Chapter 73 "The Little Taoist Priest" "Painting Ghosts is the Hardest Task"
The system has notified me of a new role.
The NPC leading the conversation—the woman at the wellhead—said to the host: "Qingyang Town is my home, I curse Qingyang to kill him."
Jane Diedda: "..."
The terrifying, gigantic woman—"Heavenly Mother"—was actually blind. Her pale, eerie face had only two bloody holes. The young Taoist priest did not make any rash moves, because he saw a pair of lifelike, gigantic, terrifying eyeballs growing on a screen inside a room.
As long as Jane doesn't answer this strange question, the big boss definitely won't attack the player unconditionally.
But the system didn't let him off the hook either.
The word puzzle game is back.
A man went to paint a picture for the King of Qi. The King asked, "What is the most difficult thing to paint?"
The artist said that painting dogs, horses, and chickens is the most difficult.
The King of Qi then asked, "What is the easiest?"
This answer will obviously determine whether the female ghost moves or not.
Jane Dieda paused, lowered her eyes, and said, “Drawing ghosts is the easiest, because no one has ever seen a ghost, so you can draw whatever you want. But livestock are something we’ll see sooner or later, so no matter how well I draw them, I can’t possibly make them look more like real animals.”
The big eyeballs started spinning as soon as they heard the wheels turn.
It loaded the new scene, and the yellow talisman with a hole burned in it also appeared out of nowhere.
Once again, with the help of a line of ancient text whose ink had faded, Master Jian quickly realized that the wedding banquet he had entered by abandoning Zhong Dingdan was not normal.
From the surface world's perspective, the radiant guests are having a lively time setting off firecrackers and enjoying a lavish feast at the wealthy man's house after someone has died. But when he can see through to the inner world, he can see the ghosts disguised as people and the truth of this world.
“There’s a ghost at this banquet, and more than one is mixed in with the normal people.” Jian Dieda stared at the eerie mansion in front of him, took out his skill book, and the pages of the black notebook had been updated with the new plot of the murder mystery game.
He quickly skimmed through the information and realized he hadn't guessed wrong. The main quest hinted that this was one of the solutions to the mystery of Master Li's death, but he had to be careful of a mini-boss called the White Bone Temple. In ancient legends, there existed a kind of skeleton spirit that would appear at weddings and funerals to steal offerings. The famous Song Dynasty painting "The Skeleton Illusion Play" depicted this bone demon. They were neither human nor non-human, and could transform into humans by donning human skin. If one wasn't a truly skilled Taoist priest, it would be impossible to catch them.
So his task at the wealthy man's house was to investigate what happened on the seventh night after his death and erase all the skeleton ghosts from the map.
At first glance, this doesn't seem difficult at all.
To complete the story, you only need to find some key NPCs at the banquet to get dialogue, and then combine them into a chain of clues to get the complete story from the perspective of a Taoist priest.
If there's any real difficulty, it's probably distinguishing between a human and a ghost at night. And if you answer incorrectly, the female ghost will most likely attack.
Therefore, to avoid making mistakes, he must take advantage of the time difference and try to find as many witnesses as possible without angering the female ghost. These people were eating at the scene, and their identity card information was still that of the guests at Li Yuanwai's funeral. He couldn't try them one by one; he had to see what the pass-through tips said.
Although the small system was usually unreliable, Jian Dieda quickly gained some insights after a quick glance... He saw that the Book of Horror Rules stated:
...
1. Prevent the female ghost from blowing out the lights to avoid confusing the guests with the ghost.
2. By capturing the appearance and body shape of NPCs using the camera function and comparing the photos, it is more likely that the [abnormal person] is a ghost in disguise.
[3. Exorcism: Testing the different levels of damage to humans and ghosts using glutinous rice and black dog blood.]
4. If a chase ensues, it is recommended to circle behind the female ghost to attract its attention, and use the gaps in the fight to prevent it from attacking when you open or close doors, thus dealing only non-attack damage...
Before long, the aloof young Taoist priest, having thoroughly mastered the rulebook, began his demon-catching mission.
When handling affairs in Qingyang Town, one must prepare three major items, four major items, thirteen clever items, and forty-eight large bowls.
Amidst the lively atmosphere of a midnight banquet, he walked to the table with a red oil lantern. He saw everyone eating with beaming smiles, their mouths dripping with oil, their red tongues slurping and making slurping sounds as they drank the oil from the bottom of their bowls.
But which one truly reflects the real nature of everyone in Qingyang Town: the manic, late-night scenes or the tranquil, daytime settings?
"Excuse me, everyone, there's plenty of food at Master Li's house today. How is everyone's meal?" Jian Dieda asked, while also observing who ate the most and which dishes they had. At the same time, the host, Jian, who was constantly taking screenshots, was also trying to find the differences through the 'portraits,' but the guests' skins were too realistic and the lighting was too dim, so it was impossible to see who was a skeleton.
He could only blow out the lamp and look at his feet, carefully bend over, and constantly dodge under the table to avoid the boss's sudden lightning attack. Under the pressure, his heartbeat became very fast.
Every time the suona horn sounds, the opera troupe sings, or the plates of food are moved, he feels that the will-o'-the-wisps around him are about to go out, and everyone will turn into walking corpses, leaping at him with strange cries like Qing Dynasty zombies from Republican-era stories and devouring him. Under these circumstances, he begins to think about bells and tripods.
With the bell and tripod in place, the young Taoist felt safe and secure, and had no fear of the other world.
But they've only known each other for a few days. Where does this trust, which feels like they've known each other for lifetimes, come from?
...
When the countdown reached the seventh table, Master Jian finally found the first 'ghost' hiding in the crowd.
This man was a clerk at the local pawnshop. His pale face had two patches of red that looked both festive and terrifying, and it even appeared to be a little oily.
Strangely, he didn't seem to know that he was already a 'ghost'. Jian Dieda glanced at his character card.
Gain the trust of Dong Silang, a shop assistant at the pawnshop of Li, Xiaomei's second husband. You can find out the truth about Xiaomei's second marriage from him. Quest reward: Peach Wood Sword Repairing Talisman x1
Upon hearing this, another "ding-dong" sounded in his ear, and the waiter's face, which had a somewhat horror movie-like quality, turned red to the blush. He glanced sideways at the man in blue.
Master Jian had previously stayed with Master Zhong Lanlan, and had learned a few words of dialect. Dong Silang was young and had been drinking. In his drunken state, he spat into his bowl and under the table. The phlegm-like substance flowed onto the Taoist brother's cloth shoes, and suddenly a misty ledger popped out.
The story panel displays items related to the quest.
Jian Dieda glanced at it; it was a woman's accessory, with a note beside it reading, "[This is an ancient sexual tool used to replace a woman's breasts.]"
Friendly NPC Dong Silang: "People have face, trees have bark, Xiao Mei is a slut!"
Jane Diedda: "..."
Before he could ask any more questions, the NPC vanished, turning into a wisp of green smoke, leaving only a small paper figure on the ground.
He could only pick up the tools and repeat the same trick.
The next NPC appeared, this time the town's storyteller.
The system urged him that time was running out and issued a progress notification: [Conduct a storytelling session on the Qingyang Town Cilonggou plot with the storyteller]
Achieving the "All evil is premeditated" achievement will restore 70% of the peach wood sword's health.
If no items are dropped within the time limit, you will encounter the Well-mouth Woman again.
[Completion Rate 0]
As he spoke, the panel turned red, making a dull thud like a heartbeat, indicating that time was indeed chasing after him.
With sweat dripping down his face, Jian Dieda calmly observed the storyteller's expression. This 'ghost' was definitely not going to tell the full version of the story right now. Instead, he nudged the obvious little secret on the table with his mouth and waved the black folding fan in his hand around.
Then the storyteller's dark mouth opened and closed, and he began to tell the young Taoist about a person's past and present life.
He said that a person's good fortune is earned through good deeds. By the same token, those who do not do good deeds and accumulate virtue will still suffer retribution even if they are reborn as humans in their next life.
Friendly NPC - Storyteller: "What goes around comes around. You've probably guessed it by now, Xiaomei isn't a slut!"
Jane Diedda: "..."
The two NPCs gave completely different testimonies.
So who should he believe?
Jian Dieda didn't speak, and the storyteller disappeared on the spot. This time, a book of erotic plays fell to the ground. Legend has it that this was an ancient book of erotic plays, also known as an improper book or a "little yellow book" by the old folks.
But what exactly is the connection between the yellowish-brown props this lousy game gives players and the case?
Master Jian, whose eyes were inexplicably hurting, didn't waste any exploration time. He silently recited the exorcism and purification mantra three times and continued to tap the panel. The treasure chest that had accompanied him into the dungeon at the very beginning—that is, the urn—was opened.
Coincidentally, the previous episode introduced that Master Li's house was a puppet show shop.
The contents of the box were indeed three rather ominous wooden puppets.
When he first picked up a Zhang Fei puppet, the image that reminded him that time was still passing turned even redder.
"Carve wooden figures, and dress them as gifts."
A sentence was repeated in the very center of the panel.
This seems like a puzzle, but what's the purpose of these three puppets?
He took out the first Zhang Fei.
Legend has it that Zhang Fei was nicknamed "Tiger Head and Ring Eyes," and this puppet also looks fierce, with a cross on the bridge of his nose, looking like he's about to explode with rage.
On the left, Xiang Yu has a steel fork face and longevity-shaped eyebrows. To show that he has the spirit of "strength to uproot mountains and rivers and a spirit that covers the world", the Western Chu Overlord has a very long beard, which is the fancy face makeup in Peking Opera.
There's also Cao Cao on the last panel. His face is that of a white-faced tyrant in traditional opera, and his triangular eyes highlight his evil and treacherous identity.
Jian Dieda wondered, "Could it be that the three puppets represent the truth or falsehood of the storyteller's and Master Li's testimonies?"
Then the game interrupted his thoughts with a countdown alarm, confirming his guess.
Please match the puppet with the waiter, the storyteller, and Master Li, and deduce the second hidden storyline involving Master Li.
As the notification sounded, the lantern ghost female corpse's neck seemed to be switched on. She crawled over with disheveled hair, her red lips turned up, and her fingernails, aimed at the little Taoist's neck, were waiting on the lantern for crucial evidence before the first victim would bring about a fatal disaster.
You have three seconds to successfully escape the instance.
【Please answer, Taoist priest.】
Who killed Sun Youfu?
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Author's Note: The story next door is almost finished, I'll be back in a few days and keep working hard, okay?
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