Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-Pierce, Proofreader-adjective
Seizing the opportunity while some small demons were preoccupied with their dinner, Ji Dong utilized the cover provided by the cuffs and looked down to study his wristwatch that only he could see at the moment.
The pointer on the progress bar halted at the leftmost side of the dark LCD screen dial. It was flashing with a green light, signifying that he was still safe.
But Ji Dong was more concerned about a particular function of the watch that only appeared in this [Film]: timekeeping.
The [Peach Blossom Spring] gave him the information that if he tapped on the dial twice, it would activate the timekeeping function, and a timer accurate to one-tenth of a second would appear at the top of the progress bar. If he tapped again, the reading would stop, just like the stopwatch he used to coach the team when they did their training.
Since his watch had an extra timekeeping function, Ji Dong wondered if that meant that the concept of “time” was crucial in this [Film], and possibly related to life or death?
——That’s right!
He suddenly thought of a very important question—what time is it?
While thinking, Ji Dong stretched his neck and began to look around.
There was no clock in this ancient-themed [Film], and it was even more bizarre to check the time on a mobile phone.
Only after Ji Dong skimmed around the room did he finally see a dewdrop hourglass in the corner of the back hall. The surface of the water had passed the line by about a quarter, showing that it was about half past eleven.
He clearly remembered that the damn game of “hide-and-seek” would start at midnight, and now it was a little over two-quarters of an hour.
——There is only half an hour left!
Ji Dong’s cold sweat was almost seeping out. He couldn’t help glancing at the little demons who were still eating their porridge and steamed buns.
He didn’t have much time left, but he was still stuck in the back hall, where only servants could come and go. He had no idea what it was like outdoors, and he had no idea where Ren Jianmo and Mo Tiangen were. He just had a few hints at his disposal…
Should he just wait here until midnight since there were many things he wasn’t sure about, but then he’d have to immediately enter the “hide-and-seek game” that he didn’t know how to play?
The more Ji Dong contemplated it, the more he couldn’t wait.
Although it was indeed safer to mix with this group of small demons, Ji Dong still decided to take a risk and seized the last half hour to walk around the mansion full of demons and spirits.
After all, hide-and-seek was a game in which, if one weren’t familiar with the map very well, one would be black eyed from the minute they started playing, and they wouldn’t even know where to hide!
Thinking of this, he whispered to the little demon beside him, “I’m going out for a while.” He then rose on his legs to leave the back hall.
“Gah!”
Unexpectedly, a small demon with a yellow belt put down its bowl and stood up.
“You are going to the toilet, right?”
The little demon with the yellow belt rubbed its face, wiping its puckered mouth until it became two swollen lips, and made a decision without waiting for a response. “Let’s go together.”
Ji Dong: “……”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Ji Dong deliberately fell behind half a step, letting the duck demon unconsciously lead the way.
“Oh? So, you already know what’s on the menu tonight?”
As they walked, he tried to persuade this silly duck, who looked a bit gullible, to reveal more information.
“Hey, I dare not say all of them, but I can say two or three things!”
The duck demon held its head high, “Three fresh fish stew, fried white shrimp, stir-fried fish balls, pot-roasted carp, stewed eels ……”
It reported several kinds of seafood in a row. Each time, it smacked its mouth like a real duck.
“Indeed delicious!”
Ji Dong smiled and agreed.
“So many good dishes, I wonder how many guests there are tonight?”
The duck demon quacked two laughs, “I heard from sister goose that there was a group of mountain bandits, but there must be at least twenty or thirty people!”
After saying that, the duck demon smacked its mouth, shaking its head, “I don’t know how many people can go out this time!”
The yellow-belted demon showed an envious look, “If we could have a stream of people, we might have a chance!”
Ji Dong’s heart pounded.
It turned out that these demons lured people into the house—neither to eat their meat nor to drink their blood—but more as an exchange of one for another.
——Could it be…
Ji Xiao’niao started speculating based on the words and phrases that the duck demon unintentionally revealed.
——Could it be that all these demons are trapped in this mansion for some reason, or rather, by some force, and can only lure mortals in as their “stand-ins” in order to get out?
……
While pondering about this, the duck demon had led Ji Dong to the remote courtyard.
Although it was a courtyard, in fact, the area was quite spacious.
According to Ji Xiao’niao’s “barren” knowledge of ancient architecture, the layout style of this courtyard was especially similar to the Suzhou-style gardens he had visited before. Pavilions and kiosks, ponds and bridges, a landscape of flowers and trees, and a rockery filled with strange rocks. It could indeed be called a change of scenery as if the world was within reach.
However, Ji Dong had no intention of admiring the scenic beauty of the garden at this time.
The focus of his attention was that there was a group of monsters gathered next to the fish pond for some reason. They were making a lot of noise and Ji Dong had no idea what was going on
“Aigoo!”
The duck demon suddenly got excited when it saw the gathering crowd, “Rice krispies! The sisters in the yard are dividing rice krispies! Let’s go! Let’s grab some for ourselves too!”
It shouted excitedly as it grabbed Ji Dong’s arm and pulled him towards the crowd without any hesitation.
By this time, more and more demons had gathered by the fish pond, besides the banshee that wore a layered gauze skirt, there were also some servants, all of whom surrounded the red-skirted beauty with a cloud bun in the center, scrambling to claim the rice krispies from her bamboo winnowing basket.
Ji Dong secretly screamed in his heart, but looking at the cheerful appearance of this group of monsters, he knew that the so-called “rice krispies” must be very popular with them. If he put on a disgusted face, refused to take it and eat, then it would be too suspicious.
Just when he was in a hurry, he suddenly saw the action of a girl holding a candy and filling her mouth with it. With wisdom in a hurry, he took advantage of the rowdy crowd, and put his fingers into the purse at his waist, and grabbed a [Energy Storing Explosive Candy] and held it in his palm.
At this time, the duck demon had dragged him to squeeze in front of the red-skirted banshee.
“Sister, good elder sister!”
The duck demon called out in a flattering tone, “Sister please, give me a handful of candy!”
The red-skirted banshee smiled and said, “You are such a sweet talker!”
Saying that, she grabbed a handful of rice krispies from the bamboo winnowing basket and stuffed it to the duck demon.
Then the red-skirted banshee moved her eyes to Ji Dong’s face.
Ji Dong’s body shuddered, and he hastened to act, imitating the duck demon’s petulant tone, stifling his voice and begging, “Sister, I also want sugar~”
The banshee—who shared the sugar—smiled and stretched out her hand, caressing Ji Dong’s face.
“Aigoo, you kid, look quite pretty!”
She exclaimed, grabbed a large handful of candy, and handed it to Ji Dong.
Ji Dong still had the prop in one hand. Naturally, he didn’t dare to receive it with both hands. Fortunately, he was very clever. He immediately pretended to be extremely surprised, thanked the banshee, and pulled up the hem of his clothes to take the candies.
After getting the rice krispies, the duck demon took Ji Dong out of the crowd, squatted by the pond, and began eating in earnest.
Ji Dong took advantage of its head down, quickly stuffed the [Energy Storing Explosive Candy] into his mouth, then lifted the hem of his clothes, and shoved all the rice candy into the fish pond.
“Oh, you ate it all?”
The little duck demon looked up and saw the clean hem of Ji Dong’s cloth, its expression was quite disappointing.
“Mmmmmm……”
Ji Dong puffed out his cheeks, deliberately biting the prop in his mouth to make crunching noises, pretending to eat it in satisfaction.
The little duck demon turned its head and looked blearily at the red-skirted banshee, seemingly hesitant to ask for some more.
However, an accident happened at this time.
They suddenly heard a woman’s hoarse and miserable scream.
“Ahhh! Ahhhh!”
The sound was incomparably abrupt that it drew everyone’s attention at once.
Ji Dong looked around and saw, about ten paces away, a middle-aged woman dressed as a servant girl. One hand was gouging her throat while the other hand was pulling a man dressed as a male servant beside her. It looked extremely painful.
The man, who was caught by the maid, appeared to be terrified and tried to stop her screams, and at the same time was panicking when they attracted the attention of the crowd.
Ji Dong’s heart sank.
He vaguely had a horrible suspicion.
Sure enough, the woman plucked off something from her throat and suddenly spit out a mouthful of mucus that contained chewed rice candy.
——This woman, like me, is probably a participant from the [Peach Blossom Spring]!
——She ate the food here!
“Oh, what’s going on?”
The red-skirted banshee who was just distributing rice krispies to the little demons threw the basket—with half of the rice krispies left—to the side and walked towards the fallen maid.
She spoke words of concern, but there was a strange sense of exuberance in her tone, her eyes were burning, and her fingers smeared with nail polish trembled slightly with excitement.
“You… are a human, right?”
The red-skirted banshee proclaimed.
“I don’t know how you got in, but you are a human.”
As soon as the word “human” was uttered, it was like a stone had stirred up a thousand waves. It triggered a response in the whole courtyard that was far more intense than when the rice krispies were distributed.
All the demons were stirred up.
“Humans!”
“It’s a human!”
“Someone! Someone’s here!”
They repeated the word “human” to each other and gathered around the fallen servant and the manservant she was holding on to.
By this time, the woman was in too much pain to say a word.
Her body was gradually deforming.
The skin wrapped in clothing gradually shriveled and shrunk, the spine deformed and elongated, the limbs coiled and twisted, the shoulders slanted and loomed…
Even so, she still seemed to be desperately trying to grasp the last straw. With her gradually withered and hardened fingers, she frantically pulled the man beside her.
“It looks like…”
The corners of the red-skirted banshee’s lips rose in an evil smile and looked at the panic-stricken manservant.
“You’re a human too, right?”
Oh boy.
terrifying but borderline fascinating. the atmosphere sounds so colorful with all that food, it just sounds like a fun experience! you know, minus the sudden deforming and the hades underworld pomegranate challenge…