The shadows of the seven tables were reflected on the six walls of the tomb, forming the illusion of forty-two tables. The shadows of those men, women, and children sat down at the shadow tables on the walls. They joked with each other and conversed familiarly, as if it were an ordinary countryside feast for guests.
These "guests" would spy on Bai Liu from time to time, but it seemed that something more terrifying was suppressing these shadow spirits, forcing them to stay obediently in their seats. They did not dare to get up and chase Bai Liu's shadow without permission and could only look at him hungrily.
Bai Liu looked up at the main wall directly opposite the tomb's passage. Two red candles that were about to burn out glowed in the corners below the wall. Underneath them were the remnants of burnt paper money and incense ashes.
The shadow of the table facing the front, cast on the wall, looked rather strange. The southwest, north, and south seats of the table were all occupied, but two seats on the east side remained vacant, with no occupants.
Mu Sicheng also noticed this vacancy. "…Who are these two positions for?"
"This is a wedding banquet." Bai Liu's eyes swept across the two wedding candles. "The center seats on the main table facing east are reserved for the newlyweds."
"Newlyweds?" Mu Sicheng frowned. He looked at the shadows of the table on the wall and seemed to be lost in some memory, but he couldn't recall it no matter what. "Why do I feel that this place is so familiar…?"
Before Mu Sicheng could finish speaking, a strident voice came from afar and interrupted him. "—Please welcome the guest of honor!"
The conversations of all the shadows on the wall suddenly stopped.
Two shadows appeared around the main table and walked toward the central seats.
One shadow stood upright, with a veil covering their head, wearing what appeared to be a Manchu-style wedding dress. They bowed their head slightly and walked slowly to the main seat.
The other shadow wore monkey headphones, had a tall figure, and was dressed in trendy sportswear. He leaned back casually in his seat, draped an arm over the back of the bride's chair, and slowly gave Mu Sicheng outside the wall an ear-to-ear, malicious smile.
The moment the two shadows sat down, all the other shadows lowered their heads respectfully, no longer looking—or perhaps not daring to look—at Bai Liu and Mu Sicheng again.
"Shit!" Mu Sicheng pointed at the wall, his eyes wide open. "Is that a shadow of me?!"
Bai Liu looked at Mu Sicheng's almost invisible shadow with understanding. "It's you."
Mu Sicheng stared at the shadow in disbelief. "Why is my shadow sitting in the main seat?"
"You should have been married here, so you are one of the newlyweds and are qualified to sit at the main table." Bai Liu looked at Mu Sicheng's shadow seated at the main position. "This shadow should be your spirit. You have to merge with it before your shadow becomes completely separate."
Bai Liu looked at Mu Sicheng. "Otherwise, you're done for."
Mu Sicheng asked in astonishment, "What?!"
The eunuch's shrill voice rang out again. "—Please, host and honored guests, enjoy the exclusive banquet!"
The two shadows that had just sat down stood up again. Mu Sicheng's shadow turned around to look at him; its red mouth and black face looked ominous as its smile widened.
It made a provocative "follow me" gesture to Mu Sicheng before standing up and walking inside.
The bride's shadow followed with small steps. Although it did not seem to be walking quickly, it remained very close to Mu Sicheng's shadow. Her veiled head leaned against his shoulder. Water dripped from the veil with every step she took, and her head drooped unnaturally.
"Follow them." Bai Liu followed the two shadows without hesitation.
The two shadows moved nimbly, arriving at the back door of the tomb in the blink of an eye.
The back door opened automatically. They looked back at Bai Liu and Mu Sicheng, as if checking whether they were following. After confirming, they disappeared behind the wooden door in an instant.
Bai Liu chased after them. Mu Sicheng asked as he ran, "How do I merge with that shadow?"
"Find your body and enter it." Bai Liu chased after the shadow at a fast trot without looking back and explained clearly, "Both you and it are parts of the original Mu Sicheng's soul. Your carrier is the body, and the soul is the master. If you enter it, you will naturally be pulled in, and then you will merge."
Mu Sicheng breathed a sigh of relief. "It sounds quite simple."
"It's not simple." Bai Liu calmly refuted. "This is actually the most difficult part."
Mu Sicheng was stunned and questioned, "Why? Isn't it enough to just find my body?"
"Logically speaking, that should be the case." Bai Liu finally glanced at Mu Sicheng and asked, "But do you know where your spirit has hidden your body?"
Mu Sicheng froze once again and suddenly realized, "You mean it will collude with other ghosts in the main tomb to hide my body?!"
"Mm." Bai Liu nodded. "It knows that once you enter the body, it will be forcibly absorbed and merge with you, then disappear. As an 'evil spirit' that wants to exist independently, it will naturally try every means to prevent you from finding your body."
"There is one more thing. Although your soul probably did not go through the three wedding rites with those brides, your spirit was able to take the main seat, so it is clearly a guest of honor here."
Bai Liu looked at Mu Sicheng. "This can only mean one thing: after you were stripped of your body, it stayed behind and manipulated your body to complete the three wedding rites, marrying one or several ghost brides here. It has become a half-owner of this tomb."
"All the ghosts and evil spirits here must obey its command, making it more difficult for you to find your own body."
"Once midnight passes and the road to the underworld is closed, if you can't return to the world of the living as a complete person…" Bai Liu glanced at the time on his phone, then turned to Mu Sicheng. "Then you will truly become a ghost. Your body and the soul left inside it will become a zombie."
"It's almost ten o'clock now."
Mu Sicheng's face darkened. "There are only two hours left."
Bai Liu looked at the shadow of the bride passing around the corner ahead and said, "But I don't think there is no more hope."
Mu Sicheng tried his best to stay calm. "What do you mean?"
"If my [spirit] wanted to take over my body right now, I would probably be confirming with you how much money you would burn for me during the Qingming Festival." Bai Liu could still joke seriously at a time like this.
"There's no need to struggle. My [spirit] would definitely stay hidden for the next two hours and wait for me to transform into a ghost before taking my body."
Mu Sicheng still didn't understand. He clenched his fists. "But my [spirit] didn't lie dormant. It showed up openly. Is it because it feels very confident?"
"No, I think it's because it's not very smart." Bai Liu shook his head in denial and touched his chin. "After all, it's your [spirit], and it lacks the ability to think like a human. I think it's quite stupid, but that may be our breakthrough."
Mu Sicheng: "…"
Mu Sicheng was annoyed. "I'm talking to you about something serious! Can you please stop insulting me?!"
"I am talking seriously." Bai Liu patted Mu Sicheng's shoulder and explained steadily, "Think about it—if you were your [spirit], and you could obtain a complete and powerful body after two hours, would you come out beating gongs and drums, hosting a wedding banquet to welcome your opponent as a guest of honor? Would you even take the initiative to invite him?"
Mu Sicheng frowned. "…No. Why would it do that?"
"Then let me ask you this. That is your spirit," Bai Liu looked at Mu Sicheng quietly, "Under what circumstances would you do this?"
Mu Sicheng fell into deep thought. His brows furrowed more and more, and eventually, he began to anxiously pull at his hair. "…I can't remember a lot of things…"
Bai Liu patted Mu Sicheng's tense back and, at the same time, softened his voice to guide him. "Then let me ask it another way. If you were to do this, what do you think your purpose would be?"
"If I did this, it should be for the purpose of…" Mu Sicheng closed his eyes and took two deep breaths. "Showing off, or for fun? I seem to have often done things like stealing other people's belongings and showing them off in front of others…"
Mu Sicheng opened his eyes, his tone low and confused. "…I seem to like seeing other people get frustrated when they can't find their things, even when they're right under their noses."
"Why do I like doing such bad things…?"
"It's pretty bad," Bai Liu commented honestly, then smiled with interest. "But I think it's good that your immature misconduct is being put to use here."
Mu Sicheng turned to look at Bai Liu.
Bai Liu smiled. "I roughly know what you are going to do."
After passing several corners, the shadows of the bride and Mu Sicheng entered a side tomb chamber, and Bai Liu and Mu Sicheng followed them inside.
This side tomb chamber was shorter and narrower than the previous hall. It was clearly arranged like a bedroom. In the center of the room stood a huge mahogany-carved high bed with a bright red gauze curtain hanging from it and a satin quilt embroidered with mandarin ducks and double happiness patterns. White lanterns hung on the four bedside stands, each with a red "囍" character cut out, emitting a pale light.
However, all of these things were covered with thick dust.
There were no shoes in front of the bed, but more than thirty wet footprints of varying sizes were densely and messily scattered around it. Most of these footprints were from small cloth shoes, and only one pair was from sneakers.
Bai Liu looked at Mu Sicheng inquiringly. Mu Sicheng nodded and mouthed, "Yes, these footprints are from my shoes."
A chilly wind came from nowhere and lifted the thick red gauze hanging from the bed, revealing a pair of pale blue embroidered shoes standing at the edge of the mahogany bed.
The pair of embroidered shoes loomed beside the bed, water still dripping from them.
Mu Sicheng was startled by the sight and took a step back, but Bai Liu held him in place.
Bai Liu walked to the bed calmly. He lowered his eyes to glance at the embroidered shoes, then used both hands to pull open the red gauze hanging from the bed.
Mu Sicheng gasped in shock at what he saw.