Du Lai had promised Fu Miaoxue he would return as quickly as possible. Compared to winding along the twisting covered corridor, scaling the wall was obviously faster.

But if the person outside wasn’t Du Lai — then who was it?

All three of them stared fixedly at the figure, alert.

The atmosphere in the room tightened to its absolute limit in an instant.

Shen Mo pulled the strip of paper from his wrist. With a sharp flick, it transformed into a dagger in his hand. He said quietly to Bai Youwei and Fu Miaoxue, “Both of you, move back.”

Fu Miaoxue immediately grabbed Bai Youwei’s arm!

Bai Youwei tugged twice but couldn’t break free.

Fu Miaoxue, voice pressed low and tight with nerves, said to Shen Mo, “Be careful — what if it actually *is* my boyfriend out there…”

Bai Youwei thought: *If it really is Du Lai, deliberately lurking out there to frighten them like this, then getting stabbed would serve him right.*

Shen Mo suddenly moved!

He was blindingly fast. Both women were startled before they’d even registered what happened — and the door had already been wrenched open with a violent shove!

The dagger in his hand flashed like a streak of cold light — and plunged directly into the figure outside the door!

*Shhhh—*

No screaming, no crying out — only a dry, rustling sound like paper being torn!

Bai Youwei and Fu Miaoxue both went cold all over, watching with wide eyes as a paper figure outside the door took Shen Mo’s strike — and was split apart!

*Shhhh…*

Thin and brittle as it was, the paper figure met the razor-sharp blade and was cleaved almost instantly in two. Struck by the force of the blow, it flew backward — then drifted down softly into the garden.

Rain pattered onto the paper figure, pattering and splashing, soaking into the painted colors on its face.

Black pupils…

Vivid red lips…

Bleeding into one another, running downward with the rainwater, like spreading wounds.

Bai Youwei and Fu Miaoxue stepped to the doorway and looked out at the paper figure lying split in two in the garden. Their throats felt constricted, their clenched hearts unable to release.

They had both grown up in cities — even if they had encountered folk customs and funeral rites, it had mostly been through a westernized form. Faced now with this paper effigy, an indescribable discomfort crept through them; goosebumps rose in waves, even the scalp going numb.

It was impossible to fathom why the ancestors of old had invented something so terrifying and macabre. Was there something wrong with having a perfectly ordinary funeral?

Paper, after all, was only a thin layer — pasted over fine bamboo strips. Once soaked by rain, it very quickly fell to pieces.

Like multi-colored muddy scraps, still suspended on the bamboo frame, barely hanging on — pelted by rain, blown by wind, swaying and tottering…

The silence held for a moment — and then they suddenly heard the sound of urgent, pounding footsteps approaching! They turned their heads and saw Du Lai sprinting back, gasping for breath!

Fu Miaoxue let out a cry and launched herself at him!

“Where have you *been*?! I was scared half to death just now!!!”

She clutched his neck and demanded, “Didn’t you say you’d be back in six minutes?! How many six-minute intervals has it been? How many?! Answer me!!!”

Shen Mo also eyed him with suspicion. “Did something happen on the way back?”

Du Lai had indeed taken longer than expected.

His face was deathly pale, his entire body soaked — rain and sweat alike. He looked less like someone who had gone out for a brief look around and more like he’d just run a marathon.

“Let’s talk inside,” Du Lai said, pulling Fu Miaoxue’s hands loose and dragging her quickly inside.

Shen Mo walked in last, cast a watchful look in both directions, then turned, stepped inside, and closed the door.

Inside, Du Lai sat down on the stool to catch his breath. He panted for a good while, and finally told them:

“Finding the Bone-Carrying Woman didn’t take long — but on the way back, I got turned around by a spirit wall. No matter which way I went, I couldn’t get out. I just kept going in circles through the covered corridor.”

“It must have been that paper figure causing trouble!” Fu Miaoxue, still shaken, burrowed into Du Lai’s arms. “Just now it impersonated you — I nearly opened the door for it!”

—