Chapter 224
Chapter 224
A chilly gust brushed across Manman’s face, making her shudder.
The road must be traveled. No one can remain where they are forever. (Lu Runtu)
Staring into the dim passage, Manman shuffled deeper inside.
The faint sound of sobbing echoed in her ears, leaving her increasingly unsettled.
She had only taken a few steps when a sheet of white paper drifted down from above.
Manman hunched her neck and cautiously picked it up.
The symbol on the paper seemed to have been drawn stroke by stroke in blood.
Only after staring at it for a long time did Manman finally make it out.
It was a triangle enclosed within an oval.
At the very center of the symbol, she could vaguely discern an eye.
A grotesque symbol. An eye drawn in blood.
A chill instantly swept through her entire body.
Trembling, Manman clutched the paper in her hand.
If she’d known this place had a horror theme, nothing could have convinced her to come in.
She had always been timid and was utterly terrified of anything involving ghosts or the supernatural.
Once, one of her Fans had sent her a short horror video.
It had scared her so badly that she hadn’t dared sleep until the Sun came up.
As she continued forward, more and more of those grotesque symbols appeared on the walls.
Blood-drawn eyes covered the walls, seeming to stare at her no matter where she stood.
After an arduous five-minute journey, Zhang Bei finally made it out of the Underground Maze.
He set out his four-piece set, leaned back in a lounge chair, and pulled up the surveillance feed.
The sight of Manman on the screen immediately piqued his interest.
Strictly speaking, every passage in the Underground Maze with a four in its number was rather special.
If someone could last more than forty minutes in Passage 44, it would become nothing short of a paradise for countless ghosts.
Not a single ghost would appear along Passage 4, but clearing it required entering several key locations and obtaining the necessary clues.
On-screen, Manman soon reached the first checkpoint.
A massive iron door blocked her way.
Beside it was a long, narrow Xiao Lu.
At first, it was barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through. After walking several dozen steps, the space suddenly opened up.
A living room appeared before Manman, or, more precisely, a two-bedroom apartment.
The walls, decorated in an industrial style, were covered in blood.
Another sheet of white paper fluttered down from above, bearing a single line of text.
[The key is on Dad. I can’t escape unless I get it!]
Manman swallowed hard, her legs going weak.
There probably… possibly… might be ghosts here?
Staring at the cluttered living room, Manman began searching inch by inch for clues.
If she ignored the blood on the walls, this was just an ordinary two-bedroom apartment.
But there was no ignoring something like that!
No matter what she was doing, the bloodstains on the walls would always creep into the corner of her vision when she least expected it.
Manman soon found the first vital clue.
It was a notebook impaled by a knife.
[Ever since we moved here, Mother has disappeared, and no one knows where my little sister went either.]
[Father… I don’t think he’s human anymore!]
[There is definitely something wrong with this house!]
Manman rapidly flipped through the notebook. The handwriting grew messier with every page.
Eventually, she reached the last one.
[The bed. The bed is safe!]
Manman stiffly turned her neck and looked at the two tightly shut bedroom doors before her.
A family of four must have moved into this place, only for the mother and younger sister to disappear a few days later.
Meanwhile, the father had become more and more abnormal.
Manman had barely pieced that much together when an overwhelming terror engulfed her.
So… she had to take the key from a father who had turned into who knew what?
But no matter how terrified she was, Manman had to keep going.
If she found the key and escaped, she might still have a chance of survival.
But if she remained trapped here, there was no telling what might happen.
She pushed open the door with one hand, revealing a European-style bedroom.
It wasn’t large. There was a simple single bed, a large wardrobe, and a full-length mirror beside it.
Just as Manman stepped into the room, the lights suddenly began to flicker.
The sound of something feeding reached her ears.
The words from the note flashed through her mind.
Manman threw herself onto the bed as fast as she could and burrowed under the covers, leaving only her eyes exposed as she stared fixedly at the door.
A dark figure entered the room, its footsteps drawing closer.
Manman watched it, suppressing even the sound of her breathing.
It stood a little over two meters tall. Its arms reached below its knees, and its legs bent backward.
Worst of all, its entire body was nothing but skin stretched over bone!
That wasn’t an exaggeration. It was literally skin and bones!
In the dim light, Manman could just make out the naked hunger in its hollow eyes.
It craved her body!
And that craving was entirely literal. Drool was already trickling from its mouth.
After two full minutes, the creature finally seemed to disappear from the room, looking distinctly reluctant to leave.
Manman wiped the tears from her face and climbed shakily out of bed.
Someone, please save me!
This is terrifying!
I don’t want to be eaten!
Manman was absolutely certain that the way the thing had looked at her meant it wanted to devour her!
Before she could properly search the room, a noise suddenly came from the wardrobe.
The full-length mirror revealed what was inside.
That thing hadn’t left!
It was curled up inside the wardrobe, clutching a baby in both hands and gnawing on it.
Its hunger-filled eyes remained locked firmly on her.
An icy draft swept through the room, and Zhang Bei’s smiling face floated into Manman’s mind.
“Damn Boss, you bleeping bleep bleep!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Manman closed her eyes and lay peacefully on the bed.
The doctor quickly swung the full-length mirror aside and emerged from the passage behind the wall.
He immediately popped a Suxiao Jiuxin Wan into Manman’s mouth.
After checking the heart-rate graph on his tablet, he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
His gaze shifted to the wardrobe, and he studied the creature before him with curiosity.
From the outside, it looked like a praying mantis magnified countless times.
How exactly had this thing scared someone unconscious?
The doctor glanced at the glasses on Manman’s face. In the end, he couldn’t suppress his self-destructive curiosity.
Through the glasses, the eerie humanoid figure stared back at him with hollow eyes.
The baby being gnawed on also turned its head, its face spread in a wide smile.
The doctor tore off the glasses as fast as he could and patted his rapidly pounding heart.
He gave Manman, who was lying on the bed, a sympathetic look.
Time to go. He couldn’t take any more of this!
He hoisted Manman onto his shoulder and retraced the route he had come from.
Watching through the surveillance feed, Zhang Bei silently lamented what a shame it was.
If only they could put an enhanced version of Suxiao Jiuxin Wan into production.
Then they could just feed a tourist one pill and toss them into the Maze. They would wake up on their own in five minutes anyway.
The doctor wouldn’t have to work so hard, and the tourists would get to experience the complete version of the Underground Maze!
It would be perfect!
As Boss Zhang happily envisioned the future, Chef Li’s furtive figure quietly crept toward Werewolf.