Chapter 74: Zhao Xi! Come Back Quickly!
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation
Blood-soaked threads brutally pierced Gao Ming’s body, triggering a flood of painful memories. His agonized screams filled the air as he collapsed behind the statue. It seemed as if the statue was vampirically draining his blood, subjecting him to unbearable torture.
This horrifying sight left the neighbors in a state of shock, but what unfolded next stirred deep emotions within them.
Following Gao Ming’s tragic encounter with the blood threads, a mysterious woman, notable for her four mouths, appeared. She silently opened the corridor door, allowing Zhao Xi to leave Building 2.
Wang Kui, witnessing this, was stunned by the apparent trade-off. “A life sacrificed in exchange for freedom?” he thought. In a rash decision driven by fear, he grabbed the child An An and sprinted down the stairs, intent on offering the kid as a sacrifice for his own escape.
The chilling presence of the statue overwhelmed Wang Kui, making his legs tremble. Overcome with desperation, he callously hurled the frail An An towards the statue.
To his horror, the statue’s bloody arms caught An An. The arm representing life glared with fury, and its sewn mouth slowly parted, uttering, “You, deserve, death.”
Then, the statue’s other arms seized Wang Kui. His body shriveled as he screamed in agony, his cries reverberating through the building and turning the neighbors’ faces ashen with fear.
Meanwhile, Gao Ming, lying nearby, weakly opened one eye. He hadn’t orchestrated these events; they were the spontaneous acts of the Flesh Immortal.
Wang Kui’s body, now grotesquely contorted and skeletal, collapsed lifelessly.
Ms. Nosy, the woman with four mouths, then reappeared, closing the corridor door. She announced a new, twisted rule with a sly smile: “Zhao Xi has already been part of a sacrifice. Now, let’s add a twist. He hasn’t gone far. You can call out to him from the second-floor balcony using any means necessary. The one who successfully lures Zhao Xi back can leave in his place. Remember, the next sacrifice only begins when he returns.”
She relished her role, adding, “But be warned, whoever lures Zhao Xi back might lead to his death, and that person will be his murderer. Choose your actions wisely.”
After announcing this new rule, Li Li was the first to act. She dashed to the second-floor balcony, opened the window, and desperately began calling Zhao Xi’s name.
The other neighbors joined in, fabricating stories to deceive Zhao Xi into returning. They claimed that more terrifying dangers lurked outside and that the real escape was hidden inside the building.
Outside, Zhao Xi heard Li Li’s voice. He paused and peered back through the security net.
“Brother, don’t leave! What will become of mom and me without you?” It was rare for Li Li to address Zhao Xi as ‘brother’ since she usually referred to him by his first name after marrying into their family.
As Zhao Xi stood beneath the building, gazing up at Building 2, he was struck by his neighbors’ desperate, distorted expressions on the balcony. They were united in a frantic chorus, their voices filled with urgency and fear.
“Quick, come back! Ghosts are everywhere outside! You’ll die if you continue!”
“Zhao Xi, please!”
Looking up at them, Zhao Xi couldn’t believe the depths of desperation and ugliness he saw on their faces. He had always been innocent, but not foolish. The incident where he and Gao Ming were pushed down the stairs had shattered something within him. Physical injuries might heal, but a broken heart is a different story; it rarely returns to its original state.
With a determined step forward, Zhao Xi noticed An An, also released from the building. He took his hand, ready to leave this nightmare behind.
But then, Li Li’s piercing voice reached him, her hands gripping the security net, her plea filled with despair. “Zhao Xi!!” Yet, her words couldn’t alter his decision.
In a shocking turn, Fang Shuqi, who always seemed so gentle, suddenly seized Li Li by her hair, twisted her arm, and yelled out in a desperate attempt to manipulate Zhao Xi. “If you care about your sister-in-law and mother, come back now! They’ll suffer more than you can imagine!”
In their frantic efforts to deceive Zhao Xi into returning, the neighbors had lost all semblance of sanity. Some even dragged Zhao Xi’s foster mother onto the balcony, disregarding his feelings.
It was clear that none of them truly cared about Zhao Xi’s well-being; they were driven solely by their own survival. The only person who showed a semblance of humanity was Zhao Xi’s foster mother, who refused to participate in their cruel scheme and remained silent.
As fear escalated, the neighbors’ actions grew more and more unhinged. No ghosts were harming them, yet they began to inflict pain on Zhao Xi’s foster mother and Li Li.
“Zhao Xi, please come back!”
Ms. Nosy had set the rule: Zhao Xi’s return was necessary to restart the sacrifice. Having seen the gruesome ends of Gao Ming and Wang Kui, and with Zhao Xi almost escaping, the neighbors were desperate and wild-eyed.
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation
Blood stained the security net. Zhao Xi, after taking a few steps, hesitated and then stopped. He turned to An An with a smile, giving him a paper frog from his pocket before returning to the building.
“I’m coming back, stop this madness!” Zhao Xi called out as he approached Building No. 2.
Inside, Gao Ming, observing the scene, shook his head in dismay. This was the second chance he had given the neighbors. If they had allowed Zhao Xi to leave, to live, Gao Ming would have been willing to give them a chance too.
But now, Zhao Xi, who had almost tasted freedom, was walking back into the building. The eyes of the neighbors were threaded with blood, their minds consumed by fear and desperation.
Fang Shuqi, from apartment 2409, held a sharp piece of glass, eyeing the others warily. Huang Mingming from 2501 and Jia Qi from 2607 seemed to have formed an alliance, while the rest harbored their own dark plans.
Tormented by hallucinations and delusions, the neighbors’ suffering intensified. They were desperate for escape, their minds fraying at the edges.
Fang Shuqi, panting with fear, proposed a grim solution. “It seems that after each sacrifice, only the person who survived the last round and returns can initiate the next. Let’s just pick all the sacrificial victims at once. One lives, one dies. No more of this endless torment!”
“In essence, to ensure the survival of half the building’s residents, the other half must perish,” someone concluded grimly. As fear and desperation took hold, alliances began forming among the physically stronger residents. The vulnerable, including Zhao Xi’s foster mother and Li Li, were left defenseless and designated as potential sacrifices.
Those marked for sacrifice vehemently resisted, and what started as heated arguments quickly spiraled into physical violence.
Blood stained the stairways, painting a vivid picture of the chaos within. The life aspect of the Flesh Immortal became increasingly pronounced as it observed the unfolding carnage alongside Gao Ming.
The residents, who had once eagerly sacrificed Gao Ming to the malevolent spirit, now turned on each other in a desperate struggle for survival. The idea of uniting against their common enemy never crossed their minds, mirroring their earlier inaction.
The killings were not just acts of desperation; they became a frenzied hunt as residents sought out each other. Dead bodies, however, were useless for sacrifices, fueling the hunt’s ferocity.
Gao Ming watched impassively, his intention being for Zhao Xi to witness the true nature of their neighbors. He hoped this brutal reality would shape Zhao Xi into a capable ally. Surviving such a hellish ordeal, Gao Ming believed, was essential for anyone aspiring to create a better world.
The chaos spread rapidly, engulfing even the upper floors of the building. It was then that Yao Yuan, a terminally ill retired police academy teacher living in Apartment 2707, emerged as an unexpected beacon of hope. Despite his grave illness, he armed himself with a stick, determined to protect those who were defenseless. Unbeknownst to him, his actions marked him as another potential sacrifice in the eyes of the desperate residents.
“It’s time to end this,” someone declared as the situation reached a tipping point.
The shadows of the deceased tenants morphed into eerie specters, their life force absorbed by the Flesh Immortal. Gao Ming, in his newfound understanding of the situation, intervened minimally. He focused on rescuing Zhao Xi, Yao Yuan, and Zhao Xi’s foster mother from the madness that had engulfed their neighbors.
This entire ordeal was Gao Ming’s first foray into crafting a horror narrative. Through it, he gleaned valuable insights. With the return of the Flesh Immortal to his heart, Gao Ming felt a slight improvement in his physical condition.
He had now deciphered the basic functions of the Flesh Immortal’s four faces: life, death, desire, and sin. The life aspect thrived on the vitality of the living, the death aspect grew through killing, and the desire aspect could manifest people’s deepest yearnings. The function of the sin aspect remained somewhat enigmatic, possibly serving as a counter to ghosts.
Armed with this newfound knowledge, Gao Ming felt more equipped to confront challenges, especially those posed by Situ An.
“Everything is changing,” Gao Ming mused, sensing a shift in his relationship with the omnipresent shadows. Once a neutral entity straddling the line between reality and the shadow world, his recent choices had garnered favor in this realm of darkness.
In the spot where Teacher Yao Yuan had vanished, a new black and white photograph materialized, markedly different from any Gao Ming had encountered before. This symbolized not just a conclusion to the current chaos, but perhaps the beginning of a new, unknown chapter.