New Three Kingdoms Tales: Starting as the expressionless Liu Bei

Liu Bei felt a chill run down his spine, and almost instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword, turning around abruptly.

Standing behind him was none other than Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei chuckled, shook his enormous head, and lowered his voice to say:

"Brother, were you also woken up by this little thing's crying? I was dreaming of drinking blood wine, and it woke me up with its howling."

Liu Bei nodded, looked Zhang Fei up and down, who appeared quite spirited, and a suspicion arose in his heart. He asked suspiciously:

"Wait a minute, third brother. Weren't you passed out drunk tonight? Given your usual habit of being completely unresponsive, how could you be woken up by a few baby cries?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fei rolled his eyes, somewhat speechless, and muttered:

"Brother, you underestimate me. I'm drunk, not dead. There's a strange power in that crying that pierced my brain. I can't help but wake up."

"Besides, you know I'm terrified of dying. If I just confess like this, without any clear explanation, what will I drink with in the future?"

After hearing Zhang Fei's explanation, Liu Bei found it quite reasonable. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were both extremely frugal; they would wake up and investigate at the slightest strange noise.

He glanced around and asked, "Where's my second brother? Where did he go?"

Zhang Fei casually raised his hand and pointed behind him, saying:

"Second brother said he was so startled he felt the urge to pee and just went to the toilet. Eldest brother, hurry up and open this door to see what kind of monster is hiding inside! It's keeping me awake all night, I'm going to poke a thousand holes in it!"

Liu Bei frowned slightly, reached out and pressed down on Zhang Fei's thick arm that was gripping the eighteen-foot spear, and said in a deep voice:

"No. General Gongsun repeatedly instructed us before he left that this door must never be opened. We three brothers are living under someone else's roof, and we cannot break their rules."

Although Zhang Fei was a hundred times unwilling, he was no match for Liu Bei in a fight, and with that deadly soul chain hanging over his head, he had no choice but to reluctantly withdraw his hand, muttering resentfully:

"Alright, alright, brother, let's go back to sleep and see how long this brat can keep howling. Tomorrow I'm definitely going to find that bastard Gongsun Zan and get to the bottom of this. Could this house be a haunted house?"

Liu Bei nodded, but his mind was also filled with doubts. When they first moved in, it was eerily quiet; how come there's suddenly a baby crying?

He suddenly realized he didn't know what time it was, so he asked Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei looked up at the waning moon that was high in the sky outside the window and replied, "It's midnight, just past dawn."

Zi Shi, just past midnight, that is, around 1 a.m.

Liu Bei felt a slight chill. Gongsun Zan had once told him that this time of day was when the yin energy was at its strongest, making it the most active period for sleeping ghosts and strange occurrences.

But whether they are ghosts or monsters, their territorial instincts are extremely strong. If one monster trespasses into the territory of another, the weaker one will usually choose to leave quickly and will never dare to linger for too long.

Because anything that can become a ghost or a supernatural being has a strong desire to fulfill and wouldn't do something that would harm both itself and the enemy.

It's quite rare to see someone so recklessly crying out to attract prey.

Could it be that this strange infant is stronger than me? Or is the talisman on this door itself a kind of seal, trapping it inside and preventing it from getting out?

Liu Bei couldn't figure it out for a moment, nor did he want to think about it any further, so he said to Zhang Fei, "Third brother, let's go back to sleep. We can talk about it tomorrow."

Zhang Fei nodded and obediently followed behind Liu Bei, but a cunning glint flashed in his leopard-like eyes.

Who is Zhang Fei? He's the man who would later dare to burn down Zhuge Liang's thatched cottage. You expect him to obediently follow his elder brother's every word?

Hmph, after his eldest brother falls asleep, he will wake his second brother up and kill that howling dead baby in the dead of night.

That way, it won't howl incessantly, giving everyone a headache. And after it's done, I can even go to my older brother and claim credit for it—wouldn't that be wonderful?

Liu Bei walked ahead, seemingly oblivious to his third brother's ulterior motives. He simply yawned and returned to his bedroom with Zhang Fei.

Zhang Fei returned to the room, turned over and lay down on the couch, deliberately snoring loudly a few times.

He quietly channeled the strange power within his body into his ears, amplifying his hearing dozens of times.

When he confirmed that he could hear Liu Bei's even and steady snoring coming from the opposite bedroom, he was overjoyed. He then silently got out of bed, grabbed the eighteen-foot spear that was placed beside the bed, held his breath, and gently opened the door.

He had only taken about ten steps in the dark when he bumped into Guan Yu, who had just returned from the outhouse.

Guan Yu frowned slightly upon seeing Zhang Fei carrying a serpent spear, and asked in a low voice:

"Third brother, where are you going with weapons so late? Also, what exactly is that baby crying? Have you figured it out?"

Zhang Fei's eyes darted around, and he quickly crafted a half-truth, half-lie.

He chuckled and whispered in Guan Yu's ear:

"Second Brother, that's a man-eating monster! Eldest Brother and I went to investigate just now, and it's howling in the basement. Quick, go get some weapons, let's go and kill it together, so it won't harm anyone else!"

Guan Yu raised a slight brow with his phoenix eyes, his hand unconsciously stroking the long beard under his chin.

He pondered for a moment, glanced in the direction of Liu Bei's bedroom, and then asked, "Then why not invite my elder brother to come along?"

Zhang Fei was prepared; his face fell, he sighed, and his tone was full of helplessness:

"Second brother, you know best. Eldest brother is a good person in every way, except that he is too kind."

"Just now, my older brother and I listened at the door for a long time. My older brother said that there was just a crying baby inside, and that it might be innocent. He told us not to do anything."

"They also said there was a talisman on the door, sealed by Gongsun Zan, forbidding us from going in."

He swallowed hard and continued to fan the flames, "Big Brother also said that this brat will probably keep yelling all night, and that we should just bear with it."

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu's already flushed face immediately showed some displeasure.

His brows furrowed even more deeply, and he said in a deep voice:

"That won't do! If he screams all night, how are we supposed to sleep? How are we supposed to drink during the day? It's such a waste of time!"

Zhang Fei nodded quickly, seizing the opportunity to echo:

"That's right! Second brother, that's what I said too! But eldest brother absolutely refused to let us go and chop. I had no choice but to sneak off and do it myself. Once we've got this done, we can go back to eldest brother and ask for credit, wouldn't that be great?"

Guan Yu pondered for a moment, then finally nodded. He turned and silently slipped back into his bedroom, taking out the Green Dragon Crescent Blade.

The two of them, one in front of the other, held their breath and kept their heads down, following the wall all the way to the door that was sealed with talismans.

The monstrous infant inside continued to wail tirelessly, its shrill and high-pitched cries echoing through the deathly silent old house, sending chills down one's spine.

Guan Yu stroked his long beard, slowly pulled a gleaming dagger from his sleeve, stared at the door before him, and said coldly:

"My broadsword is not for the old or the young, but I also have a smaller one. It's not that I, Guan Yunchang, want to harm you today; it's that you've spoiled my brother's drinking, so I have no choice but to kill you!"

Before he finished speaking, he picked up his knife and was about to slash at the talismans.

Just then, a pair of icy hands landed squarely on Guan Yu's and Zhang Fei's shoulders respectively.

The hairs on both men's bodies stood on end instantly. A sinister voice whispered close to their ears, like a cold wind seeping from the ground:

"What are you two doing...?"