Nightmare Assault

An unstoppable chill crawled up his legs as if he was being frozen. The blood in his vessels turned into ice. From left to right, Jiang Cheng moved his eyes with difficulty. That was the limit of what he could do. Through the reflection in the bronze mirror, he saw a woman seated before the vanity table.

She had on a bright red costume. As she combed her hair, she hummed the opera song. Scarier than the song were her eyes. Her eyes were void. There was no pupil. Her black hair split open, and they kept dripping water. Her fair hand held a broken comb as she fixed her hair. The sound of friction was extremely grating.

DRIP DRIP…

Water vapour appeared out of thin air until a pool collected on the ground.

It sounded like someone was walking through the water. Jiang Cheng stared at the ground. A trail of footprints appeared. From the vanity, the footsteps moved towards him. The footsteps were small. The front was tapered, and the sole was rounded. It was the shape of someone wearing embroidered shoes.

Jiang Cheng saw through the mirror that the ghost had stood up. Using a strange and choppy gait, she moved towards him. She wore a pair of red embroidered shoes. The side of the shoes had a pair of Mandarin Ducks sewn with golden threads. However, Jiang Cheng was not in the mood to admire them.

The footsteps slowly approached. As they were about to stop before him, a hand suddenly grabbed him by his shoulder. “Doctor,” Fatty’s voice began, “Let’s go.”

The chill that dominated Jiang Cheng receded. Dragged by Fatty, he stumbled down the stairs. Jiang Cheng finally calmed down after they returned to the first floor. Fatty was gasping for air. He held the Doctor with one hand while his other hand grabbed something wrapped in the red cloth tightly.

It looked quite large but not heavy. By then, Jiang Cheng had already guessed what it was. Fatty looked at him and pulled back a corner of the cloth. There was a phoenix crown inside. When rich ladies got married in the ancient era, they would wear phoenix crowns on their heads.

Round pearls were embedded in the crown. They glowed gently in the light. Silver threads strung gorgeous beads around the pearls. Due to the exquisite design, it looked like light was flowing through the crown.

To the right side of the crown, a row of large pearls were arranged neatly. However, a pearl was missing in the middle. It was conspicuous. Fatty took out the pearl the little beggar had given him. He compared it to the indentation. It fitted perfectly. The next moment, the pearl miraculously slotted back into place.

The little beggar came that day to steal this phoenix crown and give it to Fatty. However, she was discovered and caught by Butler Zhou. In her desperation, she plucked off a pearl and left it as a hint for Fatty.

Thinking back to how she died, Fatty’s eyes burned with fury. Jiang Cheng glanced at the stairs and whispered, “Let’s go.”

The two slipped back out through the same window. Since they saw Fatty return with the item, the travellers rushed back to the lake. However, they had just taken a few steps when An Xuan, who was at the front, suddenly stopped. The next second, Fatty felt the presence of this man change.

“Since you’re here, why not come out to talk?” He said to the trees nearby.

Moments later, torches lit up among the trees. Then, about ten people walked out. Some of them held clubs and spears. The leader was a middle-aged man with narrowed eyes and a goatee. This was Butler Zhou.

The middle-aged woman stood to his left. However, the woman was dressed differently. She had on athletic clothes and carried a double-headed spear on her back. The sharp spearheads glinted due to the torchlight.

When Fatty saw the man to the right of Butler Zhou, his breathing became agitated. It was the man with the dark face. He had a thick club and glared aggressively at the travellers.

Xia Meng, Jiang Cheng and An Xuan didn’t react in any way. Chen Qiang was the only one affected. He felt a lot of pressure as Butler Zhou’s group surrounded them. Xia Meng snatched the phoenix crown from Fatty and shoved it to Chen Qiang. “You only need to protect this. You don’t need to handle anything else.”

Chen Qiang knew it was not the time to argue. He nodded. “Leave it to me.”

Jiang Cheng turned around to tell Chen Qiang, “If you dare to run away on your own, I guarantee you’ll have a worse death than You Qi.”

“I… won’t.”

An Xuan flicked his wrist, and a dagger appeared in his palm. You Qi probably died to this dagger.

Jiang Cheng couldn’t get a good look at Xia Meng’s weapon. It looked wooden. It could be a wooden hairpin. When they were in Little Ravine Village, Xia Meng used a similar weapon.

The battle happened in the blink of a moment. After Jiang Cheng avoided a spear that came for him from behind, he grabbed the spear and yanked hard. He swiped the spear and stabbed the spear through his attacker’s throat. He twisted, and blood splattered everywhere. He let go of the spear. The ambusher fell to the ground. He twitched before becoming still.

“Third Brother!” At another end, a man roared angrily. He was about to charge at Jiang Cheng when a dagger opened his chest. An Xuan took away a life expressionlessly.

Unlike An Xuan’s slaughter, Xia Meng was gentler. With her agility, she only left her enemies blinded. A woman knelt on the ground, covering her eyes. She yelled in pain as blood flowed out between her fingers. Xia Meng was annoyed and gave her another kick.

However, the person who had the quickest progress was Fatty. With burning eyes, he crushed the enemies like a human tank. His goal was clear. He knocked over the man with a dark face. Then, Fatty jumped on him. They rolled and fought on the ground.

The middle-aged woman turned to help, but a stone hit her on the head. It caused her to bleed. She covered her wound and turned around to see Chen Qiang, who was peeking out from behind a tree. He was ready to throw a second pebble.

When he realised he had been discovered, Chen Qiang obediently put his hand down. Then, he smiled apologetically at the middle-aged woman.