Chapter 102
Chapter 102
The end of the darkness opened into a small room with its door tightly shut.
One glance was enough for Xiao Huai to recognize it as somewhere they had visited before.
It was the room overgrown with hair.
He stopped outside the door.
An eerie blue light seeped from within, tangled with wisps of unknown black vapor.
The black vapor seemed to come alive. Thousands of fine tendrils wound around Xiao Huai’s calves and crawled steadily upward.
Xiao Huai frowned. When he tried to move, countless voices seemed to howl and scream inside his mind.
Too loud!
“Ngh–” Xiao Huai pinched the space between his brows. His heartbeat quickened, and his surging blood became a soundless tide.
His lashes trembled almost imperceptibly. He bit his lip as though enduring intense pain, then drove his fist hard against the door.
[Warning! Soul-Sacrifice Ruins detected ahead. This is a contaminated area. Players, proceed with caution! Remaining here too long will contaminate your Sanity!]
[Friendly Reminder: Players of poor psychological resilience should take a detour. Anything can happen within a contaminated area.]
Xiao Huai breathed softly and tried his best to calm down, but the piercing cacophony continued to circle his ears.
The pain bored straight into his brain.
Suddenly, he felt something warm and wet beside his ear and reached up to touch it.
His ear was bleeding.
Blood slid down his earlobe and dripped to the floor. The blue light inside the room flared brilliantly.
He raised his eyes, and a black-diamond dagger appeared in his hand. There was nothing to fear. If he killed every last one of those things, wouldn’t it finally be quiet?
“Heh.” He looked up. The instant he turned the handle, a large hand covered the back of his.
Before Xiao Huai could lift his head, he caught the scent that belonged to that man alone.
“Well, what a coincidence. You’re here too.” With a glib laugh, Lu Yuanshi tightened his grip on Xiao Huai’s hand.
Xiao Huai’s brows knitted. Perhaps it was only his imagination, but the voices in his mind began to fade little by little.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the black vapor flee his body and retreat into the room.
Several beams of blinding flashlight glare shone from behind Lu Yuanshi. Xiao Huai’s frown deepened, and he raised the hand holding the dagger to shield his eyes.
“Let go.” He glanced at Lu Yuanshi.
Lu Yuanshi arched a brow. “So cold.”
As though deliberately making trouble, he tightened his grip even more.
His other hand quietly touched Xiao Huai’s earlobe, staining his fingertips with blood.
In a low voice, he asked, “Are you scared?”
His face was turned slightly to the side, a lock of hair veiling his eyes. Backlit as he was, Xiao Huai still thought he glimpsed an almost illusory tenderness in them.
Lu Yuanshi’s voice sounded right beside his ear. Each word stirred the air, yet the vibrations washed slowly through Xiao Huai’s mind like gentle waves.
Was he scared?
Xiao Huai’s fingers curled and relaxed in time with his heartbeat. When he lowered his gaze, he could still see Lu Yuanshi’s large hand wrapped firmly around his own.
His heartbeat suddenly calmed. With Lu Yuanshi’s arrival, every discordant voice had disappeared, and the scent at the tip of his nose brought an inexplicable sense of security.
When the other players caught up, they heard a very soft, muffled sound.
In the next second, everyone fell silent. Even their flashlights seemed uncertain where to point.
They saw…
Xiao Huai embracing Lu Yuanshi.
His forehead rested lightly against the hollow of Lu Yuanshi’s neck, and Lu Yuanshi’s pupils contracted at once.
Xiao Huai heard Lu Yuanshi breathe. As though he wanted to burrow into that breath and heartbeat, he murmured a single word beside Lu Yuanshi’s ear.
“Scared.”
Perfectly clear.
It was only one short word, yet it seemed to unleash a rushing tide of heat that broke through the void and sank into the marrow of his bones.
Lu Yuanshi’s hand trembled. Even his breathing grew a shade heavier.
He had never expected Xiao Huai to hug him outright, much less answer that he was scared.
He had believed he could handle any of these surprises with ease.
Instead, he was so completely at a loss that he did not know what to do.
By the time Xiao Huai released him, he had also successfully slipped free of the hand restraining him.
A faint smile suddenly lifted the corners of Xiao Huai’s eyes, like a victor declaring his claim. However shallow it was, it still did not escape Lu Yuanshi’s notice.
Whenever Xiao Huai smiled that way, something quick and vivid shone in his eyes, making it impossible to look away.
“So you like the fragile type,” he said, his voice a little lazy.
Lu Yuanshi came back to himself. “Hm?”
Xiao Huai offered no further explanation.
His fragility had always been a disguise.
Occasionally, he pretended to be weak for no reason other than to see how someone else would react.
After witnessing Lu Yuanshi’s reaction, he suddenly found the game rather entertaining.
But perhaps… for one instant, Xiao Huai truly had wanted to tell someone.
He was, in fact, a little afraid.
He had never shown anyone the genuinely soft place within his heart.
He did not want to, and he was afraid to.
He did not want anyone to discover his vulnerable side.
He feared that once he accepted his own weakness, he would collapse and never recover.
“A-Zhuolang! Are you all right?” Lu Zhi rushed forward just then.
He instinctively glared at Lu Yuanshi, but regretted it the instant he did.
The way Lu Yuanshi looked at other people was genuinely frightening.
But his hand was covered in blood!
For all Lu Zhi knew, Lu Yuanshi was the one who had made Xiao Huai’s ear bleed.
He looked worriedly at Xiao Huai.
Xiao Huai shook his head. He had not expected Lu Zhi to worry about him.
This kid was braver than Xiao Huai had thought. Every other player was so afraid of him that they wanted to hide as far away as possible, yet Lu Zhi could hardly wait to follow him.
Mm… perhaps he was simply too naive.
That was Xiao Huai’s private conclusion.
The other players arrived one after another. Xiao Huai noticed that all of them looked terrible.
They whispered among themselves. As soon as they approached this place, the system had begun warning them that a contaminated area lay ahead.
It had even advised anyone of poor psychological resilience to stay away.
What did that mean?
Put another way, didn’t it mean they might be scared to death?
Sun Xingye’s brows remained tightly furrowed. “Since I fucking came all this way, I’m not turning back so easily. Curse or no curse, I’m going to see it.”
Xiao Huai glanced at Sun Xingye. That mouse had finally decided to show some courage.
Though in truth, he had been forced into it.
Sun Xingye came to Xiao Huai’s side and looked at him. “A-Zhuolang, I might not be capable of much, but there’s strength in numbers, isn’t there?”
Cheng Shan followed close behind. “Count me in.”
“Then… we’ll come too.”
Xiao Huai gave a slight nod and turned the handle. With a long creak, the door swung open.
Once again, everyone saw what lay inside the room.
This time, Sun Xingye’s heart seemed to plummet below freezing. It was as though someone had dragged every one of them into an ice cellar, chilling them to the bone.
The terror rising from the depths of their souls made them suck in a cold breath.
The room before them…
It no longer looked the way it had during the day.
If anything, it was even more horrifying.
No one dared speak. They hardly dared draw a full breath.
They were afraid to make even the slightest sound.
What if they woke them?