Chapter 39

Lingmeng flung the bat off her face, looked up at the swarm filling the sky, and immediately conjured a ball of fire and hurled it at them.

In an instant, flames engulfed every bat. They fell to the ground as lumps of charcoal.

Startled out of her wits, Lingmeng jumped to her feet and sprinted ahead.

"Lingmeng, wait for me!" Seeing Lingmeng flee, Shiori gave the vampire an apologetic glance before hurrying after her.

"Lingmeng, wait! Don't run so fast!" Lingmeng was a Spirit, and Shiori was an ordinary human who couldn't keep up. All she could do was call after her.

Perhaps Lingmeng was too frightened to hear Shiori. She just kept running.

As Lingmeng passed a coffin, its lid suddenly opened, and a mummy wrapped head to toe in bandages sprang out.

"Ahh! I'm going to curse you!"

"Aaah! Shiori, help!" Lingmeng screamed at the sight of the mummy.

Before she could recover from that fright, a wooden trapdoor not far from her feet suddenly creaked open.

Out climbed a Frankenstein's monster with green skin, scars on its face, and bolts in its head.

The two monsters worked together to corner Lingmeng. With nowhere left to run, she squeezed her eyes shut, swung her fists wildly, and screamed at them.

"Don't come any closer!"

Her reaction clearly startled the two monsters. They instinctively took a step back.

But remembering their job, they advanced again.

"I'm going to kill you..." the mummy said first.

He had barely finished his threat when Lingmeng's flailing hand caught a loose end of his bandages.

Lingmeng sensed that she had grabbed something, but in her panic, she paid it no mind. Eyes still shut, she seized the bandages and whipped them around wildly.

"Little girl, stop... I'm going to be sick..."

The mummy was being swung up and down by his bandages. Dizzy and disoriented, he could only flail his limbs and beg for mercy.

But Lingmeng couldn't hear a word. Instead of stopping, she swung harder. Then...

Rrip! The bandages finally tore under the strain, and the mummy went flying out of sight.

"What..." The Frankenstein's monster stared blankly in the direction his coworker had flown. It took him a moment to recover.

"Miss, calm down. We're just employees here—"

He waved his hands frantically as he tried to explain, but before he could finish, Lingmeng grabbed one of them.

She whirled the Frankenstein's monster around like a tornado tearing through a parking lot, then let go. He went flying too...

"Huh? Where did those two monsters go?" Lingmeng murmured, coming to her senses and finding herself alone.

Clearly, she had no memory of how she had just sent them both flying.

"It's so dark and scary here... I wonder where Shiori went..."

Lingmeng had no idea what had happened, but the darkness all around her filled her with a sudden, inexplicable fear.

"I'll wait for him at the exit... Come on, Lingmeng. You can do this!"

After hesitating for a moment, she decided to keep going. She gave herself a little pep talk, then set off toward the exit...

"What on earth happened here?"

Shiori arrived at the spot where Lingmeng had been shortly after she left.

One look at the distraught mummy and Frankenstein's monster ahead of her, and Shiori had a pretty good idea who was responsible.

"I'm sorry, you two... If I get the chance, I'll bring Lingmeng back to apologize in person!"

She scratched her cheek awkwardly, then turned and ran in the direction Lingmeng had gone.

If Lingmeng kept running around like this, she might cause even more trouble. Shiori had better find her soon...

Sakurako and the Kappa

Lingmeng raced down the dim path at a speed only a Spirit could manage. All she wanted was to get out of that awful place.

She had no idea how long she had been running. The path had been clear, with no more monsters jumping out at her, and she gradually began to calm down.

Then Lingmeng abruptly stopped. Something had blocked her way.

An artificial pond more than twenty meters across lay in front of her.

The water was pale green, with lotus leaves and flowers floating on its surface.

On the far bank stood a table. A small candle on it cast a faint light over a key beside it.

"Is that a key? Does that mean I'm almost at the exit?"

With her Spirit eyesight, Lingmeng made out the key on the table. She looked around and spotted an iron door nearby. The key was probably meant to open it.

"So I just need to get across, take the key, and open that door to get out?"

She was murmuring to herself, wondering whether to jump straight across, when a voice interrupted her.

"Waaah... Mommy, Daddy, where are you? I'm scared..."

It was a crying voice that sounded like a young girl's.

"Who's crying?"

Lingmeng looked to her right, toward the sound.

Not far away was a little wooden bridge leading to the opposite bank. It was so narrow that only one person could cross at a time.

It was also so low that it nearly skimmed the water. With no railings on either side, it would be easy to slip and fall in.

More importantly, a girl of about ten was crouched on the bridge. She had a bob haircut and wore a red Kimono, and she was crying with her face pressed against her knees.

She was clearly the source of the voice. Lingmeng had no idea why she was there alone, crying.

"Why would a little girl be here all by herself? That's worrying..."

Lingmeng watched her sob for a moment, puzzled, then decided to go over.

"Well, she probably got separated from her family. Poor kid, having that happen in a place like this."

Lingmeng thought this as she headed toward the bridge.

She sighed helplessly. She knew all too well how the girl must feel.

Soon Lingmeng reached the bridge. She walked over to the girl and crouched beside her.

"Hey, little one, why are you crying here alone? Did you lose your mommy and daddy?"

Lingmeng patted the girl's head and asked gently, putting on a kindly expression.

The girl still had her face buried against her knees, so Lingmeng couldn't see it. That hardly seemed to matter.

"Sa... Sakurako can't find Mommy and Daddy..." the girl answered through her tears.

"So she did get separated from her family?"

Lingmeng murmured to herself, then began comforting the girl.

"Don't cry, Sakurako. Big bro... Big sis will help you find your mommy and daddy. But first, you need to come out of here with me. Then I can help you look for them."

"Okay... Sakurako understands..." The girl nodded obediently.

"You're such a good girl." Lingmeng was about to take her outside and find a police station to help locate her parents when Sakurako suddenly spoke.

"Hey... Big sis..."

"Hmm? What is it?"

Lingmeng tilted her head and asked.

"Will you play with Sakurako?"

Sakurako jerked her head up and shouted in a hoarse voice. Her face came into view.

There was no skin on the little girl's face. Large patches of facial muscle lay exposed to the air.

Her gruesome face looked like an anatomical muscle model displayed in a hospital.

"Aaah! A monster!"

The moment Lingmeng saw the girl's face, her expression turned ashen.

She tried to run, but the girl grabbed her clothes before she could escape.

"Haha... Are you trying to run away, big sis? Didn't you just say you'd help Sakurako find her mommy and daddy? You mustn't lie~"

Her voice sent chills down Lingmeng's spine. Sakurako now had a firm grip on Lingmeng's arm.

"You... You monster... Let go of me!"

Lingmeng squeezed her eyes shut and cried out, then began flinging her captured right arm with all her might.

With her Spirit strength, she easily lifted Sakurako one-handed. She whipped her arm around so fast that Sakurako got a ride worthy of a roller coaster.

"P-please let go, miss... I-I'm just a regular employee..."

Sakurako's eyes turned into dizzy spirals as she revealed who she was.

But just as with the mummy and Frankenstein's monster, Lingmeng didn't hear the employee. She kept swinging with all her strength.

Rrip! Lingmeng's right sleeve tore, and Sakurako, still clutching the fabric, went flying like the employees before her.

Splash!

Sakurako landed hard in the pond.

"Ahh, I've had enough! I don't want to stay in this awful place another second!"

Seeing that Sakurako was gone, Lingmeng stamped her foot.

She had come to a haunted house only to be scared half to death and have her clothes ruined. The tracksuit wasn't particularly expensive, but she was still annoyed.

Lingmeng started toward the far bank, but after only a few steps, a green hand shot out of the pond and seized her right ankle.

"Whoa!" With her foot caught midstep, Lingmeng fell onto the bridge.

Fortunately, the wooden planks under her were soft, and she wasn't hurt.

"Oh my god, what now!? (?д?; )"

Lingmeng turned to look into the water behind her in despair.

A Kappa poked its head out of the water. Its skin was green all over, with a flowerlike crown on its head, a platypus-like mouth, and webbed hands...

Finally Out of the Haunted House

"Mom! What the hell is that?"

Lingmeng stared at the bald head that had suddenly appeared in the water... No, wait. A chrome dome... No, that wasn't it either. Right, it was a Kappa.

The sight of the Kappa brought Lingmeng to tears on the spot.

"Quack, quack..." Making a ducklike noise, the Kappa began tugging hard, trying to pull her in.

Half of Lingmeng's body had already slipped into the water. She clung to the bridge's planks with both hands to keep the Kappa from dragging her the rest of the way.

"Let go of me..."

"Quack?"

Lingmeng's voice was cold. The Kappa tilted its head in confusion.

"I said, let go!"

Lingmeng squeezed her eyes shut and shouted. Tears glistened at the corners of her eyes as she slammed a hand against the bridge.

The pond water began to churn, forming an enormous whirlpool. The Kappa was slowly drawn toward it, and its grip on Lingmeng finally loosened.