Doll House (31)

"You're here!"

"Just in time for our wonderful performance to begin"

 If it wasn't for the melted and festering pale face quietly revealed behind the dilapidated wooden door, they could have almost believed that this was just an ordinary greeting based on her voice alone.

 The burnt flesh squeezed the glassy eyes into a slit, and seemed to be smiling, but the right cheek seemed to have been so thoroughly charred , it revealed the glaring white bones beneath.

They just saw her burning to death in the other room but now she was still here, obviously having been waiting their arrival.

They couldn't escape her.

At the very least not now.

 Shi Xiaodong's body was tense, and the players behind him immediately took out their weapons and waited in full array, but when the wooden door was slowly and surely opened, everyone's scalp went numb and their pupils shrank suddenly.

A pool of dark, bubbling blood spanned across most of the room, it boiled, letting out pungent gas and bloody smoke as the bubbles popped, bloody splatters dyed every corner of the room in carnal chaos.

The second thing they noticed was the pervasive smell, the metallic scent of spilled blood was strong enough to make them dizzy, it was awful and pungent and mixed with the smell of rotten mold and charred flesh, compared to that the harsh sting of burning smoke, seemed more like a heaven.

To add to the ugly filth of the room, the doll's they were familiar with had appeared inexplicably in the corrupt room. Each of them wore the same broken smile, like a shattered mirror, reflecting the ugly and hideous truth.

Silently the dolls head tilted down to face the gaping players, their beautiful faces gazing blankly. However in the eyes of the players, they could see the shadow of pure malice and glee in their delicately sewed on features. Chu Yi noticed that there were three additional dolls from who knows where. Parts of of seemed to have been singed with fire and for a moment, their eyes blurred and they could see tears of blood dripping from those curved delicate eyes. 

It was like the reaction one would have when someone suddenly throws a bucket of ice water on you. First there's a second of pure shock at the stimulus, then there's the brain trying to process it, finally the sensation kicks in and the body starts to tremble, instinctively taking a step back to escape as the rush of freezing cold soaks straight into the bones, refusing to let go.

XingLing quietly enjoyed the looks of pure fear and horror with relish, but when his eyes locked with Chu Yi's, he couldn't help but blanch, he had an inexplicable feeling of being seen through.

After a sharp cough, XingLing finally turned his attention to the vile creature, waiting in grand anticipation for their arrival.

Disgust and Forbearance clouded his already plae face and with a sneer, he stepped past the threshold.

This loathsome play has finally reached this stage.

When XingLings figure disappeared behind the group of corpses and gradually moved away, an inexplicable sense of panic struck, and Zhong Feng subconsciously wanted to catch up. But he just took a step forward, and the hairs on his whole body erected, his blood was frozen!

 The dolls in the room all turned their heads to face him!

 Dozens of pairs of silent, sunken dark eye sockets locked at Zhong Feng, the great malice and coldness struck ,making him instantly sweaty and unable to move.

 Fortunately, someone noticed his strangeness.

 Zhong Feng was dragged back for several steps by the people behind him, before the chill of being stared at finally disappeared.

 "Be careful of death! The final stage hasn't even begun yet!" Shi XiaoDong exclaimed with some harshness

Zhong Feng didn't appreciate his words however and with a an hideous face yelled back!

"What are we supposed to do then! We still have to go in!"

"What kind of hypocritical face are you using to lecture me now!"

He was right.

Yes, they still had to go in regardless of what kind of horrors they would face eventually.

There was no turning back for them.

Chu Yi, ignored the festering state of the players in front of him and opted to observe the Madams mangled face with interest.

Could this be the witch?

He, however quickly denied that conjecture.

It wasn't baseless, but intuition told him that someone like the witch, who loved to be the oriole, stalking behind the mantis, wouldn't show up until the most critical moment.

"Won't you really come in?"

The grand scene of nightmarish hell, paired with the enthusiastic and compassionate Madam, made the players face ugly.

Shi XiaDong gritted his teeth, took a meaningfull glance at Lui Quishi and with a deep breath took the first steps into the room.

Zhong Feng and Bu Hua followed behind in trepidation, leaving behind Chu Yi and Lui Quishi by the door.

Nervousness masked Lui Quishi's face, he stared at the room in front of him in fear, an unidentified emotion brewing in his heart.

He turned to face Chu Yi.

Mouth opening and closing in trepidation, he didn't know what to say, what else was there to say even, he couldn't even ask why, finally he could only choke out hoarsely between trembling lips,

"Can I really do it....?"

"What if...what if I fail...what if we're wrong."

"What if...."

He thought about the gory room, the smell of evil resentment so strong it stung and the untold horrors that brewed in the castle, even in the heat and smoke, Lui Quishi only felt extremely chilled.

Suddenly a cold but familiar pale white hand touched his face, smelling faintly of ash and charcoal. Stroking his soft cheek before tilting his chin up slowly, the hand lets the Lui Quishi see how silky black smoke seemed to curl upwards like dark mist, like a dark fairy trapped in the reminiscent clouds, becoming less and less translucent the further up his gaze traveled until he saw through the darkness, a chest with broad but thin shoulders and slender, toned arms covered in a thin shirt. The neck coming out of the collar was like the moon peeking behind a cloud on the darkest night and long black hair was billowing out everywhere like delicate strips of seaweed in the deepest ocean. The bloody red eyes that peeked out behind the dark silk , was like sun before an dark eclipse. A dark saffron before the everlasting night.

Finally, with bated breath, Lui Quishi reached Chu Yis face and even he, a dull witted teen could not help but suck in a breath at the sight of that face. It was indescribable. Those slanted peach blossom eyes that gave the young man a darkly fascinating yet enticing air, those soft lips, the soft yet sharp angles of his face.

Everything fit so well it was almost eerie how beautiful the man was.

It was like his beauty had been masked before this, so now that he was finally faced with the brunt of this glory, he felt almost as if he couldn't breath

Lui Quishi felt this man was like one of those princesses from the fairy tales his grandmother loved to tell him. Hair as black as coal, skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood.

"Xiao Lui," Chu Yi smiled, his hand moving to affectionately stroke Lui Quishi's face, however the burning heat that appeared made him pause, his hand naturally falling back to his side. He spoke in a gentle voice suited for sweet words and reassurance.

However it was also a little hoarse and roughened with an underlying demonic echo, a hint of something monstrous, "You've done well," he praised and while it was said genuinely and his voice was very good, it somehow came out a little sinister lilt.

"Just do what needs to be done"

Lui Quishi stared at his leaving back in a trance, a suspicious blush erupting onto his pale face, it wasn't until Chu Yi's back disappeared into the room, did he snap out of it.

Lui Quishi sighed and took a deep breath, shaking his head to get rid of his tension.

Regardless of what would happen next, he just needed to do his best.

For himself and for them.

Instead of following the others into the room, Lui Quishi took out a prop

[Name: Paper Man]

[Quality: Special]

[Function: Substitute]

[Skill Description: The Paper Man comes in pairs. Leave one paper man in a certain location and regardless of how far you are away from the paper man, you'll be transported to its location as long as you have the other pair]

[Skill cooling time: 24 Hours]

[System Remarks: Better be careful where you put the paper man. Who knows you might just end up in somewhere far more dangerous than you think.]

[Danger Level: 12 /Won't swallow you but might send you straight to your death/]

[Confirm Usage: Yes/No]

With a twist of his mind, Lui Quishi disappeared from the burning halls.

When he left, Chu Yi who was already inside paused subtly, a sly smirk appearing at the corner of his lips.

What a naive guy indeed.

He continued to walk forward, enjoying the feeling of basking in the pure evil submerging the castle walls, dark emotions usually supressed slowly crawled into his heart, cruel red eyes glinting with a bloodthirsty heat.

He savored the taste of sin.

He just truly hopes the witch won't disappoint.