Chapter 140: The Blood-Scribed Letter
A Ghost Letter?
The term surfaced in the group chat, and both Yotsuya Miko and Lin Xuelao immediately recalled the strange item Kaguya had acquired back in the castle instance—a blood-stained letter. They remembered it was said to answer questions, but at the cost of the user's life force. Could something like that really be used to draw a map?
[Her Highness the Princess of Eientei]: "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have completely forgotten."
After sending the message, Kaguya reached into her long, flowing sleeve and began to rummage around. She searched for a long time, her hand emerging with a comical assortment of items: various potions in shimmering vials, several unidentifiable trinkets, and even a few cans of cola. The Ghost Letter, however, was nowhere to be found.
Haruto's expression was a study in subtlety as he silently typed his question into the group chat.
[The Most Handsome Boundary Youkai]: "You didn't throw it away, did you?"
[Her Highness the Princess of Eientei]: "I remember not throwing it away… After it was discovered by that person of yours… she returned it to me. In the end, I found the thing was useless, so I slammed it on the ground, and then… and then I went home."
[The Most Handsome Boundary Youkai]: "Oh, right. I forgot. It seems it's with me. I picked it up back then."
The moment he said this, Kaguya immediately put down her Ghost Phone, her gaze lifting to fix on him with a faint, knowing look.
Haruto reached into the darkness of a Gap, his hand disappearing into the swirling void. He felt around for a moment before his hand re-emerged, now holding an old, yellowed letter stained with a large patch of dried blood. Except for that smear of dark red in the center, the paper was completely blank. A fine-tipped pen was tied to its edge with a thin string. Most noticeably, a jagged tear ran almost completely through its middle, leaving it on the verge of being ripped in two.
[Lin Xuelao]: "Let me do it."
Although Lin Xuelao had never used a Ghost Letter, she had read about similar cursed artifacts on the player forums. The price for using such life-consuming items was always enormous.
[The Most Handsome Boundary Youkai]: "You don't know? Kaguya is a Person of Penglai."
A Person of Penglai?
Seeing those three words, Lin Xuelao was utterly lost. She was aware that Kaguya and Haruto weren't human, but that was the extent of her knowledge.
[Yotsuya Miko]: "A Person of Penglai refers to a being that has consumed the Penglai Elixir. Their body and soul are frozen at the exact moment they took the medicine. In other words, for Sister Kaguya, that life-draining side effect is completely non-existent."
As she read the messages in the group chat, Lin Xuelao's silver-white eyes widened with disbelief. Her gaze fell upon Kaguya. Wouldn't that be the equivalent of being truly immortal?
[The Most Handsome Boundary Youkai]: "Just as Miko said. Logically, as long as it's given enough life force, it can be used like an upgraded version of a Ouija board."
After typing the message, Haruto handed the tattered Ghost Letter to Kaguya, who silently sent a message of her own.
[Her Highness the Princess of Eientei]: "I remember you have an immortal body, too."
[The Most Handsome Boundary Youkai]: "I'm afraid of pain."
[Her Highness the Princess of Eientei]: "I object! You'd better get used to it. As a long-lived species, how is this any different from a child being afraid of shots at the hospital? When the time comes, you can accompany me and that damn Mokou to eat Offal Soup. We've been eating it for so many years and are getting bored; let's add some new flavor."
[The Most Handsome Boundary Youkai]: "How old am I, and how old are you?"
Reading this, Kaguya finally remembered that this shameless fellow had been a Boundary Youkai for less than three years. Even by the standards of an ordinary human, he really wasn't that old.
But she still typed back righteously.
[Her Highness the Princess of Eientei]: "I'm training you in advance for your own good. At worst, you can just provide some of the ingredients when the time comes. That deadbeat Mokou and I will handle the cooking."
[The Most Handsome Boundary Youkai]: "Thanks for the invite, but I'll pass. Maybe on the day I become as twisted as you two."
[Lin Xuelao]: "What is Offal Soup?"
[Yotsuya Miko]: "+1."
Miko's golden eyes were also alight with curiosity. She had indeed heard Haruto mention the term during the instance, but they had never explained it in detail.
[The Most Handsome Boundary Youkai]: "You won't want to know."
His cryptic warning only made Yotsuya Miko and Lin Xuelao even more curious. Eventually, Kaguya provided an explanation.
[Her Highness the Princess of Eientei]: "It's nothing, really. It's just a stew where some organ meats and scraps are thrown in, handmade by me and that deadbeat Mokou."
[The Most Handsome Boundary Youkai]: "@Yotsuya Miko @Lin Xuelao Whatever you do, don't say you want to try it. Before you say anything, you might want to ask what kind of meat it is."
Yotsuya Miko and Lin Xuelao silently deleted the words they had halfway typed. A truly outrageous guess suddenly exploded in their minds.
If they hadn't seen Haruto's warning, they might have treated it as some ordinary, if unappetizing, dish. But after seeing it, they immediately connected the dots: Kaguya was an immortal Person of Penglai. Her rival, Mokou, was as well. Combined with Haruto's disgusted attitude, the answer was horrifyingly obvious.
A sudden, involuntary shiver ran through both of them. They finally understood where Kaguya's earlier confidence—'if it were human flesh, I couldn't possibly fail to taste it'—had come from.
[Yotsuya Miko]: "Brother Haruto, Sister Kaguya, let's ask about the important business quickly. After we get the map, we still have to get going. Otherwise, in three days, the nuclear bomb will fall. It's better not to trouble Yukari-nee if we can help it."
Hearing this, Kaguya could only resign herself to being the scapegoat once more. She picked up the fine pen and scribbled a sentence on the letter.
[Draw me a detailed map of Zhedong Abandoned Town, marking the location of the escape point and the route.]
The next moment, the fine pen floated into the air on its own. Everyone watched, full of expectation. But the pen tip only hovered over the paper, hesitating again and again. Finally, without writing a single line, it slowly fell back onto the letter.
Kaguya spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness before sending a message in the group chat.
[Her Highness the Princess of Eientei]: "I told you this thing is trash. It can't answer anything."
If it hadn't tried to take payment in advance this time, she would have definitely torn it to shreds on the spot.
[The Most Handsome Boundary Youkai]: "Could it be that Yukari-nee tore it? Isn't this thing already halfway ripped?"
[Yotsuya Miko]: "Actually… could it be that your question was too difficult? How about asking a simpler one and letting it draw as much as it can?"
Hearing this, Kaguya raised an eyebrow. She picked up the pen again and wrote another sentence on the blood-stained paper.
[Draw a simple route map leading to Zhedong Abandoned Town.]
The pen moved again.
This time, the Ghost Letter reacted. The fine pen zipped across the paper, quickly sketching out a simple map. On it appeared winding mountain roads, stretches of abandoned highway, and the skeletal outlines of surrounding buildings. There was even a small, pulsing red dot marked on the map, which was clearly their current location.
Kaguya held up the map for everyone to see.
Haruto compared it with their immediate surroundings. After confirming that the information was at least accurate for their vicinity, he nodded. Yotsuya Miko quickly took a photo of the map with her phone, while Lin Xuelao earnestly committed the route to memory.
With a plan in hand, Kaguya pried the garage door open once more.
The five of them stepped back out onto the main street. The road was now completely empty. The shattered limbs and viscera of the player from earlier had vanished without a trace, as if the very ground had devoured them clean.
As they examined the map further, they noticed the routes were marked with different colors. Although there was no legend, they could guess that these likely indicated the main encampments for different types of monsters. For example, the area they had just passed through was dominated by Human-Faced Beetles, but other insects still existed. Back in the garage, Haruto's heightened senses could still detect things similar to parasites nesting within the desiccated corpses, a grim reminder of the diverse horrors that awaited them.
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