This Damned Thirst for Survival

Chapter 124: I Will Not Swallow

Qin Yun and Lian Xue reassured Li Xiao one more time before they went to bed for the night, and after Li Xiao had fallen asleep first, they both got ready to go to bed too.

Lian Xue said, ” Qin Yun , I sleep on the outside?”

The outer side is by the door, so if anything dangerous happens, the person sleeping on the outer side is the least safe.

Qin Yun, however, said, “I’ll sleep outside.”

Without waiting for Lian Xue to say more, she took the initiative to sleep on the outside. Qin Yun was too vain to look at Lian Xue and did not dare to sleep too soundly, half asleep and half awake, subconsciously remembering that she had to wait until midnight to find Du Ge.

Du Ge asked her to meet her in the afternoon, saying that he had something to talk to her about tonight, and he didn’t know what it was.

Qin Yun has been pursuing Du Ge for two years and she has had many boyfriends before him. But she has a weakness in her personality. The more she can’t get, the more she tries to get him, and the more Du Ge ignores her, the more she is attracted to her. But Qin Yun is also a person who is prone to double-mindedness, and when she saw the owner of the villa, he appeared for a brief moment and compelled her. She had a slight crush on the owner, but now he looks suspicious, and Qin Yun’s mind goes back to Du Ge.

She was looking forward to meeting Du Ge tonight, but after a long day of worrying, even though Qin Yun still remembered that she was going to see Du Ge in the evening, she slept through the night.

In the middle of the night, Qin Yun suddenly heard an odd “creaking, creaking” sound coming from under her bed.

She didn’t want to pay attention to it, but the voice grew louder and louder. Qin Yun opened her eyes with a frown, and the room was darkness beyond her reach.

The sound under the bed was still ringing, as if it was directly beneath Qin Yun’s body. It sounded as if something alive was crawling underneath the bedpan, and Qin Yun’s remaining sleepiness vanished instantly as she turned around to wake Lian Xue and Li Xiao.

” Lian Xue , Li Xiao , you guys wake up, there seems to be something dirty in our room ……”

Qin Yun pushed Lian Xue and Li Xiao several times, but they were both very deep in sleep and did not respond at all. Qin Yun pushed them harder and harder, and her wrists were getting sore before she could wake them up. When she finally realised that something was wrong, Qin Yun lowered her head and tried to get closer to them with her eyes wide open.

Qin Yun’s breath caught and she took several abrupt steps backwards, shivering against the bed. The sound under the bed was getting louder and louder, and Qin Yun could feel the vibrations of the bed board being raised against her. She covered her ears, closed her eyes, and clutched the Fu Lu on her body, “I can’t see, I can’t see anything ……”

Suddenly, her hair was squeezed by the person next to her, causing a painful tug on Qin Yun’s scalp. Fear mixed with pain caused Qin Yun to have an emotional breakdown and she shouted, “Lian Xue, Li Xiao, don’t press my hair!

But Qin Yun was confused the next moment.

Lian Xue and Li Xiao are still asleep, so who is pressing her hair?

She gulped and turned her head to see a pair of bloody, severed hands standing over her, hands pressed into her hair.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Yun Yun screamed and fell off the bed as the pain hit her and she saw what was under the bedpan.

Underneath the cluttered bed, a mud-speckled head and two legs crawl beneath. After noticing Qin Yun’s movement, the head and two legs are aimed at Qin Yun’s direction. The expression on the head looked like fear and resentment, and it was staring at Qin Yun with deadly white eyes.

That is the head of Duan Zi.

Qin Yun’s guts chilled as her arms and legs braced her on the ground to get up, scrambled to her feet and ran outside.

The wooden door slammed open and Qin Yun ran as fast as she had ever run in her life. After running far enough, she looked back hastily, only to see two legs chasing her behind her as well.

Qin Yun almost cried out, but didn’t dare slow down.

What to do, what to do.

She’s not going to die, is she.

Where is Jiang Luo? Can she get Jiang Luo to save her?

Why did Jiang Luo give her Fu Lu that didn’t work at all?

At this moment, Qin Yun also feels a bit of resentment towards Jiang Luo. But what she resented even more was Duan Zi. Why did Duan Zi have to propose looking in the mirror at midnight?

If it wasn’t for Duan Zi, they wouldn’t have been drawn into the mirror world …… Qin Yun, who had earlier felt so sad about Duan Zi’s death and shed a few tears for him, now had nothing but relief.

If you’re dead, you’re dead, why did you come to harm me!

I’m not the one who killed you!

Qin Yun ran all the way to the lake, panting and running out of energy, when she suddenly saw a familiar figure in the darkness ahead of her, and even before she could see the person’s face, Qin Yun instantly recognised who it was: Du Ge, who had asked her to meet him in the evening!

Qin Yun’s eyes burst with the joy of life and she shouted, ” Du Ge , I’m here, come and help me!”

Du Ge paused for a moment as he looked from side to side, as if discerning where the sound was coming from.

Qin Yun shouted even louder, “I’m here! Du Ge!”

Du Ge heard Qin Yun’s voice and shadow this time, and he took a step towards Qin Yun.

Qin Yun was so ecstatic that he didn’t notice a mist rising at some point in the night.

Mist shrouds the lake’s edge, reflecting a few old crooked trees in a ghastly way.

Qin Yun’s steps slowed as she looked at the rugged shadows of the trees, and she was a little frightened when Du Ge broke through the mist and came in front of her.

Du Ge looked at her worriedly, ” Qin Yun , what’s wrong with you?”

Seeing someone familiar, Qin Yun’s fear was instantly dispelled. She ran up to Du Ge and panicked, “Du Ge, Duan Zi is here to see me!”

” Duan Zi?” Du Ge’s face was even more puzzled.

Seeing as if he didn’t believe it, Qin Yun turned his head and pointed behind him, “Look, his legs have been chasing me ……”

Her words stopped abruptly and she murmured, “Why is it gone?”

Du Ge glanced behind her and asked with a frown, ” Qin Yun , did you see it wrong?”

“Impossible!” Qin Yun excitedly tried to grab his hand, “I can’t possibly be wrong! Du Ge, believe me, it’s really Duan Zi who has returned!”

Du Ge dodged her hand sensitively, Qin Yun had long been used to being dodged by Du Ge, and she did not feel strange, she just said almost pleadingly, ” Du Ge , believe me, I really did not see wrong, what I saw was really not a hallucination …… Duan Zi became a ghost, this place is too scary.”

At the end of her sentence, she whimpered.

Du Ge sighed, “I didn’t say I didn’t believe it, let’s talk about it as we go.”

Qin Yun nodded chokingly and took a few steps around the lake with Du Ge before she regained some composure and told him everything that had just happened.

Du Ge pondered, “Did you take Fu Lu with you?”

Qin Yun no longer believed in this Fu Lu, she pulled out the yellow talisman from her collar, “I brought it with me. But it didn’t help at all. If I hadn’t woken up quickly, I might have died.”

Du Ge looked at the yellow talisman in her hand for a few seconds, “Do you carry it with you all the time?”

“Don’t you have it with you?” Qin Yun asked curiously, ” Didn’t Jiang Luo say when he drew the talisman that we should carry it with us? He said the talisman could ward off evil spirits, so I’ve carried it with me until now.”

“I forgot to take it on my way out,” Du Ge explained, followed by some hesitation, ” Qin Yun , do you think this charm can really ward off evil spirits?”

Qin Yun clutched Fu Lu, “If it can really ward off evil spirits, why would Duan Zi come crawling to me?”

“I came out without Fu Lu and nothing happened,” Du Ge said, “and nothing happened to anyone else, but you met this ……”

Qin Yun, seeing that he seemed to have some idea of what he was talking about, urged, “Du Ge, what do you want to say?”

Du Ge whispered, “Do you think that this talisman is not a talisman to ward off evil spirits, but a Fu Lu to attract ghosts?”

Qin Yun was horrified, “What did you say!”

“I hate to doubt Jiang Luo Lian Xue and the others, but with Duan Zi dead last night and you nearly dead tonight, it’s one of the four of us that’s been killed,” Du Ge questioned, “Is it really a coincidence? I didn’t take Fu Lu out, but I didn’t encounter anything. I suspect that this talisman is not a talisman to protect us at all, but a talisman drawn by Jiang Luo to attract ghosts!”

A chill rose up Qin Yun’s spine and she couldn’t help but move a little closer to Du Ge, her voice shaking, “But why would he do that?”

Du Ge said soberly, “He may have used us as bait to draw out the last evil spirits through us.”

The more Qin Yun thought about it, the more right it seemed. She looked down at the Fu Lu in her hand as if she were looking at a flooded beast. Her face suddenly changed, and she abruptly tore Fu Lu into pieces and threw it into the lake, “I won’t let him get away with this.”

Du Ge looked at the shredded paper floating on the lake and gave a wry smile, “Abandon Fu Lu and you’ll be safe.”

Qin Yun didn’t notice that he was wrong and said through gritted teeth, “Wait until tomorrow, I will definitely ask him about this, using us as a scapegoat? It’s just a matter of time before we get a fish out of water with him!”

Du Ge walked up to her and finally put his hand on Qin Yun’s shoulder and said warmly, “Let’s talk about this later, let’s do something else more important first.”

Qin Yun couldn’t help but blush, but said a little uncomfortably, ” Du Ge , you are so cold.”

“Is it?” Du Ge said, “It’s probably cooling down.”

A voice suddenly came from beside them.

” Qin Yun ?”

Qin Yun looks back and sees Jiang Luo walking slowly out of the mist.

At the sight of him, Qin Yun’s face flashed with alarm. Despite the harshness of her words, she was a little afraid of Jiang Luo after seeing him, and she couldn’t help but take a step back and retreat into Du Ge’s arms.

Yes, and Du Ge was here. Qin Yun plucked up her courage, she glared at Jiang Luo and said grimly, “Are you here to fill in the blanks because I’m not dead?”

“What do you mean?” Jiang Luo frowned, his gaze shifting from her face to Du Ge’s.

Qin Yun sneered, “We know everything, and you’re still pretending?”

Jiang Luo, however, said, “Come over here, the Du Ge behind you is a ghost pretending to be a person.”

Qin Yun frowned, “How is that possible!”

She looked back at Du Ge who looked at Jiang Luo with equal alarm, ” Qin Yun, this man must be the ghost who still wants to kill you, he has specially disguised himself as Jiang Luo to trick us, don’t believe his words.”

“I know,” Qin Yun said, “I wouldn’t take his word for it.”

The dark-haired young man she rejected was calm, as if Qin Yun’s choice had nothing to do with him, and he said in an unruffled tone, “Were his arms cold as he held your shoulders? Was his skin as hard as a corpse?”

With every word he said, Qin Yun stiffened as she realised, to her disbelief, that Jiang Luo was right.

Du Ge said anxiously, ” Qin Yun, don’t be fooled by ghosts! My skin is cold because I’m underdressed!”

Jiang Luo said, “Then did he encourage you to tear up the amulet I gave you? Did he dare to come near you only after he had torn up the Fu Lu? Because my talisman is extremely lethal to ghosts, and if they want to kill you, they will certainly use various methods to coax you to discard Fu Lu, such as hallucinations, such as cajoling.”

Qin Yun was shaken.

A chill ran through her body.

Her neck was rusty as she slowly turned her head to look at Du Ge and suddenly stepped backwards, away from him.

Du Ge’s expression gradually hardened, the human face grim and ghastly.

Qin Yun, who could not believe anyone at this moment, hid behind the tree trunk between them in a panic.

Once she was in hiding, Jiang Luo made a seal in front of him, “Well, now that there are no more strangers, let me see if you are the evil spirit we are looking for or not.”

“The Sundance position, wind.”

Du Ge turned to flee, but in the next instant he was torn apart by a sword-like gust of wind.

Qin Yun looked at the scene and let out an “ahh” and covered her mouth the next moment.

But what chilled her even more was that the next moment, Du Ge’s torn flesh suddenly turned into snow and ice. When the wind stopped blowing, there was no sign of Du Ge on the ground, only a dirty layer of snow.

Jiang Luo walked to the snow and squatted down, squeezed the snow and rubbed it, the snowflakes quickly turned into water at his fingertips, “Surprisingly, it’s snow ……”

Before the words were out of his mouth, a dark shadow flashed across Jiang Luo’s Yu Guang. He looked sideways and saw a black-cloaked figure flying away from him.

The figure overlapped with the last image of the beggar before he died, and Jiang Luo picked his lips as he stood up and said, “At last.”

He turned and went after the dark figure. Qin Yun, who had been left in place, froze and looked at the snowy water that had been sucked into the ground by the mud for a moment, shivered and followed.

Qin Yun was much slower than Jiang Luo, and when she found him, panting, she saw him standing in the middle of a courtyard.

“This is ……” Qin Yun looked around and froze, “Is it the Chi family young master’s compound?”

“Sure enough, sure enough it’s him, I knew it!” Qin Yun said excitedly, ” Jiang Luo , the young master of the Chi family must be the evil spirit we are looking for!”

Jiang Luo didn’t say anything, but glanced at her, “You should go back.”

Qin Yun bit her lip and gave him one last look as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she said nothing and turned her head and left the place.

Jiang Luo had no time to notice the stranger’s changing emotions. He stood alone in the darkness for a long time, and instead the door of the lighted room came out to the man.

Chi You smiled and said, “Young Master Jiang doesn’t want to go back to bed tonight?”

Jiang Luo paused and lifted his steps into the room.

Chi You didn’t ask him what he had been doing, and Jiang Luo wasn’t about to volunteer an explanation. The two men went to bed in silence, each under his own blanket, and closed their eyes.

The night passed quickly.

It passes so quickly that Jiang Luo feels as if he has just closed his eyes and then opened them. He opened his eyes and watched Chi You put on his clothes and leave, with a vague feeling that time in the mirror world seemed to be moving faster.

Is it an illusion?

Jiang Luo followed and got up.

After breakfast, as he intended to go out to explore, he heard the whispering of two maids down the corridor.

“I heard there was another death last night.”

“Yes, there are two more people. One was a boy called Du Ge from our house, and the other was a watchman from outside. I heard that the watchman died a horrible death, his head was chopped off and placed in Wan Bao Street, but his headless body was crawling on the ground, all the way to the front door of our house in blood!”

“Ah …… why do you keep climbing in front of our house? No, how can you climb when you don’t even have a head?”

“The people of Bujiu City are saying that it’s because the evil spirit that killed the watchmen is in the Chi family! The watchmen are identifying the killer, and they all say that the evil spirit that made such a fuss earlier is one of the Chi family!”

Another maid said in horror, “This ……”

They saw Jiang Luo and both of them blushed and left in a hurry with their heads down.

Jiang Luo watched them disappear and, with a twist of his footsteps, walked towards the Chi family’s ancestral hall.

Chi You usually leave and go to the shrine.

Sure enough, when Jiang Luo arrived at the ancestral hall, he heard the voices of the elders of the Chi family coming from the hall.

“You swallow this spiteful ghost quickly.”

Swallow?

Jiang Luo became interested and went to the window to look inside the shrine.

In the ancestral hall, Chi You stands in the centre, with three elders sitting in front of him. In addition to the four of them, there is also a stern ghost with an extremely strong grievance.

The stern ghost is dressed in a red wedding dress and has a large belly. Her gown is torn and tattered, and her blue and white legs are exposed beneath it. Blood continues to snake down her legs, and the ghost’s face struggles as it frantically roars in the circle formed by Fu Lu.

This turned out to be a pregnant wedding ghost.

When a woman dies on the day of her great joy, her grievances will be exponentially thicker. Wearing a red dress again, there is a great chance that she will turn into a severe ghost.

And while it is clear that the ghost is a newlywed who died, this one is big-bellied, clearly the worst of the worst, with a resentment so strong that it is about to burst out of the shrine.

If Jiang Luo were to encounter such a ghost, he would basically just run away cleanly.

The three clan elders looked at the female ghost in red with a vaguely fearful expression, and they urged even louder, “Use your ghost tattoos to swallow her up!”

Chi You gave the Liege a quiet look and said flatly, “Her power is too strong, it will backfire too much on my ghost tattoo, I won’t swallow it.”