Chapter 9: Human Skin Manor (Part 8)

After changing her clothes, Xiao Muyu saw that Shen Qingqiu was already lying in bed, leisurely observing her as she came out.

Xiao Muyu didn’t say anything and simply lifted the blanket to lie down on the edge of the bed.

Sleeping next to a stranger was indeed awkward. Xiao Muyu kept a considerable distance; despite the bed not being very large, the two women, slender as they were, managed to leave a space between them wide enough for another person.

Shen Qingqiu remained silent. In the quiet, Xiao Muyu kept thinking about why she would be chosen, and whether the scene in the bus was a hallucination that every chosen person experienced.

It seemed unbelievable. She should be uneasy after arriving in this place, but she oddly found some peace of mind. This peace didn’t come from safety, but from reality. She couldn’t deny that, in the world she had lived in before, there was always a certain insubstantiality.

Her thoughts were in disarray, and as she tossed and turned, a wave of drowsiness washed over her. Xiao Muyu tried to keep her eyes open and shook her head, but the overwhelming sleepiness was impossible to resist.

In her real life, Xiao Muyu was used to staying up late to work overtime, and pulling all-nighters. Although she didn’t know the exact time, she shouldn’t have felt this tired.

Xiao Muyu realized something was wrong, and fought even harder against the sleepiness. She didn’t know how long she struggled, but in a half-conscious state, she thought she heard a faint noise at the door.

It sounded like something had lightly brushed against their room’s door, followed by a creaking sound as the door slowly opened!

She and Shen Qingqiu were each sleeping under a single blanket, which should have been enough to keep them warm in this weather, but after that noise, Xiao Muyu suddenly felt a chill creeping in from the doorway, growing ever closer.

Half-asleep, Xiao Muyu felt as though something was standing by her bedside, but she couldn’t open her eyes. Was she hallucinating?

After the door creaked open, Xiao Muyu vaguely sensed a shadowy figure float into the room. It hovered at the foot of the bed for a moment, before directly moving toward her side, standing right next to her.

The figure then leaned down, its movement like a piece of paper bending in half, and whispered, “Open your eyes and look at me.”

The voice was that of a child, deeply bewitching, making Xiao Muyu want to open her eyes.

She felt a corner of the blanket lift, and a chill spread across her shoulder. That familiar scent wafted to her nose again.

She was too sleepy, and even if that voice gave her a strong urge to do what it said, she was unable to see what the hell it was. Furthermore, her last bit of consciousness warned her not to open her eyes, so she immediately stopped resisting sleep.

The once coaxing voice grew frantic. “Open your eyes and look at me!”

“Open your eyes. I’m telling you to open your eyes. Wuu… open them.” The voice now carried a piercing wail, and the figure even began tugging at Xiao Muyu’s blanket.

Yet, no matter how much the figure raged, the two people on the bed remained utterly still, as if they were dead to the world.

The human skin twisted, as a fierce wind howled outside, rattling the windows.

The two women in the room slept like logs, but across the hall, the young couple was scared beyond belief. They had been sleeping lightly, and the moment the ghostly voice started calling, they woke up. The thing shouted and cried itself hoarse, its voice particularly haunting, endlessly piercing their ears.

The girl’s whole body trembled, and eventually, she couldn’t hold back her sobs any longer. She whispered in a quivering voice, “I’m scared.”

As soon as the girl uttered those words, the haunting wails from the other side abruptly ceased, and the wind outside came to an immediate halt.

The boy’s face turned deathly pale as he quickly reached out to cover the girl’s mouth, but it was already too late!

With a thunderous bang, their door was thrown open. The terrified, trembling couple on the bed suddenly opened their eyes wide, only to see the human skin’s hollow eye holes staring directly at them.

“Ah!”

A blood-curdling scream pierced through the night, the terror enough to scare people out of their wits as it echoed throughout the house.

“Run, Xiao Tian, run!” The boy groaned in agony, writhing on the floor.

Yet those who were asleep seemed deaf to it all. There was no movement from them, and no reaction to the desperate cries for help, the screams, or the sound of blood splattering in the dead of night.

It wasn’t until a sudden noise came from the third floor that the human skin, which had been relentlessly tearing into the boy, lifted its blood-soaked face. Its empty eye sockets twisted in an innocent smile before it darted up to the third floor like a flash of lightning.

Under the bed, the girl’s face was contorted with fear, her bulging eyes fixed on her boyfriend who lay on the floor, and no sound came from her again.

Sounds of a violent fight and panicked cursing could be heard from the third floor, before finally falling into silence.

Those sleeping spent the night in peaceful dreams, while others would never wake again.

When sunlight filtered through the window the next morning, Xiao Muyu, who had been lying in bed, finally woke up.

She reacted a second after she opened her eyes, quickly sitting up and scanning her surroundings.

Shen Qingqiu was already dressed. Xiao Muyu noticed something off about her complexion.

Before she could ask, Shen Qingqiu’s gaze fell on the door, which had been tightly closed but was now slightly ajar. With a calm tone, she asked, “Did something come in last night?”

Xiao Muyu frowned and nodded. “Yes, didn’t you hear it?”

Shen Qingqiu shook her head, looked at her a little oddly and said, “You weren’t asleep? It isn’t a good habit, not sleeping when you’re supposed to.”

Xiao Muyu was stunned, then she recalled what the old woman had said before returning to her room: “You can only sleep well when you’re full.” Her expression immediately darkened slightly.

“You didn’t force yourself to stay awake last night, did you? Did you hear anything?”

Xiao Muyu pressed her lips together briefly. “Mm, that thing was standing on my side of the bed last night, kept telling me to open my eyes and look at it. I was too sleepy but knew something was off, so I ignored it. It got angry and yanked my blanket. It was crying and screaming right here.”

Shen Qingqiu got the chills as she listened to Xiao Muyu describe the scene without batting an eyelid. She couldn’t help but ask, “Weren’t you scared?”

Xiao Muyu glanced at her. “What good would fear do? Should I hug you and cry, or cry at its face?”

For the first time, Shen Qingqiu found herself at a loss for words. Did this woman even realize how close she was to losing her life?

As the realization struck her, Xiao Muyu asked, “Last night, five people didn’t finish their food. Does that mean something’s already happened to someone?”

“Ah!” Just as she finished speaking, Cui Xiaoxuan’s terrified scream came from outside, full of panic.

Shen Qingqiu glanced at Xiao Muyu and only followed her after she had already rushed out of the room.

Outside, Cui Xiaoxuan and You Qiaolian were standing at the door of the young couple’s room, their faces ashen, trembling uncontrollably. You Qiaolian, covering her face with her hands, was leaning on the wall to stay upright.

The room’s door was wide open, and blood trailed from inside. Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu went over to take a look. Xiao Muyu froze and then quickly turned her head, fighting back the urge to vomit. After a moment, she frowned and glanced out the corner of her eye at the people inside.

The boyfriend was drenched in blood, locked in a rigid posture. The floor, smeared with messy bloodstains, was evidence of his desperate struggle before death.

Despite the thick, nauseating stench of blood in the room, Shen Qingqiu remained calm. She merely furrowed her brows as she stepped closer to examine the boy, and then pointed to the girl’s lifeless form curled up under the bed. With a shake of her head, she said, “They’re both dead.”

Cui Xiaoxuan, a girl who had never seen such a gruesome scene before, shuddered at Shen Qingqiu’s words, not daring to look.

Shen Qingqiu didn’t examine the scene for too long before quickly stepping out of the room, and then stating gravely, “His skin was peeled off.”

“Uegh!” Cui Xiaoxuan immediately threw up on the floor, losing strength in her limbs, while You Qiaolian straight up fainted, causing another flurry of activity for the other two to deal with.

The people on the third floor were all up by now. Hearing the commotion, they ran down one by one, but the grisly scene proved too much for anyone to handle.

Xiao Muyu, fighting her own discomfort, glanced at the old woman’s door. Noticing a small, inconspicuous piece of wood by the door, she grabbed it while no one was looking, and slipped it into her pocket. She then looked at Shen Qingqiu, who remained silent and serious.

When the old woman finally emerged from her room, even the grown men in the group looked visibly pale and hesitant to approach. Only Shen Qingqiu was inside.

The two brothers, Chen Dong and Chen Xi, looked especially ashen-faced, their hands and feet shaking as they exchanged fearful glances. Old Liao, who didn’t have much presence since the beginning, was paralyzed on the floor.

When the old woman opened the door and saw the complete disorder before her, her face turned menacing. She glared at the group and, in a hoarse and panicked voice, demanded, “Did someone secretly open a locked room!?”

The group exchanged bewildered glances, immediately looking around at each other, before they all shook their heads.

Xu Ran couldn’t help but speak up: “We were sound asleep last night; there’s no way we could have opened the room.”

The others nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu both glanced at Chen Dong and Chen Xi. The brothers averted their eyes with a hint of guilt, unable to look directly at them.

When no one admitted to anything, the old woman’s face grew increasingly grim. However, she didn’t press further, just stared blankly at the skinned body in the room and muttered, “It doesn’t matter if you don’t admit it. Opening that door comes with a price. I warned you, I did, but why didn’t you listen? It will come again, and no matter how deeply you sleep tonight, it won’t help. Not only will you be unable to help me, but… you’ll die too!” Her voice carried a note of despair, and there was a faint hint of mourning.

“What… what killed him? Skin… was it the human skin?” Old Liao, who had just woken up alongside Leopard, was still in shock. Seeing their companions dead like this made them wonder if they might be the next to meet such a gruesome end.

“But, didn’t you say those things can’t get in? How did this happen?” Liu Wei sounded a little perplexed.

The old woman’s eyes suddenly focused on him. Though they had seemed cloudy last night, now they appeared clearer. She murmured, “They couldn’t, but someone unlocked that door, giving a human skin an opening. You’d better take care of yourselves.”

The old woman, seeming very disappointed, didn’t pay any further attention to the gruesome scene in the room and slowly made her way downstairs.

Xiao Muyu glanced out the window at the bright and beautiful sunlight outside. Those persistent, haunting skins were nowhere to be seen.

“Who the hell opened the door?! It’s bad enough that it was opened, but if you found something, couldn’t you have at least give us a heads up? Because of your selfish decision, everyone’s lives are now hanging by a thread! Even if you earned points for yourself, without us all working together, you f*cker won’t survive until the third day!” Leopard, who had a quick temper, was already red-eyed and shouting furiously at the group.

But no one was willing to step forward at this moment. Admitting to it would mean taking the blame from everyone else.

Liu Wei knew this well. He raised his hand, gesturing for everyone to calm down, then scanned the group and said in a low voice, “The most pressing issue now is to figure out if it was really a human skin that killed Xiao Tian and her boyfriend.”

“The old woman pretty much said it was!” retorted Leopard, still fuming.

“But do you really believe everything that old lady says? I can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Otherwise, she could have just outright warned us about what would happen if we opened the door. Why be so cryptic and leave us guessing?” This thought frustrated Liu Wei.

Leopard merely offered an angry huff.

“Furthermore, whoever opened the door knows what they did, and we all have a pretty good idea too, so there’s no point in hiding it. In times like this, survival comes first,” Liu Wei said, glancing pointedly at a few people in the group.

“What are you implying?” One of them caught Liu Wei’s gaze and frowned, disgruntled.

Cui Xiaoxuan, who had recovered from her shock, spoke up in a low voice after listening to Liu Wei, “On the first night, any sane person would avoid opening a door after hearing it could bring misfortune. No one would take such a risk. So, whoever did it must have been confident they wouldn’t be harmed, and felt they had to seize the opportunity. I think everyone understands what I’m saying. Besides, going to check on the door alone takes courage. Who here would dare to stay awake in a place like this, much less open that forbidden door in the middle of the night?”

Xiao Muyu knew that Cui Xiaoxuan had figured it out.

Chen Dong and Chen Xi’s faces turned pale as they noticed Liu Wei, Cui Xiaoxuan, and Xu Ran all staring directly at them.

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Author had something to say:

The human skin was supposed to be scary, but when Xiao Xiao talked about it, it seemed kinda cute, haha.

Xiao Shen got shut down by her wife and was left speechless. So, who opened the door? There are a lot of details in this chapter as well, and they’ll be important later on.