Chapter 11
It took everyone a full half-day to successfully clean every nook and cranny of the stage. Only after all the dust was gone did the secrets that had been sealed for years truly come to light. Starting from the steps in the corner, strange, twisted, blood-red patterns leaped into view, snaking their way under the dim yellow light like paths leading to hell. Anyone who had ever stepped on this stage—
None had been spared.
The patterns had been specially treated. Shallow grooves were carved into the old wood, filled with colors of varying depths. In some places, the blood had turned a glossy black, while the freshest color was precisely where the male student had first discovered it.
The bizarre runes encircled the entire stage, their start and end points nearly connecting, transforming this ancient stage into a man-eating sacrificial altar. The mere sight of it was enough to make one’s heart pound with fear.
Xu Meng stared blankly at the gap in the connecting lines, her mind a complete void. She staggered back two steps in a daze, only to collapse to the ground from weakness.
“Can we not go back?”
Her silent whisper drifted on the wind in the quiet night. The sound was soft, yet it struck everyone’s ears like a clap of thunder, powerful enough to push them into despair.
The reason was simple: the empty groove required exactly six more strokes to complete.
The freshest splash of blood undoubtedly represented Ren Linlin.
A chill rose in Jiang Liu’s heart when she understood. Chen Si had mentioned that this would be the last performance Granny Chen would watch. At first, Jiang Liu had assumed it was due to her health, that her time was coming to an end.
Only now did she realize that it was their time that was coming to an end.
She found it hard to imagine how many lives had been used to fill in this bloody tableau, stroke by stroke, to create such a grand sacrificial scene.
The room was deathly silent. Even Ren Linlin had stopped her rehearsal at some point and was now standing quietly to the side, staring blankly at the newest addition of blood.
Creak—
In the dim night, the main gate was pushed open from the outside. It was Chen Si.
The male student who had been dragged off by Ren Linlin for extra practice suddenly erupted in curses. He stormed towards the door, hastily knocking over a table and chairs in the front row. The series of clattering noises startled Chen Si, who was carrying a food container.
“Senior brother, what are you…?”
Before she could finish, he kicked out at her. Chen Si screamed in fright, instinctively using the food container to block the blow. The kick landed squarely, and scalding hot soup spilled from the container’s seams, making her cry out in pain. The container fell to the ground with a thud, and the steamed buns from the top layer rolled out, covered in dust.
Still not satisfied, the student threw a punch at Chen Si’s face. Veins bulged on his fist in his fury, his voice desperate and helpless, clearly on the verge of a breakdown.
“Let me go home! I want to go home!”
But the punch never landed on Chen Si.
In that brief moment, Jiang Liu had already rushed behind Chen Si. Her seemingly delicate hands gripped the male student’s wrist. Her body, which gave the illusion it would snap at the slightest pressure, contained immense explosive power. The student’s face turned pale as he cried out in pain.
“It hurts! Let me go!”
He broke out in a cold sweat from the pain, his eyes glaring venomously at Jiang Liu as he cursed, “She’s a demon! Everyone here is a demon! Let me go, I want to go home!”
But no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t break free from Jiang Liu’s grip and could only glare at her, his face flushed red.
Jiang Liu just watched him quietly, her expression calm with a hint of pity. She let him vent his emotions without offering any comfort or trying to stop him.
Under her gaze, all the male student’s thoughts were laid bare.
He didn’t know how much time had passed or how long he had been cursing. He finally lost the standoff, his voice gradually turning into a sob as he collapsed weakly to the ground, crying his heart out.
Only then did he realize that Jiang Liu had long since let go.
Chen Si trembled as she took two steps back, grabbing the corner of Jiang Liu’s shirt. Her expression shifted from terror to confusion. Her misty eyes looked at Jiang Liu, her voice light and unreal.
“Sister Liu, did something happen?”
No one could answer that question.
Chen Si didn’t know what her mother had done. Perhaps she was innocent, and no one present could bring themselves to harm a defenseless young girl. But—were they not innocent?
The male student’s loud sobs infected most of the people present, and the atmosphere became tense and deadlocked. Even Jiang Liu could only look at Chen Si’s bright eyes, her mouth opening and closing, unable to say a word.
She would rather be facing the person who dared to confront her than let Chen Si know the truth about her mother. She had no idea how to tell her where all her former senior brothers and sisters had gone.
But no matter how long she looked at Chen Si, the girl just clutched her shirt tighter, her expression still one of bewilderment.
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her mind was made up.
“It’s nothing. Rehearsals are too tiring. Just let him rest for a bit.”
Jiang Liu patted her shoulder, the warmth of her palm carrying a calming power.
Chen Si stared at her and blinked, nodding in a daze. It was unclear if she believed it or not. She silently let go of Jiang Liu’s shirt, bent down to pick up the dusty buns, wiped them off, and put them in her pocket before righting the clean food container.
“Then I won’t disturb you any longer.”
After doing all this, as if realizing something, she gave the weeping student one last look and strode away.
As the gate closed, the courtyard once again fell into silence.
Jiang Liu took a deep breath, bent down in front of the student who was sobbing uncontrollably, and extended a hand. Her tone was gentle. “No matter what, we can’t just wait to die. Let’s eat first.”
The male student had cried himself out. He just looked at Jiang Liu with red eyes, his mouth opening silently.
He knew crying wouldn’t solve anything, but after being inexplicably thrown into this place and learning that he was doomed no matter what he did, the tightly wound string in his mind had finally snapped.
He had thought Jiang Liu would mock him, that everyone would ostracize him.
But when he braced himself and looked up, he saw everyone forcing a smile. Even Yellow Hair, who he had been at odds with, gave him a small wave.
It was as if something was mending his heart, reattaching and reforging that broken string, making it stronger bit by bit.
He moved his mouth again, finally breaking into a smile through his tears. He took Jiang Liu’s offered hand to stand up and hastily wiped his eyes. “Let’s eat.”
The farce was finally over, and the atmosphere gradually warmed. The group, which had been somewhat fractured, was now finally united.
Zhang Xiaochen tilted his head back and gulped down some cold tea, saying fiercely, “Jiang Liu is right. No matter what, we can’t just sit here and wait to die.”
If they struggled, there was still a chance. If they did nothing, they might really lose their lives.
Xu Shu adjusted his glasses, deep in thought. “But what can we do to clear the level?”
Granny Chen was elusive, they couldn’t even see her. How were they supposed to take the next step?
Jiang Liu suddenly looked up, her gaze falling upon the stage. Now that she understood the truth, the once-ordinary stage was coated in a layer of blood.
Every night she went on stage, she was treading on who knows how many lives.
She stared at the stage, lost in thought, and suddenly uttered a cryptic sentence, “Do you think the Troupe Master wants to be revived?”
“What?”
Zhang Xiaochen didn’t hear clearly and asked instinctively.
Jiang Liu returned to her senses, her fingers tapping unconsciously on the table. “What if the Troupe Master doesn’t want to be revived at all?”
This time she spoke clearly. The soft words had just landed when Zhang Xiaochen replied.
He clicked his tongue and said dismissively, “Aren’t all people like that? When they’re alive, they want to live forever. When they’re dead, they want to be revived. How could she not want to?”
If not for that, how could a work like The Peony Pavilion have been created?
The others agreed with this view. After all, no one wanted to die. If there was a real chance to return to the world of the living, who wouldn’t want it?
Jiang Liu, however, rarely lost her smile, but now her eyes were dark and unreadable. “There are always two sides to every story. Immortality is certainly something to aspire to, but living without purpose is just as painful.”
Zhang Xiaochen felt a little uneasy under her gaze and shrugged nonchalantly. “You say that like you’ve lived forever.”
Jiang Liu raised her eyelids but didn’t reply, changing the subject instead.
“I’m going on stage again tonight.”
She wanted to confirm if the voice she heard from the depths of the sea of fire was just her imagination.
Xu Meng bit her lip and looked at Jiang Liu with concern. “Why don’t you let me do it? I trust you won’t let me die.”
The number of times each person played Du Liniang was random. As scared as she was, she didn’t want Jiang Liu to bear the burden time and time again.
Besides… Xu Meng’s gaze fell on Jiang Liu’s left arm. There were already two wounds on it.
Before Jiang Liu could refuse, Xu Shu also stood up.
“I’ll do it. You took my place once, I’ll repay you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the remaining people, including the two students, tremblingly raised their hands, all wanting to share Jiang Liu’s burden.
Jiang Liu looked at this group of people who were crying just a moment ago and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The chill that had arisen from the stage was dispelled by this kindness, transforming into a gentle, warm current that flowed into her heart.
How long has it been since I felt this way?
Jiang Liu couldn’t help but laugh at herself.
Her past life had been happy, from what she could remember. But for some reason, she always felt like she was forgetting something.
However—that wasn’t the most important thing right now.
She shook her head, dispelling the extraneous thoughts, and looked at everyone with a smiling gaze.
“You all have other things to do.”
***
With everyone’s cooperation, Jiang Liu once again plunged into the sea of fire as she had wished.
Having experienced it several times before, she had grown accustomed to it. She skillfully ignored the dangers around her and focused her attention on the deepest part of the fiery sea, trying to find that figure.
The soaring flames were no longer a threat to her, and the choking sensation of suffocation was just an illusion. She had a group of companions by her side; she was no longer alone.
They would do their best to catch her, to prevent her from truly falling in.
With this thought clear in her mind, Jiang Liu’s senses became sharper and calmer. She finally found that shadow in the deepest part of the fire.
“Leave quickly…”
It was that voice again.
It wasn’t her imagination. Someone really wanted them to leave.
Instead of waking herself up as she usually did, Jiang Liu controlled her consciousness and descended in front of the figure. Only then was the face completely revealed to her.
The young Troupe Master stood in the very center of the flames. Countless flames licked upwards, but she paid them no mind, simply staring at Jiang Liu, her face streaked with tears, her expression earnest.
“Please, help me.”