Travel · Hangzhou Arc (4): Let's Cause a Little Panic

Legend has it that in a remote suburb of a city, there was a house that ate people.

During the day, it may not seem strange at first glance, but when night falls and all is quiet, with the lights and fire extinguished, those blood-sucking demons will come out and devour everyone in the house.

The ghosts come in all shapes and sizes: there are unfortunate people who died tragically in their homes, there are girls from Jiangnan who hanged themselves because of heartbreak, and of course, there are many more unlucky souls who inexplicably became the ghosts' prey.

So, when the lights are out and people are few in the night, listen carefully to every unusual sound coming from inside the house; they may be waiting somewhere for you to walk right into their trap.

Otherwise...

"Ha!" Little Ai exhales. jpg

Xiao Ling stared at the strawberry kitten with a twitching eye, then gave it a flick on the head.

"Waaah..." Aemeath covered her forehead and whimpered, "A-Yu, you're bullying me again."

"I'm just so disappointed. You seemed so excited, I thought you were going to tell some amazing ghost story, but this is all?"

"You weren't scared?"

"I wasn't scared at all... I've been listening to ghost stories since I was a kid."

"Then why did you say you were afraid to watch horror movies?" Aemeath said angrily.

"These are two different things." Xiao Ling shrugged.

"Hmm... actually, I didn't think this story was that scary either..." Yangyang silently raised her paw in agreement. "Since it's a man-eating ghost, the victim couldn't possibly have no reaction at all. Besides, most of us live in pairs, so if one of us has a problem, the other can notice immediately."

"Yes, this world takes the laws of physics very seriously. If such supernatural phenomena really existed, the whole society would probably be turned upside down—except for us, of course," Suisui added with a smile.

(After all, your very existence is the most outrageous and supernatural phenomenon.)

"Tch, this is so boring..." Aemeath said dejectedly.

"Hoo~" Suisui yawned, "I feel a little sleepy..."

"Hmm... I'm a little sleepy too..." Yangyang rested her chin on the Rover doll in her arms, her eyelids already showing signs of drooping.

"It's almost eleven o'clock!" Xiao Ling checked the time on her phone.

It's 10:55 PM now, five minutes before 11:00. Everyone except the four of them who are still in the living room has gone upstairs to their rooms to rest.

"That concludes our late-night chat. Everyone, go back to your rooms and get some sleep!" Aemeath jumped up from the sofa.

"Okay, I'm going upstairs to take a shower." Xiao Ling snapped her fingers. "Goodnight everyone?"

Goodnight~

Goodnight~

Goodnight, Xiao Yu!

After the three of them went upstairs one by one, Xiao Ling turned off the lights in the living room and walked up the stairs to the third floor.

What's the first thing to do after returning to your room?

Of course, I'll take a nice, fragrant bath first!

Xiao Ling took off her clothes, went into the bathroom, turned on the hot water valve, and started taking a shower.

The warm water flowed over him, making him let out a comfortable sigh.

It was already past eleven o'clock, Hajiling, immersed in the shower, was completely unaware that the sound of the wind and rain outside had suddenly become louder.

No, the visitors weren't just the two generals, Wind and Rain; they had also invited another powerful figure to oversee things!

"Boom--"

General Lei arrived at the invitation and immediately made a grand entrance, using the sound of rolling thunder to build momentum for his upcoming actions.

Then, a stunning bolt of lightning ripped through the night sky, illuminating the entire night with a snap.

Then, along with the lightning, the electricity in the mansion disappeared.

"Hey Chovy, what the hell are you doing?!" Xiao Ling cursed.

First there was thunder, then the power went out—what kind of trick is this supposed to play on him?

Not paying? Power outage?

"Wow, it's amazing! It never stops, it never stops, and now it's stopping? Thank goodness it's a typhoon, otherwise I'd be dying of heat."

You know, for southerners, summer without air conditioning is practically like ascending to heaven.

After silently taking a cold shower, Xiao Ling turned off the water valve and prepared to change her clothes and go to bed. She figured she could deal with the power outage tomorrow; with the weather like this, it was too dangerous to have an electrician come all the way...

Hmm... By the way, could Professor Morning help with some repairs? He remembered that Morning's Resonance Ability should also work on electrical systems.

Having made up his mind, Xiao Ling temporarily changed his plans and decided to first call Morning to deal with the power system.

Just then...

"Shh... shh..."

?

"Who's outside?" Xiao Ling, who was getting dressed, heard a scraping sound outside and called out towards the bathroom.

There was no response, but the scraping sound grew closer and closer, until it reached the doorway.

Then—smack!

Xiao Ling suddenly saw a hand pressing against the bathroom door, which startled him so much that he yelled "Holy crap!" and took two steps back.

After silently repeating "believe in science, stay away from superstition" twice in his mind, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "You'd better just give me your name! Otherwise, I'll have to use force!"

Seemingly stunned by Xiao Ling's sudden aura, the handprint disappeared on its own.

"What a joke, all show and no substance..." Xiao Ling scoffed and turned around to continue dressing.

Just as he lowered his guard, the bathroom door behind him suddenly clicked open by an unknown force.

"Hiss... I have a bad feeling about this..." Xiao Ling, who was getting dressed, felt a chill run down her spine...

Meanwhile, in another bedroom on the third floor, Morning was also quite surprised by the sudden power outage.

"How could the power suddenly go out? I checked the power system here... and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it?" she wondered, puzzled.

There was no point in thinking about it anymore, so she decided to call Xiao Ling and go downstairs together to check the mansion's electrical system and see if they could restore the power supply to normal.

"Bang!" That was the sound of the door being slammed shut.

The sound was very close, Morning almost instinctively guessed its source.

"Senior!" She didn't even have time to put on her slippers, and barefoot, she pushed open her bedroom door and came to Xiao Ling's room. "Are you alright?!"

The door was ajar. Morning pushed it open and went inside, only to find the room empty.

"Senior?" Morning's voice echoed in the empty room.

She quickly took out her phone, turned on the light, and began checking the room.

The clothes were freshly changed, and water droplets still clung to the bathroom walls, indicating that the senior had just finished showering. Yet, he was nowhere to be found.

Morning went into the bathroom to continue searching for clues. The flashlight beam illuminated every corner. The items on the sink were scattered and overturned. Someone of his senior's character would never do such a thing, so it could only be traces left during a struggle...

But there were only them and their senior in this mansion. If it had been one of them who came, would their senior have made such a fuss? But judging from the current scene, their senior must have been involved in a fight with someone else besides them.

Morning grew increasingly nervous, her brows furrowing. She shone her flashlight on the dressing mirror, her eyes widening in shock.

"This is...!"

She stepped forward, her gaze fixed on a string of English letters written in bright red ink on the vanity mirror, which spelled out:

First.

"First... means the first one, but why is the senior the first one...?"

Given the sudden commotion, Morning felt that the situation was getting out of control...

"Let's contact everyone first..." she said decisively.