiang's voice reminded everyone that, besides Immortal Sheep and Li Rong, they now had Chen Ping to contend with.

"The three ghosts kill in completely different ways. Li Rong is nothing but a head now, and we don't even know why she kills."

"Chen Ping requires you to make a wish. But from what you described, making a wish to Chen Ping is extremely dangerous. He agreed to stay where he was for fifteen minutes. How much time has passed?"

Zhong Xueran asked.

He Jian had been keeping track of the time all along. At her question, he answered almost without hesitation, "Four more minutes before he can move."

Zhong Xueran nodded. "At least he follows the rules."

"Not necessarily." Qin Manjiang offered a different view.

He looked at He Jian and asked, "Shi's wish was to leave Xianyang Village alive after seven days, but you killed him before leaving. In a sense, his wish wasn't fulfilled."

"You mean, if 'Chen Ping' really followed the rules of wish-making to the letter, he would've appeared to stop me when I helped Shi kill himself?" He Jian asked.

"It's hard to say..."

Qin Manjiang didn't know how to explain it himself. The four of them continued onward when, suddenly... that feeling returned.

Just like when they first entered the village, they felt eyes on them everywhere.

But there wasn't a single person left in the village. Who else could be watching them?

They turned to look. Sure enough, black goats had appeared in the doors and windows of every house...

The longer you stared at a goat, the more sinister an animal it seemed.

For one thing, their pupils were unlike those of most animals. Most pupils were round or vertical slits, but goats had eerie, elongated pupils.

Seeing these goats, Qin Manjiang suddenly had an idea.

Since Immortal Sheep could drag people into some kind of silent domain, could that mean the four of them were already completely trapped in an enormous silent space it had created?

After all, there wasn't a single living person here besides these Black Sheep. The silence was deeply unsettling.

He stopped immediately and looked at Zhong Xueran.

"Don't stop! Hurry up, get to the central square!" He Jian was anxious. A countdown was ticking away in his mind. Although his wish hadn't been greedy, and the Vengeful Ghost had indeed honored it, he couldn't shake the feeling that things weren't that simple. He just wanted to reach somewhere crowded as quickly as possible.

"What would we go there for?" Qin Manjiang suddenly asked.

"Obviously, to..." He Jian opened his mouth, then suddenly realized that the four of them seemed to be the only living people left in the entire village.

"Why were you leading us to the village's central square from the start, Miss Zhong?" He looked at Zhong Xueran in confusion.

Zhong Xueran froze. Yes, why?

"We're already inside Immortal Sheep's silent space," Qin Manjiang voiced his theory. "Our urge to go to the village's central square came from its suggestion."

"We have no reason we absolutely need to go there, so..." Qin Manjiang's gaze returned to Zhong Xueran, then shifted to He Jian and Liu Jingqing.

"Come closer, please. I have an idea..."

They couldn't waste any more time here. "Chen Ping" would soon be able to move.

Qin Manjiang's words surprised everyone. He actually had an idea at a critical moment like this?

A new player?

Although he did look very young, there was no denying that Qin Manjiang possessed a composure beyond his years. All three drew closer and listened carefully.

"Those three ghosts, we can..."

Qin Manjiang spoke slowly. Liu Jingqing occasionally nodded and glanced at him. By chance, she noticed something strange about the house behind him.

Was she imagining things?

She kept feeling that the goat inside that house was a little closer to Qin Manjiang than before.

My eyes must be playing tricks on me...

The goat hadn't moved. Unless the entire building had moved closer to Qin Manjiang.

But how could that be possible?

Even so, she couldn't help studying the house behind Qin Manjiang.

This time, to her horror, she saw...

A hideous woman's head had appeared on the Black Sheep's neck!

Where a goat's head should have been, there was now a woman's head!

When she noticed Liu Jingqing looking at her, the woman's head on the goat's body opened her mouth unnaturally wide, revealing densely packed, razor-sharp teeth.

Liu Jingqing's face went deathly pale.

"She... she... she's here!"

The instant Liu Jingqing cried out, Zhong Xueran grabbed her arm and pulled her into a headlong flight!

Almost simultaneously, Qin Manjiang and He Jian turned and ran!

A clatter of countless goat hooves erupted behind them. He Jian glanced back, and his scalp prickled with terror.

Every Black Sheep had emerged behind the four of them!

All their heads had become Li Rong's hate-filled head. Every one stared fixedly at the four of them, especially Zhong Xueran. Those venomous, blood-red eyes and bloodcurdling screams seemed bent on dragging her into hell...

So many... far too many.

There were far too many Black Sheep!

Worse still, He Jian realized that the duration of his wish had just expired.

Fifteen minutes were up. "Chen Ping" was out too!

His face ashen, he asked, "Where... where do we run?"

He had barely finished when Liu Jingqing said despairingly, "I... I can't run anymore... Miss Zhong..."

She was panting, finally unable to keep going. As someone who spent years working at a computer, she had even less strength and stamina than the average young woman. After this desperate sprint, she was already gasping, unable to catch her breath.

Qin Manjiang's stamina was ordinary too. His physical fitness was that of an average man-almost excessively average.

Zhong Xueran and He Jian, on the other hand, looked as though they could keep running for a long time, despite their grim expressions.

"Don't talk. The more you talk, the more you disrupt your breathing, and the more exhausted you'll get." Zhong Xueran didn't release Liu Jingqing's arm. Instead, she slowed a little to accommodate her.

Liu Jingqing was desperately trying to keep going, but she and everyone else knew that running forever wasn't a solution. The Black Sheep bearing the female ghost's head never tired. Unless they came up with something, the Black Sheep would catch them sooner or later, and then they would meet the same fate as Wang Ju.

"About what I hadn't finished saying earlier, you..." Qin Manjiang suddenly picked up where he had left off.

"Why are you still talking at a time like this?" He Jian couldn't help saying. "Don't waste your strength. Just run!"

Qin Manjiang fell silent for a moment. Finally, he spoke again, his tone much firmer this time. "If you want to live, do exactly as I say."

Everyone was startled by Qin Manjiang, but they quickly understood. He really did have a plan!

"He Jian, Zhong Xueran, how much longer can you keep running at this speed?"

"Twenty to twenty-five minutes if I push myself to the limit," Zhong Xueran answered immediately.

He Jian nodded as well. "Around thirty minutes for me."

"Good. We'll resolve all of this within half an hour."

Qin Manjiang's eyes were utterly cold, stripped of all emotion, as though he were a precision machine:

"He Jian, you're bound to the Vengeful Ghost 'Chen Ping' by your wish. The fifteen minutes are up, and it will come looking for you. You can't run with us. Lead it away and hold out for half an hour."

"Zhong Xueran, the Black Sheep are after you. Give the writing brush to Liu Jingqing, then lead the Black Sheep away."

"Liu Jingqing, take the writing brush and find a way to break this silent domain."

Qin Manjiang assigned everyone a task. Only his own went unmentioned.

At a time like this, if they couldn't trust one another, they had no chance of escaping alive.

He Jian, Zhong Xueran, and Liu Jingqing all found themselves glancing at Qin Manjiang's back.

"If you trust me, do as I say."

Qin Manjiang didn't turn around. His voice grew a little quieter, making his words difficult to hear:

"This time, I don't want any more regrets..."

Today's update will be a little late. The second chapter should be up around eight thirty or nine.

(End of chapter)