免费配资炒股

“To clear the level, find the Ghost Bride and take her golden hairpin.”

The staff explained the condition for passing and then pushed open the large door. Once the group entered, they immediately closed it behind them.

Bang!

Only after the door shut did the group begin to observe their surroundings.

Inside, everything was set up like a scene straight out of a period drama, with pavilions, towers, bridges over flowing water, and luxury apparent in every detail.

...

Red lanterns hung all around, and festive ribbons and the character for “happiness” could be seen everywhere.

“This decor mustn’t have come cheap.”

Shen Xueqing murmured to herself, contrasting it with the previous experience in the Resentful Building, which was filled with dilapidation and eeriness, while in this wedding ghost house, there was a lively, festive atmosphere, without a trace of the macabre or terrifying.

“Shall we stick together?”

Min Xingyao looked towards the two other visitors who had come in with him.

“It’s safer to move as a group. My name is Shen Xueqing.”

“Zhang Pei.”

“Min Xingyao.”

After briefly getting acquainted, the three set off.

The two men and one woman walked along a small pebbled path, through the front courtyard garden, and arrived at the middle courtyard.

So far, the ghost house didn’t seem scary at all, which helped the trio relax a little.

“The staff mentioned that to pass the challenge, we need to find the Ghost Bride, and this place is dressed up for a big wedding. Hence, the bride should be in her bridal chamber.

In the layouts of ancient wealthy households, the main hall usually lies along the central axis, and residences are more honored on the eastern side. We need to find the hanging flower gate first, which serves as the barrier between the inner and outer court. When they say a ‘well-off lady seldom steps out the main gate or strides beyond the secondary gate,’ they are referring to this gate.

Inside the hanging flower gate is where the true ladies of the house, the young mistresses, and the master reside, while the servants’ quarters and activity areas are outside. We’re still in the outer court, and it’s likely that the bride’s chamber is within the inner court.”

Shen Xueqing determined the direction they should head, as it would be easy to lose one’s way in such a large mansion.

Zhang Pei and Min Xingyao looked at Shen Xueqing with a touch of admiration. Although she was a young lady, she knew far more than them.

The three quickly made a plan and pushed open a door to a room, hoping to find some clues, or even better, a map.

Inside the room, it appeared to be a cloakroom, with racks of freshly washed cloth strips and garments hanging. They were layered upon each other, obstructing the view.

“This isn’t what we’re looking for, let’s move on.”

After a brief inspection, the trio found nothing of note.

Just as they were about to leave,

Dong!

A startling drum sound abruptly rose, intermingling with the sound of a bell, striking more than a dozen times in total.

“Where is that bell and drum sound coming from?”

Min Xingyao touched the back of his head, that bell and drum sound making him feel uneasy.

“It’s the morning bell and evening drum, coming from the bell and drum tower. It’s like a big, dumb clock, meant to tell the time. The number and sequence of the strikes indicate it’s dusk now, which is bad!”

Shen Xueqing also sensed a change in the atmosphere, her expression growing rigid.

“What’s wrong with dusk? Is there some significance to that time?”

Zhang Pei was equally puzzled, unclear on the meaning.

Shen Xueqing, somewhat exasperated, explained to them, “In ancient times, wedding customs included a morning welcoming and an evening proceeding. The groom would go to the bride’s side in the morning to escort her and the wedding ceremony would be held at dusk. If you split the Chinese character for ‘marriage,’ it comprises ‘woman’ and ‘dusk.’ With dusk upon us, it implies that the wedding ceremony is about to begin and the bride will soon appear.”

Almost right after Shen Xueqing finished speaking, celebratory sounds of blowing and beating emerged from outside. It was the music of suonas, gongs, and flutes, coupled with the sound of numerous footsteps approaching, as if a large procession was thunderously marching by.

The trio inside the room exchanged glances, but in the next moment, there was unrest behind them as well.

The previously white cloth strips and garments seemed to become imbued with red as the auspicious time arrived, taking on the hue of fresh blood, utterly eerie and strange.

Zhang Pei, who first noticed this anomaly, curiously looked closer, but that single glance was all it took for him to regret it deeply.

He saw the blood clothes beginning to flutter as if something within was slipping them on. The spectral yet palpably real limbs slowly extended from the collars, sleeves, and hems, and the garments took on a fuller shape, as though someone was being clothed in them.

When Zhang Pei witnessed this scene, it seemed as if the blood clothes noticed his gaze, and their motions of dressing abruptly halted.

The next second, without warning, intense pain overwhelmed him.

Zhang Pei discovered with horror that his own clothes had turned blood-red and were constricting tightly around his body, as if intent on crushing him into pulp.

The blood clothes wafted over to him, layer upon layer, each emitting sinister, creepy laughter, swiftly obscuring Zhang Pei’s form from sight.

“Hurry up and run.”

Shen Xueqing’s heart skipped a beat, and she burst through the main doors, running at breakneck speed.

“Wait for me.”

Min Xingyao nearly peed himself in fear, scrambling to escape from the clothing room.

But as soon as they made it outside, both were horrified to discover that the environment was entirely different from when they had arrived.

All around them, to the deafening sound of gongs and drums, a cutting cold wind swept through. The once beautiful flora had withered, turned to a barren landscape of silence.

The mottled paint peeled from the walls, cracks filled with weeds and moss, as if tentacle-like vines ensnared the twisting trees, slithering through the air.

Distant towers loomed, tangled in mist, while somber green candlelight flickered eerily.

On the clearing, the scene had transformed entirely. Rows of round tables stretched endlessly, loaded with rich feasts and fine wines—all the delicacies of land and sea.

In the distance, footsteps approached incessantly, as if guests drawn to partake in the wedding banquet were preparing to take their seats. But this feast was held for a netherworld marriage, and as for the origins of these guests…

That thought sent a shiver down Shen Xueqing’s spine.

“We absolutely can’t stay here.”

Shen Xueqing’s heart tightened, as though a cold serpent had slithered around her neck. Her sweaty palms clenched into fists, unable to stop the shaking of her body as she staggered forward.

Min Xingyao was running as well, but as he passed a round table, the delicacies beckoned him. Unable to resist his curiosity, he reached out to touch the food, wanting to verify its reality.

However, the moment his hand barely brushed the food, the dishes transformed into venomous insects and snakes, crawling all over his body.

Aaaaah!

Min Xingyao shrieked piercingly, as if truly bitten and torn by venomous creatures. The agonizing pain turned Shen Xueqing’s face deathly pale.

Having distanced themselves, Shen Xueqing looked back through a thick fog that seemed to have risen from nowhere. She could only make out vague and terrifying figures among the long banquet tables—ghastly, distorted, emitting an air of pure malevolence.

These horrifying entities awaited the start of the banquet, and before the true master emerged, none dared so much as touch a chopstick.

Not far off, a stage was set, where a troupe was performing a joyous wedding opera. The actors, dressed in lavish costumes, had skin lackluster as the dead, resembling a collection of corpses.

By the time Shen Xueqing looked again for Min Xingyao, who’d fled with her, it appeared as though his body had been dismembered and made part of the feast.

“Someone’s dead, no no no, something’s not right, this is all wrong!”

Shen Xueqing’s breath halted, and she froze in terror, ducking into a room for cover.

When Shen Xueqing turned around, gasping for air, she noticed the room’s bizarre furnishings.

Creepy paintings hung on the walls, their twisted ghostly figures leering. A huge stone bed rested on the left, draped with thick Ghost Hair, a massive ghost head pillow at its center adorned with a few withered Ghost Flowers. The room exuded an essence of the eerie and terrifying, sending chills down one’s spine.

Suddenly, Shen Xueqing felt something stir. She turned and saw a mirror placed upon the desk.

In the mirror, a woman sat in front of a dressing table, adorning herself. Her head bore intricate golden hairpins, her body clad in a Wedding Dress, embodying elegance and grace, except that her face remained obscured by a hazy layer, like a veil of fog.

Yet, guided by instinct, Shen Xueqing knew she must be a woman of peerless beauty.

“Ghost Bride.”

Witnessing the woman in the mirror with her ink-like hair and Blood-colored wedding dress adorned with golden hairpins, Shen Xueqing immediately recognized her identity.

But as Shen Xueqing gazed upon her, the Ghost Bride in the mirror slowly turned her head as if she had sensed Shen Xueqing’s presence through the glass.

Then, the Ghost Bride’s arm reached out of the mirror, extending into the room.

“Zhenzi… Zhenzi.”

Shen Xueqing’s eyes widened, remembering the iconic horror movie she had seen.

However, the Ghost Bride in the mirror didn’t crawl out with disheveled hair—it would’ve been quite beneath her, possibly.

The hand reached out from the mirror; its fingertips were delicate and as white as cream, painted with cinnabar patterns, the jade bracelets on her wrist jingling softly.

Before she could take a clearer look, the hand suddenly grasped at the air.

Shen Xueqing felt as if her neck was being choked from afar, suffocating, unable to breathe.

What was worse was that Shen Xueqing found her body starting to move beyond her control, helplessly watching as the Ghost Bride’s eyes in the mirror gazed back at her, cold and lifeless. @@novelbin@@

Just one glance was all it took for Shen Xueqing to see her own reflection in the mirror, immersed in fear, weakness, fury, regret, darkness, and terror—all her negative emotions pulling her rapidly towards the glass.

In that instant, panic flooded in like a tide, saturating every part of Shen Xueqing, mind, and body.

In the grip of extreme terror, Shen Xueqing’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

Outside, with the demise of the trio, the red lanterns one by one dimmed, and one after another, the corridors and rooms fell into darkness.

The woman in the red wedding dress slowly shook her head, muttering a few words: “Fainted, just like that. How boring.”