Chapter 162: Array 2

The Fat Man used three small paper figures back and forth before finally reaching the end of the lawn. By the time he figured out the safe exit of this corpse formation, he was already covered in sweat. The Fat Man had a deep understanding of formations; on that night recently when the blood moon hung in the sky, he had also set up a Pure Yang Formation to deal with the corpse kings in the Twelve Ghost Caves. Wiping his sweat, he said, "It's a good thing your Fat Lord here came. This corpse formation set up by Sun Congwen cannot be called exquisite, but the last few steps completely disregarded the conventional rules. One careless move, and you'd fall right into the trap. Little Seven, did you memorize every single step? You two watch me walk it one last time, and remember, you must not make a single mistake."

The Fat Man lowered his head to look at the safe path Little Seven had drawn on the ground. He took a deep breath and stepped directly onto the lawn. If one didn't know the intricacies behind it, watching the Fat Man walk from our position would have looked extremely bizarre. He walked with a sort of hopping motion, somewhat resembling a young girl playing shuttlecock. The Fat Man crossed the path in one continuous, flowing movement. Once his body reached the other side, he turned back to wave at us and said, "Memorized it? Come on over!"

I looked at Little Seven and asked, "Would you like to go first?"

Ever since entering the courtyard, Little Seven had been somewhat nervous. A fine layer of sweat beaded on her face. She shook her head at me and said, "You go first. Let me review it one more time in my mind. I'm afraid my mind will go completely blank once I step in there."

Looking at her, I couldn't help feeling a bit worried. I hadn't expected that someone who feared neither heaven nor earth would be so terrified of ghosts. In this regard, she was somewhat different from Agent A's hell-raiser of a daughter. That girl was just as daring as Little Seven, but even more ferocious—she had even dared to fake her own death and let Chen Shitou offer her as a living sacrifice.

"If you really can't do it, you can stay here to back us up and wait a moment?" I suggested.

"It's fine. Demonstrate it for me one last time. Don't worry about me, and make sure you don't forget it yourself. Hurry and cross over," Little Seven said.

I glanced at her, and finally lifted my foot to step onto the lawn. Although I had already memorized every single step the Fat Man took—it was only thirty-something steps from this side of the lawn to the other—once I actually walked in, I was still nervous to the extreme. Especially when walking past those dark figures and seeing the cold facial features reflected on the surface of the cement, I was reminded of those sexy girls wearing red bellybands in that loft. Each of them was in the prime of their youth and possessed stunning beauty, yet they were set up here as human corpse stakes, giving me an indescribable feeling in my heart.

"Don't get distracted! As long as you don't step wrong, these are just stone pillars. Big trouble only starts if you make a wrong step!" The Fat Man shouted in a low voice from the other side.

I wiped away my sweat, gritted my teeth, and stopped thinking about miscellaneous things. Under my feet, there was only the correct path and nothing else. Finally, the Fat Man reached out and caught me as I stepped off the lawn. By this time, my entire body was drenched in sweat, and my limbs felt somewhat weak.

After the two of us stood on the opposite side, Little Seven was still hesitating over there. I feigned a relaxed tone and called out to her, "Don't be afraid. Come on over. Just like the Fat Lord said, as long as you don't step wrong, nothing at all will happen."

Little Seven seemed to muster a great deal of courage and finally stepped onto the lawn. At this moment, she looked adorable, her expression one of constant dread with every step she took. Especially when walking past those dark figures, with each stride she would cover her eyes and crouch on the ground as if trying to deceive her own ears, only daring to take the next step after confirming everything was safe.

The Fat Man couldn't help laughing and said, "Little Seven, my girl, don't look back. Just walk forward boldly."

Just as the Fat Man finished laughing, I suddenly noticed that the dark figure closest to Little Seven seemed to twitch. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, because Little Seven's footwork had not been wrong. However, Little Seven seemed to have also noticed something unusual at that moment. She turned her head for a quick glance, her expression suddenly changing drastically, and she lifted her foot to hurry forward. It was precisely at this time that I suddenly heard a strange sound coming from the lawn, resembling something dropping to the ground. I turned on my flashlight and took a look, only to see that the cement encasing the corpses on their surfaces was beginning to crack and peel off piece by piece. Once the cement fell away, it revealed naked female corpses all over, their entire bodies a bruised, ghastly cyan, and their facial expressions extremely ferocious—completely lacking the stunning beauty they had possessed in life.

"What are you laughing at! Did your laughing trigger this formation?!" I cursed at the Fat Man.

"What does this have to do with the Fat Lord laughing?!" The Fat Man's face instantly turned as black as charcoal.

Little Seven was scared out of her wits. She froze in place after taking another step, while those cyan female corpses, having shed their cement shells one by one, were closing in around her.

Terrified, Little Seven squatted on the ground, buried her head, and began to cry. I had no idea what was actually happening, because I could be certain that every single step Little Seven took was identical to mine and the Fat Man's; there was no question of her stepping incorrectly. So why hadn't those female corpses risen from the dead for the two of us, yet specifically targeted Little Seven? If this wasn't caused by the Fat Man laughing, what was it?

"Little Seven, run over this way quickly! Forget about the footwork!" the Fat Man shouted.

But Little Seven looked as though she had been frightened out of her mind; she squatted on the ground trembling incessantly and was completely incapable of following the Fat Man's directions. Seeing that those female corpses had already surrounded Little Seven, I hurriedly said to the Fat Man, "Fat Lord, subduing demons and eliminating devils is your specialty—hurry up and help!"

Without needing me to say it, the Fat Man had already pulled out several yellow paper talismans. These talismans had been prepared long in advance, which showed that the Fat Man had made thorough preparations while we were sleeping in the afternoon. He charged forward. As soon as the Fat Man rushed onto the lawn, those female corpses seemed to sense his intrusion into the corpse formation, and several of them turned and walked toward him. As they drew near, these female corpses even lunged at the Fat Man. With exceptional agility, the Fat Man rolled on the ground to evade the lunge, and then directly slapped a yellow talisman onto the forehead of one of the female corpses.

Strangely enough, the moment the Fat Man's talisman landed on the female corpse's forehead, she froze as if her acupoints had been sealed, her entire body locked motionless in her final pose. Realizing this method was effective, the Fat Man began moving rapidly across the lawn. Every time he dodged an attack from a female corpse, he would slap a yellow talisman onto its forehead. Before long, all dozen or so female corpses were pinned in place right there on the lawn by the Fat Man.

The Fat Man rolled on the ground, pulled Little Seven up, and said, "Don't be afraid, the Fat Lord is here! Let's go!"

With that, he grabbed Little Seven and prepared to leave. Right at that moment, the yellow talismans on the foreheads of those female corpses began to burn, one after another. Over a dozen talismans ignited almost simultaneously, looking just like fireworks going off. Seeing that the situation was bad, I hurriedly shouted to the Fat Man, "Fat Lord, watch out!"

The Fat Man was well aware of what this meant. He shoved Little Seven forward and yelled at me, "Hurry up and come catch your cousin!"

I lunged forward in a single bound and ran to the Fat Man's side. Little Seven was currently acting like a wooden statue; when I pulled her, she didn't even budge. Having no other choice, I gritted my teeth, scooped her up directly in my arms, and charged toward the edge. Meanwhile, the female corpses approaching me were intercepted by the Fat Man, who slapped more yellow talismans onto them.

By the time I had deposited Little Seven safely on the ground on the opposite side and looked back at the Fat Man, for a moment it felt as though the Fat Man in the lawn was simply playing a game with these female corpses. A female corpse would approach him, he would immediately slap a talisman on its forehead; the next one would approach, and he would slap another. However, his talismans couldn't last long before burning up; the moment a talisman burned away and a female corpse stirred, he would immediately patch on a replacement. He was rushing about in a frenzy amidst the dozen-plus female corpses. Wasn't that just like playing a game?

"Fat Man, what are you doing? You still have the mood to play?" I shouted.

"Is the Fat Lord trying to play?! This bunch of grand-aunts wants to play with the Fat Lord, what can I do?!" the Fat Man yelled back while dodging a female corpse's attack and applying another talisman.

As he kept applying talismans, the Fat Man suddenly froze in place. I called out, "What is it now? Why aren't you playing anymore?"

The Fat Man whipped his head around and began sprinting like mad in my direction, with the female corpses in hot pursuit behind him. He screamed, "Play your grandpa's! I'm out of talismans! Retreat!"