Chapter 1 Walking Out

Walking out of the courtyard, Yao Shunyu was surprised to find that Li Bai and Zhang Yuanchao, who should have been waiting outside the gate, were nowhere to be seen, nor were there any traces of them nearby.

This made Yao Shunyu, who had just escaped death, nervous. Zhang Yuanchao's true identity was likely Shen Hong (Deep Red). Could it be that he had been exposed and had preemptively attacked Li Bai?

The more Yao Shunyu thought about it, the more anxious he became. After waiting in place for two minutes, he headed directly towards the village entrance.

That was the location of the second mission tonight. If... if something had really happened to Li Bai, then the murderer, Zhang Yuanchao, would also have to carry out the mission.

If he arrived there and only saw Zhang Yuanchao without Li Bai, then things would be clear. He would definitely kill Zhang Yuanchao to avenge Li Bai.

"Damn it, how could I leave Zhang Yuanchao by Li Bai's side? Li Bai is quite proficient in the art of Feng Shui and Yin Yang, but in terms of skill, even two Li Bais are no match..."

Just as Yao Shunyu was walking faster and faster, and his heart was becoming more and more chaotic, suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind him, "Yao Shunyu!"

Yao Shunyu was stunned for a moment, then immediately turned around. He saw two figures flashing out from behind a broken wall, it was Li Bai and Zhang Yuanchao!

"Why are you here?" Seeing that Li Bai was safe and sound, a huge stone finally fell from Yao Shunyu's heart. Just now, he had already thought of several ways for Zhang Yuanchao to die.

Before Li Bai could answer, he heard Zhang Yuanchao gesturing tremblingly with his hands, his voice changed with nervousness, "Oh my, young man, you didn't see it just now, there was something... a very big thing, that crashed through the courtyard wall and ran out!"

Although Yao Shunyu didn't hear any sound, he realized what the so-called big thing was from Zhang Yuanchao's description.

Li Bai nodded to Yao Shunyu, her face a little grave. "It was Zhusheng Niangniang (the Child-Giving Goddess)."

Putting all of this together, Yao Shunyu also understood Li Bai's intention in hiding with Zhang Yuanchao. They hadn't waited for him to appear, but had instead encountered Zhusheng Niangniang first. Their first reaction was that the mission had failed and he had fallen victim to Zhusheng Niangniang's poison.

Afterwards, seeing him walk out of the courtyard unscathed, Li Bai couldn't be sure if this was the real him or a ghost in disguise, so she didn't show herself, but instead hid in the dark to observe.

It wasn't until after observing for a while and confirming that he was the real Yao Shunyu that she came out to meet him.

The three of them formed a group and headed towards the next mission location, Yao Shunyu also secretly told Li Bai his discovery.

The road wasn't long, and soon the three of them arrived at the Mud Figure Zhang's house at the village entrance.

It was said that this Mud Figure Zhang was the one in the village who was responsible for repairing the statue of Zhusheng Niangniang, but he had recently died of illness. Li Bai and Zhang Yuanchao's mission tonight was to open the cellar in Mud Figure Zhang's house and then go down and kowtow to the statue of Zhusheng Niangniang.

This mission sounded simple, but recalling what had just happened, Yao Shunyu still broke out in cold sweats from time to time.

"Be careful," Yao Shunyu reminded them one last time.

Li Bai stepped forward, just about to use force to push open the door of Mud Figure Zhang's courtyard, but Zhang Yuanchao preempted her, "Let me do it, you stand behind me."

After entering the courtyard, Zhang Yuanchao walked in the forefront. Judging from his cautious movements, he was also very scared, but he still insisted on protecting Li Bai behind him.

Since someone wanted to be the vanguard, Li Bai naturally wouldn't refuse. Besides, she also wanted to see what tricks Zhang Yuanchao was trying to play.

Soon, they found the entrance to the cellar in the backyard. The entrance was very strange, it was built like a wellhead, with stones all around.

What was even stranger was that the entrance was covered with a heavy wooden door.

"Huh? That's strange, why is this door backwards?" Zhang Yuanchao widened his eyes.

Li Bai crouched down, she also noticed something was wrong. There was actually a very thick bolt on the outside of the heavy wooden door covering the cellar. There was only a bolt but no lock, obviously not to prevent outside thieves, it felt like it was to lock something inside.

"Girl, don't be afraid, I'm in front of you, this old man has a strong body!"

Although that's what he said, Zhang Yuanchao's hand reaching for the bolt was shaking badly, and his face was exceptionally pale. Fortunately, after the door was opened, nothing suddenly jumped out to attack them. There was only a dilapidated wooden ladder that stretched down into the darkness below.

Zhang Yuanchao volunteered, carrying a lantern, and climbed down the ladder bit by bit.

After the two of them went down, Li Bai realized that this place was much larger than she had imagined, and the surroundings didn't look like a cellar at all, but more like a cave. There were obvious traces of artificial grinding on the nearby rock walls.

She could feel the wind, the wind was very cold, as if it was blowing from the depths of the earth.

Zhang Yuanchao raised the lantern and shone it around, but it was pitch black all around. He swallowed hard, then licked his thumb, and then held his thumb up in the air.

A few seconds later, Zhang Yuanchao seemed to sense something, and looked excitedly in a direction in the darkness, "Girl, there's wind, where there's wind there's an exit, the wind is blowing from that side!"

Li Bai had given up resisting Zhang Yuanchao's enthusiasm. At first, Li Bai would get angry when he called her "girl," but she soon realized that it was useless. Even if she had solemnly emphasized to Zhang Yuanchao that they were just strangers who had met by chance, and that she didn't like people who were overly familiar, Zhang Yuanchao would apologize to her very embarrassedly, but soon he would forget his promise, and call her whatever he wanted, and take even more care of Li Bai.

Staring at Zhang Yuanchao's back, Li Bai felt a moment of恍忽 (huanghu, a daze). She suddenly felt that the genuine concern that this person showed her didn't seem fake, but she completely rejected the word "girl." She had a father, and her father was still alive, and her family was relatively happy, so there was no such thing as a dog-blood drama. The two were just strangers.

Zhang Yuanchao cautiously walked towards the direction where the wind was blowing. Li Bai followed behind him. After a moment, Zhang Yuanchao shuddered violently, "Ah!"

Li Bai grabbed Zhang Yuanchao's shoulder, "Don't move! It's nothing serious, just a mud figure."

At this moment, a mud figure suddenly appeared close to the wall. The mud figure was about 2 meters tall, and its body was painted with brightly colored clothes, a red upper body and a green lower body. On a pale white face were painted extremely thin eyes, thin lips, and exaggeratedly raised eyebrows.

It seemed that Mud Figure Zhang wanted to make a funny and festive work, but putting all of these things together, it looked strange no matter how you looked at it, like the paper servants used to accompany the dead.

The mud figure's movements were also strange. Its left hand was placed on its lower abdomen, and its right hand was raised diagonally, stiffly extending to the other side, as if making an inviting gesture.

Li Bai raised the lantern in her hand and shone it in the direction the mud figure was pointing. As the faint candlelight gradually dispelled the darkness, the scene before them instantly stunned the two of them.

They saw a cave entrance appearing before them, and both sides of the cave were filled with mud figures.