Chapter 25: Fate (XIX)
Su Yan was obviously stunned when she heard Zhou Lian's words, thinking that the other party was pretending to be considerate again.
But Qiao Yuan felt something was wrong. Why did Zhou Lian suddenly pretend to be considerate about such a small matter as opening the door?
She also quickly walked forward, and took advantage of her proximity to the door to touch the door first. After discovering that Qiao Yuan was one step faster than him, Zhou Lian's expression froze, but he did not stop.
Standing at the door was an old man who was only about 1.34 meters tall, with a hunched back and a hump-like bulge on his back. From his appearance and clothes, it was impossible to tell whether he was a man or a woman .
The man raised his head, revealing a face that looked to be about eighty or ninety years old, with brown age spots already growing on it. But the strangest thing was the man's eyes -
Without eyelids, his eyes bulged out like fish eyes, exposed to the outside. He looked up at Qiao Yuan and Zhou Lian who were standing in front of him.
Zhou Lianxian bent down and smiled at the man: "Hello, you must be the tailor the village chief mentioned."
"The clothes fit very well."
After hearing Zhou Lian's words, the man nodded slowly: "That's good."
The sound was hoarse and indistinguishable, as if it were caused by broken glass.
Qiao Yuan looked at the other person from head to toe. Apart from the strange appearance, she really didn't know why Zhou Lian looked so eager to greet this person.
Fortunately, this person's attention was on Zhou Lian at the moment, so he did not notice Qiao Yuan's scrutinizing gaze.
After getting Zhou Lian's answer, the old man did not turn around immediately. Instead, he waved at Zhou Lian, as if to signal him to come over.
Zhou Lian's eyes sparkled with a smile. He was about to lean over to whisper, but someone had already approached the old man: "Are you calling me?"
Zhou Lian’s smile froze: “…”
No, the old man was clearly calling him, why did Qiao Yuan want to join in the fun?
Qiao Yuan seemed unaware of Zhou Lian's gaze that seemed to pierce through her, and she was still looking at the old man in front of her with an earnest expression. Her beautiful gem-like black eyes reflected the old man's appearance with great eagerness.
It was impossible to whisper to Zhou Lian in front of her, so she had to join this chat channel.
The old man obviously didn't expect Qiao Yuan to be so enthusiastic, and he paused what he was about to say.
Zhou Lian's voice rang in Qiao Yuan's ears. Although he was still trying to remain gentle, it was already a bit bit harsh: "Ms. Qiao, is there a possibility that the other party was calling me?"
Qiao Yuan looked at the old man, bewildered: "Ah? Why do you call him Mr. Zhou? Do you know him?"
"In fact, I have always wanted to meet you. The wedding dresses you make are so beautiful. I have always had a dream of fashion design, but unfortunately I did not apply for this major. At that time, I thought that my dream had been abandoned as I entered the wedding industry. But when I saw the clothes you designed, I realized that a good teacher was right beside me..."
Zhou Lian: “…”
As an observer, he finally understood why some of Qiao Yuan's words sounded so familiar. It turned out that he had absorbed his wisdom. Even the essence of praising people is like filling out a resume. Adding some so-called personal experience will make it seem more authentic was copied by Qiao Yuan one by one.
He secretly regretted that his attention had been on Song Yanchi before, and he had not paid much attention to Qiao Yuan, so he had always ignored the strangeness that the other party occasionally showed.
Fortunately, it is not too late now, as long as the old man in front of him can help him...
The old man didn't know what fashion design was, but he could tell that Qiao Yuan was complimenting him. Although his sagging face didn't show any expression, it was much more relaxed than before: "But I called him."
"You weren't being targeted after all."
Targeted?
Hearing the old man's words, Qiao Yuan subconsciously turned her head to look at Zhou Lian who was standing beside her. Although Zhou Lian's expression was still changing quickly, she still caught the gloomy look that flashed across his face.
It looks like a ghost.
If it was Sun Peipei, Qiao Yuan, the instigator, would continue to pretend to be confused: "Staring? Who is staring at Mr. Zhou?"
"How do you know if you're being targeted?"
However, this time Qiao Yuan did not get an answer.
Because the old man raised his foot again, walked slowly in front of Zhou Lian, motioned Zhou Lian to stretch out his hand, then bit his finger, drew a few lines on his palm, and then put his hands behind his back and left.
Although the old man looked old, his steps were not slow. He walked away from the door in the blink of an eye.
Qiao Yuan was unable to get an answer from the old man, so he could only turn his attention to Zhou Lian: "Mr. Zhou, what did that person write?"
"Some diseases can be transmitted through blood. Let me wipe it off for you..."
However, Zhou Lian quickly put his hand away, took a few steps back without leaving a trace, and distanced himself from her: "It's nothing, there's no need to worry Miss Qiao."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Lian had already walked towards Brother Chen, and his walking speed was comparable to that of the old man before.
Qiao Yuan narrowed his eyes.
Alas, she and Zhou Lian can no longer return to the time when they acted out their true feelings to each other.
Just as Qiao Yuan thought, Zhou Lian did lie about whether he encountered a ghost.
After entering the room, he was concentrating on changing the clothes of the female corpse, so he did not notice the abnormality of the fake Qiao Yuan and fake Lan Lan who were following him. It was not until they opened the coffin together that he found the writing on the coffin lid, and his back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.
However, after realizing what was happening, he could no longer remain calm in front of the fake Qiao Yuan and the fake Lan Lan, and for the first time, his expression revealed an unconcealable viciousness.
He stared at the two stick figures on the coffin that seemed to be mocking him, and realized why the female ghost had shown such hostility towards him and Adao before.
He has always been the one who schemed against others and used them as scapegoats. This is the first time someone dared to scheme against him.
Zhou Lian’s first reaction was that Song Yanchi did it. After all, apart from Song Yanchi, he really couldn’t think of anyone else who had the courage to do such a thing.
He didn't expect that Song Yanchi was more insidious and cunning than he imagined. At most, he just wanted Song Yanchi and the others to die, but Song Yanchi's actions would make them die miserably!
Zhou Lian tried to scribble his own and A Dao's names, but even though Song Yanchi had already tried this, the female corpse was right next to him. Although her eyes were closed, he finally gave up the idea, considering that ghosts don't necessarily see with their eyes, to avoid making things worse and stimulating the female corpse again.
The female corpse lay quietly in the coffin with her eyes closed, and there was mud on her feet.
Although Zhou Lian was overwhelmed by anger, he had not completely lost his mind. He did not know whether the female corpse's resentment had been temporarily appeased because she had killed Ah Dao, so he decided to let Qiao Yuan and Lan Lan go first.
He used the excuse that the body was lying flat and couldn't be dressed, and coaxed Qiao Yuan and Lan Lan into helping the female corpse up.
This also concealed Zhou Lian's little thought. If the female corpse suddenly attacked, Qiao Yuan and Lan Lan could buy him some time. After Qiao Yuan and Lan Lan helped the female corpse up and nothing happened, Zhou Lian carefully took out the wedding dress from the black bag handed over by Brother Chen.
The wedding dress was of good quality, and it felt cool like silk, which made Zhou Lian unable to resist touching it a little more. However, when he touched the inside of the sleeve of the wedding dress, he felt something uneven. When he looked carefully, he found that the inside of the sleeve of the wedding dress was embroidered with talisman paper. Although he could not understand the words on it, he could tell that it was written with cinnabar. The red cinnabar and the winding handwriting looked like blood vessels and meridians, all over the inside of the wedding dress.
And this was obviously not sewn later, but was added to the wedding dress at the moment it was made.
Thinking of Brother Chen's mention that the wedding dress was made by a tailor in the village, Zhou Lian immediately realized that this tailor was not simple, or at least knew something. And the wedding dress was then passed through the hands of the village chief before it was delivered to them. According to the importance the village chief attached to this wedding, Zhou Lian did not believe that the other party would not check it after receiving the wedding dress, so he naturally saw these talismans.
But even so,
Zhou Lian has also realized that the village chief must be hiding something from them. For example, he knew about the existence of the female ghost a long time ago, or if the female ghost really committed suicide for love, how could she have become a fierce ghost now?
But no matter what, if the female ghost is put on this wedding dress covered with talisman paper, it may have some restraining effect on her.
What happened next was a nightmare that Zhou Lian did not want to recall. When he was halfway through putting on the wedding dress, the female corpse suddenly jumped up. He wanted to use the same trick again and let Qiao Yuan and Lan Lan be scapegoats, but he did not expect that these two were ghosts. He was almost skinned alive. Relying on the experience he had gained in the dungeon before, and the fact that the female ghost's movements were indeed restricted a lot after putting on the wedding dress, he finally escaped from the encirclement of the three ghosts.
He also heard noises coming from outside the yard. They were the voices of Brother Chen and others, as if telling him that he had escaped.
But before he stepped out of the room, he heard Qiao Yuan and Su Yan talking. Thinking of how the ghost Qiao Yuan was in tears one second and almost ripped his arm off the next second, Zhou Lian stopped in his tracks.
He didn't know whether Qiao Yuan and Lan Lan were replaced or killed and turned into ghosts, so for the sake of caution, he decided to hide in the utility room and observe. After all, if Qiao Yuan and Lan Lan were really ghosts, it would be dangerous to get close to Brother Chen and the others.
This observation also made Zhou Lian, who was standing as a bystander, realize that something was wrong with Brother Chen and the others, and then he quickly concluded that Brother Chen and the others were the real ghosts, while Lanlan and Qiao Yuan should be real people.
Like Qiao Yuan, he quickly realized that the three of them were not in a real yard, but an illusion created by ghosts, somewhat like an advanced version of a ghost wall. The most urgent task was to find a way to leave this illusion, which was the so-called way out.
Lanlan and Qiao Yuan were obviously unaware that they were surrounded by ghosts, but this was also a good thing for Zhou Lian. With Zhou Lian and Lanlan around, they could completely distract the ghosts.
When he saw Lanlan and Qiaoyuan following the ghost to the door, Zhou Lian had already silently ruled out the door as the way out. Then he thought of the utility room where he was now. After all, he still remembered that when he stepped into the utility room, the ghost behind him stopped, and it seemed that the ghost just now had no intention of coming in.
But after searching the room, he found nothing. He even wanted to knock on every piece of land, but he still couldn't find any sign of a way out.
Just when he was feeling anxious, to make matters worse, Qiao Yuan came back with these ghosts again!
In order to avoid being discovered by ghosts, Zhou Lian could only hold his breath and hide in a corner temporarily. Fortunately, the ghosts were all paying attention to Qiao Yuan at this time and did not notice that there was an extra person in the room.
As the ghosts entered, Zhou Lian realized that the way out he had thought of at the beginning was wrong, and he could only continue to think. He also heard Brother Chen say that Lanlan ran out of the yard. According to Lanlan's personality, she must have discovered something, otherwise she would never have the courage to run out alone. Unfortunately, the other party only led away one ghost.
Zhou Lian can only pin his hopes on Qiao Yuan, but he doesn't hope that she can find a way out, but that she can take all the ghosts away quickly. However, Qiao Yuan is even slower than Zhou Lian imagined. Not only did she not find the ghosts, she was also slowly leading the ghosts around to look for money. Even the fake Chen Ge couldn't stand it anymore and said that it might be Zhou Lian, the only one who was not present, who picked it up. Zhou Lian, who was hiding aside, wanted to nod and take the blame. He just hoped that the ghosts could be sent away quickly. After Qiao Yuan took the ghosts away, he would have time to continue looking for a way out.
But because he was worried that the ghost would discover him, Zhou Lian did not dare to make any sound and could only complain in his heart -
Why didn’t I realize before that Qiao Yuan loved money so much?
At the critical moment of life and death, no matter how stunningly beautiful Qiao Yuan was, Zhou Lian could only feel a little pity and then urged her to leave quickly in his heart.
As he was looking forward to it, he saw Qiao Yuan suddenly jump up and run towards the room where the bodies were placed.
Whether it was the quick reaction or the smooth movements without any lag, it was like a plan that had been rehearsed several times in the mind and finally completed in one go.
Wait, rehearsal?
Zhou Lian was no less shocked at this moment than the first time he saw the female corpse open her eyes.
If this was really a rehearsal, it would mean that Qiao Yuan already knew the identities of these ghosts and had just been dealing with them.
But how is that possible?
That’s Qiao Yuan!
According to Qiao Yuan's personality, shouldn't he have fainted the moment he knew it was a ghost, or fallen to the ground and begged for mercy? How could he still talk to a ghost so calmly?
For a moment, Zhou Lian even thought that he had made a mistake in his judgment. Perhaps Brother Chen and the others were not ghosts, but Qiao Yuan was. However, Brother Chen and the others soon revealed their appearance as evil ghosts, which ruled out their human identities for Zhou Lian.
So the Qiao Yuan in front of me is the real one...
Ah Dao's previous words came to his mind, and Zhou Lian couldn't help but re-examine Qiao Yuan. At that time, the other party complained that Qiao Yuan and others were too difficult to kill, and he thought that Ah Dao was overthinking.
Now that I think about it, whether it was the encounter with the ghost or how he escaped from the evil ghost, it was all told by Qiao Yuan himself.
And what about Qiao Yuan's attitude when he heard that the corpse's clothes needed to be changed...
One by one, the doubts that he had once ignored resurfaced, making Zhou Lian deeply realize that he might have been deceived by Qiao Yuan's disguise.
And could the words on the coffin really have been written by Song Yanchi?
However, Zhou Lian now had no time to think so much. After discovering that Qiao Yuan ran directly towards Li Yaozu's coffin, he also figured out where the way to survive was. He got up from his hiding place and hurriedly followed.
The evil ghosts also discovered him, but fortunately he escaped when he was about to be captured by the ghosts.
But the joy of escape came to an abrupt end the moment he thought of Qiao Yuan. Perhaps Qiao Yuan was gambling, but since he could find a way to survive before him, the other party was much smarter and more courageous than he imagined, and more dangerous than Song Yanchi.
After all, he always thought he was in the dark while other players were in the light, but now he discovered that there was a person who was even darker than him, Qiao Yuan. Although Zhou Lian was used to facing others with a disguised personality, and could even see the true personalities of other players, but for Qiao Yuan, usually, or in other words, other players did not see any major flaws.
He even suspected that Qiao Yuan was not a novice at all, and might have entered the game long ago. Even the vase character created in the real world was to make the players in the game relax their vigilance.
No matter what, Qiao Yuan must die in this copy, otherwise the opponent is too dangerous.
Fortunately, he still has an advantage now, that is, Qiao Yuan doesn't know that he has seen through the other party's disguise, so he still has a chance to kill the other party.
Zhou Lian naturally realized that Lanlan was a ghost, but he did not mention it. He even expected the ghost Lanlan to kill Qiao Yuan.
At the same time, he also knew that the ghost girl's focus was still on him. In order to avoid being caught in the crossfire between the ghost girl and Qiao Yuan, he decided to try to seek help from the tailor.
He didn't expect that the tailor would come to his door just as this thought flashed through his mind. Just as he predicted, the tailor was really capable and could tell at a glance that he was being targeted by the female ghost.
Although the tailor was unable to tell him the solution in person due to Qiao Yuan's interruption, he wrote the number and address on his palm.
This is the time and address they agreed on.
Qiao Yuan didn't know that in Zhou Lian's mind, she had almost become the behind-the-scenes boss who planned the whole situation, but she knew that the other party would definitely find an opportunity to attack her.
The tailor was able to tell at a glance that Zhou Lian was being targeted by a ghost. He seemed to have some skills and was not an ordinary tailor.
Qiao Yuan thought for a while and decided to go out and get some information.
Brother Chen has his hand in the front yard, and with Zhou Lian and Gui Lanlan around, it is definitely impossible for him to leave through the front yard.
Fortunately, after discussing with Song Yanchi, it was finally agreed that Qiao Yuan would climb over the wall to look for clues, while he and Su Yan would help hold on here.
Qiao Yuan was a little confused. He didn't expect that Song Yanchi would entrust the important task of finding clues to him this time instead of doing it himself.
Song Yanchi was not a person who would read other people's faces, and his position did not require him to guess other people's thoughts. But after meeting Qiao Yuan, he deeply understood that if he did not have a brain that could do reading comprehension when facing Qiao Yuan, he would be tricked by the other party in a matter of minutes.
Therefore, when Qiao Yuan showed doubt on her face, Song Yanchi glanced at her and said in a complicated tone: "Because you always find a way to get clues."
When he heard Qiao Yuan mention the clues he got from the village chief's wife, he thought for a moment that Qiao Yuan had been tortured into confessing.
Qiao Yuan: “…”
Although Song Yanchi's words sounded like he was praising her, why was his tone so strange?
However, since Song Yanchi has already given up this right, she will not refuse.
Of course, in exchange, she would also share the mission information with Song Yanchi and the others.
She found that Song Yanchi didn't seem to be worried about whether she would share false news. Qiao Yuan ruled out the option of trusting her, knowing that it was Song Yanchi's arrogance in her bones.
This is indeed the case. Song Yanchi has received false information from his so-called teammates before, but this does not affect his clearance. After all, he has the ability to distinguish.
The wall of the yard was not very low. Song Yanchi saw that Qiao Yuan was as tall as his shoulders, but he was not ready to help. After all, he and Qiao Yuan were just partners now, and he could not tolerate anyone stepping on his shoulders.
He leaned against the wall, closed his eyes and said coldly: "You have to find a way to get up there yourself. There is absolutely no way I can..."
"Mr. Song, who are you talking to?" Su Yan's timid voice sounded.
It was okay when Qiao Yuan was around, as she would subconsciously ignore the pressure brought by Song Yanchi. But after Qiao Yuan left, the beast-like sharp temperament displayed by the other party became particularly obvious, making Su Yan feel a little scared.
However, after hearing what Song Yanchi said, Su Yan still plucked up the courage to interrupt him.
After all, Song Yanchi was talking to himself there, and it really looked like he was possessed.
Song Yanchi:?
Hearing Su Yan's words, he suddenly opened his eyes, but when he looked around, there was no sign of Qiao Yuan.
Song Yanchi: "...Where's Qiao Yuan?"
Knowing that Song Yanchi was not possessed by evil spirits, Su Yan breathed a sigh of relief in her heart and answered obediently, "I climbed over the wall and got out."
When she mentioned Qiao Yuan, admiration welled up in her eyes again.
At first she was worried that the wall was too high and Qiao Yuan, who was almost as tall as her, could not climb over it. However, after hearing Qiao Yuan say that even the electric fence and glass fragments were not a wall at all, she climbed over it in a few seconds.
Song Yanchi: "..."
What normal wall would have an electric grid?
After climbing over the wall, Qiao Yuan did not delay, but walked forward while looking for villagers to ask questions.
Fortunately, she ran into a few middle-aged village women after walking a few steps. Each of them was holding a few empty bamboo baskets, and it seemed that they had just brought food back to the men at home. Originally, several people were still talking about something, but after someone noticed Qiao Yuan walking over, they suddenly became quiet.
The village women were a little wary at first, staring at Qiao Yuan's clothes, obviously recognizing her as someone from outside. Fortunately, after a few words, they finally let down their guard.
Qiao Yuan immediately took the opportunity to ask about the tailor.
Since she didn't know the tailor's name, she could only mention his occupation, but found that the village women all looked confused.
One of the village women said quickly: "What tailor? There is no tailor in our village!"
"Yeah, don't wedding dresses have to be bought directly from outside?"
