Chapter 53: We Found a Way Out |
After a whirlwind of confusion, Yu Xiao felt herself snap back to her body and opened her eyes. And what did she see?
A bloomin’ arse?!
In front of her was a huge, long-tailed, colourful arse!
That wasn’t all. The arse was bouncing up and down, wiggling in front of Yu Xiao while maintaining a steady distance.
Dumbfounded for a moment, Yu Xiao then heard familiar voices – the screams of Zhao Lan and Zhou Xiao Zhen. She tried to turn her head, but her body wouldn’t move. Fortunately, her eyeballs still seemed to be under her command.
In front and to the right, Yu Xiao saw Zhao Lan and the others clustered together. Zhao Lan and Zhou Xiao Zhen were kneeling on the ground, holding someone – a woman.
She looked strangely familiar. Upon closer inspection, Yu Xiao was appalled to discover that it was her.
After that, she couldn’t see anything as she spun out of control non-stop. As the shock faded, Yu Xiao calmed down. She realized her current situation and understood why Xie Meng Meng said the whole carousel was terrifying and why touching it led to bonkers suicides.
Because every carousel horse here was a ghost. When a person touched one, they swapped bodies with the ghost inside the carousel horse. Then, the ghost controlled the person’s body to smash into walls and commit suicide.
“Smiley, Smiley!” Zhao Lan shook Yu Xiao a few times, but her eyes remained closed, blissfully asleep. She turned to Zhou Xiao Zhen and said, “Get the emergency healing talisman for Smiley, get a few more.”
“Right!” Smiley had given them all some talismans in case of trouble, and Zhou Xiao Zhen quickly took out all the emergency healing talismans she had and slapped them on Smiley’s body.
As soon as the talismans were on, they burned to ashes. The injuries on Smiley, caused by the lightning, healed visibly, and the scratches on the ground where she had fallen vanished completely. But there was no sign of Yu Xiao waking up.
“Why isn’t Smiley waking up?” Zhou Xiao Zhen asked, her voice cracking, “What’s wrong with her?”
Yu Xiao could still hear everything, spinning endlessly on the Merry-go-Round. She heard Zhou Xiao Zhen’s sobbing voice and thought bitterly, ‘I’m stuck on this Merry-go-Round, how the hell am I supposed to wake up?’
She couldn’t move or speak, the only thing she could control was her eyes. Yu Xiao looked around, sick of seeing the arses in front of her. Suddenly, she saw on her left, in the middle of the spinning Merry-go-Round, a pitch-black shadow. When she looked closer, she saw that the shadow was shaped like a massive horse.
From the heart of the darkness, a shape emerged, and Yu Xiao recognised it: It was the number 6!
She cursed under her breath. This was a nightmare beyond nightmares. A twisted and cruel game. Clues that were only visible to those who had become Trojan horses. And even if they saw them, how could they possibly communicate them to anyone else?
The black shadow writhed and raised its front hooves, unleashing a piercing shriek.
“Squeak, squeak…”
Yu Xiao’s head spun and she blacked out. When she came to, she saw that the wooden horses had come to a standstill, and she felt a flicker of hope. She could move again.
But she was still trapped in the wooden horse’s spot. She waved desperately at Zhao Lan and the others, hoping to catch their eye. “Misty! Precious! Over here!!”
“— Misty!”
“— Precious!”
But they didn’t hear her, or see her. They were still holding Yu Xiao’s body, oblivious to her plight.
They had used more than a dozen life-saving talismans on her body, and her wounds had healed completely, but she remained unresponsive. Zhou Xiao Zhen couldn’t contain her grief and broke down in sobs.
“Waaah… Smiley… Smiley…”
Zhao Lan didn’t shed a tear; she just held Smiley’s body and wondered what had gone wrong.
The others watched in grief, unable to help Yu Xiao. How could they solve the mystery now? Hopelessness engulfed their hearts. After fighting for so long, were they doomed to perish in this trap?
“I don’t believe it!” Zhang Yi shouted, backing away, “I won’t accept that we’re trapped here without a clue! I won’t give up!”
With that, he spun around and ran. Wu Chao followed him, “Old Zhang, don’t be foolish!”
Zhao Lan cradled Smiley, laying her on her lap, and opened her hand. In her palm was a pile of black ash, the remains of a burnt talisman.
Smiley was always careful. She had prepared the talismans before riding. As soon as she saw any ghosts, she would use them right away.
But she didn’t use them on the horse, which meant she didn’t see any ghosts. Yet, the talismans still activated. When she leapt off her horse, the talismans sparked, and lightning struck Smiley.
Zhao Lan realised the problem. Thunderstruck talismans only worked on ghosts, so why did they hit her?
There was only one explanation: Yu Xiao had a ghost on her at that moment, or maybe, Yu Xiao was the ghost. If the charging figure was a ghost, then where was the real Smiley?
Zhao Lan lifted her chin and stared blankly at the Merry-go-Round, which had resumed its merry rotation before her eyes.
“Precious…” She turned to Zhou Xiao Zhen. “Do you remember which horse Smiley was riding?”
Zhou Xiao Zhen blinked through her tears and scanned the glittering array of horses. They all looked the same under the dazzling lights. “I don’t remember…”
Xie Meng Meng piped up, “I think the saddle was blue.”
Zhou Xiao Zhen squinted, trying to spot the colour. “But there are several horses with blue saddles.”
“We must find the horse Smiley rode,” Zhao Lan said, glancing around for a safe spot to leave her friend. However, there was none, and she felt a surge of worry. So, she hoisted Smiley onto her back and walked closer to the Merry-go-Round.
The horses kept spinning, taunting her with their cheerful music. Zhao Lan snapped, “Go and stop the Merry-go-Round!”
“Alright, I’ll go stop it,” Zhou Xiao Zhen said and dashed off to ‘plead’ with the staff to halt the spinning Merry-go-Round.
As the Merry-go-Round gradually slowed down, Yu Xiao regained her mobility. Zhou Xiao Zhen stood next to her, pointing excitedly. “Misty, this one has a blue saddle!”
Xie Meng Meng joined her from the other side. “This one is blue too!”
“— Precious!”
“— Misty!”
Yu Xiao’s cries fell on deaf ears. They couldn’t hear her at all.
She refused to sit there and await her doom. She spotted a faint shadow moving on the horse ahead of her. As she looked closer, she saw a hand emerging from the horse’s leg, stretching towards Zhou Xiao Zhen, as if trying to snatch her.
Yu Xiao realised; the horse could grab people when it stopped.
She quickly made a decision. She joined her hands together, extended her index and middle fingers, making the legendary sign of the Thousand Years Kill (千年杀), and stabbed the horse’s rear in front.
“Wweeee!!”
A shrill and ear-splitting neigh rang in her ears as the shadow on the front horse thrashed wildly. Yu Xiao stayed determined, clenching her teeth and persisting with the Thousand Years Kill.
The screams went on, each one more pitiful than the last. Even the dark shape in the centre was startled and looked at Yu Xiao.
“There are eight horses with blue saddles,” Zhao Lan said, carrying Yu Xiao on her back, her face etched with worry. “Which one did Smiley ride on?”
Zhou Xiao Zhen clenched her teeth. “Let’s just tear down all the wooden horses with blue saddles.”
“No way,” Zhao Lan shook her head. “We can’t touch the wooden horses. Or else, we’ll end up like Smiley. We have to find the right one.”
“But how do we tell them apart?” Qian Xin asked. “And even if we find the right one, how will you wake up Yu Xiao?”
Zhao Lan didn’t have an answer yet, but she knew that to wake up Smiley, they had to find the correct horse.
But if they couldn’t tell them apart, they might pull another person into this nightmare.
What to do? What to do? Smiley, can you see us? Give me a sign…
Just then, Zhang Yi and Wu Chao, who had run out earlier, came back. They both looked ecstatic. Zhang Yi yelled, “We found it! We found it!”
Xie Meng Meng spun around. “Found what?”
“The exit!” Wu Chao shouted, his face glowing with excitement. “We found the exit! No need to look for clues anymore. We can get out!”
“Really?!” Everyone was stunned. “You really found the exit?”
“Really!” Zhang Yi said. “I was just running around aimlessly. When I was running, I heard some tourists saying they wanted to go home. On a whim, I followed them, and I found the exit gate of the amusement park. Hahaha… Clues are not the only way out. We were all fooled by Lolita. In fact, just follow other visitors, and you can find the way out!”
“If it’s true, that’s amazing,” Qian Xin’s heart raced with excitement. “Meng Meng, I want to see it for myself.”
Xie Meng Meng looked at Zhao Lan and Zhou Xiao Zhen. “How about you two?”
Zhao Lan gazed at the Merry-go-Round and said, “You go ahead, we still want to try waking up Smiley.”
“No need to wake them up,” Wu Chao lifted Liu Fei on his back. “They’re alive, just asleep. Once we’re out of this cursed instance, they’ll wake up.”
Zhou Xiao Zhen asked, “Misty, should we go?”
Zhao Lan eyed the Merry-go-Round again, sensing something was wrong. After a moment of reflection, she said, “You go first. We still have a day; I want to give it another try.”
“Oh, whatever.” Wu Chao carried Liu Fei on his back. “Let’s go.”
The group from the Fifth Hospital departed. After a brief hesitation, Xie Meng Meng and Qian Xin followed them.
Zhao Lan quietly carried Smiley on her back. After a while, she said, “Precious, you can go with them. I’ll stay here alone.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Zhou Xiao Zhen’s chubby face showed defiance, “We came here together, and if we have to die, we’ll do it together.”
The two of them kept their eyes on the merry-go-round. After half an hour, Xie Meng Meng came back.
She was as thrilled as Wu Chao and Zhang Yi before her, her face glowing, “We’ve found the way out! Just follow me,” Xie Meng Meng urged them earnestly, “Once we leave this instance, Yu Xiao will wake up naturally.”
Zhao Lan stayed silent, shaking her head.
Zhou Xiao Zhen said, “Thanks, but even if we want to leave, we’ll wait until tomorrow.”
“Ugh, you guys are so stubborn.” Xie Meng Meng sighed in frustration, taking out her phone, “How about this, let’s swap numbers. If anything happens, just ring me up.”
“Sure,” Zhao Lan thanked her, “Precious, give her your number too.”
They swapped numbers, and then Xie Meng Meng left. She didn’t come back, not even the next morning when the sun rose.
The sun was blazing the next morning. Zhou Xiao Zhen and Zhao Lan sat beside the merry-go-round, holding Yu Xiao, using a white coat to protect her from the sun. The two of them sat there numbly, staring at the merry-go-round, as if they had lost their souls.
Zhao Lan felt hopeless. She licked her dry lips and said, “Precious, maybe we should just go. They’re right, as soon as we leave this instance, Smiley will wake up.”
“Ugh…” Zhou Xiao Zhen sobbed again, “Misty, is there no other way?”
As she spoke, she rummaged for talismans, but the life-saving talismans on both her and Zhao Lan were gone. So, she searched Yu Xiao’s pockets, and in the pocket of Yu Xiao’s trousers, she found something.
“What’s this?”
Zhao Lan looked at it, and it was a taxi receipt.