Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

As the four of them stood in stunned silence, the familiar sound of chopping meat echoed from the kitchen. Man-Eating Crocodile could almost visualize the bits of cartilage and viscous blood being pulverized on the cutting board.

At the same time, the air conditioner let out a crisp beep as it automatically kicked into gear. The temperature setting rapidly plummeted from 28°C to 16°C-the lowest possible setting on the display. However, the room was soon thick with a frigid mist, and a layer of frost instantly crystallized across the floor.

Wulong Tea hugged his arms, his teeth chattering uncontrollably. “Wh-where’s the… air conditioner remote? Someone help me… help me turn it off.”

He looked toward Pozhan, only to see him sprawled over a coffin that had appeared out of nowhere. Pozhan was being jolted senseless by the lid as it bucked beneath him; he had more than enough on his plate.

Pozhan didn’t dare move an inch, terrified that if he failed to hold the lid down, something horrific would crawl out from within.

Wulong Tea then shifted his gaze to First Blood. The man was standing in the center of the room, and though the remote was right there on the table, he showed absolutely no intention of touching it.

“Don’t look at me. I can’t touch anything electrical.”

As for Man-Eating Crocodile…

“It’s almost ten o’clock! What do I do? What do I do? I’m going to die, I’m going to die! Dad, come back quickly, I can’t handle this alone…”

Forget it. That guy was completely unreliable.

Shivering violently, Wulong Tea stumbled to the table, picked up the remote, and pressed the power button with a trembling thumb.

No response.

How could there be no response?!

He shook the remote and realized it felt incredibly light.

Are you kidding me? There aren’t even any batteries in here!

Risking the chance of freezing to death, he climbed onto the table and stood on his tiptoes to reach the manual buttons on the air conditioning unit itself.

But the moment he stood on the table, his shaking body froze. It felt as if every drop of blood in his body had reversed flow, rushing straight to his cerebral cortex.

There, peering through the vents of the air conditioner, was a pair of eyes!

He had no idea when those eyes had appeared. It was as if they had always been there, silently watching everyone in the room…

Click-

The door lock let out a sharp snap. Qiao Yu quickly picked the lock and slipped into the room just before Li Xiaoqin could charge in.

Upon entering, Qiao Yu couldn’t help but shiver. “Holy crap, did I just teleport to the South Pole?”

Man-Eating Crocodile saw Qiao Yu return, but before he could even register his relief, a loud bang startled him.

The door had actually been hacked through by the pursuing Li Xiaoqin!

A second later, the cleaver was pulled back, and Li Xiaoqin’s striking red dress became visible through the gap.

Qiao Yu didn’t have time to worry about Li Xiaoqin. Taking in the situation inside the room, he didn’t say a word as he shoved open the kitchen’s sliding door. In the darkness, the dark figure holding a cleaver paused and turned its head toward him.

Without hesitation, Qiao Yu grabbed the Shadow Ghost by the wrist and dragged it out. He kicked the obstructive Pozhan aside, and the moment the coffin lid bucked upward, he tossed the Shadow Ghost through the gap.

The Shadow Ghost brandished its cleaver in a daze, only to look down and see a terrifying face covered in cadaveric spots staring back. It let out a shrill wail.

Coffin Ghost: “…”

Thanks a lot, I guess.

Now that the coffin had quieted down, Qiao Yu ran to the door. Ignoring Li Xiaoqin’s murderous, pitch-black eyes peering through the hole, he reached out and flipped the circuit breaker for Room 4005.

The air conditioner let out a dying hum and finally stopped running.

The room returned to a normal temperature in an instant, and the frost rapidly melted into puddles of water.
The ghostly hand reaching out from the vent also retracted abruptly as the indoor temperature rose.

Man-Eating Crocodile didn’t have time to ponder Qiao Yu’s bizarre maneuvers. He stood up and pointed at the time on his phone, sweating profusely in his panic. “Dad… it’s almost, almost ten o’clock. What do we do-do-do…”

Qiao Yu bent over, resting his hands on his thighs as he took a moment to catch his breath. Only then did he say slowly, “I know you’re anxious, but don’t be anxious yet.”

Man-Eating Crocodile: “…”

-Listening to your words is like listening to words??

-Streamer, why are you wearing Pinru’s clothes?

-Sadako: Because gei gei is such a tease~

-Pfft, Sister Sadako, do you spend all your time surfing the web at the bottom of the well?

-Now I finally understand what it means when one fan is worth ten haters, hahaha…

Weave, weave, weave a flower basket, weave a flower basket and take it to South Mountain. South Mountain is covered in red peonies…

Weave, weave, weave a funeral wreath, weave a funeral wreath and go to the Western Paradise. The Western Paradise is covered in white peonies…

Weave, weave, weave a child, weave a child to come out and play. The child’s mother sells flower baskets…

As the clock struck ten, Li Xiaoqin began to sing outside the door. The door lock turned on its own, and with a click, it swung open just a crack.

Brother Crocodile bit his lower lip, staring at the slowly opening door in sheer terror, his eyes filled with despair.

Skritch-

The sound of fingernails digging into the wall rang out.

Skritch, skritch, skritch…

Li Xiaoqin scaled the wall with ease, crawling across the ceiling like a human gecko, heading straight for Man-Eating Crocodile.

Once she was directly above him, her head spun 180 degrees to look down at the trembling streamers. A string of thick saliva dripped from the corner of her bruised mouth.

Drip.

Qiao Yu took a disgusted step back and looked up, glaring at Li Xiaoqin with displeasure. “Do you have to make an entrance in such a revolting way?”

Li Xiaoqin ignored Qiao Yu. Her gaze remained fixed on the thin young man shrinking into the corner. She said coldly, “I’ll give you fifteen minutes.”

-It’s here! The long-awaited mukbang is starting.

-This kid has such tender skin; he must be delicious.

-He’s too thin, I don’t like it. I prefer that chubby streamer. The marbled fat-to-meat ratio makes for the best flavor.

“Fifteen… fifteen minutes for what?” Man-Eating Crocodile hugged his knees, tears welling in his eyes.

Li Xiaoqin: “…The recap.”

The recap… the recap…

What was he supposed to do? His mind was a total blank. He had no idea where to even begin, so he instinctively looked toward Qiao Yu for help.

Then, he saw the other man pull a… severed… finger… out of his pocket!!

Man-Eating Crocodile nearly passed out from the sight. His eyes went wide and fixed on the spot, unsure of where to look.

Meanwhile, Qiao Yu took out Doctor Zhuang’s severed finger and quickly pressed it against the phone’s lock screen, opening a social media app.

At the same time, he casually tossed the now-useless half-finger aside. It landed right in the blanket wrapped around Wulong Tea, scaring the man so much he started jumping in place. He hopped around like he was standing on a frying pan, shaking the blanket off with movements that were somehow even more agile than when he was running for his life.

Seeing this, First Blood silently moved closer to the stunned Pozhan, intending to huddle together for warmth.

In his eyes, Li Xiaoqin was much safer than this guy.