Her Talent for Courting Death Has Always Been Impressive - Chapter 43 Part 1

Chapter 43: I Have Good News, Let Me Tell You Quietly

What they were in now was not the true past, but rather fragments of bygone days produced by the ability of Haunted House No. 71.

These fragments had their own boundaries and were not on the same linear axis as reality. Strictly speaking, it was more like a miniature domain within a domain—here, there was its own set of logic in operation. As long as a cause was planted, an effect would be produced, even if this effect contradicted true reality.

For example, the original sacrificial candidate who was saved by Pu Han but ended up dying from a fall; or the “young version of Haunted House No. 71” that Xu Turan was now trying to summon.

“The fragment I was in before should have been later… By that time, they already knew how to perform the correct ritual,” Xu Turan confidently told Pu Han while drawing runes on the ground according to the notebook. “And I’ve already seen the living young version of No. 71! This proves that the young version and the adult version can coexist!”

“Let me correct you, in reality, there will only be an adult version. The young version is just a phantom that can only exist in space-time fragments…” Pu Han said, unable to help himself as he lowered his head to help sort out flowers and herbs. “But even if it’s a phantom, I still think this is a bit too risky.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t him helping to sort out the flowers and herbs, but Feifei. Unlike Pu Han, she was quite supportive of Xu Turan’s suggestion, which in turn made Pu Han’s protests less resolute.

In comparison, the only named abomination present—the Planchette Pen—had the strongest reaction.

It had been making a fuss since Xu Turan declared her intention to summon Haunted House No. 71. At first, it was just floating in the air in protest, but after being impatiently swatted away twice by Xu Turan, it changed to shaking a sign—it wrote 8 large characters in red ink in the air: “Reject evil gods, reject summoning,” and kept controlling these two lines to sway back and forth above Xu Turan’s head.

It could even make them glow, truly looking like a light-up sign.

It protested so earnestly that even Pu Han beside them was a bit dumbfounded—unlike Xu Turan, he roughly knew the background of this pen. So from his perspective, this “light-up sign” was hard not to call surreal…

“That’s enough from you,” Xu Turan called out, unable to bear it any longer. “You’re acting as if you’ve never done anything similar.”

She had heard it all back then, this pen saying it had “believers.” Even talking about some “stigmata”… Who would believe it if it said it had never been a cult leader?

Planchette Pen: @#$%!

What cult leader? I’m above the cult leader!

The Planchette Pen started making a fuss about another point, and Xu Turan splashed some water on it, freezing it directly in the air, then turned to approach Pu Han with the notebook.

“The runes and materials are almost ready. The only problem is this incantation. I can’t see clearly in the middle…”

She handed over the paper that was blurred for half of it: “Can you ‘read’ the content on it?”

Pu Han took the paper, his eyes unfocused for a moment, then he nodded slightly: “I can see it. But there are a few characters in the middle that I’m not very sure about…”

No wonder, Xu Turan thought. After all, the whole thing was full of gibberish like “yi-ah-yi-wu”, with no logic from beginning to end, it was indeed easy to make mistakes…

“That’s not it,” Pu Han looked up, as if seeing through what she was thinking. “This is a language—with its own set of language rules. It’s just that those people didn’t understand, so they recorded it like this.”

“Language?” Xu Turan was confused, “Which language?”

“Not sure. But what can be certain is that, like this ritual, it was all learned by Haunted House No. 71 from the dreams of evolution…” Pu Han mumbled, noticing Xu Turan’s even more confused expression, he suddenly realized.

“Oh right, you haven’t encountered this kind of thing yet, have you? Those dreams used for upgrading, what we usually call ‘servers’, you can pay attention next time—they’re not just for upgrading. Sometimes, people will pick up some random drops in them, like knowledge…”

So ability users could draw advanced runes that could be used. Abominations could master rituals that made them manifest or become stronger. These things didn’t appear out of thin air, but were passed down from a more distant, higher place, falling on the small paths in dreams in the form of fragments, and then seen or picked up by fortunate travelers.

Xu Turan made an “eh” sound, and said instinctively: “But Yang Buqi said that runes were developed by ability users…”

Before she finished speaking, she understood.

Others had also said that ordinary ability users wouldn’t remember the scenes in their dreams.

Some things seemed to appear suddenly in the mind, like a flash of inspiration. In reality, they were seen in dreams.

“That’s indeed the case. But in reality, the runes that can be picked up in dreams are all quite basic. The ones commonly used now have been pieced together and improved, so saying ‘developed’ isn’t wrong either… Ouch.” Pu Han raised his hand to rub his temple. “There are still two places I can’t see clearly. The things abominations learn are different from ability users, there are some points I really don’t understand…”

“There’s even this difference…” Xu Turan pursed her lips.

Outside the door, the cultists were still crashing against it, making the hospital bed braced against the door clang loudly. Xu Turan glanced at the sound, her gaze suddenly falling on the Planchette Pen floating in the air.

Xu Turan: …

Planchette Pen: …?

It paused for a moment, seeming to realize something, the “Reject evil gods” sign above its head became bigger and brighter.

Xu Turan pretended not to see it and spoke directly:

“Planchette Pen, answer me. What is the complete content of this incantation?”

Planchette Pen: …

It struggled on the spot for a moment, erased the light-up sign, and wrote in the air 《Chaos Stele Chapter 15》.

Xu Turan: … I didn’t ask you about that.

Seeing that the other party was deliberately being difficult, she didn’t rush. She sat on the hospital bed, her back against the door panel, one hand resting on her bent knee, and spoke again unhurriedly:

“Then, Planchette Pen, please tell me in the shortest time possible.”

“This incantation you mentioned, when transliterated into Chinese characters, how many strokes are there in total?”

Planchette Pen: …

Damn. You bastard.

Theoretically, this shouldn’t take too long.

Pu Han had actually restored most of the incantation, with only a small part in the middle missing. If the Planchette Pen added a few characters, the complete incantation would be pieced together.

The problem was, this pen was bad at math—this flaw was just like young Haunted House No. 71’s fear of fire, innate, and still couldn’t overcome it to this day.

This led to the situation where, even though it had read the complete incantation, it still couldn’t count the strokes clearly as it went round and round. In the end, it simply lay flat against the wall and resigned itself to start writing from the beginning.

Pu Han looked at it with a complex expression: “That pen…”

“It’s fine, don’t mind it.” Xu Turan made a final check of all the ritual instruments and materials’ placement, quickly left a message on the rules paper, put it away, and at the same time stuffed several lighters and candles into her pocket.

“Everything’s almost ready. You can start.”