"Thwack!"

An arm draped over the fatty’s shoulder. The fatty, wearing the paper head, wanted to lower his head to see the hand, but his vision was obstructed, and he couldn’t see anything.

Immediately afterward, the fatty felt someone climbing onto his back.

Even though he was mentally prepared, he still shivered instinctively when this happened. The face beneath the paper head was deathly pale with fright.

The person who climbed onto his back was very light, excessively so. He estimated that she probably didn’t even weigh 80 *jin* (approximately 88 pounds).

It must be the bride…

After a brief hesitation, the fatty mustered his courage and began to walk with the bride on his back. He had only one thought now: faster, faster! As long as he handed this bride over to the next person, then… then he would be safe.

As for who the next unlucky bastard was, he couldn’t care less.

As long as it wasn’t the doctor, anyone was fine.

Thinking of this, the fatty felt a surge of energy in his heart, and he quickened his pace.

To get to the next person as quickly as possible, he tried to stay close to the lake, but he didn’t dare get too close, maintaining a distance of about five meters from the shore.

The lake was still shrouded in mist, a hazy white, as if hiding demons and monsters. The fatty only glanced at it before averting his gaze, never looking at the lake again.

The only thing that reassured him was that the bride behind him was very quiet, seemingly uninterested in him. She didn’t do anything excessive to him along the way.

The fatty was so excited that he almost cried. For the first time, he felt that it was good not to be liked by women.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but worry about the doctor.

As he was thinking, the fatty’s foot made a "splash" sound.

Immediately afterward, he immediately came back to his senses, lowered his head slightly, and realized that he had unknowingly stepped into the water. He was now standing in the lake, the water already submerging his ankles.

This discovery startled him. He had been walking carefully all the way, deliberately staying far away from the lake, so how could he…

He subconsciously looked at the surface of the lake. The next moment, his vision seemed to have been struck a heavy blow, instantly narrowing into a slit.

Through the reflection on the lake’s surface, he saw that the bride on his back was wearing a red veil, her neck almost twice as long as a normal person’s, and twisted in a bizarre way. Her waist was bent backward, the curve so severe that it was almost broken.

At the same time, a series of continuous and strange sounds rang in his ears.

"Ke-da, ke-da…"

It was as if… someone was grinning, repeatedly clicking their upper and lower rows of teeth together.

The image that flashed through his mind scared half of the fatty’s soul out of him. He turned his body and subconsciously wanted to throw the thing behind him into the lake.

But in the end, he forcibly restrained himself.

Not to mention that this violated the rules, but just looking at the ghost's appearance, it was clear that it was a water ghost. And he was standing in the lake now, so if the ghost entered the water, he would have no chance of survival.

Although he was only a few steps away from the shore, a person could never outrun a ghost.

He took a deep breath, endured the enormous pressure, slowly left the lake, and then continued to walk in the previous direction, his speed getting faster and faster.

His neck began to feel tingly, like the tip of a strand of hair brushing against it. A wet, rough, and textured strip slowly brushed across his neck.

Moist, rough, and with an indescribable stickiness.

The fatty almost immediately realized what it was.

A tongue.

The ghost on his back… was licking him with its tongue!

Goosebumps erupted all over his body. Now, the sound of his teeth chattering was louder than the sound from behind him. If he didn't have a twig in his mouth, it would probably be even more exaggerated.

Just as the fatty was about to give up, he finally saw someone. Not far ahead, he charged forward at almost a hundred-meter sprint.

"Thwack!"

The fatty excitedly slapped the other person's shoulder, not knowing if he had used too much force or if it was too sudden. In any case, the person's legs went weak, and they almost knelt down.

Looking at the person's large red theatrical costume, which was stretched to the point of almost bursting open, and their trembling appearance, the fatty thought it must be Brother You Qi.

After all, he was the only one in this instance with a physique comparable to his own.

The thing behind him was also obedient. Once they arrived, the fatty didn’t need to coax it. It got off obediently and climbed onto You Qi's back.

The fatty obediently followed the game rules, not looking at anything he shouldn't. He closed his eyes and waited for the sound of footsteps to fade away before opening them. By this time, there was no one to be seen nearby.

"Phew—"

The fatty breathed a long sigh of relief. Now, he was just waiting for the drums to signal their retreat.

He hoped… He looked at the boundless darkness nearby, swallowed, and hoped that the doctor would be alright.

…

"Pa-da."

"Pa-da."

"Pa-da."

After the light footsteps, there was a series of splashing sounds. Zuo Qing stretched her slightly stiff neck and glanced at the water beside her.

In the reflection, the thing behind her was becoming increasingly restless.

In just over ten minutes, she had changed several positions. At one point, Zuo Qing even thought she would bite her.

But her mental fortitude and control of the situation were beyond what the fatty could achieve.

She had her own understanding of this bride-receiving performance.

The most important thing in this performance was time.

If she were to make an analogy, then this performance was similar to the dynamite game used by the military to train soldiers' courage.

A group of soldiers stood in a circle, passing around a piece of dynamite with a lit fuse. Only when it was about to explode could the last soldier throw the dynamite away.

The ghost on her back was the dynamite being passed around.

The dynamite was bound to explode, and one of them was bound to die. All she needed to do was make sure the dynamite didn’t explode in her hands.

It would be even better if it exploded in that person’s hands… A face flashed in her mind, a face that was clearly handsome but often acted like a rogue.

Everyone connected to Crimson… deserved to die.

Her father… her father, who loved her the most, had died at the hands of those hateful people!

As if recalling the most painful page in her memory, veins popped out on Zuo Qing's forehead. She quickened her pace, preparing to reach the next rendezvous point as soon as possible.

…

After the long-awaited sound of the drums finally rang, the players scattered in various places returned to the wing rooms one after another.

Including Jiang Cheng's room.

The fatty hurriedly ran into the room, and his heart finally settled when he saw the doctor sitting at the table, slowly drinking water.

Although the doctor was very cunning and the probability of something happening to him was very low, he was, after all, being targeted by Steward Zhou. Not seeing that Shi Liaozhi was a ghost made the fatty realize that the doctor was just a person, not a god, and he also had moments of negligence.

Half an hour after the drums ended, the players had all returned to the wing rooms, except…

"Where's Zuo Qing?" Xia Meng looked at the empty doorway, frowned, and asked, "Why hasn't she come back?"

An Xuan's face was very ugly. When he realized that Zuo Qing hadn't returned, his reaction was very decisive. He immediately walked out of the door and went next door. After a moment, he returned.

After pausing, he raised his head and said, "The woman in the painting… is gone."