Su Er had a feeling there was a hidden meaning in his words, but with time pressing, he didn’t press further and instead focused on the important part. “Red paper attracts ghosts. The three of us shouldn’t stay together for too long.”
Ji Heng pulled out the red paper from his pocket and gave a short laugh. “The Ghost King certainly plays his cards well.”
Su Er hesitated. “Is the Ghost King… that powerful?”
Ji Heng was studying the red paper in his hand when Wan Yi replied, “Even putting strength aside, Ghost Kings are generally more intelligent than regular ghosts.”
Su Er frowned. “Soldiers should fight soldiers, generals should fight generals. It's supposed to be fair. It’s overkill for it to come after a small fry like me.”
Wan Yi chuckled. “In their world, they only pick the softest targets to squeeze.”
Su Er insisted, “I’m not soft.”
Taking advantage of Wan Yi’s speechlessness, Su Er leaned closer to Ji Heng and asked in a low voice, “If I put the item inside that box, would it block its attraction to ghosts?”
The Ghostbone Flower had stopped blooming once placed inside, a clear sign that the box was special. But with a Ghost King in front and the Host behind at the time, he hadn’t dared try anything risky.
Ji Heng thought for a moment. “It’s worth a try.”
In the end, each person kept only three red papers on them. The rest were placed into the box. When Wan Yi saw the Ghostbone Flower, his eyes filled with envy.
Just in case, the three moved to stand at the entrance of the ancestral hall, so that when spirits gathered, they could split up and run at a moment’s notice. He still remembered how, when they first arrived, several crows had nested in the trees by the door. Now all was silent, making the waiting even more nerve-wracking. At a time like this, a little conversation might have eased the tension.
Wan Yi wasn’t fond of small talk, and Ji Heng wasn’t one to speak without reason. After a moment of thought, Su Er broke the silence first: “How do you think ghosts tell people apart?”
Wan Yi shook his head. What kind of question was that?
But Su Er was serious. “If it’s by sight, what if someone has a twin? Plus, makeup techniques these days can make people look nearly identical.”
Su Er continued, “Say person A broke the rules. Then person B disguises as A and secretly swaps rooms with them. It’s pitch black at night, the ghost comes, mistakes B for A, and kills the wrong one. Wouldn’t that be a serious mistake on the ghost’s part?”
Wan Yi had never thought about that. Most players entering the game only thought about surviving within the rules—no one really wondered how ghosts actually identified people.
At a loss for words, he glanced toward Ji Heng, who calmly replied, “Maybe everyone gives off a unique kind of aura. That could be how the ghosts tell.”
The short exchange helped time pass a bit more. Wan Yi quietly exhaled—looked like they might get through the night.
No one knew how much time passed, but the faint outline of the sun gradually began to appear on the distant horizon. Ji Heng spoke, “To the graveyard.”
Dawnlight brought a sense of safety. As the surroundings slowly became visible, Su Er also let out a soft breath. ‘A close call’ was often the luckiest phrase a player could hope for. Unfortunately, that faint relief completely vanished the moment they reached the graveyard.
Shen Jiangbei and Wen Buyu had arrived ahead of them and were waiting at the entrance but hadn’t gone in.
Ji Heng walked straight up and said bluntly, “Everyone keeps one red paper. The rest go to one person.”
It sounded like they had a choice—but in reality, they didn’t. Wen Buyu had lost a few sheets during a ghost encounter. Ji Heng had the most now. As for the ones Su Er had hidden in Mister Sea of Books’ room… only a madman would risk their life going back for them.
“Who gets them?” After a long pause, Shen Jiangbei asked.
Ji Heng looked at Su Er. “If you become a Guard Chief, you’ll have a huge advantage when it comes to point settlement. But before the game ends, you’ll also be at the highest risk.”
Su Er didn’t hesitate. He nodded. “I’ll do it.”
He’d already used half a Ghostbone Flower. If he only got a pitiful handful of points after all that, it wouldn’t be worth it.
“Then it’s yours.”
Ji Heng never asked for anyone else’s opinion. He simply swept his gaze across them.
Under the silent tension, Shen Jiangbei glanced at the still-hesitating Wan Yi and, as team leader, made the call: “Give it to him.”
Unless they had the strength to take all the red paper from Ji Heng by force, there was no point trying to keep their own shares.
A few minutes later, Su Er was standing in front of Zhou Linjun’s grave, clutching a small stack of red paper.
The coffin lid was slightly ajar. From inside came a displeased voice, as if resentful over failing to claim a victim.
Su Er said, “Time for you to keep your promise.”
Silence swept the entire graveyard. The leaves rustled up into the air with a loud whoosh, followed by a raging wind that stung their skin like knives.
“Fine—” When the wind finally began to die down, the voice inside the coffin spoke again. “The next Guard Chief will be you. But… you’d better live long enough to see it.”
Su Er froze, a frown furrowing his brow. Three more days until the vote meant he would be hunted by ghosts every night from now on. As he was deep in thought, the red paper in his hand suddenly turned a deeper crimson, and seemed to grow heavier.
Ji Heng said in a low voice, “Let’s get out of here.”
As they left, Su Er turned back for one last look at the tombstone, concealing the emotion in his eyes.
As the group walked down the path, Wen Buyu couldn’t help feeling a little schadenfreude—but her expression quickly darkened. Being targeted by ghosts for three nights in a row… odds of surviving weren’t great. Maybe voting for Li Shouzhang gave them a better shot. But with Ji Heng in the mix, nothing was certain.
They didn’t stay together. Su Er and Ji Heng went on ahead.
Staring after their backs, Wan Yi frowned. “How do we choose?”
The vote and the results wouldn’t be announced immediately—there would be half a day in between. What if something happened to a candidate during that time?
Shen Jiangbei glanced at Wen Buyu. “Go to Li Shouzhang. Make sure he keeps drugging them. Eliminate any other variables.”
Wen Buyu nodded.
One way or another, the three Li brothers had to die. That way, they only had to choose between Su Er and Li Shouzhang.
Wan Yi added, “I’ll walk around the streets, see if any new strong candidates have shown up.”
In the dark alley, the air didn't flow smoothly, carrying a damp, shadowy scent.
Su Er leaned against the wall to rest, staring at the red paper in his hand. “Keeping it in the box might not be safe anymore.”
Ji Heng nodded. “The yin energy on it has grown heavier—at least several times more than yesterday.”
In other words, once night fell, Su Er would become a moving target.
Su Er seemed to have his own plan. “I want to look into Zhou Linjun’s background first.”
Ji Heng didn’t stop him.
Of course, before doing that, Su Er didn’t forget to write a reflection essay to fulfill his earlier promise. He then used that as a pretense to visit the Guard Chief’s home.
“Not bad.” The Guard Chief seemed quite pleased with the exaggerated praise written on the paper.
“Not gonna lie, I visited the graves yesterday and had a lot of thoughts. The townsfolk here are too kind-hearted, still willing to bury them.”
The Guard Chief looked disgusted. “They should’ve been ground to ashes.”
Su Er lowered his eyes, then suddenly asked, “Have you ever heard of someone named Zhou Linjun?”
The Guard Chief’s expression changed instantly. “Why ask about him?”
“As a cautionary tale,” Su Er said calmly. “All the other tombstones detail their crimes. His just says ‘theft.’”
Noticing the Chief’s reluctance to answer, Su Er went ahead and flattered him a little. “You’re the Guard Chief. I’d expect you to be familiar with this kind of thing.”
The Chief’s expression shifted, and finally he sighed deeply. “Zhou Linjun was once a Guard Chief, too.”
Su Er feigned surprise and exchanged a look with Ji Heng before asking, “Then why haven’t we ever heard of him?”
“He only served as Chief for three days,” the Chief said slowly. “Then it was discovered he had stolen someone else’s votes… That was over a decade ago. After it came to light, Zhou Linjun was executed by waist chopping in the ancestral hall.”
Su Er asked, “Did he have any family left?”
Ji Heng glanced over slightly at that—an unexpected question.
The Guard Chief nodded. “His mother’s still alive, but she’s very old and not quite right in the head. Lives at the edge of town.”
Su Er spoke softly. “Burying her own child… she must’ve been heartbroken.”
The Chief gave a mocking laugh. “She’s the one who turned him in.”
Su Er was stunned.
The Chief added, “The one who lost the vote back then was a man she had feelings for in her youth. That old woman was biased.”
There weren’t strict age restrictions for the Guard Chief position—anyone over twenty and under seventy could run.
In this place ruled by endless rules, Su Er constantly found his worldview challenged. As they left the Guard Chief’s house, it happened to be mealtime. Ji Heng asked, “Want to grab something to eat?”
Su Er didn’t respond right away—his gaze caught a familiar figure at the street corner. Their eyes met. Wen Buyu looked a little awkward, stepped forward, and clarified that she hadn’t been eavesdropping.
“Shen Jiangbei and Wan Yi haven’t decided yet,” she said to Su Er, “but I’ll vote for you in front of Ji Heng.”
She was an opportunist, betting on a chance to gain Ji Heng’s favor. But from the look of it, he wasn’t paying it any mind.
Awkwardly forcing a smile, Wen Buyu quickly changed the subject. “Have you thought about how to handle tonight?”
Su Er nodded.
Ji Heng, standing beside him, actually cracked a rare joke. “Going to the host’s room?”
Su Er shook his head. “Not a good idea. The key lies with Zhou Linjun—he was obsessed with rules even after becoming a ghost.”
The townspeople here were murdered, and in death, they only thought about how to use even stricter rules to torment newcomers. Ironically, that obsession was probably the reason the town hadn’t yet been wiped out by ghosts.
Thinking of that, Su Er’s gaze sharpened. “Remember what was engraved on Zhou Linjun’s tombstone?”
Wen Buyu: “Theft?”
“There was something more important…” Su Er lifted his head and said slowly, “His birthdate and eight-character destiny.”
Every grave in the mass burial grounds had the deceased’s birth details and crimes carved into the stone.
Wen Buyu looked more confused the more she listened.
Su Er: “I’m going to have a ghost marriage with Zhou Linjun.”
Ignoring everyone else’s stunned expressions, Su Er calmly laid out his plan. “I’ll find Zhou Linjun’s mother, then get someone to act as a matchmaker. First a parent’s approval, then a go-between. If he tries to kill me, it’ll be a serious breach of the rules.”
Wen Buyu looked pale. “...Would a ghost even agree to marry you?”
Su Er’s expression turned cold. “You ever seen someone ask a dead person for permission to have a ghost wedding?” After a pause, he looked at Ji Heng. “I’m not too familiar with the ritual process. You’ve seen more—you should officiate the ceremony when the time comes. It’ll go smoother.”
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