Inside, the room glowed red behind silk curtains. When the songstress finished singing, a figure swept past and suddenly appeared in the doorway.
She looked like the faceless figure, with no features at all.
A Qi and Tiểu Song jumped in fright.
But I stared at the hairpin on her head.
Powerful resentment coiled around the hairpin. If I wasn't mistaken, it was a fragment of the Khốc Quỷ Liên.
The songstress had no features, but for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that she was smiling. The muscles of her face kept stretching as she took one step after another toward us.
With each step she took, the scene around us shifted a little. Before we knew it, we were standing inside a brothel.
Everything around us seemed to come alive. Onstage, singing girls danced; below, powerful officials and nobles reveled in luxury.
None of them had faces.
Suddenly, a little girl dressed like a country girl, around twelve or thirteen years old, was brought in through the door.
The person who brought her in moved his face as if saying something, his gestures greasy and revolting.
The nobleman seated on high listened, then laughed until he shook and reached his claws toward the country girl.
I stepped forward to stop him, but the scene around us suddenly began changing rapidly.
The country girl was tormented day after day until she finally gave in and donned a songstress's costume.
Covered in wounds, she grew up in the tower. At seventeen, she sang one line wrong, and they poured lead into her until she was tortured to death.
Then another girl was brought in, and her life repeated the same pattern.
Before we knew it, we had watched the songstress's entire life in the tower.
When I came to, I was still standing outside the door, and the songstress was still silently standing in the room. Now her features had appeared, and all seven orifices were bleeding.
I focused, drew the demon-slaying saber I'd prepared, and moved to strike.
Just as the blade was an inch from the female ghost, Tiểu Song grabbed it. “Are you crazy?”
The demon-slaying saber would lose its power if it touched the blood of the living, but Tiểu Song seemed not to feel any pain. He held the blade tight, keeping me from moving forward.
I looked closely and realized his eyes were vacant and his expression dull. “We're in trouble. They're still trapped in the songstress's illusion.”
Sure enough, when I turned around, A Qi raised a stick and swung it viciously at me. I dodged just in time, and the stick struck Tiểu Song in the head.
I circled behind them, bound them both tightly with a specially made rope, and turned to face the faceless songstress.
Without hesitation, I thrust the cinnabar-daubed lightning-struck wooden sword straight into the female ghost's forehead. She immediately shattered into several pieces, then vanished in a cloud of black smoke.
But it wasn't over. Another songstress, identical to the first, slowly appeared behind me.
They were all girls who had died in the brothel long ago.
Though I sympathized deeply with their fate, they wanted my life now. I had no choice but to strike.
I killed one group of female ghosts, only for another to appear. Exhausted, I gasped, “Just how many girls did the owner of this tower kill?”
I gripped the lightning-struck wooden sword and watched the female ghosts carefully. They all looked identical: blood streamed from all seven orifices, their nails were sharp, and resentment wrapped around their entire bodies.
These female ghosts might all be manifestations of the songstress. The only way to end this was to find her true form.
But this entire floor was full of her. Which one was the real one?
“The hairpin.”
A faint voice rang out, and I froze. “A Qi, you're awake.”
A Qi nodded apologetically. “I didn't hurt you just now, did I?”
I helped her up and stood behind her. “You're right. It's the hairpin.”
Though all the female ghosts wore hairpins, the immense resentment of the Khốc Quỷ Liên couldn't be copied.
If we found the one with the strongest resentment, we'd find the true form.
I looked at one of the female ghosts and said to A Qi, “Rest. I'll go get the fragment first.”
A Qi pulled me back. “You can't summon the gods and spirits anymore. Won't that be dangerous?”
I smiled. “Don't worry. I prepared for this long ago. Over the past few hundred years, I've built up quite a collection of treasures. I can beat them to death with those!”
I pulled out a whip and darted forward. Before the female ghost could react, one blow dispersed her. When my final strike was about to hit the true form, she suddenly lunged at me.
I was pinned to the ground. The female ghost's sharp nails dug into me, and I felt them pierce my flesh as blood streamed out.
I held my breath, reached for a handful of homemade cinnabar, and smeared it viciously across her face.
The female ghost reacted as if doused in acid. Smoke rose from her face as she screamed in agony.
I seized the chance to take the hairpin from her head. The female ghost seemed to lose her soul. Black smoke poured endlessly from her body until all that remained was an empty shell.
I breathed a sigh of relief, held up the hairpin, and gave it a little shake. Smiling at A Qi, I said, “Got it.”
A Qi's smile had just begun to bloom when it suddenly froze. “Watch out!”
My gaze turned cold, and I leaned aside to dodge.
Tiểu Song was standing behind me.
With the female ghost dead, her illusion naturally lost its power. I'd almost forgotten Tiểu Song was still here.
6
Seeing both of us watch him warily, Tiểu Song awkwardly rubbed his nose. “I just wanted to say hello. I wasn't going to do anything.”
A Qi didn't answer directly. Instead, she stepped over to stand beside me. “Now that we've got the fragment, you can go outside.”
Tiểu Song looked anxious, as if he wanted to say something, but he stopped and lowered his head.
I looked at them both and smiled. “Who says I'm the only one who can get out? The faceless figure never said one fragment could only get one person out.”
A Qi and Tiểu Song looked up, their eyes full of surprise.
I held the hairpin between us. “Let's all hold on to it.”
They both placed their hands on it.
Sure enough, the next moment, the faceless figure's voice rang out again. “Congratulations, players. You've obtained a fragment of the Khốc Quỷ Liên. You may proceed directly to the exit. Eighteen survivors remain.”
The faceless figure paused, then asked with interest, “Are you ready?”
He laughed twice. “Teleportation begins.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Tiểu Song suddenly grabbed the hairpin, but luckily, I was prepared.
Just as he was about to snatch it, I shoved him in the chest.
A flash of white light followed. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I was outside the tower.
Power I hadn't felt in ages immediately flooded back into my body, and my exhaustion vanished. I tried summoning the gods and spirits, and succeeded.
The sky was beginning to brighten.
But there was no one beside me now. In the end, when Tiểu Song tried to snatch the fragment, I stopped him. A Qi should have made it out with me, but now I was alone.
I suddenly remembered that when we first entered the tower, everyone had been scattered to different places. Maybe the same thing had happened this time.
I hurried toward the tower, hoping to save the survivors before dawn.
I turned around and froze.
Standing before me was the person I had searched for for hundreds of years.
Old memories came flooding back.
The man smiled. “You got the Khốc Quỷ Liên?”
I stared at him in shock and summoned the gods and spirits to attack. But my strongest blow was nothing more than child's play in his eyes.
“Hạ Hầu Thu, have you forgotten? I taught you everything you know.”
He gently took hold of my wrist. I used all my strength, but couldn't break free.
I looked up at him, my lips parting. “Master.”