Chapter 177 Casefile 5: Nether Festival (6)
"Can I come with you?" Jiang You asked. "I've been studying magic hard lately and have made a lot of strange soul fires. Take me with you! I promise I won't cause any trouble!"
Andrei neither agreed nor refused. He just looked at Jiang You quietly. After a while, he said, "Why do you want to go?"
"First of all, I'm an immortal lich, and the ghost-faced man you're chasing specializes in chopping off people's heads." Jiang You pointed at himself, "Just like last night. In other words, his special moves are useless against me. I can show him a split-head operation right there.
"Secondly, I'd like to try out the soul fire I've acquired in actual combat training, and I also want to see how effective my recent magic training is. Veterans and magicians alike say that shooting at static and moving targets is a completely different experience than actual combat. I'm curious to see what my current level is.
"Third, in a ruin like that deep in the mountains and forests, you'll need a good cook." Jiang You put his hands on his hips and said proudly, "And I'm the best cook in town."
"He's the world's number one chef." Andre corrected her with a smile, "But these are not the real reasons... Little Bone, are you worried about me?"
"Yes and no." Jiang You tilted his head, his eyes flickering. "Intellectually, I believe in your ability, but emotionally, when the person I like is out there chasing dangerous criminals, while I'm sitting in the safety of my home, I can't help but imagine the worst-case scenarios in my mind, and these scenarios make me terrified and nervous.
"Instead of suffering like this at home, I'd rather go with you. I'm a very powerful lich! I won't hold you back, and maybe I can even help you!"
On this point, Jiang You was very confident. She could smell the scent of emotions and detect malice more sensitively than anyone else. If the royal tomb really existed in East Eston City, then an undead creature would be even more useful there.
In her previous life, she had had enough of the family members working hard to keep her alive, while she was the only one restricted by illness and forced to be a vase at home who could only cook. She had always wanted to share the heavy burden with her family.
Now, she has a special body in this different world that will never die, she has the ability and means to protect herself, and she already has someone she likes and cares about, so there is no reason for her to stand by and watch at home.
"Okay. I'll take you there." Andre didn't hesitate too much.
He could sense that this matter was very important to Takumi. Since it was his girlfriend's important wish, he would do his best to fulfill it: "Follow me, I will keep you safe."
Andre still has this confidence and ability.
He scooped up Jiang You's bone claw and made a serious promise: "Whatever you want to do, you can do it with confidence. As your knight, I will protect you.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of everything."
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After offering sacrifices to the departed, the people of West Eston followed custom, closing their doors and windows, lighting their homes, and quietly awaiting dawn. Meanwhile, the capital was bustling with activity.
The streets and alleys were filled with common people wearing black cloaks and silver masks. They giggled and took sweets and cakes from noble servants dressed in gorgeous and intricate costumes and wearing colorful half-face masks, and eagerly lifted their masks and stuffed them into their mouths.
People laughed, sang, and danced happily in the streets, celebrating the reunion with their ancestors, praising the generosity of the nobles, and singing about their own lives that were not perfect but were tenacious in the face of suffering.
——At least at this moment, they are alive, living passionately and freely.
This is an annual carnival where people celebrate both death and life. The nobles hold lively masquerade balls, where both mortals and evil spirits can receive sweet and free cakes from the nobles' servants.
No one noticed that a black mist was quietly spreading under the blood-red moonlight. By the time someone finally realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
"Why can't I move!" someone cried out in fear, and then he found that his mouth and tongue were gradually stiffening, and his limbs were no longer under his control. Instead, like a puppet, he was pulled into the air at a strange angle by invisible silk threads, and then dropped again... pulled up and dropped, alternating back and forth.
The living people dressed as ghosts danced in unison under the crimson moonlight like real ghosts, performing all sorts of contorted movements that normal people couldn't accomplish. The servants distributing the cakes were terrified as they hurried into the house and locked the door.
——Da, da, da, da.
Amid the silent and twisted dance of the people, the sound of high heels hitting the cobblestone road came from the distance, one by one, each sound hitting people's eardrums and shaking their hearts.
Like puppets, people controlled by an unknown existence could not look back, otherwise they would see a tall woman in a black long skirt, a black veil on her head, and a folding fan in her hand, walking step by step from the end of the long street.
The night wind blew her long black hair, loosely tied behind her head, gently lifting her black veil, revealing a horrific face half rotted to the bone. Maggots crawled out of her cheekbones, gnawing at the decaying, dried flesh on her face. Green pus dripped onto the ground, emitting a foul odor.
She gently waved the folding fan in her right hand, lifted her skirt with her left hand like a lady, and danced gracefully on the cobblestone road.
She slightly opened her purple lips and hummed a eerie ballad.
Tap, tap, tap, tap... Her high heels tapped the ground rhythmically, beating out an irresistible drum beat.
Da, da, da, da... All the living, dead, and half-dead people are following this rhythm, dancing a distorted dance.
Snap! Their arms were twisted to impossible angles, emitting crisp snapping sounds. Crack! Their toes, unable to support their rotating bodies, twisted into strange, fractured angles. Smacking! Their fingertips pierced their own eyes, disregarding their owners' wishes, cruelly stirring in their sockets, gouging out their bloody eyeballs...
This bloody scene made the servants who were hiding behind the gate and peeking tremble all over. It also made the knights of the kingdom who had hurried over stop in fear and ask, "What is going on?"
"Hey, look at that woman!" One of the knights raised his sword in horror and pointed it at the strange woman who was dancing behind the crowd and whose life or death was unknown.
"I recognize that face... Isn't that woman the former Potions Master, Mi Funa, who was declared dead three years ago?"
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