The village chief, back to his normal appearance, emerged from behind the door with a smile. "Forgive my poor hospitality, forgive me. Please follow me to the guest rooms and get some rest. We still have a wedding feast to prepare tomorrow morning."
If the bloody smell clinging to him hadn't yet faded, they could never have connected the smiling man before them with the man-eating demon from moments ago.
After that horrifying scene, Yang Fan was still in a daze.
The stench of blood went straight to his head, and he grabbed a chair and began dry-heaving.
Fang Tang thoughtfully took a small bottle of water from her bag and handed it to him.
"Are you all right?" she asked soothingly.
Yang Fan's hand trembled uncontrollably as he took the water. He shook his head, then gulped down a mouthful.
"Don't worry," Fang Tang continued. "You'll get used to it. This is just a story-driven instance. As long as you don't wander around at night, you'll be safe. Get some rest."
With that, they followed the village chief into the two-story building behind the courtyard.
The building was made of solid wood. It didn't look large from outside, but the interior was surprisingly spacious.
Their rooms were all next to one another on the second floor.
Red gauze hung in the hallway, swaying in a breeze from some unknown source, while bright red double-happiness characters adorned the doors.
It couldn't help but remind them of scenes from horror movies.
As though a bride in wedding robes who had hanged herself might appear at the end of the hallway any second.
"Hey, this really does look like something out of a horror movie," Yin Chao said blithely.
His apparent lack of brains earned him looks of utter disdain from the others.
Only the girl surnamed Bai, with her blunt bangs, replied, "It really does."
Standing behind them, the village chief glared at Yin Chao with hatred. His face twisted as though he wanted to tear him apart and devour him.
Yet when Yin Chao sensed something and turned around, his smile returned.
"Well, get some rest, everyone. Remember to call me if you need anything."
The village chief spoke.
Yin Chao smiled back, then turned to join the others in choosing rooms.
There were eight vacant rooms here. Aside from the locked one at the end of the hallway, all of them could be opened.
Of the seven, Fang Tang and Xu Zhou shared a room. They chose one in the middle and went inside.
Everyone else took a room of their own.
Unsurprisingly, the room next to the locked one was left empty, and Yin Chao stayed beside that empty room.
Yang Fan was on his other side.
Just before entering his room, Yang Fan grabbed Yin Chao, looking embarrassed. "I... let's share a room."
Yin Chao politely declined. "No thanks. I'm gay."
Yang Fan was stunned by this unexpected coming-out (O-O). By the time he recovered, Yin Chao had already gone inside and shut the door.
In the dark, silent night, Yin Chao tossed and turned on the damp-smelling wooden bed.
Ever since childhood, he'd had a strange problem: he couldn't sleep with the lights off.
He had been able to see things ordinary people couldn't since he was little, so people often called him crazy.
Yin Chao called those beings no one else could see his friends from the shadow world.
Those friends from the shadow world only ever appeared after the lights went out.
He was often dragged into the wardrobe by a strange little girl to hide and eat chips together, or listened to stories from a legless old woman beside his bed.
After his dad found out, she insisted that he sleep with the lights on and forbade him from hanging around with them.
That reminded Yin Chao of the little girl beneath the table earlier. She had said only one word: kitchen.
What had she been trying to tell him?
Then there was Mo Nan, who killed without a second thought and was known as the Smiling Thug. Even Xu Zhou and Fang Tang, those two known as the Mad Dog and the Handler, seemed afraid of him.
Just who were they?
Suddenly, a creak came from the empty room beside Yin Chao's.
It sounded like someone pushing open a wooden door that had long fallen into disrepair.
If his hearing hadn't been so sharp, and he hadn't happened to be staying next door, it would have gone entirely unnoticed.
Was something wrong with the locked room beside the empty one?
Could there be a ghost living inside?
Then why had it gone into the empty room next door?
The string of questions made it even harder for Yin Chao to sleep.
He simply sat up in bed, then quietly climbed down to put on his shoes.
The moment his bare feet touched the wooden floor, a grayish-white hand seized his slender ankle.
The icy touch made Yin Chao's heart skip a beat, and cold sweat instantly broke out across his back.
He steadied himself, then bent down to peer into the darkness beneath the bed.
Sure enough, it was the little girl in the red padded jacket from earlier.
Somewhat speechless, Yin Chao lowered his voice. "Could you not do that so suddenly next time? I can get scared too, you know!"
The girl blinked her eyes, which had no eyeballs, and lowered her head with an aggrieved expression. "Sor, ry, I, just like, you, too much."
Her manner of speaking was strange, but unlike the village chief's initial word-by-word imitation of human speech.
He had once overheard his two dads talking about how ghosts with greater autonomy were higher in rank.
In other words, the higher their rank, the more human they were. Some could even be indistinguishable from humans.
Yin Chao pressed a hand to his forehead and returned to the subject. "Did you need something from me?"
The little girl released Yin Chao's ankle and slowly crawled out from beneath the bed.
Her movements were stiff, like a corpse that had been lying around for too long.
Only after she had crawled all the way out did she slowly speak. "I, want, you to, help me, I have, something, for, you."
"What is it?"
Yin Chao asked.
A rare change came over the little girl's face, covered in cracks and livor mortis. She seemed conflicted. "Lady, Yin, Rui, said, I can't give it, to you, yet."
"Yin Rui?"
Yin Chao's brain suddenly seemed to stall. Hearing the name of his dad, Yin Rui, here had stirred him up more than he could handle.
So much so that he had raised his voice.
The little girl hurriedly covered her mouth and refused to answer any more questions about Yin Rui, no matter what he asked.
He had no choice but to give up and ask instead, "Then how should I help you?"
Only then did the little girl take her hands away from her mouth. "Go, to the kitchen, find, me, hide me."
No sooner had she finished speaking than another sound came from the door of the empty room next door.
As that sound rang out, the little girl vanished into the darkness.
The moonlight outside was bright, spilling a deathly pale patch across the floor before the bed.
Suddenly, Yin Chao's door rattled. The bolt creaked as though someone outside was prying it open.
His heart pounded as he sat motionless at the edge of the bed, facing the wooden door.
A click sounded.
The door opened from outside, revealing a hooded man with an exceptionally well-proportioned figure, bathed in moonlight.
Yin Chao was puzzled. This man clearly wasn't a ghost, but he wasn't one of the players traveling with him either.
Before he could speak, the man shut the door with practiced ease, then turned around. "I heard. Take me to the kitchen."
Yin Chao frowned. "Who are you?"
The hooded man took a few more steps toward Yin Chao, and only then could he make out his face.
He had sharp contours and finely sculpted, deep-set features, but a faint aloofness lingered in his eyes.
He was exactly Yin Chao's favorite type.
Before that flutter of attraction could reach his brain, it was intercepted by the image of Mo Nan smashing a teammate's head with his umbrella not long ago.
Oh, right. He might kill me.
Yin Chao thought.
He immediately calmed down.
Before you continue