109 Xu Qin's Curse

 

“We must go!” Xu Qin’s state was quite unstable. The more she used her table knife, the more glaring the blood on the knife and the brighter the smile on her face. But there was an unfamiliarity in her cruel smile, like there was another personality showing through. Murder turned the curse stronger and crazier. After Xu Qin chopped down another non-local, the heartbeat finally appeared behind Xu Qin and Han Fei.

Dong! Dong! Dong! The heavy beat spread fear. Han Fei could feel his own heart squeeze with pain as he turned around to look. A ghost with a human-faced butterfly tattooed on its chest stood in the corridor. Its heart was hanging out of its body and the heart twitched with each beat. To Han Fei’s distress, there appeared to be a Human Cocoon residing inside the ghost’s beating heart. ‘The Human Cocoon is used to control these spirits?’ Han Fei stood beside Xu Qin, he wanted to stay to help Xu Qin out but the latter softly nudged him away. “Go down the stairs now.”

“We will leave together.”

“I can’t control myself any longer.” Xu Qin bit on her fingers and blood dripped on her lips. Her expression turned more and more unfamiliar. “The urge to slice and dice everything is getting more prominent. If you do not leave now, I’m afraid I might end up chopping you into dinner.” As Xu Qin’s eyes landed on him, Han Fei’s hairs stood on end. Her gaze became so distant, like she was no longer looking at a friend but a plate of delicious food. Han Fei knew he would not be of much help to Xu Qin, plus he also had to take care of Huang Yin, so indeed the most rational solution was to escape with Huang Yin while Xu Qin held the enemies back.

His heart pumped with more pronounced pain. The pain appeared to be a kind of curse too. The closer the ghost approached, the stronger the curse became. Han Fei had no idea how to extricate himself from the curse other than to keep a distance. Seeing Han Fei’s intention to escape, the ghost with the exterior heart immediately jumped into battle with Xu Qin. Despite the cuts on its body, as long as none landed on the heart, the ghost itself would not be injured. Xu Qin paid a heavy price to ensure Han Fei’s escape. Her dead heart pounded rapidly. Blood threads surfaced on her skin. They pulsed madly like blood was surging too rapidly through her veins.

More and more blood and shredded flesh littered the corridor. Both Xu Qin and the ghost had lost their minds, they succumbed to madness. Suddenly at that moment, a door on the 4th floor opened. A middle-aged woman covered in bruises and scars appeared out of thin air and attacked the butterfly-tattooed ghost!

A long drape of hair trailed behind her. Hair also continued to fall from the ceiling and melted into her body. The more wounded she was, the stronger her resentment. The room that the woman came out from was covered with bloody hair, the place was like a cage weaved out of braided bloody locks. ‘Isn’t that the room where Brother Huang first cried for help? He sure was lucky to land right in the scariest room at this building.’ Han Fei kept his eyes on the newcomer. She seemed to have a deep-seated hatred towards the non-locals and the butterfly-tattooed spirits.

Perhaps she was too weak to handle them alone because she did not make her move until Xu Qin appeared to provide her with this opportunity.

The spirit was sliced through again and again but it regenerated itself endlessly. This appeared to be a stalemate but Han Fei noticed the time required for the spirit to reconstruct itself also became longer. When Xu Qin slashed through the spirit for the 7th time and the thing disintegrated into blocks of meat, a wave of black hair emerged from Room 2044. It swept up all the broken meat and rolled them back into Room 2044. With her goal accomplished, the middle-aged woman allowed herself to be washed away with her hair.

Xu Qin chased after her prey relentlessly. She shot towards Room 2044 but the door slammed right in her face. The black hair curled around the door handle. Xu Qin chopped at the door like crazy.

“Xu Qin!” Carrying Huang Yin on his back, Han Fei hurried to Xu Qin’s side. But when Xu Qin turned towards him, an indescribable chill crawled up his spine. Wailing human faces flashed within Xu Qin’s red eyes. Her table knife flew at Han Fei’s face!

The bloody tip stopped right before Han Fei’s eye. Xu Qin bit on her lips and blood trickled down her chin. Unable to speak, Xu Qin pulled her knife back and rushed down the stairs. She moved at least twice as fast as before. There were other non-locals along the way but when Han Fei arrived, they were mostly shredded already. Han Fei dealt the final blows on these straggling souls as he chased after Xu Qin. He still had a mission for his hidden occupation. He had to kill 10 non-locals before he reached level 10.

Xu Qin had done such heavy damage that Han Fei did not take long to deal with all the dying non-locals. With Huang Yin on his back, Han Fei returned to Apartment 1. He knew Xu Qin was not in a good state so he left Huang Yin with Meng Si. After saying a few words with Meng Si, Han Fei hurried to the 5th floor. Along the way, there was a heavy trail of blood. Some of them belonged to others and some belonged to Xu Qin. The door to Xu Qin’s room was not closed. A hair-raising engorging sound came from within. Han Fei quietly slipped into the room. He saw Xu Qin standing inside the kitchen. She grabbed various kinds of meat and stuffed them into her face.

She engulfed the food without chewing. She chomped down on the food so ferociously that she bit her own fingers several times but she did not seem to mind it. Soon all the meat inside the kitchen was gone. Xu Qin stomped out into the living room and grabbed the condiment bottles from the dining table. She unscrewed them and tossed the flavorful wandering souls down her throat. Xu Qin was a woman who fed on ghosts, only by feeding that the pain from her curse could be alleviated. Her normal grace was gone, all that was left was a bottomless appetite.

Blood stained her clothes. After devouring the ‘food’ made from monsters and ghosts, Xu Qin’s expression finally returned to normal.

“That must have been a scary scene for you, ain’t it?” Blood slid down Xu Qin’s cheeks. Her face was dirty with blood stains. Her fingers were bitten to their bones. She knew how scary she must have looked to Han Fei. She stood alone amidst the aftermath of her feast, surrounded by loneliness and shame.

Tearing out a piece from his shirt, Han Fei walked over to Xu Qin. He carefully helped her bandage her hands. “I hope they don’t hurt that much now.”

After ushering Xu Qin over to the couch, Han Fei found the broom and started to clean up. As he swept up the broken bits, he asked casually, “Is there a way to cleanse the curse from your body?”

Xu Qin appeared to come back then. She studied her hands and shook her head. “I am her and she is me.”

“Then you better stop worrying about the grocery-shopping in the future, I will help procure your groceries for you.” Han Fei smiled at Xu Qin. “Your hobby is to work with recipes, so you should focus on that. Leave the heavy labor to me.”

“Even after all you’ve seen, you are still willing to help me? Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“What is there to be afraid of?” Han Fei sat down beside Xu Qin and said with a warm smile. “To be honest, you’ve saved my life so many times that even if you do turn me into your dish, I won’t have any complaints about it.”