CH 18.2

Bai Lixin silently filled the dirt in and looked down at the white fluffy bat, “You’re awake from your nap?”

Dijia yawned, both paws gripping the edges of the pockets. He extended his wings and flapped them a few times to land on Bai Lixin’s shoulder, “Mmm.”

The smell of rotting corpses wrapped in damp soil rushed into his nostrils, and Dijia couldn’t help but frown.

He moved several inches towards Bai Lixin’s neck and settled there.

The sweet fragrance from there was like rain from the sky, covering up the foul stench with its scent.

Bai Lixin put the spade in the rose-free spot several times and finally found a tiny, untraceable crevice.

He wouldn’t have even noticed this detail if it hadn’t been for the gaps in the surrounding soil.

After inserting the shovel along the gap and giving it a few shakes, the soil immediately sank down in a regular pattern along the crevice until Bai Lixin reached the end of the shovel.

He pushed the shovel hard towards the front, and an underground staircase appeared in front of Bai Lixin. It extended into a long tunnel from which the faint glow of light could be faintly seen from above.

It was an extremely concealed underground entrance, covered in a thick layer of mud and roses. If the bandaged man had not disappeared here last night, he would never have discovered this place.

Bai Lixin looked up and looked around; three Bloods were leaning against the wall, dozing, and the players were huddled together. No one paid attention to him.

This was where the bandaged man from last night should have slipped in.

Bai Lixin stuffed the seeds into his trouser pocket and his body nimbly dug in.

The last bit of sunlight was cut off as the lid slowly closed.

The tunnel was not completely dark, and some faint light spilled out.

A little further on, Bai Lixin discovered the source of the faint light. It was the glow from the torches hanging from the wall, giving a little light to the narrow tunnel.

The tunnel was made of stone, and it was damp all around because it was built below a rose garden. There were even occasional drops of water dripping down from overhead.

Bai Lixin took a torch from the wall to light the way. He came to a fork in the road after walking along the narrow tunnel for awhile. He chose one at random and continued on his way.

Bai Lixin had not gone more than a few steps when faint footsteps came from behind him.

He stopped in his tracks, and the footsteps stopped too.

He turned his head and was stunned.

“Xia Chi?”

Xia Chi was obviously surprised too. He looked at Bai Lixin for a moment before walking forward with both eyes aglow, “What a coincidence!”

Bai Lixin, “What are you doing here?”

Xia Chi, “I came down a long time ago. I saw that bandaged man come in here yesterday and came to look for clues. I was just coming from the other end when I saw a man in front of me. I thought it was one of the other Bloods and it gave me a fright.”

After looking Xia Chi up and down, Bai Lixin asked, “What’s over there?”

Xia Chi, “There’s nothing over there. It’s a dead end, so let’s continue together.”

Bai Lixin, “Okay.”

There was room for two people in the tunnel, so Bai Lixin and Xia Chi walked side by side, and after a short time, they found another fork in the road.

There were three forks in the road this time, and the two stood at the fork and stopped.

Xia Chi, “Which way do we go?”

Bai Lixin looked towards each of the three forks and asked Xia Chi, “Which path do you want to choose?”

Xia Chi, “The one on the extreme left, I guess.”

Bai Lixin, “Why?”

Xia Chi, “I hear something beyond it.”

Bai Lixin cocked his head out and he heard a little sound, “Okay, let’s go that way then.”

The road to the left was quite wide, and the two walked side by side. Bai Lixin swept the corner of his eyes over Xia Chi, whose face was very pale. The latter kept his gaze in front of him, his expression unusually serious.

The two walked for a short time before they reached another fork in the road, and Bai Lixin still let Xia Chi choose. There were several forks in the road after that, and Xia Chi was able to make his choice quickly.

They had been walking through the tunnel for about half an hour when a faint light finally appeared in the narrow tunnel before them.

The sound they had heard earlier was the whistling of the wind, which grew louder as they continued to advance.

From their position, they could already see that ahead of them was an open space, and there was a door to a room beyond.

Bai Lixin stopped, “Xia Chi, did you see the curse again last night?”

Xia Chi, “No, I remained with the other Bloods, so the curse never appeared.”

Bai Lixin held up the torch, “Then describe to me what that Senior Sister in Red really looks like and why you were so afraid of her? I’ll give you an analysis so that you can increase your resistance to her.”

“The Senior Sister in Red is too scary!” Xia Chi thought seriously for a few seconds, “Senior Sister in Red, as the name implies, wears a red dress. Her hair is long and she covers her face with it. She jumped to her death wearing red clothes because her lover betrayed her. She died with her heart filled with resentment, so she turned into a severe ghost.”

Bai Lixin asked patiently, “Is there more?”

Xia Chi, “The face hidden in the hair is frightening and horrifying. Her eyes are like an abyss, with only black pupils and no whites. The eyes oozed blood, and the face was not pale, but green and hazy.”

The more Xia Chi spoke, the more vigorous he became and his face imitated the expression of this Senior Sister in red. “Every time she made an appearance, she would trap those poor students in the ghostly wall. No matter how much they ran, it would always turn out to be the same floor. She doesn’t kill them outright, but first tortures them bit by bit until the fear reaches its peak, then she suddenly appears!”

Xia Chi’s voice suddenly drew up, his blood-red eyes widening and his expression fierce as he looked at Bai Lixin, “Just like I am doing now! Scaring those people with my pale face of Bloods.”

There was a wind blowing through the tunnel, curling the tunnel with a slight whistling sound. The sound matched with Xia Chi’s deliberately low voice and ghastly expression, and even the air became cool.

Bai Lixin took a deep breath and asked, “Is it Senior Sister Red or me who is scary?”

Xia Chi’s grim expression froze for two seconds, “What?”

“Come here,” Bai Lixin beckoned towards Xia Chi, “I’ll tell you a secret.”

Xia Chi withdrew his expression and approached Bai Lixin curiously, “What secret?”

“That secret is..” Bai Lixin lowered his voice, and Xia Chi had to move a few more points closer.

Just when he was about to stick to Bai Lixin’s face, Bai Lixin suddenly shot out his hand and grabbed Xia Chi by the neck, saying in a stern voice, “It’s that I’ve finally caught you, cute little curse.”

Xia Chi first looked at Bai Lixin in surprise, then his body began to struggle frantically, “You’re crazy, I’m Xia Chi, your companion!”

But Bai Lixin wouldn’t let go. The hand strangling Xia Chi’s neck gradually tightened.

He lifted his other hand and extended three fingers, saying, “You have revealed a total of three flaws.”

“First, Xia Chi says “Brother” in every three sentences whenever he meets me. You said so many words after meeting me, but you did not call out “Brother” even once.”

“Second, Xia Chi admires me so much and he knows my abilities. When it comes to multiple choice questions like choosing a fork in the road earlier, he would rather leave it to me.”

“Third, Xia Chi is timid. The thing that a person fears most is like a taboo subject. If I asked him about Senior Sister in Red, he would either not want to talk about it, or would vaguely go over it out of fear. But not you. You went into detail about Senior Sister in Red and even imitated her expressions for the sake of realism.”

“Xia Chi’s” struggling movements had gradually diminished, and by the time Bai Lixin had finished, the ferocious expression he had just then was replaced by shock.

“You knew that I wasn’t Xia Chi, so why did you walk with me for so long?”

Bai Lixin, “Because I wanted to know if you would take me to the Curser. There were so many forks in the road just now that it would have taken me a long time to find this place if I had been looking for it myself. I have to say thank you.”

“You’re smart enough to choose to become my partner after knowing that you can’t use fear to make me reveal my weaknesses.” Bai Lixin made a comment, “Too bad you ran into me.”

Bai Lixin, “I’ve given you a compliment, aren’t you moved?”

Curse: “……”

I dare not move.

—

In the live broadcast room.

[Huh! He’s actually not little brother Xia Chi? Don’t lie to me!]

[Wow, when you think about it, this curse is pretty scary. If a person had fear in their heart, it would turn into one of those fears and take the life of the cursed person after scaring them out of their wits. If that doesn’t work, it turns into a companion and uses trust to get close to them to take their life!]

[So when did God Xin discover that he was a fake?]

[I guess he found out right from the start, didn’t he just say that? The curse was deliberately made to choose a fork in the road.]

[God Xin has done it again.]

[Bai Lixin: I gave you a compliment, aren’t you moved? Curse: I don’t dare. I don’t dare move.]

—

Bai Lixin held the Curse in a chokehold and dragged it into the enlarged space in front of him.

It was a huge oval space, and in one of the corners were several corpses. All were very gruesome, their muscles and bones twisted and deformed. Their eyes were wide open due to great excitement, their black pupils small, the whites of their eyes bulging out. The eyeballs looked like they were about to be squeezed out of their sockets the next moment.

At the sight of those corpses, the curse in Bai Lixin’s hand trembled imperceptibly, its expression looking very frightened.

In another corner of this space were several of those bandaged men he had seen yesterday, piled up like broken dolls.

The bandaged men were discarded there like rubbish.

In the flatter arc of the oval stood a stone statue set in the earth.

The stone statue was so bizarre that it would be more appropriate to call it a monster than a man.

It had four eyes, two pairs of feathered wings and a bloody mouth that opened wide to reveal hideous teeth and a tongue.

Dijia had burrowed into Bai Lixin’s pocket from the moment he entered the tunnel, and Bai Lixin looked at his pocket, “Is this the evil god?”

Dijia, “Not quite. I have been away from the Bloods for many years. I only know that they believe in evil gods.”

Directly opposite the stone statue was a room.

The curse could no longer maintain Xia Chi’s shape under Bai Lixin’s choke. Its body slowly melted like ice cream as it struggled to break free of Bai Lixin’s grip.

With that, Bai Lixin dragged the melting curse to the door of the room.

As Bai Lixin drew nearer, the curse’s resistance became heavier and heavier, and it twisted and turned its body wildly, hissing meaninglessly from its mouth.

As it hissed, it begged for mercy, “Don’t go through, please! Don’t go in there! Don’t! ”

Bai Lixin stopped in his tracks and crouched down to come face to face with the curse that was already half melted, “You’re afraid of this place? You still have the memories of the victim who was mutilated to death?”

The curse was already crying as it shook its head vigorously, “No, I don’t remember, but I am afraid of this place.”

Bai Lixin, “If you are afraid of this place, why did you lure me here?”

Curse, “Because the master needed the next curse carrier. As long as the cursed one was not Lady Rose, everyone else was to be brought here.”

Bai Lixin, “Why does your master need so many carriers? He needs to kill many people?”

The Curse, “No, not really. Not everyone will have resentment before they die; only a very small number will meet the conditions. Please, I’ve told you everything I know. Let me go.”

Bai Lixin, “If I let you go, won’t you come back for me?”

The cursed body froze. It was silent for two seconds before nodding slowly, “Yes, I will keep appearing until you or the master dies.”

QvQ, but I don’t want to either. I don’t want to see you ever again!

Bai Lixin was silent for two seconds, and then he let go of the curse, “Go, come back to play with me next time.”

The curse fled like the wind.

Who wants to play with you?!

Bai Lixin clapped his hands and stood in front of the room.

An unmistakable smell of blood spilled out from inside.

Dijia forced himself to resist the urge to vomit and pressed his body all the way up to Bai Lixin’s neck.

How in the world could there be such an unpleasant smell? It was so disgusting.

Bai Lixin tried to push the door of the room and found that it was actually open.

The door was pushed open and the scene inside was revealed.

It was more like an execution chamber than a laboratory.

Inside was a black metal chair placed in the middle of the room. Next to the chair was a single bed with white sheets that were stained with blood. The walls were splattered with blood as well.

A dazzling array of torture instruments also hung on the blood-soaked walls. Wrist-thick and sharp awls, finger-thick hooks, wolf’s tooth clubs, and so on. Everything that should be there was there.

Even Bai Lixin’s scalp felt numb when he looked at them, and his eyes gradually grew cold.

“Satisfied with what you see?” A dry, cold voice, like a withered branch, came from behind the door of the room.

Then, a hobbling figure stepped out.