Chapter 33: Cemetery Exploration and Attempt to Reorganize the Soul Dance Troupe

"In our world, there's a holiday called Halloween. On that day, everyone can wear all kinds of strange costumes and go out..."

Ye Wanyouan muttered halfway, and then suddenly stood up: "I'll go and find out now."

She hurriedly stood up and ran out. After a while, she turned back and took Youan's hand: "What are you standing there for? Come with me."

You An reluctantly stood up and followed her.

After gathering all the merchants from Honey Lane into the tavern, Penny from the tailor shop said in disbelief, "You're going to start a Carnival of the Dead?"

"Oh, yes, it's in the small square behind Honey Alley. We'll hang some pumpkin lanterns, bat decorations, and invite a bard to sing. I'll move two boxes of wine and invite old leader Hans to come and play.

Then......"

Leo interrupted her and handed her a flyer: "This sounds really boring. There is a carnival event in the catacombs on the edge of the Moonlight Forest. You can go and take a look first."

Ye Wan took the flyer. It had a giant, glittering skull painted in phosphorescent powder on it, and the text was an exaggerated blood-red: "Welcome to the Undead Party! At 12:00 midnight, the catacombs officially open!"

It sounded a bit scary. She turned to look at Youan and said, "How about we go and have a look tonight?"

Youan's pale, handsome face twisted.

"You're not afraid of ghosts, are you?"

"No!" he sputtered.

But there was an obvious problem, that was that Moonlight Forest was a little far from Honey Lane, and in the middle of the night, both the public carriages and the underground trains stopped running.

My good friend Emma was the most reliable. She arrived at the pub carrying a very long broom, but it took her a while just to get through the door because the broom couldn't fit through the door horizontally or vertically. "I'll lend you my two-seater flying broom."

The broom handle is made of smooth walnut, with two seats in front and back, and the broom bristles are boar bristles mixed with a unicorn hair.

"My parents are die-hard fans of the Revue des Muertos, and they also admire the old leader, Hans, very much. I know you want to hold a carnival and invite the old leader, Hans, to come and play, so I asked you to get a double broom from the warehouse for you to use."

"That's great, thank you Emma." Ye Wan took the broom and said in surprise.

At 6pm, the tavern was still open, and diners were talking about the grand occasion of the Soul Dance Troupe:

"I still remember the blue fireworks that were set off at night. They were so beautiful."

"The hula dance those skeletons do is quite entertaining, and the wine is delicious too."

Ye Wan wrote them down one by one.

By 10 o'clock in the evening, most of the guests had left, and Youan looked at the double broom hesitantly.

Ye Wan: "I've never ridden a broom. I've only seen people riding one in Harry Potter and the Witches' Broomsticks."

Youan sat on the broom: "Come on up, let me try."

The two were about to leave when Pancake, who was sitting on the counter, made a very loud accusation.

"Oh oh sorry Muffin, we forgot about you."

"squeak!"

The two men and the mouse climbed onto the broom in a stiff posture. The broom seemed to come alive and suddenly shuddered, like a black cat whose tail was stepped on, and flew into the sky with a "whoosh".

The broom rushed into the dense clouds. Youan used his pale fingers to steady the broom handle. The ends of Ye Wan's hair gently brushed his face, causing him to sneeze.

“Aa ...

The broom tap danced in the clouds as if it had drunk alcohol. Ye Wan quickly hugged Youan's waist tightly: "I feel a little dizzy about the broom..."

Finally, the broom drew countless parabolas in the air, and then dived into a small building with an open window.

Inside, a man and a woman were kissing secretly.

"Who are you?" The two separated in panic: "Sheriff! Sheriff!"

You An and Ye Wan ran away with their brooms.

"This broom is really hard to ride."

"Squeak." Pancake rubbed his nose angrily, and shot out like a cannonball, hitting the wall like a flattened red bean bun.

Two people and a rat were standing on the ground holding brooms. This place seemed to be near the municipal square. Ye Wan saw the faint outline of the clock tower through the crimson moon.

"What should we do now?" Ye Wan asked.

Youan took the broom again: "I'll try again..."

Before the two of them finished speaking, a silver crack appeared in the black clouds, and a silver-blue bus broke through the clouds and landed on the ground.

Ye Wan heard the roar of an engine, and then the door opened. The bus driver poked his huge head out from inside and said, "We've arrived at the Municipal Square. Do you two want to get on the bus?"

"Are we going to the cemetery at the edge of the Moonlight Forest?" Ye Wan asked loudly.

"It's just two stops away, oh? You brought any live pets? Then go through the small door on the west side and have your rats quarantined."

"It's a guinea pig." Ye Wan added without hesitation.

The driver waved casually and retracted his head.

The two men and the rat carried a broom and got on the bus. The waiter in charge of quarantine was dozing off. He just waved his hand, collected the money for the two men and let them get on the bus.

There were not many people in the bus. An orc was leaning against the window and snoring, his snoring louder than the bus engine.

On another seat, a man wrapped in a magic cloak hid in the shadows, spewing countless bubbles from his neck.

The two found an empty seat and sat down.

The bus roared again and then quickly flew into the sky. Occasionally, a delivery owl and a signal bird flew across the night sky, and soon the windows were covered in mist and fog, turning into blurred spots of light.

The bus drove in the night sky for about 40 minutes, and soon arrived above the Moonlight Forest, and then dived down like a roller coaster.

Ye Wan's head was dizzy from the shock, and he quickly grabbed Youan's arm: "Can he not drive so fast? I really want to vomit."

Youan's face also turned a little blue, so when the driver roared, "We have arrived at the Moonlight Forest station, passengers who have arrived at the destination please get off quickly," the two of them got off the station with their brooms in their hands, looking relieved and without any reluctance.

You An carried the broom, and Ye Wan opened the map: "Oh, that cemetery seems to be nearby."

The two walked for a while in the shadowy forest, and then they really saw a large desolate cemetery at the edge of the forest.

Ye Wan took a step back, holding the map: "You go first."

Tonight's crimson moon shines on the rusty iron railings like flowing blood. Countless blue-grey vines climb on the stone tablets. It seems that the Shadow Moon Festival is approaching. Candies and mushrooms are offered in front of many stone tablets, candles are solidified into scabs, and many blue phosphorescent flames are wandering in the cemetery.

"This person has been buried here for more than a hundred years. Oh, she was only 18 years old. Poor Ophelia." Ye Wan sighed as he looked at a tombstone filled with roses.

"Are you here for an outing?" Youan stood in front with the moonlight vine in his hand, looking vigilant. His handsome face became even colder.

"Relax a little, Euan. It's not that easy to encounter ghosts. Emma told me that the dead don't even like to reply to letters..."

There were footsteps approaching, not the footsteps of ordinary people, but a strange "dong, dong" sound.

Ye Wan immediately hid behind You An and shouted into the thick fog with a trembling voice, "Who are you? Tell me your name."

The smell of burning lamp oil spread over and became stronger and stronger, mixed with the damp smell of rust and earth.

It was a street lamp, at least 6.5 feet long. It jumped all the way over, the copper lamp trembling slightly with its steps, and the flame was like a dancing amber.

"Oh, is it a guide lamp? Emma seemed to have told me that many taverns hidden in dark alleys would buy a guide lamp to welcome guests."

The street lamp nodded as if it understood, then jumped and turned around, took a few steps and looked back to see if Ye Wan and You An had caught up.

Following the streetlights, we walked all the way to the largest tombstone in the cemetery. There was no name engraved on this tombstone, but only one line of words:

"Welcome to the Carnival of the Dead."

The street lamp jumped and kicked down a small stone statue of an angel next to the stone tablet. Then the stone tablet shook and moved to the side, revealing a passage underneath.

"Wow, this is really high-tech." Ye Wan said dryly.

The underground was even darker and damper, which reminded Ye Wan of the dungeon: "Will there really be any party carnival here? Will there be another giant octopus..."

"Who knows? If there really is a monster, you will be eaten by it." Youan said coldly.

"Wow, you heartless man."

The street lamp stopped at the door of an iron gate and bowed to them.

The door opened automatically.

Countless flashing neon tubes on the roof shone, dazzling people's eyes. On the side of the stage, a group of skeletons were playing guitar, bass and piano. The skeleton singer in the middle was covered with diamonds and sang an old song with a rotten microphone.

A hoarse song flowed out as its jaw opened and closed.

A pale blue zombie waiter led Ye Wan and You An to a booth and handed them a menu. "Dear guests, next up are the Undead Dance Floor and the Dark/Fairy Tale Theater. You can order whatever you want."

Ye Wan excitedly took the menu: "Let me take a look, I can borrow some of these menu items. Puppet finger biscuits? I can make those too. Chocolate biscuits, with an almond on top as a nail. I can't imagine what ghost hot drink is. And this undead bone soup sounds a bit disgusting, but I have no problem making an ugly black cake with bats..."

She handed the menu to Youan: "Here, order whatever you want. It's my treat."

"I want to remind you that you still owe 1,000 silver dollars. Don't cry when the goblins come to the tavern to collect the debt," said Youan.

"Don't bring up such a depressing topic on such a happy occasion." Ye Wan waved his hand.

"I don't see where your joy comes from. The last second you were sighing for a dead person who had been buried underground for 100 years." Youan exposed her mercilessly.

Behind the bar, a bartender in a vampire costume was slowly shaking a glass of red wine. The zombie waiter walked over:

"If you're still as slow as a turtle, get out of the Ghost Bar and go back to your Undead Revue... Oh, sorry, I forgot your Undead Revue disbanded a long time ago."

Ye Wan pricked up his ears alertly: "What did I hear, the Undead Song and Dance Troupe?"