Chapter 4: Human Skin Manor (Part 3)

As for where the amulet went, Xiao Muyu had a pretty good idea. She felt a bit choked and speechless. Given Shen Qingqiu’s skills and her conversation with the men who ambushed her, it was clear she wasn’t a newbie and didn’t need Xiao Muyu’s noob amulet at all.

Moreover, in just this brief encounter, Xiao Muyu could tell that Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t value an amulet that could only fend off one attack. So the only explanation was that she did it on purpose.

Just moments ago, she had righteously criticized the two men for stealing amulets and how disgraceful it was, yet she had turned around and taken Xiao Muyu’s amulet herself. Reflecting on Shen Qingqiu’s parting words, Xiao Muyu felt this person was truly despicable. Such an eccentric and maverick personality gave Xiao Muyu a severe headache.

Considering that she wasn’t alone in this instance, and that there might be more than one ‘home’, she wondered if she would see Shen Qingqiu and those two men again.

Xiao Muyu walked hurriedly. Although full of doubts, she had to push her thoughts aside for now. Thinking would only distract her. Losing her means of protection meant she lost her margin for error, and if she couldn’t find a safe place, her fate was uncertain.

The sun had begun to merge with the distant mountains, and the evening glow bathed the clouds on the horizon in golden hues. As time passed, the golden light turned orange, and paired with the dark branches, the scene looked like an oil painting, capturing distant wonders.

But the sunset, usually a moment to admire, now felt like a harbinger of doom. The more beautiful it was, the more danger you were in.

The sun had softened completely, its orange circle allowing mortals to gaze directly upon it, but Xiao Muyu’s eyes dared not linger.

She had yet to spot any houses, and the setting sun over the western mountains wouldn’t pause for anyone. It would even disappear in the blink of an eye.

The sunlight receded like a tide, as if darkness was driving it away, and twilight began to spread wildly. Almost immediately, Xiao Muyu felt a cold, sinister presence closing in on her back. After just a short while, the sky had darkened incredibly quickly.

She couldn’t resist glancing back. Her shadow was reduced to half, while darkness had swallowed the rest. The surrounding foliage shifted from a gentle sway to a frantic rustle, and the sound came from all directions. Yet, apart from the wind, she saw nothing. The hairs on her arms stood up from the slight chill.

Xiao Muyu was already running. At last, from the top of a mountain, she spotted a house at the base of the mountain, in front of the forest. The house was situated to the west. The last remnants of the setting sun cast light around it, though that light was visibly retreating. She estimated its distance from the mountaintop—it was too far.

Despite her inability to discern the details of the house, it didn’t slow down her running speed. Just then, a scream pierced the air from behind, sounding both mournful and harsh, like a beast howling nearby. Xiao Muyu stumbled, nearly falling.

Was it a wolf?

However, when she hastily looked towards the sound, Xiao Muyu saw nothing but dim shadows. Yet, the wind was growing stronger and more painful on her face.

As the path down the mountain was steep and rugged, Xiao Muyu had to focus on her footing. As a result, she didn’t notice that she wasn’t the only one; a group of people were desperately running towards the house from all directions.

No one knew exactly what they were fleeing from, but it was as if something was chasing them.

The bestial cries rose and fell with the wind, sometimes near, sometimes far. However, they were growing louder, sweeping across the sky and the earth. She felt surrounded by a pack of wild beasts, even though she saw nothing in her peripherals.

Suddenly, in the shadows behind her, two or three enormous bat-like creatures darted through the dim light, moving as fast as lightning, making it impossible to discern their exact nature.

It was these creatures emitting the hysterical cries, seemingly wanting to pounce, yet hesitating due to the remaining light.

There were prey right in front of them, and being unable to act drove them into a frenzy; they tumbled and writhed together.

Xiao Muyu, noticing them, glanced back quickly. These damn things appeared thin, like kites, but were flexible, with a soft, elastic yellowish-white texture.

As they lunged, they extended a pair of long arms; their outlines were surprisingly humanoid.

They were close enough now that the wind brought a sour, sickening stench, like something desiccated and decayed.

Xiao Muyu, with her acute sense of smell, could detect a faint hint of musk amidst the overwhelming foul odor, but this small bit of fragrance made it all the more nauseating and weird.

She could feel them closing in. The sounds of the wind and the howls merged into a cacophony that poured down on her.

She summoned every ounce of strength, heedless of the risk of falling, and dashed down the mountain as if she were flying. Her muscles were aching and spasming from the exertion and tension, but she couldn’t stop. Finally, she reached the flat ground and saw others as unfortunate as herself.

Sweat covered her face, droplets clinging to her eyelashes and blurring her vision. Through the haze, she vaguely saw people gathered at the entrance of the house, frantically shouting and waving their arms.

“Help! Save me!”

Xiao Muyu heard the terrified screams of a fellow human.

Behind her and to the left, there was a woman running with a fearful face. But she was utterly exhausted, reaching out in despair, hoping that someone nearby, or someone at the house still four to five hundred meters away, might pull her to safety. In the blink of an eye, one of the creatures caught her and had her completely wrapped up.

Then, the upper part of the creature rose and emitted a laugh, which sounded human.

Xiao Muyu shuddered, shut her eyes, and continued to run. She didn’t know the woman’s fate, but judging by the screams, it likely wasn’t good.

At this moment, her mind was fixated solely on the house, as she drew ever closer. She could already make out what the people at the entrance were shouting.

“Hurry, faster!”

Two hundred meters, one hundred meters, fifty meters!

Her lungs were about to burst, her throat so dry like it was about to catch fire, and the taste of blood accompanied her rapid breaths. Her ears were ringing.

Some of them were rushing inside, collapsing instantly before others dragged them in, while some continued to fall.

Just ten meters from the house, the creature’s tendril wrapped around Xiao Muyu’s left hand. She felt like her strength had been drained, and fell heavily to the ground, rolling forward a few times due to the momentum.

“Hee-hee.”

Xiao Muyu heard its laugh again, innocent and joyful.

At the entrance of the three-story building, sunlight had already disappeared. Everyone who had escaped inside hid in fear. They looked at Xiao Muyu, who had fallen to the ground, with complex expressions—fear, gladness, regret, sympathy, and even indifference.

Xiao Muyu didn’t know how she could discern so many expressions from a group of people at such a critical moment. It seemed she had always been fascinated by the way people’s faces changed when faced with various situations, finding it particularly vivid and compelling—something she never had.

She reached out to make one last attempt, grabbing the tendril and pulling with all her might. It was cold and smooth, soft and squishy—an extremely weird sensation that made Xiao Muyu’s heart tremble.

Moreover, the moment she touched it, there was a distinct burning sensation on her palm, as if hooks were digging into her flesh, forcing her to let go.

“Hee-hee… haha!” The thing entangling her laughed even more gleefully. Xiao Muyu looked up; the abomination was also raising its body…

Just as the creature was about to raise its upper body, a dagger, with a particularly familiar motion, sliced into the ‘arm’ that was wrapping around Xiao Muyu.

“Ah!” it screeched.

Then, at incredible speed, a slender figure appeared before Xiao Muyu, grabbed her clothes, unceremoniously dragging her while sprinting, and then forcefully tossed her into the house. The sound of her pounding heart now doubled, leaving Xiao Muyu feeling completely weak.

Seeing that its prey had escaped from its grasp, the damn creature’s screeches grew even more piercing. Xiao Muyu was exhausted, but luckily, the few people standing at the doorway still had some humanity left. Instead of letting her fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes, they caught her.

Xiao Muyu could finally see her rescuer. Although she had already guessed who it was, she still couldn’t help but feel a bit surprised when she saw Shen Qingqiu.

Throwing Xiao Muyu inside had delayed Shen Qingqiu a little, and those things immediately surrounded her. With the extremely close proximity and temporary state of safety, the terrified people saw the true face of the creatures for the first time.

Their creepy appearance, and the so-called arms with five twisted, dangling fingers that were just skin, were clearly exposed.

There were several holes on the thin layer, clearly human facial features. The grotesque, wide-open mouths emitted excited screeches as they laughed, knowing there was still one more prey.

Some of the more faint-hearted people immediately fell to the ground, trembling. A man who had narrowly escaped death pointed at the creatures and stammered incoherently, “S-skin, human skin!”

As if it had heard his words, one of the human skins flying in the air unfolded its crumpled face and grinned at him.

“Oh my god!”

The exclamation was like a bomb exploding amidst the crowd. Even Xiao Muyu felt her heart contract at this moment. No wonder it felt like that—the things flying around in search of prey were actually human skins!

The faces of those who had sought refuge inside changed drastically upon this revelation, and their bodies began to shake uncontrollably.

“Hu-human skin? How…how many human skins are there?”

Shen Qingqiu remained completely unfazed by this horrifying discovery. The dagger she wielded could cut through iron like mud, and she moved efficiently, preventing any human skin from getting close to her. She managed to make her way over just in time.

While everyone else was trying to stay at least three chi (Chinese foot – one third of a meter) away from the door, Xiao Muyu, upon seeing Shen Qingqiu approaching, took a step towards the door and extended her hand to her.

Shen Qingqiu’s lips curled into a smile as she grasped Xiao Muyu’s hand tightly, using the leverage to leap into the house.

However, Xiao Muyu’s expression changed.

At the very last second, a human skin had clung tenaciously to Shen Qingqiu, and she inadvertently brought it inside. The people in the room were terrified and scattered in all directions.

“She brought in a human skin!”

The skin wrapped itself around Shen Qingqiu from behind, its whole body stuck to her. The three holes on the face aligned into an uncanny smile, but it warped the moment it entered the room.

Without even looking back, Shen Qingqiu swung her right hand with precision. The human skin let out a mournful scream as it fell to the ground, and began to struggle desperately.

In just a few seconds, the human skin began to sizzle, releasing white smoke as if the air in the house were burning it. The once arrogant and menacing skin now writhed and bounced desperately, trying to flee towards the door.

The scene was so bizarre and unsettling—who had ever seen a human skin dance!?

No one dared to approach. As Shen Qingqiu freed herself from the skin and was about to act, she saw the person she had just saved, Xiao Muyu, step forward and stomp down hard on the skin, cutting off its escape route.

A hint of surprise flashed across Shen Qingqiu’s face, and she couldn’t help but glance at Xiao Muyu. This person was indeed interesting.

Just as Xiao Muyu was stomping on it, the skin suddenly twisted its face around, the upper half rising up, mouth wide open, revealing a crimson maw, and lunged towards Xiao Muyu’s face!

“Ah!”

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Author had something to say:

Look, Xiao Shen is not that bad.

Yueshang (author): Let me interview you for a bit. What made you think of going to save someone at that moment?

Shen Qingqiu: Someone? I was saving my wife. (Actually, I wanted to mess with her, but I can’t tell her that).