New Three Kingdoms Tales: Starting as the expressionless Liu Bei

The guard froze, the color draining from his face, his voice trembling uncontrollably:

"Gentlemen, please don't frighten me... There's no baby crying in the middle of the night!"

no?

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei exchanged a glance, but the cries of the strange infant still echoed in the house.

Could it be?

They quickly retreated to Liu Bei's side and whispered, "Brother, could it be that only the three of us brothers could hear that crying?"

Liu Bei frowned, nodded slightly, and lowered his voice to a whisper: "Something's not right here. Let's get out of here first, away from this awful place."

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei nodded and were about to follow Liu Bei outside when the two guards stepped forward and blocked their way: "Generals, it's getting late. You two shouldn't go out."

Zhang Fei's face darkened, and he pointed his finger at the guard's nose, cursing loudly:

"What are you doing! If you won't let us out, then you'd better clean up that screaming baby for me! Otherwise, how are we supposed to sleep!"

Guan Yu stroked his long beard, glanced up at Liu Bei's retreating figure, and sighed deeply, his tone filled with helpless agreement:

"We brothers don't really want to go out either. If we could just stay home and have a few drinks in peace, who would want to go out in the middle of the night? But our eldest brother poured out all our wine. If we don't go out to buy more, what are we going to drink?"

A strange smile suddenly appeared on the faces of the two guards. They spoke in unison, uttering something chilling and utterly incomprehensible:

"Generals, if you don't want to go out, you don't have to. No one can force you to leave."

Zhang Fei and Guan Yu were both stunned. What did those words mean?

Just as Zhang Fei was about to press further, Liu Bei's voice drifted from afar, carried on through the thick darkness, unhurried and unusually calm:

"Second brother, third brother, who are you talking to? Come on, let's go have a drink."

Zhang Fei's heart sank suddenly, and a bone-chilling coldness shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

He turned his head sharply and looked toward the spot where the two guards had been standing.

There was no one there. The two people were as if they had never existed.

Zhang Fei's pupils contracted sharply. He was about to whisper a reminder to Guan Yu not to move, but the words "drink" had already accurately penetrated Guan Yu's ears.

He stroked his long beard, his previously gloomy face now beaming with a smile, and strode towards Liu Bei, laughing loudly:

"Great, brother! I'm so thirsty! It's rare for you to treat us brothers to drinks, let's go, let's stay up all night, we won't leave until we're drunk!"

Zhang Fei was so anxious that the veins on his forehead throbbed, wishing he could drag his second brother, who had been bewitched by the wine, back to his senses.

But he dared not make a sound, much less stay behind alone. He and Guan Yu were bound by a deadly soul chain; if Guan Yu perished here, he would not survive either.

He gritted his teeth and followed along, forcing himself to be brave.

The two followed behind Liu Bei, surrounded by endless darkness. The outlines of the streets and alleys that could be vaguely seen just moments before were now being peeled away layer by layer by an unseen hand, leaving only the stone-paved road beneath their feet, its destination unknown.

Zhang Fei's unease grew heavier, as if a cold hand was slowly clenching his heart.

He finally couldn't hold back any longer and leaned close to Guan Yu's ear, lowering his voice to the lowest possible level: "Second Brother, something's wrong with Eldest Brother!"

Guan Yu paused, his brow furrowing slightly: "What's wrong?"

Just as Zhang Fei was about to speak, a cold hand suddenly emerged silently from the darkness and climbed onto his shoulder.

The chill penetrated through his armor and went straight to his bones. Zhang Fei's hair stood on end, and he was so frightened that he almost lost his soul.

He turned around abruptly and was met with Liu Bei's face, which was now right in front of him.

In the dim light, a sinister smile slowly spread across the face: "Second brother, third brother, what are you whispering about? Why don't you tell your elder brother?"

Zhang Fei's dark face turned deathly pale. He staggered back several steps, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would jump out of his throat. He waved his hands frantically, his voice trembling with fear:

"Big brother! We weren't talking about anything! We were just talking about alcohol, really, really!"

Liu Bei tilted his head and looked at him for a moment, then nodded with a smile that seemed particularly eerie in the dark night.

"Oh, I see~ It's alright, let's go, let's go to the nearby pub for a couple of drinks."

Liu Bei turned around and walked forward on his own. Zhang Fei swallowed hard, exchanged a fearful glance with Guan Yu, whose face was also pale, and gritted his teeth as he followed.

The two walked on nervously, not knowing where the road led or what awaited them ahead.

As he walked, Liu Bei suddenly began to hum a nursery rhyme. The sound was neither too loud nor too soft, neither too fast nor too slow, drifting softly through the deathly still night.

"My dear child, my dear child, it's late at night. Can you hear a soft knocking from inside the wall?"

"That's not a wind chime, nor a pendulum clock; it's the upside-down bride scratching herself with her fingernails."

"Whose mirror is glowing in the middle of the night? The reflection isn't your face."

"Good boy, good boy, close your eyes, pull the blanket tighter, and pretend you're already asleep."

"Never mind why the shadow outside the window is longer upside down; she's behind you, watching you all night."

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei exchanged bewildered glances, a chill running down their spines, and they unconsciously held their breath.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, a dark figure suddenly darted out from the depths of darkness. The face of the figure was hidden in the night and could not be seen at all.

He gripped Guan Yu's and Zhang Fei's arms tightly, one on each side, his voice hoarse and urgent, as if he were shouting with his last ounce of strength:

"Remember that rule! Remember that rule! Wake up! Wake up!"

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were already terrified, and when the dark figure pounced on them and shouted, they were even more scared out of their wits.

Liu Bei frowned, turned around, and kicked the dark figure hard, shouting, "Where did this stinking beggar come from? Get out of here!"

The dark figure was kicked backward and sent flying into the thick darkness, where it fell silent.

Rules? Zhang Fei stood frozen in place, his eyes, like those of a ringed leopard, swirling with unease and confusion.

Although the voice was so hoarse it was almost out of tune, it had an inexplicable familiarity, as if I had heard it somewhere before.

He recalled the nursery rhyme that Liu Bei had just hummed, the words swirling in his mind, yet he couldn't quite grasp where that sense of familiarity came from.

The bride? I seem to remember her somewhere.

Before he could figure it out, he suddenly noticed that Liu Bei had stopped.

Zhang Fei's heart tightened, and he stopped walking as well.

He looked up and saw a tavern lantern hanging forlornly under the eaves, casting a dim and eerie red light.

The light only illuminated a small area around the entrance to the tavern; beyond that, it was pitch black and nothing could be seen.

Liu Bei slowly turned around, a half-smile playing on his lips. He stepped aside and pointed lightly at the tightly closed wooden door:

"Second brother, third brother, open the door for me."