novelraw Chapter 809 803: Curfew and Standoff, The Woman in the Red Bridal Dress
Chapter 809 803: Curfew and Standoff, The Woman in the Red Bridal Dress
Fengdu.
People on the streets move oddly, with stalls on either side, strange and grotesque monsters and ghosts shuttling back and forth.
There is no haggling along the streets; most stall owners and customers exchange silently, displaying their trading items, swapping if satisfied, moving on if not.
Jia Ren, carrying a white lantern, walks by, curiously glancing around.
A stall owner with darkened, rotten meat, and a thing resembling half a sheep's head attracts many people's attention.
Many people bring out yellow incense, paper ingots, and yellow paper for trade, as if these are the hard currency here, functioning as money.
The white lantern serves as a powerful tool, as monsters and ghosts feel its impurity and retreat.
Before long, he reaches a stall owner missing the left side of their skull, with no brain matter visible, only maggot-like creatures crawling between the broken skull and hair.
Doesn't your scalp itch?
He takes out a half finger bone from his pocket and points to the yellow incense on the stall.
"Trade it for incense."
The stall owner missing half a skull eyes the half finger bone, shaking their head like a rattle after detecting the scent on it.
White maggots scatter, startling Jia Ren to step back instinctively.
Trades must be cautious to avoid attacks from strange entities.
Moving to several other stalls with yellow incense, he tries trading the pale finger bone, but shockingly, no one accepts it, seemingly wary of the item.
Along the way, he discovers several Mysterious Instruments similar to the white lantern.
A white jade bracelet, a protective type of Mysterious Instrument.
Also a brass ring and bronze bell, both fine Mysterious Instruments, but unfortunately, he lacks the means to afford them, leaving him to sigh with longing.
Jia Ren checks his possessions: three pieces of wedding candy and a fifth-burned yellow incense.
The candy is somewhat useless; he won't trade his basic supplies, with all his assets unable to exchange for even one Mysterious Instrument.
He traverses the main street from start to end, spending more than half an hour.
At the northern end, a grand palace stands, luxuriously decorated, with guards in uniform black armor blocking the way.
This is likely the residence of the Emperor of Fengdu, possibly offering treasures to restore his strength.
"Halt!"
The guards, resembling Malevolent Ghosts, wield axes and spears, exuding eerie aura, possessing excellent Mysterious Instruments, far superior to the white lantern.
Every few meters, similar guards are stationed, with many Guardians hidden deeper in.
Trying to sneak in quietly is hopeless.
Jia Ren suppresses the thought of tearing away his red candy paper 'mask' to reveal himself as the Emperor of Fengdu, deciding to retreat instead.
"Curfew is near!"
The word curfew seems to hold strange power as everyone hurriedly packs up and leaves, leaving the bustling street desolate.
Doors along the street close, and households shut tight.
Anyone with sense knows that the word curfew is out of the ordinary.
Leave the city!
Jia Ren, holding the white lantern, hastens his pace to distance himself from there.
He speeds up, running all the way.
The street he spent over half an hour exploring reached its end in less than the time it takes a single stick of incense to burn, but the city gate was shut.
By now, no more strange creatures can be seen in the city.
If something seems off, there must be something supernatural about it.
When dealing with unknowns, one must be cautious.
Jia Ren reaches the city gate, intending to leverage his identity as the Emperor of Fengdu to open the gate exceptionally.
As the Emperor of Fengdu, he should have this privilege.
The ghost mask on the gate vanished without a trace, seemingly avoiding the dangers lurking in curfew.
No one there, how could he open the gate himself?
The words he was about to utter died in his throat, but he stubbornly knocked on the gate twice, receiving no response.
Should he find another place to stay in the city?!
"Is anyone there? Can I stay for the night?"
He reaches the nearest house to the city gate, knocking to seek refuge.
The door is sturdy, unpushable.
The palm that hit the door stings painfully, as though pricked by needles.
Upon looking down, his hand touching the door has turned purplish-blue, a faint frost spreading.
If not for the protective white lantern, he would likely have perished.
Is it that the closed door can't be opened?
Or does the other party possess a similar Mysterious Instrument?
Having just suffered, he gazes at the uniformly shut doors, wary of further attempts.
No longer staying on the main street, he rushes toward secluded alleys.
Looking left and right, he searches for a house he can enter.
Just then, a chilling aura comes from behind him.
In the sky, no one knows when a pair of scarlet eyes appeared, casting its gaze and turning the light beneath to crimson.
Is this the danger to be avoided during curfew?
He has a hunch: if caught under the scarlet glow, he would face extreme peril.
Jia Ren discards the oar, lightening his load, carrying only the most precious white lantern as he runs.
His run is swift and frantic; his feet throb with pain, and his legs feel weighed down as if filled with lead.
Soon, he sees a place with a half-open door, seemingly vacant for some time, with its decayed, mottled wooden door.
Without hesitation, he rushes in, closing the dilapidated courtyard door, racing into the inner room.
As the scarlet glow envelops, the inner room's door closes, his back heavy against the wooden door.
His breathing is rapid and heavy, heart pounding like a drum echoing in his chest.
The crimson light was completely blocked by the wooden door, unable to penetrate inside.
Fengdu City turned into a crimson sea, with no guards or strange creatures within.
The bustling streets were empty, extremely deserted.
Jia Ren didn't have time to catch his breath before a chill hit him, and the white lanterns flickered on and off, giving a sense that they might extinguish at any moment.
What's happening?
This place feels off!
The red eyes appearing during curfew were terrifying; in a desperate situation, Jia Ren could only hide here without time to discern potential dangers.
He couldn't resign himself to death; once the flames extinguish, he would inevitably perish.
Fire!
Without hesitation, Jia Ren manipulated two blazes towards the dilapidated wooden chair, as there was no presence of the unknown.
He ignited objects within the room, producing large amounts of white flames to prolong their burn as much as possible.
The burning chair emitted abundant white flames, illuminating more areas, revealing what seemed like a shadow of something dangling from the ceiling.
It was a figure hanging upside down from the beam like a spider, strands of wet, slick hair falling and undulating like living beings.
It hung its head down, staring at Jia Ren.
Jia Ren glanced at the face beneath the black hair and felt a tingling scalp.
The face of the upside-down figure was bluish-purple, with a mouth, its facial features crowded with randomly growing eyes, casting a sinister gaze upon the intruding prey.
The sole mouth continually blew air in this direction, the breath was chilling, nearly extinguishing the lantern's flame.
The surging white flames startled it, causing it to move ceaselessly across the ceiling, away from the fiery area.
So creepy!
Is it to hunt by not shutting the door?
Using the white flames, Jia Ren surveyed the dusty and cobweb-laden furniture, leveraging the fire to possibly eliminate the opponent?
Its abilities were not weak; if it caught fire, it would surely counterattack frenziedly, ensuring his demise.
He could only rely on burning furniture, prolonging the situation as much as possible.
The furniture was far insufficient, unable to last for long.
"If you push me to the edge, I'll burn the house down, we'll die together."
Not knowing if communication was possible, a broken-window effect might save lives.
Once the flames spread within the wooden house, if they couldn't kill the opponent, they'd be fully exposed to the crimson.
A wooden table placed before him served as backup fuel, taking his time to ignite it.
The chair's flames extinguished, and he wasn't in a hurry to ignite another.
The ghostly thing understood Jia Ren's warning and didn't act.
The two were at a standoff, with the two white lamps as the sole light within.
Jia Ren felt somewhat hungry and weary; falling asleep would mean no chance of waking again.
Despite holding incense, he didn't use it, as the feeling of fullness would make sleep more enticing.
He forced himself awake all night, vaguely hearing sounds from outside, confirming the end of curfew time.
The sky was slightly brighter than before, but not clearly defined, unable to determine what hour it was.
Jia Ren took out yellow incense, lighting it, taking in deep breaths.
After burning through half the yellow incense, he felt a sense of fullness.
Scrubbing on the ground, unable to extinguish it.
No black water here to put out the fire, he could only inhale more incense fumes.
He needed to find methods of fire extinguishing to avoid wasting yellow incense.
The wafting incense made the creature uncomfortable; before it reacted, with the door tightly shut, Jia Ren pushed the lantern away, cautious of the opposite's backlash.
Perhaps worried about its den burning, the sinister gaze merely stared from afar, without striking.
Jia Ren left the dilapidated old house, relaxing his tense nerves, overwhelmed by unprecedented fatigue.
In the Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns world, everything felt infernal!
He needed to find somewhere to rest properly.
Recalling the previous path, he reached the entrance to Fengdu, stopped by guards once more.
In his current state and strength, infiltrating was impossible.
Better return to the Nether River Boat to rest!
Worried about his protective white lantern being stolen, losing the means of survival, he dared not randomly choose a resting place.
Exiting through the city gate, the ghost faces heeded his warning, simply watching him leave, silent.
Finally escaped!
I need a good sleep!
That is… unless some rogue steals the boat.
Wait, Jia Ren just remembered something.
Where's my paddle?
Without it, he had no means of rowing.
Returning along the original path, he couldn't find it, not knowing which unprincipled individual took it.
Jia Ren felt somewhat heavy-hearted, having not walked ten zhang yet, seeing a woman in a red wedding dress approaching from afar.
A warning of danger echoed in the void, making him move aside without hesitation, granting the path.
"Dear groom, I've waited for you in agony!"
The red eyes stared at the face covered with red candy paper, a silly smile beamed.
What is this?!
Jia Ren raised the white lantern in his hand, hoping to scare her away.
"The color of the lantern is too gloomy; I prefer the festive red."
The woman in the red wedding dress waved her white hand with red-dyed nails casually, transforming the white light of the lanterns into red, with large celebratory characters appearing on the lampshade.