Chapter 432: Evil God Ritual - Boathouse

Bei Yuan rested on Bai Liu's shoulder, controlled his sobs and took two deep breaths, "...... I won't keep you any longer, you have to rest and go to the Luming Shrine in the mountains to practice."

When he had finished, Bei Yuan took two steps back on his knees, bowed his head, folded his hands in front of his forehead and slowly bowed down, his tone trembling slightly.

" Bai six, if you are truly the Lord Heir of Evil, if your dance can really reach the Lord of Evil, then I implore you, please ask Him to choose Xiaokui as a sacrifice this time!"

"I can hold out for another two years, but Xiaokui is really running out of steam."

Bei Yuan's tone was a little choked up, then he quickly raised his hand to wipe the tears from the corner of his eyes, bowed to Bai six, lifted the hem of his shirt and uncovered the [Notice of Practice in the Suffering Room] that was posted on the inside of the door, closed the door of the peace room and left with his back in a desolate state.

Bai Liu retracted his gaze at the door that Bei Yuan had closed on his way out, and slowly moved his eyes to the picture of the waves directly in front of him.

In horror games, especially Japanese horror games, the decorations in the narrow interiors usually have clues, especially in the innermost room, where the inner walls do not meet the outer rooms.

Bai Liu rose and reached out to touch the shrine-like vessel thrown up by the waves on the chart, his fingertips scrutinising the ship's décor inch by inch, finally coming to rest on the half-obscured reverse cross flag on the vessel.

His fingertips settled on the ground for a moment, then he removed the painting and identified the spot on the wall where the marks had been made.

Bai Liu's gaze is stoic as he curls his fingers against the wall and presses down hard.

A dent in the wall quickly emerges, and then the wall flips over where the painting was bound, transforming it from a flat surface to a frame-sized, built-in shrine.

In the centre of the shrine is an intricately carved statue of the Red God Mu.

The statue is of some age, the mahogany of the knees and shoulders having been lovingly polished and blackened, and is dressed in a similar but more elaborate hunting suit to that worn by Bai Liu.

The long, clear hem of the kimono falls to the long, slender ankles of the statue, which are casually folded, carved with chains that have been painted in gold and then faded, and the rippling sea beneath their feet.

The statue sits in a loose position with its head hanging slightly on the raised eaves of the temple, holding in both hands a Buming book, which it seems to be reading carefully, and a hand-rolled knotted rope, which looks like twine, is wrapped around the top of His face, and a piece of white Gosho paper, which is soft and fluttering, is passed through the rope, covering His face.

On the rice paper, two words were written with a brush [Wishless].

Further on, a rising incense burner sits inside the shrine, and with the slight breeze in the room, the Gosho rice paper covering the statue and the smoke rising straight up from the burner sway slightly, and a clear and pleasant sandalwood scent spreads out.

Bai Liu's gaze rests on the carved wooden book in the idol's hand and there is a slight pause.

The pages of this book are cracked and have the kind of grain that looks like they were roughly torn by hand and then glued back together.

Bai Liu has a book in his memory that matches this grainy texture, and it is called The Long, Thin, Ghostly Book of Murder.

Bai Liu put the book in Xie Ta's arms when she was sunk into the pond. The book must have floated away with Xie Ta ......

But now it appears in the hands of this idol, and to relate to the theme of this copy ......

It is likely that this idol is Xie Ta. One of the old evil god offerings within the game.

Without hesitation, Bai Liu stepped forward and reached out to remove the Gosho paper covering the face of the idol.

At the moment when the Gosho paper on the face of the statue was smoothed upwards by Bai Liu, the picture of the waves, which Bai Liu had unloaded onto the ground, suddenly made a loud wave sound and a violent sea wind blew out from it, blowing Bai Liu's kimono over his eyes.

A violent storm and undulating waves spill out of the painting, instantly sweeping Bai Liu, standing in front of the shrine, into the painting.

When the storm subsided, the painting on the floor was hung on the wall and everything was as it was before, except for the large ship on the picture of the waves, which had disappeared somehow.

The room is empty, except for the wooden plaque hanging on the side of the door of the peace room and the fragrance of sandalwood in the room.

[System Alert: Player Bai Liu has triggered the main storyline of (Old Evil Gods - Spirit Offerings) Collection Branch]

Bai Liu's eyes slowly opened in a wave of dizziness that could have shaken him to his core.

In front of him was a dark cabin, where he could faintly see the outlines of the bunk beds and the people sleeping on them, and in his ears were the sounds of people vomiting from seasickness and the hysterical breaking down and crying of some children.

"I want to go back!!!"

"I want to stay in the orphanage! I don't want to come here!!!"

"The people who bought us are crazy people who would abuse children! Let us off the boat!!!"

Bai Liu looked at his hands, which were a little shorter and slimmer than before, and looked down at his body, which was also a little shorter than before, so that he could sleep with his feet straight in this narrow bed of boats.

A rough estimate from this point of height would suggest that he is now only 16 or 17 years old.

Bai Liu moved his body and found his hands and feet tied tightly together and bound to the foot of the side of the bed, his body rising and falling violently as the waves tossed and caught the boat, but he could not move at all.

A flash of lightning broke through the night sky and the light shone into the cabin, and Bai Liu finally saw what kind of environment he was in.

The three narrow bunks in the cabin were densely packed with pale children, ranging in age from a few years to 17 or 18, who, like him, had their hands bound together and tied to the side of the bed, some cowering in a ball and whimpering, some numb and motionless, some vomiting from sea sickness.

For example, this one is sleeping behind Bai Liu.

"Vom-!" The other person had been dry-heaving, coughing and gasping afterwards, supposedly not having eaten anything, nothing specific had come out, but by the sound of it the whole person was weak to the point of dying.

"If you're seasick, it's better not to try to escape." Bai Liu's voice was light, "There's no way you can escape from here, and there's no way you can escape from the sea, and you'll have to take a boat wherever you go by sea."

The man behind Bai Liu, who was struggling carefully and hard, stopped moving and after a long time he said hoarsely, "My name is Aota, what is yours?"

"Bai Liu." Bai Liu replied.

The other person was a little surprised: "Are you the Bai six they say you are?"

Bai Liu paused: "You know me?"

"Can't say I know each other either." Mrs. Cang hesitated, "...... You're the most famous kid we have here, and everyone of us has discussed you."

"My business?" Bai Liu trailed off, "Did I do something that you all need to have a good discussion about in this setting?"

Mrs. Cang paused and spoke hesitantly and in a whisper, "They say you killed a child named Xie Ta in a loving orphanage and pushed him into a pond, is that true?"

Bai Liu was quiet for a moment before his tone completely faded when he spoke, "As one of the main characters in this story, may I have the privilege of knowing the story as it has been passed down?"

"Did you not kill anyone? Are they talking nonsense?" Cang Tai shrank back and moved closer to Bai Liu's ear and spoke to him very quietly, "The version I heard was this, they said you were a very weird kid back in the loving orphanage, growing up playing with all sorts of spooky things and killing lots of little animals."

Bai Liu asked rhetorically, "For example?"

Aota began to reminisce, "Kittens, bunnies, hamsters and the like, they said you would skin the little animals and clip them in the cutest page of the various fairy tale books, usually the one where everyone gets happy in the fairy tale."

"By the time these kids turn the page and get to the last page happily, these bloody animal skins will fall out and scare the hell out of those kids screaming all over the house, and you'll be right next to them with your head cocked and laughing at that time."

Bai Liu gave a subtle pause as a point on his memory that had been hidden from view was touched, and a strange yet familiar memory suddenly surfaced.

It seems that a long, long time ago, while cleaning the library with Xie Ta, he did have a conversation about playing pranks on the others in the orphanage like this, but was eventually stopped by Xie Ta flatly.

Xie Ta looked at him then with those silver-blue pupils and asked softly, "You wouldn't do that."

"Why wouldn't I?" Bai Liu asked rhetorically, sweeping his eyes sidelong.

Xie Ta was quiet and said, "Because I've seen Bai six who can do that."

"You're not that Bai six."

"Is there a Bai six in this world other than me?" Bai Liu approached Xie Ta with amusement, "You don't seem to like this Bai six much."

Xie Ta lowered her eyes, "There is no like or dislike."

"He and I were designed to be a natural rivalry, he was born to chase desire and would want to draw mad energy from every powerful person, thing, or even monster he could see to convert into money or something else of value."

Bai Liu commented, "It sounds like me."

Xie Ta raised her eyes, "You are different."

"He'll ...... have me, but you won't."

Bai Liu could only remember the middle word Xie Ta said because the ball outside suddenly hit the window, cracking it and drowning out Xie Ta's voice.

When Bai Liu asked again afterwards, Xie Ta looked away, said nothing, and didn't answer him.

Mrs. Cang continued, "Then you did things that got more and more over the top, when you were particularly concerned about a child in the orphanage named Xie Ta, that was also a very strange child who liked to watch all kinds of horror drawings quietly by himself."

"You would watch him and follow him around a lot, but Xie Ta seemed to basically ignore you and never cared about anything you did."

"Once you went round to the church to look for Xie Ta, who was often there alone reading a book and was there that day, and you stood quietly behind Xie Ta for a long time, and Xie Ta seemed to be reading some long thin ...... book."

Aota suddenly jammed, "What did they say, a long book title ......"

Bai Liu added in a bemused tone, "A Documentary on the Murder of a Long, Thin, Ghostly Shadow."

"Yes, yes, yes! That's the name!" Mrs. Cang continued excitedly and smoothly, "They say you killed Xie Ta that very night and brought back a blood-stained copy of 'The Long, Thin Ghostly Book of Murder' and sat alone by your bed, humming a little tune, as if you had been reading the book with pleasure all night, scaring the man who lived next to you."

"Then the person you live with has a gutsy kid and asks if you really killed Xie Ta."

Mrs. Crow gulped nervously as she spoke, "You smiled and looked up at him with blood all over your face and said yes, I killed him."

"The boy broke down and asked, "Why did you kill Xie Ta ? He didn't do anything to hurt you!"

"And then you said--" Aota's voice became shaky, "you said ......"

"-[Because I also wanted to read the book, "The Long, Thin, Ghostly Book of Murder", I stood behind Xie Ta and waited a long time for him to turn his head and invite me to read the book with him]."

"[Unfortunately, he didn't; it was as if he couldn't see me in his eyes standing behind him waiting for him to turn back]."

"You laugh regretfully and spread your hands and say - [Then there's no choice but to kill him and invite his corpse to see it with me in turn]."