Chapter 139: The Henchman
Her deadliest weapons were the long scythe and the heavy greatsword, but in this cramped kitchen where turning around was difficult, she couldn’t swing them at all.
Since that was the case…
Lin Huai pressed her fingertips together. A dark purple intermediate Heavenly Thunder Talisman snapped into her grip, arcs of lightning crackling across the yellow paper.
The water ghost’s mocking laughter stopped cold. A sharp note of panic broke through its raspy voice: “Are you insane?! Dropping a Heavenly Thunder Talisman in a shoebox like this?! My soul will be torn to shreds, and you’ll be charred to a crisp!”
“Is that so?” Lin Huai sneered, her eyes calm and cold. “We’ll see about that.”
Before the phantom could finish gasping, her wrist flicked forward. The talisman shot through the air like a bolt of light, slapping cleanly onto the water ghost’s back just as it tried to dive into the sink!
Boom—!
Three deafening claps of thunder exploded out of thin air, instantly filling the tiny kitchen with blinding white light and wild, dancing arcs of electricity.
Lin Huai had already reacted in the split second before detonation, holding up the ancient turtle shell Old Wang had given her.
A pale green barrier flared across the carapace, stubbornly absorbing the brutal force of the three lightning strikes. The concussive shockwave made the web of skin between her thumb and forefinger sting with numbness, scattering sparks and filling the air with the sharp, burning scent of ozone.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
The air grew thick with acrid smoke. Ash rushed into her nose and throat, forcing her to cover her mouth with a few muffled coughs.
Pulling a gas mask from her inventory, she strapped it over her face and looked around the smoke-choked room. The water ghost had vanished without leaving a trace of ash behind.
Lin Huai gritted her teeth. The Sphinx was truly trying to get her killed. Not a single line on those safety notes had contained a grain of truth!
She turned her attention to the old wooden door behind her. Sometimes, the most obvious answer was the real one; perhaps this door was the true exit after all.
She was not reckless enough to reach for the handle with her bare hands. Stepping forward, she swung her sword, cleaving the wooden planks clean down the middle.
Instantly, three small imps darted out through the splintered frame with shrill shrieks.
Beyond the doorway lay pitch-black darkness—an endless, hollow void. She had no idea where that darkness led, but it certainly wasn’t an exit corridor, so she refused to set foot inside.
After dispatching the three imps with quick strokes of her greatsword, Lin Huai began hacking and slashing at every surface in the room, determined to tear open an exit with raw force.
Yet even after she reduced the counters and cupboards to splinters, no hidden passageway appeared.
At this point, the only piece of furniture left standing was the pale blue refrigerator tucked into the corner.
Lin Huai’s eyes locked onto it. She pulled the refrigerator door wide open once more and thrust her copper coin sword straight into the center shelf.
The physical interior of the fridge was barely fifty centimeters deep, yet her 1.2-meter sword sank all the way to the hilt without hitting a back panel.
Her eyes lit up with satisfaction. She had found it!
Meanwhile, in another room, someone else was also using pure brute force to search for a way out.
It was Sister Cai!
Sister Cai had been dropped into a cozy, nicely decorated bedroom.
Sitting on the small nightstand was a crisp handwritten note:
[Room 304 Safety Rules]
- You are safe. Please firmly believe you are safe.
- The clock on the wall is the only correct measure of time. When the hands overlap at twelve, close your eyes immediately. No matter what sounds you hear, do not open them for sixty seconds.
- Mirrors are dangerous. Do not stare at your reflection for long periods. If your reflection begins to move out of sync with you, refer to Rule Two immediately.
- The space under the bed is clean; nothing is hiding down there. If you hear strange noises from below, ignore them. Remember: you are entirely alone.
- The exit is inside the wardrobe. However, it will only open after the clock has chimed three times. Opening it early will have no effect.
- Rule Five is a lie.
Sister Cai read the slip from top to bottom several times, and then read it backward from bottom to top several more. After a long, painful silence, she raised a hand and scratched her head in pure frustration.
“I recognize every single one of these words, but why does none of it make any sense when they’re put together?”
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
Holding the thin piece of paper, her face crumpled into deep gloom as she flopped down onto the mattress. “I’m finished. Don’t tell me I’m going to be the only person in the entire Elite Squad who can’t get out of her room?”
She stared up at the ceiling and sighed. “Why did they have to make this a solo trial? The system is clearly just trying to pick on me.”
While she was wallowing in misery, an icy chill suddenly brushed against her ankle.
Looking down, she saw a sickly, grayish-green hand creeping out from beneath the dust ruffle, clamping tightly onto her boot. Seeing that she didn’t scream, the creature poked its head out, widening its glassy eyes to give her a fright.
Sister Cai’s eyes lit up with delight. Without missing a beat, she drew her long spear.
Clang!
Her spear shaft jammed hard between the wooden floor and the ceiling… but Sister Cai was an accomplished martial artist who had mastered every traditional weapon under the sun.
Since the spear couldn’t pivot, she let go without hesitation, drew a long leather whip from her belt, and kicked the entire wooden bedframe clean over onto its side.
Cracking the whip through the air, she wrapped the leather tightly around the creature’s chest and yanked it out into the open.
Hiding beneath the bed was a Shadow-Stalking Ghoul. These spirits loved trailing humans in the dark; the moment a target looked back, the ghoul would dart behind their blind spot with unnatural agility, making them nearly impossible to catch.
They loved playing petty tricks—blowing icy drafts down the backs of necks, tapping out phantom footsteps across the floor, or grabbing ankles from beneath beds to induce panic.
This particular ghoul had the appearance of a lewd, greasy-faced man. Pinned down by Sister Cai’s whip, he thrashed and twisted to get free.
“Let me go!” he shrieked in a thin, grating voice. “I’m a ghost! Can’t you see I’m a ghost?!”
Sister Cai leaned over him, her eyes sparkling with hope. “I know you’re a ghost. Let me ask you: can you read?”
The ghoul blinked, taken aback, and gave a hesitant nod. “Yeah… I can read.”
“Great!” Sister Cai unfolded the crumpled note and shoved it right in front of his nose. “Hurry up and explain what this means. Where is the actual exit?”
The ghoul’s eyes bulged, and he puffed out his chest with stubborn pride. “Don’t think you can sweet-talk the exit route out of me! You’re dreaming!”
Sister Cai thought for a second, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a shining Yin energy crystal. “Here, this is yours. Can you talk now?”
The ghoul stared at the crystal, swallowing hard in temptation. Yet after a visible struggle, he turned his face away with great difficulty. “Lord Sphinx ordered us not to show any mercy to survivors from Zone 444! If the Lord finds out, I’ll be destroyed…”
Before he could finish his sentence, the spirit dissolved into a cloud of black mist with a faint hiss, vanishing entirely.
Sister Cai looked around the empty rug in total confusion, scratching her head once more. “What saxophone? Nicholas? Do they have foreign ghosts in this place too?”
She had no clue what had just happened, but with the ghost gone, she went back to the method she knew best.
Drawing a pair of short blades, Sister Cai went to work, systematically demolishing the entire bedroom.
She shredded the mattress, smashed the wardrobe, and scraped two thick layers of peeling wallpaper off the plaster walls, yet found no hidden doors anywhere.
She paced around the debris in frustration until her boot heel caught on the edge of a picture frame on the floor.
It was an oil painting that had hung on the wall, knocked down during her demolition spree.
Set inside a plain dark wood frame, the canvas depicted a dim, narrow hallway stretching into the dark.
The instant her boot pressed against the painted canvas, a strange suction pulled at her legs, dragging her straight into the frame.
In the next heartbeat, she tumbled out onto the dusty floorboards of the very corridor shown in the painting.
Before she could even stand up, the spirit walkie-talkie pinned to her collar crackled with static.
Kzzzt… kzzzt…
“This is Bone Ashes Mixed with Rice. Does anyone copy?!”
