Lu Sheng frowned as he covered the distance between them in a single stride. He looked down on the ground where he stood.
‘No footprints, as I expected… And I don’t sense anything nearby, either…’ He vaguely felt that something was off.
“This place…” Lu Sheng licked his lips. He fiercely stomped his right foot, and lightly flew up into the air.
The surrounding buildings started to get smaller as he traveled hundreds of meters in the air in the blink of an eye. He looked down on the Fei Family Mansion.
“Huh?” Lu Sheng was even more confused.
He wasn’t even that far up, but the mansion was still somehow covered by a thick layer of mist, obstructing any view he might have had of it.
Lu Sheng let gravity pull him back down. The wind blew past his ears loudly, and as he fell down rapidly, he could vaguely see the outlines of some buildings. But everything was still unclear.
The view didn’t clear up until he was only 7 to 8 meters away from the ground. But, at that height, he could only observe a small area around him.
As he lightly landed back to where he was, Lu Sheng once again stared at the swing for a moment. Behind it was another exit out of the garden, leading to some other place.
He paused, and then walked straight for the exit.
***
Sima Xiu helped Fei Bailing, whose body had gone soft, get onto her feet, and quickly brought her back to a bedroom he was hiding in.
Fei Bailing gasped for breath as Sima Xiu entered the room, and then blanked out for a second.
Someone else stood in the corner of the room with his back to them. A faint sound of chewing came from his mouth like he was eating something.
“Who…. who is that?” Her whole body trembled as she stared at the person.
As if he had noticed her stare, the person’s shaking shoulder paused.
“Shhh!” Sima Xiu rushed to cover her eyes. “Don’t look at him. As long as you don’t look at him, he won’t bother us!” His voice was very low, and there was a hint of weakness in it too.
Fei Bailing’s heart jumped, and she quickly closed her eyes, not daring to look again.
“Don’t be afraid… I’ve found out his pattern already. He doesn’t bother us as long as we don’t look at him. Just pretend he doesn’t exist.” Sima Xiu coughed and hurriedly covered his mouth with his sleeves. When he moved his sleeves aside, they were stained with blood.
Fei Bailing tried her best to not look at the person, and instead followed Sima Xiu to the bed in the deeper part of the room.
This bedroom was huge, and was separated into two parts by the screen in the middle. One side had the bed and closet, while the other side had desks and a dressing table.
The strange man was standing in the corner next to the dressing table with his back facing them.
The two walked behind the screen and let out a sigh of relief—their line of sight with the man had been broken.
“Why don’t we find another room? Do we have to be here?” Fei Bailing whispered. “Also, Inspector Sima, when did you get in? Did you find my sister, mom, and dad?” Her head was filled with questions that needed answers. When she finally met another normal person, those questions came out like an flood.
Sima Xiu let out a weary laugh and waved his hand.
“I came as soon as I got your blood letter….”
“Blood letter? What blood letter?” He didn’t expect Fei Bailing to interrupt him so soon. The girl stared at him with a stunned expression.
“When did I ever write a blood letter?” Her eyes darted around as she spoke, her pupils widening from shock. She looked everywhere but at Sima Xiu.
Her eyes weren’t moving together, either. One would be moving left as the other moved right. Other times, one would tilt to the upper right while the other would tilt to lower left. They moved so rapidly, they almost seemed anxious.
That wasn’t something a human should be able to do.
“Your eyes…” Sima Qiu’s heart turned cold and he stepped back slightly.
“What about my eyes?” Fei Bailing didn’t seem to notice at all. “Master Inspector, I never wrote a blood letter.”
“Is… is that so?” Sima Qiu blinked his eyes. In a flash, Fei Bailing turned back to her delicate and pretty self. It was as if he had imagined the whole thing.
“Nothing… Nothing…” Sima Xiu took in a deep breath.
“When I came in, I looked everywhere for you, but this place is too big and has to many corners, so I nearly got lost. Then I saw that person by accident.” He pointed toward the corner. “And I finally have a place to hide. Then, I found a map of the layout of the mansion, and followed it here.”
“Is that so?” Fei Bailing stared at him with anticipation. “Did you find my sister? And my mom and dad?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“Really? Really? You haven’t, either…” Fei Bailing muttered to herself. “Then where did they go?”
Sima Xiu exhaled. He, too, felt like he was hallucinating from his exhaustion and injuries.
“Oh, and what did you eat these past few days? There is no one normal left in this mansion, right?”
“Eat? Food?” Fei Bailing blanked for a second, then lowered her stunned head. “Right… What did I eat? What exactly?”
Sima Xiu frowned. He guessed that living in such a horrifying environment for so long had done something strange to her mind.
“Let it be. Let’s not talk about this for now. We must find a way to leave. This mansion is too strange. I came in last time and tried to leave twice, but couldn’t find the gate no matter what.”
Fei Bai Ling’s pupils dilated, then went back to normal. “I know where we can leave.” She raised her head. “Aside from the main gate, there are two other gates.”
“Take me there. We must leave immediately!’ Sima Xiu finally found some hope.
“Ok… ok…” Fei Bailing nodded. She raised her head and rubbed her weary eyes, suddenly noticing that something was off in her peripheral vision.
She turned her head.
“Aghhh!”
She let out a sudden, sharp scream.
The shape of a head was bulging out of the screen to her right.
It was the man in the corner! He stared at the two of them through the screen. His whole face was against the screen, like he was trying to break through this only barrier.
“Go!” Sima Xiu said instantaneously as he dragged Fei Bailing around the screen and out of the room.
“Rumble…”
As soon as they got out onto the passage, they suddenly noticed the sky had been covered in dark clouds that blocked out the sun. Everything turned dim, and darkness started to creep out from the corridor behind them.
The normally bright passage started to turn darker and darker. The darkness rapidly approached them, spreading like ink in the water.
“Go!” Sima Xiu stared at this weather that was obviously not natural. He hurriedly carried Fei Bailing on his back and started running.
“Crack!”
Lightning flashed. A small girl in a white dress appeared in the darkness of the passage. Her hair was unbound, and she was staring at the two people, watching them flee.
She advanced step by step, dying everything around her in black as she advanced.
The dark cloud in the sky also followed her footsteps, veiling all light in front of her.
“Crack.”
Another flash of lightning.
Fei Bailing was being carried on Sima Xiu’s back, and the two of them sprinted away, leaving a sprinkle of blood behind them. The wound to the side of Sima Xiu’s waist had reopened.
“You’re wounded!? You’re bleeding!” Fei Bailing exclaimed.
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“I’m fine, I’m fine. We must leave this place now.” Sima Xiu endured the pain and didn’t change his expression. Aside from his pale face, he appeared just as healthy as any normal person.
“We are safe. Nothing is following behind us.” Fei Bailing looked back. It was all clear.
They had unknowingly reached the entrance to a feast hall. The door was half-open. Cold, bone-chilling air flowed out from it.
“Is that so?” Sima Xiu let out a sigh of relief, and gently put down Fei Bailing.
“This… is where my father and other people have their meetings…” Fei Bailing steadied herself and looked at the ruined furniture inside the hall.
She could see the wine cups scattered on the ground, the flipped table and chairs, and the mold growing on the carpet and dirty floor.
“Let’s find the exit first,” Sima Xiu reminded her.
“I think… it seems like there’s a secret passage here…” Fei Bailing hesitated, then slowly walked into the hall.
The hall was in a mess. Cobwebs, dust, and shattered lamps filled the interior, while some unknown black stains covered the walls.
“Here!” Fei Bailing found the exit. It was right next to an air vent. The secret passage appeared when she moved a brick on the wall.
But the trigger was two meters above the ground, so she had to stand on a chair to reach it.
“I’ll go in first.” Sima Xiu glanced at the mysterious tunnel in front of him. It was dark, and he couldn’t see anything inside.
“Ok!” Fei Bailing nodded and stepped back a little.
Sima Xiu looked around the hall again. After making sure there was nothing wrong, he dove forward and easily entered into the tunnel.
He crawled forward a little and realized there wasn’t much dust and seemed pretty safe. He then quickly went back to the entrance.
“Come, I’ll help you up!” He poked out his head.
“Ok.”
Fei Bailing reached out her hand as she stood on top of the chair.
“Whoosh.”
Suddenly, the light in the hall dimmed, and within a single breath, the sky outside was covered tightly by dark clouds. Everything inside fell into darkness.
“Bam.”
“Ouch.”
Fei Bailing got startled, and fell by accident.
“Are you alright??” Sima Xiu hurriedly took out his match, but couldn’t light it no matter how hard he tried. [ED/N: Not a modern match, but an ancient Chinese sort of one.]
“No matter. I’m standing up again. I’m reaching out with my hand now.” Fei Bai Ling’s voice came from the darkness.
“Alright. Hurry, I’ll help you up!” He quickly reached his hand out, and soon caught a small, ice-cold hand. He pulled upward and dragged her up.
***
“That hurt…” Fei Bailing rubbed her bottom and sat up.
“Are you alright? This secret passage is blocked. I didn’t notice that before. We must find another exit.” Sima Xiu’s voice came from in front of her.
“Ok!” Fei Bailing stood up and saw a shadow in front of her, then nodded hurriedly. “I know another exit.”
“Is that so? Then let’s go.” The shadow grabbed her, hurriedly walked out of the hall, and ran back toward the passage.
“Huh? I think we are going the wrong direction.” Fei Bailing was confused.
“No, this is the right way,” the shadow replied.
“This is the direction we came from, we are going back!” Fei Bailing finally realized something was wrong.
“Of course it’s the way back.” The shadow didn’t even turn his head. He held her hand with an even stronger and tighter grip.
The two ran past one room after another until they darted out of the passage and into a garden.
“This place… No! I don’t wanna go back!” Fei Bailing finally realized something was wrong. She started to struggle fanatically, but the hand held her tightly, and she couldn’t get away no matter how hard she tried.
“Hehehe…”
She could vaguely see the small shapes that stood in the garden in the darkness, making child-like laughers. All of them were looking in her direction, like they were staring at her.
“No… No…!” Tears streamed out of Fei Bailing’s eyes. She was then dragged toward her bedroom. The person gripping her hand didn’t talk, and only ran forward.
The two of them ran along the garden wall, getting closer and closer to the children.
“Hehehehe….”
“Little girl…”
“Little girl…”
“Little girl…”
“Little girl…”
The children started to approach her rapidly. Fei Bailing’s body shook and her back turned cold. She couldn’t help but let her stiff body be dragged along as she stared at the approaching shadows.
Her body was cold in the darkness, and her breathing even nearly stopped. All she could do was stare at the approaching shadows of children with a stunned face.
The kid in the front reached out with his hand toward her.
“Puff.”
Suddenly, the shape dragging her along disappeared. Fei Bailing fell down to the ground.
She landed perfectly amid the children.
“Hehehehe….”
The shadows walked toward her slowly one after another. All of them slowly reached with their hands toward her.
“Little girl.”
“Little girl.”
“Little girl.”
“Little girl.”
“Little gir—”
“Boom!!!”
Suddenly, the wall to the side exploded. Countless pieces of debris shot out like cannonballs, ruthlessly slamming into the door behind them.
“This is why I hate mazes.” A tall and muscular shape came out from the hole in the wall, holding a sword with white steam rising off it.
The man was half-naked, and his muscles were twisted like the roots of a thousand-year old tree and covered in a metallic shade.
The most eye-catching part was the countless blood-red, net-like patterns covering his body. These patterns shined a cruel and bloody light in the dark, like creeping worms sucking blood.