Lu Mingran observed the people around her, hoping to find something new to burn, and it was at this moment that Lu Mingran discovered something interesting.
It seemed that no one was smoking at the banquet.
Offering drinks and cigarettes is a common practice; how could there be no cigarettes here?
Thinking of this, Lu Mingran tentatively spoke to a young man and asked him to lend her a cigarette.
"Smoke?" The young man turned around, his expression suddenly stiffening.
So Lu Mingran once again conjured a cigarette in the dream, lit it, and handed it to him: "What, not going to smoke?"
As he expected, the young man tried his best to refuse, but in the process, the cigarette suddenly fell and landed on the tablecloth.
By the time Lu Mingran realized it, the tablecloth was already ablaze. In the blink of an eye, the table had turned into a wooden chair, and everyone around it was gone.
Lu Mingran suddenly turned around.
Everything else in the restaurant seemed normal, and no one seemed to notice anything amiss. But the wooden chair standing next to the tables laden with wedding banquet dishes was truly eerie.
A thought suddenly arose in Lu Mingran's mind:
Now, what would happen if you used this match to burn something else?
He took a deep breath and extended the sinful match toward another table.
Just like last time, the table was gone, but this time a row of chairs appeared, the kind you see in auditoriums, with peeling paint on the backs, giving them a mottled dark green color.
One tablecloth after another, Lu Mingran went around setting them ablaze, watching them be consumed by the flames. The once beautiful wedding banquet was now deliberately torn apart, and Jack outside stared in disbelief at the scene inside.
—Has Lu Mingran gone mad?
Lu Mingran felt like she was scraping a card; with each bit of burning, a little of the gray substance on the card was scraped off, revealing the words "Thank you for your patronage." However, Lu Mingran had no idea what would happen after all the burning was done.
Panting for breath amidst the fear of the unknown, Lu Mingran realized that only one thing remained unburned.
That wasn't a thing, it was a person. While everyone else disappeared with the fire, only the bride remained standing under the flower arch.
Is this a plan to burn the bride?
The bride stood quietly to the side, not speaking.
...Now that things have come to this, Lu Mingran knows that this is not actually the real wedding venue, and the bride is just a fake bride.
Lu Mingran walked step by step, looking down at the long, white wedding dress that the bride had laid out on the ground. Finally, he closed his eyes and let the burning match in his hand fall to the ground.
The sparks touched the white veil and rolled forward, climbing up the bride's back and then her veil. In that instant, the entire restaurant burst into flames, burning to the ground. Amidst the flames, Lu Mingran stood on the red carpet in the center, her eyes closed, awaiting the final outcome.
Lu Mingran opened her eyes.
He found himself in the auditorium of a large school, with a red banner bearing the words "Award Ceremony". Each of the four characters was written in calligraphy on a diamond-shaped piece of paper, which was then pasted onto the banner one by one.
This is clearly an auditorium that has been abandoned for a long time, with the surrounding seats being old and damaged.
The only thing working was the large loudspeakers on either side of the stage, playing marches with poor sound quality, interspersed with a few words from the principal. Just listening to this, you would think you were in an auditorium where a meeting was being held, back to a lively afternoon.
A screech—the sound of a chair being dragged across the stage echoed in the empty auditorium.
Lu Mingran looked in the direction of the sound and thought to herself:
Setting fire to the mountain will definitely not end well.
A girl sat on the stage, with a long braid trailing behind her head.
The girl did look familiar; Lu Mingran felt she had seen her at the print shop. However, she also seemed somewhat unfamiliar because the girl was missing her left arm and leg, and her school uniform hung loosely.
The voice on the loudspeaker continued: "Tian Fangfang, from a poor family, is self-reliant and strives for excellence..."
The walls on both sides of the auditorium were very high, and the dim sunlight slanted into the small windows, with dust motes rising and falling in the beams of light.
The girl sat upright, looking straight ahead instead of at Lu Mingran.
Just then, a gust of wind blew by and smeared a yellowed old newspaper onto Lu Mingran's face.
Lu Mingran took the newspaper down and saw that the news on it was:
"A 15-year-old boy killed a female classmate just for fun and refused to disclose the whereabouts of the missing parts of the female corpse."
"Police found other bird legs sewn onto sparrows, as well as other animal remains, in the boy's home."
————————
The moment the courtyard gate closed, Cheng Yungui clenched the loose silver in his hand.
In the center of the courtyard, paper figures and gold and silver ingots continued to burn until the old man in charge let out the first scream.
Black blood seeped from the bride's coffin, reaching up to his feet.
Those outside the courtyard heard the sounds coming from inside, but no matter what they did, they couldn't break down the door. The screams of the people inside made them widen their eyes and instinctively back away.
Cheng Yungui was standing by the door, watching as the courtyard was engulfed in flames, the firelight illuminating the black night sky. At that moment, a pair of hands covered in lividity emerged from the flames and stretched out directly in front of him.
Two female voices blew in his ear, giggling:
"Small pieces of silver, should I give them to her or give them to her? To the left or the right?"
——————
"The bald man has seen it. The corpse in your instance is made up of two female corpses. The left half is a recently deceased one, and the right half is a female corpse from the Republican era. In fact, it has long been reduced to bones."
Just then, as Jack was staring blankly at the grand hall, the long-lost Earl suddenly contacted him, causing a sharp pain in his thigh.
The bald man is a very capable assistant to the Earl. What makes him terrifying is his ability to intervene in any instance that someone else is currently working on, allowing him to observe everything from an outsider's perspective.
The count's voice now meant there were new instructions:
“Write a note and burn it over, saying that you have found fragments of the story and clues, and have him put the silver coins into the woman’s left hand.”
It sounded like a sincere suggestion to save his life, but how could the count be so kind?
Jack's intuition told him that putting the loose silver on the left side was definitely a mistake and would bring Cheng Yungui a lot of trouble.
Jack did not act immediately.
To his left, Cheng Yungui's world was shrouded in mist; to his right, it had transformed into a grand auditorium. Lu Mingran seemed to have found a clue, and was taking something from the stage, about to turn around and run over.
Time is of the essence!
A sheet of white paper was already laid out on his lap, and a pen was placed beside him. Jack hesitated, then gripped the pen with a slight tremor.
He wrote a few words, crossed them out, and then wrote them again. He clutched his chest, feeling his heart pounding so hard he could hardly breathe. Besides that, for some reason, it felt like an invisible, cold hand was pressing down on him.
Just then, Lu Mingran returned, giving him even less of a chance to act. To make matters worse, Lu Mingran was holding a student ID card—this must be the crucial information!
Lu Mingran noticed Jack's cold sweat and the way his fingers were tightly clenching something, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
At this critical moment of life and death, it's best not to pretend anymore.
So Lu Mingran asked him directly, "What instructions did the Earl give you?"
"Oh my God, my goodness—"
"Stop saying 'no, no, no,' or I'll steam you." Lu Mingran interrupted him. "Anyone can see that you're not on our side."
Jack's heart sank.
Once exposed, he'll be useless to the Count. Judging from the curse the Count placed on him, this useless pawn will die at the hands of the vengeful ghost in this instance.
but……
Jack smiled wryly, with a hint of arrogance:
"Mingran, do you think the esteemed, omnipotent Earl has no backup plan?"
"My dear friend, you haven't yet witnessed the Earl's power and terror. You have no idea how powerless I am!"
Lu Mingran didn't speak, she just looked at him.
And Jack was right. Suddenly, a new note appeared out of thin air and landed in the brazier.
Jack: "That was a backup false lead for him."
Tsk.
Lu Mingran took out a pen and quickly wrote something on her student ID card before throwing it in.
After doing all this, Lu Mingran smiled easily:
"Want to bet with me?"
——————————
In the courtyard, Cheng Yungui suddenly found two slips of paper and a student ID card in his hand.
At this critical moment, Cheng Yungui quickly checked them.
The first note read: Cheng Yungui, we've found out for you. Quickly stuff the loose silver into the woman's left hand.
The content of the second note was quite simple:
"Prosperity, right hand!"
Chapter 64 Want to be the King of the Night? No way (16)
Two slips of paper with completely contradictory information.
Normally, the person who receives this note will be in a dilemma, unsure of which option to choose.
But Cheng Yungui made a decision immediately.
————————
Cheng Yun was now in a terrible situation, and soon after, something terrible also happened to Jack and his group.
By the brazier, Jack and Lu Mingran looked at each other. Now that the unspoken understanding had been broken, there was no need for them to put on a nice face for each other.
Jack felt waves of chill creeping towards him, but he calmed down and gave a desperate smile.
"You're right, we're definitely not on the same wavelength."
“But,” Jack gasped, his tone suddenly turning sinister, “don’t think this is the end of it. The Earl will come looking for him again. He will die, he will—”
Jack couldn't utter the last word, "death," because the next instant, a woman's hand covered in lividity suddenly appeared on his shoulder, and in the palm of that hand, a piece of silver was tightly clutched.
Her arms wrapped tightly around Jack's neck, tightening their grip. Lu Mingran instinctively raised her hand in horror, and at that moment Jack laughed.