Chapter 87: The Red Veil Face

Once again, the yellow paper appeared—an important symbol in this mission!

This time, it was created entirely by the elderly lady’s personal maid, Xiao Lan.

Before her now stood a massive black figure, hovering in the air.

Thick, uneven black smoke rose, merging with the surrounding mist to form a terrifying ghostly silhouette.

Tongguan felt his scalp tingle the moment he glimpsed it.

So far, the information they had gathered was extremely limited. The key intelligence about the Ghost Bride remained in the hands of Ji Li, who had fallen behind.

For Tongguan and Chang Nian, this was the first time they had ever seen the power of the ghost firsthand.

A red robe, deep as blood, wrapped the figure entirely like a wedding dress. Thick black hair flowed all the way to the feet, stretching unnaturally long. The face was obscured, but the form unmistakably feminine.

Xiao Lan’s behavior grew increasingly erratic—she was laughing.

The cackling sounded strangled and unnatural, as though something had been lodged in her throat.

Tongguan’s worst fear came true: Xiao Lan’s midnight ritual had indeed drawn the ghost out.

What disturbed him most was why Xiao Lan seemed to know this ghost—or even be able to summon it with just the paper-burning.

Chang Nian watched the scene anxiously, understanding the grave danger.

Xiao Lan seemed completely unaware of the threat she had invoked. To her, perhaps her past connection to the ghost mattered little, but once it became a ghost, human considerations meant nothing.

If Xiao Lan didn’t leave now, she was certain to die. But she shouldn’t die like this.

At the very least, Chang Nian needed to learn everything Xiao Lan knew before that happened.

“She must be saved! We have to save her!”

Tomorrow morning, the elderly lady would summon them for another meeting, and under the control of toxins, they would have no choice but to obey.

The Li Mansion’s plans were clearly far from simple and likely tied closely to the supernatural.

They had to gain some measure of control before the meeting.

Now, Xiao Lan, the key informant, was right in front of them—but so was the ghost.

Tongguan found himself paralyzed by indecision. Honestly, if Chang Nian weren’t there, he would have dashed in and rescued her without thinking.

Yet with her presence, he became overly cautious.

In mere seconds, Tongguan considered four or five strategies, only to discard each one.

His flaw of overthinking and under-deciding resurfaced. Originally, Tongguan had not been this way. Over years of searching alone for the truth about his parents, he was decisive and relentless.

But his concern for Chang Nian now made his weaknesses glaringly obvious and growing.

Meanwhile, seeing Tongguan hesitate, Chang Nian acted decisively. She dashed into the alley without a word, heading straight for Xiao Lan—and the ghost.

Tongguan was too late to stop her, but he remained rooted, watching, calculating.

She had gone; all that remained for him was to think about escape.

Chang Nian pushed herself to full speed, sprinting toward her target. She didn’t hear Tongguan following but felt a measure of relief. Even if things went wrong, they couldn’t leave both Xiao Lan and herself behind.

Focused solely on rescuing this key informant, she closed the distance within seconds and grabbed Xiao Lan’s shoulder from behind.

Immediately, Xiao Lan resisted fiercely.

“What are you doing! Leaving the mansion at night, you’ll be punished by the madam!”

Even now, she stubbornly refused to obey, believing the ghost would not harm her.

Chang Nian rolled her eyes. Old-fashioned thinking.

Regardless, handling Xiao Lan was simple with her skill. She pressed her hands on Xiao Lan’s wrists; with slight force, Xiao Lan shrieked in pain. Taking advantage of her weakness, Chang Nian grabbed her belt and arms, dragging her away from the braziers and the ghost.

Chang Nian noticed she wasn’t particularly fast—being this close to the ghost made her limbs feel stiff, as if submerged in cold water.

Yet the ghost remained silent, hovering and observing, not making a move.

This puzzled Chang Nian, but there was no time to dwell.

“Do you know this ghost?”

Chang Nian, worried about running out of time, pulled Xiao Lan along while speaking in a low, urgent voice.

Xiao Lan seemed lost in madness, her words slurred: “Yes… but when she wears red, she becomes so beautiful… it’s a shame I’ll never wear it in my life…”

“Wear red?”

Chang Nian’s mind immediately flashed back to the strange red-and-white clashes during the early stages of the mission. At the Li Mansion, they had only encountered funeral rituals.

Now, it seemed to connect with the wedding procession—the ghost itself.

Indeed, red and white represented two opposing forces: white for the Li Mansion, red for the ghost.

Heart racing, Chang Nian pressed on, taking advantage of Xiao Lan’s unstable state to extract more information.

“This ghost… how did it come?”

At that moment, a sudden, sharp pain shot through her scalp, as if something were violently pulling her hair.

Turning, she realized the ghost, which had remained motionless until now, had finally struck.

Its thick, spreading black hair twisted like venomous tongues, tangling completely around Chang Nian’s ponytail.

Cold light flashed in her eyes. Without hesitation, she drew a knife from her back and struck.

Her own ponytail was severed, hair falling loose, leaving her looking slightly disheveled.

Yet her actions were unhindered. In just a single second, she cut her hair and continued dragging Xiao Lan forward.

At this moment, they were only a few steps from the alley’s exit.

But Tongguan, who should have been at the entrance, had disappeared.

“She… came from among us, and left among us…” Xiao Lan’s voice trembled, then broke into sobs. “It should have been… mine… I’m sorry…”

Chang Nian’s thoughts were thrown into disarray by the cryptic words. Just as she was about to question further, she turned her eyes toward Xiao Lan—and then a flood of blood-red filled her vision.

The world around her was saturated in red, as if wrapping her tightly and isolating her from the rest of existence.

Xiao Lan had vanished. Tongguan had vanished. In this crimson world, only Chang Nian remained.

Through her panicked gaze, a human face began to emerge from the endless red fabric, struggling and moving toward her…