TEG 8
Chapter 8: Inside and Out
Deep within the opera courtyard, in one of its many compounds.
“Still nothing?” Diao Xinsha asked impatiently. “No trace of the realm spirit? No clue about the realm eye either?”
“Please wait a bit, Master Diao. I’ll be done searching this room soon. This opera yard has a lot of courtyards, but we’ll find it eventually,” the steward replied, still rummaging through boxes.
Diao Xinsha wasn’t good at finding clues or solving puzzles. So whenever he led an exploration, he rarely did any actual work himself. Instead, he had the steward and his men do the searching.
As for the new lackey they picked up... who knew if that little four-eyes would hide clues or loot if he found something valuable? And if he stumbled onto the realm eye by dumb luck, that would be a huge problem. So, Diao Xinsha stationed him at the window to stand watch.
Diao glanced toward the window.
Little Four-Eyes had scrunched himself into the narrow window frame like a stick, body tense, staring outside at something.
Diao sneered. “Hey, Four-Eyes, do you even know what a realm eye is?”
“Ah!” Four-Eyes startled like a spooked bird. “I—I don’t know…”
Diao gave the steward a look.
The steward understood. “Put simply, if you notice any unnatural gaps or distortions in words or signs, it might be the realm eye’s doing. If you figure out something that could be key to the logic of this nightmare realm, don’t just blurt it out. You could startle the realm eye and get someone killed.”
The words “get someone killed” made Four-Eyes tremble again.
The steward scoffed at him. “It’s not that easy to identify the realm eye. What are you scared of?”
Some nightmare realms had a “realm eye,” usually in the form of a taboo word. That word was often the most crucial clue to understanding the realm’s structure.
The realm eye was linked to the deepest slumbering forces in the realm. If the taboo word was spoken aloud, it could awaken those forces, triggering unpredictable horror events.
So, like ancient people avoiding taboo names, both people and ghosts in the realm instinctively feared it and avoided it. If a visitor to the realm discovered the realm eye, whether by chance or deduction, they had to handle it with utmost care.
No one spoke further. Four-Eyes continued shrinking against the window frame, trying to become invisible.
After a while, Diao Xinsha asked, “Four-Eyes, still no movement outside?”
“N-no… nothing.”
“Useless!” Diao cursed in frustration.
Something was off.
It was already the second night in the nightmare realm. Why hadn’t anything happened yet?
Even if no ghosts came after them, that terrifyingly strong troupe master should’ve been patrolling again like the night before. But they hadn’t seen him at all.
“Didn’t you bring binoculars?” he suddenly remembered. “Get up on the roof if you have to, and look around. Wuxie Path doesn’t keep useless people. If you still don’t spot anything, don’t bother coming back!”
“Y-yes, right away…”
Four-Eyes fumbled open his backpack and pulled out a pair of binoculars.
But once he had them in hand, he hesitated.
In a place like this, binoculars—with their limited yet magnified field of view—felt especially creepy. What if he actually saw something…?
Just imagining it made cold sweat break out on his back.
At that moment, a faint wind drifted in through the window, carrying with it a haunting tune, like someone singing a nursery rhyme:
“Mouth full of fire, mouth full of fire…”
Four-Eyes jolted, instinctively flinging himself away from the window.
Clang! The binoculars slipped and smacked his hip bone. The pain nearly made him bite his tongue.
Thankfully, the wrist strap kept them from falling too far. He shakily picked them up and rubbed his bruised side.
Definitely bruised.
The eerie rhyme continued outside.
“Mouth full of fire, mouth full of fire, wisps of smoke and burning incense dire.”
“Even without a tongue, a mouth remains. Huff huff, and bad luck wanes.”
The voice was broken, slurred, and strange. The tune warped and off-key.
Almost as if… the singer had no tongue…
Four-Eyes was chilled to the bone, instinctively clenching his jaw.
Diao Xinsha heard it too.
He lunged to the window, looking around. Outside was pitch black, tree shadows swaying. The dark red moon made everything look bloodstained. He couldn’t see a thing.
“I told you to use the binoculars! What the hell were you looking at?” he roared. “If you’re not going to use them, give them to me and get out!”
“Mercy, Master Diao! I’ll look, I’ll look!” Four-Eyes clutched the binoculars like his life depended on it. His hands trembling, he raised them to his eyes.
He squinted, covering one eye with his hand, peeking through his fingers into the lenses.
Through the misty view, he could faintly see the dark eaves of the opposite building.
Good. It wasn’t a jump scare.
Four-Eyes sighed in relief and carefully adjusted the angle.
The rooftop was dark—nothing visible.
He moved the view to the courtyard. Still empty. The room across looked dim and abandoned. The window had faded, peeling decorations. The wall’s bricks were chipped and weathered.
Everything looked normal. Nothing there.
Still, he felt anxious.
If he didn’t see anything with the binoculars, would Diao Xinsha really throw him out?
He’d just latched onto this powerful group. If he ended up wandering alone in this cursed realm, he might not even know how he died…
As his thoughts spiraled, the image in the binoculars suddenly darkened.
“Huh?” Four-Eyes blinked. Was the moon behind clouds?
It was way too dark.
He shifted the binoculars a little. Still couldn’t see.
Then, a strange, rotten stench hit his nose.
Wave after wave, carried by huffing breaths.
But the window was shut. Where was the wind coming from?
A terrible realization struck him.
His limbs stiffened, joints rusted with fear, as he slowly pulled the binoculars away.
A face. Deathly pale, colorless, was inches from his own.
Its black mouth gaped wide, breathing heavily, a rotten wind spilling from its decayed throat.
There was no tongue.
“Ahhhhhhh!!” Four-Eyes screamed.
He hurled the binoculars and yanked out a peachwood sword from his bag, stabbing at the ghostly face!
“Stop, you idiot!” a furious roar came from behind, followed by a sharp crack—
A dark whip lashed through the air, snapping the peachwood sword clean in half.
“Didn’t you hear what I said before?” Diao Xinsha bellowed. “This ghost clearly isn’t the realm master. If you kill it, we’re all screwed. Do you want to die?”
The gaping mouth widened, almost like it understood them.
Four-Eyes went limp, his body dangling in the air, suspended by some invisible force.
The mouth drew closer, wider, wider…
A flash deep in the bloody throat.
Four-Eyes saw it clearly.
A flickering ember, like a coal.
It floated out of the ghost’s throat.
The coal drifted toward him. As it neared, his skin felt seared. The air warped with heat. His vision twisted.
“Ah! AHH!” He couldn’t move. Could only watch as the ember floated into his mouth…
“AHHHHH!!!” Desperate, he turned his eyes to the others, straining his eye sockets with agony.
Help me! Please help! I can’t move!
“What are you screaming for?” Diao Xinsha said coldly. “Swallowing a coal won’t kill you.”
The steward added, “Don’t worry. Once the ghost feeds you the coal, it should leave. Not worth wasting magic tools on.”
Swallowing a coal won’t kill me?!
Not worth it?!
Then why don’t you swallow it?!
Four-Eyes struggled in despair, drenched in sweat, completely helpless.
Three inches, two inches, one…
The ember touched his tongue. Ssssss—
Blisters burst. His tongue blackened and curled.
Blue smoke rose from his mouth.
“AHHH! AHHHH!”
Pain turned his world black. Tears streamed. His vision bled. He couldn’t move.
The burning coal rolled down his throat… searing all the way.
At the same time, in the looping courtyard.
Rows of costumes rose and fell with breath.
【Ahhhh I just came from the coal-feeding part—my tongue hurts just watching.】
【I can’t take it anymore. Switch scenes!】
【Crying my eyes out.】
【Wake up, you don’t even have a tongue or a head.】
【Phantom pain still hurts, okay???】
【How’s it going over here?】
【Countdown to doom.】
Zhou Xiangyue stared at the bloody pale feet.
A strange, drifting melody rose again from nowhere:
“Climb the blades, climb the blades, it’s hard to pass the ghostly gate.”
“Chop the iron shoes, pay your wish with your life.”
【Hey wait, isn’t he that solo bugged newbie? Don’t tell me he doesn’t know you can’t kill NPCs?】
【Right, he either missed or died during the rule explanation!】
【It’s over. If he kills this ghost, it’s another full wipe reset.】
Zhou Xiangyue cautiously stepped back.
Then he ducked. “Whoosh”—he slipped under the costumes.
The costumes rippled like waves as he crawled.
【???】
【Did he just run away?】
【Saved… but you weren’t supposed to kill it, not abandon the scene!】
【I thought he was some secret pro, carving his name and all. But nope, zero shame.】
【He chickened out in front of the troupe master earlier, why are you surprised?】
【Honestly, makes sense. The ghost’s right there. You expect him to say hi?】
【Also, this ghost is way scarier than the fire one. It’s the only one that roams freely in all four rooms.】
【And he has no magic tools. He couldn’t kill it anyway.】
【But running won’t work either, idiot!!! He touched the shoes!】
A child’s laugh echoed from inside the costumes.
Clear, but eerie. With a leaking, raspy undertone.
The child stepped out, following the rippling costumes.
Blood tears fell from eyes with only whites.
Plop. Plop.
“Climb the blades, climb the blades, up is easy, down is pain…”
The creepy rhyme wove through the rustling cloth.
Zhou Xiangyue, panting hard, ran toward the door.
But he emerged to find a solid black wall.
He turned. The door was on the other side.
The ghost had trapped him in a looping space.
He couldn’t escape.
Ignoring his frozen limbs, he dumped the three coins from his pouch into his palm.
The freezing cold pierced his fingers. But the child ghost was undisturbed.
Through the layers of costumes, he saw those pale feet stepping closer, dripping blood.
“Pay your wish with your life… heeheehee…”
The laughter was shrill, excited.
The child knew the prey couldn’t escape.
【LOL you touched the shoes and thought you’d be fine?】
【Trying to play the troupe master and the ghost against each other? You think you’re clever?】
【It’s over. Get ready for the climb!】
【Dissected wives are the prettiest, hehe~】
Clink—
Zhou Xiangyue’s frozen fingers dropped a coin.
It rolled.
All the way to the bloody pale feet.
It stopped.
The ghost child stopped singing.
Silence. Only a fast heartbeat.
Then a murky voice mumbled, “...Brother?”
Zhou Xiangyue, seized by a sudden spark of inspiration, smiled warmly.
Hey, little buddy.
Big bro’s right here for you.
