Mo Bai let out a low sound, cleared his throat, and then continued, "Let me tell the rest."

  They didn’t kill Xue Qiuqiu because she really could help them. She was a performer, skilled in makeup, and when necessary, she could create artificial faces as part of her work. She was very good at it. In the shortest time, she made three masks for Jing Ren, Jing Zhong, and Jing Hai that were identical to Lao Fu, Xu Mama, and Mo Bai. The masks she made were so well crafted that they were hard to distinguish from the real faces unless examined closely. Lao Fu then carefully sewed the masks onto their faces. The underground passage, which was filled with corpses, was sealed off, and the chair that led to the passage was dismantled and turned into an ordinary chair. They had to keep this secret.

  In the days that followed, they came up with an excuse to take the opera troupe far away from the temple. As for where Xu Neng, Jing Ren, Jing Zhong, and Jing Hai had gone, no one suspected that their disappearance had anything to do with the opera troupe.

  Everything was going smoothly. After leaving the temple, they could have parted ways with Xue Qiuqiu, but...

  No one knew how that cursed ledger appeared, but every time it did, it was always followed by a death within the opera troupe. Each time, a new name would be added to the ledger, and the troupe would descend into chaos. Only the four of them knew where the ledger came from, but they didn′t know how it appeared. They began to fear, realizing that there were many things in this world that couldn't be expined.

  Fortunately, misfortune never seemed to fall upon them directly. They discovered that those who died were always those who tried to escape or preferred solitude, while the four of them, who often stayed together, were the only ones to survive. They didn′t understand why, but they understood one thing: they couldn′t separate. They made a decision: the four of them would go to the capital together, and that damned bck ledger would be kept separately by each of them.

  Twenty years had passed, and the ledger had been passed between them, with nothing happening. However, at this moment, an old woman appeared.

  “To avenge your husband, you set a trap for us to fall into. You found a woman, one covered in needle marks, then you killed Xue Qiuqiu After that, you disguised yourself as Lao Fu and used ghostly tricks to scare us, making us return here. Finally, you pnned to kill us all. This was your scheme, wasn't it?”

  "I did indeed want to kill you, for my husband, who has already become a monk. Initially, I just randomly selected a corpse and sent it to Lao Fu. Then I stole that corpse, framed you for body-snatching, and pnned to have you imprisoned. Next, I intended to hide the corpse with Xue Qiuqiu, framing her as an accomplice of Lao Fu… You were all supposed to be in prison, part of my pn… But I never expected Xue Qiuqiu to die, and to die in the coffin I sent her."

  "It's not you..." Mo Bai's voice almost broke. He suddenly realized that they had been thinking too simplistically about the whole matter.

  The fragrance, an indescribable scent, suddenly wafted in from an unknown source.

  It was the incense, the narcotic smoke. By the time everyone realized it, they were already slumped on the ground.

  Xiao Xiang walked in with light, graceful steps. She gently sat on the uncomfortable chair, looking at everyone and saying, "You've all come back."

  "Xiao Xiang..." Mo Bai called out in a broken voice.

  Xiao Xiang merely gnced at him and said lightly, "All the debts can be settled today."

  "You... Who are you?" Xu Mama suddenly realized that she didn't recognize the Xiao Xiang standing before her.

  Xiao Xiang smiled and then unexpectedly began to sing a little tune...

  Lao Fu suddenly lifted his head, unwilling to believe the sound he was hearing.

  Xu Mama stuttered, unable to express the emotions flooding his mind.

  Mo Bai was dazed, certain that something was wrong with his hearing.

  Kong Bei's body began to tremble violently.

  They heard that familiar voice again, but how could it come from Xiao Xiang's mouth? Was it possible that the ghost of Xue Qiuqiu had possessed Xiao Xiang's body?