<h4>Chapter 322: It’s Only Just Beginning</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Lonelytree <strong>Editor: </strong>Millman97


    “Other outsiders?” The main reason Chen Ge’s group had entered the vige was to search for Fan Yu and Jiang Ling, so when they heard there were other outsiders, their ears perked up.


    “Before you arrived, two kids identally entered the vige because they were lost.” Ah Qing tried to remember the details. “A boy and a girl. The boy is very thin and of average height. The girl looks about four; she’s just like a China doll, very cute.”


    “Fan Yu and Jiang Ling!” Hearing Ah Qing’s description, Chen Ge’s spection was confirmed. He grabbed Ah Qing’s graveclothes. “Where are they now? Bring me to see them!”


    “I don’t think that’s possible.” Ah Qing tried to pry Chen Ge’s hand away, but he realized that the thin-looking man before him was quite strong. “When they entered the vige, they were spotted by the other vigers. Then the Zhu woman appeared and personally arranged a ce for them to stay. She paid special attention to the girl.”


    “Jiang Ling? Why?” Chen Ge was confused.


    “ording to rumors, that Zhu woman ns to have the girl join the ceremony. At the time, I was also confused. This is the first time in decades that someone from the outside has joined the ceremony.” Ah Qing finally stopped struggling and allowed Chen Ge to grip his shoulder.


    <i>Did the woman notice Jiang Ling’s history? She ns to gift Jiang Ling to the female ghost? </i>Chen Ge started to think. <i>Zhu Xinrou is staying by Jiang Ling’s side, and she wouldn’t let any harme to Jiang Ling, so there are only two possibilities. Either Zhu woman has some method to suppress Zhu Xinrou, or Jiang Ling joined the ceremony voluntarily.</i>


    On the drawing that Fan Yu had left behind, he had written two words—Going Home. There had to be a reason they returned to Coffin Vige that night. Coincidentally, that day was the day the ghost stories society made their move and ced their target on Jiang Ling. All roads led back to Coffin Vige.


    <i>Other than the vigers at Coffin Vige, I have to be cautious of the society’s members. </i>Chen Ge released his grasp and patted Ah Qing’s shoulder lightly. “If possible, try to bring that thin boy out.”


    “Understood.” Ah Qing rubbed his shoulder. “When the ceremony starts, the whole vige will be affected. The maze will automatically be deactivated, and the sleeping monsters will awake. You’ll see this vige’s real face.”


    He spoke very fast, and he kept looking around. “There have been too many deaths in this vige, collecting a heavy amount of Yin energy. It’s the perfect birthing ground for ghosts and monsters. They will wake up following the ceremony. You have to be careful, don’t taunt them. After stealing the baby, leave immediately.”


    “But how are we supposed to steal the baby?”


    “The ceremony starts at the ancestral hall that is in the middle of the vige. All the children will be taken inside the ancestral hall, and then the procession will move toward the well that the woman died in. All you need to do is sneak into the ancestral hall after the procession leaves to find a baby with a copper coin around his neck and bring him away with you.” Ah Qing paused and took out a cloth from his pocket with hesitation. “The vigeyout can get quiteplicated. Some roads lead to hidden monsters and ghosts. If you want to leave, follow this map.”


    He handed the cloth to Chen Ge. “You have to save my son!”


    After that, Ah Qing left in a hurry. Chen Ge looked at the cloth in his hand. It was a simple map for Coffin Vige, and more than twenty spots were marked with a red cross.


    “He trusts us so much to leave the map with us? Isn’t he afraid we’ll leave without saving his child?” Master Bai looked at the map, and his heart was chilled. He had been to many ces with crosses when he was young, but at the time, it had been during the day.


    Chen Ge shook his head. “The man has nned this for a long time. He wouldn’tmit such a careless mistake. This could be a fake map and the real one is probably on the baby.”


    The streets outside started to change. All the whitenterns were extinguished at once, casting the whole vige into darkness. In the silence of the night, someone’s house was pushed open, and a woman’s voice rang in the dark.


    She seemed to be calling someone’s name like she was trying to rouse them. The doors were pushed open, and footsteps echoed on the street. The deformed viges exited their homes with masks on their faces. They held whitenterns in their hands, but none spoke. They passed the door of the old home Chen Ge’s group was hiding in and stopped about ten meters away. The woman’s screamed became clearer, and the weird vige was shedding its disguise.


    Night fell like silver, suffocating those underneath it. Blood stains started to surface on the vige’s clean walls, and scratch marks as well as knife marks appeared on the ground. The things that once happened at this vige had been bloodier and scarier than Ah Qing’s described. The story he told was probably part of the whole truth.


    The maze was broken, and where all the streets intertwined was an old ancestral hall. Standing just next to this building was a bright red coffin!


    The woman’s voice stopped. The deformed vigers stood before the ancestral hall. They looked like soulless puppets with their heads lowered and hands holding thenterns. No one spoke; the ce was deathly quiet.


    <i>Creak...</i>


    A door of a two-story building next to the ancestral hall was pushed open. The building was the tallest inside the vige and was also the best preserved. The darkened home puffed out a cold draft. Several minutester, a woman in a bright red dress came out of it. Her face was white and lips purple like a frozen dead person.


    Her eyes scanned all the vigers as she walked to the ancestral hall. She gesticted to the coffin three times, mumbling some localnguage. When she was done, several vigerse out of the crowd holding bamboo baskets. The baskets were covered with ayer of fabric, and the crying of babies came out from underneath it.


    The woman walked past them one by one, lifting the cloth off to inspect the product closely. When she came to the forth basket, she stopped and opened her lips to say something. The one holding the fourth basket was Ah Qing in his mask. His arms of different lengths shuddered like the woman was telling him something scary. After looking at all the babies, the woman pulled out a bloodied scissors from inside her sleeve.


    She stood beside the coffin and had the first viger ce the basket in the middle of the ancestral hall. Then she walked into the hall with the pair of scissors. The door closed, and the baby cried. The ques in the hall creaked, and all the vigers lowered their head with despair. Only the red coffin at the door emitted the echoes of augh.