"Daffodil!"

The voice wasn't loud, yet it had a penetrating force that startled everyone, their gazes swiftly turning towards Daffodil.

Daffodil herself was startled.

"What are you doing? You scared me to death!" From a translucent water person, Daffodil transformed into a naked, living human body.

It was clear that she had been scared.

"Do you even know that you were about to tear off your own head?" Zi Sui said.

"I—," Daffodil was at a loss for words and said somewhat sheepishly, "I was worried that my head was gone, so I reached up to check if it was still there."

"..."

"Stop scaring people like that!" Turquoise Pool glared at the two of them.

"Hey, if we don't act now, all these people are going to die," Bi said, placing a hand on one of her subordinate's shoulders, eyes fixed on the walking palace maids and eunuchs ahead.

"As long as we don't catch up to them, the other party should stop," Qi Die said.

"It's not that simple," Yang Qinglan said, "If they have made a move, they definitely won't stop there."

"You mean... this person intends to blow the situation out of proportion?" Turquoise Pool asked.

Yang Qinglan nodded.

The team was already a distance away from them, and the act of tearing off heads had not ceased; if this continued, the entire harem of the Jiajing Emperor would perish here.

What was even more frightening was that the eunuchs and palace maids guarding the palace gates along the way also began taking off their own heads.

"If this continues, will the entire Imperial Palace turn into a city of ghosts?" Li Qianxia asked, drawing a cold breath.

A booklet flew up from the ground and spread open in front of Yang Qinglan, who held a ruyi and directly flipped to the last paragraph on the last page.

"Who's behind this?" Li Qianxia leaned over to look.

"Empress Dowager Zhang," Yang Qinglan said.

"What?!" The group was shocked.

"Isn't she dead?" Misha exclaimed.

"That's why the others are taking off heads!" Zi Sui realized.

"Put her head back on!" A Russian player named Cia, donning hanfu, lifted her skirt and pulled a gun from her slender, muscular thigh.

In the Forbidden City, where "Abilities" could not be used, firearms, otherwise deemed obsolete, found their purpose once again.

"You all follow Concubine Cao, I'll go back and have a look," Yang Qinglan said, her white clothes fluttering like light smoke, already sweeping towards Ciqing Palace.

"Qing Lan, I'll come with you!" Li Qianxia said, about to follow.

"No need, I'll call your brother if there's a situation. You follow Turquoise Pool and the others, and remember to call your brother if there's danger."

When the first word was spoken, Yang Qinglan was still in sight of everyone; by the time the last word was spoken, she had already entered Ciqing Palace.

Walking into Ciqing Palace, the yard was full of people holding their heads in their hands, the heads with eyes that turned to look at her.

The brand new eunuch and palace maid outfits appeared eerily like costumes from a zombie film set in the Qing Dynasty.

Footsteps were heard, and Empress Dowager Zhang, dressed luxuriously, came out of the hall holding her own head.

She stood before the hall entrance, behind all the eunuchs and maids, her eyes hollow as they fixed on Yang Qinglan.

The scene before her resembled a assembly of hanging ghosts or a field of human tombstones, sending a chill down Yang Qinglan's spine.

She wielded the ruyi gently in the air, and from the neck of Empress Dowager Zhang's corpse, a needle fashioned from flesh and skin flew out.

The needle weaved between neck and head, and the one held in hands was soon pulled back by the threads, the Empress Dowager complete again within a minute.

The eunuchs and maids picked up their heads and put them back in place.

"Quick, clear the snow!"

"Has the Empress Dowager's medicine been decocted yet?"

"Fetch some cypress pepper wine and cook some water desserts (dumplings); the Empress Dowager loves them."

Ciqing Palace transformed from a grim morgue to a bustling scene reminiscent of New Year's Eve in the bright court.

Nothing seemed out of place, but Yang Qinglan took a step back. As she moved, all the eunuchs and maids simultaneously turned to her. They kept busy with their tasks, voices filled with words, yet their eyes were on her.

She was on alert, knowing that the players who could enter this game, in terms of overall strength, could not be impossible to contend with. But there must be something troublesome about them.

"Are you here to become an immortal, or are you bringing calamity?" Yang Qinglan asked.

The pale, bloodless face of Empress Dowager Zhang, looking at Yang Qinglan, twisted into a ghastly, corpse-like smile.

Yang Qinglan slightly furrowed her brows. She was familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty; this Empress Dowager would die next year, and the player replacing her was probably not someone in good health or with a sound mind.

She thought of the Corpse Chasing Sect member Zheng Qing had captured.

Was it the Corpse Chasing Sect? Or simply a player who had turned into a corpse?

Empress Dowager Zhang slowly raised her arms, sleeves sliding down to reveal arms covered in corpse spots. She spread her fingers, placing them on either side of her head, mimicking the gesture of removal.

Yang Qinglan tensed up, feeling a strong sense of danger.

She flicked the ruyi, and deep blue ice, fierce as a tidal wave, instantly engulfed the entire courtyard.

The sense of danger dispersed slowly like blue smoke, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Thud, thud, thud...

Footsteps sounded from behind.

Without turning her head, Yang Qinglan sent another block of ice flying. By the time she turned around, a palace maid was frozen in front of Ciqing Palace's gate.

The maid's hands were pressed on either side of her head, her face bearing the same eerie smile as Empress Dowager Zhang.

The sun shone on the Forbidden City, melting the snow, and the temperature dropped even lower.

Yang Qinglan beckoned with her hand, and two booklets flew towards her from the maid and Empress Dowager Zhang. As her eyes swept over them, she fell into deep thought.

It wasn't a person but a kind of fungal infection, able to spread and reproduce rapidly, hijacking the host's thoughts and causing them to become zombies.

The behavior of tearing off heads was an unknown skill with an extremely strong contagion.

A skill that could spread infection...

Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings arose in the deathly still Cold Palace, making Yang Qinglan jump as if someone had tapped her on the shoulder while listening to a ghost story.

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