Chapter 39: CH 31.1

The moonlight was red, and there was a thin mist in the forest. The wind blew through the forest, causing the branches and leaves to rustle. As one looked on, the scene became increasingly bizarre.

Wei Xun walked to the huge tree in the middle. An intertwined tree was very rare, and many places called it a “couple” tree. No one knew the age of couple trees, as their strong trunks were completely entangled. The trees were nearly 15 meters high, and a woman’s head was hanging about 10 meters away from him, at the height where the first tree branches were growing.

Yes, the woman’s head was hung on the tree. When he got closer, Wei Xun could see her shaking with the wind. Her head was not embedded in the tree, but was hung by tree vines or something similar to them. Strangely, the head was lifelike, and showed no signs of decay, dryness, or a grayish pallor. Her skin was white and shiny, her black hair was like satin, and her eyebrows, eyes, mouth, and nose were all present. Even though the head’s eyes were shut, she still looked gentle and amiable.

Not to mention the complicated and exquisite silver ornaments from folk customs in her black hair. When the wind blew her hair, the silver ornaments shook, glittering like stars in her hair. If she didn’t only have her head remaining, she could definitely be called a beauty.

As soon as Wei Xun saw “her,” he knew that she was Pingping. With great interest, he went to the tree and stopped ten meters away. He stopped moving forward and looked at the beautiful head from a distance. Sweeping over the couple tree with a glance, he captured its surroundings with his gaze.

Other than the couple tree, there were no other trees and weeds on the lawn and the surroundings looked very empty. Once he started fighting, there would be nothing for him to use as a fort for defence. There was only a stream not far behind the couple tree. Wei Xun could hear the splattering sound of water where he stood. The stream wasn’t very rapid, but it also wasn’t shallow. Judging from the direction the stream is headed to, it may be connected with the waterfall Little Dragon Stream originated from.

The two old trees had luxurious branches and leaves. The canopy blocked out the sun and the branches and leaves were very thick. There were also vines that wrapped between the branches like snakes. The whole canopy was like a huge bird’s nest. Even with the aid of Wei Xun’s mutation, he couldn’t tell whether there was anything hidden between the branches.

“Buzz, buzz——”

The golden mosquito was timid and did not dare to fly over, but the firefly that had been possessed by the ghost baby was very bold. Its green light was flickering and it looked eager as it tried to fly towards the giant trees. As a result, before its little wings flapped, Wei Xun raised his hand and grabbed it, shutting it into the small bottle.

“Baby, be good.”

Wei Xun shouldn’t be able to trap the ghost baby in the glass bottle, but the ghost baby had possessed the firefly. Wei Xun moved swiftly and straightforwardly, his actions no different from catching mosquitoes. When he put the glass bottle into his pocket, Wei Xun looked up again and saw the woman in the tree open her eyes and look at him.

“Hi, Pingping!”

Wei Xun said hello straightforwardly and confidently, without feeling any discomfort for having placed her child inside the glass bottle right in front of her face. The beauty didn’t speak and just stared at him. Her eyes were clear, and the outer corners of her eyes were naturally raised, allowing her to carry the aura of an ancient beauty, appearing like an ink painting. Her lips were a little pale, but this made her appear like Xishi when she was heartsick, causing people to find her more lovable.

Even if she only had her head, she was so beautiful that it was difficult to pull one’s attention from her. Regardless of her gender and age, this was a beautiful person. This was the type of beauty that shouldn’t exist in the world. She appeared so gentle and fine that people could ignore everything that didn’t make sense about her, anyone with a good sense of aesthetics was attracted to her.

Unfortunately, Wei Xun’s sense of aesthetics was abnormal.

“I still like what you looked like before.”

Wei Xun regretfully stated, and after thinking of the spiteful ghost Pingping’s bloody carcass, he wore an appearance as if he was crying. He felt that his body was slightly hot due to excitement and his voice was hoarse as he said, “Your face was really red and beautiful at that time.”

If only the blood could flow more.

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The beauty sighed faintly, as if she was immersed in infinite sadness, but still saying what she wanted to say. “Pingping has been waiting for this sir for a long time.”

“Mm, mm. I’ve also been waiting for you for a long time. I miss you so much.”

Wei Xun readily admitted. The beauty’s face turned red, as if she honestly had never heard such brazen words spoken to her. Her pearly white teeth bit down on her lips, and she glanced at him. At that moment, she was so amorous that she could have charmed anyone to the point that they couldn’t help but want to go closer to her and hold the beauty in their arms.

“…Born in Cordoned-off Village, my parents were kind and my elder brother was tall and handsome. Although they lived in the vast mountains and did not lead as prosperous a life as the townsfolk, my family was happy, working from sunrise and resting after sunset…”

“Pingping, what happened.”

Wei Xun interrupted as she was deep in her thoughts, and asked with concern, “Who left you with only a head?”

What he said was so straightforward that the beauty choked, but she finally stopped talking nonsense and began to narrate. What she mainly conveyed was that their village was isolated and remote, and the village head was selected by Tusi King many years ago. The family trade has always been inherited from father to son who shared the same surname. Her eldest brother was the heir favored by her father, but it was a pity that the heavens did not favour talents and he lost his life at a young age.

Her eldest brother passed on early, far before the time he would have gotten a wife and had children. He didn’t leave any children behind to inherit his bloodline, and they had severed ties with their branch family many years ago. Her parents were an incestuous couple, with her mother being the elder sister and her father being the younger brother. At that time, her mother was dead, while her father injured his body in his early years and was unable to bear more children. She was the only one left.

“This was a family trade that could only be inherited by blood-related relatives.”

The beauty said sadly, with tears in her eyes, looking like a tender, shivering rabbit. She appeared particularly pitiful. “My father had no other alternatives. He said that my brother and I were twin brothers and sisters born on the same day, the same month, the same year, and there were similarities in our age, so I could inherit the family trade. So he let me be the female chicken crowing at daybreak, and allowed me to inherit my family’s trade.”

“Mm, mm, and then?”

Wei Xun adopted a very perfunctory attitude, but when the beauty talked about the key points, he would use “mm” to agree, which would seem like he was listening very seriously. This made the beauty look at him deeply as she continued to talk about the past.

She talked about the village customs. This family’s technique was the secret method of preparing corpses and driving them. However, because she was a woman, she was naturally more Yin, and she didn’t have sufficient Yang, like a man. If she stayed with the corpse for too long, she would get sick. In order to prevent such a situation from occurring, her father thought of a way.

Getting married to the dead.

Let the living Pingping marry her dead brother, so that her brother could possess Pingping and continue to inherit the secret arts.

“I didn’t wish to do that. I, I had someone I liked…”

It was as if the beautiful head was shy, her cheeks flushed and worried. “We, we agreed to elope, and the meeting place was under this couple tree. That night, I secretly escaped from home and waited for him here.”

“But he didn’t come. I waited for him for a long time, but he never came.”

The beauty’s voice grew lower and lower. Finally, she stuttered and choked, and the beautiful eyes washed with tears appeared clear. “And I have been trapped here for many years.”

“Many years have passed, things have changed, and now I just hope to be relieved from this world.”

The beauty sincerely said to Wei Xun, “Kind-hearted sir, you are the person I have been waiting for, for many years. Please take off my head and bury it at the base of this tree. In return, I can give you the treasures accumulated from the past and tell you about the precious herbs in the mountain, even my family’s inheritance, the corpse driving technique. If your esteemed self wishes to know, I can also tell you……”

“No, none of that matters.”

Wei Xun refused, very decisively and without hesitation. “Pingping, I just want you.”

“Yes, but……”

The beautiful head seemed to be shocked by his words. Her eyes were wide open and she seemed slightly cuter this way. “B-But a ghost and a human must walk on different paths——”

As if moved by Wei Xun’s unhesitating attitude, the look in the beauty’s eyes hesitated at first, but gradually became firm. She said with a positive tone, “Since sir doesn’t dislike that Pingping is a ghost, how can Pingping have the heart to not live up to your esteemed self’s kindness?”

“Please take off my head and bury it under the tree. Just take a strand of hair from Pingping and leave.”

The beauty whispered, her eyes filled with affection, allowing one to be intoxicated. “Pingping will always follow her husband, to the ends of the earth and back.”

After the beauty expressed her emotions, she lowered her eyes with shyness and timidity. It was silent for a time, and only the sound of wind whistling through the woods could be heard.

Wei Xun didn’t move for a long time. The beauty looked up suspiciously. Seeing that he was still standing there, she couldn’t help asking, “Why aren’t you coming here, sir?”

“Mm, mm. Why should I come?”

Wei Xun revealed his absent-mindedness this time. When the beauty heard his words, she suddenly raised her willow-like eyebrows and spoke with shame and anger, “What sir said previously was just to tease me? Because I’m a ghost, you feel that I am easy to deceive——”

Wei Xun shouted, “You’re slandering me. I’m an honest man and have never done anything immoral.”

The beauty was reluctant and unforgiving. “Then why aren’t you coming over.”

Wei Xun also wondered, “Why should I head over?”

The beauty grew angry and no longer appeared gentle, her beautiful face containing a slight tinge of gloominess: “A man’s words are never trustworthy. You keep saying you want me, but if you aren’t coming over, how could you take me away!”

Wei Xun shook his head and smiled. “Pingping, the thing I want——is your life.”

After hearing this, the beauty smiled sadly and shed blood and tears from her eyes. As she cried, her amazing appearance finally aligned with the one in Wei Xun’s memories. She sobbed and despaired, like a lonely goose wailing, “As expected, ghosts and people would hate people like me. Even you want to kill me the first time we meet. Just come at me if you want to kill me!”

After that, the beauty closed her eyes and had an expression conveying that he should do as he pleased. However, even though she said so, Wei Xun still didn’t get closer to her and said with great interest, “This illusion of yours is much better than the previous ones. It is unfortunate that you can’t leave this tree now.”

Wei Xun had long since figured out that this was not the real Pingping——Not to mention that he had seen the true face of spiteful ghost Pingping, but if this was the real lunatic Pingping, why didn’t she rush to fight him immediately after seeing the ghost baby in Wei Xun’s hands? The beautiful head talked to him for so long and had been luring him to walk towards her. One could tell that she wasn’t Pingping, and she temporarily couldn’t leave the tree.

Since she was not Pingping and the illusion she made was so exquisite, it was self-evident what her real identity was.

The zombified flying fox king.

[Random task: Rise to the challenge of fighting the zombified flying fox king (sealed state)]

[Task level: Extremely urgent]

[Task description: Beware, beware, you have encountered the zombified flying fox king in advance! Be careful, the current zombified flying fox king has amassed the resentment of the Cordoned-off Village’s village head’s family, and it’s hard to deal with. Fortunately, it is still sealed in front of the ghost baby graveyard and can’t leave the couple tree for the time being. Please kill it before the zombified flying fox king breaks free or flee as soon as possible. Otherwise, the end awaiting you will be death!]

As long as Wei Xun was not standing near the tree, he was safe for the time being. However, his physical mutation could only be used as a means of close-combat. If he was not close to the zombified flying fox king, he couldn’t battle to his heart’s content.

Wei Xun was willing to listen to so many meaningless words and perfunctorily replied to the beautiful head before the battle because he was selecting a handy long-range weapon in the Travel Services’ shopping menu at that time.

“Zombified flying fox king, times have changed.”

As he spoke, a portable rocket launcher suddenly emerged on Wei Xun’s shoulders!

[Name: Roman Javelin No. I (Portable Rocket Launcher——Anti-supernatural) (Low-configuration, copied version)]

[Quality: Made by “Replicator”]

[Price: 15000 points]

[Function: Based on the Travel Services’ assessment, the effect of this prop is extremely unstable. The Travel Services doubts its lethality towards supernatural ghosts. It is limited to dangerous or higher level tours. Available uses: 1/1 times]

[Note 1: The power of the rocket is random, from 1% to 100% of the original version made by “Arms Dealer.” At its peak performance, it can kill the ghost king, and at its worst performance, it can’t even explode a spiteful ghost to death. Whether it is a good or horrible product, you will know after you fire a shot. You know what I mean——by “Replicator”]

[Note 2: Shh, remember not to use it in front of “Arms Dealer.” People like us who are little threes should be low key and not show off this product to the person who originally designed it. You know what I mean——by “Replicator”]

Wei Xun was originally interested in the original version of the rocket launcher, but the price of 200000 points was so high that it made him sigh, so he had to buy the low-configuration version.

If you ignored the cheap remarks on the notes, the more than ten times difference in price, and the randomized power performance from 1% to 100%, Wei Xun thought he could bet——who would be so unlucky to get the worst performance of this thing? He wasn’t African.

One couldn’t tell that the iron-black rocket launcher Wei Xun carried on his shoulder was a replica. The edges of the rocket launcher were cold and sharp, showing the unique iron-hard deterrence of hot weapons. In the dark muzzle, the shuttle warhead at the front end had been loaded and the weapon was ready to launch.

Wei Xun pulled the trigger agilely with his fingers and just heard a loud thunder-like explosion. The strong recoil shook his mutated body, and the force was so heavy that he couldn’t resist taking a few steps back before standing firm.

He was very close to the giant tree. If Wei Xun had shot a normal rocket launcher, he would have been blasted together with it. However, this was a special anti-supernatural rocket, which would only attack ghosts and would not hurt other entities.

Wei Xun only felt a surging flow of supernatural power, as if there was a waterfall crashing down from the ninth heavens and rushing down at the beautiful head on the huge couple tree. The power was so strong that it caused a heavy fog to roll in, and his surroundings were instantly filled with thick, white smoke. He couldn’t see anything in front of him, and only the scream of the beautiful head, which sounded as sad as a beast, came from the front.

He was full of confidence as he walked forward.

Shit!