Chapter 56 The Bride Retrieval

"It's Shi Liaozhi..." Looking at Jiang Cheng and Xia Meng, Fatty said, "It's because Shi Liaozhi is already dead. He was killed and replaced by a ghost, so there's no need to act tonight."

Xia Meng and Jiang Cheng didn't show any surprise on their faces, apparently already aware of the mystery.

"咚! 咚! 咚!"

The sudden knock on the door startled Fatty, and he immediately looked towards the door, where a figure was clearly reflected on the paper.

The person arrived silently; he didn't hear any footsteps.

Fatty subconsciously wanted to ask, "Who is it?"

But as soon as he opened his mouth, he swallowed the words back, because he could probably guess who was outside the door, or rather... what it was.

It was a ghost.

The ghost disguised as Shi Liaozhi.

After being shaken off by Xia Meng and the others, it had relentlessly found its way back.

Seemingly aware that it had been exposed, the shadow outside the door stood there mechanically, and the hand knocking on the door slowly lowered. Then, a strange voice sounded.

"Esteemed doctors," the figure outside the door said without moving, "tonight, the young master will trouble you to perform a play that he has long admired. Please do us the honor of gracing us with your presence."

Hearing this, Xia Meng's expression paused, and Fatty was also stunned. This wasn't Shi Liaozhi's voice; it was... a middle-aged woman!

There was a play to be performed tonight!

Not long after the middle-aged woman left, the others gradually returned as well.

Shi Liaozhi was the last to return. After entering the room, he glared at everyone with an expression of anger barely held in check.

Presumably, he had figured out why everyone was treating him this way.

But in the end, he didn't say anything, found a spot, and sat down, his face very ugly.

Everyone who could still breathe was now in Jiang Cheng's room. This was also the middle-aged woman's arrangement; they needed to wait here until the third watch (around midnight).

Then, some of them would go out to perform the play.

The others would continue to wait in the room.

The personnel arrangement was also very specific this time: An Xuan, Xia Meng, Fatty, and Chen Qiang would go out to perform, while the remaining four would wait in the room.

"How could it be arranged like this?" You Qi looked very uneasy. He licked his lips, looked around, and said, "Are we not going to do anything? Are we just waiting to complete the mission?"

According to his understanding, there wouldn't be such easy gains in a nightmare.

"Could it be that a ghost might appear during the handover?" After a moment of contemplation, Chen Qiang quietly offered his opinion. He raised his head. "I mean, could the ghost pretend to be someone from the other team and confuse us?"

Zuo Jing glanced at him and asked, "Like the first time?"

"That's right."

During the first play, Tang Shirou was carried away by a ghost disguised as someone from the other team. She probably didn't know what was happening until she died.

Fatty was extremely nervous about being separated from the doctor. His large body shrank into the chair, and his eyes looked around fearfully, until his gaze met Xia Meng's.

Xia Meng raised an eyebrow, then moved her lips without making a sound, but Fatty understood what she said: "Don't be afraid." Xia Meng squinted her eyes, and the next sentence was: "I'll take good care of you."

Fatty trembled even more now.

In fact, being separated from the doctor was only one of the reasons for his fear. A large part of it was due to the strangeness of the play at the third watch tonight.

The name of this play was—Retrieving the Bride.

According to the middle-aged woman, the four of them who had been selected needed to split into two groups and take two boats. The first group of two would go down to the bottom of the lake. The bride was waiting for them underwater.

What they needed to do was find the bride underwater and bring her up. Then, they would hand her over to the other two people, who would take her ashore by boat.

Finally, the four of them would work together to send the "bride" back to Jiang Cheng's room.

After that, the mission would be considered complete.

This wasn't retrieving some bride; it was clearly retrieving the corpse of a female ghost!

When Fatty heard this, he was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped.

He simply imagined himself diving into the water in the middle of the night, groping around in the dark and cold lake, and then suddenly, a rotten, bloated ghost face flashed before his eyes...

He felt like he would be scared to death on the spot.

Compared to Fatty, Chen Qiang's emotions were slightly more stable, but only relatively speaking.

His clenched fingers, and the slightly pale knuckles due to poor blood circulation, all indicated that this young man was not as calm as he seemed.

"Mr. Jiang," An Xuan said, seeing that Fatty was so scared, and comforted him, "Miss Chen and I will be on the boat helping you keep an eye out. If anything happens, we'll bring you up immediately."

"Then thank you, Mr. An," Chen Qiang said in place of Fatty.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of tonight's operation, at An Xuan's suggestion, everyone had an in-depth discussion on the known details of the mission.

The final conclusion was that no one would be absolutely safe, whether they were participating in the retrieval, sending the "bride" back, or waiting in the room.

The ghost could strike and kill at any point.

The sky gradually darkened. After a discussion, everyone was busy resting to cope with the changes that might occur tonight.

While no one was paying attention to him, Fatty secretly approached Jiang Cheng. He was just about to start lamenting with a mournful face when Jiang Cheng interrupted him ruthlessly.

"Be careful when you're underwater," Jiang Cheng said casually.

"Doctor," Fatty said with a bitter face, "You don't have to tell me that. I wish I could grow hearts all over my body right now."

But as soon as he finished speaking, Fatty seemed to have imagined something again, and seemed to feel that this setting of being covered in hearts was even more terrifying than encountering a ghost.

"I'm not talking about ghosts," Jiang Cheng said impatiently, raising an eyebrow. "Be careful of the person going into the water with you."

"You mean Chen Qiang?" Fatty's eyes widened.

He swallowed nervously, glancing at Chen Qiang's location. The latter was sitting in the corner with his eyes closed, resting.

Fatty turned his head and asked, his voice trembling, "You think there's something wrong with him?"

Being with someone that even the doctor thinks is problematic in the cold, dark lake, Fatty's throat rolled, feeling that this time, the odds were really against him.

Just looking at Fatty's expression, Jiang Cheng knew that he had misunderstood, and explained helplessly, "Of course there's nothing wrong with him now, but after you come out of the water," he paused, "it's hard to say."

Hearing this, Fatty was stunned, then looked at the doctor with a changed expression. "You mean the ghost will kill him down there and then pretend to be him and come out with me?"

"Then why wouldn't the ghost choose to attack me?" Fatty blinked.

After all, he felt that this Chen Qiang wasn't bad, and it seemed that the success rate of attacking him was higher.

Looking into Fatty's eyes, Jiang Cheng patted the latter on the shoulder as if to comfort him. "Fatty, you asked a good question!" The next second, he stretched his neck and continued in a tone that wasn't loud but full of cadence, "Chen Qiang thinks so too!"