One more

The Duke had only briefly visited the head butler's room to appease the pig but when he returned to his room, he noticed that something wasn't right.

The sheets on the bed had extra wrinkles and even a corner of the black mattress under the sheets was now revealed.

This was his restricted area!

"Alyssa?" The Duke slowly walked over and knelt down by the bed.

The space under the bed was empty. The crimson coffin was gone.

His Alyssa was gone!

"Who?!" The Duke was furious. His eyes went red with anger.

A light chuckle suddenly sounded behind him.

The Duke violently turned his head back and saw that there was someone sitting on the windowsill.

"Ah...…It's you. You're here again?" The Duke tried to slow his breathing down and suppressed his tone to make it sound less disdainful, "The guests this time really won't give up. Despite knowing that it's futile, you still keep trying again and again."

Qin Jiu said: "It's different this time."

"How is it different?"

"I went and found that witchdoctor and used some not so nice methods." Qin Jiu was not in a hurry to reveal his cards: "Try and guess. What do you think he told me?"

"What?"

The Duke's expression changed. He stared at him with narrowed eyes.

Qin Jiu had gone to the dungeon and he had also found the priest separately to ask them about killing the Duke.

The answer he received from the two were surprisingly consistent.

One was cunning and sly, and the other was not in the right mind. Qin Jiu didn't intend to believe in their words completely and came to get more information out from the Duke.

And so, he hid the wife that was hidden under the bed.

Qin Jiu tilted his head and hopped off the windowsill. He approached the Duke fearlessly: "What do you think?"

The Duke's eyes were fixed on him. He then sneered: "Don't try and scare me. I can't die. I will never die."

"Oh, you're so certain?" Qin Jiu said.

He was confident and extremely calm. It was too convincing. The Duke once again started to doubt himself.

"I've very certain." He furrowed his brows.

Qin Jiu smiled: "You don't think you have some sort of misunderstanding about the witchdoctor's character? That...…lunatic who would teach other people evil arts?"

"Of course, I know." The Duke smirked arrogantly, "Do you think I'm stupid? Stupid enough to let someone who is a threat to me to continue living? Of course, I have prepared some precautions. Everything he knows, I know. Everything he can do, I can too."

Qin Jiu's hand that was behind his back moved. He lifted up a book: "You're referring to this? You made a copy of his witchcraft book."

The Duke quickly glanced under the bed.

"See? This was also something the witchdoctor told me."

In fact, he only vaguely guessed that the Duke may also have a book when he interrogated the witchdoctor and he inferred from that the most likely location it could be hidden in ——– Under Alyssa's coffin.

No one dared to touch the Duchess, so no one would know about the book.

The Duke sneered: "You just got lucky."

His neck twitched twice. It was as if his head was being disobedient again.

"Not only that, he also told me that between you and him...." Qin Jiu stopped talking. He commented slowly: "You seem very nervous."

He didn't finish his sentence!

The Duke cursed at him inside, but it was undeniable that Qin Jiu's words indeed made him nervous.

The other party seemed to know a lot.

It was noisy outside. The Duke's expression turned uglier.

Qin Jiu pointed to the door: "Should I tell the others outside about the circumstances between you and him? Maybe your servants or those interested would remember and then——–"

"Shut up!" The Duke's expression turned icy.

Qin Jiu laughed. He waved the book in his hand and said, "See? It looks like you're not completely fearless. Why else would you hide this book?"

The Duke's mouth twitched. His expression became more and more unsightly.

In fact, everything just now was all nonsense made up by this Mr. Qin. Of course, those nonsense were also not baseless——–

The Duke made a copy of the witchcraft book so that he could better understand the resurrection technique, but why didn't he destroy it afterwards? Why didn't he burn it like the witchdoctor? If he did, he wouldn't need to worry about others seeing it.

Since he kept this book, it meant that he still needed it.

On one hand, it was just as he had said himself. The witchdoctor's existence could pose as a threat to him but why did he allow the other party to continue living? He was even minding his own business and leaving the other party alone.

The only possible explanation for this was...…For some reason, he either didn't dare kill him or he couldn't kill him.

He guessed that there must be a deep connection between the Duke and the witchdoctor; one where their lives were interlinked.

The witchdoctor helped the butler resurrect the Duke, but it was impossible for him to hand over the key to his life and death to another person for no reason.

And so, this connection was one-sided, or more specifically, the consequences were one-sided. 

If the witchdoctor died, the Duke cannot live.

But if the Duke died, the witchdoctor would be fine.

"You can't kill me." The Duke continued to insist.

Qin Jiu slowly approached him: "Why can't I? The book is in my possession and I have read everything I needed to read."

The witchcraft book referred to the resurrected being as the host.

The method to kill the host was depicted in a picture. It was a picture of a person holding a knife up at the host with the tip only a few centimetres from their heart while the host didn't display any signs of resistance.

Before the Duke returned, Qin Jiu had examined that picture numerous times. It was indeed similar to the witchdoctor's words.

The Duke's reaction earlier also at least confirmed that the book was real.

It didn't hurt to give it a try.

***

The dark clouds outside were heavy. Although it should be daytime, it looked no different from night.

Zhou Qi's fever had receded as dawn approached but she still looked unwell and was rather restless.

Zhao Jiatong couldn't help but ask: "Had a nightmare?"

Zhou Qi nodded: "Yeah."

"I heard you sleeptalking."

"Yeah...It was a chaotic nightmare." Zhou Qi said: "I dreamt of my boyfriend. He was dragging me running and running, like we were being pursued by something. He then suddenly fell and fell behind. When I turned to grab him....A bunch of hands wielding knifes tried to cut us."

Zhou Qi's face turned even paler as she spoke: "He tried to protect me. All those knives....they all slashed through him. Blood was everywhere. My hands were covered in his blood."

Zhao Jiatong hurriedly poured her a glass of water. She patted her back and comforted: "There, there. That was just a dream..."

Gao Qi however looked out the window. His brows were furrowed, and he remained silent.

Suddenly, a mixture of cries rang in the corridor outside.

Zhou Qi's fingers shook, knocking the glass over in the process. She asked with confusion: "What is this sound?"

"Not good!" Zhao Jiatong jumped up, "Those wall shadows are back!"

"What shadows?"

Zhou Qi had been suffering from her fever the entire night, so she had not seen the wall shadows going amuck.

But there was no time to explain.

Gao Qi grunted as he also jumped up: "Didn't you say that they will only appear when the Duke is weakened or dying?"

"Yeah!"

"Then who killed the Duke?"

Zhao Jiatong frowned: "That can't be. Everyone knows that the curse would fall onto A and 001 if they kill the Duke. How could anyone go up and——–"

She suddenly stopped and exchanged looks with Gao Qi.

Gao Qi rubbed his face and immediately cursed: "Fuck!"

Others wouldn't, but that didn't exclude those two psychos.

They all rushed out.

They had originally wanted Yang Shu and Zhou Qi to stay in the room but they had followed them out before they could say anything.

The corridor was filled with examinees. They all held their phones and used the torch to chase away the shadows.

Gao Qi and Zhao Jiatong wanted to squeeze through this crowd and rush downstairs when they suddenly heard Zhou Qi's trembling voice: "Sister Zhao.....Sister Zhao....I...."

"What's wrong?" Zhao Jiatong exclaimed.

Zhao Qi said: "I think.....I heard Jiang Yuan's voice."

Her dark eyes were wide open as she stared at a certain stone wall. Her tightly clenched fists were shaking and even her eyelashes trembled.

It was as if tears would fall out the moment she blinked.

Zhao Jiatong immediately stopped in place: "What voice? Who's Jiang Yuan?"

Zhou Qi tried to keep her eyes open to prevent tears from falling.

She said in a small voice: "My boyfriend.....Amongst those cries, I seem to hear my boyfriend."

Zhao Jiatong went silent.

She tried to reassure Zhou Qi: "That can't be. That's not possible. It must be the nightmare still affecting you....."

"It's true.....Sister Zhao, I really heard it." Zhou Qi quietly insisted.

Zhao Jiatong wanted to say something else when Gao Qi nudged her.

She turned to glare at Gao Qi but suddenly understood when she saw his eyes.

Several steps away, the stone wall suddenly started cracking.

Under the lights from a dozen phones, cracks stretched across the surface until a large piece finally fell.

When it fell to the ground, the people there finally realised that the stone wall was actually very thin. It covered the inner wall like a shell.

Gao Qi shouted: "Get away! Don't get hit!"

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As soon as he said that, someone exclaimed: "My god, what is this?!"

Those shadows were still struggling, and the crying continued. At times it would intensify when the lights are gathered onto one spot.

That examinee took a few steps back. His voice cracked with fear: "There's people in the wall! Look!"

There really were people in the wall.

No, to be more precise, they weren't people; they here human body parts.

Arms, legs, hands, feet, heads...…All sorts of dismembered parts were embedded into the wall. As more and more of the outer stone shell broke off, these parts similarly broke free.

Everyone stood there petrified for a moment, unable to react. When they finally returned to their senses, they screamed and tried to avoid the falling objects.

Within just a few minutes, the entire corridor had turned chaotic.

Zhao Jiatong finally knew where the source of smell Zhou Qi had mentioned came from.

Despite her army upbringing, she also panicked as a head with wide open eyes rolled past her feet.

Everyone there, including both Zhao Jiatong and Gao Qi, retreated backwards instinctively.

The only exception was Zhou Qi.

Her eyes were firmly fixated on something as she stumbled closer.

"Xiao Zhou, what are you doing?!" Zhao Jiatong wanted to stop her, but she was too slow and her hand grabbed thin air.

Zhou Qi eventually tripped. She had fallen right before the thing she was looking at.

It was an upper torso. It wore a blue and grey plaid short-sleeved shirt that was stained with a large patch of blood along the neckline which ran down all the way to the chest. There was a shirt pocket on the left chest and the button there was very cheeky; it was a shiny bear head. It was clear that someone had changed it into that as a joke.

The arm that was exposed was extremely pale, like those of mannequins in a shopping mall.

Zhou Qi had forgotten to get back up. She sat there holding that arm in complete daze.

Zhao Jiatong and Yang Shu followed behind her. Their expressions were uncomfortable.

"Xiao Zhou.....Xiao Zhou, don't be like this. Many people wear shirts like this." Zhao Jiatong's voice was hoarse.

Zhou Ji didn't speak. It was as if she didn't hear her.

After a while, she suddenly got up. Holding that arm, she looked around like a headless fly while murmuring quietly: "What about the other.....and..."

She spun around the corridor like she was crazy until she spotted a pair of legs wearing jeans not far away.

...…

"What about the head? Sister Zhou…..please help me. Yang Shu, please help me find it." She couldn't hold it up anymore, the torso and legs were about to fall. Tears streamed down from her eyes endlessly as she begged anxiously: "Please help me find it. Please find the head!!"

Gao Qi couldn't take it anymore.

He gritted his teeth tightly and closed his eyes for a few seconds. He then patted Zhou Qi's shoulder: "Young lass, don't cry. I know where it is. I'll take you there....."

***

In the bedroom on the first floor of the west tower, Qin Jiu had his hand wrapped tightly around the Duke's neck. The mask had fallen off amidst the struggle and the face that belonged to a young man finally had a bit of colour to it.

But the one speaking was still the Duke: "You're…wasting…..your.....time. You...can't….kill me."

"You…will…..never...be able…..to….kill me!"

As he said that, he even tried to sneer.

Qin Jiu frowed.

Suddenly, the door to the bedroom was pushed open.

When he turned to look, he saw Gao Qi, Zhao Jiatong and Yang Shu all standing at the door. In addition to them...…there was also a very dazed young lady.

It was Zhou Qi.

This examinee was no longer wearing her mask. Her face that was reddened from crying was especially conspicuous.

Qin Jiu froze. His grip around the Duke's neck subconsciously loosened.

Unexpectedly, the Duke didn't use this opportunity to break free.

When he looked over, he saw that the Duke similarly had his head turned. He stared at the door with a hint of confusion in his eyes.

The next second, he turned his head in panic. Using his hands to cover his face, his cried out hoarsely: "Don't look.....don't look. Send her out. Get out!"

Although his voice was very quiet, it was still very clear in the quiet bedroom.

After a long pause, Zhou Qi asked quietly with a nasal voice: "Jiang Yuan? You…You can still talk? You're still alive?!"

She rushed straight in. She stumbled and fell pitifully in front of the Duke.

The Duke used his arm to cover his face. His neck once again awkwardly twitched.

After the corner of his lips twitched for a few seconds, he finally said: "Qi Qi...don't look....."

Zhou Qi sat before him and anxiously grabbed his hand. The hand however wasn't the hand she remembered....

It was completely different.

She hastily rolled up the other party's sleeves and pulled down his neckline. The moment she saw the red stitch-like marks on the skin, she collapsed weakly onto the ground.

After a long, long time, she hugged the Duke's neck and started bawling.

"I dreamt of you. I had nightmares all night long. Lots of people were holding knifes.....they attacked you with it. You wouldn't let me see. You kept on pushing me and covering my eyes. Even if I cried or cursed, you didn't say anything....."

...…..

Her cries filled the bedroom.

Faced with a situation like this, no one stepped forward to say "convince him to be killed willingly".

What's more, Qin Jiu still held some doubts about this.

The Duke suddenly started writhing around strangely. The hands that were holding Zhou Qi's hand suddenly moved up to her neck and increased its strength.

Zhou Qi's eyes widened. Her tears had not yet stopped. She looked at him blankly.

Qin Jiu grabbed the Duke's wrist.

"What a touching reunion. After all this time, you still can….." Before the Duke could finish ridiculing, his expression twisted into a miserable look and his fingers loosened.

He didn't hesitate this time. He immediately pushed Zhou Qi away: "Qi Qi, listen to me.....Don't come any closer. I...I probably....can't last any longer. I don't know how long I can last."

Zhou Qi was in panic. Zhao Jiatong and Yang Shu came over to pull her away.

The Duke suddenly grabbed Qin Jiu: "Help me...help me, please. I don't want to be like this."

"You....." Qin Jiu frowned. He glanced over at Zhou Qi.

The Duke's eyes were red. He appeared to be desperately trying not to look at Zhou Qi's face: "If this continues, one day all of you will be killed...I don't want...don't want to wake up one day and see myself holding someone's head....holding…..Qi Qi's head…..I'm scared. I'm really scared."

"The witchdoctor said that the curse will only be lifted if the Duke is willing to be killed. Once he's dead, everyone will be saved." Qin Jiu said in a low voice, "But..."

"It's a lie." Jiang Yuan struggled with his body and said desperately: "I am him. I know him....It's a lie. He checked. I know it. The result of that is all his life...…all the life that he had accumulated…..all his eternal life would be given to voluntarily to the witchdoctor."

He gritted his teeth and emphasised: "The real host is….the witchdoctor! Only the Duke can kill the witchdoctor but once the witchdoctor is dead, the Duke cannot live..."

They needed to make the Duke throw his life away and kill the witchdoctor, and they also needed to make the witchdoctor die willingly...

It was a deadly cycle. That was probably why they were in deadlock for so long.

Jiang Yan seemed to be trying to finish saying everything while he was still conscious.

He gasped and struggled against the Duke as he said: "....I just know that the witchdoctor's life depends on the Duke. If the Duke is alive, the witchdoctor is healthy. If the duke is dead, as long as it wasn't death from sacrificing, the witchdoctor will be very weak. It's just….It's just, the Duke wouldn't possibly do that."

It was seemingly another dead end.

Unfortunately, Jiang Yuan couldn't hold on any longer.

He could no longer formulate any words and his body started twitching and writhing around more and more intensely.

The corners of his eyes were wet. Without turning his head, he squeezed out a few last words: "Go…..take her.....please....."

Zhou Qi had cried too much. She had exhausted almost all the energy she had.

Zhao Jiatong and Yang Shu clenched their teeth and carried her out.

Gao Qi didn't move. Qin Jiu grabbed the Duke by the neck again and used the curtain rope to tie him up. After he was done, he looked up and said to Gao Qi: "Help me out."

"What do you want to do?" Gao Qi was a little worried about him.

"Relax, I know what I'm doing." Qin Jiu reassured: "Do you trust me?"

Gao Qi remained silent.

"We're wasting time standing around like this. You're not someone who likes to dawdle, right?"

Gao Qi took a deep breath and finally forced out a word: "Speak."

"Go to the kitchen. Get some people and prepare some firewood and oil. Get as much as you can."

"What for?"

"Burning the castle."

Gao Qi froze: "When? Now?"

Qin Jiu: "Wait for my signal."

Gao Qi stared at him. He then said through gritted teeth: "You said it. You must remain standing and give me a signal!"

Qin Jiu said: "Okay, I got it. I'll leave the rest to you."

He had thought of a method. It was a little risky, and a little crazy.

If You Huo knew...…

He settled the Duke into his armchair and began to place candles around it.

If You Huo knew...

Would he feel refreshed and happy? Or would he give him a punch?

If it was the past, it would definitely be the former. But now....He was suddenly uncertain.

He didn't know why he felt this.

But when he thought of You Huo, a smile crept onto his face.

In any case, it was better not to let him know for now.

Qin Jiu thought this.

He lit the candles and looked at the tacked together man in the armchair. From within his pocket, he pulled out a long-forgotten card.

He glanced out the window in a certain direction. He then looked back and stepped into the ring of candles.