Chapter Seventy-Four: The Haunted House (Part VII)

“Not dead.” Su Man suddenly sat up as if she had come back from the dead, startling Chen Meng and Hu Chai so badly that they screamed and clung to each other.

“What are you yelling for? If you keep it up, I’ll feed you both to the terrors.” Her tone was languid, tinged with impatience.

The two instantly fell silent, staring at her in terror. “You’re still Su Man, aren’t you?”

Su Man couldn’t be bothered to answer. She only glanced at the dog that had collapsed beside her, sighing softly.

After trembling together for a while, Chen Meng and Hu Chai finally approached her cautiously.

“What happened? Why were you lying in a pool of blood? Are you hurt?”

It was Hu Chai, a little braver, who asked with concern.

“She’s not hurt. The one wounded is Precious Princess. Precious Princess is dead. Waaah! Boohoo!” Ai Ji could no longer hold back her tears; she dropped to the floor, wailing, “Precious Princess, my Precious Princess!”

“Shut up. No more crying!” Ai Ji’s piercing wails made Su Man’s head throb. “Keep crying, and you won’t even get to see your Precious Princess one last time.”

At these words, Ai Ji immediately swallowed her sobs, her eyes brimming with silent tears.

“Precious Princess died protecting you. You, of all people, shouldn’t cry. Don’t let it worry about you even after death.” Su Man was blunt, especially since, “It can come back to life again.”

Ai Ji pouted, still quietly shedding tears.

Their talk of Precious Princess and dying to save Ai Ji left Chen Meng and Hu Chai utterly confused. But with Ai Ji present, neither dared to ask questions.

Chen Meng cautiously glanced at Ai Ji, then suddenly exclaimed, “Her face is all bruised and swollen. Her eyes are puffy too!”

Su Man looked at her, “I hit her.”

Chen Meng, “...Ah?”

The story went back three minutes earlier, when Ai Ji suddenly drooled at her and said she wanted to eat her.

Of course, Su Man couldn’t let her get away with that, especially in front of the camera. So she gave Ai Ji a thorough lesson—the kind born of love—and, as expected, it worked; Ai Ji apologized and never mentioned eating her again.

She thought the matter was settled and tried to extract some clues from Ai Ji, but unexpectedly, the air around them shifted. A black mist, carrying a hideous face, surged toward her.

She assumed it was an attack aimed at herself, but the black mist was actually after Ai Ji.

Yes, to kill. The mist radiated murderous intent.

Ai Ji was paralyzed with fear, and suddenly a dog lunged forward, grappling with the mist.

Ai Ji said the dog was her Precious Princess, and begged Su Man to save her, insisting that her Precious Princess was no match for the mist.

Su Man couldn’t escape anyway—the mist had trapped her—so she and Precious Princess joined forces against it.

In the end, the mist was defeated, but Precious Princess was at the end of her strength. The blood on the floor belonged to the dog; Su Man had only collapsed from exhaustion.

Ai Ji cried herself breathless beside her, calling out for her Precious Princess. Su Man genuinely thought the dog would die, but then Ai Ji, through hiccupping sobs, explained that Precious Princess would be resurrected when the mist appeared again. At that moment, Su Man truly wanted to get up and twist her face, to show her just why flowers are so red.

And at that point, Chen Meng and Hu Chai arrived, screaming like banshees.

“Why weren’t you two in your room?” Su Man asked, puzzled.

At her question, Chen Meng recalled what had happened in the room and swallowed hard. “There’s something unclean in there!”

She recounted everything to Su Man, who then glanced at Hu Chai—the one with the talisman and all sorts of preparations.

But now Su Man had decided to stand with Ai Ji, and so she wanted to make her boundaries clear.

“Well, be careful and hurry back.”

Chen Meng heard the underlying meaning in her words. “You’re not coming with us?”

Her gaze flickered discreetly over Ai Ji, and she whispered, “Aren’t you scared?”

“No. I have things to do, so I can’t take you with me.” Su Man thought she’d made herself clear enough.

“But we’re teammates, aren’t we? We came here together.” Chen Meng suddenly invoked the camaraderie of companions.

But Su Man was done engaging. She turned to Ai Ji, “Let’s go.”

The corpse of Precious Princess had vanished from the floor. Ai Ji was still sniffling, but let herself be led away without protest.

“She… she…” Chen Meng looked helplessly at Hu Chai, then at Su Man’s retreating figure. “How can she side with a monster?”

And so, she missed the shadow that flashed across Hu Chai’s face. “Just leave her be. People like her are bound to get themselves killed sooner or later.”

“But… but if we lose her…” Chen Meng wasn’t thinking of anything else; mainly, Su Man’s presence made her feel safer.

“What’s the problem? We’ll be fine without her.” Hu Chai looked at Chen Meng, growing increasingly impatient, almost unwilling to keep up the pretense. “If you want to follow her, go ahead. See if she’ll let you!”

Chen Meng apologized, “That’s not what I meant. Now it’s just the two of us.”

Meanwhile, Su Man led Ai Ji up to the third floor. “You said you live on the third floor. Which room is yours?”

The tear tracks on Ai Ji’s face hadn’t dried yet. Hearing the question, her face stung anew. She shrank back a step, nervous. “Why do you want to know, sister?”

“To sleep.” And perhaps to find some useful clues.

“My room is really small.” Ai Ji fiddled with her fingers, tracing circles on the floor with her toes.

“That’s fine. My old room was small too. Even the tiniest room can fit someone if you squeeze.” Su Man made it clear she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“But aren’t you afraid of me?” Ai Ji suddenly grew anxious. She lifted off her own head. “Look, my head comes right off.”

Su Man shot a quick glance at the livestream, hurriedly blocked the view, and fixed Ai Ji’s head back in place, her tone stern. “Don’t ever do that again!”

Her reprimand only made Ai Ji more rebellious. “It’s fake anyway!”

She lifted her shirt, revealing scorched black flesh beneath. “See, I’ve been dead for ages! Aren’t you scared of a monster like me?”

Su Man straightened out her clothes, gazing at her—like a little hedgehog bristling with spikes, lashing out at everyone. Suddenly, she remembered her own childhood; sometimes hurting others wasn’t meant to wound, but to protect oneself.

“I’m not afraid, Ai Ji. I told you, I’m not afraid.”

“Liar.” Ai Ji’s mouth quivered, tears streaming down her face.

“I’m not lying. Have you ever seen someone afraid of you beat you up until you’re bruised and swollen?”

Ai Ji cried even harder, uncertain whether it was from gratitude or something else.

But in the end, she ran forward and hugged Su Man. “Thank you, sister, for not being afraid of me, and not minding that I’m a monster.”

She brought Su Man to her room, though a bit shyly. “It is small, but I can go without sleeping.”

She truly meant it; looking around, it was clear that what should have been the cherished daughter’s room could barely fit a single bed.