### Chapter 87: On How Naiko’s Shadow Doesn’t Affect the Battle
As the sky darkened, Ping Shan Village seemed utterly still, yet it felt like it had undergone some monumental change. Something was stirring in the shadows.
Bai Yu and Zhao Mingyue remained in the courtyard, not rushing to leave.
“It’s six o’clock, why is it getting dark so quickly?” Zhao Mingyue glanced at her phone.
She hadn’t checked her phone much that afternoon, mostly worried about running out of battery. After all, she was using an old second-hand phone with a tiny battery capacity.
“Stay here and wait for me.”
Bai Yu vanished and reappeared on the rooftop.
She gazed at the village below. In places like this, the true and terrifying side only emerged after darkness fell, and the Evil God’s wicked thoughts reached new heights.
The night breeze swept through, carrying a cold chill and a damp, unpleasant stench that rattled every nerve.
Suddenly, Bai Yu heard a sound—a whisper wafting through the wind, and she thought she caught a mention of her name, but the rest was unclear. She had to eavesdrop to decipher the message.
“Curses…” Bai Yu pieced it together. The muffled sound was indeed a curse. At first, she could hear a few key phrases relevant to herself.
Naturally, these keywords would tempt one to listen more closely, creating an illusion of approaching the truth—that this person was discussing something really important about her.
Little did she know, by struggling to eavesdrop, she had already fallen victim to the curse.
“Zhao Mingyue, no matter what you hear later, ignore it. Don’t listen closely. If someone calls your name—even if it’s me, don’t respond. If I call you, it’ll be only in my mind.”
Bai Yu warned, keeping her wits about her.
The Evil God’s power was formidable yet limited, and since the curse here was tied to the ears, ignoring those voices would significantly reduce the risk of entanglement with the curse’s influence.
She suspected that this curse accumulated bit by bit, and by the moment the sound reached your ears, you were already ensnared. At this stage, the curse hadn’t rooted itself yet; it merely stirred the heart, allowing one to hear their name.
In reality, the Evil God didn’t know you, nor did it understand your secrets.
If anyone listened closely, that was when the real trouble began.
Zhao Mingyue nodded below; she’d heard a whisper, faint yet enticing her to lean in to listen.
Bai Yu descended from the rooftop but still didn’t hurry outside, quietly waiting for time to pass.
Holding Zhao Mingyue’s phone, she occasionally checked the time.
At that moment, a message arrived from Lu Liangting.
“Mingyue, where are you? I’m coming to find you.”
“Don’t come for me; I’m safe for now.”
Scanning quickly, Bai Yu replied swiftly, then blacked out the screen and didn’t respond again.
She alerted Shen Shuyun to spread the message, timing it so that Lu Liangting would arrive just as the madmen would come, otherwise, he might get intercepted on the way.
Time ticked by. Suddenly, Zhao Mingyue tugged at Bai Yu’s sleeve, pointing towards the house, communicating silently.
“There’s a sound, different from the one before.”
The cursed whisper had been right beside her, while this new sound came from inside the room, rustling incessantly—like a small animal, or someone stirring within.
The surroundings were eerily quiet; even the faintest breeze amplified in the stillness, exacerbated by the curse’s interference with their nerves. Looking around the courtyard, the small compound only revealed a sliver of visibility illuminated by the moonlight.
The doors of surrounding rooms, once secured, now stood open to thick darkness.
Zhao Mingyue had enhanced physical abilities, especially her vision.
She possessed night vision, allowing her to at least see her surroundings in the dark.
Yet, as she glanced into the house, all she could see was a blanket of shadow.
Bai Yu heard the sounds too. She stepped closer to adjust her position, scanning the interior. Being a ghost, she largely ignored the darkness, and in her sight, someone was sluggishly rising to their feet from the ground.
To be precise, it was a corpse.
This wasn’t just any human; it defied classification.
In the main room, the wax corpse, once leaning against the wall, stood up slowly. Although merely putting its body upright, something twisted and horrifying lingered about it—an ineffable oddity.
With stiff joints, it took awkward steps, straight-legged mounting toward the exit.
The noise within grew more pronounced, shifting from mere rustles to audible footsteps.
Zhao Mingyue turned her head toward her room, only to see a face abruptly appearing beneath the corner of a newspaper-covered window.
This spot happened to be devoid of newspaper, allowing Zhao Mingyue to see it clearly.
It was a child, gender uncertain, with their entire face coated in wax, eyes shut tight, peering through two black gaps, their mouth similarly constricted, leaving only a tiny slit.
Whether dead or alive, as long as the person hadn’t been dead long, their skin appeared quite similar; the difference lay primarily in color.
But a wax corpse was a different story, with no sign of corpse-like pallor and instead a flesh color that was completely skewed—difficult to distinguish between wax and skin.
Combined with the unique granular texture of the wax corpse’s skin, it was downright chilling.
It’s crucial to note that this wasn’t a person made of wax, but rather a body coated in wax.
At precisely seven o’clock in the evening.
Creeeak~
The wooden door swung open with a gust of cold wind, and the wax corpse stepped outside.
Zhao Mingyue’s gaze shifted—she had witnessed the wax corpse stepping from darkness into the moonlight, fully visible to her.
Once covered in wax, the corpse was unmistakably different from an ordinary corpse.
Its hair, too, was encased in wax, and the creases of its clothing were frozen in time as if caught in the moment of d*ath—minus the expression on its face.
One after another, the first and second, then the third and fourth emerged, up to the sixth.
Six corpses walked out of their house, all strangers. Their clothing varied from decades-old styles to trendy outfits from the last couple of years.
Among these six were men, women, the elderly, and a child—particularly a boy or girl under ten years old.
Undoubtedly, they were all wax corpses.
Eyes tightly shut and devoid of expression, or rather, after being waxed, they could barely show any expression.
Zhao Mingyue hesitated. Among these six, the stylishly dressed man and woman accompanied by the child seemed to form a family unit, likely not from the village.
The man had a hole where his left eye once was—no bl**d flowed, just dark, reeking flesh. It resembled ancient preserved meat.
To describe the man’s head alone, it looked like an apple icon on a phone, missing a chunk—definitely not a b*llet wound since the wound was smooth and evenly shaped. Zhao Mingyue couldn’t fathom what weapon could cause that.
The woman’s clothing was disheveled, and her neck was twisted unusually—likely strangled or hanged. Even with her face sealed, it was evident she had been beautiful in life.
The wax corpses moved slowly, simultaneously heading toward the door.
Suddenly, they paused, collectively turning to face Zhao Mingyue.
Clang!
bl**d threads formed into a long kn*fe. Bai Yu flicked her wrist, sending bl**d strands slicing through the air, severing two corpses with a single stroke.
She used to excel at this skill, but now it wasn’t as effective; after all, her body wasn’t the same. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t produce the same clarity.
But she found other methods—like just now, she could flick her kn*fe to send out bl**d threads as attacks, essentially like “blade light,” right?
After a few strikes, the wax corpses collapsed, six heads rolling to the ground.
“There’s danger outside. I’ll take over your body for now. I’ll come out when it’s safer,” Bai Yu declared, the bl**d threads merging back with her.
She turned to Zhao Mingyue, who nodded in agreement and opened her arms, signaling for a hug.
Bai Yu paused, hesitated for half a second, then gently embraced her before blending into Zhao Mingyue’s body.
Zhao Mingyue’s eyes grew unfocused, and when she lifted her gaze again, they were entirely black, the expression of anticipation replaced by Bai Yu’s typically expressionless demeanor.
bl**d threads spread from Zhao Mingyue’s back, enveloping her whole body, gradually forming the outline of a sleek black leather outfit, complete with long-legged pants and boots.
A long, elegant neck soon bore the same bl**d threads, stretching up to her face, transforming into a white mask. The mask had no features; only intricately patterned edges surrounded the eye slots, narrow and phoenix-like, with slightly upward-turned corners that added a mysterious allure to its icy visage.
The outfit and mask were designed to protect Zhao Mingyue’s body while discreetly concealing her identity.
After all, it wasn’t her body, so she couldn’t afford to take injuries lightly. Bai Yu certainly didn’t want any scars on Zhao Mingyue’s body.
Bai Yu opened the door and approached the front of a nearby house, leaping lightly onto the roof with a single foot.
She quickened her pace, bl**d threads connecting to a nearby roof, allowing her to leap onto another building.
Bathed in moonlight, Bai Yu controlled Zhao Mingyue’s body as she stood atop a chimney, watching the eastern side of the village.
She had three tasks: first, to follow the wax corpses in the western village to see where they were heading and what drew them; second, to do the same with the wax corpses in the eastern village; both tasks crucial for finding the two statues required for her mission.
Lastly, she was to gauge the family dining affair of Zhao Mingyue.
Beneath the mask, Zhao Mingyue’s expression was icy as she was about to move but suddenly thought of something and glanced down at her chest.
What had been a frost-like expression now bore an unusual hint of emotion.
After possessing Zhao Mingyue, Bai Yu could indeed feel her latent potential. Her enhanced physical abilities felt great, making her body smooth and comfortable to use. But there was one feeling she found strange—something neither she nor her previous life had ever experienced.
What was with this weight on her chest…
Almost instinctively, she raised her hand to touch it before hurriedly putting it back down.
She couldn’t be sure if Zhao Mingyue’s consciousness was dormant, and if it wasn’t, touching it could lead to some serious misunderstandings later.
On that note, what did this girl eat while growing up? At her age, her size was absolutely ridiculous.
Quickly, Bai Yu noticed something rather shocking.
Without bending, she couldn’t even see her own shoe tips…
After a heavy silence, Bai Yu was struck by only one thought.
“This really affects my battle stance.”
Now she understood why Zhao Mingyue had so many old clothes lying around.
She also got why this girl disliked running.
Thank goodness her own body lacked such proportions; though it had its own curves, they didn’t impede her fighting abilities.
Bai Yu felt fortunate, at least for now.
After all, the ghostly body wouldn’t continue developing.
Putting aside her jumbled thoughts, Bai Yu figured she could tighten the bl**d threads a bit and adapt, which wouldn’t matter much.
She continued her leap across the rooftops, trailing behind the wax corpses.
From a distance, Bai Yu noticed something unusual—these wax corpses weren’t all victims of foul play; most wore ceremonial clothing, suggesting they were elderly individuals.
This village likely had no burial customs and instead kept the deceased as wax corpses within their homes.
She wondered if any living people remained in those houses. If there were, did they coexist with the wax corpses?
“Marriage, funerals.”
After following the wax corpses for some time, Bai Yu roughly deduced their destination.
They were headed to a funeral.
If she wasn’t mistaken, the wax corpses in the eastern village were likely attending a wedding.
“What’s the difference?”
“The mission states that weddings require the living, while funerals need the dead.”
“What’s Zhao Mingyue’s role in the eastern village? The bride at the wedding?”
Bai Yu gazed in the direction of the eastern village, a sense of instinct telling her it wasn’t that simple, but one thing was clear: if Zhao Mingyue returned after attending that family gathering in the eastern village, she would be in grave danger.
“Hmph, a family gathering? I’d like to see what’s going on.”
Unbeknownst to Bai Yu, at that very moment, Lu Liangting, who was navigating the village and had just discovered the group of wax corpses, was knocked unconscious from behind.
Right before he blacked out, he vaguely heard a voice.
“Found the groom!”
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