The Corpse is Speaking

"Opera God Tower? Where is it?"

A flicker of confusion passed through Wu Wang's eyes. He had wandered around for half the night yesterday but hadn't found any place with that name.

After mulling it over, Wu Wang finally thought of the Dilapidated Opera Building.

The name of each area in the Yi Garden was identified by the type of opera performed within it. This was true for the Puppet Show and Nuo Opera gardens, and even the Main Opera Building where the Beijing Opera performances were held.

Only the Dilapidated Opera Building was an exception.

Even now, after having been inside it and discovering the secret room called the "Refining Medicine Pavilion," Wu Wang still couldn't figure out its true purpose. Surely it wasn't built just to hide the pavilion?

Judging by its desolate appearance, it had been neglected for a long time.

He recalled the instance's introduction. 【This is the most famous opera garden in the capital, called the "Opera God's Righteous Garden," and is considered the "highest hall of opera" in the industry.】

As the so-called highest hall of opera, they shouldn't allow such a derelict building to stand, if only for the sake of appearances.

"If that's the case... I'll just have to go take a look."

"But first, there's one more thing I need to do."

Wu Wang pulled his hand out of his pocket. In his palm was a small clutch of strange black hairs, with a few blue and red ones mixed in.

These were hairs he had quietly collected from the battlefield of Changbanpo. They belonged to the other players and were still stained with their blood.

How had he found the time to do this while fighting the Prince?

The answer was simple. The 【Blood-eating Grasshopper】.

This was a special species Wu Wang had learned about in the Refining Medicine Pavilion. The troupe leader had introduced them along with a pile of other strange medicinal herbs and poisonous insects.

They fed on blood and had a habit of storing food, collecting tiny, blood-stained items to ensure their next meal.

It was seeing these creatures that had given Wu Wang the idea to steal the herbs in the first place, an idea which had awakened something strange within him. The book on calculating Eight Characters of Birth Time had mentioned it. To perform an accurate divination, one needed the subject's hair and blood.

The 【Blood-eating Grasshoppers】 would naturally collect hair stained with the players' blood during the battle. So, when Wu Wang had thrown his two weapons, he had also quietly released a few of the insects onto the ground.

He was now going to calculate the attributes of these players.

Returning to his quarters, Wu Wang shut the door tightly. He took out the Book of Calculation and selected the most recognizable strand of hair, a blue one.

Following the ritual described in the book, he drew a bizarre, inverted bagua pattern on the ground. He then placed a piece of white paper in the center of the pattern and laid the blue hair on top.

He muttered an incantation.

"Living beings each have their fate, decreed by Heaven; the souls of the dead will eventually return, to the earth they fall as dust."

"The Five Elements give rise to the Five Skandhas, the Six Paths lead to Samsara."

"..."

The book's convoluted instructions reminded Wu Wang of a spirit-jumping ritual. But then he remembered that Bai Sha's family actually did perform such rituals, and for a moment, he didn't know what to mock. He couldn't understand how this could possibly calculate a person's attributes.

However, the moment he finished chanting the spell, the blue hair on the white paper began to tremble. It withered and turned to dust.

The blood staining it began to flow across the white paper as if it had a life of its own.

Before long, it formed a string of characters.

【Third month, twenty-first day, Wu hour】

【Xin Si, Ren Chen, Ding Wei, Bing Wu】

The instant the bloodstains appeared, the entire sheet of paper grew damp, as if it had been soaked in water for days. A moment later, it completely dissolved into a pool of paste on the ground.

"Third month... water?"

Wu Wang matched it with the 【Five-Flower Melody】 he had seen before. "In the third month, the orioles sing as withered flowers fall; gentle as water, it gathers to form a torso, strengthening it to be solid."

The torso the troupe leader wanted was the blue-haired executioner's!

But just then, the paste on the ground gradually turned into a pool of black mud.

Wu Wang glanced at it, his expression grave. After a moment's thought, he took out the hair samples of the other players and began to calculate again.

Zi Jin had long, straight black hair. Xiaoxiao's was medium-short with streaks of white, giving her the appearance of premature graying. Qiao Biluo's was permed with obvious curls. Power King's was the shortest, coarse and hard, making it easy to identify.

Looking at the samples, Wu Wang's curiosity turned to the last player, the book-boy. Although the boy had appeared to be scrambling to dodge like everyone else, he hadn't sustained a single injury. While the others were covered in wounds, his clothes were only slightly dirty at the corners.

His strength was definitely not as simple as it seemed on the surface. Why was he hiding his power and keeping such a low profile? What was he planning?

Wu Wang placed a new sheet of white paper in the inverted bagua and continued calculating the others' attributes.

The paper with Zi Jin's hair turned yellow and was stained with mud. Second month, glorious as earth.

The paper with Xiaoxiao's hair was instantly reduced to fragments, as if cut by a sharp blade. Fifth month, brilliant as metal.

The paper with Qiao Biluo's hair dissolved, and a few weeds sprouted from it. Fourth month, deep as wood.

As for the paper with Power King's hair, it burst into flames after displaying the bloodstains of his birth time.

【Twelfth month, eleventh day, Si hour】

【Geng Chen, Ji Chou, Ding You, Yi Si】

His must represent the "red as fire" heart.

Although Wu Wang didn't have the book-boy's birth time, he could figure it out through elimination. The book-boy was very likely the secret helper the troupe leader had mentioned, the one who would help eliminate the others.

At this point, Wu Wang looked back at the pool of black mud in the corner. He flipped through the Book of Calculation. He remembered seeing something last night on one of the final pages.

It recorded that if the paper used for calculation underwent a secondary change, it meant something else entirely.

"Found it! Here it is!"

In the next second, his expression grew even more solemn.

The book recorded that if one divined a dead person, the white paper would turn into black mud. This mud was the mythical soil where the Spider Lily grew, the earth beside the Bridge of Helplessness.

It meant the person being calculated had already returned to dust.

"The blue-haired executioner... is already dead?"

Wu Wang remembered it clearly. Just a few minutes ago, when he left the backstage area, the executioner had been sitting on a costume trunk, ready to exchange information with the others.

If he was already dead, was the person with the players now a ghost?

But if a ghost was created by some rule in the instance, would it inherit the original's memories? Would it know about players? Could it use items and equipment in the fight against the Prince?

"No..."

"It's not a ghost that inherited his memories."

Wu Wang deduced an incredible conclusion.

"The person who killed him is another player! That's why they're acting so naturally."