Chapter 181: Bewitchment
Within the eerie chamber, cloaked in a dim, gloomy hue where sunlight dared not venture, countless symbols faded from the air, as if dissolving into nothingness. From a gaping void in the ceiling, an unsightly, grotesque tendril emerged, pulsating and writhing slowly as it stretched toward where Yu Sheng stood.
A sudden tension gripped Yu Sheng’s heart, prompting him to take two cautious steps backward. Though he had recently encountered numerous bizarre and grotesque entities, the sight before him still made his scalp tingle with unease. It wasn’t just the horror—it was the sheer repulsiveness of the tendril’s form. Even with his vivid imagination, he couldn’t fathom how to reshape it into something less stomach-churning.
This twisted, surreal scene delivered a profound impact on his senses.
The tendril swayed awkwardly through the air, sluggishly coiling and uncoiling, as if it had abruptly lost its sense of purpose. Aimlessly, it hovered and trembled in place, like a sleepwalker adrift in a world devoid of consciousness.
Calming his uneasy breathing, Yu Sheng cautiously kept his distance, skirting along the wall to circle around the tendril’s other side. As he moved, the dim room stirred with faint, distorted ripples, as though his footsteps disturbed some bizarre dreamscape, sending delicate waves spreading across the tendril’s surface—light-emitting patterns flickering briefly along its length.
Could this be the thing Old Zheng once touched? The one conjured by those Angel Cultists through a crude Spirit Summoning Technique? A distorted, higher-dimensional projection summoned by fervent rituals? Could this grotesque appendage truly be the so-called “Messenger” spoken of by the cultists?
After a moment’s hesitation, Yu Sheng cautiously inched closer. He made sure the distance was just enough to avoid provoking it, then inspected the tendril and the eerie void from which it emerged.
If the encrypted letter’s contents were true—if the ritual described by those Angel Cultists was accurate—then this thing should be a fragment of a Dark Angel. Little Red Riding Hood had once said that genuine Dark Angels wouldn’t respond to human calls, but Bai Li Qing mentioned that under certain conditions, those heretical cultists could indeed “touch” angels. Perhaps they only touched a fragment, or summoned a mere projection—or worse, glimpsed an illusion, hearing vague voices and seeing phantasmal limbs.
The void in the ceiling held a thick, inky darkness, concealing whatever lay beyond the grotesque tendril. A larger, dormant presence seemed to lurk beyond the hole, hiding within the unreachable void where reason and perception faltered.
The tendril writhed blindly once more, drifting across Yu Sheng’s line of sight.
Should I try it?
Touch it?
Bold thoughts tangled within his mind, startling even himself. Rationality screamed at him to keep his distance from this cursed, clearly dangerous object. Little Red Riding Hood had repeatedly warned against interacting with anything related to Dark Angels, and Bai Li Qing also stressed that the mere existence of such beings was a source of uncontrollable madness.
Yet… touching it might yield information. Perhaps he could witness what that Client had once seen.
Maybe it wasn’t as dangerous as it looked. The tendril remained mindlessly writhing, showing no signs of aggression.
Just one touch. After all, this was merely a twisted dreamscape—a hallucination, nothing more. Even an ordinary person had once touched it and sensed the Messenger’s benevolence. If anything felt wrong, he could always withdraw.
Just one touch…
Yu Sheng frowned and looked around warily. “What the hell’s with that nagging voice…”
Abruptly, the seductive whispers ceased, as though banished—just like those enticing X090 graphics cards, limited edition gamepads, and useless toolboxes back on the Black Forest trail.
Yu Sheng blinked, and in that instant, decided not to touch the eerie tendril—ironically, if those murmurs hadn’t been so annoying, he might have already grabbed it.
Yet just as he calmed down and prepared to examine the rest of the room, a sudden, frigid sensation crept over his limbs. It pierced his flesh, threading through his veins, as if dragging him backward. Instinctively, he took a step back and saw countless black threads materialize from the surrounding air, winding around his arms and legs.
Irene’s voice cut through his mind like a sharp blade: “Yu Sheng! What the hell are you spacing out for?!”
Yu Sheng felt a sharp pain pierce through his mind. In the next instant, the dim and oppressive tones around him seemed to dissolve like water, and within just a few breaths, the colors of the normal world returned before his eyes. Sunlight once again streamed through the windows, filling the room with warmth and dispelling the cold that lingered deep in his consciousness.
He turned his head, finding himself still standing beside the dark red circle. Little Red Riding Hood remained in her previous position, while Irene had her hands outstretched in his direction, thin, black threads extending from her fingertips and connecting to his body.
Yu Sheng blinked, momentarily stunned, but in the next second, Irene rushed over, clearly exasperated. “Yu Sheng, you damned fool! Can you not ‘try’ every single time?! What if trying gets you killed? Even if you absolutely must test something, could you at least give a warning first?!”
“Are you alright?” Little Red Riding Hood approached as well, her expression full of concern. “Just now, you suddenly froze, and then your body started turning transparent. Irene said your consciousness was being ‘dragged away’ by something…”
Yu Sheng awkwardly caught Irene, her barrage of angry words ringing in his ears. After managing to calm her down, he finally found a chance to speak. “I’m fine, I’m fine… Wait, was I really almost ‘dragged away’? Seriously?”
He hastily looked down at his body—nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Yet, seeing Little Red Riding Hood’s anxious face and Irene’s frustrated demeanor, he knew the situation might have been more dangerous than he realized.
Though he had not succumbed to the tendril’s ‘temptation,’ merely staying in that eerie, gray room seemed to have brought him perilously close to some sort of ‘loss of self’.
“Of course it was real,” Irene huffed, grabbing his hair with barely restrained irritation. “If I hadn’t pulled you out in time, you’d be gone. Don’t even think about spouting nonsense like ‘resurrecting’ or using the Door to come back. If you ended up in a ditch somewhere, what would you do then…”
Little Red Riding Hood, wearing a serious expression, asked, “What did you see? Did that crude Spirit Summoning Technique… actually summon something?”
Yu Sheng took a deep breath and steadied himself. His expression grew solemn. “I saw a tendril, and I also saw a different version of this room… Your ‘contact’ really got tricked badly.”
He went on to recount everything he had seen and experienced in that bizarre illusion to Irene and Little Red Riding Hood, including the moment when the tendril tried to ‘entice’ him.
When he finished, a heavy silence filled the room.
Irene stared at him in disbelief before finally blurting out, “…You weren’t affected at all?”
Yu Sheng frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean? Isn’t it good that I wasn’t affected?”
“But usually in stories like this, you’d be instantly bewitched and almost devoured by some eldritch horror, and then I’d have to unleash some magnificent power to rescue you from the tentacles. Afterward, you’d wake up and be so grateful that you’d pledge to serve me forever…”
Yu Sheng immediately tuned out the rest of her nonsense.
Instead, he looked at Little Red Riding Hood, who stood there with a complicated expression, lost in thought. Yu Sheng kept silent, and even Irene eventually quieted down.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Little Red Riding Hood finally sighed. “…Old Zheng has been an acquaintance of ours for a long time,” she said softly.
Yu Sheng nodded. “Yeah, you mentioned that before.”
“He’s closely connected to the Orphanage. I heard that a long time ago, he worked as a ‘Council’ employee and even volunteered at our Orphanage before he joined the Association of Strange Objects or became an expert on Otherworldly and anomalous items,” she continued, almost to herself. “He’s helped us connect with many clients, and among the various missions that Fairy Tale Organization has handled, his offers have always been the most favorable… But honestly, I never really got to know him well. Everything I know about his past comes from what the Elders occasionally mention.”
Yu Sheng didn’t know what to say, and a short silence settled over the room.
Then they heard the sound of the door opening from the hallway.
Old Zheng’s nephew had returned.
Yu Sheng glanced at Irene, and she wordlessly waved her hand. “Open a Door, I’m out.”
He nodded, gesturing for Little Red Riding Hood to go meet the visitor, while he quickly performed the reporting process and opened a small Door leading to Wutong Road No. 66.
Just before stepping through the Door, Irene looked back at Yu Sheng.
“Those ‘cultists’ are really aggravating.”
“I feel the same way.”