Chapter 160
Chapter 160
Lucia rolled her eyes. “Give me a break. Haven’t you heard of Huaxia’s spirit-summoning games?”
“Of course I have. The Pen Spirit is the strongest one. She’s from South Korea-we made a movie about her.”
-Pfft!
-Pen Spirit: Hold on. Something about that doesn’t sound right.
Lucia kicked the table when she heard him. “I have nothing to say to you!”
The conversation ended on bad terms.
As the sun set, everyone climbed into bed.
Many worried that the night might bring a “big surprise,” so for a while, no one dared fall asleep.
As time passed, Han Yoon-sik’s eyelids grew heavy and slowly closed. He yawned. While hovering between sleep and wakefulness, an unusual odor slipped into his nose.
His breathing stopped almost instantly. His body went rigid as his eyes snapped open.
The little girl holding a doll stood beside his bed, her head tilted as she looked at him.
Her figure was grotesque, as though someone had barely managed to glue separate chunks of a body together with a bottle of adhesive. A strange, fishy stench emanated from her.
Han Yoon-sik was terrified. In the silent room, his teeth clacked together. “Q-Qiao Xiaowen? Why… Why are you here?”
Even more horrifyingly, the ghost called Qiao Xiaowen suddenly leaned closer and curled her lips. “I can’t sleep.”
“Play a game with me.”
“Just like we did during the day. Let’s brush the doll’s hair, okay?”
Deathly moonlight seeped into the room, bleaching the doll’s face white.
Only then did Han Yoon-sik realize that the doll had a human face so lifelike it was impossible to tell whether it was real. Even its strands of hair were indistinguishable from a real person’s.
Qiao Xiaowen lifted the kimono-clad doll in her arms and giggled. “Oh, right. I haven’t told you her name yet, have I? Her name is Okiku… O-ki-ku the Doll!”
Just as Han Yoon-sik was about to scream, a chiming announcement sounded.
“One, two, three, freeze! One: no talking. Two: no moving. Three: no holding dolls. One, two, three, freeze! We are all wooden dolls-no talking, no moving. Ding-a-ling! The game will begin in five minutes. All children must report to the backyard. Anyone who doesn’t come will be taken away by Big Sister Maria.”
Qiao Xiaowen immediately straightened, fear appearing in her eyes.
She stared at Han Yoon-sik with enormous, murky eyes. Her voice was ethereal and chilling. “Oh no. It’s time for the group game.”
Han Yoon-sik sighed in relief, as though he had been saved. But the next second, icy black strands of hair began drifting slowly before his eyes.
Okiku the Doll blinked rapidly in Qiao Xiaowen’s arms. Her hair began extending without end, then shot forward and wrapped around Han Yoon-sik’s neck.
One of Qiao Xiaowen’s eyeballs burst from its socket with a pop and hung from her eyelid. She gave a cold, sinister laugh. “So before I go… play with me first.”
Clutching his neck, Han Yoon-sik forced out a strangled whimper. His feet kicked weakly against the bed. “W-why me?”
As he asked, he frantically opened his Live Stream Room, hoping to purchase an item.
But his stream had not even been active for a full day. His income was not enough to buy a single talisman.
And his title… An A-rank medium-type title could not help him in this situation. It served no purpose beyond making him even more afraid.
Just when he had no idea what to do, Qiao Xiaowen’s eerie voice sounded beside his ear again.
“Because we’re good friends. I secretly gave you lots of points, so you have to repay me. You have to play with me.”
The words chilled Han Yoon-sik to the bone. Fear of death instantly engulfed him, and he struggled even harder. In his panic, he kicked Qiao Xiaowen over.
The pressure around his neck abruptly loosened. By the time he recovered his senses, Qiao Xiaowen’s body had broken into pieces on the floor. Unidentifiable organs writhed among them.
Han Yoon-sik retched. Suppressing his nausea, he tried to kick aside the bluish-white arm blocking his path.
The instant his foot touched the short, lotus-root-like severed limb, Qiao Xiaowen’s hand suddenly moved and seized his ankle. The half head on the floor opened its eye without warning and let out a terrifying laugh. “Where are you going? I’m not done playing yet…”
“Aaaaah!” He finally managed to scream.
But his miserable shriek drew no one’s attention. Everyone lay in bed as though dead, without the slightest sign of waking.
The discovery instantly coated his back in cold sweat. He wanted to flee, but his legs had no strength at all…
A strand of long black hair wrapped around his neck once more. As breathing became increasingly impossible, Han Yoon-sik closed his eyes forever.
Meanwhile, in Children’s Dormitory Three, Lucia clutched the edge of her blanket and stared fearfully at a shadow on the wall.
Han Yoon-sik was still lying in bed, yet his shadow had somehow floated onto the wall!
Countless flying “ropes” wound around its neck. The instant the shadow fell, dimmed, and finally disappeared, a chiming announcement sounded without warning.
Lucia nearly cried out in fright. She could only clamp a hand over her mouth and hide beneath the covers.
“One, two, three, freeze! One: no talking. Two: no moving. Three: no holding dolls. One, two, three, freeze! We are all wooden dolls…”
The childish voice of a little girl suddenly came from the doorway. “It’s time to get up and play.”
Lucia turned toward the sound. The girl in the orange dress stood outside, wearing a sweet smile.
Then Lucia saw the mottled patches of blood staining the girl’s skirt, and her back stiffened.
“Oh dear, my dress is dirty.” Following Lucia’s gaze, Qiao Xiaowen glanced down, then looked up with a smile. “Big Sister Lucia, can you wash my dress for me?”
Lucia swallowed, her body trembling uncontrollably…
What should she do? Agree or refuse?
“Big Sister Lucia?”
The urging voice came from the doorway. Lucia could not possibly pretend she had not heard.
At that moment, another childish face poked through the doorway. The little boy who had mocked her that morning stood outside, holding a thin card between two slender fingers. His smile was pure and innocent. “Review Card. Only one hundred thousand yuan.”
Lucia cried out, “One hundred thousand?!”
Qiao Yu nodded. “You get one chance. Right now, it’s a direct sale. Next time, it’ll be an auction.”
“I’ll buy it!”
[WeChat received: 500,000 yuan.]
Lucia’s smile was strained. “Sorry, I’m not very good at converting currencies. Can you count this as five hundred thousand? It’s all I have.”
Qiao Yu was speechless.
Should he tell her that by one hundred thousand, he had not meant dollars?
Qiao Xiaowen stood in the doorway with a dark expression, staring sinisterly at Qiao Yu. Then she ordered Lucia, “Wash my dress.”
Looking at the five hundred thousand yuan he had just received, Qiao Yu felt righteousness well up inside him. He reached out and stopped her. “Do your own chores. Can’t you see I’m conducting business?”
Qiao Xiaowen lowered her head to look at Okiku the Doll in her arms. With a huff, she turned and ran away.
Lucia swallowed and accepted the Review Card Qiao Yu offered her. “Why… did she leave?”
She had assumed she would need to use the Review Card immediately. Instead, this person had sent Qiao Xiaowen away with a single sentence?
For the sake of the five hundred thousand yuan, Qiao Yu added one more piece of advice. “Don’t indulge them too much.”
Whether Lucia understood what he meant was up to her.