NOVEL NEXT Chapter 123: Mending the Fold After the Sheep Are Lost
Chapter 123: Mending the Fold After the Sheep Are Lost
“Eighty-six.”
“Eighty-seven.”
“Eighty-eight.”
The ghost children were very rule-abiding. Each of them covered their eyes, and no one peeked. They giggled and laughed as they counted to one hundred. Only then did they lower their hands and begin to scatter, hopping and skipping as they began to search.
Xu Lian and Xiao Xixi hid in the hollow of the tree, unable to see what was happening outside. However, as cultivators, their hearing was sharp, and they could hear sounds from far away. They could already hear the ghost children finishing their count and moving around with light footsteps, searching everywhere.
Both Xu Lian and Xiao Xixi’s hearts were pounding, and they could hear each other’s heartbeats. Their bodies were tense and their hair stood on end.
Xu Lian took a deep breath to calm himself and slow down his heartbeat. He raised his hand and pressed it down slightly, signaling to Xiao Xixi to relax as well. If their heartbeats were too fast, the ghost children might hear them when they passed by the tree.
Xiao Xixi followed his lead, taking deep breaths to ease her tension.
“There’s an uncle here! Heehee, I found you! Uncle, why are you running away? That’s not allowed.”
The playful laughter of a ghost child came from the distance.
It was followed by a shrill scream that was abruptly cut off, echoing through the silent forest.
Xu Lian and Xiao Xixi, who had just begun to relax, tensed up again.
The rules of hiding were clear: if you were found, you would die. As for how you died, no one knew, because those who were found never came back.
So terrifying.
So horrifying.
“Rustle, rustle…”
Xu Lian and Xiao Xixi heard the light footsteps of a ghost child approaching.
The footsteps became clearer, which meant that they were getting closer.
The two of them exchanged glances, holding their breath and suppressing their heartbeats, trying to minimize any signs of life.
The ghost child had reached the tree, but seemed unaware of the two in the hollow. It didn’t stop and continued walking in another direction.
Xu Lian finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that he wasn’t someone with shallow fortune.
Perhaps because she had been too tense and suddenly relaxed, Xiao Xixi subconsciously shifted her leg, bumping against the inner wall of the tree hollow and making a faint thud.
This soft sound might have been insignificant, but in the quiet forest, it was unusually loud!
The ghost child, who had already passed the tree, suddenly stopped and turned around, chuckling eerily. “I think I heard a sound coming from the hollow of that tree. Is someone hiding inside?”
Xu Lian and Xiao Xixi both turned pale, their faces drained of color. They looked at each other with fear in their eyes.
Xiao Xixi’s eyes reddened and tears began to fall. Her tear-filled eyes were filled with guilt. If only she hadn’t bumped her leg against the tree wall, the ghost child wouldn’t have noticed them.
Her body trembled and she clenched her teeth, giving Xu Lian a final determined look. She was about to crawl out of the cave so that the ghost child wouldn’t notice that there was another person inside. Clearly, she intended to face the consequences alone and not let Xu Lian be implicated.
Xu Lian quickly reacted, grabbing her arm. How could he bear to let her go out and die? Her selflessness moved and hurt him. She was truly a good woman.
“Rustle, rustle…”
The ghost child’s footsteps were getting closer.
What to do?
What should he do?
Xu Lian was desperate. His right hand instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword, while his left hand clutched the purple jade token, seeking a sense of security.
With his strength at the 9th stage of the Bright Strength Rank and his 3-star longsword, he even dared to fight a cultivator at the 1st or 2nd Stage of the Dark Strength Rank. But facing the unfathomable ghost children? That was definitely suicide.
As for the purple jade token, in Pingyang County, it was like an imperial edict, allowing him to move freely. But it was hard to say whether the ghost children would respect it. They might give the Yi Sect some face, or they might be provoked and make his death even more gruesome.
Clearly, neither resistance nor revealing his identity was a good solution.
Xu Lian’s mind raced. Given the terrifying strength of the ghost children, it was impossible that they hadn’t noticed him and Xiao Xixi hiding in the hollow tree when they passed by earlier. Yet, the ghost child hadn’t pulled them out. What did that mean?
It meant that neither he nor Xiao Xixi were people with shallow fortunes. Actually, the ghost child didn’t want to catch them!
However, Xiao Xixi’s accidental noise had triggered the ghost child’s rule of capture, forcing it to act.
Upon realizing this, Xu Lian’s eyes lit up. He knew what to do!
He just needed to give the ghost child a reason not to catch him and Xiao Xixi, so that it wouldn’t violate its own rules.
“Squeak! Squeak!…”
Xu Lian quickly gritted his teeth and made a mouse-like sound.
The ghost child, who had already reached the tree hollow, suddenly stopped and muttered to himself, “So that sound earlier was just a mouse. There seems to be no one hiding in the hollow of the tree.”
With that, the ghost child turned and walked away.
Xiao Xixi, who had been crying in fear, was stunned.
After the ghost child had gone far enough, Xu Lian gasped for breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He had been terrified too, but thankfully, he had reacted quickly and managed to remedy the situation, giving the ghost child a reason not to catch them.
As Xiao Xixi had said earlier, in hide-and-seek, it didn’t really matter where you hid!
The ghost children only caught people based on their fortunes.
Those with shallow wealth would be found no matter where they hid.
Those with deep fortunes could hide anywhere, and the ghost children wouldn’t catch them.
He and Xiao Xixi were people with deep fortunes. The ghost child hadn’t wanted to catch them initially, but Xiao Xixi’s accidental noise had triggered the rules, forcing the ghost child to act.
By making the “squeak” sound and pretending to be a mouse, Xu Lian had covered up the “slip”, effectively fixing the rule violation. Thus, the ghost child no longer had to catch them.
While it sounded complicated, the principle was actually quite simple.
Xiao Xixi couldn’t hold back any longer. She threw herself into Xu Lian’s arms, hugging him tightly.
Xu Lian also held her, gently stroking her long hair to comfort her.
Mindful of the ghost children’s presence, both of them restrained themselves. Otherwise, they might have celebrated their narrow escape with some affection.
In reality, based on the outcome, there was another possibility… Xiao Xixi might actually be someone with shallow luck!
That was why she had accidentally triggered the rules, putting her life in danger.
It was only because she was with him, someone with deep fortune, that they had managed to escape unscathed.
This possibility wasn’t small. After all, Xiao Xixi had been born into poverty, sold into a brothel as a child, and suffered many hardships. From this perspective, she did seem to have a shallow fortune.
As Xu Lian and Xiao Xixi waited for the game of hide-and-seek to end, they heard more screams in the distance. It seemed that more people had been captured by the ghost children. They could only wonder what kind of death awaited them.
“The time is up. The game of hide and seek is over.”
“Brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts, you’re so amazing! You hid so well. We only found four of you after searching for so long.”
The ghost children gathered together, giggling and laughing as they announced the end of the game.