Her Talent for Courting Death Has Always Been Impressive - Chapter 40 Part 1

Chapter 40: Why Don’t You Come Up with a Plan First

Time rewound to a few minutes earlier.

Xu Turan followed behind the woman with a high bun, turning into an unfamiliar corridor.

That corridor clearly didn’t belong to this time and space. According to the layout of this house, there shouldn’t be such a long corridor underground, let alone one so old—the wooden floorboards were warped, and the walls on both sides showed signs of peeling paint. In the cracks where the walls met the floor, you could even see some moss and fungi.

It seems this place must be quite damp.

Xu Turan made this judgment in her heart as she followed the woman into the room at the end of the corridor. Unfamiliar furnishings suddenly entered her vision, and the flickering candlelight made her eyes blur. Xu Turan blinked instinctively, and when she focused again, the woman had vanished.

Like a bubble floating in the cracks of time and space, bursting as soon as it was mentioned.

Having followed for nothing, Xu Turan decided to explore this strange room herself, taking out the Planchette Pen and deliberately waving it around.

“Hey, are you still alive? Time to work. Hey?”

The Planchette Pen remained motionless, as if dead.

Xu Turan tossed it aside and began studying the nearby decorations. This room had a very esoteric feel, with walls covered in mysterious murals and runes. In the middle of one wall was pasted that rules paper. Xu Turan guessed it must be a secret door.

The room was adorned with many lighting fixtures. Floor lamps stood in the corners, and wall lamps—or more accurately, candle holders—were on the walls. The faint candlelight flickered, stretching people’s shadows into grotesque shapes.

There were candles on the floor too. However, the arrangement of these candles was different from what Xu Turan had imagined. In her impression, candles used for rituals should be arranged in circles, stars… at least in some special shape.

But the candles here were arranged boringly. Just long rows, laid out in front of that secret door with the rules paper.

…It didn’t look like a ritual was being performed, more like a bunch of roadblocks.

Xu Turan’s mind stirred. She crouched down to take a closer look and suddenly noticed something glinting beneath the candlesticks.

It was water. A puddle of water was slowly seeping out from under the secret door.

Xu Turan touched the water with her finger, but when she rubbed her fingers together, it felt like hair. She looked up at the secret door in front of her, pursed her lips, and stood up to push it.

The stone door was heavy. She tried a few times before finally finding the correct way to apply force. Almost at the instant the door was pushed open a small crack, the danger prediction in her mind started beeping.

A strong smell of water permeated through the door crack. Xu Turan’s movements paused slightly, then she increased the force to push the door—

The door was fully opened, but darkness met her eyes.

The candlelight outside flickered, barely illuminating a small patch of the floor inside. Xu Turan cautiously peered in, picked up two candlesticks from the ground, and walked in.

The danger prediction beeped more frantically, accompanied by notifications of increasing Courting Death Value. 50 points of Courting Death Value was a bit measly. Xu Turan walked around the room holding the candlesticks but couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

This room was much smaller than the outer one, but clearly, this was where the real ritual took place. Strange bouquets, broken bones, and some extinguished gas lamps were arranged on the floor. There were also many empty cups and plates. The walls and floor were covered with unfamiliar patterns drawn in chalk. However, due to limited visibility, Xu Turan couldn’t make out the full picture.

She also found a piece of paper on the ground, covered in a large amount of gibberish text, looking like transliterated incantations.

…For this setup, only 50 points?

That doesn’t seem right.

Xu Turan felt something was off.

The paper was crumpled, as if it had been soaked in water, with a large patch of text in the middle blurred. With limited candlelight in her hands, Xu Turan thought about taking it outside to read, but just as she turned, her ears suddenly twitched.

She heard some sounds.

Although very faint, she was sure she heard them. Like the soft rustling of clothes.

The sound came from above.

Xu Turan paused, adjusted her posture, held up the candlestick, and looked up.

—Only then did she realize there were people floating above her head.

Yes, floating—not just one figure, but several, floating horizontally above her, their limbs limp and motionless, like mannequins.

Or rather… corpses.

Xu Turan remembered Yang Buqi once said that after the initial ritual, many people who had died from drowning appeared in this house. And when she opened the door, she also smelled a strong scent of water.

Most importantly, she had followed the water seeping from behind the door to come in. But from the start of her investigation until now, she had never found the source of the water.

…Did it not exist, or did it exist but she hadn’t noticed?

Xu Turan instinctively held her breath and reached out to feel around. As soon as her fingers went beyond the candlelight’s illumination, she clearly felt a hint of coolness.

Cool and moist. Like water flowing past her fingertips.

Xu Turan finally understood.

The water existed. It was everywhere. From the very beginning, she had been standing surrounded by water.

As for why the water hadn’t engulfed her yet, and why there were rows of candles outside the room…

Xu Turan glanced at the candlelight in her hand, forming a bold idea in her mind.

She carefully pocketed the items in the room, including that piece of paper, and then walked step by step towards the exit.

Just as she was about to step into the area illuminated by the candles outside, she suddenly stopped. Then, without hesitation, she blew out the candle in her hand!

A bone-chilling coldness instantly surged from all directions. The invisible water flow, like a giant mouth opening, engulfed her in an instant!

The notification of increasing Courting Death Value sounded in her mind again, this time directly adding 300… finally a decent amount.

A burning sensation came from her nostrils, and as the feeling of suffocation rose, it seemed as if countless threads were entangling her. Xu Turan struggled to open her eyes, feeling that everything before her had suddenly changed—

It seemed there was transparent liquid surging before her eyes. Through that layer of liquid, the previously dark room was now covered in a layer of light—although the light was neither blue nor green, it looked quite otherworldly.

With that light, Xu Turan finally saw clearly the layout of the room and the complete patterns drawn on the floor. In the next moment, her eyes flickered slightly, and she lifted her leg without hesitation—

The effect of “Ice No. 7” activated first, followed by “Unlucky Rabbit Leg”. The liquid surrounding Xu Turan made a faint crystallizing sound, then immediately received a powerful kick. The thin ice shattered, and the whole mass of liquid froze for a moment.

Xu Turan took advantage of this to break free, stepping into the circle of candlelight. Looking back, all she saw was darkness again.

She frowned slightly, closed the door and left the ritual room, then took out the paper with the incantations again. She tried to read it while silently summarizing her recent discoveries.