Trapped inside the coffin, Xiao Muyu did not sit idly by. She began to use her sword to try and pierce through the coffin’s sides and gaps, but it was to no avail.
Due to the gradual lack of oxygen, Xiao Muyu’s heartbeat and breathing became rapid, and her mind grew unclear, which was very disadvantageous in the current situation.
Xiao Muyu bit her lip, slicing her finger with her sword to use the pain to stay conscious.
The sharp pain in her fingertip helped her regain some clarity. Though she was anxious, Xiao Muyu did not panic.
Since she had entered the coffin but could not push open the lid, and even the sword in her hand could not pierce through, it meant brute force alone was useless.
Did this mean that once in the coffin, death was inevitable?
Xiao Muyu began to recall how she and Shen Qingqiu were chosen. Shen Qingqiu was chosen because of an arranged marriage, thus becoming the bride and being placed in a bridal sedan.
Why was she chosen then? And why was she not the bride but placed in a coffin for a funeral? Was it because she saw the wedding procession at night?
But Xiao Muyu quickly dismissed this thought. It didn’t make sense. She had gone out to find Shen Qingqiu and accidentally encountered the procession. She remembered hearing the sound of suona, yet the watchmen and sleeping citizens of Yingzhou City did not hear it, or else rumors would have spread the next day.
This meant that she had already been chosen beforehand, or she wouldn’t have seen the procession.
She also remembered that the ghost groom turned his head towards her twice at the street corner, and the paper man came directly to their hiding spot. At that time, they overlooked the critical point that the other party might have already known she was there but didn’t expose her.
As Xiao Muyu analyzed this, the system’s voice echoed around the cold, damp coffin: “Player Xiao Muyu is about to die, countdown: 1 minute. Entering the death struggle phase. Please answer, what is the condition for your selection?
Note, you may choose to refuse to answer and die peacefully, but if you accept, the manner of death will be extremely tragic. Refer to the five heads as an example, where there might soon be a sixth head on the ground.”
Listening to the system, Xiao Muyu’s face grew more grim. She was speechless; it seemed the system had a grudge against Shen Qingqiu, as it was mimicking Shen Qingqiu’s words to provoke her.
Xiao Muyu bit her lip and decisively chose to accept, determined to take a chance no matter what.
Shen Qingqiu was in trouble too, and she didn’t know what had happened to Chen Kaijie and Zuo Tiantian. She couldn’t place her hopes on them.
After choosing to accept, an incense stick abruptly appeared before her. The incense was short and burning away bit by bit.
This was the countdown, eerily realistic. However, the oxygen in the coffin was already scarce, and now the incense was burning, clearly the system’s deliberate act!
But Xiao Muyu couldn’t extinguish it, or the countdown would likely end immediately.
She put aside her thoughts about the detestable system and concentrated on figuring out what triggered the death mechanism that got her chosen.
Xiao Muyu began searching her memories. She vaguely felt she should compare it to the reason Shen Qingqiu was chosen.
Shen Qingqiu was chosen because of an arranged marriage, and being chosen for marriage was a previously determined conclusion. Shen Qingqiu’s arranged marriage was hinted at by Shen Wanlin’s subtle behavior, meaning the selection should be traceable.
No matter how nasty the system was, it had to follow some rules. Since this was a life-or-death question, there had to have been hints given earlier.
After all, a question without any given answers would be unfair in the game.
Where had she been hinted about being chosen?
Arranged marriages are for weddings, but without an arranged marriage, does one not marry?
Even unmarried eligible girls could be chosen. Why only pick from those with arranged marriages? It wasn’t likely that Baihe Langjun preferred married women, right?
What needs to be done before an arranged marriage? Xiao Muyu’s breathing was already difficult, and her chest was tight with discomfort.
She took a deep breath and reviewed everything that had happened since entering the instance, replaying every word spoken by NPCs.
Her strong memory and observation skills played out everything like a movie in her mind: the introduction of her character’s information, the measurements for new clothes, and the woman inquiring about her birth date…
Suddenly, Xiao Muyu’s eyes widened with realization. It was the birth date!
In an ancient setting, both weddings and funerals required auspicious timings, and marriage involved matching birth dates. Matching birth dates was unavoidable before an arranged marriage!
Xiao Muyu’s heartbeat quickened. She remembered the character information given at the start, with a reminder to read carefully as it would only be shown once.
This implied that important content was hidden in it, and apart from the birth date, nothing else required careful reading.
Xiao Muyu immediately said, “The reason I was chosen was because they took my measurements for a shroud and obtained my birth date.”
After she spoke, there was a brief silence. Then, the system’s mechanical voice, sounding rusty and strained, said, “Correct answer. The player may now continue their death struggle.”
Xiao Muyu then heard a faint noise above her head. She frowned and reached out to touch it, finding a mark on the previously smooth coffin lid.
Ignoring the lack of oxygen, she activated her flashlight and saw a rectangular area on the coffin’s inner board.
On the left side were vertical engravings of Year Pillar, Month Pillar, Day Pillar, and Hour Pillar. The Month and Day Pillars were marked as Jiwei and Jichou, respectively—her birth date.
Xiao Muyu thought for a moment and used her bleeding finger to write Guisi under the Year Pillar and Dingsi under the Hour Pillar.
She knew only her own birth date, which was Guisi, Jiwei, Jichou, and Dingsi.
After writing, Xiao Muyu held her breath. Although the coffin blocked most sounds, it couldn’t block the sensation. Xiao Muyu felt the coffin shake heavily as if it had been thrown into water and was sinking.
At this moment, a sound of shattering came, and the bottom of the coffin seemed to crack, with water continuously seeping in from the ground.
The eight characters emitted a red light, causing the part of the coffin lid with the inscription to split open.
Xiao Muyu put away the lantern and thrust the bronze sword in her hand fiercely into the crack. This time, the blade easily pierced through. Her body had martial arts skills, making it easy to use the Qi sword.
Using all her strength, Xiao Muyu lifted the sword and slashed down hard, cutting a long crack in the coffin lid.
Xiao Muyu took a sharp breath, but just as she looked out, the cold, rushing river water poured in quickly. She was right—she had indeed been thrown into the river along with the coffin.
“Captain Xiao, hold on, quickly break open the coffin.” A familiar voice came through; it was Su Jin who had thrown a red rope to bind the coffin and was now pulling it around a tree, preventing Xiao Muyu from sinking into the river.
Xiao Muyu couldn’t think about anything else and hurriedly slashed with the bronze sword in her hand.
At this moment, out of the corner of her eye, Xiao Muyu saw Su Jin. The strange paper figure was now hanging upside down from the tree branch above Su Jin’s head, holding a bronze dagger with a twisted, eerie smile on its face. It was about to stab down at Su Jin’s head.
“Su Jin, move away, above you!”
Xiao Muyu shouted urgently and fiercely, leaving Su Jin no time to think. She immediately dodged to the side, but the red rope slipped, letting more water in.
Veins bulged on Su Jin’s face as she quickly wrapped the rope twice, trying to pull it back, but the waterlogged coffin was too heavy, and the rope wasn’t thick enough. She couldn’t hold it.
The paper figure, seeing Su Jin evade, laughed. It floated down from the tree and, instead of stabbing Su Jin, focused on the red rope.
Su Jin was extremely anxious, gritting her teeth and cursing, “If you dare harm her, our vice-captain will tear you to shreds.”
But the paper figure ignored Su Jin’s threats. Its exaggerated blush and blood-red mouth, combined with its creepy little eyes, were terrifying.
It slowly turned around and glanced at Su Jin, making her breath catch.
Then it sinisterly smiled, raised its right hand, and slashed heavily at the red rope as if holding a cleaver.
Xiao Muyu was still desperately chopping at the coffin. Just two more strikes, and she could get out. But clearly, the paper figure wasn’t giving her that chance.
The red rope snapped, and the paper figure charged at Xiao Muyu. Despite being a paper figure, its steps were heavy, shaking the ground. If it stepped on her, she would be dragged to the river bottom.
Su Jin was frantic. This basketball item couldn’t be used now. Desperate, she decided to risk it. Not knowing the current state of Shen Qingqiu, she could only hope for the best. She shouted, “Vice-captain, external aid!”
Su Jin activated the long-neglected external aid card. As soon as she spoke, a red figure appeared beside her—it was Shen Qingqiu.
Shen Qingqiu, in a red wedding dress with a phoenix crown, swept her phoenix eyes over the river, her face changing instantly. She tore off the phoenix crown and threw it forcefully, her long black hair cascading down in the wind. It was stunning and heroic.
Before Su Jin could react, Shen Qingqiu had leaped after the flying phoenix crown.
The paper figure, caught off guard, was hit by the crown and hastily turned. But before it could fully turn, Shen Qingqiu kicked it in the head.
The paper figure, with a bamboo frame body, couldn’t withstand the kick. Its head deformed and tilted to one side.
This external aid from Shen Qingqiu clearly had some of her consciousness. After knocking down the paper figure, she jumped into the White River.
By now, the coffin had completely sunk and was rapidly descending. Xiao Muyu’s movements were slower underwater. As she held her breath and squeezed through the coffin crack, the sinking coffin’s whirlpool dragged her down.
It wasn’t the worst, though. As Xiao Muyu tried to adjust her position to float up, she suddenly felt her limbs go numb.
Kicking her legs, she found something binding her ankles, pulling her down.
Wielding the bronze sword, she swung it a few times, but her hands were also restrained. She immediately thought of the hair.
Desperately, Xiao Muyu activated the lantern, instantly freezing the strange things around her.
Just as she reversed the sword hilt to cut a bundle of hair, she saw a slender figure swiftly approaching from above.
At first, Xiao Muyu’s heart sank, thinking it was another ghost. But the figure swam under her and cut the hair binding her with a dagger.
Visibility was poor underwater, and with the dim light, Xiao Muyu couldn’t see the person’s face. But as the figure approached, Xiao Muyu felt a familiar presence—it was Shen Qingqiu.
Xiao Muyu remained calm, even when trapped in the coffin and bound. She didn’t lose her composure.
But as Shen Qingqiu drew close, holding her and swimming upwards with the dagger, Xiao Muyu felt like she had swallowed water, her eyes and nose stinging.
She wanted to hug her but didn’t want to hinder her swimming. Suppressing her emotions, she followed Shen Qingqiu’s lead.
Xiao Muyu was happy. Shen Qingqiu’s rescue meant she was safe, which made Xiao Muyu happier than her own rescue.
They quickly resurfaced. Su Jin, without hesitation, threw a torch on the paper figure after knocking it down. The figure immediately caught fire.
As Xiao Muyu climbed up, the figure was burning, reduced to a fireball.
Seeing Xiao Muyu, Su Jin was excited and reached out to pull her up.
Once ashore, Xiao Muyu didn’t greet Su Jin but checked on Shen Qingqiu.
Despite the dim light, the burning paper figure illuminated Shen Qingqiu’s wedding dress.
Frowning, Xiao Muyu anxiously checked Shen Qingqiu’s arm, asking, “Is your wound okay? How did you escape? Are you hurt?”
Shen Qingqiu didn’t speak, just looked at Xiao Muyu. Su Jin, hesitant, couldn’t bear to reveal the truth.
Shen Qingqiu glanced aside, then stopped Xiao Muyu. Xiao Muyu, realizing something was off, felt her heart sink again, staring blankly at Shen Qingqiu.
Shen Qingqiu touched Xiao Muyu’s face, glanced at Su Jin, and before Su Jin could speak, Xiao Muyu, adjusting her emotions, grabbed Shen Qingqiu’s hand and asked, “Can we still use the paper crane? Where is Qingqiu?”
Su Jin nodded quickly, “I know where the vice-captain is. Brother Chen and Tiantian are already on their way. She’ll be fine.”
Without delay, Su Jin led the way.
The external aid lasted only two minutes. After a few steps, Xiao Muyu felt her hand empty as Shen Qingqiu disappeared. Xiao Muyu paused, feeling her heart empty as well.
The author has something to say: Even if it’s Shen Qingqiu’s projection, she still worries most about Muyu. Initially, it was meant for Tiantian, but writing this made me sad.
At first, many thought their relationship was forced and awkward, but only they knew why it was like this.
Also, little Shen initially shamelessly approached little Xiao. She had no feelings, and Xiao was well aware of it. But it was inevitable, uncontrollable.
