Xiao Muyu’s words caused a heavy silence to fall among the four people of Shen Qingqiu’s group. Shen Qingqiu whispered, “I remember. Be careful of the people around you.”
After saying this, she frowned slightly, “Muyu, do you also suspect Miao Anli?”
No one would doubt Xiao Muyu’s sharpness. Since she said this, there must be a reason. In fact, Shen Qingqiu also had doubts about Miao Anli.
As a family member, although they all doted on Shen Qingqiu, when it came to her safety, they were surprisingly unanimous.
Her aunt, Shen Yurou, who had always supported her, also advised Shen Qingqiu to stay home, just like Shen Wanlin.
Miao Anli and Shen Yurou were very close, and he had no reason to oppose Shen Yurou.
However, even though she knew something was wrong, Shen Qingqiu still came out; otherwise, they couldn’t do anything.
“Yes.” Xiao Muyu felt that as a family member, Miao Anli shouldn’t let Shen Qingqiu take such risks so easily. Moreover, Miao Anli was just an uncle by marriage; strictly speaking, he was an outsider. If something happened to Shen Qingqiu, his position in the Shen family would be very awkward.
“Let’s not talk about it now. Where are you? We’ll come to find you.” Shen Qingqiu felt something was wrong and quickly asked Xiao Muyu.
But after sending the message, Xiao Muyu didn’t reply as quickly as before.
Shen Qingqiu’s face changed. She suddenly thought of something: that night, she was the target, but she couldn’t hear the sound of the suona; it was Xiao Muyu who heard it!
A chill surged in her heart, making Shen Qingqiu’s face turn pale. Her voice became unsteady: “Muyu, reply to me!”
Seeing Shen Qingqiu’s expression, Su Jin immediately realized something was wrong, but there was still no response from Xiao Muyu.
Su Jin quickly activated a card, folding it rapidly in her hands. Soon, a paper crane appeared in her palm. She whispered, “Go find Xiao Muyu.”
As Su Jin released the paper crane, the four of them heard a crackling noise from the other end. Before they could frown, the sound changed.
The distant, mournful music of a suona was clearly heard.
Shen Qingqiu was thoroughly panicked. She quickly looked at the paper crane. Su Jin’s paper crane was an A-level card from the 006 dungeon, capable of contacting a target directly.
The paper crane circled aimlessly in the air before weaving through the crowd and flying away.
Listening to the suona, Shen Qingqiu’s heart felt squeezed, making it hard to breathe.
She was extremely regretful, thinking she should have noticed something strange earlier.
The White River Gentleman wasn’t targeting her; he was after Xiao Muyu. She had let her go back alone.
Overwhelmed by regret, Shen Qingqiu could hardly breathe. Her face was tense, her eyes fixed on the paper crane weaving through the crowd.
“Su Jin, make it faster!” Su Jin and Chen Kaijie were equally anxious, crashing through the crowd behind Shen Qingqiu amidst curses and complaints from the people.
Shen Qingqiu ran ahead. The family she cherished was long gone; she didn’t know if it was because Xiao Muyu had encountered trouble or had already gone too far.
The bustling city of Yingzhou was no longer their concern as they followed the paper crane, leaving the noise and excitement behind.
Seeing they had left Yingzhou, Shen Qingqiu spoke softly, “Everyone, be careful. Muyu and I saw them heading this way. The paper crane has brought us here, which means Muyu is here. There might be something here, so stay alert.”
With Xiao Muyu absent, Shen Qingqiu was the team’s backbone. Despite her anxiety, she had to stay calm, knowing she had to be responsible for Chen Kaijie and the others.
“Yes, Deputy Leader. You focus on finding Captain Xiao. We know what to do.” Chen Kaijie and the others had their protective charms and had prepared their cards for any sudden situations.
The paper crane began circling again. Shen Qingqiu glanced at the sky; it would be dark in less than half an hour.
The city was brightly lit, but outside, it was dark. If it got dark, they wouldn’t see anything.
At that moment, the paper crane finally stopped, hovering in mid-air, twitching as if unsure of where to go.
Shen Qingqiu’s heart tightened. She raised her voice and shouted, “Muyu!”
The outskirts echoed with Shen Qingqiu’s shout, but there was no sign or response from Xiao Muyu.
Shen Qingqiu’s anxiety was evident as she shouted again, “Muyu!”
Just then, there was a sound from the woods, like something pushing through the underbrush. The four of them quickly looked over.
A familiar figure emerged from behind a row of low pine trees, wearing white clothes stained with blood.
“Captain Xiao!” Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian exclaimed, while Shen Qingqiu couldn’t hold back and rushed over.
But as she reached out to support Xiao Muyu, Su Jin noticed the paper crane still circling. A dreadful thought crossed her mind. She shouted urgently, “Deputy Leader, don’t go!”
Just as Shen Qingqiu was about to touch Xiao Muyu’s hands, she suddenly stopped, lifting her right leg to halt her momentum. She swiftly drew a dagger and slashed Xiao Muyu’s throat.
The vines extending from Xiao Muyu’s arms retracted, leaving a bloody mark on Shen Qingqiu’s left hand. Flesh and skin were scraped away, leaving a painful wound.
Xiao Muyu’s head fell to the ground, making Shen Qingqiu’s hand tremble. Her gray eyes filled with blood.
Even though Shen Qingqiu knew that the Xia Muyu in front of her was fake, it was still incredibly difficult for her to take action against that face. This ghostly creature’s actions clearly angered Shen Qingqiu.
As the fake “Xia Muyu” fell to the ground, head separated from body, it quickly turned into five wet, spherical objects, emitting a piercing scream like a woman’s sharp cry. These spheres started to scatter, trying to escape.
Shen Qingqiu lifted her robes and stomped down hard with her left foot while simultaneously throwing a dagger that pinned another sphere.
On the other side, Zuo Tiantian, Chen Kaijie, and Su Jin worked in perfect coordination, each targeting one of the remaining three spheres, not letting any escape.
These things were extremely bizarre and terrifyingly strong. They struggled underfoot, emitting eerie sobbing sounds that sent chills down their spines.
As they subdued the spheres, black substances started to ooze out, trying to entangle them.
Chen Kaijie reacted quickly, lifting his foot and slamming down a frying pan. Soon, smoke rose from the pan, filling the air with the stench of burnt hair.
Shen Qingqiu swiftly kicked the sphere, she was holding to Zuo Tiantian, “Tiantian, red string.”
Su Jin also reacted, kicking the sphere under her foot. Zuo Tiantian understood immediately, threading a red string through the three spheres. The string and the black substances entangled together in a mess.
Shen Qingqiu glanced at the motionless paper crane. Since these ghostly things could mimic Xia Muyu, they must have seen her before.
Chen Kaijie quickly dealt with the one in the pan. The pitiful creature likely never expected to be scalded to death by a frying pan.
The one Shen Qingqiu had stabbed with the dagger didn’t move anymore. She pulled out the dagger and smelled a foul stench. Looking at the dagger, it was covered in sticky white liquid.
Shen Qingqiu used the dagger to pry open the sphere, and her brows immediately furrowed, lips tightened.
Chen Kaijie and the others, upon seeing the contents, started to gag. Inside was a severely decomposed human head.
Through the cut made by Shen Qingqiu, they could see a bloated, pale face, hair fallen off, skin wrinkled and soaked. The eyes were completely clouded and bulging, staring at them with a look of deep resentment.
The brown, wet vines were riverbed weeds, and the densely intertwined black strands were a woman’s hair, forming a spherical shape around the head.
“Are these… all human heads?” Zuo Tiantian clutched Su Jin’s hand tightly, her voice trembling.
Shen Qingqiu glanced at the three still screaming and struggling spheres, hardened her heart, and slashed three times with her dagger. The three heads immediately fell silent.
Chen Kaijie moved the pan, and a charred head rolled out.
The air was thick with the stench of burnt flesh, making them all nauseous.
Shen Qingqiu, enduring the discomfort, pulled out the three heads. There were five in total.
As the five heads were laid out, there was a sudden noise. The previously stationary paper crane abruptly turned and started flying.
Ignoring the strange heads, Shen Qingqiu quickly followed the paper crane’s movement, spotting Xia Muyu holding a bronze sword, looking exhausted.
Seeing Shen Qingqiu, Xia Muyu’s eyes brightened slightly, and she hoarsely said,”Qingqiu, are you… are you alright?”
Shen Qingqiu’s tormented heart finally settled. Ignoring everything else, she hurried over and tightly hugged Xia Muyu.
Xia Muyu tilted her head to look at her, tightening her grip on the sword and burying her chin on Shen Qingqiu’s shoulder, “As long as you’re okay.”
With red eyes, Shen Qingqiu looked at her, “You scared me to death.”
Xia Muyu released her and quickly grabbed Shen Qingqiu’s left hand, “Your hand?”
Xia Muyu’s tone was extremely tense. Shen Qingqiu wanted to say it was nothing, but upon seeing it, she narrowed her eyes.
She quickly reset the dagger and said softly to the anxious Xia Muyu, “It’s nothing.”
Su Jin and the others sensed something was wrong and quickly came over. They felt a chill down their spines.
Shen Qingqiu had been injured by the head earlier. The wound, which was just bleeding, now had black threads growing out of it.
Upon closer inspection, the threads were actually strands of hair burrowing into the wound, which had numbed, causing Shen Qingqiu not to notice.
Xia Muyu acted swiftly, grabbing the hair. Upon being discovered, the hair burrowed in harder, emitting a sweet giggle that drove them crazy. Zuo Tiantian cried out, “What do we do?”
Shen Qingqiu’s expression darkened. She resolutely stabbed the dagger into the wound’s edge, causing fresh blood to gush out. The giggle turned into a cry.
Shen Qingqiu bit her lip hard, angled the dagger inside, and Xia Muyu yanked hard, pulling out a blood-stained clump of hair about ten centimeters long.
Shen Qingqiu grunted, veins bulging on her forehead, breaking into a cold sweat.
Xia Muyu threw the hair to the ground, breathing heavily, holding Shen Qingqiu’s hand and carefully examining the wound. Seeing no black strands left, she sighed with reddened eyes.
Zuo Tiantian’s first aid kit was useless, so they could only use Su Jin’s cotton cloth to bandage Shen Qingqiu’s wound.
“Does it hurt?” Everything happened quickly, but Xia Muyu didn’t dare to recall Shen Qingqiu gouging her own flesh, her heart aching.
“The wound is numbed, it doesn’t hurt much.” Shen Qingqiu forced a smile, taking a breath, looking relaxed.
Xia Muyu said nothing, her eyes quickly scanning Shen Qingqiu before focusing on the ground.
Seeing the heads, Xia Muyu’s expression froze slightly. She looked up and asked Su Jin, “What’s going on?”
Su Jin explained the situation, and Xia Muyu glanced at Shen Qingqiu, her eyes filled with indescribable regret and anger.
“I actually realized it wasn’t you. I didn’t hold back at all. Just like when you slashed that impostor, I decapitated her without hesitation.”
“It was my own underestimation of its power that led to my injury and lack of attention. Luckily, you arrived in time and noticed it; otherwise, it would have fully penetrated,” Shen Qingqiu said, pretending to be serious while subtly mentioning Xia Muyu’s past heroic deeds.
Xia Muyu glanced at her, her eyes soft with a hint of reproach. “That powerful?”
Her gentle tone made Shen Qingqiu feel a bit embarrassed.
“By the way, what happened to you? How did you end up here all of a sudden? Just now, Su Jin’s paper crane couldn’t find you.” Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help but frown as she mentioned this.
Xia Muyu shook her head. “I don’t know either. I just remember talking to you, but then I suddenly heard the sound of a suona playing right by my ear.
“I felt my protective charm heating up, but before I could react, my mind went blank. When I regained consciousness, I was here.
“I tried to find a way out, but encountered a ghost wall. No matter how I walked, I returned to the same place, and many illusions appeared.
“But just now, the path before me became clear, and I could hear your voices, which led me to realize you were nearby.”
Shen Qingqiu and Su Jin exchanged a glance, then simultaneously looked at the five heads on the ground.
Shen Qingqiu said gravely, “It seems that because of these five heads, you encountered the ghost wall. Once we dealt with them, you could find your way out.”
Xia Muyu glanced at Shen Qingqiu’s arm again. Shen Qingqiu shook her head, “It’s fine now.”
Only then did Xia Muyu take a closer look at the five heads. One was charred, leaving only the blackened remains and its upturned whites of the eyes.
The remaining four had ghastly pale faces, with the one Shen Qingqiu had pinned already swollen and rotting, emitting a foul stench.
Among the other three, one was merely pale, with minimal swelling, while the other two had varying degrees of bloating.
Their hair was still there, tangled messily around their heads, lacking the luster of life and appearing wet and frightening.
“Are these five heads real human heads?” Zuo Tiantian asked, both scared and a little hesitant.
“They are, and they should all be girls,” Shen Qingqiu sighed, glancing at the disfigured head. Despite the severe swelling, the earrings were still visible.
“Girls?” Su Jin felt a tightness in her throat.
“Yes, they all have ear piercings,” Xia Muyu added, suppressing the smell.
“Are they the brides taken by Baihe Langjun?” Chen Kaijie couldn’t bear to look. If they were ghosts, it would only be disgusting and terrifying, but knowing they were humans made them feel an indescribable sadness and discomfort as fellow beings.
“Except for the one too burned to recognize, the other four heads show different levels of decay, indicating different times of death.
“The degree of decay suggests that none of them died more than seven months ago. Five girls have died, yet there hasn’t been any news…” Xia Muyu didn’t continue, letting out a low sigh.
“Ding! Progress in finding the missing girls: 0.67/4.”
“Five heads only count as 0.17?” Chen Kaijie found it absurd. Discovering Baihe Langjun had already accounted for 0.5, so how could these only add up to 0.17?
