Chapter 71: Sincerely Courting Death
Ma Ling, with her repeated "Old Man Wu" this and "Old Man Wu" that, made the other members of the Wu family quite uncomfortable. In their eyes, Ma Ling's personality was too wild, utterly lacking in manners.
In Lecheng, how many people didn't treat the Wu family with the utmost politeness? And as for their Old Master, they treated him with extreme respect. They had truly never encountered anyone as unruly as Ma Ling.
When Ma Ling had first shown disrespect towards Old Master Wu, the Wu family had tolerated it. But now, this wild girl was still behaving the same way, and the other members of the Wu family, including Wu Xiaoxiao, were starting to lose their patience.
However, before any of these Wu family members could erupt, Old Master Wu quelled them with a single glance.
"Haha, don't worry, little girl Ma Ling. Whether the three of you handle it individually or together, as long as the strange occurrences in the house are properly resolved, the agreed-upon price will not be a single New Beginning Coin less. It will all be delivered into your three hands," Old Master Wu said with a chuckle, appearing quite magnanimous.
Watching Old Master Wu's seemingly cheerful smile, Yang Haoran couldn't help but sigh inwardly, marveling that this old man had indeed weathered many storms and was excellent at concealing his emotions.
Before Wang Yiming and Ma Ling had arrived, his face had been clouded with worry. At that time, he hadn't taken Yang Haoran seriously, so he hadn't bothered to hide his true feelings. But after the two appeared, he hadn't shown any more signs of distress, remaining jovial instead.
In Yang Haoran's opinion, Old Master Wu's constant cheerfulness was merely a facade to avoid revealing his true emotions to outsiders. In reality, he was likely still quite anxious.
Upon hearing Old Master Wu's words, Ma Ling immediately seemed displeased. "I do the work, and they get the same money? That's really unfair! Oh, forget it, forget it. It's just a small matter anyway. Let them just get an easy ride along with me."
"It's already mealtime. Let's eat first, and then I'll explain everything in detail to the three of you. To welcome you, I've had the chef prepare many good things," Old Master Wu said with a smile.
"No bother, eating and talking works just as well," Wang Yiming stated with a straight face.
Old Master Wu smiled, not immediately responding to Wang Yiming, but instead turned his gaze to Ma Ling.
"Eating and talking is fine, I'm hungry anyway. What we eat doesn't matter, as long as there's alcohol."
Ma Ling happily licked her lips. From her appearance, she seemed to be a lover of drink.
"Haha, rest assured, there's plenty of wine! And it's from my personal collection. You can drink as much as you want," Old Master Wu chuckled.
"Then I have no problem. You can ask him," Ma Ling said, pointing to Yang Haoran beside her.
Old Master Wu's gaze fell on Yang Haoran, and he asked with a smile, "Little Brother Haoran, what do you think?"
"As the guest, I'll defer to the host. I'll listen to Old Master Wu," Yang Haoran replied.
"Alright then, we'll eat and talk."
Old Master Wu didn't ask for anyone else's opinion. After consulting Yang Haoran and the other two, he made his decision and called the butler to arrange the meal.
At the dining table, Old Master Wu had all the servants withdraw. While dining, he recounted in detail the recent events that had occurred in the house.
He explained everything meticulously, with Wu Xiaoxiao occasionally adding details.
So, this is what happened:
Wu Xiaoxiao was currently attending university out of town. With the New Year approaching and school on break, Wu Xiaoxiao returned to Lecheng.
Although the Wu family owned villas in other cities, Lecheng was their ancestral root. At Old Master Wu's age, he simply wished to spend his twilight years in Lecheng.
Old Master Wu was the pillar of the family and its elder. If he stayed in Lecheng, then for a special occasion like the New Year, the entire family would naturally stay in Lecheng. It was precisely for this reason that Wu Xiaoxiao also returned.
Wu Xiaoxiao was a lively person, but sometimes also quite willful. Furthermore, she enjoyed seeking out thrills, finding pleasure in excitement, and she was particularly interested in anything related to the supernatural.
So, upon her return to Lecheng, finding herself bored, she decided to play the Pen Spirit game, which had always been popular at her university, right here in this villa.
She had played Pen Spirit with classmates at school before, and other spirit-summoning games too, never encountering any problems. But what she hadn't expected was that this time, playing Pen Spirit alone, she would run into trouble.
"Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit,"
Wearing oversized pajamas, Wu Xiaoxiao held a pen in one hand, playing the Pen Spirit game by herself in her bedroom, chanting the summoning incantation.
However, what puzzled her was that after she finished chanting, the pen in her hand showed no reaction, remaining motionless. There was no scientific explanation, no phenomenon of her hand moving on its own after being suspended in the air for a while, or anything of the sort.
Feeling perplexed, she closed her eyes and chanted the incantation several more times, yet still, there was no effect.
"That's strange. Even if the Pen Spirit doesn't come, my hand should still react while suspended like this. Even a cramp would be fine!"
Wu Xiaoxiao grumbled, undeterred, she chanted the incantation a few more times. Yet, just like before, the pen she held remained completely still.
"Is it that you can't summon the Pen Spirit alone?"
Looking at the pen in her hand, Wu Xiaoxiao couldn't help but entertain this conjecture, but then she immediately dismissed it, as she had long heard that one could indeed play Pen Spirit alone.
She tried one more time, but the result was the same; the pen still didn't react.
Wu Xiaoxiao was starting to get annoyed. She had wanted to summon the Pen Spirit to ask if she would lose weight this year, and if she could finally wear shoes with laces. But she had chanted the incantation over and over, and the Pen Spirit hadn't appeared, not even a hint of its presence.
"They say if you sincerely court death, the Pen Spirit will definitely appear. Looks like that's just a rumor, a fake, just like love."
Muttering her dissatisfaction, Wu Xiaoxiao was about to toss the pen aside and go to sleep, so she'd have energy for her diet tomorrow. But then, to her pleasant surprise, she discovered that the pen she had been holding was stuck to her hand like a stubborn plaster.
That's right, it was a pleasant surprise, not terror.
She had assumed the Pen Spirit hadn't been summoned, so she felt quite disappointed. However, when she noticed the pen magically clinging to her palm, she realized she was wrong; the Pen Spirit must have arrived.
Her singular desire had been to summon the Pen Spirit, and seeing this scene was a delightful turn of events for her. Naturally, she was overjoyed.
She looked at the pen in her palm. To confirm if the Pen Spirit had truly arrived, she excitedly used her other hand to yank at it a few times. The pen didn't budge an inch, as if it were fused with her palm.
Wu Xiaoxiao jumped up with excitement, all sleepiness vanished. Far from feeling scared, she found it fun and thrilling.
"Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, will I lose weight next year?"
With a heart full of excitement, Wu Xiaoxiao once again gripped the pen, placed it on the paper, and asked her first question—the one she cared about most.
It was said that the Pen Spirit had the ability to foresee the future, so Wu Xiaoxiao, who habitually gorged herself, loved sleep, and never exercised, wanted to know if she would slim down next year if she continued this way.
Actually, she didn't need to play Pen Spirit to answer this question; looking at a pig would give her the answer. Why bother asking the Pen Spirit?
However, with her passive approach to losing weight, she just wanted to know if a miracle would happen. Plus, she was bored alone, and playing such a thrilling game seemed like the best way to pass the time.
But the pen still didn't move.
Wu Xiaoxiao grew puzzled. Looking at the pen she tightly clutched, she muttered to herself, "Is the question I asked too tricky?"
Thinking this, she decided to ask a simpler question.
"Pen Spirit, Pen Spirit, will I find a boyfriend next year?"
The pen remained motionless.
Wu Xiaoxiao was getting angry. Though she rarely lost her temper, her young lady's temper flared up immediately.
"It's already standing, yet you're not moving! Do you want me to move you myself? What are you doing? Just give up already!"
Wu Xiaoxiao was furious. She flung the paper on the table away and then used her other hand to pull at the pen stuck to her palm.
But no matter how hard she pulled, the pen in her palm could not be removed.
Gradually, hot sweat beaded on her forehead. Her excitement and joy slowly dissipated, and fear crept into her heart.
She pulled with all her might for a full half-hour, but the pen still wouldn't come off her palm. Instead, her palm was throbbing with pain from her efforts.
At this moment, Wu Xiaoxiao started to panic, and regret began to set in.
If she had known this would happen, she never would have courted disaster like this.
However, what she didn't expect was that the pen sticking to her palm was only the beginning. The truly terrifying, despair-inducing events were yet to come.
Another ten minutes passed. Wu Xiaoxiao's chubby face was covered in sweat, and she was panting heavily, clearly exhausted.
She had tried everything she could to remove the pen from her palm, finally giving up. She decided to go to the hospital tomorrow to see if a doctor could help.
As this thought crossed her mind, a sudden, excruciating pain shot through her palm. The intense pain made her body tremble involuntarily.
She quickly looked at her palm, only to see the pen, which was stuck to her palm, slowly embedding itself into her flesh at a visible rate.
There was no wound, no blood flowing out. The pen simply merged into her hand, like a red-hot iron rod sinking into ice.
The intense pain contorted Wu Xiaoxiao's entire face. She let out a scream, frantically pulling at the pen in her palm.
At this moment, any trace of excitement she might have felt vanished. All that remained was terror, an unprecedented terror.
Immediately after, an even more horrifying scene unfolded: the paper she had clearly flung away had, at some unknown point, returned to the table. Under her horrified gaze, a drawing slowly began to appear on the paper.
P. S. : If you find this readable, please add it to your collection. It's already over 200,000 words, but only forty collections. That's making me ecstatic.
The author's ability is limited. If the work isn't to your taste and you really can't keep reading, I hope you won't scold me. Please be understanding and just quietly leave. I'll be grateful to you for being a good person.
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