CH 119

Translated by Crooked

Edited by Dust Bunny 

Gu Xizhou heard the female ghost’s words from the elevator and was stunned. He stared at it through the small crack in the elevator doors as they slid closed.

Gu Xizhou mumbled to himself, repeating the female ghost’s words: ‘Death is not the end now, so there is no need to fear death.’

Death is not the end. When the female ghost said that before, it was interrupted by Si Yu, and Gu Xizhou didn’t hear the last part, but they obviously weren’t the same.

‘Death is not the end now’ could maybe be understood as death now wasn’t true death but dying in the future was. 

What did this female ghost know? Gu Xizhou opened the elevator doors, but the female ghost had already disappeared.

Gu Xizhou lifted the monstrous tour guide that had already been beaten out of shape and took the elevator to the 7th floor. His teammates, except for the blank Fu Yiran, were all staring at him with rapt attention.

Pushing open the door to 8002, Gu Xizhou threw in the monstrous tour guide.

Outside the hotel, a snowman stood in the snow. Its gaze turned slowly in the direction of the red-clad female ghost who was approaching and silently embraced her.

The female ghost wasn’t afraid of the cold at all, but she changed her clothes into the red down jacket she wore before her death, along with a red scarf, hat, and mittens.

She took off her hat and put it on the snowman and then gave it her scarf and gloves.

Inside the hotel, the tour guide was thrown inside the room. Soon after the door was closed, the entire room of 8002 suddenly scattered into snowflakes.

A snowflake fluttered down into Gu Xizhou’s palm and melted into water, but it didn’t make him cold. Instead, he felt a bit warm, like the snow in his hands was a tiny thawing sun. 

Li Yan sighed in relief. It was just like tomorrow’s Li Yan told him. His tense nerves finally relaxed. He’d been worried something would go wrong.

“Li Yan is my real name. Here’s my contact information. You can look for me if you need anything,” said Li Yan to Gu Xizhou.

Gu Xizhou nodded faintly, accepting the phone number without reciprocating.

Li Yan stopped speaking and opened the door. After taking a deep look at Fu Yiran, he left the mission world directly. 

Aside from Gu Xizhou, Si Yu, Fang Zhi, and Fu Yiran, the other three had already left. Gu Xizhou turned to look at Fu Yiran, and Fu Yiran looked back at him indifferently.

Gu Xizhou pulled Fu Yiran to a corner and asked with a scowl, “What does the note you gave me in the previous mission world mean?”

Fu Yiran’s eyes were lowered and not looking at Gu Xizhou, as if Fu Yiran was still in shock.

In fact, Fu Yiran’s attitude change was really odd. The first time they met, this guy gave him a note. Even if Fu Yiran’s nature was quite tricky, it wasn’t enough to be considered a bad person overall… 

Why was there such a big discrepancy between the two times?

“What was it all for?” Gu Xizhou asked quietly.

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Fu Yiran stared at Gu Xizhou with dark eyes. He bit his lip and said, “Do you really think I could believe a ‘murder weapon’?” 

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“Xe Ejc, fnfgsatlcu atja’r tjqqfcfv joafg sbeg gfreggfmalbc tjr pera yffc ‘rtjgqfclcu atf xclof’. P vbc’a yfilfnf lc ‘xclnfr’, P bcis yfilfnf lc wsrfio.”

Gu Xizhou heard the word ‘resurrection’ and grabbed Fu Yiran’s wrist. His narrowed eyes flashed coldly as he demanded, “What do you know? Tell me!”

Fu Yiran shook his head and said resolutely, “I don’t believe knives.” 

Then, regardless of what Gu Xizhou asked, Fu Yiran didn’t say another word.

Gu Xizhou entered the door. He heard the sound of the wind blowing harshly, but oddly enough he didn’t feel cold. Gu Xizhou closed his eyes and wondered if that was because he was experiencing something after the female ghost died, so he wouldn’t be able to feel the temperature. Suddenly, his chest erupted in pain, like someone was squeezing his heart and liver.

Gu Xizhou opened his eyes. He was surrounded by the biting cold wind on the pure white snow-capped mountain. His body was in the middle of the snow. The hotel wasn’t far away.

It hurts. 

It really hurts, ah.

The body’s owner kept circling back to that thought unceasingly. After Gu Xizhou noticed the body’s owner was unwell, he refocused on their body. The owner’s whole body was snow-white without a single impurity. They had a red wool scarf on their neck with an elegant white snowflake pattern.

Gu Xizhou wanted to see the body’s hand. Now, after repeatedly enduring the pain, the body placed their hands on their abdomen. Gu Xizhou could see very clearly that these… were two very ordinary tree branches.

He realized that he’d entered the body of a snowman—— 

The little snowman dug open its own snowy belly. Gu Xizhou followed its line of sight and saw an exposed finger on the snowman’s stomach.

A finger! A human finger!

The little snowman was frightened. It urgently hollowed out its own body, discarding the bloody snow on the ground. A hand, a foot, a head, and even… organs… It was really too nauseating.

The little snowman was frightened. It was too dreadful! It was just a snowman, ah! It was made of snow, not blood! 

Its body shouldn’t be filled with these human limbs or these strange organs!

The little snowman covered the pit of its belly. In the wake of a heavy snowstorm, its body was gradually submerged until snowflakes covered the top of the little snowman’s head.

This snowman’s life had run to its end.

It was dark all around Gu Xizhou. 

Two children pressed eyes into the head of a snowman.

Gu Xizhou could see, and he discovered that he was once again in the body of a snowman. This time, the snowman was wearing a yellow scarf and a black cap. Its nose was a carrot. Its hands were still common branches.

After the two children worked together to build the snowman, they started a snowball fight.

The little snowman’s gaze bounced between the two children. These two children had created it. Even if it would disappear after winter, it didn’t feel sad about its short life because it was a snowman, and snowmen melt. 

Suddenly, the little snowman’s belly felt really uncomfortable. It hurt so much, it hurt so much! But it couldn’t move at will because it was a snowman. If it started to move, it would scare the two children here.

In the afternoon, the two children were each called home by their parents.

“Little snowman, we’ll come play with you again tomorrow!”

The two children left, leaving behind the lonely little snowman standing solitary in a world of ice and snow. It looked desolately at the passersby coming and going. 

Then, at night, the little snowman stealthily scooped out its own belly to examine its pain. A woman’s head was in its belly! The little snowman was scared stupid.

It anxiously threw the head on the ground, but it thought the head could scare those two children, so it endured the pain and returned the head to its abdomen, wrapping it into a thick snowball so it couldn’t be seen.

The next day——

The two children didn’t come. The little snowman was a bit disappointed, but this was fine. This way, the human head inside its belly probably wouldn’t scare them. 

The next day, people walked by the snowman standing on the curbside. All of them started to cover their noses.

“Why does it stink so much?!”

“Right, I’m gonna be sick. It smells like a dead rat.”

“Blegh… It stinks, let’s go faster!” 

The little snowman in the yellow scarf listened to the words of the passersby. It knew that its own body was emitting the smell. The stench floated quite far. The snowman found itself disgusting, and it felt terrified and inferior.

At night, the little snowman stealthily moved. It walked over to stand in the corner. It endured the monster in its belly and finally its life dissipated. The water stains left behind after the snowman melted were colder than snow.

Some time later, Gu Xizhou opened his eyes, and it was still a snowy day. He was still a snowman.

He had just opened his eyes when he saw a thirty year old woman spitting in rage, slapping the child who made the snowman angrily. “How many times have I told you not to make snowmen?! You made a snowman again! The snowman is going to find you and eat you!” 

“Aaah——” The child heard their mother and opened their mouth to sob. Then, they were pulled away by their mom.

The snowman with the rice colored checkered scarf opened its eyes with a lonely look as it watched the departing mother and child. After that, it slowly lowered its head and put its hands on its stomach.

“Peng, peng, peng!”

It was a strong and vigorous heartbeat. The little snowman freaked out. There was a human heart in its stomach! It was too disgusting! 

It was just a snowman!

The little snowman grew increasingly lonely. It carefully listened to the conversations of the people around it——

“Did you hear the legend of the snowman? It’s about that hotel on the mountain. It’s said that snowmen can eat people!”

“Every time, a snowman appears at the same time a person goes missing.” 

The little snowman perked up its ears to listen to the speaker. It thought that everything was all because of that hotel on the mountain.

It wasn’t a man-eating snowman, and its body was not a burial ground for corpses.

Its flesh was made of snowflakes.

Gu Xizhou heard the sound of chains sliding. The chains fell into the snow on the ground, growing cold. 

The next moment, the scene in front of him suddenly became bright. Gu Xizhou opened his eyes and used his hands to block the light. Gu Xizhou turned to look at Si Yu, who came out too. Just now, when he left the mission world, Fu Yiran was still there.

Gu Xizhou asked, “What did Fu Yiran say to you?”

Si Yu’s eyes were filled with light, and his eyebrows rose faintly.

Gu Xizhou thought Si Yu didn’t want to say anything and was a little unhappy. He curled up his lip and gave Si Yu a sardonic chuckle. 

Then he heard Si Yu’s indifferent voice. “He told me not to fall in love with you.”

Gu Xizhou rolled his eyes. “Tsk, why would you listen to him?”

As soon as the words came out, Gu Xizhou thought they were a little strange… Why did he think it was weird…

Si Yu “en”ed, and his eyes bent with a smile. The corners of his mouth were raised just a tiny bit. “En, don’t worry, I don’t plan to listen to him.” 

Gu Xizhou: ……

The dazed Fang Zhi: “???” I don’t think the atmosphere between you is right!