Dark shadow: “…”
In the next second, before Ge Xiu could do anything else, he heard a shrill scream coming from the shadow lying on his shoulder, the terrifying wail piercing through the darkness at once.
Ge Xiu felt his shoulder lighten up.
The fuzzy dark shadow twisted and trembled under some kind of strange external force and then fell heavily to the ground. The piercing metal-scraping like screaming disappeared suddenly, leaving only him around.
With a few buzzing sounds, the flashlight in Ge Xiu’s hand flickered twice and then turned on again.
The dim beam of light dispelled the darkness and the deserted path in front of him reappeared.
Ge Xiu rubbed his ears aching from the surprise scream, then turned his wrist slightly, and used the flashlight to shine in the direction where the dark shadow fell.
He saw a paper man half a person’s height lying on the ground.
The paper man had a long red dress, jet-black hair, pale face, vague and stiff facial features. On the white paper-pasted face, two glaring round blushes were drawn with red paint. The contrast between red, white and black was sharp and striking, coupled with the smile on its face, it gave people a weird and creepy feeling.
Ge Xiu walked over, bent down and caught the paper figurine.
The touch wasn’t quite right.
He straightened his body and picked up the paper figurine from the ground.
The paper figurine bent following Ge Xiu’s movements, it’s previously standard smile distorted instantly, as if melting it was stretched into a long line, swaying slightly in the air.
Ge Xiu raised his eyebrows, and gently stroked the surface of the paper man with his fingertips.
It was soft and delicate to the touch, seeming slightly moist.
Looking at it under the light of the flashlight, you can still faintly see the texture of the skin.
It was made of human skin.
Ge Xiu shook the empty puppet in his hand and unfolded it in the air. With the help of the light, he could clearly see a charred palm print on the puppet’s body, which was deeply burned on its skin, vaguely exuding a burnt smell.
Holding the limp puppet, he looked up at the thick and dense darkness around him, and suddenly shouted:
“Hey!”
No one answered.
The air was flowing slowly like a stagnant liquid, there was no wind or shadow on the dark wasteland around him, only the solid darkness.
Ge Xiu narrowed his eyes: “Come out.”
There was still silence around.
Ge Xiu looked around and there was no fluctuation in the darkness in front of him.
Everything was silent, he was like a man shouting into nothingness.
But for the sudden retreat of the old woman before, coupled with the black palm prints on the puppet, there was only one explanation that made sense.
It seemed that the other had made up his mind and was determined not to show himself in front of him.
Ge Xiu looked away with a tsk:
“It’s fine if you don’t come out.”
He opened the backpack, stuffed the puppet inside and then continued to walk towards the ancestral hall with a flashlight.
The road conditions in the dark were completely different from those in the daytime. The roads that were clear before appear crooked in the night, extending to the left and right toward the gaps between the houses. The irregularly placed houses became great obstacles for Ge Xiu to find his way.
He turned around twice, feeling as if he had returned to the original place again.
Ge Xiu frowned, and was about to take a step forward in another direction, when he suddenly heard a scream from a distance:
“Ahhhh!”
He froze for a moment, turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound.
There was also darkness in that direction, there were only a few small lights shining dimly, it seemed to be back at player’s quarters.
Ge Xiu raised his eyes and glanced at the darkness that he was about to step into.
——The village was too big and with the complicated road conditions, it seemed that it would be really difficult to find the ancestral hall in the darkness.
He turned around very swiftly and quickened his pace, running back.
When Ge Xiu arrived, other players had already gathered in the yard. The door of one of the rooms was open, the dim light spilling out of that room. In the center of the crowd, a newbie player was covering her face and crying.
“What’s wrong?” Ge Xiu asked a player standing beside him.
An impatient look appeared on that player’s face, he snorted quietly, “What else can it be, a newcomer.”
“Making a fuss.” Another player muttered.
The newbie player who was surrounded by the crowd was sobbing as she recounted her experience: “I… I couldn’t sleep just now, but then I turned over and suddenly saw a face staring at me outside the window.”
“Pale like a corpse, still looking at me and smiling.”
She hiccupped, her shoulders were still trembling with crying.
The other players looked at each other one after another, with serious expressions on everyone’s faces.
One of the players asked, “Did you do anything before you saw the face?”
The newcomer shook herhead desperately: “No, I didn’t do anything.”
The players around her discussed in a low voice,”That’s right, even if she did something, we probably wouldn’t see her.”
The newcomer obviously heard it, her face clearly showed a look of fear.
Everyone analyzed the current clues and the final countermeasure was to let the players lock their doors and windows and to refrain from looking outside. After all, even though this novice player saw something ominous, she did not encounter any misfortune. It was possible that the things in this dungeon would not break through closed doors, so it would be safer to stay in the room for the time being.
However, just as the players were about to go back to their rooms, the newcomer said that she didn’t want to live alone.
She looked at the other players with tears in her eyes, shaking with crying, obviously frightened.
But the other players showed embarrassment.
During the instance’s passage, the last thing you should do was to break the existing situation. Although two people may be more reassuring, they would still be powerless in the face of ghosts and supernatural phenomena. Moreover, because they stand out, they would be the first to be attacked.
Silence spread, looking at the not speaking crowd, the newbie player had a look of despair on her face.
She was a very pretty girl with fair skin and a slender figure. When there were tears in her eyes, others couldn’t help feeling pity.
She hiccupped, her voice was weak and choked:
“Please, please, I really don’t dare to be alone tonight…”
The expressions of several male players were visibly shaken.
At this moment, a calm voice sounded from behind the crowd: “Alright.”
Everyone turned their heads to look at the place where the voice came from.
It was a tall and slender young man standing at the intersection of light and shadow, he stepped forward slowly. His dark eyebrows and eyes were slightly drawn, a pair of deep eyes were like a calm bottomless lake. He fixedly watched the heart-wrenchingly crying young girl in front of him, his thin lips rose slightly, revealing a faint smile: “Then you can stay with me tonight.”
Everyone was taken aback.
The newbie player’s face was a bit stiff.
She murmured, “But…but…”
Ge Xiu’s face was calm: “Don’t worry, I won’t take advantage of you.”
Logically speaking, if a male player offered to sleep with a new female player in a difficult instance, the implied meaning was self-evident.
But… Looking at the face of the other party, they couldn’t imagine that it was Ge Xiu who had thoughts that he shouldn’t have.
After all, when it comes to taking advantage, it should be him being taken advantage of.
“Besides, this is also my second dungeon.” Ge Xiu shrugged, took a few steps forward, and continued: “My room is far on the side where there are few players around, I would be scared by myself too.”
The smile on his lips deepened: “When two people are together, they can take care of each other, don’t you think so?”
Now there was no reason to refuse.
So the novice player nodded and agreed to Ge Xiu’s invitation.
The night deepened.
Now that the matter had been basically resolved, other players have returned to their rooms.
Ge Xiu also walked into the newbie player’s room, the thin wooden door closed behind his back.
The slender girl sat on the edge of the bed, looked up at him timidly and asked softly, “Where are you going to sleep?”
“On the bed.” Ge Xiu said concisely.
His answer was too calm, as if it was only natural, as if such an ungentlemanly speech did not come from his mouth.
The girl was slightly taken aback.
There was a blush on her fair face as she asked shyly, “Then…then where do I sleep?”
When talking, she secretly raised her eyes to look at Ge Xiu who was standing not far away, shyness and anticipation in them was very obvious, coupled with the blush on that beautiful face, it looked even moreso charming, with a hint of irresistible charm.
Ge Xiu raised his eyebrows and asked slowly,
“Do you still need to sleep?”
The girl frowned and looked at the other party with some puzzlement: “What do you mean?”
Ge Xiu shook his head and sighed:
“It’s come to this point, do you still want to continue pretending?”
The girl frowned even more: “What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
His eyes were dark, pale lips and expression on his face was calm to the extreme:
“I’m curious how you attacked this player, did you trick her into opening the door?”
“And I want to know,” Ge Xiu tilted his head: “Was it you who screamed, or the player calling for help?”
The corners of the girl’s blood-red lips slowly rose, the feeling in her eyes gradually became more seductive and a strange sense of terror intertwined with stiffness and allure filled her originally delicate face:
“Since you know everything, why did you come in?”
Before Ge Xiu could answer, she stood up and walked towards him slowly.
As she stepped with charming figure and graceful steps, the smile on her face deepened:
“—but it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Since we are already in the same room, you can’t escape.”
The girl’s giggle resounded in the deathly silent room, a pair of cold and pale arms slithered up like a snake, as she slowly and gently hugged Ge Xiu’s waist, the chilling breath spread with a strong smell of blood.
“I suggest you don’t touch me.”
Ge Xiu looked down at the girl near his shoulder.
That face became stiff and weird, as if wearing a mask made out of paper, the blood-red lips split to the sides, revealing sharp white teeth: “Why…”
Before she could even finish, the girl flew aside like a kite with a broken string, her back hit the simple wall with a slam and then she slowly slid down the wall.
A pair of feet stopped in front of her.
The young man looked down at her and laughed,
“Because my boyfriend will be jealous.”
