Chapter 28 Night Banquet ② - Wedding Invitation: Physical Attacks Ineffective, That's Too Cheap! ...
However, others did not seem to notice anything unusual.
Soon came the second ritual segment – “Naji”, which the DM announced included three single-line tasks.
“Based on the clues, a player needs to enter the small suite alone to find a crucial ‘marriage certificate.’” DM’s voice was exceptionally clear in the dim light. His gaze swept around the room before finally settling on Lan Shuyin. “Miss Chen Jingyue, this task is entrusted to you.”
Hearing this, Xuan Bingbing gently tugged at her sleeve and asked in a low voice, "Yinyin, can you manage on your own?"
Lan Shuyin turned her head and glanced at her with a half-smile, then her gaze swept over Guan Han beside her, and she said meaningfully, "As long as your good brother is capable, that's fine."
Then, under Xuan Bingbing's helpless glare, following DM's guidance, she pushed open a narrow door on the inside of the study.
The inside of the door was pitch black.
“You have five minutes. Once you find the marriage certificate, ring the bell by the door, and we will come to meet you.” DM handed a flashlight to Lan Shuyin.
Lan Shuyin nodded and took it, then stepped into the darkness.
The door closed gently behind her, shutting out the faint light and sound from outside.
She switched on her flashlight, and a beam of light pierced the darkness, illuminating the cramped space.
This place seemed to have been arranged as a boudoir for a woman awaiting marriage. Against the wall stood a carved four-poster bed with a tattered mosquito net, and next to the bed was an old-fashioned dressing case.
In the corner of the room, an old-fashioned wardrobe stood quietly, its door ajar, revealing a corner of red fabric.
A musty smell permeated the air, but beneath this smell, there was also a faint, almost imperceptible, scent of cheap cosmetics.
Lan Shuyin went to the dressing case first, opened the drawer and glanced inside. There were only a few pieces of dried rouge and a strand of dry, yellow hair.
She found nothing. She then turned to the wardrobe in the corner. Holding up her flashlight, she gently pushed open the slightly ajar wardrobe door with her toe—
The cabinet was almost empty. Only an old-fashioned wedding dress, the same style as the one that hung in the old side room, was there.
Beneath the wedding dress, a pair of red embroidered shoes were placed neatly, their toes pointing directly out the door... as she opened the cabinet door.
The moment the flashlight beam fell on the embroidered shoes, the toe of the shoe shifted slightly, as if someone had just pulled their foot out of the shoe.
Lan Shuyin held her breath, staring intently at the shoes for a few seconds, but nothing happened. She judged that this was most likely the effect of a mechanism being triggered, so she squatted down and gently moved the embroidered shoes with the end of her flashlight—the shoes were tilted to one side, with a yellowed envelope underneath.
This is it, the "marriage certificate".
She picked up the envelope, about to get up and rush to the door to ring the bell—
"Squeak..."
A very faint sound, as if the old bed could no longer bear the weight, came from behind me.
Lan Shuyin tensed instantly, shining her flashlight directly at the carved wooden bed. Under the pale beam of light, the mosquito net hung silently, and the bed was empty.
But a strong sense of being watched enveloped her silently.
Suddenly, a solid push came from behind her left shoulder! The force wasn't strong, but it carried a chilling aura, causing her to stagger half a step. Immediately afterward, a very soft but malicious laugh rang out close to her ear.
Lan Shuyin suddenly turned her head and was met with a man's face that was inches away from hers—his face was deathly pale, his features were twisted into a ferocious smile, and he was pouncing on her with his arms outstretched!
In a flash, instinct overcame the momentary fear. Lan Shuyin clenched her right fist and, without hesitation, swung it fiercely at that grinning, grotesque face!
That punch used eight-tenths of its strength; if it were a living person, it would be enough to make them look terrible.
However, the expected tactile sensation of hitting a physical object did not occur.
Her arm seemed to pass through the mist without any hindrance, piercing through the man and striking only a ball of cold air.
Then, the fist made intimate contact with the wall behind the shadow.
With a muffled "bang," a sharp, piercing pain shot through my finger bone.
Lan Shuyin instantly winced in pain, secretly relieved that she had held back beforehand, otherwise she would have definitely broken her bone.
She shook her numb and tingling hand, but her heart sank: this thing could not only be seen, but could also touch her, yet her physical resistance was ineffective.
That's so unfair!
A surge of anger dispelled the shock of being pressed so close to her face. She picked up her flashlight and fiercely shone it into every corner.
However, after the "male ghost" succeeded in his attack, it vanished as if it had evaporated into thin air, along with the chilling gaze it had been sending at him.
Unable to find anything, Lan Shuyin could only reach out and ring the copper bell by the door.
The doorbell rang, and DM pushed it open from the outside.
The moment the light flooded in, Lan Shuyin had already returned to normal, calmly handing over the marriage certificate, and then silently retreating back into the player group, as if nothing had just happened.
During the subsequent ceremony, DM recounted the complex steps and background story in a deliberately lowered voice, while the other players were either tense or engrossed. Lan Shuyin, however, was already lost in thought.
Her gaze silently swept across every corner—the flickering shadows of the candlelight, the gaps between the towering bookshelves, the folds of the low-hanging curtains… Her nerves were on edge. She tried to catch any unusual movement of air or subtle change in temperature, constantly on guard against whether that damned ghost would reappear.
That male ghost... it must have been a male ghost, right? Where did it hide? Is it still lurking in this space? How will it reappear next time? And how do we deal with it?
These thoughts kept swirling in her mind, making it impossible for Lan Shuyin to concentrate.
Finally, the process moved to the final stage – “Hejin”, which is the ceremony for a ghost marriage.
The DM announced in an eerie, almost chanting tone that the final ceremony must be completed by a woman whose fate is "compatible" with the groom, along with a paper effigy representing the groom, to symbolize the completion of the ceremony.
According to the script, the three female characters need to bow to the paper groom and then symbolically "send him into the bridal chamber".
Two staff members carried in three life-sized paper dolls. They were all dressed in glaring scarlet paper robes, their faces painted with exaggerated smiles and rosy cheeks in rough ink, and their empty eye sockets stared straight ahead in the dim light, exuding a terrifying and eerie feeling.
The paper figures were placed in three different rooms.
Lan Shuyin chose to stay in that old room.
The curtains slowly fell, the light dimmed, and the sound was cut off, leaving only her and the paper figure in the small space.
The air was thick with the smells of paper, paste, and old wood, making each second feel exceptionally long. Lan Shuyin was tense, her attention not on the lifeless paper puppet beside her, but on the ghostly figure that might reappear in the darkness.
But once it appears, how exactly can you hurt it? It would be too unfair to see it but not be able to touch it.
Lan Shuyin pondered silently.
If physical attacks are ineffective, what about light? Fire? Or is some specific object required?
Just then, a strange feeling crept over me.
The weight of the paper figure beside me seemed to have changed.
Her once light body slowly sank, causing the old bed to creak softly. Then, a chilling aura crept along her right arm, seeping through her skin.
Lan Shuyin felt a chill run down her spine and abruptly turned her head—
The exaggerated smiling face drawn on the paper figure seemed distorted in the dim light. Even more chilling was the fact that the empty eyes, created with ink dots, seemed to have a focus, staring at her eerily!
Something's wrong with this paper figure!
Without a second thought, Lan Shuyin sat up instantly. Instinctively, she clenched her right fist, but then frowned, turned her hand, grabbed the bronze candlestick used as a prop from the bedside table, and smashed it down hard on the eerie head of the paper figure!
"Pfft!"
With a muffled thud, the paper head collapsed, and the red and white paste splattered, leaving a stain on the dark red bed sheet.
"What happened?"
"What was that sound?!"
The DM and several male players who rushed over upon hearing the commotion lifted the curtain and were all astonished by what they saw.
Lan Shuyin gripped the bronze candlestick tightly in her hand. Looking up, she saw the expressions of shock and confusion on everyone's faces and realized that she was the only one who had sensed the strangeness just now.
There's something strange about this place.
However, it is still impossible to determine whether the problem lies with the venue itself or with the store.
"I'm sorry." She put down the candlestick, her tone full of apology. "My hand slipped, I didn't hold it properly, and I accidentally knocked it over."
DM looked at the ruined props, her lips twitching slightly, but adhering to the principle of "the customer is always right," she couldn't show it. She forced a smile and said, "An accident is part of the immersive experience... It seems the 'groom' isn't quite to Miss Chen's liking..."
Lan Shuyin's sudden action made her unforgettable to everyone present.
Originally, people were not familiar with her and only knew that she was a friend brought by Xuan Bingbing. But after this incident, people's impression of her officially changed from Xuan Bingbing's good friend to Xuan Bingbing's very violent good friend.
After the murder mystery game ended, Guan Han offered to drive them home.
Lan Shuyin didn't want to be a third wheel, but Xuan Bingbing insisted on pulling her into the car.
There were only three people in the car: Lan Shuyin, Xuan Bingbing, and Guan Han.
After driving for a while, Xuan Bingbing broke the silence, "Yinyin, what exactly happened inside just now? Why did you smash that paper figure?"
Lan Shuyin had already prepared her explanation: "I was seeing things. I felt like the paper figure moved slightly, and a chill ran down my spine. My hand moved faster than my brain, and I couldn't help myself." She knew that an overly bizarre explanation would actually be more believable.
Xuan Bingbing believed it as expected, and said with a sigh, "Sigh, the atmosphere of this game is really weird, and I've been feeling uneasy about it."
Lan Shuyin seized the opportunity to inquire, "Then...did you sense anything unusual? Like, a strange shadow, or did you feel like you were being watched?"
"Shadow? Gaze?" Xuan Bingbing blinked blankly. "No. Apart from the dark environment and the eerie music, I think everything is pretty normal." There was a hint of hesitation in her voice. "Yinyin, have you been too tired lately and haven't been resting well, so you're hallucinating?" Her eyes showed concern, but also a hint of suspicion.
"Maybe," Lan Shuyin replied softly, touching her right hand and turning her gaze to the window.
Seeing a "ghost" is a very difficult thing to explain, and even if she were to gain someone's belief, it would only increase their fear. Besides, she herself didn't understand the cause and effect, so it was better to remain silent until the truth was found.
"that……"
At this moment, Guan Han hesitated before speaking, "I think I've encountered a strange situation."
Lan Shuyin was taken aback and looked up to meet his slightly uneasy gaze in the rearview mirror.
The boy seemed a little embarrassed, but he continued, "Well, when I first asked for his name, I felt someone lightly touch my heel, but I was alone at the time. Then, in the solo queue, when I was looking for the token, I thought I saw a white shadow flash by behind DM when he came... Of course, it could also be that I was too nervous and saw things, it was just a moment, but it almost scared me to death."
After hearing this, Xuan Bingbing looked at Guan Han, who was driving, and then at Lan Shuyin beside her in surprise, and said half-jokingly, "You two, you don't have some kind of legendary supernatural constitution, do you?"
"A supernatural constitution?" Guan Han asked in confusion.
"That is to say, some people have a special aura and are more prone to being possessed by evil spirits," Xuan Bingbing explained, then looked at Lan Shuyin with confusion, "But Yinyin, you shouldn't be like this, right? You used to be the first to tank when playing in horror escape rooms, so why would you react so strongly to a paper doll?"
"I probably just didn't sleep well." Lan Shuyin chuckled vaguely, then picked up her phone to glance at the screen, taking the opportunity to change the subject, "Hey, let's stop at the intersection ahead, I need to go straight to work."
The approaching four o'clock sunset cast a lazy, warm hue over the bar street. The car came to a smooth stop at the intersection. Lan Shuyin thanked them, got out, and quickly blended into the sparse crowd.
She entered through a side door of the neon-lit nightclub, passed through the staff entrance, and went into the changing room. After changing into her uniform, she looked in the mirror and skillfully tied her hair up high.
However, while tying the rubber band, the dull pain from punching the wall earlier had not yet subsided, and her right hand trembled slightly uncontrollably, making even the simplest movements appear somewhat clumsy.
However, although she looked tired in the mirror, her complexion was rosy and she showed no signs of exhaustion.
Kui Li once said that ghosts are nothing to be afraid of; they are merely the marks left by obsessions in the world. But now it seems that this is not entirely true.
That murder mystery game shop was too eerie. Lan Shuyin pondered for a moment, having already decided to go again. But before that, she needed to figure out how to "touch" those ghostly things.
Other colleagues gradually entered the changing room, chatting quietly about their own affairs, paying little attention to the newcomer who was rather quiet. Lan Shuyin decided to leave early, wanting to find a quiet corner to catch her breath and calm herself down before opening for business.
"Xiao Lan." Just as she reached the corridor, Li Li called out to her, handing her a rather valuable-looking dark wooden wine box. "Take this to the 'Silent Room'."
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