She Was Sentenced to Life Imprisonment [Unlimited] - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Beauty Porcelain (4)

I Didn’t Lie

Raindrops hit the surface of the umbrella and fell to the ground like blooming flowers, crowding together to move forward.

A high altar was built, covered with dry wood. The scorching flames surged high, like an unsealed furnace, baking the people.

The firelight reflected on the faces of the townspeople. Under the eerie glow, their faces were filled with anger.

A long, beautiful hand landed on the shoulder of a townsperson. Feeling the cold touch in her hand, she leaned over slightly, her red lips slightly raised, and asked politely.

“Excuse me, what is happening here?”

The woman’s voice was like an elegant cello. Her tone, tinged with a smile, somehow made people’s hearts palpitate. A sense of oppression, for no reason, almost crushed its body through the hand on its shoulder. But when others looked over, she was just a polite child who was curious about the unknown.

The townsperson’s stiff body trembled. A look of excitement slowly appeared on its rigid face, but the porcelainized face was unable to make a more vivid expression, creating an unnatural feeling. A hollow, muffled, and strangely unpleasant voice came from its chest and throat.

“She stole the Beauty Porcelain presented to the emperor. She is a sinner…”

The constantly repeated words were like a person being controlled, emphasizing something.

He? Or she?

Luo Ning’s hand left the person. She looked at Jiang Nan beside her, her smile still there. She simply repeated what the person had just said.

“He said the person on top is a porcelain thief.”

Jiang Nan: … Her hearing is very good; she’s not deaf.

She was silent for a moment, then her gaze swept over these eerie porcelain people. Most of them were faces she had seen when she first arrived in the ancient town.

In the morning, they were normal townspeople. At night, they had become porcelain people.

Who was the person they were calling a porcelain thief?

“Who is the person on top?” Jiang Nan was too lazy to keep guessing the answer and just asked the townsperson.

The townsperson, who had been excited and angry a moment ago, trembled fiercely after she asked this question. Fear appeared on its stiff face. It closed its mouth tightly and did not answer.

Jiang Nan looked at its reaction, feeling that it was a bit familiar, as if she had seen it before. Then she heard the person continue to speak to itself.

“She is an ominous person who brought a curse upon us…”

A curse?

Jiang Nan’s eyes drooped as she pondered this sentence for a moment.

She looked at the person who was trembling uncontrollably. Seeing that she couldn’t get anything out of it, her gaze turned to the high flames piled up with firewood. The heat of the flames made her eyes feel a little dry.

But no matter how she looked, there was only a blurry figure inside, with its head tilted, looking lifeless. It was impossible to determine if it was dead or not.

She thought for a moment, then walked toward the fire. The hem of her skirt was wet with rain, and her hair was covered in a glistening layer of moisture. The indifference in her eyes made it seem as if she wasn’t looking at a fire that could burn a person to death, but a regular task she had to do.

Step by step, she approached the scorching flames.

Luo Ning, who was holding the umbrella behind her, looked at the figure in front of her. The faint smile on her lips made it impossible to guess what she was thinking.

Her pale hand reached out. Under her fair skin, faint blue veins were visible, which made people feel pity.

The moment her hand touched the flames, it was as if it was being swallowed, surrounded tightly.

However, her expression didn’t change at all, as if she couldn’t feel the pain.

Her brows were slightly furrowed, but not because of the pain.

She fumbled for something in her hand. Finally, she took out a charred piece of wood. With a wipe, the charcoal ash stained her fair hand black.

She rubbed the charcoal ash between her fingers. The moist, granular texture made her frown even more.

After Jiang Nan stood up, her light-colored eyes looked at the center of the flames again. The figure was still blurry.

At this moment, Luo Ning had already walked over. She heard her voice, which was full of laughter and a hint of reproach.

“Little Jiang Nan is truly so eager to find death.”

A fresh fragrance came, as if isolating everything around them, still giving her a sense of inexplicable peace.

Jiang Nan forced down the beating heart in her chest. When she looked up again, her expression was indifferent. The look of dejection between her eyebrows made people feel a sense of pity. She only heard her say nonchalantly.

“A little bit.”

Every word showed her indifference to her own life and death.

Then she looked at the charcoal ash in her hand. She spoke again, a bit absent-minded.

“This fire is an illusion. The wood has been soaked in water.”

How could wet wood catch fire?

As if to prove her point, she stepped into the fire.

The figure enveloped by the flames looked a bit thin.

Luo Ning let out a low laugh, with a hint of satisfaction, then she also stepped into the fire.

The man hiding in the corner watched the two figures disappear into the flames. His painful and angry face showed shock. He cursed under his breath, gritting his teeth.

“Two lunatics.”

Then, the wound where he had been kicked was pulled, and his face was once again in so much pain that it turned a dark reddish-purple, numbing his legs.

At this moment, someone seemed to have triggered something. The system’s cold, mechanical voice rang out, echoing throughout the ancient town. Accompanied by the sound of rain, it clearly reached the ears of every player.

【Congratulations, players, on arriving at the altar. Please find the potter’s ashes and create the Beauty Porcelain.】

When Shi Hui heard the system’s voice, a malevolent look flashed in his eyes.

The entire ancient town was full of potters.

Ashes. If someone died, then there would be ashes.

At this moment, the two people on the altar stood in front of the pillar in the middle.

However, there was no one in front of them, not even a scorched corpse.

The wooden pillar had been charred, obviously having been burned for a long time.

“It must have been burned to ashes.”

Luo Ning looked a bit lazy, seeing that she had found nothing. She yawned and turned to leave.

They heard the system’s voice, and their gazes unconsciously looked at the bottom of the pillar, wondering if they should take some of the existing ashes.

So, what the players had to do was make porcelain from ashes.

Then, the sound of porcelain being smashed came from outside. The next second, a terrified and panicked monologue followed.

“How can this be? How can it not be human…”

When they went out, they saw Shi Hui, who had fallen to the ground, his face full of disbelief. All of his muscles were trembling in fear. A head-sized rock was mixed in with the broken porcelain on the ground. A porcelainized eyeball rolled in front of him and stared at him. It was sinister and terrifying.

【You have been cursed.】

The system’s cold voice rang out in his mind, making his body tremble even more like a sieve.

“What curse…”

Luo Ning sneered and said: “Idiot.”

Just as they were about to get down from the altar, the surrounding porcelain people surrounded them, preventing them from coming down.

A sharp, piercing voice shouted one word at a time.

“The Beauty Porcelain has been stolen… The Beauty Porcelain has been stolen…”

Their screaming voices seemed to make the ground under their feet tremble, making it hard to stand.

“Noisy.”

In the abandoned Lin Manor on the other side, a white banner floated like a ghost parading through the streets.

In the dark night, a figure was rummaging through something in the open door.

A cold wind blew in, penetrating the skin. The bone-chilling cold made him shiver. He could only hear himself muttering to summon courage.

“This haunted place is really evil. Who would want to come to this haunted place if it wasn’t to complete a quest?”

“I clearly saw a porcelain here this morning. What’s going on? Did someone get it first?!”

Li Feng was rummaging through the broken porcelain pieces, his eyebrows tightly furrowed. He couldn’t see clearly because it was so dark. The howling wind and the pattering rain made him feel as if he could hear his heart beating crazily in his chest. That fear lingered and made him even more irritable.

In the morning, when they were hiding in this room, he clearly saw a very exquisite porcelain. With his eye for things, he immediately saw that it was priceless.

Although he knew he couldn’t take these things with him, his nature was hard to change, so he still took the risk of hiding it.

When he heard that the Beauty Porcelain for the quest didn’t have a specific appearance, he immediately thought of this porcelain.

If he could take it back, he would be able to clear the instance without any effort.

Thinking of this, his movements became more and more anxious. At this moment, a sharp pain suddenly came from his hand. The smell of bl00d filled the humid air.

Li Feng quickly pulled his hand back. The wound on it, which had been cut by the porcelain, was constantly bleeding. The intense pain made him curse.

Suddenly, the candle that had been rotting for many years on the candlestick lit up with a flickering light, illuminating the dark room. The messy broken porcelain appeared before his eyes. A few paintings on the wall were covered in dust and were moving in the wind.

Then, all the decayed lanterns in the entire courtyard lit up. The broken lanterns couldn’t block the blowing wind, making the fire inside flicker on and off.

Li Feng, who was startled by the sudden scene, thought it was a ghost. He took out a crumpled yellow paper talisman from his chest pocket with a trembling hand. It was wet with the sweat that had seeped from his palm.

Li Feng had not forgotten that there were still a few coffins in the courtyard.

A chill came from the back of his neck, making him turn his head stiffly. Only after seeing that the coffins in the courtyard weren’t moving did he let out a sigh of relief.

He panted and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“You almost scared your grandfather to death.”

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a complete porcelain piece in the broken porcelain not far away.

His eyes immediately lit up, and he was about to step over to grab it.

A rat scurried out. The black shadow flashed before his eyes, once again startling the man who was already on edge. He lost his footing and fell heavily into the sharp broken porcelain.

His shrill scream was muffled by the sound of the wind. A strong smell of bl00d instantly filled the air.

The intense pain made his already ugly face even more twisted. He couldn’t help but roll around in pain. His entire body was pierced with porcelain pieces. Crimson bl00d stained the porcelain.

He cried out, and in his struggle, he grabbed the porcelain.

The system’s voice, which echoed throughout the ancient town, came. He didn’t have time to hear the content. He hugged the porcelain and left this large, dilapidated courtyard. Bl00d trailed behind him, and bl00d droplets constantly dripped from the porcelain pieces embedded in his body.

“It’s mine, it’s mine…” he muttered.

As long as he cleared the instance, his injuries could be healed.

When he ran past the altar, a hand grabbed his ankle. He fell again, and the porcelain pieces in his body went even deeper. He also heard the sound of porcelain shattering by his ear.

“You’re a damn!” he cursed. The pain spread throughout his body. His body immediately trembled violently as he tried to kick away the thing by his foot.

“Help me…”

…

In Mother Ci’s small courtyard, the two little boys were squatting in a corner, as if they had lost all life. They slowly looked up, their hollow eyes staring straight at the top of the ceiling beam, not knowing what they were looking at.

The person pacing back and forth in the room was biting his thumb. His face, which was full of acne scars, was pale with a guilty conscience. He muttered.

“How would she know…”

Mother Ci’s words were like a ruthless pull of his hidden darkness that he had hidden for a long time. There was no place to hide in her eyes.

Suddenly, the system’s voice came from a distance, completely disrupting his thoughts. He stopped pacing and frowned, feeling a little anxious. But he still didn’t have the slightest intention of leaving this courtyard.

Compared to the outside, it was safer to stay here.

He looked at the rain outside. A gloomy look flashed in his eyes behind his glasses.

Someone’s speed was so fast. Then he…

His gaze slowly fell on the display shelf, finally stopping on the most conspicuous lotus porcelain in the center.

Mother Ci valued this porcelain so much. There must be some unspeakable secret, and it might even be the key to clearing the instance.

Because Mother Ci had been gentle from beginning to end, except for when Jiang Nan was about to touch this porcelain. But this was enough to prove the importance of this porcelain.

He knew that the key to clearing the instance could not possibly be for them to really make the Beauty Porcelain. The key was in this porcelain.

Mother Ci was nowhere to be found at this moment. This was the time to steal the lotus porcelain.

However, just as he got closer, the flickering candlelight instantly went out. A three-foot white banner hung from the ceiling beam. With the lightning that flashed across the sky, a pair of lifeless eyes with protruding eyeballs met his. A loose dress swayed above his head.

The pale, cracked lips moved. A hoarse voice came from its throat.

“I didn’t lie…”

It was like the last words before a final struggle. The sensation on his face made his breathing suddenly stop.