Chapter 108 - Old Spirit Manor
Chapter 108 – Old Spirit Manor
As the group proceeded through the corridor, the dim candlelight allowed them to see the scene before them more clearly.
Everyone instinctively froze in their tracks and gulped.
The interior was incredibly spacious, exuding an otherworldly and ethereal feeling that seemed very unhumanly. Looking up, all they could see was darkness. They were no longer surrounded by narrow walls but rather solid stone blocks, each one layered on top of another, creating the visual effect of climbing upwards.
It was also very bright here. There were no lamps or candles, but this enclosed space still appeared as bright as daylight.
What truly left them rooted in place, however, was not the vastness of the place but the fact that it was filled with human corpses, piled up like mountains. The height of the pile was even greater than the combined height of two adult men.
Most of these bodies had already decomposed into white bones, with just a few that still had rotten flesh on their faces. The putrid smell of decaying bodies permeated the air.
It was a sickening sight.
It was easy for the group to imagine and empathize, to the point of wondering if their own fate might be similar. These thoughts amplified their horror.
Annie looked at the horrifying scene and couldn’t help but feel sick. She eventually couldn’t bear it any longer, took off her mask, then proceeded to retch dramatically at the sight, to the point where it seemed she wanted to vomit out stomach acid.
But she forgot, she was no longer the beautiful Annie she used to be. Her nose had collapsed, her face was now asymmetrical, and there was even some inexplicable swelling and stiffness in what was once full and rosy cheeks.
[So Cute: Anne’s face, even if you were mentally prepared to see it, still looks unbearably ugly…
Ring Madness: No, this face is too hideous, can’t stand it, it’s a turn-off!]
Su Lele and Wang Xueke didn’t look too well either, their faces pale white. Duan Aoming took a deep breath and comforted Su Lele by holding her in his arms.
Wang Xueke, as usual, hid behind Xiao Chen. She covered the position of her heart with her hands, only then easing her agitation.
Annie seemed to realize her own extreme ugliness and, being someone who loved beauty, she disregarded everything and screeched without restraint.
The next moment, her expression turned even more hateful. She glared at Su Lele, who had a boyfriend to protect her. Su Lele coldly chuckled and rolled her eyes at Anne’s current predicament.
Du Chonghua stood where he was and listened to Anne’s unseemly screams. These screams made him, who was already anxious, even more agitated. His eyes were bloodshot, and his eyeballs almost popped out.
He rushed forward. Pressing down Annie’s struggling body, he threatened, “If you don’t behave, believe me or not, I will leave you alone in this godforsaken place.”
Anne trembled all over, tears streaming down her face. If she was her former self, she would have presented a devastating scene of a weeping, delicate, and pitiable maiden. However, with this kind of face, even Du Chonghua found it somewhat repulsive; gazing at her only made him more irritable.
Threatened, Anne finally complied. She stopped screaming and struggling. In fact, due to Du Chonghua’s threat, her mind cleared up slightly. Her knees gave way, and she knelt in place.
Du Chonghua glanced at her but couldn’t be bothered paying her any attention.
“Stubborn are we?” Someone whispered a devilish incantation in her ear, though it wasn’t clear who.
Annie shuddered, and since nobody cared about her well-being, nobody noticed that something seemed amiss with her.
The person continued to whisper to her with an ethereal, seductive voice.
“Do you hate them?” Saying this, they emitted a sharp laugh.
Anne clenched her teeth, and without warning her neck pulse suddenly twitched.
Hate!
How could she not hate?
Annie widened her eyes, and without a word, her gaze frozen in place, as if lost in thought about something. The sparkle in her eyes disappeared.
She appeared lifeless, like a motionless marionette, stiff and wooden.
However, Xiao Chen keenly noticed this scene. He glanced at Anne, curved his mouth into a smile, and discreetly stepped back, moving to the rear of the group.
[Be A Little Fairy: Quick, look at Anne’s expression; it’s giving me the creeps!
Dry Brushing Helps Weight Loss: Seeing her like that feels oddly unsettling…
Band-Aid: Oh my, her face looks scarier than the ghosts I see in horror movies!]
Du Chonghua was considering whether to continue forward and check for any new discoveries.
Annie, who had been crouching on the ground, suddenly raised her head and swiftly stood up.
The sound of her getting up was quite loud, and everyone turned to look at her with expressions of hateful disdain.
The next second, while Du Chonghua was still somewhat dazed, Annie, seemingly from nowhere, produced a dagger and lunged at him. She plunged the knife straight into his abdomen, immediately drawing blood.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
“Ahhhhhh–”
Su Lele and Wang Xueke screamed simultaneously, horror painted all over their faces.
Duan Aoming was standing very close to Du Chonghua, and he could be assumed to have the best angle of witnessing Du Chonghua being stabbed. He even heard the distinct sound of the dagger piercing through flesh and skin.
In almost an instant, although their minds had not yet recovered from the shock, their bodies reacted reflexively, and they all bolted in the direction they had come from as if they had gone mad.
Duan Aoming staggered a few steps and nearly collapsed from shock.
At this moment, none of them thought about rushing forward to help Du Chonghua.
Xiao Chen, on the other hand, remained in place without moving, as though everything had unfolded as he anticipated. He watched all of this with a cold gaze.
He glanced at the fleeing group and then turned to look at Annie.
Just seconds later, someone leaned in close to his ear. With a slightly indulgent tone, they said, “Naughty.”
Xiao Chen rubbed his burning red ears and muttered another curse under his breath.
Annie had already pulled the dagger out of Du Chonghua’s abdomen, and had blood splattered all over her face. It slowly slid down from her eyelids, down to her neck, giving her a horrifying and malevolent expression.
Du Chonghua stared wide-eyed with bulging eyeballs and veins standing out on his face. He clutched his abdomen, as if he hadn’t yet recovered from the sudden shock. His hand trembled as blood uncontrollably flowed and pooled on the ground.
Finally, he snapped out of his daze. His eyes widened, features contorted. He pressed one hand against his chest, using the other to try and grab Annie’s hand holding the knife, intending to face this deranged woman in a life-or-death struggle.
But for some reason, Annie was unexpectedly strong. Du Chonghua’s resistance was feeble before her, and his struggles seemed to only further infuriate her.
Annie kicked Du Chonghua’s knee, causing him to collapse to the ground, unsteady, like a lamb ready for slaughter, devoid of any resistance.
The hand Annie used to hold the knife continued to relentlessly stab Du Chonghua’s abdomen, puncturing and withdrawing repeatedly. Blood followed her every motion, spattering more and more, with some even sprayed directly into her eyes.
Yet at this moment, she felt no fatigue or discomfort. She appeared completely irrational, like a female demon gone mad, even cracking a wide, maniacal grin.
Go die! Perish!
Finally, Du Chonghua completely lost consciousness. Before dying, his eyes remained open, pupils shrunk as he gazed intensely at Annie. It was as if even in death, he wouldn’t let her escape.
Anne, however, showed no mercy, continuing her frenzied stabbing with the dagger.
Seemingly tireless and unrelenting, she didn’t even stop when Du Chonghua’s body began to cool. She continued to stab his abdomen, even if she had already exposed his internal organs. There was no sign of her stopping.
Go die! Perish!
[Tired To Death: What’s happening? Why did Anne suddenly jump up from the ground, and the screen went black again?
Don’t Force Me: I have a bad feeling about this; I just sense Anne is up to something.
Hourglass Figure: Before the screen went black, Anne’s final expression was so unsettling!
Single And fabulous, Do Not Disturb: Damn, that scared me! I’m not watching anymore! I’m going to sleep! My god!]
Wang Xueke and the other two ran for a good while before realizing that no one was chasing them. They were so fast not even Xiao Chen had caught up with their pace.
But at this moment, their primary concern was how to stay alive!
“What do we do? What do we do? What should we do?” Wang Xueke trembled all over, looking at the only male companion in their current group, Duan Aoming, seemingly placing all her hopes on him.
Duan Aoming’s face turned pale, looking extremely distressed. He shook his head, his legs trembling as if he had been deeply shocked, completely devoid of any masculine demeanor.
In comparison, Su Lele remained exceptionally silent, not saying a word from start to finish. She kept her head down, lost in thought.
Duan Aoming’s mind was in a whirl, appearing disoriented, thoughts seeming fragmented. Seeing Wang Xueke continually asking him, he finally broke down, his expression on the verge of tears, stuttering and in a state of panic, he said, “I don’t know! I really don’t know!”
Just moments ago, they had jumped down from the room above, which was a considerable height, with no staircase to climb back up.
They were indeed trapped in an impossible situation.
Beside them, Su Lele clenched her teeth. Eyes flashing with determination, she said fiercely, “Did you bring a knife?!”
Duan Aoming and Wang Xueke looked at her with a mix of understanding and confusion.
After a brief silence, Wang Xueke, with her body trembling, hesitated for a moment before finally speaking, “I, I brought one.”
After all, they had come for exploration and to challenge a haunted house. As a girl, she would always carry a knife with her every time she ventured out with the little death squad, just as a precaution.
Duan Aoming widened his eyes, looking at Wang Xueke in disbelief, as if he hadn’t expected this at all.
Su Lele, on the other hand, smiled again, her voice calm and composed. It was a smile that would send shivers down someone’s spine, a smile that made people think deeply and feel a sense of dread. She said, “I brought one too.”
Duan Aoming shuddered all over, a look of horror in his eyes as he gazed at her. It was as if he was seeing Su Lele for the first time. Chills ran down his spine, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.
The atmosphere immediately fell into a brief yet eerie silence.
“So, let’s go back,” Su Lele broke the eerie silence. Her eyes flashed with an unreadable light.
For once, no one argued with her.
After hesitating for a while, Wang Xueke, trembling but resolute, nodded in agreement.
After all, no one would ever know! They were just doing it to survive! Yes, that’s right.
In this world, the most unpredictable beings are women. If a woman sets her mind to something, there’s no way of fathoming what she might do.
As a woman, I agree that our exotic species is unpredictably unpredictable