absurd deduction game.

Several paper figures, with steps that could trigger the uncanny valley effect, slipped one after another through the crack in the door.

As they stepped into the cemetery, a damp chill suddenly enveloped them, and thick darkness enveloped them. Then, the scene before them seemed to have changed in some ways compared to what they had seen from outside.

The scene of the cemetery unfolded before them, like a festering scar on the earth.

Yu Xing's perception of food became clearer.

Sure enough, it wasn't just old Edgar in front of him that whetted his appetite; the entire cemetery was a single entity, exuding an eerie atmosphere.

It's like... with the gate as the boundary, the interior has formed a separate space with its own rules—this is just a feeling, it's not actually that bad yet.

Seeing that the three of them had already entered, old Edgar glanced at the iron gate again. Perhaps he had sensed that there were no other guests outside, so he flicked his lantern slightly and the gate closed again.

It was locked again, the rusty padlock firmly wedged in the door, proclaiming one fact:
Once you enter the cemetery, it's very difficult for you to leave.

However, none of the three paper figures cared about this matter. Zeng Lai knew that he needed to be careful when dealing with monsters in his battle-damaged form, but with two powerful figures by his side, he found it hard to imagine how he would end up getting hurt here.

Oh dear, it seems I shouldn't make such a bold statement.

The paper figure Zeng Lai took out a paper die from his pocket. This was his core offering. Even after becoming a paper figure, he still carried a low-end version of the die.

He secretly threw one away.

Four points facing upwards.

This indicates that the trip to the cemetery was of above-average quality, and no unexpected disasters would occur. It can be considered as a way of settling the score that was just planted in his mind.

His little actions naturally did not escape the notice of the people around him. After seeing the number on the dice, they did not care anymore. Only Yi Qing, with a little curiosity, floated to Zeng Lai's chest, took out the dice and played with them for a while.

The dice only worked when Zeng Lai threw them, and it was a low-end paper version. Zeng Lai didn't care and generously let the cartoon ghost play with the dice, shifting his attention to the gravedigger.

The gravedigger seemed to completely ignore their behavior. His cloudy eyes showed no human emotion, and he seemed to have no intention of communicating with them. After watching them quietly for a while, he turned around and walked in front of them, as if leading the way.

Yu Xing and the others followed naturally.

Zeng Lai then asked Carlos in a low voice, "Can you speak now?"

Carlos glanced at him with his beady eyes: "Didn't you already say that?"

His voice wasn't lowered; it was at a normal decibel level. The tomb keeper leading the way still didn't react. From their attitudes, Yu Xing and Zeng Lai realized that communication wouldn't trigger any danger.

Old Edgar might not understand human speech at all now, and be unable to discern the meaning behind others' words? That's quite possible, after all, he couldn't recognize such an obvious paper figure either.

But it's strange, what exactly did this deceased gravedigger want to do? Where was he taking them? Did he welcome outsiders to "visit" the cemetery?

The gravedigger is unlike any other monster; it doesn't seem aggressive at all.

However, Carlos's words just now revealed that several of the deducers in the first phase died in the cemetery, indicating that the lack of aggression was just an illusion.

Yu Xing thought about it hastily for a while, then carefully examined the surrounding scenery.

Not far away, some tombstones leaned precariously, like a mouthful of dull, rusty teeth gnawing at the gray night sky. Only a crescent moon shone brightly, radiating a cool, clear light.

Further afield, near the edge of the wall, some ornately decorated tomb sculptures—angels, icons, and coiled beasts—cast long, twisting shadows in the thin moonlight, as if they might come to life at any moment.

Right in the middle was a rough gravel path, which was the one they were walking on now.

On the left is a tombstone, and on the right stands a low stone house, which is the hut of the gravedigger. Strangely, when you go inside, the windows of the hut are dark, the doors are tightly closed, and it is deathly quiet, as if the lights have never been turned on.

They walked deeper and deeper along the path, passing the gravedigger's hut, and then their gaze turned to the well behind the hut.

All the scenes were static; absolute silence ruled this place, and even the sound of the wind seemed to be swallowed up when one entered this territory.

For some reason, Yu Xing felt that this place was very "lively".

The tentacles said the same thing.

Can you feel it? The 'sleepiness' of this land is much shallower than elsewhere.

I just felt cold, and... the feeling of being watched.

Something is watching us.

What does this taste like?

The air was filled with damp earth, decaying petals, and another indescribable odor—like aged copper rust mixed with some unnatural sweetness that was nauseating.

[Wow, I actually like it! As expected, Ghost Tree really does have a thing for decay and curses!]

But my human side tells me it doesn't smell good.

As an extension of Yu Xing's subconscious, the tentacles began to fight between the left and right hemispheres of her brain as usual. However, this time the part belonging to the tree took the lead, and only a few tentacles were aware of their human nature. Their weak consciousness was quickly swallowed up by the consciousness of the other branches.

The tomb keeper stopped walking at that moment.

They walked quite a distance inside, and there before them was a reserved burial plot. Because it had not yet been purchased, the tombstones were blank.

"..." The dead gravedigger turned around and looked at the three of them. His mouth opened and closed, making some strange sounds. Then he stretched out his long, fingernail-tipped hand, placed it on his chest, and bowed slightly to them.

This time, they managed to understand, albeit barely.

The gravedigger said, "This is your place. Go in."

"Huh?" Zeng Lai exclaimed in surprise, but he couldn't hide his shock on his face. He raised his voice and said, "Weren't you inviting us as guests? Are you going to bury us?"

So, the reason Old Edgar, who had become a monster along the way, didn't lay a hand on them was because they were so cooperative, willingly walking towards their deaths?!

Yu Xing glanced vaguely at Carlos.

"Is this what you meant by 'we can come in as guests'?" They're not entering a cemetery, they're entering a grave?
Carlos laughed and said, "How can this not be considered visiting? Captain, just tell me whether we went in or not. This gravedigger even bowed to us. How polite!"

It's about to become rude, because the gravedigger is only polite to corpses.

Old Edgar waited for a while, but the three corpses that had willingly entered the cemetery did not obediently choose a grave to lie down. His expression began to change slightly.

For a gravedigger, the corpse is his companion, bearing all his protection and tenderness, while everything outside the corpse is an intruder.

Intruders can harm the corpse.

Some people steal corpses to sell organs, some steal corpses to conduct evil experiments, or use them for sacrificial rituals. The dead who are buried deep in the ground are disturbed from their peace, and even their souls cannot be redeemed.

The gravedigger, now a monster, was left with only one thought.

—If what comes in isn't a corpse, then he turns it into a corpse and then buries it; it's just an extra step.

He murmured.

Almost instantly, a chilling feeling descended upon the place. The three paper figures seemed to be locked onto by something, while only Carlos was still laughing: "It's just an experience, I promise it will be a lot of fun." In the cemetery, a mound of earth broke open.

It wasn't an explosion, but a silent collapse.

One, two, ten... hundreds of ravens suddenly emerged from under that small mound, flapping their wings and breaking the silent stillness!
They were just like the carrion ravens that attacked old Edgar—dull, dirty feathers with white stripes, scarlet eyes, and a distorted, painful outline of a human face on their beaks.

Then came the second grave, the third… as if a silent signal had spread throughout the cemetery, the earthen mounds of every grave were writhing and cracking.

Thousands upon thousands of carrion ravens surged forth from the depths of the earth like a black tide!

They made no sound, only a low, suppressed buzzing sound produced by the simultaneous violent flapping of countless wings, which converged into a terrifying sound wave that swept everything away, instantly engulfing Zeng Lai's shocked exclamation and even suppressing the sound of the sudden wind.

The black crows did not swarm towards the paper figures; they merely gathered and circled above the cemetery, like a wildly spinning, living dark cloud.

Crows collide, squeeze, and merge with each other...

They are combining.

The crows outlined the shape, then filled in the details—a colossal, unimaginably large figure in a black robe rapidly coalesced in mid-air.

Its lower body remains connected to the graves below, where ravens are constantly spewing forth, like a terrifying giant growing out of the cemetery itself. Its "sleeves" are made up of thousands of struggling, writhing ravens, and its "head" is a swirling shadow with ravens constantly flying in and out.

In the center of that shadow, two thick, dark "eyes," identical to those of old Edgar, slowly lit up and looked down.

[Side quest triggered: You encountered the Carrion Raven - Undead Gravekeeper (Mutation)]

Yu Xing opened her eyes slightly, watching the magnificent performance.

The desire for death continued to rise, and there was not even malice in the prelude to the attack—only a chaotic, blasphemous, indescribable "madness."

In mid-air, the "arms" made of ravens rose up, like a dark cloud of death, slowly but irresistibly enveloping the three paper figures.

Zeng Lai felt the moonlight above his head vanish instantly, and an immense sense of oppression descended from the sky. He looked up in bewilderment, and the last thing he saw was a "sky" that was pressing down, composed of countless distorted bird faces and jet-black feathers.

This attack... the paper doll's body, weakened by several times, couldn't possibly dodge it, but it was spectacular, a sight rarely seen in normal times.

The "sky" collided with the ground of the cemetery.

There were no screams, no sounds of collision.

Only the deep, terrifying buzzing of raven wings continued.

Zeng Lai died, and the paper figure was instantly eaten away, leaving countless holes. Finally, it fell to the ground with a thud, its broken body crashing onto a blank tombstone, as if it had chosen its own grave.

In the sky, the enormous flock of crows, like gravediggers, slowly, very slowly turned their heads. Those two dark "gazes" crossed the empty wasteland and landed on Yu Xing and Carlos, who stood frozen in the cemetery after dodging the first wave of crows, as if they were frozen in fear (actually, they were admiring the scenery).

At the same time, old Edgar, carrying a lantern, also took a step forward.

His body seemed to have become even more emaciated, and the sound of his bones grinding together during his movements became increasingly grating.

He raised his arms, and his wide black robe parted to the sides with his movement, revealing a body made entirely of white bones beneath the robe.

Below the neck, there was no flesh or blood, just a pale, cold body, with joints rubbing together, reflecting an eerie luster in the lantern's light.

The skeleton's hand bones were not human hands, but sharp claws just like a raven's, with sharp, curved knuckles, steadily holding the oily lantern.

The flickering lights illuminated the newly turned black soil beneath old Edgar's feet, as well as the faces of Yu Xing and Carlos, which seemed to have completely lost their color.

Old Edgar glanced at their faces, a flicker of doubt crossing the mind of the rather unintelligent monster.

It seems a bit too white.

However, he quickly dismissed this doubt, spreading his arms wide like a flock of crows circling in a perfect sky, and an indescribable murmur arose.

He extended an invitation to Yu Xing and Carlos.

Or rather, the command—

"Respect death."

Yu Xing looked at the old man in black robes so close to him, then gazed at the enormous, towering black shadow made up of countless ravens above the cemetery. Two figures, one on the ground, one in the sky, yet both shared the same pair of dark eyes, watching them, waiting.

Is this the new mutated monster resulting from the combination of a carrion raven and a gravedigger's undead?
While their abilities share a conceptual overlap, their combined performance far exceeded expectations, transforming them into a breathtakingly perfect monster—at least in terms of his recipe.

Yu Xing trembled, almost unable to resist the urge to summon tentacles to devour and decompose everything.

Carlos is an honest man; he didn't lie to him.

So many, so many ravens... will he even get half a meal?
Carlos raised an eyebrow at him smugly, a proud expression appearing on his abstract paper face, while the cartoon ghost that had somehow returned to Yu Xing's shoulder rolled its eyes.

If he were in his own body, Qing would never have shown such an expression, but for some reason, the great Qing Ghost, now residing here, became unrestrained.

When the crows swooped down again, Yu Xing and Carlos did not dodge. The paper figures were just substitute paper figures, and their death would not cause any harm to their real bodies. However, looking at the entire system, probably only magicians of the True level had the capital to use their precious "second life" as a ticket to experience eerie scenery.

Two snaps, oh no, three snaps.

Two paper figures and a cartoon ghost with a (-_-) expression were brutally murdered.

Their mangled bodies lay on the ground, signifying the victory of the dead.

The gravedigger crouched down unsteadily, his fingers brushing against the tombstone, intending to carve epitaphs for the three newly arrived deceased with his sharp fingertips.

But then he suddenly remembered that he didn't know the names or identities of the three corpses.

Old Edgar turned his head, intending to recognize their faces; he remembered everyone in town…

However, in just a short while, all three corpses disappeared, leaving only three thin paper figures, each the size of a palm, slowly decaying and vanishing.

The old gravedigger fell silent, expressionless. Everything that had just happened had left no trace in the cemetery and slowly disappeared from the monster's mind.

He quickly forgot what had happened.

Old Edgar turned and began to walk toward the cemetery entrance, toward the small hut whose lights had been turned on again. The sound of his bones grinding together rose again, clattering...clattering...unhurried.

Above his head, the enormous black projection made up of countless carrion ravens did not disappear; it hovered silently, moving slowly, like an eternal, hungry guardian, watching over everything in the cemetery.

……

Outside the cemetery, the group returned to their own bodies.

Carlos was delighted with the sights he had discovered, a smile playing on his lips: "How about it? Fun, right?"

Zeng Lai said quietly, "It's fun, but it's a bit demanding." (End of Chapter)