Chapter 25 - 25 22 Blood Dream

Words : 1500 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

25: Chapter 22 Blood Dream 25: Chapter 22 Blood Dream At the center of the Golden Crow Mask’s forehead, there was a finger-sized hole, as if pierced by some external force. The force from the puncture hadn’t completely dissipated, spreading across the area around the hole and tearing dozens of chaotic web-like lines. After the static sound disappeared, Zhou Xuan heard the shattering noise, which was the sound of the mask breaking. The breaking of the Ghost Suppressing Mask signified that the theater had lost its defense against the evil soul. The ghostly disturbances were about to wreak havoc. “Hehe.” A sinister laughter clearly reached Zhou Xuan’s ears. The laughter came from the mouths of the six executed criminals seated in the audience section. They were laughing! The six corpses, who had been quietly listening to the opera without any movement, began to laugh after the mask shattered, their laughter was stiff, as if their smiles were not self-induced, but someone forcibly hooked their mouths open to make them laugh. The audience also disappeared from Zhou Xuan’s sight. Not the One-eyed Villagers who walked on tiptoe and cast no shadows, but the normal spectators vanished. The reflection in Zhou Xuan’s eyes showed only the One-eyed Villagers, the laughing executed criminals, and Mr. Dai, who couldn’t make a sound or move his legs… And Mr. Dai’s appearance had also changed. “I was just making an analogy, didn’t expect…” Zhou Xuan was a bit surprised by Mr. Dai’s current appearance. Not long ago, Zhou Xuan had secretly complained that Mr. Dai couldn’t make a sound—like someone had stuck a small rod vertically in his mouth. Now, it appeared there was indeed something lodged in Mr. Dai’s mouth, but it wasn’t a small stick; it was a pair of hands. Two pale, slender arms emerged from the ground, passed through the stage, one on each side, with fingers hooked at the corners of Mr. Dai’s mouth, pulling them apart. The force was too great; Zhou Xuan noticed that there were many small tears at the corners of Mr. Dai’s mouth caused by external pulling. Mr. Dai’s tears welled up in his eyes. “Hehehe.” The laughter of the six executed criminals grew louder, brought on by Mr. Dai’s painful appearance. Their laughter seemed to be a horn signaling the One-eyed Villagers. After hearing the laughter, those One-eyed Villagers looked at Mr. Dai with increasing hatred, their steps slowly shuffling towards him, but due to some form of intimidation, they didn’t dare move too boldly. However, among these hundreds of people, there was always one with enough courage. A shirtless man moved aggressively, with wind under his feet, drifted over to Mr. Sёarch* The NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Dai, opened his mouth, and bit down hard on Mr. Dai’s nose. Once one person mustered the courage, others followed suit. Once one acted, others naturally followed. With the first bite, was the second far behind? An elderly woman bit down on Mr. Dai’s ear. Mr. Dai’s wrinkled cheeks were gnawed by a man wearing a straw hat. More and more people, surrounded Mr. Dai tightly, and in Zhou Xuan’s eyes, they looked like a swarm of blood-sucking leeches. Zhou Xuan had previously only had a premonition that those One-eyed Villagers would harm Mr. Dai, but had never expected the scene to be so bloody. “Hahaha, hahaha!” The six executed criminals laughed even more wildly, rocking back and forth. The laughter became the rhythm of the villagers, encouraging them to bite Mr. Dai even more frenziedly. The six were completely satisfied, clutching their bellies with laughter, their bodies shaking incessantly, then they tumbled off their seats, falling to the ground, shattering their bodies. The first executed criminal’s eyes fell out, two marbles rolling around wildly on the ground. The second executed criminal’s left hand came off. The third one had his left leg fall off… All six of them, each had a body part fall apart, not more, not less, just one part each. Finally, it was quiet, all the One-eyed Villagers disappeared from Zhou Xuan’s sight. Zhou Xuan could again see normal things; he saw the Zhou Family’s Troupe surrounding Mr. Dai’s white bones, each with their own expression. Some were crying in fear. Others didn’t know what to do, Yu Zhengyuan held the shattered Golden Crow Mask, stomping his feet repeatedly, looking anxious, but also occasionally wiping the saliva running down his mouth. “Huh, why is Senior Brother wiping his mouth? What he’s seeing should be different from what I saw.” Zhou Xuan felt that what he had just witnessed seemed both like reality and a hazy blood-red dream. The two parties indeed saw different things, In the Zhou Family’s Troupe’s eyes, they merely saw Mr. Dai on stage, having blood holes appearing on his body one after another and then his flesh disappearing bit by bit in the sunlight. “Mr. Dai looked like a watermelon-flavored popsicle melting in the sun.” This was a comparison that came intuitively to many of the troupe members. Zhou Xuan didn’t want to think too much, only feeling mentally exhausted, he used all his strength to drag his leaden legs to the pillar at the side of the stage, leaned against it, and slowly sat down, his dazed eyes gazing at Mr. Dai’s skull. “So strange… Why do I feel like Mr. Dai is smiling?” Zhou Xuan tilted his head and looked a few more times, then also smiled. A series of bizarre occurrences strung together, Zhou Xuan finally played with them thoroughly, seeing them clearly. With a clear view, thinking through it, Zhou Xuan stopped thinking and fell into a deep sleep. … Ping Shui Prefecture was not at peace, or rather, the entire Jing Country was not at peace; supernatural events frequently occurred in various places. Therefore, besides setting up convenience bureaus, epidemic prevention stations, fire brigades, and arrest teams, the station also established an Investigation Bureau. The Investigation Bureau’s cases involved those eerie and bizarre incidents. Liu Tianen was the Deputy Director of the Investigation Bureau. Upon receiving the report, he felt completely overwhelmed. “Mr. Dai had an accident? How could he have an accident? And it happened with the Zhou Family’s Troupe!” Mr. Dai was a prominent figure in Ping Shui Prefecture; with something happening to him, there was no way to sweep it under the rug. However… dealing with eerie and bizarre cases required sweeping things under the rug. In spectral cases, it wasn’t always Evil Ghosts harming people; in quite a few cases, human will played a leading role. With many Tangkou in Ping Shui Prefecture, and quite a few Divine and Ghostly People, using the power of ghosts and spirits to harm others was naturally common too. Some Divine and Ghostly people, their Dao Level wasn’t high, nor was their lineage profound. If these people committed a crime, it should be handled accordingly, with the law enforced impartially. But some Divine and Ghostly people had backing Tangkou schools that were extremely complex, making them hard to deal with… This is where sweeping things under the rug began. Liu Tianen had handled cases for years and had come to understand one fact—ghosts were much easier to deal with than people, ghosts had no background, people did! “I hope not to get too entangled.” … Liu Tianen and his assistant, Qiao Yu, arrived at the theater. After revealing their identities, Liu Tianen saw Mr. Dai’s skeleton. He found it hard to believe, pointed at the skeleton on the ground, and asked, “Is this really Mr. Dai?” “Yes.” Yu Zhengyuan hadn’t yet recovered from the shock; his mind was still numb, and he just focused on answering questions without explaining the situation on the scene. On the other hand, Xu Li was braver and explained to Liu Tianen, “Near the end of the ghostly opera, Mr. Dai suddenly suffered from ghostly disturbances. Without anyone touching him, the flesh on his body disappeared piece by piece.” “Disappeared into thin air?” “Yes, not only did we see it, but the audience watching the opera also saw it, Director Liu. If you don’t believe it, you can ask them.” Even asking wouldn’t uncover much. After circling Mr. Dai’s body three times, Liu Tianen said, “It must have been a ghostly disturbance that did this, and we need to figure out which path this ghostly disturbance came from!” He raised his head and asked Xu Li, “Right, the Zhou Family’s Troupe performed ghostly operas, and before one starts, a ghost-suppressing item needs to be hung. Where is your ghost-suppressing item?” “Oh, it’s…” Xu Li was about to point to the broken mask on the table. As the words left her mouth, a deep male voice interrupted. “Director Liu, the Zhou Family’s Troupe performs in the daytime and never uses ghost-suppressing items!”

Chapter 25 - 25 22 Blood Dream

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