Chapter 327: The Redemption of the Dragon Lady!
The voice was vague, making it impossible to tell if it was male or female. Upon closer inspection, it sounded awfully familiar, like an acquaintance or even a bit like her own voice, which made Zhao Mingyue instinctively want to get closer and eavesdrop on what the mysterious figure was saying.
The world around her was engulfed in darkness, save for the enormous Ghost Gate looming in front of her.
This wasn’t Zhao Mingyue’s first time getting up close with a Ghost Gate; she knew the real ones from the fake ones. For instance, the blurry runes and strange patterns engraved on the surface were indicators. The more powerful the Ghost Gate, the clearer the designs — yet, even the strongest one she had seen was still too murky to decipher.
But this massive Ghost Gate was completely different; for the first time, she could actually see what was written on it. Unfortunately, she had no clue about the meaning, and it looked a bit like the script of the Evil God.
“Where on earth is this place?”
Zhao Mingyue wondered, surveying the surrounding darkness. It was like a pitch-black void.
She tried to move forward cautiously, but after just a few minutes, she found herself back where she started — it felt like hitting a wall of ghosts.
“Am I dreaming right now? This is way too vivid for a dream!”
Most dreams are hazy, but the dream world before her was strikingly real, making it hard to differentiate between dreaming and waking life.
“Bai Yu! Yu, my dear! Dragon Lady!”
She called out loudly several times, but there was only silence. Not even an echo to be heard.
“Forget it! This is definitely a dream; it’s probably another mess created by the Ghost Gate.”
If her shout didn’t wake Bai Yu, it must be a dream. In reality, it would only be if Bai Yu were stabbed by someone that she would stay quiet. But trying to stab Bai Yu? Now that would be tough.
“What is this place, really?”
Not bothering to dwell on the whole dream-versus-reality debate, Zhao Mingyue rubbed her chin as she stood before the Ghost Gate, trying her best to memorize the strange script above, thinking that it might yield some results if she shared it with Bai Yu and the others once she woke up.
While she was busy analyzing the Ghost Gate, the voice from behind it became clearer. It sounded quite urgent, as if there were something very important to say.
“Hey, who are you? Are you behind the door?”
As soon as she said that, the voice paused, then started mumbling some incomprehensible phrases.
“They must be behind the Ghost Gate. What if I push this thing open?”
Pensively, Zhao Mingyue placed a hand on the Ghost Gate, frowning. She felt a chilling aura beginning to gather from the gate into her body, like an icy mist wiggling its way through her pores.
Surprisingly, it felt quite nice — at least, very soothing.
“What in the world is this gate made of?”
After absorbing it for a while, she muttered to herself, accidentally exerting a bit more force. To her shock, the Ghost Gate cracked open just wide enough for her to see through!
Zhao Mingyue was momentarily dumbfounded. She hadn’t pushed that hard; in fact, a gentle nudge would barely budge her bedroom door! Yet this hefty metal gate was at least three and a half meters high — surely, it should’ve taken a couple of strong folks to pry it open, right?
As the door swung open, that blurry voice suddenly sharpened and wrapped itself around her ears.
The voice was hers — it felt as if an invisible version of her was whispering right beside her.
And what she said was, “You’ve finally returned, my lord…”
In an instant, her thoughts were tugged by a strange force, pulling her and the entire dream world into a chaotic, dark distortion.
Suddenly jolting upright, Zhao Mingyue gasped for several breaths before getting her bearings.
She turned her head to look around, confirming she was back in her bedroom.
It must’ve reached daytime, as a ray of morning sunshine filtered through the curtains, illuminating her room. The little bear alarm clock on her bedside table read seven-thirty in the morning.
At this hour, the cute loli by her pillow had likely gotten up well before her; she could still smell the lovely fragrance lingering in the air.
Holding her head in her hands, fingers tangling in her messy hair, Zhao Mingyue felt a dull throb in her head but nothing too severe.
The vivid dream from last night was still fresh in her mind, with the image of the Ghost Gate replaying like a movie.
She quickly scrambled to find some paper and a pen to sketch out the Ghost Gate’s appearance, jotting down the unfamiliar symbols etched above it.
These characters were entirely alien to her; memorizing them was a hassle. She struggled to find a pattern, resorting to rote memorization instead.
With what she could recall documented, the parts she couldn’t remember were just going to have to be forgotten.
There was a lot of text on that Ghost Gate, but sadly, there was no way to snap a picture in a dream.
Once Zhao Mingyue finished scribbling everything down, she sighed in relief and began to sense changes in her body.
After absorbing some of the Ghost Gate’s power, it felt like her strength had truly increased—with no side effects at all!
Stepping out of her bedroom, she could definitely hear sounds coming from the kitchen.
Heading over, she found Bai Yu busy making breakfast, still clad in her pink-and-white rabbit pajamas, complete with that adorable bunny hat. Watching the little cutie hustle around the kitchen made Zhao Mingyue feel a twinge of guilt.
It was as though she had married a loli wife who did all the housework while she, the “master of the house,” slept in and awaited her meals.
“Go wash up; breakfast will be ready soon.”
“Okay~”
After turning to wash up and quickly changing her clothes, Zhao Mingyue sat down at the dining table, pulling out the paper she had written on earlier to show Bai Yu.
“Bai Yu, I had the weirdest dream last night!”
She recounted the dream in detail. Bai Yu frowned as she examined the written notes, but alas, she wasn’t exactly a scholar in that area, and totally couldn’t make sense of it.
After snapping a picture of it and sending it to Chen Yunshi, it wasn’t long before Zhao Mingyue received a translation back.
The text described a place called the “Yin Realm” and an entity known as the “Underworld God.”
Due to Zhao Mingyue’s incomplete notes, and since most of the content praised the Underworld God, Chen Yunshi could only make educated guesses based on that.
The Yin Realm was a world behind the Ghost Gate, and the Underworld God was a supreme presence controlling it — comparable to the formidable Dark Moon God. The Underworld God had been killed by unforeseen circumstances, causing issues in the Yin Realm and merging it too closely with the real world.
Perhaps this was why the Ghost Gate appeared; Chen Yunshi even boldly theorized that the Ghost Gate had an origin or source, and if it were destroyed or sealed, all Ghost Gates in the world would close as a consequence. The risks of doing so were still unknown.
“Underworld God…” Bai Yu glanced at Zhao Mingyue, as if all the clues were pointing to Zhao Mingyue regarding this Underworld God business.
The voice from her dream had called Zhao Mingyue’s return and addressed her as “my lord.” Only the Underworld God would enjoy such treatment, and it perfectly aligned with her prior assessments of Zhao Mingyue’s identity.
If Zhao Mingyue really had no ties to the Ghost Gate, how could she have been granted such enhancements by the world beyond it?
“Bai Yu, do you think I might actually be that Underworld God? Is that what makes me so incredible? But I feel so normal!” Zhao Mingyue gobbled down her breakfast rapidly, her eating style resembling that of a starving ghost.
“We don’t know for sure, but let’s not get our hopes up about this whole identity thing. Compared to the Underworld God, it’s best for you to just stick to being Zhao Mingyue,” Bai Yu advised candidly. The question of whether Zhao Mingyue was indeed the Underworld God aside, even if she were, Bai Yu didn’t expect Zhao Mingyue to go diving into the Ghost Gate world to face her fate then battle the Dark Moon God until they were both dead.
“Hmm… Honestly, I just want to help you out. But if it’s just you, how can you take on the Dark Moon God?”
“Let’s wait and see,” Zhao Mingyue replied.
“That’s not a good mindset,” she shook her head. “This isn’t something we can just ‘try out.’ If you can’t handle the Dark Moon God, won’t we both be doomed? It’d be better to test out my powers, and if that works, we can deal with the Underworld God later on. There’s always a way forward; first, we solve the most pressing issue!”
At first glance, Zhao Mingyue’s reasoning seemed pretty sound. If Bai Yu couldn’t handle the Dark Moon God, she, as the Underworld God, would surely suffer the repercussions of the Dark Moon God’s revenge.
Bai Yu didn’t respond; she didn’t know what to say. A million words choked down to just four.
“All is under my control.”
After breakfast, the Dragon Lady’s car was waiting outside the community.
Today they were headed to Eternal Life Village. If they could sort it out today, great; if not, time would tell.
It’s worth noting that the news from Shen Shuyun was true. It wasn’t that she and the Dragon Lady hadn’t received information; they just hadn’t paid attention.
The reason? The black phone used to receive messages was with Zhao Mingyue, who couldn’t see the message. The Dragon Lady simply hadn’t bothered with it — classic her!
“So, I’d like to ask, dear Redemption Officer, will you be able to redeem me again tonight?” The Dragon Lady glanced at Bai Yu, who was sitting in the passenger seat.
“Uncertain.”
The Dragon Lady’s redemption mission had failed the first time, and Bai Yu had never tried to trigger it again.
Logically, it should be impossible — and even if it were, there should be some changes.
“Honestly, you should go redeem Nightmare; she needs it way more,” the Dragon Lady joked half-heartedly.
The car drove towards Eternal Life Village, reaching the front village before long.
Surprisingly, there were still living people in the front village. After the back village was wiped out, the front village was gradually seeing a revival.
“We need to capture A She Godmother and her companion and have them guide us.”
