Chapter 83: Chapter 83: The Agreement (New Chapter on Monday, please subscribe!!)
The axe was much sharper than expected, with just one swing it severed Su Tingting’s knee, and blood splurted out like it was free, causing Su Tingting to collapse from the pain.
The halved leg was instantly dragged into the puddle by a ghost hand, and Kuang Hongyi, showing his loyalty, tossed the unconscious Su Tingting over his shoulder and started running.
Reaching the door, he kicked it open. Behind the door was a haze of grey mist. Kuang Hongyi threw the unconscious Su Tingting through it, and she vanished instantly.
Kuang Hongyi grabbed Yang Xiao, "Chu, where do you live in Fengmen Town? Let’s talk after we get out."
Kuang Hongyi was an experienced player. Yang Xiao also wanted to learn more about the mysteries of the Nightmare World through him, but certainly not in Fengmen Town. He was unfamiliar with the place, and who knew if Kuang Hongyi had other accomplices? Once outside, without mutual dependence, there was a possibility of betrayal or even murder.
"There’s a Yin Zhe Coffee House on Rongcheng West Suburb Si Nan Road. Let’s meet there at 6 p.m. tomorrow," Yang Xiao offered his answer.
"I’ll be there for sure."
After speaking, Kuang Hongyi stepped into the door and disappeared from view. It was only then that Yang Xiao confirmed that the door was safe. It should indeed be the correct way out, as he would never have entered without first seeing Kuang Hongyi go through it with his own eyes.
The moment he stepped through the door, Yang Xiao’s foot found nothing but air, and he fell uncontrollably downwards, accompanied by a strange sense of vertigo. Soon, he knew nothing more.
After an indeterminate amount of time, he groggily woke up, slowly opening his eyes, his sight gradually shifting from blurry to clear. The first thing he saw was an ancient wooden bed, with a square wooden table and two old stools not far from his feet.
Sunlight streamed in from the window, casting light patterns on the floor. He was back in the inn at Fengmen Town.
At that moment, Yang Xiao was lying on his side on the ground, his body feeling a bit stiff, as if he had lain on the cold floor all night.
Sitting up with difficulty, Yang Xiao confirmed it was the very inn he had checked into. His phone, several articles of clothing, and a backpack stuffed with a laptop were all still on the wooden bed.
Standing up and opening the window, he saw that the day outside was already bright. Occasionally, pedestrians passed along the streets of the old town. The sunlight on his face felt undeniably warm.
Yang Xiao couldn’t help but take a deep breath. He finally understood the origin of the name "Nightmare World." What he had gone through did indeed seem like a dream. Once awake, everything had disappeared.
Raising his left hand, he noticed the wounds were gone and he was still wearing the clothes he had arrived in. For a moment, he felt bewildered, unable to decide whether what had happened before had really occurred, or if... it was all just a dream.
After pondering for a moment, he decided to leave this place first. There weren’t many hostels in this small town, and it was the off-season, with very few out-of-town tourists. If someone was determined to look, they would eventually find him, and Yang Xiao worried that Kuang Hongyi might have other accomplices.
The phone was already fully charged. Yang Xiao changed his clothes and put on a baseball cap. He stuffed the clothes he had taken off into his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and was ready to leave.
But at the moment he turned around, the corner of his eye caught an unexpected glimpse of a bit of red peeping out from under the quilt on the side near the wall.
He hadn’t slept in the bed last night, and the quilt hadn’t been touched, spread neatly across the bed, yet now a piece that looked very much like red cloth material had revealed itself.
Yang Xiao went numb, not daring to even breathe heavily, his hand creeping out slowly, grasping the corner of the quilt before suddenly flipping it over to reveal, with a startle, a piece of vivid red theatrical costume spread out quietly beneath the quilt, as though a person were lying there on the bed.
Yang Xiao hastily covered it back up with the quilt and bolted, slamming the door behind him as he left. The landlady was downstairs, leisurely lying in her chair, munching on corn and basking in the sun. She saw Yang Xiao dash down the stairs and just as she was sitting up, thinking about asking him if he wanted breakfast and knowing a special local breakfast place that offered her a discount, she had yet to call out when Yang Xiao had already rushed out the door.
"What’s he in such a hurry for?" The experienced landlady guessed that likely he had a car waiting for him early in the morning and had woken up late.
It wasn’t easy to get a guest during the off-season, and she genuinely hoped he would stay a few more days, even if it meant giving him a discount. But now that the "cooked duck" had flown away, even the corn in her hand didn’t taste as sweet.
However, it was as if some deity had heard her wishes, for not two minutes later, Yang Xiao had actually returned.
"Ms. Landlady, I’ll stay for a few more days, just... in this room I’m in now," Yang Xiao didn’t give the landlady a chance to speak before stuffing three red banknotes into her hands, "I may not come back to stay these three days, but you must keep the room for me. There are valuables inside, no need for you to clean it."
Upon seeing the money, the landlady readily agreed, her mouth so wide with happiness it wouldn’t close, "Well then, handsome, I’ll give you an extra day. Four days, what do you say?"
Without wasting words with the landlady, the two exchanged WeChat contacts, and Yang Xiao left. The scene from earlier had given him a shocking blow and he was only just recovering.
That was Ms. Chun’s theatrical costume; he couldn’t possibly be mistaken. The gold silk embroidery on the sleeve was the same as on the sleeve of the rotten hand that had dragged Su Tingting away, breaking her leg.
Could it be that he was entangled by a vengeful ghost? Could it be because he had saved Su Tingting, messing up Ms. Chun’s plans, that he was now being held grudge against?
"I regret it. If I had known, I wouldn’t have saved her," an absurd thought suddenly sprang into Yang Xiao’s mind. He wondered if he tied up Su Tingting and took her back, whether the other party would let him off the hook.
Fengmen Town had only one long-distance bus station, and now it was easy for Kuang Hongyi and his people to block him there. Taxi-hailing apps on the phone were unreliable in this area, so after much consideration, Yang Xiao contacted the landlady via WeChat, asking for her help in finding him a ride back.
After returning to Rongcheng, Yang Xiao’s first stop was a temple to burn incense and pray to the Buddha. Worried that the Buddha might take offense at his insincerity, he even donated 100 yuan reluctantly as an offering. Then in quick succession, he went to a Taoist temple. After being exhausted from running around all day, he finally grabbed a quick bite to eat and settled down in a popular budget hotel on a pedestrian street.
The first thing he did after entering the hotel was to check under the quilt, the mattress, inside the wardrobe, behind the sofa, in short, everywhere he could possibly hide something, conducting a thorough search until he found nothing and could finally settle down with peace of mind.
The situation was already beyond his control, but fortunately, tomorrow was the day he had arranged to meet with Kuang Hongyi, and he could ask him about these matters then. Unlike the remote Fengmen, this place had a high volume of people, and Yang Xiao was familiar with it, so he thought it unlikely that Kuang Hongyi would dare to cause trouble.
Relieved, Yang Xiao opened his backpack, planning to take out his laptop and browse through the forums, but then in his backpack he found a dazzling splash of red.
