Does Your Dad Know You're Getting Married Out Here?

Outside the courtyard gate.

A blood-red paper umbrella tilted slightly.

The woman did not come in.

She simply stood there, watching Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan prepare to bow to each other with interest.

[Target: Su Wangyin]

[Race: Theater Fiend]

[Danger level: S-rank]

[Identity: master of the Crimson Theater Pavilion, honored guest of the Dead Men's Theater]

[Current status: watching the show]

Shen Niannian's eyelid twitched hard.

S-rank!

And that status...

Wasn't it a little too honest?

(°ー°〃)

The livestream chat had already erupted.

"Su Wangyin?!"

"It's really that Su Wangyin from the Crimson Theater Pavilion?!"

"An S-rank weird entity! The highest publicly known danger level!"

"What's she doing in an A-rank instance?!"

"What does 'honored guest' mean? Did she come just to watch the show?!"

Ye Qinglan and the others reacted even more directly.

Once Su Wangyin's identity was recognized, the players, who had still been somewhat restless, fell silent almost at once.

Xie Linyuan, at peak A-rank, was dangerous enough.

But S-rank-

That was a completely different matter.

If an existence like that wanted to kill them,

She probably wouldn't even need to make use of the rules.

However,

Su Wangyin didn't look at a single human player.

All her attention was on Shen Niannian.

Then,

The woman's red lips slowly curled upward.

"Pfft."

She couldn't hold it in.

She actually laughed.

"Hahahaha..."

"Shen Niannian, so your day has finally come?"

Shen Niannian: "..."

(￣ー￣)

They did know each other.

And judging by her tone,

They might have been quite close.

Xie Linyuan's expression, meanwhile, grew uglier and uglier.

"Pavilion Master Su, if you're only here to watch the show, you don't have to speak."

Su Wangyin laughed even more happily.

"What's this? Is the young master of the Night Capital feeling shy?"

"It's just my first time seeing such an interesting scene."

She looked back at Shen Niannian, her silvery laughter full of glee at her misfortune.

"We haven't seen each other in over ten years, and little Niannian has gotten bolder. When you were little, if anyone asked you to hold someone's hand, you'd kick them into a pond. And now you actually dare to get married in the Dead Men's Theater?"

Shen Niannian: "?"

She'd done something like that before?

(⊙_⊙)

The livestream chat perked up instantly.

"More embarrassing history coming out!"

"Wait, that's not the point!"

"She called her little Niannian!"

"An S-rank weird entity knows Shen Niannian too!"

"The Blood Moon Hotel, Mirror City, the Night Capital, and now even the Crimson Theater Pavilion! Just how many times did she tour the Weird World as a child?!"

Ye Qinglan stood nearby.

She had completely given up on using the Nightfall Lolita to explain all this.

A weird item could disguise someone's aura.

But could it also fabricate an S-rank weird entity's memories from over ten years ago?

What a joke.

The truly outrageous thing

Had never been the dress.

It was the person wearing it!

Just then,

Su Wangyin suddenly added in a casual tone,

"But I'm a little curious."

"Does your dad know you're out here getting married to someone?"

Xie Linyuan: "..."

His body visibly stiffened.

Shen Niannian, however, seized on the key point at once.

"You know my dad?"

Su Wangyin looked at her with a smile.

"No."

Shen Niannian: "..."

[Current status: lying]

(￢_￢)

Say that again?

Although a level 1 Identity Archive couldn't check information requiring high-level access,

It was still pretty useful for checking someone's status.

"You obviously know him."

Su Wangyin's smile faltered.

"Who told you that?"

"I guessed."

"You guessed wrong."

"Oh."

Shen Niannian nodded.

"Then the next time I see my dad, I'll tell him Su Wangyin said she doesn't know him."

Su Wangyin: "..."

Xie Linyuan silently took a step to the side.

The livestream chat:

"Hahahaha!"

"She's started turning the tables and threatening weird entities!"

"S-rank weird entity: you weren't like this when you were little!"

Su Wangyin stared at Shen Niannian for several seconds.

In the end, she sighed softly.

"After losing your memory, you haven't improved in any other way, but you haven't lost a bit of your cunning."

She didn't continue the subject of Shen Niannian's father.

Instead, she lifted her chin.

"Are you two going to bow or not? The incense is almost burned out."

Shen Niannian abruptly came to her senses.

Right!

This was no time for a family reunion!

[Time remaining for the couple to bow to each other: 46 seconds]

Less than a minute remained!

The paper matchmaker's voice rang out again.

"The couple bows to each other-!"

But Shen Niannian still didn't bow.

There had been traps in both of the first two bows.

The third couldn't be as simple as lowering their heads.

She quickly aimed Inspection at the marriage contract hanging in midair, which was already two-thirds complete.

[Target: Dead Men's Theater Ghost Marriage Contract]

[Danger level: A-rank]

[Current progress: 2/3]

[Parties to the marriage contract: Shen Niannian, Xie Linyuan]

Shen Niannian's pupils contracted.

Something was wrong!

The names announced had clearly been-

[Young daughter of the Chen Family]

[Young master of the Xie Family of the Night Capital]

Why did the contract still list their real names?

[Time remaining: 32 seconds]

Shen Niannian immediately spoke up. "We can't bow! This marriage contract is still binding us as ourselves!"

Xie Linyuan's gaze abruptly darkened.

He had clearly sensed something too.

"Just as I thought."

Su Wangyin, however, remained outside the gate, watching the show.

Shen Niannian immediately looked at her.

"Do you know how to deal with this?"

Su Wangyin shook her head with a smile.

"Yes."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I'm a spectator, not an actor. The Dead Men's Theater allows me to watch the show, but it doesn't allow me to change it for the people onstage."

With that,

She paused.

Then she suddenly asked a very strange question.

"Niannian, who are you now?"

Shen Niannian froze.

"Shen Niannian."

Su Wangyin's smile deepened.

She said nothing.

But Shen Niannian suddenly realized.

That wasn't right!

In the Dead Men's Theater-

She wasn't supposed to be Shen Niannian now!

Her role was:

[Chen Family's youngest daughter]

Act Three identity:

[Bride]

But she was wearing [Nightfall Lolita].

From beginning to end.

She had never completed the bride's formal attire!

The marriage contract would bind the actors themselves.

Could it be because-

The one standing here completing the wedding bows was "Shen Niannian".

Rather than the fully attired "Chen Family bride"?

[Time remaining: 20 seconds]

"The bridal gown!"

Shen Niannian snapped her gaze toward the red bridal gown left behind in Act One.

It had been hanging beside the mourning hall this whole time!

Ye Qinglan instantly realized it too.

"Wearing the complete outfit in Act One would have made the ancestral spirit recognize you as a sacrifice, but we've entered Act Three now, and your identity has changed to the bride!"

The plot had changed.

The meaning of an item could change with it!

Shen Niannian immediately activated Inspection.

[Target: Chen Family bridal gown]

[Current use: Ghost marriage bride's costume]

[Wearing effect: Confirms the "Chen Family's youngest daughter · bride" role identity.]

Just as she'd thought!

"Bring it over!"

Ye Qinglan yanked down the bridal gown.

She threw it straight over.

With a thought, Shen Niannian acted.

She put away [Nightfall Lolita] for the moment.

Then she quickly slipped on the red bridal gown.

The red bridal veil fell into place.

Hum-!

The entire Chen Family compound shook violently.

[Bride role confirmation complete.]

The marriage contract in midair began to change.

[Marriage contract parties: Shen Niannian, Xie Linyuan]

It blurred.

Twisted.

And finally formed anew.

[Marriage contract roles: Chen Family's youngest daughter, young master of the Night Capital's Xie Family]

Shen Niannian's eyes suddenly lit up.

(✧ω✧)

It worked!

[Time remaining: 6 seconds]

The paper matchmaker shrieked again.

"Bride and groom, bow to each other-!"

Shen Niannian and Xie Linyuan bowed at the same time.

[3]

[2]

[1]

Boom-!

The two completed their final bow.

The red marriage contract closed completely.

[Three bows complete.]

[The theatrical marriage is established.]

[Binding targets: Roles.]

[Act Three, "Ghost Marriage"-complete!]

Deafening applause erupted throughout the courtyard.

The livestream chat erupted.

"They passed!!"

"She changed into the bridal gown in the last few seconds!"

"She couldn't wear the complete bridal outfit in Act One, but she had to wear it in Act Three. The same prop's function changed after the plot changed!"

"And Su Wangyin's 'Who are you now?' was actually a hint!"

"The identity advantage came in handy again!"

Shen Niannian whipped off the red bridal veil.

She let out a long sigh of relief.

(╥﹏╥)

That was close.

She had almost married herself off for real.

Xie Linyuan saw that only the role names remained on the marriage contract.

He visibly relaxed as well.

Su Wangyin stood outside the gate.

She suddenly smiled and applauded.

"Not bad."

"Looks like losing your memory hasn't left you so stupid you're beyond saving."

Shen Niannian's mouth twitched.

She was just about to retort.

All the lights in the Dead Men's Theater-

Suddenly went out.

The next second.

A notification appeared, more scarlet than any of the blood-red text before it.

It slowly emerged from the darkness.

[Act Three has ended.]

[The final act is about to begin.]

[All surviving actors, please return to the stage.]

[Final act title-]

["Who is dead"]