CH 26

Fear.

His eyes burnt, and a string of blood started to leak out of the corners of his eyes.

The narrow corridor seemed alive; it was breathing and moving. Shrinking, moving, twisting, and contorting to the rhythm of Lu Yibei’s pumping heart…

His vision was a blurry red, and the lights in the corridor seemed to stretch on themselves, like a picture of a busy road that was hurriedly taken.

He had no time to think about why Mr Rabbit was here and subconsciously started to back away. His ankle was caught on something, and he instantly fell backwards and fell to the ground.

“Ack!”

The impact stirred up dust and mould, causing him to cough uncontrollably.

He sat up in a panic, and his heart stopped.

Mr Rabbit was about a meter away from him.

.

There’s no escape… was the only thought that flashed in his mind.

However, the human instinct to survive, no matter what, took over. Under the oppressive, looming shadow of death, he rolled over, snatched the statue of Acala, the Immovable, and ran towards the rabbit.

“F*ck it! You’re going down with me!”

His yells echoed through the empty hotel floor, and he swore he could hear himself hissing.

Whoosh!

The bronze statue weighing dozens of kilograms carried him through inertia, and the statue plunged through Mr Rabbit…

Like air…

Lu Yibei felt his heart stop. With trepidation, he turned around and gulped. It was as if the statue hit nothing but air, and he dropped the statue with a loud clang.

Mr Rabbit stalked towards him, and the tepid air that came from nowhere slapped against his face. He could even smell the blood and rot coming from Mr Rabbit’s body.

Lu Yibei couldn’t do anything but close his eyes.

‘Maybe death isn’t that bad after all…’

One, two, three…

He waited for death in the darkness behind his eyelids, but it never came. He forced himself to open his eyes, only to see that Mr Rabbit had turned the corner and left.

Perhaps Mr Rabbit wanted to psychologically torture him even more?

Lu Yibei was deep in thought until he heard a shrill scream.

In the dimly lit corridor, he could see Mr Rabbit dragging the crowbar forward, and fresh, viscous blood flowed down the crowbar, staining the carpet a fresh crimson.

In front of the rabbit was a girl in a white dress who fell to the ground. She supported her body with her hands and attempted to retreat—the clothes on her abdomen were completely torn, and a hideous wound was in their place instead.

“N-no… I beg you, please don’t do this…”

The girl begged feebly for her life. Her once-luscious hair was drenched in a cold sweat and sticky on her face.

‘Z-Zhu Linglong?’

Despite her pleas, Mr Rabbit did not show her any pity. He showed a strange, sadistic smile and made a silent gesture towards her.

“N-no! Don’t! Somebody help me!”

She yelled, twisting her broken body and struggling to retreat, but the only thing this accomplished was to speed up the process of her blood loss.

Her cries fell on deaf ears, and she seemed to be trapped in an absolutely isolated space.

The next moment, everything fell into dead silence.

Mr Rabbit stepped forward and gently stroked her tear-soaked cheek like a lover. Zhu Linglong stopped moving, and she let Mr Rabbit drag her limp body back towards the door at the end of the corridor.

All that was left of her was a trail of crimson leading to the door.

“Hah… hah…”

Lu Yibei found that he had forgotten to breathe and started taking in gulps of air. The corridor was empty, and he found himself alone once again.

‘My mind is going to break one day…’

True enough, if your mind was broken, you wouldn’t be scared of anything.

‘I need to kill that rabbit as soon as possible. No matter what, he is the one causing this!’

A chilly breeze blew down the corridor, yet the door at the end of the corridor was closed as if it had never been opened.

Everything he had just seen felt like a fully immersive movie, making Lu Yibei doubt his eyes.

‘I had enough of horror movies playing in my eyes. Why can’t you play an action or romantic movie once in a while, huh?’

As he thought about it, his stomach began to ache again. The pain was dull but fast as if Zhu Linglong was urging him forward.

She seemed impatient, and he stroked his stomach lightly: “Miss Zhu, I need a card to enter the room. I can’t exactly…”

Click!

Immediately afterwards, the door seemed to be pushed by an otherworldly force; a harsh, cool wind rushed through the gap of the door, and Lu Yibei felt his hair standing on its ends.

The scenes before were scary, yes, but he wasn’t that afraid. Now that he was standing in front of the unlocked door, a primal fear washed over him.

He wanted to close the door and run away but gathered the courage to enter the room. However, as soon as he pushed the door open, he could hear the heavy iron door of the emergency exit being pushed open.

Creak…

And the sound of footsteps followed.

Yibei’s heart stopped beating, and he held his breath.

‘Is this… that person who sneaked into the resort before me?’

Thinking of this, his palms started to feel sweaty. The sound of soft footfalls could be heard approaching.

‘Do I go into the room or face them?’

Yibei gulped as a flash of determination sparked in his eyes. He gritted his teeth, dashing for the statue of Acala, the Immovable, before rushing into the room where Zhu Linglong was murdered.

He entered the room and gently closed the door before locking it. Putting his ear to the door, he sighed before turning around to look at the room before him.

The room was dim and eerily cold, and the layout of the room was exactly the same as it was in his dreamscape. However, most of the furniture had been removed, and the blood-stained carpet had also been rolled up and placed in the corner of the room.

Holding the statue close to him, he carefully followed the route in his memory to the master bedroom of the suite.

He eventually found the master bedroom and felt his heart drop upon seeing it.

While the living room was completely devoid of furniture, the master bedroom was left intact.

The gorgeous crystal lamp creaked and swayed mysteriously. Its crystal lights were swaying into one another, playing a harmonious tune reminiscent of wind chimes. Even though the room was covered in a layer of dust, its grandeur couldn’t be hidden.

On the bed was a blood-soaked skirt that was torn apart at the waist area. It lay there quietly, like a tired girl who was taking a nap.

He forced himself to look away from the bed, focusing his attention on the wardrobe next to the bed.

The red sandalwood cabinet was engraved with detailed etchings and paintings of phoenixes. Gold threats decorated the rim of the cabinet, and copper rings with lotus buckles were inlaid as well. Despite this, Yibei knew this intricate handicraft was a cage.

He took a deep breath, placing the statue of Acala, the Immovable, down. He stopped in front of the closet and raised his hand but lowered it. He repeated this several times, unsure if he should open the cabinet.

While he was hesitating, the blood-soaked skirt behind him trembled and floated up, quietly approaching behind him.

A blurred and pale figure gradually fit into the dress and attached itself to Yibei’s back.