Water Ghost, Save Me

On the second floor of the Happiness Internet Cafe.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" Static crackled from the radio. Zhang Ruobing shook her head at her mentor. "I can't reach Captain Yang and the others."

Old Yang hadn't run into trouble, had he?

A bad feeling crept over Old Li. Suddenly, footsteps clattered nearby.

Old Li drew his Handgun at once. "Someone's here."

A dark Ying emerged from the corridor.

"Who's there? Answer me, or I'll shoot."

When the figure said nothing, Old Li raised his gun and fired without hesitation, quickly bringing it down.

Several shoulder-mounted lights swung toward it. Another imposter posing as an internet cafe attendant.

The stench of blood hit them.

The officers stared at the heap of flesh that had shed its human skin, their hearts pounding. "Captain Li, what the hell is that thing?"

Old Li had no answer himself. "Never mind what it is. Guns out. Shoot anything you see."

Chen Feng thought he saw a pattern. The imposters were terrifyingly strong, but they had a fatal weakness: once their human skin was damaged, it peeled away and they died.

"Quick! Downstairs!"

The thought that his old partner might not know the attendant was a monster in disguise filled Old Li with dread. He hurried down with the others.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

"Old Yang!"

After coming down the stairs, Old Li called his colleague's name again and again, but no one answered. His heart sank. There was no doubt about it: something had happened to those three.

A loud burp sounded.

With a faint rustling, Zhu Xianxian's Ying gradually emerged from the darkness.

Old Li aimed his gun at her. "Where are your handcuffs? Where are my colleagues?"

"Them?" Zhu Xianxian pursed her lips and patted her slightly swollen belly. "In my stomach..."

Before she could finish, several shots rang out. Old Li had opened fire.

There was a reason he was captain. He knew how to make a decision.

But after the bullets punched several holes in her, they saw Zhu Xianxian's true form, just as Old Yang had.

Then they lost their minds.

"Ah! Ah!"

The officers squeezed their triggers frantically, failing to notice even when their guns ran dry.

Yet despite taking so many shots, Zhu Xianxian showed no sign of injury. She stamped on the floor, and countless spiders surged out toward the group at the stairs.

"Run!"

"Upstairs!"

In an instant, the officer at the front was swallowed by the swarm.

"Fuck!"

Old Li cursed, pulled a tear gas grenade from his belt, yanked the pin, and hurled it into the spiders.

Bang!

A cloud of white, acrid smoke burst out. Spiders died by the hundreds.

"Ah!"

As Zhu Xianxian screamed, the survivors seized their chance to flee back to the second floor.

But as they ran, the two in front suddenly stopped moving.

"What are you waiting for? Those spiders are catching up!"

Chen Feng patted them, then froze. They didn't feel like people. They felt like stone.

"What is it?"

Dread surged through Old Li.

The three approached cautiously and discovered that the two officers who had run ahead had become lifelike gray-white statues!

"That's impossible!"

Old Li's heart lurched. He could hardly believe his eyes.

While all three stared at the statues, a snakelike hiss sounded overhead. A thick, powerful tail whipped down, coiled around Zhang Ruobing's waist, and yanked her off the ground!

"Mentor, save—"

Before Zhang Ruobing could finish, the tail tore her in half. Warm blood rained down, splashing across Chen Feng's and Old Li's faces.

"Ruobing!"

Old Li wiped his face and looked up. A long, half-human, half-snake creature was racing across the ceiling. Grief and fury seized him, and he raised his gun and fired.

"Close your eyes! Don't look!"

A snake. Petrification.

The moment Chen Feng saw the statues, he realized the danger. He squeezed his eyes shut on instinct and screamed a warning to Old Li.

But it was too late.

"I can't move!" Old Li's voice stiffened. A gray-white crust visibly spread across his body, and within moments, he had become a cold stone statue.

"You're... that drifter who was hanging around outside during the day. I told you to leave, but you wouldn't listen. Do you regret it now?"

She Qingqing's voice came from the ceiling.

So it really was She Qingqing.

The petrification had immediately made Chen Feng think of the young woman with the blindfold.

She Qingqing praised him. "Still, you found a way not to look into my eyes. You're quite clever."

It had nothing to do with being clever.

Chen Feng lowered his head. Embarrassing as it was, She Qingqing's chest was so large that when he looked up, his eyes had gone straight to it. That was how he had narrowly escaped.

When Chen Feng said nothing, She Qingqing drew closer. "I don't want to kill anyone," she said coldly. "But you came looking for me. You've only yourself to blame."

With his eyes closed, he stood no chance against this snake demon.

Chen Feng looked down, opened his eyes, and ran toward a room on the second floor that he remembered.

"Running won't help. Let me make it quick."

She Qingqing followed, though not very fast. It wasn't that she intended to let Chen Feng go. Old Li's shot had hit her.

Old Li, your efforts won't go to waste!

Chen Feng sprinted forward and slammed open the bathroom door.

The Water Ghost could briefly travel through bodies of water. That was how it had reached the second floor during the second loop.

Chen Feng rushed to the sink and twisted the faucet open. Water gushed out, soaking the front of his shirt.

Water Ghost, come to me!

At his summons through the system, the water in the sink suddenly began to churn violently.

At that moment, Chen Feng heard a snake's tail slithering nearby, its scales scraping against the floor.

She Qingqing had entered the bathroom. "Stop resisting," she said softly. "Just look into my eyes. You'll die in an instant. It won't hurt."

Chen Feng closed his eyes and snorted. "You've never died. How would you know it doesn't hurt?"

"Have you?"

As She Qingqing spoke, she suddenly sensed something was wrong.

Cold! So cold!

Snakes were cold-blooded and feared the cold, so She Qingqing was acutely sensitive to temperature. She noticed at once the drop that accompanied the Water Ghost's arrival.

She hesitated no longer and lunged straight at Chen Feng.

Feeling the air stir in front of him, Chen Feng shouted, "Water Ghost, save me!"

Water splashed everywhere with a tremendous crash as a blurred, distorted, transparent Ying squeezed out of the sink.

"What?"

Before She Qingqing could react, an immense, irresistible force slammed into her. It sent her flying into the corridor wall with a heavy thud.

The impact hit her hard.

Before She Qingqing could recover, she felt a pair of slick, icy hands close around her throat.

"Water Ghost!"

Recognizing it, She Qingqing opened her eyes wide and stared, trying to turn it to stone. But the Water Ghost showed no fear. Even as its body stiffened, it seized her and wrenched her beautiful head clean off!