Chapter 95 The Soul Returns

Everyone froze for a moment, staring blankly in her direction.

Feng Xuan noticed the dense array of gazes directed at Jiang Liyue, and his face darkened.

Remembering Jiang Liyue's instructions not to show himself, he could only glance at everyone with his dark eyes.

The cold, terrifying gaze brought the village chief and the others back to their senses.

The village chief recognized Jiang Liyue, and his previously accusatory tone turned respectful. He lowered his head and asked, "Miss Jiang, what are you doing here?"

"I saw that there were too many people at the ancestral hall, so I didn't go there to join the crowd. I thought I'd come here to take a look around."

Jiang Liyue wore a sweet smile, showing no remorse for being caught doing something wrong.

She even pretended to look around, her eyes sparkling in the lamplight.

Jiang Liyue said appreciatively, "The paper offering ceremony is really beautiful. I've never seen so many beautiful paper figures and paper lanterns before."

"I'm glad Miss Jiang likes it." The village chief's initial worry about the incense going out eased.

Miss Jiang is the person the master wants. She's so happy, the master shouldn't be angry, right?

The village chief tentatively asked, "Miss Jiang, are you shopping alone? Would you like someone to accompany you?"

Jiang Liyue easily saw through his plan and shook her head with a smile: "No need."

She paused, looked directly at the village chief, and said sweetly, "Someone is with me."

She clearly said there were people around, but there was no one there at all.

Clearly, the non-existent "person" is the god they revere.

The village chief could not hide his excitement, and looked at Jiang Liyue as if he had grasped a lifeline: "Miss Jiang, may I ask if the master has any complaints about today's paper offering ceremony?"

"No," Jiang Liyue blinked. "We're very happy."

The village chief wanted to ask more questions, but the feeling of being stared at by cold, indifferent eyes returned once more.

His legs began to tremble, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Realizing it was that person, the village chief dared not say anything more, only unconsciously repeating, "Just have fun, just have fun."

The players who were tied up again by the villagers naturally noticed Jiang Liyue.

Players who didn't know her were somewhat surprised and uncertain.

Even though she was dressed like them, all players, why did the paper doll NPC speak to her so respectfully?

It even sounded vaguely like—afraid of her?

While they were still cautiously observing, Li Xue'er and Qian Liu were overjoyed and kept looking in Jiang Liyue's direction, trying to ask her for help.

Jiang Liyue noticed their intense gazes, but only glanced at them before looking away.

A few candies weren't enough for her to save Li Xue'er's life.

Jiang Liyue moved to the side: "Is the paper offering ceremony about to begin? Then I won't waste any more time."

She consciously retreated into the darkness beside her.

The lantern arrangement for the paper offering ceremony is almost identical to the formation for killing the paper figures, with only minor adjustments to their positions.

The village chief was probably distracted by the earlier chaos in the ancestral hall, and with the ceremony time drawing to a close, he didn't notice the changes in the details.

The paper offering begins, and the villagers bring the paper figures and players they brought from the ancestral hall to the front of the banyan tree.

The village chief began reciting sentences in a long, strange tone again, and this time all the villagers followed along.

Their faces were as white as paper in the darkness, making the rosy glow on their faces even more pronounced.

Their dark eyes remained unlit even in the lamplight, and they all wore identical smiles on their faces.

The surrounding air was getting colder and colder.

The candlelight flickered in the white lanterns placed on the ground, and the smell of burning and decay spread.

The distorted, burned faces of the figures emerged from the lanterns, and the stench of decay emanated from them.

Jiang Liyue wrinkled her nose; it smelled a bit like the ashes from a fire inside the cave.

No wonder she smelled incense burning as soon as she entered the paper doll village.

It turns out that the smell wasn't from the incense burning too brightly, but because all the villagers in the Paper Doll Village had died in a fire!

"Wife, don't look at them." A pair of large hands covered Jiang Liyue's eyes from behind.

Feng Xuan, who had been unhappy ever since the others appeared, finally couldn't help but assert his presence.

His voice carried a dangerous undertone: "They're not good-looking."

“It really doesn’t look good.” Jiang Liyue pulled his hand down and turned to look at his face.

Then, with an air of seriousness, she commented, "She's nowhere near as good as my husband."

Feng Xuanming knew she was saying that on purpose, but his ears still turned red, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up, which he then tried to suppress: "You're just good at coaxing me."

...There's no need to coax them. After all, between the long-haired nobleman and a group of ghosts whose faces were burned beyond recognition, you could probably pick out who's more handsome even with your eyes closed.

However, Jiang Liyue still gave a long, perfunctory yet earnest compliment, which dispelled the gloom on Feng Xuan's face, and then the paper offering ceremony began.

The paper figures that were originally lifeless, placed in front of them, began to move, while the players who were tied up started to catch fire.

Some players cried out for help and began to fight back.

Some players who had eaten at the villagers' homes yesterday didn't even have the will to resist.

They smiled as the fire burned on their bodies.

Their eyes were empty, like marionettes, willing to offer their flesh and souls to revive the ghosts they worshipped.

Just then, Jiang Liyue took out the little paper doll that the blind old man had given her.

They arrived at the heart of the fire amidst the chaos.

The village chief hadn't noticed her actions at first.

But when the little paper doll's body was burned, all the villagers in the paper doll village screamed in agony.

The village chief finally looked in her direction and shouted in disbelief, "Miss Jiang, what are you doing?!"

At the same time, all the villagers looked straight in her direction.

Their human bodies could no longer be maintained, revealing the true appearance of the paper effigy.

"Miss Jiang, why?" Wang Cuifen asked incredulously.

"No, no!" the village chief was still shouting.

All the paper figures gathered around Jiang Liyue, trying to snatch the burning paper figure from her hand.

Jiang Liyue stood in the center of the lantern, letting the distorted, eerie figures and paper figures approach.

Just as a paper doll's pale hand was about to touch her, Jiang Liyue regretfully blew away the last ashes of the little paper doll in her hand.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry, it's all burned."

As soon as she finished speaking, all the paper figures gathered around her turned into black frames, and their movements were still directed towards Jiang Liyue.

Gradually, complete souls appeared on those frames, and even the distorted and bizarre creatures that appeared later lost their terrifying appearances and returned to their original forms.

They no longer had the stiff, gloomy expressions they had in the Paper Doll Village; instead, they all wore gentle smiles.

The village chief, who had been pale-faced, now seemed like a normal, kind middle-aged man.

He and the other villagers bowed to Jiang Liyue: "Thank you, Miss Jiang, you have put an end to this endless cycle for us."

The cycle he was referring to was the pain that was repeated every time the instance restarted.

Jiang Liyue, however, was still unaware of this. She tilted her head and asked curiously, "Where are you going now?"

“Let’s go where we’re supposed to go.” The village chief of Paper Doll Village said with some regret, “We’ve made many mistakes.”

As they spoke, the villagers slowly disappeared from sight.

Wang Cuifen looked at her with tears in her eyes: "Goodbye, sister."

"Goodbye." Jiang Liyue smiled and waved to her.

She then saw Xiao Le and Xiao Yi, skipping and holding hands, running over from who-knows-where.

"Goodbye, sister! Thank you for the candy, it was delicious." Xiao Yi said with a cute smile.

Xiao Le nodded: "Yes, it's super delicious. I've never eaten such delicious candy before."

"You glutton!" Xiao Yi rolled her eyes and looked at Jiang Liyue mysteriously. "By the way, sister, I'm not lying to you. Xiao Le really is a glutton."

He wasn't burned to death; rather, he was burned to death because of the villagers.

He hid and wasn't discovered, starved to death, and that's how he became a glutton.

"I see." Jiang Liyue nodded with a smile.

Xiao Le and Xiao Yi originally wanted to rush up and hug Jiang Liyue, but when they noticed Feng Xuan's dark face next to her, they could only stop in their tracks with a wronged expression.

Waaaaah, Yueyue's husband is still so scary.