Puppet Threads

Above ghosts were puppets, and beyond them were ghosts of even more terrifying levels.

Chang Dafeng, a seasoned veteran, was unwilling even to speak much about ghosts like that.

Were the human skins in Guan Village puppets, or ghosts? Or perhaps...

Zhou Yang suppressed his chaotic thoughts.

Fear came from the unknown.

Greater fear came from discovering even more unknowns despite what one already knew.

After instructing Ding Ling, Chang Dafeng took the others into the adjoining side room, leaving her alone in the main room.

Once the room emptied, the warm presence of the people inside also dissipated.

In moments, the place was desolate and still. A faint chill seemed to swirl against Ding Ling's back.

The room was so quiet that Ding Ling could hear her own breathing, and goosebumps rose on her skin.

She faced a dressing mirror with an oil lamp set in front of it.

The tiny flame flickered, casting a stark white light over Ding Ling's face in the mirror. For a fleeting moment, she looked as though she were made of paper.

The blackness in the mirror engulfed Ding Ling's figure like the water of a dark lake.

Her face, too, was now as pale as that of a drowned corpse soaking in the lake.

As the incense stick in the burner nearby burned down to its base, Chang Dafeng coughed heavily from the side room.

"Midnight has come."

Zhou Yang gave his warning at the same time.

Ding Ling gave an almost imperceptible nod and picked up the comb that had long been ready on the table. Her hair hung loose, and she pushed the teeth into her long locks, combing them forward stroke by stroke.

Long hair also covered the face of Ding Ling's reflection. Her blue coarse-cloth jacket blended into the darkness, and the hands combing and smoothing her hair seemed to have grown out of the darkness itself.

Zhou Yang watched the scene in the mirror, alert.

Something strange had already begun to happen when Ding Ling faced the mirror at midnight.

That was why the scene in the mirror looked increasingly like a reflection of the fear in his and Ding Ling's hearts.

For instance, the longer he looked at Ding Ling in the mirror, the more she resembled Chu Renmei from the film The Wicked Ghost of a Village that he had seen before. In reality, though, Ding Ling was a rather delicate-looking young woman, nothing like the cold and forbidding Chu Renmei.

Something strange was interfering with his perception.

Zhou Yang stopped looking at the mirror to free himself from the strange situation.

He concentrated on counting Ding Ling's strokes. "Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen...

"Twenty-nine, thirty...

"Forty-nine-Ding Ling, it's time to comb it back."

Time passed without their noticing.

Ding Ling began combing the hair in front of her face back behind her head.

Her face slowly emerged. Fine beads of sweat had formed on her slightly pale face; she was visibly nervous now, too.

In the side room, Chang Dafeng pressed his face to the crack in the door and squinted hard, trying to see what was happening in the main room.

One hand pressed against the door while the other dug into the gaps between the wall bricks. His long, pointed thumbnail had sunk into the mud in the seam.

The others huddled together in a corner, too frightened to breathe.

"Have you heard the saying 'ghosts fear wicked people'? Ding Ling, that's twenty-seven strokes." In the main room, Zhou Yang spoke gently to Ding Ling, trying to distract her so she would not become too absorbed in the strange situation and hinder the task at hand.

As she combed her hair, Ding Ling answered Zhou Yang in her mind. I... I haven't heard it.

Zhou Yang said, "Ghosts fear wicked people means that even terrifying ghosts are afraid of fierce, vicious-looking people.

"Just like how the opera troupe wants to perform a play about gods and ghosts to frighten the ghost here-

"They'll use the fiercer ghosts and gods in the opera to intimidate the real ghost here.

"That's thirty-three."

"Why?" Ding Ling asked, puzzled. "Why can the fake ghosts and gods in a play frighten the real ones here?"

Zhou Yang did not know why either.

But he could not show uncertainty in front of his Manifestation Body.

He tried to answer. "Perhaps it's because... being able to stay fierce and look fearsome at all times is a valuable talent in itself.

"Most people don't have that talent.

"Think about it. When most people see a ghost, they're so overwhelmed by fear that they lose all sense of their surroundings.

"But some people still dare to bare their fangs at a ghost. Isn't that valuable?

"And ghosts can be afraid too. Naturally, they're more likely to fear the 'wicked people' who dare to bare their fangs at them.

"There's a connection between that and what the opera troupe is trying to do now.

"That's forty-five, Ding Ling."

Mm! Ding Ling answered solemnly in her mind.

She did not quite understand much of what Zhou Yang said.

But she understood this-

Her benefactor was teaching her that when she saw the ghost later, she must not panic or be afraid.

If she was afraid, she would show weakness.

And if she showed weakness, she would die.

In fact, although Ding Ling was a little nervous, she did not feel afraid.

After all, she was no longer alone.

She had been even bolder when she was alone. There was no reason for her to be more timid now that there were two of them.

She was nervous only because she was afraid she would do a poor job and displease her benefactor.

Hearing his words now made Ding Ling realize there was no need for that worry either.

Listening to her benefactor count for her in her mind, Ding Ling steadied herself and combed her hair behind her shoulders, stroke by stroke.

"Forty-seven."

"Forty-eight."

"Forty-nine."

Zhou Yang immediately said, "Stop, Ding Ling."

A bone-chilling cold lingered all around them. It gave one the terrifying feeling of standing on a sheer cliff, where one step forward meant being smashed to pieces and one step back meant eternal damnation.

That chill told Zhou Yang that the ghost had arrived.

Ding Ling could not afford a single mistake now. One extra stroke of the comb might cost her life.

So Zhou Yang immediately told her to stop.

Ding Ling obediently put down the comb and raised her head to look at the dressing mirror before her.

In the mirror, she was all alone.

The darkness was like a giant hand, and she was held fast in its palm.

"Is anyone there? If someone is, please come out and show yourself."

Ding Ling called out.

The room was so quiet that a falling pin could be heard.

"Is anyone there? If someone is, please come out and show yourself."

"Is anyone there..."

Ding Ling repeated the words three times.

Then she fell silent.

Her shoulders sagged, her back hunched slightly, and her eyes stared fixedly at the dressing mirror.

Although she was still the only person in the mirror, she looked as though she had seen something else, as though the mirror had drawn out her soul.

At the same time, Zhou Yang, dwelling inside Ding Ling's body, could no longer hear her thoughts. It was as if someone had gently pressed pause on a noisy movie scene filled with crowds of people.

Everything fell silent.

The silence came crashing head-on at Zhou Yang like an iron wall!

Zhou Yang's thoughts raced!

The Knife Credit Ledger appeared in his mind, its worn pages rustling as they turned.

He found Ding Ling's personal record and focused all his attention on the Mindfulness field.

Karmic Retribution Body: Ding Ling.

Mindfulness: 6 (own 1 + Blade-Credit Merchant 5)

Ding Ling's Mindfulness had dropped by one point!

The thought had only just arisen in Zhou Yang's mind when he saw another change in her Mindfulness-

Karmic Retribution Body: Ding Ling.

Mindfulness: 5 (own 0 + Blade-Credit Merchant 5)

Karmic Retribution Body: Ding Ling.

Mindfulness: 4 (own -1 + Blade-Credit Merchant 5)

Ding Ling's own Mindfulness had fallen below zero!

A chill pierced Zhou Yang's soul!

He realized almost instantly that as this Manifestation Body's Mindfulness continued to plunge into the abyss, he would be dragged down sooner or later!

The only way to avoid being dragged down was to leave the Manifestation Body-

And leave her to live or die on her own!

If he fled, Ding Ling would die without a doubt.

If he stayed, there was still a chance he could win her a sliver of hope.

He was Ding Ling's only hope of survival, but the price was that he might not find that sliver of hope at all, and would die with her!

But if he returned to Guan Village, when would he find his next Manifestation Body?

The Revelation Ceremony was almost upon him!

Ding Ling-wasn't she also his only hope of survival?!

Zhou Yang made up his mind in an instant!

He would stay!

As he made his decision, a shrill operatic voice suddenly rang out from Ding Ling's mouth. "Break off a leg bone to make a flute, strip off human skin to stretch over a drum-

"Pei Lang, oh~ I'll carve out my heart and set a feast for you-

"This beating scarlet flesh is my heart and liver! Taste it while it's hot-is it bloody and salty?"