Chapter 41: The Missing One

On the second-floor bedroom bed, Li Sanjiang’s body suddenly stiffened—and then, blood began to seep through the bamboo mat beneath him.

“Damn it, that hurts!”

In the dream, just as Li Sanjiang launched into a jump, he let out a miserable cry and crashed face-first onto the ground.

Behind him, the entire group of zombies leapt at once, landing flat on the floor like synchronized frogs.

“Ah…”

Li Sanjiang felt a searing pain in his back that nearly left him speechless. He couldn’t see what had happened, so he instinctively reached a hand back to feel it.

All the zombies behind him propped themselves up on their left arms, raising their right arms diagonally into the air.

Li Sanjiang brought his hand back and saw it smeared with blood. His eyes widened in shock.

This wasn’t right.

Last night’s dream had been perilous too, but he’d managed to dodge the zombies with nary a scratch. So why, today, after coming up with such a clever plan, had things turned out even worse?

Earlier, after realizing he’d reentered the same Forbidden City dreamscape, he had flung the orange tabby cat off his legs and sprinted toward the central archway.

Once the heavy door creaked open and those familiar banging sounds echoed from within, he forced himself to stay calm. When the zombie ranks neared, he was the first to leap into action.

Just like that, he’d successfully made himself the frontrunner.

It had seemed like a foolproof plan. So why hadn’t it worked out?

Now, he noticed the zombies behind him beginning to stir as if about to spring back up—their ranks starting to fray.

Gritting his teeth, and with his back throbbing so badly he couldn’t get up, Li Sanjiang had no choice but to push forward on his toes, arms extended, crawling across the ground.

The first row of zombies behind him saw their leader move and followed suit. Those farther back imitated the front, and soon the disordered mob had resumed its neat formation.

Inside the Forbidden City, a crowd of zombies clad in Qing dynasty official robes now crawled turtle-style behind a man in tattered white boxer shorts.

Cursing under his breath, Li Sanjiang kept crawling. The humiliation was unbearable. This was way more exhausting than running. If he’d known, he would’ve stuck to playing hide-and-seek like yesterday.

He was getting on in years. In real life, his days were spent with good food and drink—he hadn’t cared about keeping in shape. When your time came, you went in the ground, simple as that. But now, here he was, being forced to exercise in his dreams!

Yet he truly couldn’t stop crawling. With the injuries to his arms and back, if he dared stand and play hide-and-seek again, he’d be no match for those things.

“Little Yuanhou, when is your luck finally going to turn around? Your great-grandpa can’t take much more of this… Ah!”

Li Sanjiang screamed again. When he looked back, he saw his already wounded right arm had sprouted five puncture holes, from which blood now streamed.

Crawling was no longer an option. He had to lay his body on its left side, letting his right arm hang limp while he scraped forward with his left arm and kicked his legs.

Behind him, all the zombies shifted tactics as well, breaking into a military crawl.

…

Inside the hall, the zombie was enraged. The old woman’s five fingers had just stabbed deep into its right arm, leaving bloody gouges.

It had once been a creature of pride. To be humiliated here, again and again, was intolerable.

But the old woman had already stepped back, widening the gap, while commanding the paper effigy cats and dogs to rush in and hold the zombie down.

She glanced again at her fingernails. After several successful ambushes, the instinctual fear she’d once felt had nearly vanished.

Anything—no matter how terrifying—loses its mystique once you know it can bleed, once you know it can die.

Hidden in a corner, Li Zhuiyuan frowned slightly. From the looks of it, this mysterious zombie wasn’t necessarily stronger than the old woman.

What should he do next?

He turned to Qin Li, who stood beside him. Her head was bowed slightly, as if completely uninterested in what was happening outside—still lost in a daze.

For a moment, Li Zhuiyuan actually felt a bit envious.

He squeezed Qin Li’s hand. She lifted her head and looked at him.

“When those guards outside come in, we’re making a run for it. Go as far as you can, don’t stop for anything. Understand?”

At the start of the banquet, Li Zhuiyuan had already wanted to escape through the main entrance. But outside had been blocked off by guards lighting firecrackers, sealing the way.

Now, however, it was clear the old woman was using the paper effigies to stall the zombie. Once her forces were nearly spent, those guards would surely be summoned in.

When that happened, they’d run. He refused to believe this dream had no boundaries.

As for the idea of fleeing upstairs, he’d dismissed it outright. Even if the stairs had reappeared, what could they do on the second floor? Jump out the window?

Qin Li looked at him without a word.

“You heard me, right?”

Qin Li lowered her head.

Alright then—he’d take it as a yes.

Just as Li Zhuiyuan turned back to observe the situation, he met the eyes of the cat-faced old woman staring right at him.

His heart jolted. The cat-faced old woman smiled at him.

“Roar!”

The zombie let out another furious howl, yanking her gaze back.

“Heh… You can roar all you want. I thought you were some big shot. Turns out you’ve only got a couple tricks… Huh?”

Her eyes widened.

She saw thick black smoke rising from the zombie’s wounds—that was sha qi.

The paper effigies clinging to it were tainted by the sha qi and instantly blackened. They lost all human shape and collapsed into scattered paper and sawdust.

At that moment, the guards outside burst in. The zombie turned, opened its mouth, and sprayed a dense black mist. All the remaining paper figures, even those who hadn’t reached it yet, dropped to the ground before they could get close.

Suddenly, the whole banquet hall felt a lot emptier.

The zombie raised both arms again, leaping at the old woman. This time, its corpse aura boiled and sha qi swirled violently around it.

With no more paper helpers, the old woman had no choice but to face it head-on.

Li Zhuiyuan grabbed Qin Li’s hand. “Now’s the time. Run!”

He and Qin Li darted from their corner, charging toward the door.

“Aaaahhh!!!”

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