Chapter Eight: The Vacation Villa (8)

“Looking for me? I’d better go check, then.” Zhou Bin seemed to believe her words. Muttering to himself, he turned and headed upstairs. “I don’t know what’s gotten into them lately—everyone’s keeping secrets from me.”

Su Man stared at his back for a couple of seconds. At first, she’d thought this punishment would be something terrifying—life and death, perhaps. Who would have guessed it was actually rather strange.

As for Hu Meili and the other two, they might become friendly, but she couldn’t let them align with her and cause trouble.

She opened the door; a sudden gust of wind rushed in, and the rain lashed so hard she could hardly keep her eyes open.

But the glowing spot by the fountain shone with uncanny clarity.

Bracing herself against the wind, she took two steps outside. A bolt of lightning struck the ground, so close it seemed to brush her face.

She frowned, and thought she heard something fall into the water with a dull thud, like a frog plunging in.

This didn’t bode well.

Yet, if she went to fish something out of the fountain in broad daylight, it would be too conspicuous—she might attract unwanted attention, not to mention the interference from Hu Meili and her companions.

Clutching the revival card in her hand, she made up her mind. She had to step out of her comfort zone; she needed to determine which option was truly safer. Others spent money to gain experience—she’d just treat it as spending her life to gain some.

With her resolve set, her actions became much simpler. To her surprise, it wasn’t as frightening as she’d imagined. At least, when she stepped into the fountain, nothing happened.

“Seems I was overthinking it,” she muttered, reflecting on the experience. “The outside world isn’t that dangerous after all.”

But as she drew closer to the glowing spot, a chill crept into her heart—a sixth sense telling her something was off.

For an instant, the sound of raindrops striking the water seemed to swell, everything else around her muffled, as though someone had pressed the mute button on the world.

She didn’t hesitate anymore. Raising her hand, she reached toward the light.

The moment her fingers brushed the glowing spot, goosebumps prickled up her arms. On instinct, she jerked her hand back.

She had touched a face.

Through the blurred water, she thought she saw a human head floating beneath the surface. The light was coming from its eyes.

A flash of lightning overhead illuminated the water—the eyes were staring straight at her!

Countless strands of hair surged up from the depths, and before she knew it, they had encircled her.

“Die, die! Su Man, you deserve to die!!” The head beneath the water slowly rose, its features swollen and pallid from soaking. Distorted with malice, it hissed, “Su Man, why don’t you just—!”

Before the word “die” could be uttered, Su Man’s hand flashed. She plunged her knife straight into the eye socket, twisting viciously, gripping the eyeball that popped out. Her tone was sharp and mocking: “And why should I listen to you?”

She’d heard words like these countless times before. All they did was stir up her rebelliousness—nothing could shake her.

“Aah!” The pain of having its eye gouged out hit the head a moment later; it shrieked, and the surrounding hair flailed wildly.

Sensing things were turning bad, Su Man quickly retreated, aiming to leap out where the hair was thinnest. But her foot suddenly caught on something, sending her sprawling.

“What is this?” Her hand, groping underwater, closed around something slick.

Yet, with the furious hair now writhing before her eyes, she had no time to investigate. She flung what she’d grabbed aside and scrambled to get up.

To her shock, a powerful grip seized her arm—the slippery thing she’d touched. Her eyes widened in realization. It was a hand.

A pair of hands were clutching her!

How many people had died in this pool?

She tried to wrench free, but instead, she dragged a person up from the water.

A flash of lightning split the sky, illuminating his face—a man, covered in blood, his features deathly pale yet hauntingly beautiful, even with his eyes closed.

At the same moment, the hair reached her. But by now, Su Man was beyond thought.

It wasn’t because of the man, nor the hair.

It was because a massive bolt of lightning crashed down from above—golden light exploded before her eyes, and everything went black.

Inside the villa, Zhou Bin stood by the window, holding a tiny cup of coffee, sipping and letting out a satisfied sigh. “Ah, wonderful. The pool just blew up.”

Behind him, Hu Meili and the other two stumbled around in disarray, hastily throwing on clothes, their minds a jumble of confusion and terror. This lunatic! He’d floated into their room like a ghost in the middle of their business and interrupted them, and now he was spouting nonsense. What did he want?

One of them, bolder than the rest, crept up to the window and peeked outside, voice trembling with doubt. “Is that a person floating on the water?”

“It’s probably Su Man. I saw her go out,” Zhou Bin replied, utterly relaxed.

When Su Man opened her eyes again, she found herself in the first-floor corridor.

A glance at the clock on the wall told her this resurrection had cost her an hour.

She felt her pocket—only the eyeball revival card remained.

Her heart still pounded with lingering fear. The dangers of this horror world were truly endless; she’d actually been struck down by a bolt of lightning.

Composing herself, she heard faint sobbing from the main hall, her name mixed in among the cries.

She took a few steps forward. As the lights brightened, she saw that everyone who should be in the hall was present, their backs to her, gathered in a circle around a dark mass, wailing.

“Su Man, how could you die such a horrible death?”

“Su Man, what will we do now that you’re gone?”

No wonder she’d heard her name—these people were holding a wake for her.

But—were their relationships really that close?

What did they mean, what would they do now that she was dead? They’d just do whatever they needed to do.

She lingered behind, watching, curious to see what they were up to.

Perhaps they were too engrossed; no one noticed the extra person in the room.

“The thunder was too much—struck her dead. No point crying now, she’s gone,” Hu Meili wailed dryly over the charred corpse, unable to conjure real tears, and finally blurted her thoughts aloud.

Her two companions, terrified by her words, kept poking her backs furtively, urging her to keep quiet.

“What are you afraid of? It’s just a game, isn’t it? If you die, you just reload. Yeah, I can reload—I’m not afraid anymore. Do what you want, I’m done!” After all she’d been through, Hu Meili finally gave herself over to despair and nonsense, soothing herself with the faint hope that, like any game, there was always a chance to start over.