Save Me, Water Ghost

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 or the others."

Something hadn't happened to Old Yang, had it?

A sense of dread gripped Old Li. Suddenly, footsteps clattered nearby.

Experienced as he was, Old Li immediately drew his handgun. "Someone's there."

A dark figure 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 lamps swung toward it at once. Another imposter posing as a cafe attendant.

The stench of blood filled the air.

The officers stared at the mangled flesh on the floor, stripped of its human skin. "Captain Li, what the hell is that thing?"

Old Li had no answer himself. "Never mind that. Draw your guns. Shoot anything you see."

Chen Feng thought he had figured something out. These imposters were terrifyingly strong, but they had a fatal weakness: injure the human skin covering them, and it immediately peeled away. Then they died.

"Quick! Downstairs!"

At the thought that his old partner Captain Yang might not know the attendant was a monster in disguise, Old Li rushed downstairs with the others.

"Hello? Anyone there?"

"Old Yang!"

Once they reached the foot of the stairs, Old Li called his colleague's name again and again, but got no answer. His heart sank. There was no doubt about it: something had happened to those three.

A loud burp rang out.

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

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

"Them?" Zhu Xianxian pursed her lips and patted her slightly swollen belly. "They're in my stomach..."

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

There was a reason he was captain. He didn't hesitate.

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

Then they lost their minds.

"Ah! Ah!"

The officers squeezed their triggers frantically, not even noticing when their guns ran empty.

Yet despite all those bullets, Zhu Xianxian showed no sign of injury. She stamped on the floor, and countless spiders poured out, swarming toward the group at the stairs.

"Run!"

"Upstairs!"

In an instant, the officer at the front vanished beneath the spider swarm.

"Fuck!"

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

Bang!

A cloud of white, acrid smoke burst out. Swathes of tiny spiders died on the spot.

"Ah!"

As Zhu Xianxian shrieked, the others seized their chance to flee back to the second floor.

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

"What are you standing around for? Those spiders are catching up!"

Chen Feng slapped them on the back, then froze. They didn't feel like people. They felt like stone.

"What's wrong?"

Dread surged through Old Li.

The three approached cautiously and discovered that the two officers who had run ahead had turned into lifelike, gray-white stone 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 with blinding speed, wrapped 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 almost 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 of stone spread visibly over his body, and he soon became a cold statue.

"You're... the homeless man who was wandering outside during the day. I told you to leave, but you wouldn't listen. Regretting it now?"

She Qingqing's voice came from the ceiling.

It was She Qingqing after all.

The moment Chen Feng saw the petrification, he had thought of the girl with the blindfold.

"But you found a way not to look into my eyes," She Qingqing said. "That was clever."

It had nothing to do with being clever.

Chen Feng lowered his head. Embarrassing as it was, She Qingqing's breasts were so large that when he looked up, his gaze had gone straight to her chest. That was the only reason he had escaped.

When Chen Feng said nothing, She Qingqing slowly drew closer. "I don't want to kill anyone, but you came looking for me. Don't blame me for what happens."

With his eyes closed, Chen Feng was no match for the Snake Demon.

He lowered his head, 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 because she intended to spare Chen Feng. Old Li's shot had hit her.

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

Chen Feng sprinted forward and slammed open the bathroom door.

The Water Ghost could briefly travel through water. In the second loop, that was how it had reached the second floor.

Chen Feng rushed to the sink and twisted the tap open. Water gushed out, splashing the front of his clothes.

Water Ghost, come to me!

At the system's call, the water in the sink suddenly began to churn violently.

Then Chen Feng heard a snake's tail slither 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 shut 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 wrong.

Cold! So cold!

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

She hesitated no longer and lunged straight at Chen Feng.

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

With a tremendous splash, a blurred, distorted, transparent figure forced its way out of the sink, spraying water everywhere.

"What?"

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

The impact hit her hard.

Before She Qingqing could recover, she felt two wet, icy hands close around her throat.

"Water Ghost!"

Realizing what she faced, She Qingqing widened her eyes and stared at it, trying to turn it to stone. But the Water Ghost showed no fear. Even as its body stiffened, it seized her lovely head and wrenched it off!