"A-A ghost!"
Suddenly, the driver clutched his head as if he had seen something utterly terrifying. He threw open the car door, sprinted into the heavy rain, and vanished into the ink-black moonlit night.
This left the two girls inside the car staring at each other.
Thunder echoed through the empty valley. When they blinked again, the white figure in the bushes was gone. They turned their heads, only to find the figure with disheveled hair still standing behind the trees on the right slope. Its back was toward them, and it stood perfectly still with its head bowed.
An unexpected incident: a mysterious phantom in the valley?
L: "It's late at night, this is scary. I'm hiding under my covers."
[: "My closet just creaked. I'm done, I'm out!"]
Amy hugged Tang Xin tightly, her voice trembling with fear.
"T-Tang Xin, look... does she have two right hands?"
Looking closely, both the hand the figure held up and the one by its side had their backs facing them. They were clearly two right hands.
"I've read those horror stories. They say a ghost's hands are both right hands..."
By the time Amy realized what was happening, Tang Xin had already stepped out of the car with an expressionless face.
"Wait, Tang Xin, where are you going?"
At that moment, the livestream feed was cut off.
A second later, the white figure that had been playing ghost curled up behind the tree in fear. Seeing Tang Xin approaching with water elements condensing in her palm, the figure quickly raised its hands.
"Miss Sevia, please calm down! I'm a staff member! I'm part of the production crew! This was just a small plot point arranged to add some atmosphere!"
Tang Xin looked toward the back of the car, unsurprised. The driver from before was squatting there awkwardly. Seeing the girl look over, he scratched his head and stood up with a simple, honest smile.
"So, is that guy one of yours too?" Tang Xin pointed to a spot not far away.
Now it was the driver's and the ghost actor's turn to freeze. They looked in the direction she was pointing, but there was only a crooked old tree. There was no one there.
They felt a chill crawl up their spines. The actor playing the ghost was on the verge of tears, her voice cracking.
"W-Who? No one's there. It's just the two of us for this segment."
Tang Xin smiled. "Of course there's no one. I was lying to you."
After saying that, she returned to the car, leaving the two of them standing dazed in the rain.
After this scene, the actress playing the ghost felt inexplicably rattled. She refused to stay in the valley any longer and got into the car with them. The brief interlude ended, and the jeep continued toward Mermaid Town.
Little did they know that shortly after they left, from behind the tree Tang Xin had pointed to, a figure dripping with slime stepped out. Its shadow, cast by a flash of lightning, looked somewhat hideous. The jeep faded into the distance under a pair of scarlet eyes, and a grin split across the figure's pale face, stretching all the way to its ears.
....
A bolt of lightning struck a nearby mountain peak, carving a blinding white crack through the sky. In the courtyard, another jeep had already arrived. The production crew's vehicles also drove into Mermaid Town and stopped in front of the courtyard.
Xu Xiaoyou gazed out the window. Every household had its doors and windows tightly shut. The entire town was nestled across several tiers of the mountain slopes, surrounded by mountains on three sides. The houses here were old-fashioned, two-story residential buildings with peeling walls covered in moss.
On a nearby utility pole, a mermaid balloon released by a child was entangled. Ever since entering the town, she had seen many mermaid-themed items—Siren statues, mermaid haunted houses, and everything from logos to swim rings and swimsuits.
It was clear that this town relied on tourism for its economy, using mermaid elements as their main attraction.
After getting out of the car, Xu Xiaoyou keenly noticed many scarlet gazes falling upon her. She looked up; they were coming from behind the second-story windows of those old residential buildings. The town's scenery was blurred by the shroud of rain. The mist-covered ground looked like a reflective mirror, mirroring the bright red lights.
What she found strange was that most of the residents' gazes were wary, and quite a few even held a hint of hostility.
As a town on the island that heavily promoted tourism, why would the residents look at tourists with such caution and hostility?
Noting this, Xu Xiaoyou followed the production crew into the courtyard. The entire estate covered over four hundred square meters, with brick-paved ground and four interconnected courtyards joined by verandas. In the center was a pond of about a hundred square meters, with a wide stone bridge crossing over it, offering a full view of the entire courtyard.
Someone held a black umbrella for her as she paused to look into the pond. Perhaps due to the rising oxygen levels from the rain, red carp were swimming to the surface, splashing their tails on the ink-like water that was rippling from the rain.
The owner of the courtyard came out and began speaking with the director of the production crew.
"How many people in total? I'll have them prepare the rooms."
"You might have to squeeze in a bit. The rooms we originally cleared out aren't quite enough. Some important guests have arrived."
"Important guests?" Just as the director was about to lose his temper, the man whispered something in his ear. The director's expression shifted, and he ultimately agreed with a helpless sigh.
Once inside, they changed out of their wet clothes. While the production crew talked with the courtyard owner in the main living room, Xu Xiaoyou had no interest in listening. Instead, she walked through the verandas, passing under the swaying shadows of the trees, until she reached the end of the right side of the courtyard.
Behind a pushed-open window, several figures sat on the floor, talking. Xu Xiaoyou, wearing a loose robe with her blonde hair draped over her fair neck and shoulders, leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. The conversation inside the room reached her ears.
"That Dark Gold Rose you mentioned before—the one who attacked you—I mentioned her to the association."
It was faintly recognizable as Chihong's voice. It seemed the important guests the courtyard owner mentioned were the members of Section C.
"Bai Zhou, aren't you a bit too useless? Getting knocked out by someone of unknown origin and not even seeing her face? You didn't remember a single characteristic?"
A girl's sharp, chiding voice rang out, followed by a teen's stammering explanation.
"I told you, that person was ridiculously strong. I couldn't even last a single move against her. The moment I reached the opera level, I was knocked unconscious. I only heard her state her code name before I blacked out, and she warned us not to interfere with the business of the Abyssal White Flower anymore..."
"To be able to incapacitate a grade 4 fixer in a single exchange... there are very few people in the entire association with that kind of power. Aside from a few of those at the prism grade and above, I really can't think of anyone who has that ability."
A slightly raspy voice followed. It sounded like an old man—weathered yet resolute, low yet hiding a certain restrained sharpness.
"To think such a person would appear on the Star of Art."
"In the end, it's just because Bai Zhou is such a scrub. If it were me, there's no way I'd be holding such a strong mimicry weapon and fail to even last one move," Yun Yao ridiculed him mercilessly.
"Hmph, if it weren't for you being overconfident during the last mission, the Abyssal White Flower wouldn't have found an opening to escape our encirclement!"
"Huh? You're talking about me! Why don't you talk about yourself? If you hadn't gone around shouting about how you were going to risk your life and insisted on going head-to-head with that guy, only to get whipped like a spinning top by a lance, we'd be back in Red Heaven enjoying our vacation by now!"
"My sanity was being eroded by the Blood Monarch, I couldn't control that! You..."
"Alright, shut up! Do you want everyone to hear about these embarrassing matters?" Chihong couldn't help but snap. "Let me finish. Are you two getting bold now that you're older? Don't interrupt me until I'm done."
The two who had been arguing immediately stopped. They murmured in response and sat quietly and obediently.
"Anyway, the association's stance is that they have recognized that person's code name, Dark Gold Rose."
Chihong took a sip of hot tea, her next words carrying an explosive amount of information.
"From this day forward, the fifth luminous prism grade fixer has officially stepped onto the stage of history."
Everyone in the room shouted in unison: "What!?"
Rate on N.U.
