While the Red-Clothed Bride floated up without noticing, Su Ximu dragged the Blue 242 Leader to hide behind a fake mountain.
In the dozen or so seconds they crouched there, he racked his brains and dredged up every curse word he could think of, only to find there were pitifully few.
He hated that he had so few curses when he needed them.
He asked the person behind him in a very soft voice, “Blue 242 Leader, do you know any curses?”
Su Ximu explained, “I heard before that some weaker ghosts are afraid of being cursed at.”
Even though this Red-Clothed Bride did not look like one of the weak ones, it was still better than waiting to die on the spot.
Blue 242 imitated his whisper, and the two huddled close. “I know some curses. But not the really dirty ones. Because they’re rarely needed.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Su Ximu looked at the Blue 242 Leader and felt it was quite a coincidence.
So what were they supposed to do now?
Su Ximu could not help but think.
But before he could come up with an escape plan in his moment of desperation, the Red-Clothed Bride in midair made her next move.
In an instant, a piercing shriek nearly shattered eardrums. It was hysterical, like weeping and complaining, making people want to tear up involuntarily while also desperately wanting to cover their ears.
Su Ximu did not feel too bad, just that the sound was a bit too loud, like someone had blasted a huge speaker right behind him.
He covered his own ears with his hands and felt a little better.
The next second, a hand gently rested on the back of his hand.
Blue 242 reached out to help the young man cover his ears, then gestured with his eyes for the young man—who looked like he wanted to say something with his mouth open—to look outward.
In the deathly silent courtyard world, as the Red-Clothed Bride rampaged wildly, cracks began to appear across the entire small world, like a mirror.
It was like a transparent glass dome that had been broken, needing just one final push to shatter completely.
On the Red-Clothed Bride’s final impact, the bloody tear stains on her face grew even heavier. Finally, the glass dome shattered completely.
Crack!
In another daze, Su Ximu felt like he had gone through the experience of a water droplet rippling into a pond once more.
After the glass dome broke, the courtyard was still the same courtyard, but something had changed.
Just as he had casually guessed, they had stepped out from a hidden mirror world back into the real world.
The Tourist Garden’s broadcast crackled, and the announcer’s voice rang out overhead once more. “Wang Family Courtyard, clearance progress has reached one-fifth. All staff, keep up the good work.”
Not long after the broadcast ended, Su Ximu watched as ripples appeared in the sky above the courtyard again.
From within the ripples, another girl in bridal clothes walked out.
The girl’s skin was deathly pale from lack of sunlight, making the lipstick on her lips look demonically red.
On the east side of the courtyard, there was also shimmering light.
A charred figure emerged from rising flames. Her original features were unrecognizable, but from the skirt similarly scorched by fire, it was clear she had been a woman.
In the western corner,
Two more women dressed as brides arrived from the mirror world in the ripples. They looked the most intact, but their resentment was no less than the other three.
Behind them, Rao Fei clutched the tools for opening the coffin, trying his best to minimize his presence. He darted out with them in a flash.
Rao Fei froze after emerging.
After getting separated from Xu Mu, he had observed his surroundings and immediately deduced the possibility of an Inner World in the Wang Family Mansion.
The mirror world he entered looked like an Ancestral Hall.
On the open ground in front of the Ancestral Hall, two black coffins plastered with red “joy” characters lay quietly.
Rao Fei had known right then that this was the “two maidservants paired for a Yin Marriage” the Little Young Master had mentioned.
How do you pair a Yin Marriage with a living person?
Of course, by turning the living person into a dead one.
He had originally thought that after releasing these two fierce Weirds, three more challenges awaited him.
Who knew that the moment he narrowly escaped with his life, he looked up to find all five ladies assembled.
The Ninth Concubine of the Three-Inch Golden Lotus.
The Sixth Concubine of the fire execution.
The young lady waiting to marry in the embroidery tower.
The maidservants paired for the Yin Marriage.
Their accumulated resentment over the years was so deep that they could no longer distinguish who deserved death and who did not. Everyone standing in their way had to die.
Fortunately, everyone present was no fool and hid themselves well.
Su Ximu, who had already removed his hands from his ears, gestured to the Blue 242 Leader: Hold your breath~
After gesturing, he demonstrated by taking a deep breath and holding it.
Blue 242 looked at the young man with puffed cheeks like a little frog, reached out, and poked that puffy cheek, earning a stern glare from the young man.
This was about survival.
Blue 242 nodded to show he would follow, but before doing so, he whispered softly, “These methods seem to be for dealing with ghosts.”
“But what if they aren’t ghosts.”
They were Weirds born from Obsessions.
Ghosts and Weirds were different.
Ghosts were a concept passed down from the human world.
After the concept of “ghost” formed in this world, some Weirds were indeed influenced and took on ghostly traits.
But at their core, Weirds were still a similar yet distinct existence.
At the very least, even the weakest Weird was not afraid of the sun. Unless affected by its own traits.
Su Ximu puffed his cheeks and looked up, feeling like he did not understand.
Blue 242 watched him for a few seconds and could not help laughing at how cute he was. So he stopped the lecture and followed the young man’s lead, puffing his cheeks and holding his breath.
This day at the Wang Family Mansion was destined to be far from peaceful.
Rao Fei and Xu Mu were restricted by the Dungeon’s power and could not leave the Wang Family Mansion.
The other Tourist Garden staff had no such restrictions.
They were Weirds to begin with, not real Players.
Seeing their progress lag so far behind, the staff—who had put all their strength into running fast—simply resorted to an outside trick. They provoked the five newly released Weirds and led them out of the Wang Family Mansion.
They planned to take them to find Lord Wang.
The locations were none other than those few: Guo Juren Mansion, Ma Family Courtyard, Liu Mansion… The masters of these manors and residences had all been Lord Wang’s allies before.
When they finally brought the five Weirds to Lord Wang, according to eyewitness accounts, the scene was beyond bloody.
The Ninth Concubine said, I want you bound day after day until you wrap a pair of exquisite three-inch golden lotuses, then chop them off as my favorite collection.
The Sixth Concubine said, I want you forced by villains, yet still cursed as cheap and inseparable from men, then roasted in fire.
The maidservants said, I want you sealed in a coffin, hearing the bangs of nails being hammered from outside, your fingers clawing inside until the bones show white.
The young lady said, I want you crawling through the “dog hole” into the boudoir, never seeing sunlight again, so weak that a single fall breaks your bones, then praised as a delicate noble lady.
“And then? What happened to Lord Wang in the end?” Su Ximu and Green 132 pressed.
Green 132 spread his hands. “Lord Wang couldn’t be split into five parts, so they took turns, one per day.”
Su Ximu nodded, thinking this outcome was not bad for Lord Wang.
At the very least, he had not truly died, had he.
Rao Fei and Xu Mu had vanished at some point, along with the other three people following them.
After this day, the park broadcast announced that all staff contributions had been recorded on their chest badges, with statistics to be finalized in the next couple of days.
After the new Folk Custom Garden management took over, the Folk Custom Garden would undergo reforms.
At dinner, Blue 242 specially brought a cup of calming tea and handed it to Su Ximu.
“You worked hard today. Have some calming tea; it’ll help you sleep better tonight.”
Su Ximu blinked, unable to recall anything that required calming. But he was indeed a bit tired after the day’s events.
He took the calming tea from the Blue 242 Leader but did not drink it right away. Instead, he asked, “Blue 242 Leader, can you give me your contact info?”
“Why do you suddenly want my contact info?” Blue 242 asked.
The young man curved his eyes in a smile. “I want to be friends with you.”
Blue 242 smiled back at his smile. “Okay. I want to be friends with Xiao Xi too.”
The two exchanged smiles and reached an agreement. Blue 242 took out his phone and swapped contact info with Su Ximu.
As Su Ximu looked down to save the contact, he suddenly sensed someone standing beside him. Their shadow even reflected on his phone screen.
He looked up and saw it was “Third Brother,” whom he had not seen in days.
“Third Brother, why are you here?”
Su Jianglou’s eyes held only his little brother; no one else mattered. He sat in the seat next to Su Ximu. “I came to check on you.”
“Big Brother is here too, in a meeting all day.”
Su Ximu nodded.
He recalled the expensive video tape Third Brother had mentioned before. It was hard to get details over the phone, and now that “Third Brother” sat right in front of him, he could not resist asking more clearly. “Third Brother, has Second Brother been home lately?”
“Was he really mad that I ruined his video tape when I was drunk?”
Across from him, Blue 242 slowly raised an eyebrow.
He propped his chin on one hand, like any Weird concerned for a good friend, and could not help asking curiously, “What video tape?”
Su Ximu sighed worriedly. “A very expensive video tape. I accidentally ruined it when I was drunk.”
Blue 242 switched hands to prop his chin. Oh, so that was it.
