Why is my anime art style so weird?

These paper figures are so lifelike that, in the dim candlelight, they are indistinguishable from living people.

Xu Ming even felt that from the moment he entered the room, the paper figures were all staring at him.

A chill ran down my spine.

Xu Ming subconsciously quickened his pace, heading straight for the charred coffin.

At this moment, the coffin lid had been blown off, and the scene inside the coffin was completely exposed.

Xu Ming, holding his phone, carefully crouched down beside the coffin and peered inside.

A strong, foul stench wafted over, like meat that had been burnt and then left to rot—a terrible smell of burnt and rotten meat.

Despite his discomfort, Xu Ming examined the area carefully.

With the help of 'night vision', everything inside the coffin was clearly visible.

The scene inside the coffin immediately made Xu Ming's eyes widen.

The inner wall of the coffin was covered with scratches. The scratches were dark red and concentrated mostly around the edges of the coffin.

Xu Ming even found a broken fingernail in one of the scratches.

A horrifying image flashed through Xu Ming's mind: the person was nailed alive into a coffin, then the coffin was set on fire, the person inside desperately cried for help, pounded on the coffin walls, and finally even frantically clawed at the edges of the coffin...

The person who did this was truly wicked; it was as if they were performing some kind of evil ritual.

Xu Ming's face immediately darkened.

Isn't there someone performing an evil ritual right here in this Totsuki Tea House?

The scene before us basically confirms the speculation that 'the study of Chinese cuisine is one of the key points of the ceremony'.

Xu Ming could even feel waves of intense despair and endless resentment emanating from every mark inside the coffin.

boom!

Just then, a large bulge suddenly appeared on the wall of the front hall facing the back garden, as if something had hit the wall.

"not good!"

Xu Ming was immediately shocked.

This coffin was actually connected to that monster; Xu Ming was discovered as soon as he touched it!

Now that the truth has been largely revealed, what clues can help him escape from here?

Xu Ming's intuition told him that he must still be in the coffin!

Sure enough, Xu Ming soon found a fan-shaped component at the bottom of the coffin that resembled a tangram puzzle, but was neither gold nor jade.

The component was a bright red, like a flame, and was engraved with tiny, mysterious runes, as small as ants.

boom!

Just then, a second loud bang was heard, and a large hole was instantly broken in the thick mud-brick wall.

Then a pair of eyes, filled with resentment and seemingly burning, peered out from the hole.

Without a second thought, Xu Ming reached into the coffin, grabbed the piece from the bottom, and ran out the door.

Just after he took the thing, the monster behind the wall let out an angry roar and slammed heavily against the wall.

boom!

The wall shattered instantly, and the monster burst out, lunging at Xu Ming like a madman.

At the same time, Xu Ming noticed that the surrounding scenery was sometimes clear and sometimes blurry, like a mirage about to disappear.

'This thing is indeed key to the ritual's crucial moments!'

Having realized this, Xu Ming gripped the component even tighter.

This was his only hope of escaping alive!

Chapter Thirty: Escape from Heaven

The monster was much faster than Xu Ming had imagined.

Xu Ming's act of stealing that part from the coffin completely enraged it.

With each step the monster took, cracks bloomed on the hard bluestone floor like snowflakes.

Bah!

The coffin that blocked its path was smashed to pieces.

This only delayed the monster by 0.1 seconds.

Just as Xu Ming was about to run out of the front hall, the monster quickly caught up with him!

Without turning around, Xu Ming could feel the immense pressure coming from behind him, as well as the howling wind.

Closer! Even closer!

Xu Ming could even smell the burnt odor emanating from the monster!

In that critical moment, Xu Ming suddenly turned around, and the camera of the spirit-capturing phone was pointed directly at the monster's eyes!

Press down hard!

Click!

With a soft sound, golden light burst forth like the sun.

"Ow!!"

The monster let out a painful scream, instinctively covered its eyes, but lost its balance and collapsed with a thud.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xu Ming quickly widened the distance.

By the time the monster got up and stumbled after Xu Ming, he was less than five meters away from the gate.

At this moment, the surrounding scenery kept changing, switching back and forth between the ancient Qing Dynasty houses with gray bricks and green tiles and the modern buildings with cement and ceramic tiles, as if the illusion was about to be broken.

It was clear that Xu Ming was about to escape.

Just then, an incredibly eerie figure hopped and skipped to block the entrance.

Its skin folds like paper, covered with brightly colored 'clothes' painted on it; its hair is shiny yellow; and it has a comical, semi-circular smile on its mouth…

Despite the ridiculous image, Xu Ming felt a chill in his heart.

Isn't this the very paper figure he tore down at the door?!

It not only fully recovered, but it also came back to life!

Xu Ming instinctively slammed on the brakes.

Just as he stopped in a panic, the paper figure did something astonishing again.

It raised its two stiff arms horizontally.

Whoops!

Three eerie green flames appeared out of thin air from its arms and above its head.

Before Xu Ming could react, the paper figure revealed an extremely eerie smile.

The next second, the green fireball suddenly flew towards Xu Ming in a triangular shape.

Xu Ming was startled and instinctively rolled to the side to avoid it.

Bah!

A green fireball crashed to the ground, sending up a spray of green sparks.

In the absence of any combustible material, the green flame clung firmly to the stone floor, burning quietly for a long time without going out.

Xu Ming's heart skipped a beat. This green ghost fire was too eerie; he absolutely did not want to touch it.

Without the paper figure making any movement, three green will-o'-the-wisps reappeared out of thin air.

At the same time, the monster seemed to have gradually broken free from the influence of the spirit-capturing phone and charged towards Xu Ming.

With wolves in front and tigers behind, Xu Ming seemed to have suddenly fallen into extreme danger.

Xu Ming looked at the gate behind the paper figure.

We can't stop!

He gritted his teeth and charged straight at the eerie paper figure!

The paper figure seemed startled by Xu Ming's actions and paused for a moment.

Xu Ming quickly closed the distance between himself and the paper figure.

At this moment, the paper figure seemed to come to its senses, and three balls of green ghost fire lashed out at Xu Ming.

However, Xu Ming was prepared. As soon as the green ghost fire moved, he immediately ducked and lunged forward with all his might!

With this lunge, Xu Ming not only dodged the ghost fire released by the paper figure, but also leaped out of the gate from beside the paper figure.

Due to the excessive force of his movements, Xu Ming rolled over twice before finally stopping.

Ignoring the dust on his body and the scratches on his hands, Xu Ming immediately got up and turned around to look.

The paper figure remained standing inside the old house, a strange smile on its face, staring intently at Xu Ming.

Beside the paper figure, the charred monster bared its teeth and claws at Xu Ming outside the door.

However, neither the paper figure nor the monster stepped out of the door. The threshold, which was not even as high as a calf, was like an insurmountable chasm, separating the inside and outside of the door into two different worlds.

The paper figures and monsters stared intently at Xu Ming, as if trying to etch his image into their souls.

Staring intently at by these two eerie creatures, Xu Ming couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

Just then, the entire old house seemed to daze for a moment, and the next second, the old house transformed back into the 'Chinese Cuisine Research Institute' that Xu Ming was familiar with.

At the same time, the blood moon disappeared from the sky at some unknown time.

Soon after, dawn broke...

Xu Ming frowned as he looked at the Chinese Culinary Research Association, which had now fully recovered.

If it weren't for the fan-shaped component in his hand, everything that had happened before would have seemed like a real illusion.

The Chinese cuisine research in front of us is just the tip of the iceberg of the ceremony. It is only half a star difficult, yet it is already so dangerous and bizarre.