I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 252 - 220: Earthquake in Wangshan City

Sang Que felt a sharp pain all over her body. She struggled to sit up from the bed and reached out beside her, but Little Chan wasn’t there.

"Little Chan? Xuan Yu?"

Sang Que lifted the quilt and got out of bed. The candles in the room had long been extinguished, and outside, the sky was a foggy dark red.

Something was off!

Sang Que immediately tried to communicate with the Yin Child, but she suddenly felt an emptiness inside her. All her powers had vanished, and she had become an ordinary person once more.

Hurriedly, Sang Que spread out her right hand and stared at it for a long time. The Yansheng coin never appeared, and she couldn’t sense it either.

This meant she couldn’t return to the modern world at that moment! 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

In the silent darkness, Sang Que’s heart raced. The coolness of the night gave her goosebumps, and an overdue sense of fear swept over her.

Sang Que picked up the Hundred Victory Saber leaning by the bed and drew it out. Even the saber had turned into an ordinary blade, with no trace of evil qi.

The exorcism red candles, talismans, human bone dice, and other items in her bag were all missing. The bag was there, but everything was gone.

Sang Que suppressed her panic and searched the room, but there was still no sign of Xia Chan or Xuan Yu. She only found the Night Traveler’s mask, a saber, a peach wood bow, and ordinary arrows.

The mask seemed to have lost its power too. Sang Que could only wear it for some psychological comfort.

She walked from the house to the courtyard. In the corner of the yard, only the donkey cart remained in the stable, the Black Donkey was nowhere to be seen.

The entire sky was painted an eerie bloody red, with not a sound to be heard around.

Sang Que climbed over her backyard wall with three steps and flipped over to Kou Yushan’s house next door.

"Uncle Yushan?"

Holding the saber, Sang Que called out in a hushed voice, always alert to her surroundings, but there was no one at Kou Yushan’s home.

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Sang Que exited through the main gate of Kou Yushan’s house. As she reached the entrance, she spotted a glimpse of red through the gap between the two wooden doors.

Sang Que held her breath and cautiously brought her eye to the crack to peer outside.

There stood a red flower sedan, quietly parked outside. The cold wind swept the sedan’s curtain, making the inside look dark and ominous.

Ghost Flower Carriage!

Sang Que covered her mouth and stepped back, not daring to disturb the thing outside. How could the Ghost Flower Carriage appear in Wangshan City? Such beings shouldn’t be able to enter the city at all.

If it were that easy to enter Wangshan City, why would the citizens rather go hungry but pay the city tax to live here?

Sang Que’s panic grew even more intense, unable to suppress the chill that attacked her back in waves. What on earth had happened in Wangshan City?

Going to the Evil Suppression Bureau to find He Buning and Cui Cheng, they would surely know what happened, if they were still there.

Resolute in her decision, Sang Que climbed over the back wall of Kou Yushan’s house into the alley, which was deathly silent, with only her footsteps audible.

Nearing the mouth of the alley, the sound of clatters reached Sang Que’s ears. She slowed her pace and carefully approached.

Under the blood-red night, there knelt a woman with disheveled black hair at the crossroads, tapping an empty bowl with a chopstick.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Each clang seemed to strike her heart, the rhythm quickening, causing Sang Que’s breathing to involuntarily intensify. Inside her, alarms blared, sensing something being drawn to that sound.

The previously deserted alley now gave Sang Que the sensation of being crowded with people.

Sang Que immediately retreated to get away, and the bowl-tapping sound ceased. The woman suddenly turned to face Sang Que.

That face was actually her own face!

Dizziness engulfed her, and Sang Que found herself swapping places with the woman, kneeling at the crossroad, holding the chopstick.

Countless gazes of unknown origin settled on her, sending shivers down her spine.

Sang Que suddenly had an epiphany: she must not stop tapping the bowl. If she stopped, those lurking in the shadows would devour her.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sang Que began to tap the bowl, and sure enough, the eerie feeling subsided significantly.

But she couldn’t keep tapping the bowl forever; how was she going to escape this predicament?

Did she have to wait for the next person to take her place? Like how water ghosts seek stand-ins, was she just the previous woman’s stand-in?

Panic gripped Sang Que’s heart uncontrollably. There was no one around her, and her rhythm on the bowl became chaotic, her tapping heavier.

Looking around, there was no sign of living beings in all directions.

Bang!

Suddenly, a sharp crack rang out. Sang Que looked down, her eyes widening in horror.

The bowl had been shattered by her tapping!

In the next instant, countless dark shadows appeared around her, their limbs withered, bellies swollen like those of pregnant women. Gaunt and sinister faces crowded towards her, their mouths sewn shut, leaving only small slits.

Ravenous and frenzied eyes locked onto Sang Que, an overwhelming number of skeletal hands reached out all at once.

Sang Que couldn’t move or fight back, her vision swallowed by the encroaching darkness.

*

"Sister! Wake up, sister! Sister!"

Meow——

In the small courtyard of crumbling walls, Xia Chan cried out, shaking the unconscious Sang Que. Both she and Xuan Yu were covered in thick layers of dust, disheveled and desperate.

Xia Chan wiped her face with a sleeve, smearing her tears with dust, leaving her face filthy. She helplessly surveyed their surroundings, the entire yard had collapsed, the ground scarred with menacing fractures, dust filling the air, leaving nothing but ruins.

She had never experienced such a severe earthquake before. At the time, she had also been in a deep sleep. Luckily, Xuan Yu awoke in time to scratch her awake. As the entire house shook and crumbled, Xia Chan could only hold tightly onto the barely conscious Sang Que.

But nothing could wake Sang Que up, and Xuan Yu cried out frantically, tearing at Xia Chan’s clothes. Xia Chan then used her hair to drag Sang Que, running to the courtyard before the house collapsed.

The Black Donkey also broke free from its tether, escaping from the stable, braying repeatedly from nearby.

Crack! Crack-crack!

The muffled sounds of earth splitting came from all directions, aftershocks one following another. Xia Chan was as scared as a startled bird, clutching Sang Que tightly.

"Xuan Yu, what’s wrong with sister? Why won’t she wake up? What should I do? I don’t know what to do!"

Xia Chan cried helplessly, her sobs choking in her throat.

Xuan Yu was also covered in dust, but those emerald green cat eyes glowed. After an aftershock passed, Xuan Yu quickly traversed the ruins, leaping into the neighboring yard.

Meow~ Meow~ Meow~

Xuan Yu called out tentatively, receiving no response, and there was no sign of Kou Yushan and his family in the courtyard.

Xuan Yu took a long look at the completely collapsed house. Her nose twitched, and she caught the scent of blood.

"Uncle Yushan, Uncle Yushan——"

Xia Chan craned her neck to shout over, and Xuan Yu returned to her side. After calling to Xia Chan a couple of times, she quickly crawled back into the ruined house through the gaps, dragging out Sang Que’s cross-body bag, which she never parted with during the day.

Placing the bag at Xia Chan’s side, Xuan Yu darted back in again, retrieving the Hundred Victory Saber, peach wood bow, and arrow quiver.

There was also a box of firecrackers Sang Que had hidden, crushed under a beam. Xuan Yu was simply too small and couldn’t move it, so she had to give up.

Meow——

Xia Chan wiped her tears, understanding Xuan Yu’s intention. She immediately hoisted the unconscious Sang Que onto the Black Donkey’s back. Carrying Sang Que’s bag, the bow and arrow, and the arrow quiver, she held the Hundred Victory Saber, following Xuan Yu’s advice to find He Buning.

Before leaving, Xia Chan ran towards Kou Yushan’s house, wanting to bring him along too, but Xuan Yu blocked her path.

Meow...

Xia Chan’s pupils shrank, her body trembling uncontrollably. Casting a glance at Sang Que, Xia Chan gritted her teeth and urged the Black Donkey out of the ruins.

Da Xuan Calendar, Year Sixty-four, Winter.

The twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month, at one o’clock in the morning, as New Year’s Eve just began.

In Qinzhou’s Wangshan City, the earth shook, and the mountains crumbled!