Indeed, it was a case of a thief crying "Stop thief," the real ghost was Gong Banlan!
Perhaps it’s not quite appropriate to say so. More accurately, the real Gong Banlan had already died; she was replaced by a ghost during the exorcism ceremony.
Even without the act of banging on the wall, Gong Banlan’s words held no convincing power. After all, even she, a hobbler who couldn’t walk smoothly, was unhard, while Nalan Shuo, that slick old hand, died just like that. No one would believe her easily.
Yang Xiao and Xiang Fengchen dared not even breathe too heavily, but from the ghost’s behavior of knocking on the "door," it hadn’t discovered their whereabouts and still thought they were hiding in the room.
Now what Yang Xiao was most worried about was soone suddenly coming next; facing the ghost would an certain death for the newcor and could likely cause a series of unnecessary troubles.
As ti ticked by, after "Gong Banlan" had been hitting the wall for a minute, she seed to realize she had been exposed. Suddenly, she stopped talking, stared coldly at the wall in front of her for a few seconds, and then turned around, walking stiffly towards the courtyard gate.
From beginning to end, "Gong Banlan" never approached the other two rooms, not even giving them a glance.
As Yang Xiao watched "Gong Banlan" leave, the more he looked, the more he found it strange. Her movents were stiff but otherwise normal. Yet, inexplicably, there ca a very discordant feeling. It was only when Xiang Fengchen next to him gestured with his hand toward "Gong Banlan’s" feet that Yang Xiao’s slightly squinted eyes slowly widened. The thin moonlight cast a shadow on the ground, where the movents of the shadow didn’t quite align with those of the "person." The swinging of arms and walking of legs were especially odd, with a disjointedness in the shadow’s upper and lower halves as if they had been pieced together—and the shadow was much bulkier than the "person" itself.
Just as Yang Xiao thought the ghost would leave, an abnormality occurred. The ghost, who had reached less than 5 ters from the courtyard gate, suddenly turned its head without warning, looking straight at him and Xiang Fengchen’s hiding place. In the instant their gazes crossed, a chill surged from the ground, straight through his soles and up to the crown of his head, leaving his mind blank.
"We’ve been discovered..."
Dwelling on why they had been detected was aningless now. The ghost had already turned and was walking towards him, moving more than twice as fast as before. But Yang Xiao seed as if frozen, his limbs ice-cold, unable to move.
"Crunch—"
"Crunch—"
"Crunch—"
The increasingly close footsteps sounded like the notes of a death knell. Using his last bit of strength, he shifted his gaze away from confronting the ghost’s eyes, looking down at his feet. He had been exposed; this place couldn’t hide him any longer. He took very light steps backward, with a tree behind him.
Sensibly, he didn’t hide in the sa spot as Xiang Fengchen. There was no need to involve another person in the trouble he had caused. Even if he died, leaving Xiang Fengchen to cooperate with the Director, they still had a great chance of fighting their way out of this mission.
As for whether the Director would retaliate against Xiang Fengchen and die alongside him due to Yang Xiao’s death, that was beyond his consideration now.
He continued to back away until he touched the tree and imdiately hid behind it. However, the footsteps didn’t stop, growing ever closer. Yang Xiao didn’t dare to look up; he was gambling, betting that the ghost could only find where he had just been hiding and betting that in the critical mont, Xiang Fengchen would make a move to save him.
"Crunch—"
"Crunch—"
"Crunch—"
The footsteps were very near now, right by the tree where he had been hiding. Yang Xiao, with his head down, stared at his feet, not daring to lift his head, listening intently to determine the ghost’s location. What baffled him was that the ghost didn’t seem to be searching for him; the footsteps were strangely circling around one place.
Holding his breath, not daring to utter a sound, Yang Xiao felt the imnse pressure distort his sense of ti. Suddenly, he heard a discordant noise.
"Creak—"
It was like an old door being forcefully pushed open.
The direction... was right where the courtyard gate was. The very scene he had dreaded the most had inevitably occurred; the next person had co.
He didn’t know who it was, but it was certain death for anyone. He just hoped it wasn’t Director Nalan.
Then, footsteps headed straight for the courtyard gate, easing the tension in Yang Xiao’s heart a little. He was saved; soone had successfully drawn the ghost’s attention away, and that person would pay with their life.
But as the ghost’s footsteps beca more distant, moving away from the courtyard gate until they disappeared completely, Yang Xiao heard no sounds of distress, no screams, no panic, no slaughter, and no sll of blood. Nothing happened.
Yang Xiao still did not look up. He had seen much of the ghost’s cunning and suspected this was a trap set by the ghost. The ghost hadn’t left and was nearby, waiting for him to lift his head so it could lock onto his position and kill him imdiately.
He remained motionless, yet footsteps approached from his right, "It’s gone, it’s safe now," said Xiang Fengchen’s voice behind him, keeping his voice very low, but there was a sense of relief.
Yang Xiao didn’t move at all and didn’t reply, keeping his head down like a puppet.
"You sure are cautious, really hard to kill..." Seeing the situation, Xiang Fengchen couldn’t help but feel a mix of frustration and amusent, and resorted to forcefully twisting Yang Xiao’s neck to make him look up, "Look, it’s . If it weren’t for your master’s intervention just now, you would’ve been dead."
Thinking that the ghost wouldn’t engage in such an action as twisting a neck, Yang Xiao confird Xiang Fengchen’s identity. He slowly exhaled and looked towards the tree where he had previously hidden. He saw many strange footprints left around the base of the tree, circling, and behind the tree, a Short Incense stick stood skewed—almost burned out.
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