Chapter 173: Saucy Footwork
“Hee hee hee…”
The old rope was wrapped around Wang Tao’s neck, and the already small loop tightened bit by bit, pulling his bones to creak.
Even though the Ghost Rope was suppressed by the old house, and the long suppression had greatly reduced the Ghost Rope’s terror level, the remaining supernatural power was still not something an ordinary person could resist.
The live broadcast room was already in chaos at this moment, with many people choosing to call the police, which would soon attract the headquarters’ attention.
Perhaps soon a Ghost Controller would come to investigate and rescue Wang Tao who was about to be hanged.
Unfortunately, he no longer had time.
If nothing unexpected happened, the Ghost Rope wouldn’t need half a minute to hang Wang Tao to death. Even if there was real support, those people could only find Wang Tao’s dead body.
But in a corner invisible to both Wang Tao and the live broadcast room, that unremarkable cloth doll underwent some unusual changes..
Under supernatural influence, the cloth doll that looked very rough in texture actually moved strangely.
The head sewn from rags shook, and the eyes made of two black buttons looked toward the Ghost Rope, as if it had just woken up and was observing the current situation.
Soon, some rule was triggered, and the cloth doll’s body shook as it tried to detach from the side of the backpack.
However, it failed.
A golden pin pierced through the cloth doll’s body, firmly fixing it to the backpack.
After struggling for a while, probably because its strength was too small, it had no way to break free.
Seeing that Wang Tao was about to be strangled to death, the cloth doll that couldn’t escape in advance had no choice but to change strategy. It raised its short little hand and beckoned toward the treetop above its head.
That spot was exactly the source of the Ghost Rope, and the meaning of this action was self-evident—you come hit me!
The entire process didn’t make a single sound, and even Wang Tao himself hadn’t noticed.
But the Ghost Rope’s action of strangling Wang Tao suddenly stiffened, and then the entire rope loop abruptly loosened.
“Ha—cough cough cough…”
Breathing fresh air after a long time, he was caught off guard and nearly choked on his own saliva.
Finally getting a chance to breathe, Wang Tao didn’t have time to think about what had just happened. Without any hesitation, he crawled forward with hands and feet toward the end of the grass ahead.
But at this moment, the Ghost Rope moved again. The rope loop swayed in the air and lunged toward Wang Tao once more.
Clearly, it didn’t want to give up its attack target.
A unique sense of fear made Wang Tao’s heartbeat involuntarily speed up. The increasingly close chill from behind was like a death-urging knife forcing him to speed up.
Still too slow.
Blocked by dense weeds, with limbs stiffened by fear, Wang Tao’s speed was completely no match for the oncoming Ghost Rope.
Desperately turning his head, he could only watch as the Ghost Rope got closer and closer to him.
However, when it was within arm’s reach and right in front of his eyes, the Ghost Rope suddenly shifted downward, completely ignoring the terrified Wang Tao, and looped onto the side of the backpack in one go.
The rope loop accurately looped onto the cloth doll that was posing provocatively, and as it contracted, it began to pull back, as if afraid the cloth doll would run away.
Immediately after, there was a bang, and a faint pulling sensation appeared and quickly disappeared, as if something had been yanked off.
Wang Tao watched wide-eyed as the Ghost Rope suddenly retracted, hope reigniting in his eyes.
The cloth doll given by the old woman was caught?
Did it grab the wrong person?
Not daring to look more, he hurriedly struggled to his feet from the ground, ignoring the dirt on his body, and rushed straight out of the grassy area.
During this time, the Ghost Rope never attacked again.
It seemed to have given up on Wang Tao as the attack target, or rather, something had replaced Wang Tao and become the new attack target.
That seemingly unremarkable cloth doll was actually a supernatural item capable of influencing a fierce ghost’s killing pattern and forcibly protecting a person from the fierce ghost’s grasp.
You must know that in that situation at the time, even if a new attack target appeared, the Ghost Rope would first strangle Wang Tao to death before turning to the next target.
To save Wang Tao, probably the only method was to repel the fierce ghost.
But this cloth doll didn’t confront the fierce ghost at all. It just beckoned, and the Ghost Rope obediently came over, giving up on Wang Tao and designating the cloth doll as the new attack target.
Or rather, it wasn’t giving up the target, but in the fierce ghost’s eyes, the cloth doll was the “real” Wang Tao.
Considering its ability, calling it the Substitute Doll would be most appropriate.
Such a thing was not inferior even to the Ghost Candle. In the outside world, it could spark a dispute among Ghost Controllers.
And before this, no contemporary Ghost Controller even knew of such a thing’s existence.
Even the headquarters was unaware.
Wang Tao himself would never have thought that because of a single act of kindness, he would be ahead of the whole world, enjoying the highest-end item ahead of time.
After the cloth doll was yanked off the backpack by the Ghost Rope, it flew toward the treetop along with the Ghost Rope.
However, an absurd scene appeared.
Although the rope loop was contracting, its size was naturally sufficient to bind an adult, but it was still too big to trap a cloth doll.
The Substitute Doll actually just slipped out of the rope loop like that and fell under the dead tree in one go.
Lying on the ground for a few seconds, the doll finally stood up shaking its head groggily, as if it had been knocked silly.
The Ghost Rope also discovered its trail, and the rope loop swooped down with the wind, intending to continue the unfinished attack.
But this doll actually started running toward the depths of the grass on its two short little legs.
Its running movements were light and agile, completely unlike its crude appearance.
The Ghost Rope naturally wasn’t willing to let it go. The rope loop rose with the wind, trying to catch the Substitute Doll back again.
It wasn’t clear if the doll’s speed was too fast or the Ghost Rope’s extension speed was too slow, but after a long time, the Ghost Rope still hadn’t caught the Substitute Doll.
Wang Tao had already escaped the grassy area during this time. Only after stepping on the stone brick did he breathe a sigh of relief. Unable to control himself, he curiously looked back.
He saw a rope drifting down from the treetop, the rope loop floating mid-air, slithering forward like a snake.
This movement had no pattern, sometimes forward, sometimes to the side, winding around in the grassy area and soon wrapping around many dead trees.
This rope seemed to be searching for something, yet it was being led by the nose by that thing.
Could it be that cloth doll?
Wang Tao suddenly noticed that the cloth doll in the rope loop was gone, and he couldn’t help but have this bold guess.
What was going on today? A broken rope could kill on its own, yet a ragged cloth doll could lead this rope around by the nose.
He had already figured it out: this rope probably had no way to deal with that cloth doll. After chasing for half a day with no results, it had even tied itself into knots one after another.
If not for the Ghost Rope’s ability to continuously extend, it would probably have been bound immobile by itself long ago.
