Chapter 25 I Don't Want to Die

She kicked her legs and cursed venomously.

The voice echoed in the empty corridor, growing louder and louder with each curse, but to no avail.

Just then, the cries of infants came from all directions. The cries were sharp and piercing, filled with resentment.

This isn't just one ghost, it's a whole group of them!

Ye Zi's anger was instantly overwhelmed by the terrifying scream, leaving only an instinctive tremor as she stared blankly at her surroundings.

The next second, the walls, ceiling, and floor of the entire corridor began to writhe like rotting flesh.

Countless bluish-purple infants, their arms streaked with blood, burst forth from the wall, scratching frantically and making a chilling sound.

At the end of each arm are strands of thick, jet-black hair!

Before Ye Zi could react, the hair rushed towards her with astonishing speed, wrapping around her ankles, wrists, and waist, and finally coiling around her slender neck like a giant python.

"Well--!"

She only had time to let out a short scream before she was violently lifted off the ground by a tremendous force.

A feeling of suffocation instantly overwhelmed me.

She struggled desperately, kicking her legs wildly in the air, her hands gripping the increasingly tight hair around her neck, her fingernails drawing blood from the hair and her own skin.

However, the power of ordinary people is simply no match for that of non-humans.

Those hairs, as if cast in steel, kept tightening, slowly cutting into her flesh, pressing against her throat bones, and making a sickening gurgling sound.

The leaves turned from red to purple, and their eyeballs began to bulge outwards due to lack of oxygen and pressure, becoming bloodshot.

His mouth was wide open in vain, but he couldn't inhale a single breath; he could only make hoarse, gasping sounds.

More hair wriggled and wrapped around her tightly, then dragged her quickly toward the storeroom in 1674.

"Mmm...mmm..."

Yezi's struggle reached its peak. Her survival instinct made her roll over with her last bit of strength, kicking wildly and knocking over the buckets and other debris next to her, making a loud clattering sound.

The hair surged up even more frantically, layer upon layer, densely wrapping and entangling her from head to toe, forming a black cocoon that kept writhing and tightening.

Inside the cocoon, at first you could still hear dull pounding and whimpering sounds.

But soon, the sound gradually became faint and eventually disappeared. Xie Xun, suspended in mid-air, seemed to be pulled by invisible threads, and the scene before his eyes rapidly changed.

My gaze suddenly dropped, and when I looked up again, I felt a burning pain in my chest from the intense running and fear.

"Leaf! Leaf—! Where are you?!"

Xiao Chen's rough voice echoed in the corridor, filled with deep panic. He had clearly heard Ye Zi's cries and curses, and rushed over like a madman following the sound, only to find an empty corridor.

They rushed out of 1674 together just now. He was originally pulling Ye Zi along to escape, but Ye Zi inexplicably disappeared.

Then, Ye Zi's furious cursing could be heard.

Xiao Chen was also terrified; his heart was pounding so hard he felt like it was going to explode, and his hand holding the camera was shaking so badly he could barely hold it.

But Ye Zi was the only girl in their team, and she was like a little sister to them. Even if he was scared, his sense of responsibility as a man and his honest loyalty made it impossible for him to abandon the girl and run away.

"I'll fight you bastards to the death!" he roared, as if to bolster his courage.

Following the direction in which the leaves had disappeared, and hearing the faint dragging sound, Xiao Chen took a deep breath and rushed into 1674!

In the darkness, he could see a half-open door in the haunted house from afar, with a few glimmers of light shining through the crack. At that moment, it seemed especially eerie.

Xiao Chen swallowed hard; his throat felt dry and tight.

He slowed his pace, inching towards the door, and with trembling hands, he suddenly pushed the door open!

The sight inside the storage room made his blood run cold.

Ye Zi lay in the corner, her eyes wide open, bulging, her face frozen in immense pain and fear, already lifeless.

Even more terrifying, a little girl dressed in tattered red clothes with a bluish-gray complexion was lying on top of Ye Zi with her back to the door, her head down, making a series of chilling chewing sounds.

"Holy crap! Let her go!!"

Xiao Chen's eyes widened in horror, his fear overwhelmed by a surge of bloodlust and rage. He roared and, without a second thought, hurled the peach wood amulet, which was burning his palm, at the little girl's retreating figure!

The peach wood talisman struck the girl's back, producing a soft hissing sound, followed by a wisp of almost invisible blue smoke.

it works!

Just as a glimmer of hope rose in Xiao Chen's heart, the little girl's chewing stopped the next second.

Her head suddenly turned 180 degrees, facing directly at Xiao Chen!

That wasn't a child's face. It had bluish-gray skin, no pupils, only white eyes, and a mouth stretched to its ears, revealing a dense array of sharp teeth, which were covered with what appeared to be fragments of flesh and blood.

"whee……"

She gave Xiao Chen a silent, malicious smile.

Xiao Chen felt his blood freeze instantly, and his mind went blank.

Immediately afterwards, countless sticky hairs, like wildly dancing venomous snakes, swarmed towards Xiao Chen!

He swung his thick arms in an attempt to block, but his strength was utterly ineffective against the venomous hair. The peach wood talisman had long since lost its luster and lay on the ground.

The hair got tangled around his ankle, tripping him. It wrapped around his wrist, tightening its grip, and coiled around his neck, making suffocating, hissing sounds.

Xiao Chen struggled desperately, like a trapped wild beast, but could only watch helplessly as he was dragged to that corner and stopped next to Ye Zi's corpse.

He gritted his teeth and used his last bit of strength to break free from the restraints on his arms.

Then, she tightly hugged the mangled body beside her.

Xiao Chen's bloodshot eyes gradually lost focus, and the next second, Xie Xun felt dizzy and was thrown into another scene.

He felt himself huddled behind the tall cabinet in the living room, covering his mouth tightly, barely daring to breathe.

All I could hear was the constant chattering of teeth, and my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst my sternum.

He witnessed everything.

I saw Ye Zi being dragged away and heard her final, resentful curses. I also saw Xiao Chen rush over, and then... then came the chilling sound of chewing.

It's over.

It's all over.

A tremendous fear gripped him like vines, threatening to strangle him. Then, he felt a heat in his crotch, and a foul-smelling liquid flowed uncontrollably out, but he didn't care.

They're all dead... I'm next...

The thought was like a spell, swirling wildly in his mind.

Just then, a voice mixed with the voices of men, women, young and old suddenly rang out.

"See? This is what happens when you disobey me."

"Do you want to be like them?"

Qiangzi shuddered violently, fear almost making him scream, but he didn't even have the strength.

"No, I don't want to, I don't want to die!!!" he cried out, trembling.

"good."

The voice seemed quite pleased with his fear.

"Then, make a deal with me."

"Do things for me, help me...bring in new customers."

"Especially...people with a pure Yin constitution...preferably descendants of the Xie family..."

"You can then continue to live."

Pure Yin constitution?

Descendants of the Xie family?

Qiangzi's chaotic mind caught these words, but he didn't have time to think about them in detail.

Live on!

This was his only thought at that moment, and as if grasping at the last straw, he screamed almost without hesitation.

"I'll do it! I promise you! I'll do anything you ask! Just don't kill me!"

"Hehe... Knowing when to back down..."

The voice emitted a chilling laugh, and then Qiangzi felt a sudden burning sensation on his neck. He touched it and discovered that there seemed to be a twisted mark branded on it.

The excruciating pain came, but he only felt a twisted sense of peace.

He survived.

"Remember your promise, or else—"

All illusions vanished.

Xie Xun suddenly opened his eyes, gasping for breath; his back was already soaked in cold sweat. He was still standing in the center of the haunted house's living room, but the feeling of being watched by countless things seemed to have disappeared.

The surroundings were deathly silent, with only his own heavy breathing as the only sound.

He subconsciously touched the snake in his arms. Little Green stirred, and its faint but steady breathing came through its body, calming his wildly beating heart a little.

Although I didn't see Master Liu and Fu Qinghuai, at least I've temporarily escaped those suffocating illusions.

Xie Xun's tense nerves involuntarily relaxed a little.

A cracking sound, like the movement of wooden joints, came from the corner of the living room.

Xie Xun suddenly turned his head.

Suddenly, three paper figures appeared from the corner, their backs to them. At that moment, their heads stiffly and slowly turned inch by inch.