Everyone held their breath, their gazes fixed intently on the empty seat in front of them. In the curling smoke of the raw rhinoceros incense, a faint outline of a child was struggling to coalesce and take shape.
"Is it... successful?!" Dongfang Xiao whispered, unable to hide her excitement.
Zhong Shengwan's heart was pounding like a drum. He always prided himself on being calm and never getting nervous. But at this moment, he stared fixedly at the gradually emerging shadow, his mind a blank, with only one thought: After all these years, if he really saw Yuan Yuan, what should he say first? Should he apologize or persuade...
However, just as the figure was about to solidify, the air around them rippled violently, like the surface of a pond when a stone was thrown in!
Puff!
The already dim candle went out with a pop, and the room was instantly plunged into darkness. Only the strange fragrance of the raw rhinoceros incense was so strong that it was almost choking, like tangible tentacles that wrapped around everyone's senses!
The next moment—
"Pat." "Pat." "Pat." "Pat."
Four extremely soft taps landed on the shoulders of the four people almost simultaneously.
The force was not heavy, even carrying a hint of mischief and playfulness like a child's prank!
At the same time, a clear and dependent call sounded in the ears of Shen Cuiyu and Pei Yu at the same time:
"Daddy, Mommy, come find me!" The voice went straight into their minds. It was innocent, but it sounded extremely eerie in this pitch - black environment.
Pei Yu suddenly remembered that Shen Cuiyu was afraid of the dark. He silently moved a little closer and turned the jade - boned folding fan in his hand around, gently placing the warm jade pendant at the other end within her reach—just at a position where she could touch it accidentally.
The warmth of the jade seeped through her skin, like a small lamp quietly lit in the darkness. It was not dazzling, but stable and real.
Shen Cuiyu immediately understood Pei Yu's intention. She didn't say a word, just slightly moved her fingertips and silently held the jade pendant.
That little bit of warm touch actually diluted the discomfort and chill surging in her heart a little.
When it came to Dongfang Xiao, the child's voice clearly hesitated for a moment, with obvious confusion: "Um... ugly sister?"
Dongfang Xiao:???
A vein on her forehead twitched. Anger temporarily overcame her fear. She gritted her teeth and said with a forced smile: "You little rascal... Come on, come and have a fight with your sister..."
She suddenly turned around, ready to attack, but behind her there was only a quickly dissipating cold air. There was not a single trace of a figure!
"Damn... This is so creepy..." Dongfang Xiao cursed under her breath.
The strong and strange fragrance was like invisible tentacles, quietly spreading over. It carried a cold and cloying sweetness and slowly wrapped around Zhong Shengwan.
Zhong Shengwan knew that Yuan Yuan was right behind him at this moment.
However, the difference was that Zhong Shengwan didn't hear the call corresponding to the role - playing game. Instead, there was a tinkling but hollow - sounding laugh of a child that sent shivers down his spine.
Then, the nursery rhyme that Zhong Shengwan had just sung was softly hummed. The tune was exactly the same, but the lyrics had quietly changed:
"The road is long, the night is quiet. Father leaves home, mother grows old. Sister turns around and disappears. Child, run quickly... run quickly..."
"Hehe..."
Finally, the voice got closer to Zhong Shengwan's ear. It carried endless temptation and a hint of cold resentment and softly said: "Awan, it's your turn... Come find me."
Before the voice faded, Zhong Shengwan's face suddenly turned as pale as paper!
The surrounding scenery distorted and changed wildly. The familiar room peeled off like a broken mirror!
The fragrance of the raw rhinoceros incense and the figures of his companions were instantly pulled away. Everyone was suddenly dragged into a completely different place woven by endless obsessions by an irresistible force—
When the three of them regained their senses, there was a faint glimmer of light around them. It was like the pale yellow afterglow filtering through thick window paper, barely outlining the outline of the room, but it was still so dim and depressing.
Dongfang Xiao subconsciously tried to sit up, but suddenly felt a bone - chilling strangeness.
"Why can't I... move?!" She tried to turn her neck, but her body felt extremely stiff, as if bound by invisible ropes. "Where are you guys? Zhong Shengwan?!"
"... I can't move either." Zhong Shengwan's voice came, with an indescribable sense of dullness and confusion.
Dongfang Xiao tried hard to look in the direction of the voice—she found that she seemed unable to turn her eyeballs and could only shift her gaze slowly.
After finally seeing Zhong Shengwan clearly, Dongfang Xiao was suddenly stunned.
The next moment, her voice suddenly changed in pitch and almost broke in shock:
"Damn it!!! Zhong Shengwan, you... you're a paper figure?! And it's so ugly! It's so scary!!"
What was in front of her was not Zhong Shengwan at all, but a rough, flat paper figure with an ugly and lifeless appearance.
Zhong Shengwan also seemed to "see" Dongfang Xiao clearly. After a moment of silence, he replied in a complicated tone: "... You still have the nerve to say me? Look at yourself. You're a doll stuffed with rags."
The fabric of the doll was dull in color, the stitches were thick and crooked, and one eye sewn with a ribbon was almost falling off. It looked extremely pitiful.
Dongfang Xiao:...
She tried hard to look down, but couldn't. She could only see her own "arms" with crooked stitches and a little cotton stuffing showing through from her limited perspective.
The two fell into a strange silence.
"A Cui! Pei Yu! Where are you? What the hell is going on?!" Dongfang Xiao couldn't help shouting. The paper - figure Zhong Shengwan also nervously "looked" around.
"I'm here..." Shen Cuiyu's voice sounded. Her voice was still steady, but it seemed to come from a different direction. The two, or rather the two objects, looked in the direction of the voice and finally focused their gazes on a rather exquisitely crafted porcelain doll wearing a painted ruqun on the table.
The porcelain - doll Shen Cuiyu continued: "If my perception is correct, Pei Yu... should be behind Zhong Shengwan."
The paper - figure Zhong Shengwan was startled and tried hard to turn around.
He then found that he wasn't completely unable to move, but his movements were extremely slow and stiff. It took him a great deal of effort to barely turn his "body" a little. What came into view was a small wooden general doll.
The doll was about half a foot tall. It was not carved very finely. The paint on the armor was chipped and peeling, but the wood itself had been polished to a smooth finish. One of its arms seemed to be loose and was barely hanging on with a rough thread.
It stood silently in the shadow, exuding an old and solemn aura that was completely out of place in a child's room.
Zhong Shengwan stared at the puppet for a moment and found that there was a palm - sized bronze mirror hanging on its chest.
And what was reflected in the bronze mirror was actually Zhong Shengwan's current full appearance—a thin paper figure with torn edges like dog - chewed bits.
The eyes drawn with ink lines on his face looked like two dead fish, staring blankly and lifelessly. Coupled with the two exaggerated round blushes on his cheeks, his appearance was not only unsightly but could even scare children at night.
The wooden puppet was silent for a moment, and then Pei Yu's unique voice came, with a hint of helplessness and extreme discomfort: "Zhong Shengwan... Please, don't look at me with this face. It's creepy."
Zhong Shengwan:...
He felt that if he had a face, it must be redder than those blushes at this moment.