380 Middle of Nightmare

 

‘Love? Wife? Passion? Swallow you whole?’ This was the first time Xu Qin had such declarations made to her in the cryptic world. They were brusque and untouched, but she didn’t quite mind them.

‘The Evil Soul is Han Fei’s most authentic self without any constraint.’ The Mirror God’s words echoed in her mind. Xu Qin’s fingers closed around the table knife. Even as a Curse Amalgamation, one that was powerful enough to face a Large Lingering Spirit, Xu Qin had to stop for a double take when she heard what the Evil Soul had to say. ‘I saw you as a cute neighbourly boy, I have no idea you harbor such thoughts about me… Why didn’t you say anything earlier?’

The world was silent after the Evil Soul made his proclamation.

“Well, this is surprising.” Lee Zai snickered. His face was bright with gossip as well as misfortune. “Do you think the manager has purposely split out this soul to voice things that he normally wouldn’t dare to? After all, I can totally see him do something like this.”

“We are…” Weep had grown a lot after digesting his pain at Cattle Alley but before he could say anything, he was pulled back by Drake. He looked at Drake with confusion, as if asking, ‘Why are you always pulling me back?’ Counting the time at Cattle Alley, this was the second time already.

The Evil Soul was very clever. He derived much info just from the tenants’ expressions. He could have manipulated them but he didn’t or rather he was too lazy to. “All of you feel familiar to me, you must know me!” The Evil Soul turned around, the senior monster’s large body placed a lot of pressure on a normal Lingering Spirit. “Tell me, what kind of person was I! Why would I be summoned to this place?!”

The Evil Soul was confused. Based on what the senior monster said, only those toeing the line of life and death could be summoned to Ziggurat. In other words, he should still be alive before his soul was brought here. If he was alive, how could he have so many ghost friends? What was the explanation behind it? The more the Evil Soul got to know himself, the more he wanted to know the answer. The feeling of forgetting oneself was horrible.

“You are the building manager of Building 1 at Happiness Neighbourhood. You are the kindest, most trustworthy, reliable person I know.” Xu Qin who had been silent, finally spoke, “Every ghost here has been saved by you. It is why we would risk everything to come to Ziggurat to bring you home.”

“Gentle, reliable, trustworthy?” Blood covered half of the Evil Soul’s face. His mind chewed over these few descriptions.

The fact that the tenants from Happiness Neighbourhood had entered Ziggurat was the truth, the fact that he could sense familiarity from them was the truth, so they were probably telling the truth.

“I’ve saved so many people, so I am really a good person.” The Evil Soul slowly accepted that truth. His fiendish eyes turned towards Xu Qin and that sense of hunger returned. It was like a habit he couldn’t shake. The more he looked at her, the hungrier he got. Just as he was about to comment on that, the headless guardian on the ground slowly crawled up. He dragged the body which was infiltrated by the black hair and ran deeper into the dresser world. There was something calling the door guardian. Even though the Evil Soul wanted to know his real identity, there was no time. Compared to finding himself, consuming the door guardian, for the senior monster to accomplish his breakthrough was more important.

Opening his arms, the senior monster controlled by the Evil Soul was like a dragon surging through the dresser world, surrounded by black hatred. The local resident of the dresser world quickly went into hiding. The poor dresser monsters were unable to move had their mouths all torn open by the Evil Soul. Strangely enough, these dresser monsters’ stomachs had been stuffed, there was no exit within them.

The senior monster and the people from Happiness Neighbourhood passed by endless bloody clothes before they reached the centre of the dresser world. None of the dressers was connected to this place. This centre could only be reached via the dresser in Room 4044.

“The door guardian disappeared here?” A pool filled with bloody clothes appeared before them. Every clothes had a name on them, like each of them represented a living person. Wading through the pool, the senior monster found a dresser at the bottom.

The dresser looked absolutely normal. There was a large lock on the doors. Rancid smell came from within. Someone had dug out in nails the following on the door—‘I have had special power since I was born. Without closing my eyes, the world I see is black.’

This dresser was used to imprison someone. The dresser reeked with the smell of human refuse. Even after so long, the stink remained. The stench came from the decomposition of soul, even Lingering Spirit felt discomfited being around it.

“We reached this place through the dresser in Room 4044. So if this dresser is another path, then which room would it lead us to?”

There were various footprints around the old dresser. Over the decades, many people had wandered here in their nightmares, some were lucky enough to leave, others were forced to stay forever. The door guardian had disappeared, the pieces of the figurines also were last seen around this dresser.

“The dresser is like rotting meat, filled with pus. The smell is disgusting.” The Evil Soul controlled the senior monster to grab at the dresser lock. The black flame of hatred burned through the chain and he yanked the door open with all his might!

…

The number on the elevator panel kept changing. As the number turned to the negative, Han Fei’s heart raced.

Ziggurat was already crumbling from within. The Singer, the dirge, the Evil Soul, they were all crazy. The building shook like it could tumble at any moment.

“I hope everyone is hiding properly.” Using Firefly’s phone, Han Fei used the chat group to maintain communication with the Ziggurat tenants. ‘The Evil Soul appears to know about the thick Death Curse hidden underground. He broke so many windows so the black mist from underground would be distracted by the Singer. If I was him, I would have used this moment of chaos to leave and hide. When both parties are properly weakened, I would return to reap the reward.’ Han Fei didn’t know the Evil Soul but he did know himself. He could easily guess the Evil Soul’s goal.

‘The madman has indirectly helped me. Since the Singer has drawn away all the black mist, the underground should be relatively safe now.’ Han Fei touched Lai Sheng’s head and then looked at the numb Firefly. Compared to the immensely powerful Evil Soul, Han Fei had nothing but he would not stop because of that.

The number on the panel soon reached -4. Han Fei didn’t press any button but the door of the elevator opened on its own.