Chapter 109
Chapter 109
Brother Wang was still groggy, his mind clogged with fog. He looked down blearily and saw a bulge under the thin sheet covering him.
He snapped awake. Cold sweat soaked through his clothes and stuck them to the bed.
He could not move. In the corner of his eye, Xiao Song and the others sat dozing with their heads bowed. He tried to shout but made no sound.
His struggles were useless. He could only watch the sheet rise higher as the cold, slippery sensation crept upward.
Sweat poured down Brother Wang’s face. Terror and despair filled his eyes.
The sheet lifted, revealing a woman’s head beneath tangled black hair. Through the strands, he saw a swollen face.
“Huh… huh… huh…”
Her face drew close. A powerful rotten stench struck him, as though his head had been buried in decaying meat, and nausea surged through him.
The sheet slid to the floor, revealing the source of the sensation.
The woman had no feet. Her body coiled around him like a snake, slick with inexplicable mucus.
Her coils tightened. He felt like prey in the grip of a giant python. Bones began to crack inside him, one after another.
In despair, he saw Su Yang crouched in the corner, watching in horror.
Hope blazed in Brother Wang’s eyes. He signaled desperately and formed silent pleas with his mouth, begging Su Yang to save him.
But Su Yang seemed paralyzed with fear and did not move.
Brother Wang kept mouthing words as breathing became harder and agony consumed him. Broken bones pierced his organs. He felt his life draining away.
At last, pain exploded in his chest, and he lost consciousness.
Su Yang woke Old Zhao. His and Xiao Song’s cries drew Cheng Miao and the others.
Brother Wang lay dead on the bed. No one knew what had happened to the large man. His body resembled a wrung-out rag, flat and wrinkled, with limbs and joints twisted horribly.
“What happened?” Cheng Miao had known Brother Wang might be in danger, but had not expected him to die with three teammates beside him.
“I… I don’t know. We nodded off. Su Yang woke and saw the body, then woke us.” Xiao Song kept slapping himself. He had promised to stand guard. How had he fallen asleep?
Old Zhao caught his hands and wiped his red eyes. “Miss Cheng, do you know why my brother died?”
Cheng Miao was stumped. She truly did not know what taboo Brother Wang had broken.
Sun Jiao had barely spoken since Fan Tiantian’s death. Seeing Old Zhao’s grief, she said softly, “Where I come from, pregnant women aren’t supposed to see snakes, especially when the baby is born in the Year of the Rat. It’s inauspicious.”
Everyone turned toward her. Sun Jiao seemed somewhat better, though the light in her eyes had dimmed. “I don’t know if it’s related. A pregnant woman and a snake made me think of it.”
Freckles nodded in support. She too had felt they were missing something, and Sun Jiao’s words brought it back.
“My hometown is rural. People there dislike snakes, and that extends to people born in the Year of the Snake, so…”
She left the rest unsaid. Brother Wang had indeed been unlucky. They also could have refused to answer a question that felt wrong. Changing the subject would have been better than losing a life.
Old Zhao punched the wall. “What kind of bullshit instance is this?”
No one answered. There were too many traditions and taboos, and customs differed everywhere. They were impossible to guard against. Their luck had been terrible to draw this instance.
Everyone was listless at dinner. Their misery delighted the Longtime Tenants.
Tonight’s assessment belonged to the Old Woman. Her wrinkled face looked especially frightening by candlelight.
“My game is the Doorway Ghost.” Her kindly yet sinister smile drove Xiao Song behind Old Zhao.
“Five New Tenants will play in Room 201. Form a line. The first person opens the bedroom door, enters, walks seven steps, bows, returns to the door, and knocks three times. The next New Tenant opens the door for them, then goes out and repeats the process.”
The Old Woman giggled and licked her lips. “Those in the living room may see something behind the person in the bedroom. You must not close the door, or else…”
Enjoying their ashen faces, she continued, “It’s simple. If something follows the person, everyone in the living room blows at it until it leaves. Finish one round, and you may come out.”
This sounded even more terrifying than the Four Corners Game. The person alone in the bedroom had to face the unknown and a female ghost certain to appear.
The lots made Cheng Miao’s heart sink. Qin Musong, Xiao Song, Yang Ke, Little Red, and Baili Qianqiu had been selected.
She knew this game. Of all the bizarre horror games she had read about, this one disturbed her most because each player’s life was placed completely in the others’ hands.
With Qin Musong involved, she immediately gathered them. “This combines two games. The main one is Doorway Ghost, but normally you only go out, count silently to ten, then knock to come back. Whatever appears behind you represents your deepest fear.
“The seven steps and bow come from a game called Past and Present Lives. There, what appears is your former life.”
If this were only Doorway Ghost, she would worry more about Qin Musong. He feared ghosts, whether opening or knocking.
“After the door opens, we can’t know what will be behind you. My best guess is Shen Xin.”
Each nightly game provided a clue. Turn Around If You Dare revealed how Shen Xin died. In the Four Corners Game, the smell Qi Jiajia noticed and the hair she touched confirmed that the vengeful spirit was Shen Xin. Tonight’s game would reveal something too.
The selected players nodded seriously.
Cheng Miao glanced at Baili Qianqiu, still resting with his eyes closed. He and his wife had the same temperament and unfathomable strength. His presence reassured her.
“Keep the order, and no matter what you see, do not close the door!” she told them word by word.