PTYS Chapter 47

“No matter what, he didn’t take the opportunity to harm anyone. Maybe he didn’t have the chance to act. We need to be more careful while washing up in the future,” Xiao Muyu said softly, her brows furrowed.

Originally, they dared to use the bathroom at that particular time because it seemed like a safe bet. They hadn’t expected the ghosts here to not only take lives but also to assault.

The three of them parted ways at the door, and as Xiao Muyu entered the room, she glanced at the clock. It was 7:56 PM.

Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu tidied up a bit, locked the door early, and lay down on their beds. They could still hear noises from outside, such as the faint rustling from next door, but nothing else.

“This scenario feels too strange,” Xiao Muyu said uneasily. This kind of feeling was unprecedented for her. A whole day had passed, and the only information they had was the name of this scenario and its duration.

Even the hardest challenges become manageable with a clear goal. This aimless approach meant they were being led around by the NPCs in the scenario.

“It is strange, but there’s one thing to note. Although we have no leads, none of these bizarre people or events have actually harmed us. Maybe we’ll get answers tonight,” Shen Qingqiu said calmly. Her approach was to handle whatever came their way with composure.

“By the way, how many times can you use your scented candle?”

Though it was an S-class card, the ability to increase favorability was quite powerful, and Xiao Muyu worried it might have limitations.

“It works similarly to your stopwatch, having both special and ordinary functions. So, there’s no limit to lighting it, but its skill to increase favorability can only be used once per scenario.”

Shen Qingqiu spoke softly, then turned to look at Xiao Muyu on the adjacent bed, a slight smile playing on her lips. “Do you want to try your revolving lantern?”

Xiao Muyu nodded and sat up, activating her item. An octagonal palace lantern appeared before Shen Qingqiu.

The lantern had a complex pattern carved into its sandalwood frame, with red strings tied so it could be carried, making it both beautiful and delicate.

Shen Qingqiu also sat up, lifting her blanket. She took out her item card, activated it, and stared at the candle in her hand. After a moment, she looked up at Xiao Muyu.

The other person stared at Shen Qingqiu’s candle with an expressionless face, but Shen Qingqiu sensed a hint of disdain on that calm face. Even Shen Qingqiu, who was usually thick-skinned, felt a bit speechless and awkward.

The reason was simple. The bright red candle in her hand had a glaring double happiness character (囍) on it, which was even more conspicuous than the candle’s flame.

In the eerie silence, Xiao Muyu spoke up, “Is the system trying to set you up?”

Shen Qingqiu choked, cleared her throat to steady her expression, and raised an eyebrow, “If it’s trying to set me up, who’s it matching me with? Tsk.”

Xiao Muyu didn’t reply, just gave her a slight glance, “Let’s focus on the task at hand.”

Shen Qingqiu smiled and didn’t tease her further. She got out of bed, opened the revolving lantern, and found there was indeed a wick inside. She brought the candle closer, but the flame flickered on the wick without lighting it.

Xiao Muyu glanced up at Shen Qingqiu. At that moment, her lips were pressed tight and her brows furrowed, looking completely serious and focused on lighting the wick.

Something stirred in Xiao Muyu’s heart, like ripples on a lake, and just as she was about to say it wasn’t necessary to force it, a drop of red wax fell from the candle. The wax, tinged with pink, landed on the wick with a faint hiss.

The flame briefly flared up, then the fire began to burn steadily from the spot where the wax had landed. The small flame flickered a few times before standing upright!

Shen Qingqiu held her breath, a smile she couldn’t hide forming in her eyes. She moved the candle away, and the revolving lantern remained lit.

“It’s lit. See if there’s any change,” Shen Qingqiu said, clearly more excited than Xiao Muyu even though it was Xiao Muyu’s lantern that was lit.

No need for Shen Qingqiu’s prompt, Xiao Muyu felt a change in the description of the revolving lantern the moment it lit up.

Lit Revolving Lantern, Rarity: S, can only be transformed from an extinguished revolving lantern.

Item Description: An ordinary-looking lantern, with a lighting range of 0.5 meters in diameter.

Skill 1: Passive skill – Exorcism. When the revolving lantern is lit, all things in the dark will be exposed, lasting for 15 minutes.

Skill 2: The revolving lantern revolves, the lantern stops, the horses halt! Upon shouting the slogan while holding the revolving lantern, it begins to spin and stops after fifteen seconds, freezing all ghosts within its range for fifteen seconds.

Skill Cooldown Time: 12 hours. Note: Each time a skill hits a target, the lighting range increases by 20 centimeters.

After reading the description, Xiao Muyu found it hard to believe, “It’s actually an upgrade.”

Shen Qingqiu leaned over to look and was slightly speechless. The lantern only illuminated a 0.5-meter diameter, meaning it barely covered Xiao Muyu herself. To increase the range by hitting ghosts was unrealistic unless Xiao Muyu went into a den of ghosts.

“To increase the skill range, you’d need to hug the lantern and practically hug the ghost to hit it. Who would dare to use it the first time like that?”

It seemed there was no such thing as an overpowered skill. This card would be challenging for anyone to use to its full potential.

Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help but comment, and she saw Xiao Muyu staring at her, causing her to shut her mouth and look around.

“The lantern is already lit, so the passive skill should be active. The second skill is an active one, so we can save it,” Shen Qingqiu said softly, thinking aloud.

“Yes, we can,” Xiao Muyu’s expression relaxed a bit. Having another tool meant more chances. She placed the lantern in the room, initially intending to turn off the lights but then lay back down.

“Let’s get some sleep.”

Shen Qingqiu said nothing. The two of them tacitly left the light on and didn’t speak further. After an indeterminate amount of time, the lantern went out.

It was 9 PM.

The room was quiet. It was so silent that Xiao Muyu could hear Shen Qingqiu’s even breathing. Even though the light had gone out suddenly, her breathing remained steady.

However, Xiao Muyu heard faint noises from Yang Rui and Zhang Yangfeng sleeping next door.

“Shen Qingqiu, are you asleep?” Xiao Muyu felt an inexplicable unease.

After she spoke, Shen Qingqiu turned towards her and whispered, “What’s wrong?”

Xiao Muyu didn’t reply immediately. After a moment, she said softly, “Nothing.”

Shen Qingqiu moved closer to her. With the light out, the room was shrouded in darkness, not a single ray of light escaping. Apart from Shen Qingqiu’s slight movements, Xiao Muyu couldn’t see anything.

But she could sense Shen Qingqiu looking at her, and soon she heard Shen Qingqiu’s soft voice, “I won’t fall asleep this early. I’m here.”

Xiao Muyu was momentarily stunned, remembering Shen Qingqiu had chosen the bed closer to the door. Her heart trembled, an unfamiliar feeling rising, lingering, clear yet untouchable.

She said nothing more, just lay there quietly.

The silence was so deep that Xiao Muyu eventually felt drowsy. In a half-asleep state, she heard a distant ticking sound, sometimes feeling far away, other times close by.

In a haze of semi-awareness, she felt she had something important to do. Struggling to stay awake, she suddenly snapped out of it, the ticking becoming a tangible noise in her ears.

Indeed, it wasn’t her imagination. There was a sound, coming from the room adjacent to her bed, separated by a wall. It was the locked bathroom on the second floor. It was past 9:30 now, and the ticking sound was quickening rhythmically, finally turning into the sound of water dripping as if someone were showering next door.

Xiao Muyu tensed up. The feeling of waking up to an inexplicable noise, with only one person silently present, was unsettling.

Even the calmest person would have their heart twisted tightly in such a situation. Xiao Muyu didn’t even dare to ask if Shen Qingqiu was awake.

Suddenly, the sound of the shower stopped abruptly in the night. This seemed to be a signal, as the next second, a clear and melodious singing voice drifted over.

“ka go me ka go me, ka go no na ka no to ri wa…”

Xiao Muyu held her breath and listened, her scalp tingling uncontrollably, sending shivers down her spine.

The singing voice belonged to a very gentle and cute little girl. Each note was slow and tender, like a child whispering as they were about to fall asleep in their mother’s arms at night.

The melody was quite beautiful, but in this pitch-black, eerie orphanage at the dead of night, the gentleness of the lullaby transformed into endless terror, floating down the corridor, sometimes near, sometimes far, echoing like a haunting tune.

It sounded like a nursery rhyme. Xiao Muyu felt the melody was somewhat familiar, but she couldn’t place it right away. She strained her ears, trying to discern the lyrics.

After hearing it repeat once, Xiao Muyu gave up. She could understand English and French, but the pronunciation of the lyrics was clearly in a language she didn’t recognize. It seemed to be Japanese, which made her anxious.

“ka go me ka go me,” the nursery rhyme continued, and Xiao Muyu could clearly feel it getting closer to her. She stared at the door, almost imagining the singing child standing right outside.

After a few seconds, the sound moved to the right. Before Xiao Muyu could react, Shen Qingqiu, who had been seemingly dead asleep, suddenly sat up.

Xiao Muyu’s heart tightened, but with that singing thing right outside, she didn’t dare to speak rashly. She quickly sat up as well, while Shen Qingqiu already lifted the covers and got out of bed.

Her current state was obviously not right. Despite her overwhelming fear, Xiao Muyu reached out and grabbed Shen Qingqiu’s hand. The coldness of Shen Qingqiu’s hand made Xiao Muyu’s heart sink into an abyss.

She gritted her teeth, quickly sliding her hand down to clasp Shen Qingqiu’s wrist. The pulse beneath her fingertips brought her a moment of relief, but before she could fully process it, Shen Qingqiu shook her hand off and walked straight toward the door.

Xiao Muyu hurriedly followed, trying to stop her, but Shen Qingqiu didn’t respond at all. Her strength was terrifying, and Xiao Muyu, out of desperation, hugged her tightly, trying to tie her up with the bed sheet, only to have her fingers pried off one by one.

Being forcefully pried apart was excruciating. Xiao Muyu felt as if her fingers were about to break. She shook her hand and turned back to grab the hurricane lamp, but then stopped.

In this brief moment, she had calmed down from her initial panic. Shen Qingqiu’s inexplicable urge to leave was definitely connected to the nursery rhyme. Moreover, it was clear that she was determined to go.

So pausing for fifteen seconds wouldn’t be very meaningful and would just waste the hurricane lamp’s secondary function.

More importantly, she heard movement from the next room, even more pronounced than her own.

Simultaneously, there was the sound of a door opening not far away. So Shen Qingqiu wasn’t the only one being lured out by the nursery rhyme.

With her mind starting to work, Xiao Muyu calmed down completely. She understood why Shen Qingqiu was acting this way. What was meant to happen was happening.

Thus, Xiao Muyu put the hurricane lamp away. Just as she turned to grab something, Shen Qingqiu opened the door.

With a creak, the door opened, and a gust of cold wind blew in, chilling to the bone, carrying that soul-stirring nursery rhyme inside.

Hiding behind the door, Xiao Muyu didn’t see any figures. Once the door was opened, the singing floated downstairs, echoing with every note.

Then, one by one, the people next door got up. They all walked out of their rooms, like the legendary corpses of the Xiangjiang River, soulless shells, following the guidance of the nursery rhyme, step by step, towards the stairs.

Author’s Note: From now on, the update time will be delayed to 9 PM. I’ve run out of drafts, and writing at night is really scary. Sob…