PTYS Chapter 176

Xiao Muyu had already heard Shen Qingqiu’s warning and immediately grabbed Shen Qingqiu’s arm with both hands, forcibly stopping in her tracks.

With a swift turn of her foot, her body quickly twisted to the right. She took several steps back and placed Shen Qingqiu on the ground.

Chen Kaijie and Su Jin also sensed the sound of something cutting through the air. They quickly lunged to the sides, with Su Jin grabbing Zuo Tiantian in the process. In an instant, all five people had evaded the danger.

The severed head crashed heavily onto the ground. Seeing this, the paper figures in the distance shrank back, creating a scene both terrifying and absurd.

Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help but laugh when she saw this. “Oh, that dog servant was careless and dropped their dog head.”

The severed head on the ground suddenly bounced up and flew straight towards Shen Qingqiu.

Shen Qingqiu didn’t even blink; the smile in her eyes merely turned cold. Xiao Muyu, however, shielded her, lifting her leg to kick the head away.

Xiao Muyu’s speed wasn’t slow, but the head was faster. It feinted and dodged under Xiao Muyu’s leg, grinning viciously as it lunged towards Shen Qingqiu.

However, its grin quickly froze. Having just dodged Xiao Muyu, it thought everything was fine and sped up again.

Unexpectedly, Shen Qingqiu bent over with incredible flexibility, swinging her right leg from behind over her head, bending like a bow.

The kick landed squarely on the head, sending it flying.

On the other side, Chen Kaijie saw the head chasing after Shen Qingqiu. He had already prepared his pot, which was still usable. He heated it up, ready to strike at the right moment.

Seeing the head get dazed by Shen Qingqiu’s unexpected kick, he couldn’t miss the opportunity. Holding the pot with both hands, he swung it in a 360-degree arc towards the head.

With a clang, even Xiao Muyu couldn’t help but squint and frown. The head was sent flying several meters away, landing on the ground motionless.

Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu exchanged a tacit look and gave Chen Kaijie a thumbs up.

“Run!” The two paper figures were closing in, and in a few more steps, they would crush them.

The layout of the entire Yingzhou City was almost identical, with lanterns and stalls everywhere. No matter how they ran, it felt like they were on the same street, with the paper figures relentlessly closing in, carrying the disfigured head and continuously taunting them.

Shen Qingqiu could feel the sweat on Xiao Muyu’s back. If this continued, they would be exhausted even without carrying anything, let alone Xiao Muyu carrying her.

“Muyu, I’ve recovered a bit. Put me down quickly.” Shen Qingqiu was distressed, seeing Xiao Muyu now breathing heavily, her heartbeat racing, and panting after running for so long while carrying her. Even with her good physical condition, she couldn’t keep this up.

“Team Leader Xiao, let me carry the deputy leader,” Chen Kaijie, equally exhausted, volunteered to help despite being tired from constantly running and being chased.

Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu, who were arguing, both turned to him and said in unison, “No need!”

Chen Kaijie was stunned, confusedly looking at Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian, who were staring at him with sympathetic expressions.

Seeing this, Shen Qingqiu frowned and pressed her hands on Xiao Muyu’s elbows. Xiao Muyu felt a numbness and weakness in her hands and instantly lost strength. Shen Qingqiu seized the opportunity to jump off her back.

Xiao Muyu turned around, suppressing her anger, and looked at Shen Qingqiu. Shen Qingqiu obediently extended her hand to hold hers.

“Hold my hand and run, okay?”

Xiao Muyu knew this wasn’t a sustainable solution. She gripped Shen Qingqiu’s hand tightly, filled with frustration.

She felt that her intelligence alone was not enough to protect Shen Qingqiu in critical moments. If Shen Qingqiu were fine, she wouldn’t be in such a state after carrying her for just a short distance.

Shen Qingqiu understood her thoughts and gently pressed her thumb on Xiao Muyu’s tiger’s mouth, whispering, “Everyone has their strengths. How can we expect perfection in everything? I’m physically strong and good at fighting, so I should be at the forefront in battle.

Muyu, you’re incredibly smart. Isn’t thinking exhausting and draining?

But I never try to take the lead in that area, only assisting you. And you always manage to solve problems for me at critical moments.

So focus on thinking, why are these two paper figures chasing us? Is the only way to pass this level by defeating them?”

This instance had many restrictions on the cards. Facing these two giant figures, Shen Qingqiu had used up all possible methods. There were basically no other ways to deal with them now.

Listening to Shen Qingqiu’s words, Xiao Muyu gradually calmed her restless and frustrated mind.

Shen Qingqiu knew everything. She always knew how to comfort her.

This Shen Qingqiu was completely different from her usual frivolous self, yet equally captivating.

Actually, Xiao Muyu already had some doubts. Seeing the two giant figures, they instinctively ran because they couldn’t think of a good way to defeat them.

But in such a large Yingzhou City, tightly locked by the paper figures, with no place to hide, it was impossible to escape. What was the point of running?

Thinking of this, Chen Kaijie suddenly cursed, “Team Leader Xiao, we’re back to where we started!”

Xiao Muyu looked up to see the chaotic lanterns and the burnt remnants of the paper figure frames, clearly the same street as before. They were clearly running towards the city gate; how did they end up back here?

The paper figures followed closely as they stopped, their massive hands coming down hard. Xiao Muyu, too shocked to think, quickly shouted, “Dodge!”

The giant hands smashed the street’s blue bricks, which cracked under the impact. If it hit them, they would be obliterated.

“Why can’t we escape Yingzhou City?” Xiao Muyu pondered, her mind swirling with thoughts and information.

The Yingzhou City they were in was clearly not the same as the one they intended to regroup in. This was more of a ghost town than a city, with no living people besides them.

Shen Qingqiu, leading Xiao Muyu backward, began thinking about the third part of this series of tasks—the inescapable Yingzhou City. But there was only a name and no mission.

“Muyu, is our task to escape Yingzhou City?”

As she spoke, the paper figures pulled out thick beams from the collapsing houses and hurled them towards them. The beams fell, sweeping across and leaving the five of them with no way to dodge.

“Into the house!” Shen Qingqiu shouted, dragging Xiao Muyu and rushing towards the nearby building.

Just as they reached the entrance, with the beam about to crush them, Shen Qingqiu mustered her strength, slicing down with her blade while crashing through the window and rolling into the room with Xiao Muyu.

Chen Kaijie and the others, on the right side, grouped together and smashed through, narrowly making it inside just in time.

The beam hit the ground, raising a cloud of dust. Before they could catch their breath, more debris fell from the roof.

The house Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu entered had already lost a corner to the paper figures, and now the roof completely collapsed.

Shen Qingqiu’s eyes were blurred by the dust, making it hard to see. However, she could hear everything clearly. She quickly turned and shielded Xiao Muyu with her body.

Xiao Muyu opened her eyes to see the collapsing roof coming down. She, too, was blinded by the dust, and a sense of panic and anxiety set in, plunging her heart into an icy abyss.

“Qingqiu!” she called out, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of the collapse.

In a panic, she reached out to touch Shen Qingqiu but found herself suddenly lifted, as if someone had grabbed her. Could the paper figure have reached them so quickly?

Where was Shen Qingqiu? Anger and pain drove Xiao Muyu to lose her reason. She drew her sword and swung it blindly.

However, she clearly felt her sword being blocked, unable to move an inch. At the same time, a familiar and teasing voice boomed like thunder, “Attempted murder?”

Xiao Muyu’s eyes still couldn’t see, but her face showed shock. This was… Shen Qingqiu’s voice, but why was it so loud?

Her sword was stuck, but the other party didn’t take it. So Xiao Muyu released her grip and looked at the oddly large Shen Qingqiu in front of her, blinking in confusion, “Did you use the enlargement card?”

Shen Qingqiu didn’t know what being enlarged felt like. She had spoken softly to Xiao Muyu just now, but being ten times larger, her words were loud and clear to everyone.

Realizing the issue, she covered her mouth and shook her head.

“Little Zuo, you really went all out for me.”

After being thrown into the house, Zuo Tiantian had rummaged through the cards and thought of the tenfold enlargement card. In her panic, she hadn’t considered it until seeing the giant paper figures, and she used it in a moment of desperation.

At that critical moment, without much time to think, she chose Shen Qingqiu, preventing her from being injured by the collapsing roof.

Shen Qingqiu carefully placed Xiao Muyu beside Chen Kaijie. This perspective was disorienting, but she couldn’t help but pat Xiao Muyu’s head with her finger.

Standing up, she saw the once-menacing paper figures now completely dumbfounded, even their ghostly head showing astonishment.

At over three meters tall, the paper figures were imposing, but next to the tenfold enlarged Shen Qingqiu, they were like towers facing a mountain.

The two paper figures, holding bricks, looked up, their mouths agape even wider.

“Muyu, focus on figuring out how to escape. I’ll handle them.” Shen Qingqiu’s expression turned stern as she raised her fist and smashed down, embedding the paper figure’s head into its body.

Then she grabbed another paper figure and tore it in half, scattering the torn pieces into a flurry of white paper, which drifted around.

Su Jin murmured, “If you didn’t know better, you’d think she was the ghost.”

But Xiao Muyu quickly frowned and said, “There’s no restriction on using the enlargement card, which means it’s not that simple.”

As expected, the scattered paper pieces began to gather again, and soon another paper figure appeared before them.

“It… it can’t be killed!” Chen Kaijie stammered, unable to believe it.

“I understand now. This riddle game has a hundred questions. For each correct answer, a paper figure is sealed. We’ve answered 86, leaving 14 figures, which became these two giants.

No matter how Shen Qingqiu tears them apart, they won’t die. The system designed this level to exhaust us.

We can’t hide, we can’t kill them, and we can’t escape. We’re trapped here, hence the name ‘Inescapable Yingzhou City.'” Xiao Muyu explained, her face pale.

Her voice was always calm, even now as she stated these grim facts.

Yet, every word conveyed a sense of unspeakable terror and despair.

Chen Kaijie shivered, stumbling a few steps, “I finally understand what an S-rank instance is. Since the plot began, it’s been a series of deadly traps, giving us no chance to breathe.”

“Inescapable Yingzhou City, although named so, this is a game. You said, Team Leader Xiao, that every game must have a way to clear it. So this city can be escaped, right? We just haven’t found the clue.”

Su Jin saw that several people’s expressions changed, and she felt anxious too, but she knew she absolutely could not lose heart.

Xiao Muyu answered with great certainty, “Yes, there must be a way.”

Over there, Shen Qingqiu already understood that the paper figures couldn’t be killed, so she no longer wasted her energy on futile attempts. Instead, she stayed there, skillfully keeping the two paper figures busy, giving Xiao Muyu more time.

She was now adept at handling the paper figures, and using her height advantage, she began to overlook the entire city of Yingzhou.

It was indeed Yingzhou City, but Shen Qingqiu could see the city walls but nothing beyond them. This empty city seemed like an isolated island floating in the void, with no way out.

At the same time, this told Shen Qingqiu that this was not Yingzhou City, at least not the Yingzhou City they lived in.

She suddenly remembered the eight lines of song they heard upon entering. These inexplicable eight lines couldn’t just be a system setup to create atmosphere, right?

“Muyu, do those eight lines give any hints?” Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help but ask.

Xiao Muyu looked up at Shen Qingqiu’s enormous figure and nodded.

She thought so too. This mission was a chain task, and thinking carefully, it should be completed step by step.

They were led out of the original Yingzhou City to the outskirts, then encountered the red and white collision disaster. After breaking through it, they were still in that house. What happened that suddenly brought them into Yingzhou City?

Xiao Muyu felt she had grasped the key and couldn’t help but murmur.

Meanwhile, Su Jin and a few others were also deep in thought. Suddenly, Su Jin spoke up, “Captain Xiao, although we encountered ghosts, everything we encountered involved no teleportation. We walked out of Yingzhou City ourselves, we walked to that strange house ourselves, and here, we only stepped through a door.”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Muyu’s eyes narrowed. She looked around at everything before her, and suddenly, Shen Qingqiu’s loud voice came through, “Muyu, look closely at the lanterns at each household. They have words on them.”

Xiao Muyu looked up and saw that on this street, besides the decorative lanterns, every time there was a residence, there were lanterns hanging at the entrance. But these doors were high, and it wasn’t noticeable that the lanterns had words on them.

Shen Qingqiu reached up to a door, rotated two lanterns halfway around, and under the light, the words on the lanterns faintly showed: “Underworld.”

Xiao Muyu’s eyes locked. Shen Qingqiu dug another one out of the ruins and unfolded it; it was still “Underworld”…

“Fifteen gates of the underworld open wide, welcoming a hundred ghosts at the street’s end. Earthly cases judged by the underworld’s courts, all idle people must leave quickly.”

Xiao Muyu recalled the first four lines they heard upon entering, and her eyes suddenly brightened, “I understand!”

Author’s note: I almost forgot. Captain Xiao, I need to voice the readers’ feelings.

How come you understand again? What do you understand? Why don’t I understand anything? Why do you understand everything by yourself and not let us understand too?

Captain Xiao: Go outside doi;

Readers: Okay, now we understand.

I feel these chapters are making it hard to tell if it’s the people or the ghosts who are more miserable.