Nightmare Assault

Behind a partition, there were many musical instruments like Erhu, gong and flute… There was even a drum at the corner. The strange things Shi Liaozhi mentioned should be these.

“These things weren’t here last time.” Shi Liaozhi was nervous even just standing there. However, he was unwilling to leave just like that. After all, he was the ghost’s next target. If they couldn’t find anything useful, this might be his last night.

“They are instruments required for a Chinese opera performance.” An Xuan was very careful. He only looked at them. He didn’t touch anything. He walked to the drum and studied it with his eyes. “Look at this drum and how it’s placed…” His voice shifted slightly. “Doesn’t it remind you of the strange sphere in the painting?” There was something round depicted above the building in the painting. The size was similar to this drum.

When Jiang Cheng walked forward to check out the drum, Shi Liazhi turned and accidentally knocked into an instrument. The instrument fell and landed on the top of the drum. It made a percussive sound.

The sound was not that loud. The three shivered simultaneously.

“What are you doing?!” An Xuan hissed.

“So… Sorry.” Shi Liaozhi was clearly more scared than the two. His face was scrunched up together. He instantly looked around. After realising nothing was coming their way, he slowly calmed down, but his fingers kept shaking.

Jiang Cheng was more cautious. He studied the surroundings for a long time, especially the spots where people could hide easily, like the ceiling, behind the partition and near the bed. After he confirmed everything was fine, he pulled back his gaze to study the drum.

“San Geng gong rings. Boat rides on the moon. The half-filled crop can cure the feeling of sadness.”

The first stanza mentioned the drum and something similar to the drum appeared in the painting. Could all these be related?

Plus… Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes. There were so many instruments there, but they only heard the drum during the plays and not the other instruments. Was that just a coincidence?

The drum looked very old. The red paint around its body had fallen. There was a large stain on the surface. The stain was about the size of one’s finger, but the shape was quite strange. Combining the drum with the rest of the incident, a brave thought surfaced in his mind. Just as he wanted to reach out to touch the drum, he suddenly had a strange feeling. He stopped and looked around. He realised An Xuan was gone.

“Where is Mr. An?” Jiang Cheng instantly asked Shi Liaozhi.

Shi Liaozhi was examining an instrument near his feet. He looked up to answer, “Mr. An went downstairs. He said he wanted to check out that costume.”

Jiang Cheng’s heart trembled. He compared his surroundings to before. Nothing changed, but his instinct told him that something was wrong. He walked to where An Xuan was standing and started to study the environment from his perspective. He moved his eyes around slowly… until he caught the copper mirror on the vanity table from the corner of his eyes. Through the mirror’s reflection, he could see the bed.

At that moment, a black shadow appeared behind the curtains. The shadow slowly wiggled forward. A bloodless arm slowly reached out from behind the curtains… However, in reality, the curtains didn’t move. The bed was still empty.

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath and told Shi Liaozhi in a calm tone, “Something might have happened to An Xuan.”

“Ah?” Shi Liaozhi jumped in shock. He quickly asked, “How do you know that?”

“It has been so long. Have you heard anything from downstairs?”

Shi Liaozhi thought about it, and his face paled. Indeed… it was overly quiet.

“I’ll go down to take a look. You should find a place to hide here.” Jiang Cheng whispered, “If something did happen to An Xuan, I can still escape. However, you need to be more careful.” Then, he regarded Shi Liaozhi sincerely, “After all, you are the ghost’s target.”

Shi Liaozhi wanted to go downstairs with Jiang Cheng, but he didn’t have the guts. Jiang Cheng was right. If the ghost were downstairs, he’d die once he left the loft. “Alright.” Shi Liaozhi’s face drained of blood. “Mr. Hao, you are a good man. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“By the way,” Shi Liaozhi pulled on Jiang Cheng’s sleeve and uttered, “Brother Hao, you need to be careful of An Xuan and Zuo Qing. They appear to have reached an agreement. They might be behind this.”

Jiang Cheng paused. He turned around to ask, “What do you mean?”

“This…”

“Tell me.” Jiang Cheng silently glanced at the mirror. The ghost had poked half of its head out. The ghost was slowly lifting its head.

“It’s just a feeling.” Shi Liaozhi didn’t know why he was telling Hao Shuai these things. Perhaps he was affected by the man’s kindness. Due to his military experience, he was familiar with non-verbal communication, like hand gestures and eye blinking. He tried using Morse code to decipher Zuo Qing and An Xuan’s communications, but he failed.

“Alright.” Jiang Cheng flung Shi Liaozhi off. He was annoyed that he had been delayed.

After watching Jiang Cheng leave, Shi Liaozhi curled behind the partition. He perked up his ears to listen. Neither An Xuan nor Zuo Qing was reliable.

He thought… Maybe he could work with Hao Shuai. Even though he acted strangely, he was a good person. At least he didn’t abandon him.

He subconsciously scratched his neck. Then, he frowned. Why did his neck feel so itchy?

Then, it dawned on him. He experienced this feeling of itchiness and numbness before. It was on the boat when he had the paper doll bride on his back.

His throat trembled, and he slowly turned his stiff neck…

At the last second, before he left Young Master Huang’s room, Jiang Cheng glanced at the mirror from the corner of his eyes. The humanoid object the size of three humans had crawled out of the bed.

With its upper body on the ground, it crawled towards where Shi Liaozhi was hiding rapidly.