Netherworld Retrograde

Chapter 330: Chapter 156 I Do Not Agree with This Marriage_2

”So, am I in a dream? Or inside a ghostly crevice?” Li Yelai wondered inside. ”I wonder if they also had the same dream...”

Hearing the knocking getting louder and louder, Li Yelai quickly grabbed the Big Black Umbrella, checked it over, and other than the Mountain Lord Avatar missing, there seemed to be no other changes.

Can weapons also be used in this bizarre dream?

Then, he opened the door to the secondary bedroom; the living room was also silent and dim.

Li Yelai passed through the living room, heading towards the main door.

Peering through the peephole, Li Yelai saw a thin figure standing at the door.

He was dressed in black with a red sash, wearing a small cap, resembling a servant from a historical drama.

But his body was abnormally thin, his limbs as slender as bamboo poles, and his face, though not large, had a pair of huge eyes that seemed to occupy a third of his face.

At this moment, the servant was staring intently at the peephole, as if he could see Li Yelai through it.

The angle made his abnormally large eyes appear even more horrifying and eerie.

But Li Yelai, after a glance, immediately opened the door.

The servant was taken aback, seemingly not expecting Li Yelai to dare open the door.

He then gave a smile.

And as his mouth widened, he revealed his mouth full of sharp, jagged teeth.

”Please...” the servant began.

But Li Yelai spoke first, ”Please what? Don’t you have any public decency? Making all that noise; do the neighbors not need to sleep? People have to go to work tomorrow!”

The servant was startled again, thinking to himself: He’s standing right in front of you, and you still dare to speak to me like this?

Are you too thick-skinned? Or are you so groggy that you didn’t see who I am?

Li Yelai, however, was observing the servant. This was his first encounter with such an entity, and if possible, he would have liked to grab this servant, take him into the room and interrogate him to find out who this ’bride’ that was to be picked up was.

However, since the main individual hadn’t appeared, Li Yelai thought about it and still didn’t act.

The servant then again put on a smiling face and said, ”I apologize for disturbing you. Today is the wedding banquet of our Family Head, and I was specially entrusted to deliver this invitation.”

Saying this, the servant handed over an invitation with extremely slender hands; the white paper with red characters looked very ominous, like a letter written in blood.

Li Yelai took the invitation and asked, ”Okay! Who’s the bride?”

”You will know very soon,” the servant replied with his frightening smile.

”Does the bride know she is the bride?” asked Li Yelai.

”Why does she need to know? It’s the parents’ orders and the matchmakers’ words,” the servant smiled. ”We shall meet again soon...”

His body twisted and then began to fade away.

At the same time, the scenery around began to blur.

Afterwards, Li Yelai found himself back in his chair inside the room.

He opened his eyes again and saw the Detective and Jing Lin, who had also awoken in shock.

”Did you also dream it?” Li Yelai quickly asked.

Jing Lin nodded, ”Didn’t expect this kind of approach, the invitation is actually a mark.”

”It really gave me a fright. The one who delivered my invitation had a mouth twice the size of mine; my goodness, as soon as he opened it, a stench wafted out,” the Detective complained.

The three of them talked, but their hands were fast at work, preparing themselves. According to the information previously provided by Jing Lin, after the third dream, the Returning Soul was to come!

Or rather, had already come.

Li Yelai noticed that the signal had disappeared, their connection with the branch office severed by some force.

Or perhaps... they had already entered the ghostly crevice!

Li Yelai quickly donned the Ming Guang Armor, while Jing Lin also put on a set of solid Scale Armor.

At that moment, Li Yelai and the others heard the sound of gongs and drums outside.

The three of them went to the secondary bedroom’s balcony, and from afar, they saw a procession emerging from the end of the street.

At the forefront was a very handsome man. He was dressed in black, wearing a Jade Crown, adorned with a red flower.

But his lifeless visage was unsettling.

Decorated exquisitely, the bridal carriage in the procession had red tassels hanging from the curtains, its wheels rolling on the asphalt with a dull sound.

In front, the drummers in red robes wielded drumsticks, and their drumming had a heavy rhythm.

The dancers followed behind the carriage, dressed in red and holding baskets of flowers, sometimes jumping, sometimes spinning.

But what should have been a celebratory scene instead sent chills down one’s spine. The bodies of the dancers were grotesquely contorted, their baskets scattering not petals but dull yellow paper money.

Behind the procession, an even longer line of figures emerged, clad in pitch-black armor, silently following. It was as though they were there to guard and escort the procession.

”Yin Soldiers escorting!” Jing Lin’s face grew serious, ”It seems that the Returning Soul’s status is not low! How many of your officials have entered here?”

”Hard to say, after waking from the dream, we found ourselves directly in the ghost-haunted place, with no contact now.” Li Yelai looked at the distant procession and said, ”Now, we need to determine the bride’s location and prepare in advance. The boy who brought the message earlier, did you investigate?”

”Tried, but he didn’t divulge anything,” the Detective replied.

At this moment, the three noticed the procession was making its way towards them.

”What? Is the bride in our direction?” Jing Lin was astounded.

”Must be nearby!” Li Yelai frowned.

Just then, a voice came from behind them, ”I know who the bride is.”

It was the voice of the Heavy Knight; the three turned around only to be startled.

The Heavy Knight stood at the slanting doorway, cradling a blood-red wedding dress, and Shadow Stream was standing next to her with a complex and angry expression.

”This is...” Li Yelai looked at the bright red gown, barely believing it.

”In the dream, two bizarre women brought this wedding dress.” The Heavy Knight’s face looked terrible, disappointment, and sorrow in her eyes, ”I...am the bride...”

’Parents’ orders, the matchmaker’s words’

Li Yelai recalled the words of the boy, still finding it hard to believe. Her parents had actually bargained with the Returning Soul and paid her off as compensation?

Can there really be such parents?

Meanwhile, the citizens dragged into this ghostly place hid in their homes, trembling. Only daring to peek at everything from beside their windows.

Lu Shou, however, was much bolder, watching the departing procession from the entrance of his villa.

He had also arrived in this space; as an elder involved in the Netherworld Marriage, how could he be absent?

However, he harbored little fear; instead, there was excitement as he watched the procession head towards the old district.

Two months earlier, Disaster Fog No.71 had invaded No.3 Border City.

As a tycoon, he had already escaped No.3 Border City and planned to emigrate with some of his assets to Lava Mine City.

However, on his way, he encountered an attack by bandits.

The Scavenger he hired betrayed him, colluding with the bandits to kill many of his guards and conspire to seize his assets.

He could only escape from the group with his family in the ensuing chaos, hiding from the bandits in the wilderness.

During their evasion, he and his son got separated from the others.

They entered an abandoned town in the wilderness and accidentally made contact with a terrifying monster.

That monster struck a deal with them, promising to protect them back to Giant City, the price being his daughter.

At that time, without thinking, he agreed. Only after returning to Giant City did he start to regret it.

Although he was not a good person, he did not want his daughter to suffer such torment.

Nor did he want to inform the officials, because he was even more unwilling to give up the help from the Extraordinary Power.

With this power, his future life would be even more splendid.

So, he worked hard to find a loophole, which was to marry a woman with a daughter and thus gain a new daughter.

To pay the ’monster’ his due.

Now, he had succeeded!

Watching the bridal procession enter the district, his laughter grew more jubilant.

He knew that desirable girl would vanish from this world, becoming an unsolvable case with no one the wiser about his involvement!

...

Elsewhere, as the bridal procession entered the district, the handsome leader dismounted. He walked up the stairs with the followers behind him, their presence in the haunted district causing the people dragged in to grow increasingly terrified.

Everyone held their breath, fearing the procession would stop outside their own door.

The handsome man reached a certain door on the seventh floor.

He reached out and lightly tapped on the door.

”My bride, I’ve come for you,” he uttered the stilted words.

Inside the room, however, a man’s deep voice responded, ”God damn it, coming empty-handed? Then I don’t agree to this marriage!”